Ferrari qualifying report: Charles Leclerc P1, Carlos Sainz P3

Ferrari qualifying report: Charles Leclerc P1, Carlos Sainz P3 | 2022 F1 Bahrain GP. Ferrari qualifying report.

The talking and sand-bagging stopped now as the first qualifying session of the 2022 Formula One season got underway at the Bahrain International circuit. Just like last season Q1 was 18 minutes long, and the five slowest drivers were eliminated at the end of it: Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Nico Hulkenberg (Aston Martin), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Nicholas Latifi (Williams) were out in Q1, as Scuderia Ferrari drivers showed a really good pace: Charles Leclerc set the best time with a 1:31.471 – going more than 0.4s faster than Verstappen, while the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz was second, about 0.1s slower than his Maranello teammate. Disappointing results there for Tsunoda, Ricciardo and Aston Martin – the only team with both cars out in Q1. Great work from Alex Albon to make it through in the Williams, meanwhile.

One change for this year is that teams will no longer start the race on the tyre they set their fastest time on in Q2, so there was less tyre strategy in the second part of the qualifying session at the Bahrain International circuit. Charles Leclerc’s first time was 0.6s off Max Verstappen’s 1:30.757, but the Monegasque driver was on used tyres. Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Mick Schumacher (Haas), Lando Norris (McLaren), Alex Albon (Williams) and Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) were out in Q2, as Lando Norris joined his McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo on the side-lines for Q3. Max Verstappen finished Q2 fastest for Red Bull, but only by 0.030s from Carlos Sainz and a tenth from Charles Leclerc, while that P12 for Mick Schumacher was his best ever qualifying result in Formula 1. A strong start to the season for the 22-year-old Ferrari junior.

An epic pole shootout was in store for the final part of qualifying: after the first laps, Carlos Sainz set a 1:30.6 benchmark, just ahead of his Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc, while Max Verstappen was third despite being just 0.056s off Carlos. Lewis Hamilton was once more marginally faster than his Mercedes team-mate George Russell, but a huge 1.4s behind Carlos Sainz’s leading time.

On the final runs, Charles Leclerc claimed first blood for Ferrari by taking P1, while Max Verstappen was 0.1s behind, with Carlos Sainz is in P3 and Sergio Perez in P4. So close between Ferrari and Red Bull and a perfect start of the season for the Maranello team, who is finally back! Now Ferrari will be hoping to capitalize on the strong qualifying result and go for a double podium finish tomorrow.