Team ratings in Bahrain | Celebrations for Ferrari, drama for Red Bull

F1 News

21 March 2022 at 16:23
Last update 21 March 2022 at 19:56
  • GPblog.com

The opening race in Bahrain was immediately packed with excitement and thrills. Ferrari performed excellently with a one-two, and Red Bull Racing had a disaster with a double DNF. Which teams did well in Bahrain? And which teams were the setbacks of the weekend?

Ferrari - 10

Ferrari's performance was the big feel-good story of the weekend. The Italian racing team managed to take P1 and P3 in qualifying with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, and in the race, partly due to the retirement of Max Verstappen, Ferrari managed to secure a one-two finish. With that, it had pretty much a perfect race weekend.

Red Bull Racing - 2

Red Bull Racing were hoping to get off to a strong start at the Bahrain Grand Prix, but the Austrians appeared to be having major problems with the pace of Ferrari. They therefore seemed to have settled for a second place for Verstappen, but that wasn't the case. Both Verstappen and Perez were forced to retire late on with technical problems. It therefore provided the team with a disappointing weekend.

Mercedes - 7

Mercedes were not expecting to get many points. The team of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were clearly looking for speed and could not find it in qualifying either. Hamilton and Russell started fifth and ninth respectively, but this did not prevent the team from getting on the podium. With a third and fourth place Mercedes could be satisfied given the circumstances.

McLaren - 1.5

In the run-up to the new season, McLaren seemed set to do well. The British racing team looked like they had a car that was good enough to fight with the top teams, but there was little evidence of that in Bahrain. Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris did not manage to secure a point and finished in 14th and 15th place. The final result was undoubtedly painful for them.

Alpine - 6.5

Alpine stated prior to the new season that they would like to compete towards the top of the grid, and in Bahrain, the team showed that it can be fairly strong this season. With seventh and ninth place finishes for Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso respectively, the French team looked stable once again. Alpine will want to maintain that level in the coming races.

AlphaTauri - 6.5

Last season, AlphaTauri came up just short of securing fifth place in the Constructors' Championship. It therefore hopes to perform a fraction better this season. Yuki Tsunoda showed with his eighth place that he has learned enough, but the retirement of Pierre Gasly was disappointing. AlphaTauri will look back on the weekend with mixed feelings.

Aston Martin - 3.5

Aston Martin missed Sebastian Vettel in Bahrain and that was not the only disappointment of the weekend. With Nick Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll, the team was unable to get a decent result. While the Canadian finished in 12th, Hulkenberg crossed the line last of those to finish. The team will therefore quickly shift their thoughts to next weekend.

Williams - 6

With the new regulations coming into effect in 2021, Williams were hoping to make a big jump this season. However, the first race gave little hope. Like last season, Williams couldn't advance through the field as neither Alexander Albon nor Nicholas Latifi finished in the points, so there is plenty of work to be done.

Alfa Romeo - 8

Alfa Romeo has two new drivers in the team this season with Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou, and both drivers scored in the season opener. The Chinese driver finished in 10th place on his F1 debut, while Bottas even managed to secure sixth. For Alfa Romeo, therefore, the season couldn't have started better.

Haas - 8.5

Haas had great difficulty last season with Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin and did not manage to get a point. In the first race of the new racing year, though, their counter already stands at 10 points. Kevin Magnussen had a great start and ended up in fifth place, and this performance will undoubtedly give hope to Haas.