There were a lot of surprises in this first qualifying session of the new era of Formula 1, which took place earlier today at the Bahrain International circuit in Sakhir. Scuderia Ferrari looked strong in the pre-season test session last week, but today the Maranello team amazed everyone, taking a pole position that many already thought was in the hands of Max Verstappen after the first free practice sessions on Friday. But what really amazed is the great work done on the power unit in recent months. Ferrari started with a disadvantage compared to the three competitors in 2021, but the work carried out especially during the winter has paid off.
This was also demonstrated by the two customer teams of Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Haas, who placed one car each in Q3 and both were close to Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes. The performance of Valtteri Bottas was wonderful, especially considering that the Finnish driver was able to adapt very well to a very different team – mainly in terms of resources – compared to the Mercedes world champion team for which he raced in the last five years and to immediately get the most out of the Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeo car.
The difficulties of the tests did not demotivate the Finn, who took the responsibilities of team leader, encouraging them to improve a lot and to solve the problems between the first and second winter practice sessions. Hard work, but one that he paid for and proves there is a good design basis so far.
“Ferrari did a great job with the engine – Valtteri Bottas immediately underlined at the end of the qualifying session for the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix – There is no longer a big difference between the various manufacturers. This is fairer. It depends on the car and the drivers and it’s nice like that. I am lucky and I like this new Formula 1 ″. – he added.
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“I did a good qualifying session, but there is also more variety in the Top-10. There are positions that change. Seeing Kevin Magnussen with the Haas seventh on the grid with the slowest car of last season is something crazy, but it’s also great for the sport” – former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas concluded.
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