The 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022) is a Formula One race that takes place on March 20, 2022 at the Bahrain International Circuit. Contested over 57 laps, it serves as the season opener of the 2022 Formula One World Championship and is the eighteenth running of the Bahrain Grand Prix. The event, officially known as the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022, takes place from March 18–20, 2022 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain. The track has hosted all seventeen previous Bahrain Grands Prix, as well as the Sakhir Grand Prix, a one-off race held with a different track configuration in 2020. The 2022 weekend marks the third time the race serves as the Formula One season opener, after 2006, 2010, and 2021. In recent years, Mercedes has dominated at the track, winning six of the previous eight Bahrain Grands Prix, including five with Lewis Hamilton. Going into the weekend, Hamilton and Mercedes are on a streak of three consecutive victories at the event. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc won the race after starting from pole position, his first win since the 2019 Italian Grand Prix. He led all but two laps and scored a hat-trick with pole, race win, and fastest lap, falling just short of a grand slam. His teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. finished in second with Lewis Hamilton in third, as reigning champion Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez both retired from podium positions with fuel problems late in the race. It was Ferrari's first win and 1–2 finish since the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix. The race also saw the debut of Zhou Guanyu, who became the first Chinese driver to race in Formula One and the first to score points. At the previous Formula One race, the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen wins his first Drivers' Championship, following a season-long battle with Lewis Hamilton. A controversial safety car restart enables Verstappen to overtake Hamilton on the last lap, winning the race to become champion and denying Hamilton a record-breaking eighth F1 title. Following the controversy, Formula One race director Michael Masi is removed from his position and replaced by Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich, who alternate in the role. Mercedes wins a record-extending eighth Constructors' Championship, securing the title at the final race of the season as well.
The 2021 season is the first since 2008 in which the champion driver does not drive for the champion constructor. Major technical changes planned for 2021 are implemented for the 2022 season, after the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic force their postponement. Ground effects are reintroduced with the aim of making following and overtaking other cars easier, and the sliding scale used to calculate a team's aerodynamic testing allocation is modified to boost lower-placed teams. The team budget cap is also reduced from US$145 million to $142.4 million. The race weekend is preceded by a pre-season test that also takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit, from March 10–12. Ferrari and Red Bull are regarded as the quickest constructors, with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner describing the Ferrari F1-75 as being the "most settled" car on track, and both Mercedes drivers naming them as the fastest teams. During the test, Mercedes reveals a minimalist sidepod design on their cars that differs significantly from the rest of the grid. Both of the team's drivers express skepticism about the car, with Hamilton revealing his struggle to tame it. The reintroduction of ground effects means that many constructors encounter porpoising during pre-season testing, which is resolved to differing levels of success - Ferrari and Red Bull are able to fix their problems in advance of the race weekend, while Mercedes continues to struggle with the issue for the opening rounds of the season. Multiple teams change their driver lineups for the 2022 season, with drivers debuting for their new teams at the event. Alfa Romeo signs Valtteri Bottas to replace Kimi Räikkönen, who retires from Formula One. George Russell replaces Bottas at Mercedes and vacates his seat at Williams, which is filled by Red Bull reserve driver Alex Albon. Zhou Guanyu is signed by Alfa Romeo, after a third-place finish in the 2021 Formula 2 Championship. He is the only rookie to join the grid in 2022. Nikita Mazepin is contracted to drive for Haas, but is replaced by Kevin Magnussen after his sponsor's contract is terminated following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Magnussen had previously competed with Haas from 2017 to 2020. Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel tests positive for coronavirus before the race weekend and is replaced by reserve driver Nico Hülkenberg. This is Hülkenberg's first race since his one-off appearance at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix.
On Friday, March 18, 2022, three hour-long practice sessions are held at the Grand Prix, with two on Friday and one on Saturday before qualifying. The first session starts at 3:00 p.m. local time, and is red-flagged when Esteban Ocon's Alpine sheds its sidepod bodywork on the main straight. After a restart, the session ends with Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri fastest, on soft tyres. Max Verstappen tops the second and third sessions, with Charles Leclerc narrowly behind in both outings. Reigning Constructors' Champions Mercedes struggle for pace throughout the free practices and place no higher than fourth on the timesheets, with Lewis Hamilton describing the team as being a long way off from the front of the grid. Yuki Tsunoda does not set a time in the third session, being forced to return to the garage with a hydraulic leak before he can complete a lap. The last free practice session will be held, in which Verstappen will set the fastest time despite a wheel lock; behind him, Leclerc will be the author of a track exit. At the end of the session Verstappen himself says:
"The car felt good today, testing here last week means we've all started in a good place. We had quite a straightforward and smooth day so I'm pretty happy, we also tried a few things on the car in each session and they seemed to work well. You can see that Ferrari are pushing hard and are very close so that’s exciting. Looking ahead, we’ll have to wait and see with different teams' engine modes, no one is in which spec yet so I think everyone still has a lot more to give. It’s good to see the teams are all closer together, in general that’s what everyone wants and I think over time teams will get even closer together".
Sergio Perez is third, ahead of George Russell, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton and is satisfied with the return to the track and confident in view of qualifying day:
"It's nice to be back out on track for a new season. We have some work to do overnight to find a good compromise with the set up. We tried some different settings across the two cars, so I think we have good data to look at and then we can pick out the best bits for qualifying tomorrow. We are learning a lot about the tire degradation and overall, there is some work to do but I am hopeful we will have a positive day tomorrow. FP2 will be the most useful session before qualifying because the conditions should be similar and I think it will be interesting to see where everyone is come Saturday evening. The pack is really close and I think the race will be even tighter so there will be some good racing all around".
Different sensations for the two Mercedes drivers. George Russell declares:
"It's all about lap time and we're certainly not where we want to be. We made progress on solving some of our issues but the pace isn't there at the moment. We need to go over the data tonight to understand where we're struggling with the car. We've got lots of work ahead of us to get the car where we want it but if any team can, we can. It was windier today than last week, you're running at different times of the day, plus we're trying lots of things on the car to improve performance, so there's so many factors for us to weigh up. We are truly throwing everything at it to unlock the performance which we think is there but we're struggling to tap into at the moment. We need to go away, do our analysis and make the best of this situation".
Perplexity, similar to Russell’s one, is shared by the teammate, Lewis Hamilton, who states with a critical point of view:
"In the second session, my front two discs were at different temperatures, the left one running cooler and the right one coming up in temperature, so when hitting the brakes the right one was pulling the steering. It meant you didn't get the laps in so that wasn't great but it's not a massive issue and we can fix it. The bouncing we're experiencing is losing us downforce compared to the others which is making it much harder out there. We're not bluffing like people assume we are but we'll work as hard as we can to get through it and do what we can. At the moment, we 're not going to be in the race for the win here, Red Bull are 0.8/0.9s ahead and Ferrari are half a second ahead so we're scrapping with whoever is behind them. I'm still calm, just trying to be the best I can be and get the best out of the car. It's not ideal but we'll pull together as a team to try and fix it".
After a particularly complex World Championship, in Ferrari both the drivers seem to have found the right feeling with the single-seaters and beyond the times obtained. In the post-free practice interviews, the drivers themselves confirm it. Sainz argues:
"FP1 went well, the feeling with the car was good and an improvement from testing. Unfortunately, in FP2 this good feeling went away a bit, we didn't nail the set-up and I struggled to put a clean lap together. We definitely need to have a close look at that tonight. I'm confident we can get back to the feeling from this morning and we'll be ready for qualifying".
Good sensations also confirmed by Leclerc who states:
"Our first two sessions have gone rather well, without any issues. We seem to be quite competitive, but we have to keep in mind that it is still early to draw any conclusions. I am quite confident in the car and it felt good overall. We tested many things and worked on the car a lot since the first session. We made good progress and have to keep pushing to find small details ahead of qualifying tomorrow".
At the end of the third free practice session, Carlos Sainz Jr. is summoned by the stewards for exiting the garage while Fernando Alonso arrives. The Spanish Ferrari driver thus receives a reprimand. Fernando Alonso, post free practice session, declares:
"It was a good day for us today and we completed our program efficiently. It was a lot cooler today than last week at testing, so we tried to adapt to these different conditions and learn how the tires work at these temperatures. Obviously, some tweaks are still needed on the setup of the car. We'll look at this all tonight and digest all of our information. There are many questions left for us to answer tomorrow, but I think overall it was a positive day for us".
Focus on the development of single-seaters are also shared by Mattia Binotto, who is enthusiastic about the results obtained so far and about the red drivers:
"The tests had indicated that we could be fast and that Verstappen could be just as fast, if not faster. Mercedes is very close, however, and these sessions are confirming that. You have to keep your feet on the ground. The competition is strong. It will be this weekend and then for the whole season. You have to aim for the best, including victory. So, the enthusiasm is right and it's right to believe. But we must not be too eager. The engine has improved a lot since last year. Then we will see it better tomorrow in qualifying, when everyone will unleash every horsepower. Mercedes, us and Red Bull didn't push hard. You have to conserve the engine. Let's wait 4-5 races, then we'll see the real values. Competitiveness will change depending on each track. Carlos is good and I am confident that tomorrow he will be able to get close to Charles' pace. Being able to count on two drivers who can score points is fundamental. That's why we make a great team. The budget cap issue is difficult: I was joking with Red Bull's technical director about this. They brought an update at the end of the test and I laughed and said: now you've already run out of budget to update. Joking aside, the only way to stay within it is to tweak the developments. Second place? That would be a good result, as would having two riders on the podium. But we want to try and aim high".
On Saturday, March 19, 2022, Qualifying starts at 6:00 p.m. local time and lasts for one hour. Both Aston Martins are eliminated in Q1, along with Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo, and Nicholas Latifi. The session also sees Valtteri Bottas unexpectedly place his Alfa Romeo in fourth position, with Kevin Magnussen of Haas one place behind him. Fellow Haas driver Mick Schumacher places 13th, which gives the team their first Q2 appearance with both cars since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix. In his first qualifying outing for Williams, Alex Albon sends his Williams 15th fastest, completing a lap time almost a second faster than that of his teammate, Latifi.
In Q2, Verstappen is quickest, closely followed by the two Ferraris. Sergio Pérez is behind them, ahead of the Mercedes drivers in fifth and sixth. Before he is forced back to the garage with a hydraulic issue, Magnussen manages to place seventh, securing his team's first Q3 appearance in over two years, while a late lap from Valtteri Bottas knocks Esteban Ocon out of Q3 by 0.065 seconds. McLaren and Williams both fail to make Q3, with Lando Norris and Alex Albon being eliminated at the end of the Q2 session. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari wins pole position, ahead of Verstappen and teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. Sergio Pérez qualifies fourth, three-tenths of a second behind Sainz Jr. Mercedes manages fifth and ninth place, with their two cars split by Bottas, Magnussen, and Fernando Alonso. AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly completes the top ten. Charles Leclerc claims that today's victory does not allow the team to relax because the opponents to beat are strong and that the most challenging part was identifying the winning combination of tires.
"We knew that it was just a matter of time before we were back in the mix and I’d like to thank our whole team for the hard work that everyone has done to put our car back where it belongs. We are all happy with today’s result, but at the same time we are aware that we can’t relax and have to keep pushing because our competitors are strong. We focused on short runs so far in the weekend in preparation for qualifying and did a lot of high fuel laps during testing, so we have gotten to know the car in different situations and it feels good. The trickiest part today was putting the tyres in the right window, but at the end I put it all together and it feels really good to be back on pole".
And Carlos Sainz Jr. also acknowledges that the weekend has not been easy and that there is work to be done, but the Spanish driver is glad.
"It’s not been an easy weekend for me up until Quali, but we managed to put together a very strong performance this afternoon. Fighting for pole until the very last attempt is good news. The gap at the top has been super narrow all session, so overall I cannot be too disappointed with this first qualifying of the year. Congrats to Charles for this result and to the entire team for giving us such a competitive car. It’s a promising start. Looking ahead to the race, I think there’s still a bit of work to do from what we saw during the long runs in practice, but we will definitely give our maximum. I can’t wait to race tomorrow".
Over the course of the Championship, Mercedes will know the car more and more and adopt the necessary improvements to return quickly competitive.
"Again, purely based on assumption that we’ve seen on pace, I don’t think we can match the leaders’ performance at the moment. I personally believe there are simple solutions to get the performance back, that will start to crystallise, and it’s 23 races. Even if you lose a race or two and you end up outside of the podium, nobody is protected from DNFs or crashes in a way, and we’ve seen last year - they played a big role - so we’ll give it whatever we can, bring updates as quickly as we can and understand the car more and try to find performance".
In contrast to Christian Horner, who expressed satisfaction with the work of the Reb Bull Racing team:
"I think the whole technical team have done a tremendous job. Last year was such an intense title fight, that obviously drew us into developing RB16B later into the season than would have been ideal for such a new set of regulations. So the hard work, long days, weekends that have been worked by the whole technical group to come out with a car that - you know, we felt we'd be very much on the back foot coming into the season, but I think we've got a good foundation and it's going to be a season of hard development".
So he adds:
"I think Ferrari have looked quick from the first lap of testing, I don't think Mercedes have showed their full potential yet, so I think what's important for us is that we focus on ourselves, extract every bit of performance we can out of this new car".
From the Mercedes team, Toto Wolff recognises the difficulty of analysing today's performance level, which, however, earned it the third place as the fastest team on the grid behind Ferrari and Red Bull.
"We have to be realistic about our performance level at the moment and that is the third quickest team on the grid. Lewis put the car there and for George, it was probably us misguiding him in his last outing because we advised him to push the outlap stronger and he had no edge anymore with the new tyre. It's very difficult to make a judgement on PU performance at this stage - our data shows we are running more drag than anybody else, and you can see we are losing on the main straight but not so much on all the other areas of the track. So we need to make an assessment after the first couple of races to see if we are lacking power. Realistically, we are missing about half a second on a single lap. Let's see tomorrow - whatever happens, we're gathering valuable learning. We have been in difficult situations in the past against a very strong Ferrari Power Unit and last year we were four tenths off Max at the first race, so we just have to keep our heads down and find the performance".
Indeed, for George Russell, today's test was not what he expected because it was a second slower in Q3 than he did in Q2. However, he does not seem bitter to have tested a different strategy with tyres, although it did not work, because his goal is to beat Ferrari and Red Bull and win the podium:
"Today wasn't ideal for me, I went one second slower in Q3 than I did in Q2; with only one set of fresh tyres for Q3, I tried something different on my out-lap and it didn't work. I'm glad I tried something because we want to be fighting Ferrari and Red Bull. We had one shot, maybe it was too risky but we're here to fight for podiums and victories, not to settle for P5 and P6. The pace of our car is definitely behind Ferrari and Red Bull, and ahead of the rest of the midfield, so my target for tomorrow is to get ahead of that group. We're trying absolutely everything at the moment to solve our global issues with the car. We all knew with the regulation change that anything could happen, the only promising thing is we have major issues and we're still the third-fastest team. If we were in this position and everything felt great, then we'd be a little bit puzzled. It race day tomorrow and I'll be giving it my all".
Overall, the teammate Lewis Hamilton is satisfied with the result achieved in this qualifying, given the difficulties the team had last week. The English driver recognises the superiority of the two teams in pole position. Tomorrow, he will try to play a lot with the strategies to keep the pace and stay in the fight.
"The session was tough but I'm really proud of what we've managed to do, given the issues we've had the past week. Those guys ahead of us are on another level at the moment but there's a lot to play for tomorrow at the start and with strategy so I hope I can at least stay with them and stay in the fight. We're not quick enough to win but I told you that before the weekend. It was looking like we were further behind last week, we've made some improvements and we're closer, so I'm proud of what we've achieved and where we've got to. I hope we'll make another step next week and bit by bit, we'll hunt those guys down. The improvements come from our collective efforts, we're working as hard as we can and I know it's a long, long way to go but I love a challenge".
The World Champion Max Verstappen comments positively on his start of the season, stressing that of course, you always want more. The Dutch driver adds:
"Overall, it’s not a bad position to be in, of course you always want more but this is a positive start to the season. I think we have a good race car which is important and with it being the start of the season, there are still a lot of things to learn. Q2 was good but Q3 was a bit more hit and miss with not really getting the right balance. There was some oversteer and understeer so you can’t really attack the corner which makes it quite difficult to put that lap together, so that’s something we’ll need to look into. The Ferraris are of course very close and it’s going to be a tough battle, they have two strong drivers so it’s going to be exciting. The weather is meant to be warmer tomorrow so it’ll be a bit tougher on the tyres. As a Team we just have to see how competitive we are in the race, it’s a long season and a lot can happen".
Sergio Perez is optimistic about tomorrow's race. Although he failed to get the most out of his car, he got a great starting position and hopes to recover some places tomorrow.
"I am optimistic about tomorrow and in the race anything can happen. I just didn’t manage to get one hundred percent out of the car today but we still have a good starting position and I hope we can make up some positions come race day. It is great to have other teams up there to make things more competitive, but it is a long road ahead and what matters is tomorrow. I think P3 was possible if we had put everything together and I was able to do that final corner again, I ran a bit too much curb through it. It would have been good to start on the clean side of the grid but a lot of overtaking can happen here and hopefully we are able to fight the Ferraris and have a good race for the fans. I am looking forward to it, I want a strong lap one and strong pace. My goal is to at least get on the podium and get a one, two for the Team. We are in a good position to fight the Ferraris".
Comments the Red Bull RAcing Team Principal, Christian Horner:
"With a completely new car and new regulations, to be on the front row, we are very, very happy with where both cars have qualified. We put a lot of effort into last year, we were late coming onto this car, and I think the Team have done a wonderful job. With such a clean sheet of regulations, everything is different, but the times are so close, so it’s going to be a great race. We don’t really know how strong the long-run pace of Ferrari is, we’ve also got more to find out about ourselves and it’s only going to be when the lights go out tomorrow that we’ll see what kind of shape we are in. It’s going to be interesting to see how the strategies unfold with these new cars and critically can we follow closer due to the new regulations?"
On Sunday, March 20, 2022 at 4.00 p.m. the lights go out and the Bahrain Gran Prix, first stop of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship, officially begins. At the start, Leclerc manages to hold Verstappen off on the opening lap, while Sainz Jr. is in third position, Hamilton goes fourth and Kevin Magnussen on Haas moves up two places to fifth. At the same time, Perez loses two places from the start and Bottas, who started sixth, is fourteenth by the end of the opening lap with a getaway. After a good start, Mick Schumacher loses one place and goes thirteenth, having been tipped into a spin by Ocon, who will have a five-second penalty in the pits for this reason. On the third lap, Magnussen and Perez go wheel-to-wheel through the first sector but the Haas driver suffers oversteer down the hill and goes in sixth place, while the Mexican driver goes on. Soon after, the Danish driver loses another place to Russell, who started ninth. Hamilton runs after Sainz but, on lap 9, Perez steals the fourth position from the Britishman on the run up to the fourth corner. Hamilton is also the first to stop (he goes from hard to soft tyres) and then returns twelfth behind the Alfa Romeos. However, he soon goes eleventh off Guanyu. Leclerc is still ahead of Verstappen in the battle for the lead, when the Red Bull driver pits on lap 15 to swap to another set of softs.
A lap later, Leclerc choses to stop, emerging then just three-tenths ahead of Verstappen. The 2021 world champion slices past Leclerc with DRS at the start of lap 17 but the Ferrari driver fights back on the run to the fourth turn and retains the lead. Verstappen makes the same move at the start of lap 18, but Leclerc hits back down the inside of the fourth turn. The champion comes back on lap 19, but has a big lock-up down the inside of the first corner and Leclerc takes the lead once again. Verstappen stops again for medium compounds on lap 31. Leclerc does the same on the next lap with a switch to mediums and emerges with a more comfortable lead, followed by the team mate Sainz and Perez. On lap 34 Sainz enters the pits, followed closely by Perez. Verstappen pits for the third time on lap 44. Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri comes to a halt in flames on lap 46 bringing out the Safety Car: the top five remain as they started the race. The Safety Car leaves the race on lap 51 and soon after, Verstappen warns of a possible steering issue, and has a slow getaway out of the final corner. There is also a power unit issue which is plaguing Verstappen’s RB18; Sainz and Hamilton pass while the champion goes back to the pits on lap 54. At this time Perez is favourite for the third position, but while Hamilton is on his tail the Mexican begins to worry about power unit issues too. So, on the first corner of the final lap, the second Red Bull spins and is forced to retire, giving Hamilton the podium place. Charles Leclerc on Ferrari wins the 2022 Bahrain Gran Prix, while Mercedes manages to salvage a podium and the fourth position with Russell. In fifth place is Magnussen, while his team mate Mick Schumacher is eleventh. Alfa Romeo manages a double-points finish; Ocon, penalised for that contact early on, rescues the seventh position, while Alpine team mate Fernando Alonso manages to place ninth. Between the Alpines is AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda, eighth after a rapid Safety Car restart. Three Mercedes-powered teams lose out on points: Aston Martin, McLaren, and Williams. So, the season begins with a victory for Ferrari and a sour note for Red Bull, while Mercedes obtained a good result despite lagging behind the frontrunners. Happiness for Ferrari, whose team principal of Scuderia Ferrari, Mattia Binotto, is proud of the perfect race done and of the team, who has all his trust:
"I'm Happy. Beautiful team result. I personally never doubted the team. Maybe someone did. I know that the team is strong, worked in a united way. I also believe that it has tightened up after the problems of 2020. We have done everything to arrive at today prepared. We couldn't have hoped for a better result today. It's great to come to the race and know that we can fight for the best result. Next week we are already in Jeddah, a completely different track. We are curious to see how we will go there. Then I am already thinking about Imola. We are very keen to see our fans. We knew we had two cars and we knew we had Max in the middle. We looked at scenarios where we would catch him in the vice. The first goal was to try not to let Max win today. He was our opponent today. It didn't matter if one or the other of our drivers won in that logic. We were lucky in the last laps. But you have to look for luck. We were there. Carlos was aggressive after the restart following the Safety Car. He would have tried his best to make it regardless of Max's problems. Great pit stops today. The guys have trained a lot. They've been training with these tires since April 2021 to begin to understand how to make perfect tire changes".
So he adds:
"We reported the problems with the covers to the FIA and they modified them for everyone because they couldn't get them off. The mechanics made more than 1300 pit stops before Christmas, a sign of dedication to their work and to the team. I'm happy for everyone, in Maranello, on the track and for the drivers. We want to fight on the track meter by meter. Charles did a great race. Today Charles was the best example, defending the position when it was time. Being Ferrari is our vision. It identifies us. We've been the only one in F1 forever, the most successful team ever. There's that passion behind it, our cheering. All of Italy is there. I think today's result also gives morale to all of us in this situation that we live in, with the Covid before and the war after. It's nice and I'm personally proud of what we've done in these months, working hard and with our heads down trying to pull out products that would lead us to celebrate today. Frenzy in the past calling for change? I never doubted the team. We have been criticized, but in those moments you have to act as a lightning rod and let the team work calmly. We also have foreigners, Enrico Cardilè is in charge of the chassis, while Enrico Gual-tierr is in charge of the power unit".
The winner Charles Leclerc confirms the hard work of the team, who created a good car to be in the title fight, despite the last two years have been tremendously difficult:
"Bahrain isn't always representative of the pace you'll then have throughout the year, so it doesn't mean it's going to be like that all year. But it does mean that we are there, more or less. Now we have to work harder than ever to try and win this title. Even if it's very early in the year, but I believe in it and I want to believe in it, otherwise it's no use coming on the track. I always want to win, this year it looks like we have the car to be in the title fight. So we have to have that as a goal. The step forward in terms of the engine has been great, this is thanks to the team. But the car in general is going well, the balance is good. In my opinion, it's the result of two years of hard work, where we understood where we wanted to work and understood what we drivers needed to make 100% of our driving pay off".
On the podium, he adds:
"I'm really happy. The last two years have been tremendously difficult for the team. We knew this was a great opportunity for us and the guys did an incredible job delivering and building this fantastic car. We got off to the best possible start. Pole position, win, fastest lap, one-two with Carlos. We couldn't have hoped for better. Thanks to all you guys who have continued to support us over the past two years. To be back on top is incredible. Duel with Max? I tried to be as smart as possible, using the DRS in the best way and trying to brake early in turn 1 to be right behind him with the DRS. It worked. I regained my first position and I am very happy that this strategy worked. Safety Car? I wouldn't have wanted it to be there, but I got a great restart and kept the margin to control the race".
Same for Carlos Sainz Jr., even if this has been a diffuclt weekend for him:
"We deserve this result. You can't imagine how much we have worked to get there: finally Ferrari is back and has done it great. I think it's a very good day for everybody: it doesn't happen every time, as we have seen in the last 12 years. For me it was a very difficult weekend, honestly. Maybe it's strange for me to say this, but as a Ferrari driver it's the most difficult weekend I've had. Already in free practice I had no feeling and I was very far from Charles. In qualifying I already had some good laps and I was almost on pole, but in the race I went back to the feeling I had on Friday and I struggled with the rear tires, with which I usually never struggle. I had a lot of degradation, but if in the most difficult weekend as a Ferrarista I do second is not so bad. I have to learn now, work and come back stronger. The car is beautiful. At night to see two cars come back on parade like that is beautiful. We made a really nice car and also fast, which allows us to fight for victories. Now we have to exploit it well".
Lewis Hamilton, who harried Perez during all the race and ended in third position, declares that this has been a difficult race, even if it endend with a good result. Despite this, the team has to solve that pace deficit to the Bulls and Ferrari cars ahead:
"A big, big congratulations to Ferrari, I'm so happy to see them doing well again, they are such a historic and epic team. It was a difficult race for us today, we've struggled throughout practice and this is really the best result we could have got. Of course it was unfortunate for the other two drivers but we did the best we could and we are grateful for these points. I know the guys are working really hard back at the factory and it is not going to be a quick turnaround but we've been the best unified team for so long, we all know to just keep your head down, keep working, there's a long way to go. We've got to maximise our weekends and at some point, we'll be back in the fight".
His team mate, George Russell, who pulled off some good moves to climb from ninth to sixth, tracking his team mate who was always a few seconds ahead, declares that the car has a lot of potential and it is now important to understand how to extract the performance:
"It was a positive race, I made a good start and then Lewis and I were on a race of our own, albeit on different strategies. We came home with a P3 and P4 for the team which we would have definitely taken prior to the weekend so in a long championship, we can be pleased with how today went. Considering we're half a second behind in qualifying and probably the same, if not more, on race pace, it was a good damage limitation weekend. There's a lot of potential in the car and we really need to dig down into the data and understand how to extract the performance. We recognise our rivals are a long way ahead of us, we know what the overall limitations of the car are, and we won't settle until we have the chance of the win".
The Team principal of Mercedes, Toto Wolff, looks at the future improvements:
"Today we were punching above our weight class, with the Red Bulls DNF-ing, but third and fourth is a fantastic result. I think with the Soft tyre, on pure pace before the tyre degrades, we are almost there - not where Leclerc is but with the others. Then degradation is too big and today we tried to do something different by putting the Hard on but it was a second slower every single lap so lesson learned. I think we were over winged today, we had too much drag and that is just because we are lacking parts at the moment but hopefully we can remedy that, and make progress on the top two's advantage. We really need to leave no stone unturned on the PU side and look for all performance gains but the wing was the issue for us today on straight line speed. At the moment we are fifth and sixth on the track, and we are trying to recover ground but it is not going to come from one day to the other - we'll keep pushing".
Bad race for the Red Bull Racing, that will conduct a full investigation into what happened. The team principal of Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner, says that it looks suspiciously like the failures are related to each other and the reason for these may be an issue with the fuel system:
"Obviously we are hugely disappointed to lose the chance of podium finishes today, but congratulations to Ferrari on their one, two finish and a return to the front. We will need to conduct a full investigation into what happened, but it looks suspiciously like the failures are related to each other and it may be an issue with the fuel system. The positive side for us is that we clearly have a competitive car, I don’t think we quite had the pace today, but there was some great racing between Max and Charles. It’s an incredibly long season with 22 races remaining, so we need to get on top of whatever this issue was today and come back stronger next weekend".
Max Verstappen pushed Leclerc all night for the lead, twice passing the Monegasque driver only for Leclerc to take the position back a couple of corners later. But after the final pit stop, the Dutchman started to drop back with what seemed to be a steering issue, before retiring with a fuel pump problem:
"We were feeling quite competitive throughout the weekend so the result today was very unfortunate for us. The problems started initially with the brakes, they were overheating so I had to lift off and as a result I lost pace and had to let Charles go. After that, there were still a few issues with car balance and after my final pit stop my steering wheel was locked. That made it very difficult to drive so defending from Carlos at the re-start wasn’t easy. The final issue looked like a fuel system problem, which is why I had to retire and it was extremely painful for both our cars to DNF. We don’t know exactly what went wrong yet but we’ll definitely analyse the data and make sure we learn from it. At the end of the day, motorsport is unpredictable and these things can happen, this is race one, we have plenty more ahead of us".
Sergio Perez moved up to fourth after a bad start and alternated between attacking Sainz ahead and defending from Hamilton behind. After the retire of his team mate, he suffered issues too, and in the end spinned his car in the first corner after his engine stalled:
"It was going to be a great start to the season but unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get the result we were hoping for. It is very disappointing to not be able to execute the result we wanted; we had the podium in our pocket until the last lap. A couple of laps before the end I could feel I was losing power, we knew there was an issue and we knew what had happened with Max. I had a similar issue to his car, at the moment we think it was a fuel system problem and basically the engine just stopped. It is tough to digest but we are going to look for the positives and come back stronger next week in Jeddah. I am sure we will get to the bottom of the problem, we are a great Team and I really believe in them. Today is very disappointing and an unfortunate start to our season but a year is a long time in Formula 1 and we’re only one race in".
The Red Bull retirements also took Zhou into the points in his first race:
"I am so happy, I am speechless. There are so many emotions tonight but my first thought is for the team: seeing how everyone worked so hard to go from where we were at the end of last year to where we are today is so incredible. My biggest dream was to race in Formula 1, then to score points and tonight we did both: being on the grid before the race, with the other 19 drivers, was crazy enough, but the race itself was so intense. It wasn’t so physically, but rather mentally: I had an issue at the start, the car went into anti-stall at turn one and then I knew I would have to do something special to recover to the top 10. I pushed a lot, caught up with Valtteri and then lost track position again when the Safety Car came out, before climbing back to P10 - such a rollercoaster. I tried to give everything I had tonight as this meant so much to me and all those who supported me. The cool-down lap was quite emotional: I am so proud of my team and of my team-mate, for all the work we did together to bring home this reward. It is a day I will never forget and I will enjoy the moment for a while, but then it’s all attention to Jeddah: there is a lot more we want to achieve".
What an incredible start for the Scuderia Ferrari. We haven't had such a good start in years. Very competitive, but less reliable, also the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, who will be able to make up for it in Jeddah, in seven days time. And also Lewis Hamilton, while taking advantage of the defaillance of his opponents, in the end managed to achieve an excellent third place. There is now wait for the second round of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship, which will be held on Sunday, March 27, in Saudi Arabia, on the circuit of Jeddah.