2022 Bahrain GP – Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2, Red Bull late disaster

Charles Leclerc celebrated in the first race of the season for Ferrari ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz after Max Verstappen retired three laps before the end from second place due to a technical problem, just as his team mate Sergio Perez.

Leclerc led ahead of Verstappen in the final lapse, but the Dutchman had to retire due to car fuel supply problems and leave Ferrari with a 1-2victory.

Perez spun in the final lap at the exit of the first corner after he too had problems with the fuel system and fell to 18th place in moments as he defended third place from Hamilton.

For Ferrari, this is the first victory at the opening of the season since 2018 when Vettel celebrated in Australia and the first victory since the Singapore GP in 2019 when it also celebrated Vettel, and the last 1-2 victory at the opening of the season Ferrari achieved in Bahrain in 2010 with Alonso and Massa.

The leading trio kept the positions at the start, and Hamilton overtook Perez for fourth place while Bottas was the biggest loser of the start as he fell from sixth place to 14th.

Russell also started well and came from ninth to sixth while Magnussen broke through from seventh to fifth, although he lost his place to Perez and Russell in the first laps.

Perez overtook Hamilton on his way to the Turn 4 using the DRS while Hamilton defended the inside but could not stop the Mexican from taking fourth place.

Leclerc built a more than three-second lead over Verstappen after ten laps while Sainz was five seconds behind Verstappen.

Hamilton switches from soft to hard tyres after 11 laps, and Verstappen takes soft again in the 15th lap, as does Sainz at Ferrari who had a very fast pitstop of 2.3 seconds.

Leclerc makes his tyre change a lap later and also takes the soft and comes out right in front of Verstappen who attacks him at the start of the next lap with the help of DRS, but Leclerc strikes back in the first DRS zone on braking for the fourth turn.

The same scenario was repeated in the next, 18th lap, and in the 19th lap Verstappen braked too late for the first turn and failed to take a temporary lead.

Hamilton replaced hard with medium during the second tyre change in the 28th lap, but the team warned him to keep an eye on the tires in the exit lap to endure them to the end.

Verstappen enters the pits for the second time at the end of the 30th lap and soft changes the medium, with Leclerc following him a lap later and regaining the lead.

Verstappen and Perez entered the pits for the third time in the 44th lap and put on soft tyres, while Ferrari held the leading two positions with Sainz 18 seconds behind Leclerc.

The Sainz lap later also enters the pits for the third time, as does Hamilton, and the next lap Gasly retired due to a malfunction on the power unit and causes a safety car to come out.

Leclerc seizes the opportunity and makes a third tyre change during the safety car, takes the soft component and returns to the lead ahead of Verstappen, Sainz, Perez, Hamilton and Russell.

The safety car retreated at the end of lap 50 and the race continued in lap 51, with Verstappen managing to defend second place from Sainz while Perez remained ahead of Hamilton and Russell.

But Verstappen then started to slow down and fall in the standings after which he entered the pits due to car problems and Ferrari held the first two positions ahead of Perez and Hamilton at the time.

Perez lost the rear end in the first corner of the last lap due to engine problems and left Hamilton in third place while Russell finished fourth in the second Mercedes.

Magnussen had a dream return to F1 in fifth place for Haas and Bottas managed to recover from a poor start and finished sixth for Alfa Romeo.

Ocon finished seventh for Alpine as Tsunoda splits two Alpine drivers in eighth place ahead of Alonso who was overtaken by his team mate who had five laps fresher tyres.

The last point in today’s race was won by Zhou in his first appearance in Formula 1 while Schumacher was also close to the first point as he finished 11th.

The next race is scheduled for a week in Saudi Arabia.

BAHRAIN GP RESULTS

Fastest lap: Charles Leclerc – 1:34.570 (lap 51)

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 1/22 RACES

CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP