A race which brought to an end a 190 race losing streak, 3 problems for Red Bull powertrains and a P5 for Kevin Magnussen on his return was all in the Bahrain Grand Prix in the opening round of the 2022 world championship.
The Start
With Leclerc on pole, the lights went out for the first race of the season and 57 laps had begun. The top 2 of Leclerc and Verstappen got away well as Verstappen took the outside line of Turn 1 to attempt an overtake on Leclerc around the outside but was unsuccessful. Meanwhile, both Alfa Romeo drivers got off the line poorly as Bottas ended up P14 by the end of the lap and Zhou Guanyu dropped down to P19 and was fighting towards the back. Lewis Hamilton also managed to overtake the quicker Red Bull of Sergio Perez at turn 1.
By lap 9, Leclerc had already built up a 2.5 second lead out in front as the Ferrari driver began to build up a gap over the reigning world champion. Lap 10 saw Perez get back past Hamilton after he overtook the Mexican on lap 1. After this, Lewis pitted becoming the first to pit on lap 12 for a set of hards. When he exited the pit-lane, the tyres had no grip whatsoever and he went very wide at turn 1 allowing Zhou to overtake him at turn 2 but got back past the rookie later in the lap.
Verstappen and Leclerc battle
On lap 14, Verstappen pitted for mediums as well as Sainz. Leclerc stayed out 1 more lap and pitted on lap 15 but when he came out, the Dutch driver was right on the gearbox of the Ferrari. Verstappen ran behind Leclerc closely for a couple of laps before he pounced on him at turn 1 on lap 17 and got the move done. However Leclerc slipstreamed Verstappen up to Turn 4 and the Monegasque driver retook the lead and this was repeated on lap 18 but again Leclerc kept the lead.
Verstappen followed Leclerc all the way around the lap and he was yet again within 1 second of him as they made their way down the main straight as they started onto lap 19, Verstappen pounced again but locked his right front heavily at turn 1 which gave him a flat spot. As they reached the main straight, Verstappen was not within 1 second of Leclerc and by lap 23 the gap was 2.5 seconds.
Late Drama
After his lock up, Verstappen and Red Bull made the call to pit both drivers on lap 44 as the gap between Leclerc and Sainz for Perez was getting greater and greater. However, when Perez came out the pit lane, he was passed by Hamilton. A worried Verstappen radio‘d to his team that he is experiencing oversteer and the steering wheel was hard to turn 1 lap after his pit stop. Hamilton then pitted for softs releasing Perez again on Lap 45. On lap 46, Gasly’s Alpha Tauri dramatically burst into flames as he pulled at the same spot Romain Grosjean had his horrific accident in 2020.
The safety car was deployed and shortly after, Leclerc pitted so he had better tyres to fight off Verstappen. The Red Bull crew were in the pit lane ready to receive Verstappen under safety car but Verstappen didn’t feel the need to pit. Even at lap 49, Pierre Gasly’s car was still unable to be touch as it was unsafe. Verstappen reported to the team on the radio that it it a “lot harder to steer at speed”. He was told shortly after that the situation “was not getting worse”. On lap 50, the message came through that the safety car would be in that lap and the racing got back underway on lap 51.
Leclerc had a brilliant restart and it was Sainz who was looking for a move on Verstappen but could not get it done at turn 1. On lap 53 out of 57, DRS was enabled and down the back straight, Sainz looked very close to the back of the Red Bull and pulled out ready for a move at turn 11. Sainz forced his way passed the Red Bull of Verstappen. When the Red Bull exited the final corner, we saw it going very slowly down the main straight and Verstappen was out of the race as he pulled into the pit lane to retire. Then, Perez reported a loss of power on lap 56 and dramatically spun at turn 1 on the final lap as his engine cut out which promoted Hamilton into a surprise podium spot.
The chequered flag waved and Charles Leclerc had won Ferrari’s first race since Singapore 2019 and Sainz came home second completing a Ferrari 1-2 with Lewis finishing P3 which would of come as a relief to the Mercedes team considering their lack of pace compared to the Ferrari and Red Bulls. Russell had a good comeback finishing P4 behind his teammate and Kevin Magnussen finishing a very impressive P5 which I’m sure would’ve put a smile on Gunther’s face. Bottas got P6 on his debut with his new team Alfa Romeo, with Zhou finishing P10 getting a point on his debut and completing a double points finish for Alfa Romeo team. The Alpines 7th and 9th for Ocon and Alonso respectively with Yuki Tsunoda finishing in P8. A day to forget for Mclaren as they only finished 14th and 15th but better than Red Bull as neither car finished.