Charles Leclerc Leads Ferrari 1-2 In F1 Bahrain GP

Charles Leclerc dominated the Bahrain Grand Prix to give Ferrari the win from pole position in the opening race of the Formula 1 season Sunday. Carlos Sainz followed closely behind to give Ferrari the 1-2 finish, their first since Singapore 2019, which was also the team’s last win. 

He’s already the first Monegasque to win in Formula 1, scoring his third win, and now is the first-ever driver from Monaco to lead the point standings.

Leclerc led a big comeback for a team that’s struggled mightily over the last several years. He recognized that “the last two years have been incredibly difficult for the team, the guys have done such an incredible job building these amazing cars, we couldn’t hope for better.  Thank you for all of you guys… it’s tremendous to be back at the top.”

He battled with reigning champion Max Verstappen all day. Leclerc said that throughout the race: “I was trying to be as clever as possible, using the DRS as much as possible. Twice it worked out, so just incredibly happy it worked out that way.”

The race went to a late restart after an electrical fire from Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri. That bunched up the field and gave Leclerc a fight, but: “I did a great restart and that gave me a little margin to then manage my race until the end.”

Teammate Carlos Sainz made a pass on Max Verstappen in the dying laps on Max Verstappen for second, just before electrical problems forced the world champion to retire his car. “I said ‘this is my chance,’” he said, “and I went for it: I had a good run on him. It is what it is, and it’s good for Ferrari.”

He was quick to say “congrats to Charles and congrats to Ferrari. Ferrari is back and it’s properly back. The hard work is paying off.” However, he was frustrated with his pace throughout the weekend, and added: “For me it’s been a tricky weekend, didn’t have the pace today, but I managed to bring the 1-2 for the team. Got some homework to do.”

The Mercedes cars struggled mightily, but all things considered, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff called their podium “a fantastic result.”

His driver Lewis Hamilton picked up the podium after Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who also experienced major issues with the car, spun. Hamilton said: “Big congratulations for Ferrari, it’s great to see them doing well again, congratulations to them. This is really the best result we could’ve got.” 

He predicted improvements going forward, though: “I know the guys are working really hard back at the factory, we’ve been the best unified team for so long, just keep your head down and keep working.”

The Mercedes power unit struggled throughout the field, though. Besides Red Bull-powered retirements, all the last six cars throughout the entire race were powered by Mercedes, in the form of the Aston Martin, McLaren, and Williams. 

FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX 2022 – RACE RESULT

20 Mar 2022 Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir

Pos No Driver Car Laps Time/Retired PTS
1 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 57 1:37:33.584 26
2 55 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 57 +5.598s 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 57 +9.675s 15
4 63 George Russell Mercedes 57 +11.211s 12
5 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 57 +14.754s 10
6 77 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo Ferrari 57 +16.119s 8
7 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine Renault 57 +19.423s 6
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri RBPT 57 +20.386s 4
9 14 Fernando Alonso Alpine Renault 57 +22.390s 2
10 24 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo Ferrari 57 +23.064s 1
11 47 Mick Schumacher Haas Ferrari 57 +32.574s 0
12 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes 57 +45.873s 0
13 23 Alexander Albon Williams Mercedes 57 +53.932s 0
14 3 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren Mercedes 57 +54.975s 0
15 4 Lando Norris McLaren Mercedes 57 +56.335s 0
16 6 Nicholas Latifi Williams Mercedes 57 +61.795s 0
17 27 Nico Hulkenberg Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes 57 +63.829s 0
18 11 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing RBPT 56 DNF 0
19 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing RBPT 54 DNF 0
NC 10 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri RBPT 44 DNF 0

* Provisional results. Note – Leclerc scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

Owen Johnson

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