Charles Leclerc takes pole, Mercedes lack pace, HAAS makes the top 10 – 2022 Bahrain GP Qualifying

The first qualifying session of the 2022 season got off to a thrilling start.
With brand new cars and brand new tyres, this was the first real test for teams and Ferrari grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Charles Leclerc in his striking red Ferrari was just a fraction faster than World Champion Max Verstappen and he secured the pole position. This proved that the preseason testing was pointing us in the right direction with the Ferrari duo showing a dominant display during all three qualifying sessions.

With 8 world constructors’ championships in the last 8 years, Mercedes are certainly always the team to beat. However, it looks like they finally laid to rest the rumours that they were sandbagging. Speaking to sky sports F1 Hamilton said that he would most likely be involved in a race with the drivers behind him as he believes the cars ahead of him are in a league of their own. 

 

The final standings are:

1. Charles Leclerc Ferrari
2. Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing
3. Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari
4. Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing
5. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes-AMG
6. Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo Racing
7. Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari
8. Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault
9. George Russell Mercedes-AMG
10. Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Red Bull
11. Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault
12. Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari
13. Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes
14. Alex Albon Williams-Mercedes
15. Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo Racing
16. Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Red Bull
17. Nico Hulkenburg Aston Martin
18. Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes
19. Lance Stroll Aston Martin
20. Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes

 

An ecstatic Charles Leclerc spoke said” It feels good. Yea. the last three years have been incredibly difficult for the team and we hoped that this new opportunity was an opportunity to be back in the front. I think we have worked extremely well as a team to find ourselves in a position to fight for better places. we are happy with today, it’s been a very tricky qualifying session.”

 

The fight for the top 4 spots raged on from Q1 with the Ferrari and Redbull drivers swapping places across the sessions. It was finally the Ferrari drivers who came out on top. Following a tight Qualifying session, Max Verstappen added “I think it was a bit of hit and miss, it’s hard to tell. Q2 was good and then Q3 was a bit of a struggle to get the balance together. But nevertheless, I think we have a good race car which at the end of the day is the most important thing. It’s a good start to the new era.” 

 

A surprise entry into the top 10 was definitely Kevin Magnussen. The Danish Driver found immense pace from the HAAS – Ferrari and managed to finish a stunning P7, ahead of Mr. Saturday George Russell. This was probably a huge relief to the team that has been through a lot in the past few weeks. The car showed real pace and looked threatening throughout the qualifying sessions. Valtteri Bottas too managed to impress with a p6 finish only behind the Ferrari, Redbull and Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. The Finnish driver managed to keep the pressure on all the drivers in his Alfa Romeo. His teammate Guanyu Zhou struggled with his car and did not make it out of Q1 on his F1 debut. 

 

The Bahrain Grand Prix takes place tomorrow at 8:30 PM IST. The race will be the first race of the new season and more importantly, We will see the first action of racing in this new era of Formula 1. An era that has seen the cars undergo a drastic redesign in order to allow for better and closer racing.