2022 Bahrain Grand Prix Review

The Bahrain grand prix played host to first round of the highly anticipated 2022 season and it certainly didn’t disappoint. After some of the biggest rule changes in the history of the sport the grid order for Sunday’s race was quite unexpected, with Haas and Alfa Romeo towards the front, whilst Mercedes and McLaren had taken huge steps backwards. The Ferrari’s and Red Bull’s looked to be in a league of their own, with Leclerc and Verstappen separated by just a tenth in qualifying with the Monegasque driver taking his first pole since Azerbaijan in 2021. The start was relatively clean, with Leclerc holding the lead over Verstappen and taking control of the race in the early phase, in which it became apparent that it would be a two-way fight for victory as Sainz and Perez in 3rd and 4th began to drop back from the lead duo. The first round of pitstops came quicker than expected, with Verstappen electing to undercut Leclerc on lap 14, a strategy which proved effective as the two emerged side by side when Charles stopped a lap later. The two battled hard for a number of laps with neither wanting to concede defeat, however when Verstappen locked up into turn one on lap 17 it gave Charles all he needed to retake control of the race. Much remained the same until lap 44 when Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri caught fire, leading to a late safety car to be brought out. This would’ve allowed Verstappen to have another go at challenging Leclerc for the win, however both Red Bulls began to experience engine issues and had to retire just three laps from home. This allowed Ferrari to cruise to the finish, taking an emotional 1-2 for the team which had struggled so much across the past few seasons. Lewis Hamilton also rounded off the podium, an impressive feat given how much Mercedes appear to be lacking pace compared to the front runners.

Driver Reviews:

Mercedes:

Hamilton: 8/10, After testing and practice it appeared that Mercedes’ ‘sidepod-less’ design was nowhere near as quick as many thought it’d be. In fact, Mercedes were scarily off the pace, closer to the midfield pack than they were to the front running pair of Ferrari and Red Bull. This was not an issue for Lewis however, who kept his and the teams' spirits high, extracting every ounce of performance that he could from the car over the weekend. This consistency was rewarded as Lewis was able to pick up the pieces from Red Bulls double retirement to claim a highly unexpected 3rd place, to the delight of both him and the team. Lewis will have to keep maximising points until the car improves if he wants another shot at an 8th world title.

Russell: 6/10, For the so called ‘Mr. Saturday’ it was a fairly underwhelming qualifying session for George as a mistake on his final run meant he’d be starting ninth, far off what his teammate was able to accomplish. He didn’t let this disrupt his weekend however as he quickly made up for lost ground during the race, moving himself back up behind his teammate. In fact, throughout the race his pace was actually close/on par with what Lewis was doing, indicating we can expect more from Russell as the season unfolds as he becomes more comfortable in his Mercedes overalls.

Red Bull:

Verstappen: 7/10, As reigning world champion Max had high hopes to carry that momentum into the new era of Formula 1 and after pre-season testing, most would’ve said that Max and Red Bull looked to be favourites. However, as we got towards the business end of the weekend the Ferrari’s turned up the pace, with Max fractionally missing out on pole to Charles Leclerc. In the race he fought hard, but the speed of Ferrari and Leclerc was just too strong for the Dutchman, to compound his misery his race ended just 3 laps from the finish as he was forced to retire with engine issues. This season certainly won’t be a cruise for Max, and he will need to bring his A-game if he wants to beat the Ferrari’s to the championship.

Perez: 5/10, After a rocky first season at Red Bull, Sergio was looking to start strong in a bid to mount a challenge to Max’s status as undisputed number 1 at the team. Whilst his weekend wasn’t exactly perfect, he did put on strong showing keeping tabs with Max in both qualifying and the race, showing some particularly impressive speed in the middle stint of the race on the medium compound tyres. Unfortunately, he too was cruelly robbed of a podium as his engine gave up just two laps from home, raising questions over the reliability of the Red Bull car, an issue which has plagued them for much of their history.

Ferrari:

Leclerc: 9/10, Charles had a tough 2021 season, with inconsistency leading to teammate Sainz finishing above him in the drivers’ standings, causing some in the paddock to question whether he was truly the number 1 at the team. These doubts were crushed however, as Charles put on a true champions drive with his teammate unable to get near him for much of the event. He was under heavy pressure from the unrelenting Verstappen in 2nd, however he kept a cool head all race long keeping the Dutchman at arm’s length. Times have been tough at Ferrari in recent years; however this performance will be highly encouraging for the team, who will no doubt begin to dream of a potential title push in 2021.

Sainz: 6/10, After a great start to life at the Scuderia in 2021, Carlos would’ve hoped to use 2022 to establish himself as Ferrari’s number 1. This didn’t quite pan out for Carlos as the weekend unfolded, he was routinely lapping slower than Leclerc across the weekend, even saying himself how much he was struggling to maximise the pace in the car. He did a good job in qualifying as he was only a tenth off Charles, however in the race he dropped back some way, failing to keep up with the pace of the lead battle. He eventually came home to claim 2nd rounding off a Ferrari 1-2, but he was audibly disappointed on the radio, with this a clear statement of intent from Carlos that he’s not happy with being the slower Ferrari.

McLaren:

Norris: 5/10, After a disastrous spell with Honda power units in the early hybrid era, McLaren steadily made progress back towards the sharp end of the field. However, this first race of 2022 sent the Woking based team straight back to square one, with both cars languishing down at the back end of the field. Norris extracted as much as he could from the car, however that was only enough for a dismal 15th place finish. If this start to the season is anything to go by, then Lando may be looking upon his decision to sign a 4-year contract with regret.

Ricciardo: 4/10, After an underwhelming debut season with McLaren, Daniel was looking to start strong in 2022, however his weekend proved to be anything but. After missing the Bahrain test due to COVID, he was on the backfoot heading into the weekend and this showed in qualifying as he was knocked out in Q1, nearly 5 tenths down on his teammate. Raceday was a small improvement for Daniel as he managed to finish above Norris, however he and the team are far off the performance they would’ve hoped for at the start of the season, adding another chapter to Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren nightmare.

Alpine:

Alonso: 6/10, Now the most experienced driver on the grid, Fernando heads into his 19th season this year and he showed no sign of letting up at the first race in Bahrain. It was a successful Saturday for the Spaniard as he outqualified his teammate to claim 8th, 1 place better than he managed a year previous. The race was slightly more uncomfortable for Fernando as he struggled for outright pace vs his teammate and eventually slipped down to 9th. Not an incredibly glamourous weekend, however he brought home some solid points and showed his and the cars potential throughout the weekend.

Ocon: 6/10, Following a tough few seasons in F1, 2021 was a fantastic year for the Frenchman taking his first victory and proving a tough match for the highly revered Fernando Alonso. Looking to start the season strong, qualifying didn’t quite go to plan, narrowly missing out on Q3 at the hands of Pierre Gasly. The race was much better for Esteban, showing good speed in the new Alpine A522, jumping his teammate to claim 7th and a good haul of points for the Enstone outfit. Whilst they haven’t made huge performance gains, the French team will certainly be happy to have kept their status as a strong midfield team, given the vast change in fortunes for some of their rivals.

Alpha Tauri:

Gasly: 6/10, Pierre and Alpha Tauri has been a perfect match for the past few years, routinely extracting the maximum from the car weekend after weekend. This season began in very much the same vein as he qualified 10th, continuing the trend of him outqualifying his teammate Tsunoda. The race was going well for Pierre as he was looking on target for a good haul of points, however just like his Red Bull counterparts he ran into engine trouble late on, meaning he left Bahrain with nothing to show for his good performance.

Tsunoda: 5/10, In the wake of a tricky rookie year for Yuki, in which he struggled for both consistency and pace, he and the team hoped that the 2022 rule changes would give him a clean slate to build from and establish himself as a true F1 level talent. In qualifying however it was the same old story for Tsunoda as he struggled for pace, only managing 16th on the grid, nearly half a second down on his teammate. Whilst qualifying was typical Tsunoda the race wasn’t, he showed good pace early on working his way through slower midfield cars and towards the fringes of the top 10. Somewhat ironically, he then made use of the late safety car caused by his teammate Gasly, in order to claim a few extra positions and round off the day in P8. Yuki once again showed that he does have the quality required to cut it at motorsports pinnacle, however he’ll need to carry this form with him for the rest of the year in order to justify a third season in the sport.

Aston Martin:

Stroll: 3/10, He may be named ‘Stroll’, but this weekend was anything but as Aston Martin struggled for pace across the event. Lance had a particularly torrid time of things in qualifying, being beaten by temporary teammate Hulkenburg who was drafted in last minute to replace Sebastian Vettel, who tested positive for COVID-19. The race wasn’t much of an improvement either, whilst he did get ahead of his teammate the pace still wasn’t there for Aston, being stuck with McLaren and Williams as the ‘backmarkers’, in the end coming home a disappointing 12th.

Hulkenburg: 5/10, Nico made his 4th emergency appearance since leaving the sport in 2019, being given the title of ‘super sub’ by many fans. Despite qualifying not being so super for Aston Martin, Hulkenburg will take satisfaction from the fact he was able to beat his teammate fairly convincingly with only a few practice sessions worth of running in the new cars. Whilst the race pace wasn’t quite there for Hulkenburg it was still an impressive performance none the less, opening the door for a potential F1 comeback in the future for the German.

Williams:

Albon: 7/10, After a year on the side-lines, 2022 marked a return to the grid for Alex Albon, a return that he and his employers will be happy with. From the weekends outset it was clear that Williams did not have a quick car, however when qualifying rolled around Alex got the best out of the package, sneaking into Q2, being nearly second quicker than teammate Latifi. It was a similar story in the race with Alex spending much of his time trying to keep faster cars behind him at bay, he did this well, maximising his own race to finish a respectable P13 upon his return.

Latifi: 2/10, Following the departure of George Russell, Nicholas had big shoes to fill as he leads the team into a new era of Formula 1. However, after watching this weekend’s performance you’d be forgiven for thinking that he’s the debutant at the team, not Albon. It was ugly for the Canadian on Saturday being comfortably the slowest car, nearly a second off teammate Alex; things didn’t improve in the race either, falling off the back of the pack almost into a race of his own as he struggled to find the pace Albon could, in a tricky Williams car. Coming into his third season now, it still feels like we’re yet to see any improvement from Nicholas, with his status as a ‘pay-driver’ far from being lifted.

Alfa Romeo:

Bottas:7/10, Following his departure from the all-conquering Mercedes team, many expected Bottas to be languishing towards the back end of the field this year; but as Mercedes struggled and Alfa Romeo thrived, meaning he was much nearer to the front than anticipated. In qualifying he claimed an excellent P6, just three tenths off Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, but the start undid all of Valtteri’s good work as he got away badly and slid down out of the points. Much of the race was spent recovering the positions he’d lost, but he made easy work of it, quickly passing cars and returning to the points paying positions. A late safety car helped him massively, bunching the pack up and allowing him to make a few extra moves to claim 6th at the finish, a promising start to a new chapter of his career.

Zhou: 5/10, After he was announced as Alfa Romeo’s new driver for 2022, there came some criticism from fans who felt he perhaps didn’t deserve a seat in F1, however this weekend helped his case in proving the doubters wrong. Whilst he didn’t fair too well in qualifying, with a mistake leaving him in P15, he did his best to make the most of the clear speed that the car had in the race. His pace was impressive, keeping tabs with both his teammate and competitors in the midfield, putting himself in a good position to score some points. His work was rewarded as a late safety car and a few retirements allowed him to jump up to tenth place, to cap of a satisfactory debut for the young Chinese driver.

Haas:

Magnussen: 8/10, It was a late call up for Kevin, being announced as Haas’ new driver just before the first Bahrain test; and with a year out some may’ve wondered if he would perhaps be slightly rusty going into the season. It certainly didn’t pan out that way as Magnussen slotted right back into the team as though he’d never left, taking P7 in qualifying, a miraculous upturn in fortunes from the season before, being the only team to better their qualifying time from last year. Things got even better in the race as he was the class of the midfield, being rewarded at the end with a fairy-tale P5 finish on his F1 return.

Schumacher: 4/10, After an impressive rookie season, this race proved to be a wakeup call for Mick that he’d have to up his game to compete in the ever so competitive midfield pack. He struggled for pace in both qualifying and the race, not managing to find the same speed from the car as teammate Magnussen throughout the weekend. A collision with Ocon at the start didn’t help his situation, but ultimately he wasn’t at the level expected this weekend and will need to up his game if he wants to be taken seriously as a true star of the future.