Red Bull issues allow Hamilton to pinch podium in Bahrain GP won by Leclerc
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Charles Leclerc has won the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix and confirms Ferrari are serious contenders for the Formula 1 World Championship again. The man from Monaco started from pole and controlled the race to lead Ferrari to their first win since the Singapore Grand Prix in September 2019. Leclerc had to survive a late safety car restart but was helped with a power steering issue for Max Verstappen who was forced to retire a few laps later. Sainz finished second, with Lewis Hamilton stealing a podium on the last lap.
After the first pit stop, Leclerc and Verstappen engaged in a fantastic multi-lap battle with overtakes and re-overtakes. The aim of making the cars follow each other closely seems to have been achieved with the new regulations. Though many drivers, including the current World Champion, struggled with high brake temperatures. It was looking like a simple win for Leclerc until Red Bull rolled the dice with an extra pit stop inside the final 15 laps.
The dice was rolled again with a late safety car. The race resumed with six laps to go. Verstappen struggled with a power steering issue, which allowed Leclerc to gain one second on the opening lap. Verstappen was forced to retire with his steering issue before Perez spun at turn one a few laps later to leave Red Bull pointless. Hamilton gained from the Red Bull disaster to finish on the podium.
Mercedes, the winners of the last eight constructors World Championship struggled in Bahrain. They couldn't get close to the top two teams as Hamilton had some battles with Haas and Alfa Romeo. The Mercedes power unit came into question again, as the majority of the backmarkers were powered by Mercedes. This included McLaren who failed to make any gains through the field after a poor qualifying session. But the German team will be feeling better after the late drama.
The event was fairly incident-free, with the stewards only being required to investigate a lap one incident between Mick Schumacher and Esteban Ocon. The stewards decided to give Ocon a five-second penalty for causing a collision. Pierre Gasly was the first to retire on lap 46 with an engine fire.
After securing his 10th career pole position in Formula 1 on Saturday, Leclerc now has three F1 wins to name. He wins in Bahrain for the first time in his career, after painfully missing out on the same circuit in 2019.
END OF RACE
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 20, 2022
TOP 10
Leclerc
Sainz
Hamilton
Russell
Magnussen
Bottas
Ocon
Tsunoda
Alonso
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Mixed up grid
For the first time since 2007, a Ferrari car started the season opener from pole position. Charles Leclerc sat next to the 2021 World Champion on the front row. Red Bull and Ferrari also shared the second-row, with Lewis Hamilton starting from P5. His new teammate started from P9, with his former teammate Valtteri Bottas alongside in P6. Haas and Alfa Romeo excelled expectations in qualifying with top 10 starts. All drivers started on the soft tyre, except the two McLaren drivers.
On the opening lap, Hamilton made a place and Magnussen jumped two. Bottas dropped eight places, and Norris dropped four on the soft tyre. The top three remained unchanged despite battles at turn one and two. Mick Schumacher and Esteban Ocon had a bump on the first lap. The Haas driver had a spin but carried on. Ocon was slapped with a five-second penalty.
On lap 10, Perez and Hamilton continued their battle from Abu Dhabi. This time it was the Mexican who made the overtake proving the difference in the cars at this stage of the season. A few laps later, Hamilton made the first move for hard tyres as degradation looked high on the Mercedes.
The front runners pit
On lap 15, Verstappen came into the pits with Sainz for soft tyres. A lap later, Ferrari pulled Leclerc and only just managed to defend the Dutchman's undercut attempt. On the straight, Verstappen used DRS to overtake Leclerc. The new regulations came into the forefront, with the man from Monaco regaining the lead in the same sector. This triggered a battle that continued for four laps. The Red Bull team had to tell Verstappen to cool the brakes after a turn one lock up.
On lap 31, Verstappen attempted another undercut with the medium tyres equipped. Ferrari covered it off with a pit stop next time around. On the medium tyres, Leclerc was able to push and open the gap to Verstappen with 20 laps remaining. With the gap at five seconds, Red Bull rolled the dice with an extra pit stop for Perez and Verstappen on lap 44. Ferrari reacted with Sainz but left Leclerc on the circuit until they had a free pitstop with a safety car.
Leclerc aced the start and gained a strong advantage on the first lap following the restart.