Race week review
The anticipation building up to the start of the 2022 season was immense. The little moments of action in testing had everyone on edge, waiting for the real spectacle to take place. With new race directors, new regulations and new teams and teammates, this new era of Formula 1 was about to begin.
Excitement roamed the paddock, particularly in the Haas garage because the car looked relatively good. Gunther Steiner, famously known for kicking off many times on Drive to Survive was visible happy to have the new pairing of Magnussen and Schumacher lining up for them. With everyone making predictions on how the constructor’s championship would go, they were definitely right up in the mix.
Daniel Ricciardo, after missing the three days of testing in Bahrain for McLaren was rejoining the team, slightly on the back foot; nevertheless, ready to work. There were previously slight mentions of McLaren placing behind the top 3 of Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull, but a race weekend in Bahrain looked to cut those rumours short.
At the beginning of the race weekend, Aston Martin announced that four time world champion, Sebastian Vettel had tested positive for Covid-19 and would not race in Bahrain. He would go on to be replaced by their reserve driver Nico Hulkenburg.
Friday practice allowed the teams to become even more familiar with the circuit with the new cars. Pierre Gasly topped FP1 with his AlphaTauri while certain other teams were dealing with their own problems. McLaren we’re trying to make up for lost time in testing during the session. Seven time world champion Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were a little off the pace, trying new things with the car.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen topped the charts in FP2 followed by the two Ferrari’s, who were constantly showing that they had the pace.
Verstappen again finished P1 in FP3, with Leclerc and Perez second and third. Mercedes had much better running in the final session, finishing fourth and sixth.
Qualifying had everyone’s hearts racing; the first qualifying of the season was nothing short of a show stopper.
The two Aston Martin cars were both out in Q1, along with Tsunoda, Latifi and Ricciardo, who was not having a good start to the season.
The new signing for Williams, Alex Albon, was knocked out in Q2, his smiles and radio message to the team showing he was happy to have made it that far. Rookie driver Guanyu Zhou was also knocked out in Q2, along with Mick Schumacher (his highest qualifying position-12th), Esteban Ocon and the second McLaren of Lando Norris. It was not looking like a good day for the papaya team.
Impressively, Bottas and Magnussen made it to the top 10 shoutout. They qualified in sixth and seventh respectively. After the first round of runs, Carlos Sainz was on provisional pole but when it all came down to the final flying lap, Charles Leclerc edged out Max Verstappen for the first pole of the season in emphatic fashion.
Hamilton qualified fifth, behind Sergio Perez, while George Russell could only muster ninth place on his first outing as a Mercedes driver, something he’d have to make up for in the race.
The first race of the season, as you’ll see below in greater detail, was one you couldn’t miss. With lots of overtakes, interesting strategy calls, and all round great racing, we crowned our first race winner of the new era of F1. And he wore red.
Race report
We the fans were made a lot of promises before 2022. Formula One promised us that the new cars would be able to follow each other and race better. Ferrari promised us that they would be back. Steiner promised us that better things were on the horizon for Haas.
I, for one, think that every promise was delivered on.
The 2022 season opener was one of the most incredible we’ve seen in a long time. Pole sitter Charles Leclerc was able to convert his excellent Saturday work into a win for Scuderia Ferrari, and teammate Carlos Sainz pushed to make it a 1-2 finish for the team. 5th place starter Lewis Hamilton rounded off the podium in third place, with his brand new teammate George Russell finishing in fourth.
It was a dismal day for the Red Bull powered teams. Reigning champion Max Verstappen, who started 2nd and fought Leclerc for almost the entire race, wrestled with the steering on a difficult RB18, eventually retiring the car. Teammate Sergio Perez also spun into retirement at the end of the race, suggesting that the issue he faced was extremely similar to that of Verstappen.
While the race ended happily for Alpha Tauri driver Yuki Tsunoda, starting his second season in the sport, the same could not be said for teammate Pierre Gasly. On lap 46, the Frenchman’s car overheated and caught on fire, causing an immediate retirement for Gasly and bringing the safety car out on track for the first time in 2022.
It was a struggle of a weekend for Mercedes, who have in previous years been indisputably strong. This weekend the best the team could achieve was a 3rd place podium for Lewis Hamilton and a 4th place finish for George Russell. Hopefully the team will be able to improve the car in the coming weeks!
American-based team Haas had the opposite weekend – after a couple of years of misfortune, the team came barrelling out of the gate with a brilliant package. Returning driver Kevin Magnussen brought home a fifth place finish for the team, with teammate Mick Schumacher finishing in eleventh place – although it would be fair to assume that that will improve as the season goes by.
It was a double points finish for Alpine, with Ocon in 7th place and Alonso in 9th, with the car showing significant promise. The continuation of this strong driver lineup can only be good for Alpine, who will no doubt be regular points finishers once again throughout 2022.
Another team which showed significant strength this weekend was Alfa Romeo. After starting 6th, Valtteri Bottas was able to finish the race in the same position for his new team, whereas rookie teammate Zhou Guanyu was able to score a point in tenth place on his debut race, an excellent achievement for the sport’s first full-time Chinese driver.
However, while some teams were able to produce excellent results, some were not. McLaren found Bahrain to be incredibly difficult with neither driver able to score points. Daniel Ricciardo finished the race in 14th place after failing to leave Q1 on Saturday, ahead of teammate Lando Norris who finished the race in 15th place.
It was similarly disappointing for Aston Martin, with both Lance Stroll and reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg finishing the race towards the back of the pack, with Stroll in 12th place and Hulkenberg in 17th. It is expected that Sebastian Vettel will return to the team next week if testing negative for Covid-19, so it will be interesting to see how he is able to perform in the car.
Both Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi of Williams had a difficult Sunday, finishing in 13th and 16th place respectively. However, it was definitely a good race result for Alex Albon after a year away from the sport, and it will be exciting to see what the Thai/English driver will deliver this year.
We move onto Jeddah for the second race of the season where we expect to see more exhilarating racing!
By Leslie & Tara
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The Fastest Sector 