Bahrain GP: Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz secure a monumental 1-2 podium finish for Ferrari in season opener

Bahrain GP: Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz secure a monumental 1-2 podium finish for Ferrari in season opener

Bahrain Grand Prix 2022

Charles Leclerc has brought Ferrari their first season opener win since Sebastian Vettel in 2019 at the Bahrain Grand Prix tonight. After claiming pole position at the qualifying yesterday, the Monégasque racing driver made sure to hold on to his position at the top of the grid today and go on to win the very first Grand Prix of the 2022 season. 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton got a podium at P3 followed by teammate George Russell at P4.

This race marked a fantastic start to the season for Ferrari with Leclerc’s teammate Spaniard Carlos Sainz getting a podium at P2 and giving Ferrari a 1-2 tonight . Leclerc and Verstappen went head-to-head with each other in a thrilling battle for the lead in laps 17, 18 and 19. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon got a 5-second penalty after colliding with Haas’ Mick Schumacher in the 2nd lap of the race after the stewards found him guilty of it. The front tyre of Ocon hit Schumacher’s rear left and spun the German while he was taking the corner.

McLaren had a disastrous start to their season with drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris finishing at P14 and P15 respectively after having to deal with serious braking issues. F1 debutante Guanyu Zhou claimed P10 today in his Alfa Romeo car.

Events that went down in the Bahrain Grand Prix 2022

Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc

A dramatic highlight from today’s race was AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly’s car catching fire after an overheating issue to which the fire marshals quickly responded by dousing the far. He did however had to retire the car. Today meant bad news for Red Bull as recently crowned world champion Max Verstappen retired from the race along with teammate Sergio Perez.

Max Verstappen was plagued with serious steering issues although he was convinced that it was some battery issue. Perez had to retire for a lockup engine issue. Kevin Magnussen brought a monumental P5 today in with ex-Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas claiming P6.

Aston Martin’s replacement for Sebastian Vettel this season, Nico Hulkenberg finished at P17 with Lance Stroll finishing at P12. Haas’ Mick Schumacher managed to get a P11 tonight despite being spun by Esteban Ocon initially in the race.

Position Driver Team Gap
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari LEADER
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +5.598
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +9.675
4 George Russell Mercedes +11.211
5 Kevin Magnussen Haas +14.754
6 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +16.119
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine +19.423
8 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +20.386
9 Fernando Alonso Alpine +22.390
10 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo +23.064
11 Mick Schumacher Haas +32.574
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +45.873
13 Alex Albon Williams +53.932
14 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +54.975
15 Lando Norris McLaren +56.335
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams +61.795
17 Nico Hulkenberg Aston Martin +63.829
18 Sergio Perez Red Bull DNF
19 Max Verstappen Red Bull DNF
20 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri DNF

Also Read: Max has an opportunity to win Bahrain GP after Pierre Gasly brings out a Safety car.