Friday practice for the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, ended with an important confirmation of what we had learned during the official Formula 1 pre-season testing session in Sakhir a few days ago: barring any last-minute surprises, it will be a fight between Max Verstappen and Scuderia Ferrari for the first pole position of the 2022 F1 championship: “The tests had indicated that we and Red Bull were the fastest and that Mercedes was not that far off. This first day confirmed the impressions that emerged during the winter” – said Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto after Friday practice.
Red Bull with Max Verstappen showed the great potential of the RB18 car: “Having already run here in the testing session, we start the weekend with a better setup” – said the Dutch world champion – “We tried a few things on the car and everything seems to have worked well. It was a positive day “. There was a rather different job at Red Bull among the drivers, both “technically and mechanically” as Christian Horner said at the end of the day. This explains, at least partially, the time difference between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
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The RB18 seemed well balanced in the corners, managing to gain half a second on the F1-75, with the greatest advantage between Turn 10 and Turn 13. This would suggest a complete domination from Red Bull. In reality, the F1-75 performed very well in traction and on the straight, recovering more than four tenths as compared to the world champion’s RB18. An excellent performance especially in the straight that goes from turn 11 to turn 13 where the Monegasque managed to recover a tenth and a half, as revealed by formu1a.uno: “Even if no one was at the limit today, I think we are where we hoped, which is more or less there with Max. For now it’s okay,” Charles Leclerc said at the end of the day. “Tomorrow I hope to feel as comfortable with the car as today, because that way we can fight for pole,” he continued, talking about possible “small details” regarding pole position.
The third free practice session takes place today at 15 local (13 CET) ending two hours before the start of the qualifying session. The 18th Bahrain Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday at 18 (16 CET).
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