Key Takeaways from Bahrain GP qualifying


Key Takeaways from Bahrain GP qualifying

Charles Leclerc

The qualifying race for the first Grand Prix of the season, the Bahrain Grand Prix has officially concluded with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc claiming the 10th pole position of his F1 career. Recently crowned world champion Max Verstappen was close behind in P2 with Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz claiming the P3 spot.

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The spectacular results produced by Ferrari in qualifying today is enough to give a glimmer of hope to the Tifosi all over the globe who haven’t exactly had the best campaigns in the last few seasons. Ferrari going into the first Grand Prix of the season with a P1 and P3 gives them a good mental headstart.

What was also noticed during the qualifying session is the fact that Charles Leclerc and  Carlos Sainz seemed to be battling it out for the pole position which is a testament to the fact that Ferrari has the primary focus on getting wins this season and hopefully compete for the constructors’ championship title.

Pointers to keep in mind from qualifying at Bahrain

Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen

Ferrari has consistently shown incredible pace and reliability with their F1-75 since the start of their 2022 campaign at Barcelona with the first phase of testing. The fact that they’ve been able to keep up that progress in not just the two testing sessions at Barcelona and Bahrain but also the three practice sessions and qualifying at Bahrain smells like good news for the Italian-based racing team. This means something for Ferrari considering the fact that they’ve failed to win any race since 2019 and neither have they won any championship since 2008.

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Consecutive eight-time constructors’ championship winner Mercedes seemed to be plagued with a lot of problems during qualifying with the British based racing team putting forth a pretty average performance with 7-time world championship winner Lewis Hamilton placing 5th on the grid followed by newly recruited Mercedes driver George Russell behind at P9. Red Bull put forth a decent performance too with defending world champion Verstappen claiming P2 and Mexican teammate Sergio Perez placing fourth on the leaderboard today.

McLaren who had provided a performance to remember them by in the two testing sessions at Barcelona and Bahrain seemed to fizzle out today at qualifying with the Woking-based racing team being bothered by a recurring brake challenge which made their runs quite problematic. Daniel Ricciardo who just recovered from Covid-19 shockingly got placed at P18 today. The highlight of today’s qualifying was however American-based racing team Haas’ recent F1 returnee Kevin Magnussen placing 7th on the leaderboard which is their best qualifying result since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix. Magnussen’s teammate Mick Schumacher claimed the P12 spot which is his career best qualifying position.

Also Read: “I’m quite happy with the progress I’ve done through the weekend,” Carlos Sainz after locking in P3 at qualifying in the Bahrain GP