Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc scored his tenth career pole position and started the 2022 Formula One season in a perfect way after a great lap in the qualifying sessio for the Bahrain Grand Prix, as the revolutionary new generation of Formula 1 cars sporting brand-new 18-inch Pirelli tyres made their debut under the floodlights in Manama.
The Italian official tyre supplier has decided to bring the three hardest compounds in the new 18-inch tyre range for the first round of the new championship in Sakhir: the C1 compound is the P Zero White hard, the C2 is the P Zero Yellow medium and the C3 is the P Zero Red soft which is one step harder than the selection made last season.
Sakhir is a stop-and-go track where the rear tyres work hardest due to the longitudinal loads. The asphalt abrasion is high due to a high percentage of granite within the asphalt, which leads to high levels of wear and degradation. A further complication is the sand that blows in from the surrounding desert, causing a lot of sliding.
Charles Leclerc completed Saturday’s qualifying session using the P Zero Red soft tyre only: a total of four sets, one each in Q1 and Q2, then two sets in Q3. All the other drivers followed this strategy with the only exception being the Williams duo of Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi, who did an in and out run with the medium compounds.
Pirelli feels that the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix should be a two-stopper taking into consideration the Sakhir abrasive asphalt and demanding circuit layout. Based on the data collected in the official winter test and during Friday practice in Bahrain, all three compounds can be used for a two-stopper or alternatively two set of softs and one of medium, which is reckoned to be the fastest strategy option on paper, without taking into consideration track position or Safety car periods that can lead to different strategies.
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The Italian tyre manufacturer believes that a one-stopper can also be taken into consideration but should be slower given the long runs completed on Friday afternoon.
This season there is a major rule change that now does not require the top ten drivers to start the race on the set of tyres with which they set their fastest Q2 times. It means that the teams are now allowed to make their own choice of starting tyres and this should lead to even more strategy option than last year. There has been a big performance gaps between the different compounds, meaning that those starting on the soft tyres can enjoy a big performance advantage not only at the start, but also in the first couple of laps.
Evaluating the qualifying session, Pirelli’s Head of F1 and Car Racing Mario Isola explained: “In qualifying we finally saw the true pace of all the teams. With cool temperatures that were similar to FP2 and the hardest tyres in the range selected this weekend, tyre warm up was marginal, especially with track temperatures dropping as the evening went on. Another decisive factor in the qualifying strategy was the removal of the rule this year that obliged drivers to start the race on the tyres with which they set their best Q2 times. As a result, everyone begins the race tomorrow on an entirely level playing field and the focus tonight will shift towards the race strategy, and which tyres to start on. With a big performance gap between the compounds, this adds another level of complexity to what is already a tricky decision, as the new formula makes its race debut on Sunday. We’re expecting slightly warmer conditions compared to today and two pit stops; but there may be scope for some drivers to do something different,” Mario Isola added.
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