Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari one-two to claim first victory at Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Charles Leclerc made motorsport history last night after leading teammate Carlos Sainz to a spectacular one-two for Ferrari in an epic Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022, which took place in front of a record Race Day crowd at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir. Leclerc became the first winner in F1’s new era. The desert sky was brilliantly lit with a stunning fireworks display as Leclerc crossed the finish line to claim the third victory of his F1 career and first in Bahrain. The chequered flag was waved by former Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.
Leclerc and Sainz were joined on the podium by seven-time drivers’ world champion Lewis Hamilton for constructors’ title-holders Mercedes. Following the race, the top three were awarded their respective trophies in the podium ceremony by His Majesty the King’s Humanitarian Works and Youth Affairs Representative His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa; Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister and Gulf Air Chairman Zayed R. Alzayani; Bahrain Motor Federation President and FIA Vice-President for Sport (Middle East) Shaikh Abdulla bin Isa Al Khalifa; and Mumtalakat CEO Khalid Al Rumaihi. Leclerc’s pole-to-flag win wrapped up a dream weekend at “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East”, as he also set the race’s fastest lap. It was also the first win for Ferrari in the FIA F1 World Championship since the 2019 season.
“I’m incredibly happy after the last two years, which have been very difficult for the team, for myself, for Carlos last year,” Leclerc said. “We had to work extremely hard and… to finally prove all the work we did in the last two years is paying off felt amazing. “So for now it’s started in the best way possible – pole position, victory, fastest lap, a onetwo today with Carlos – we couldn’t hope for better.
“I think I did a bit of a joke on the radio on the last lap saying there was something strange with the engine, which gave a heart attack to some of the engineers… but everything was fine. So, very happy this time we brought it home.” Contenders Red Bull Racing had a disappointing ending after a promising start. Reigning drivers’ world champion Max Verstappen was engaged in a tight battle with Leclerc for a majority of the race, but on lap 55 was forced to retire with a steering issue. Teammate Sergio Perez also had to prematurely call it a night after experiencing a power issue in his car and stopped on track in the final lap. Post-race, Verstappen said: “We were feeling quite competitive throughout the weekend so the result today was very unfortunate for us. The problems started initially with the brakes, they were overheating so I had to lift off and as a result I lost pace and had to let Charles go. After that, there were still a few issues with car balance and after my final pit stop my steering wheel was locked.
“That made it very difficult to drive so defending from Carlos at the re-start wasn’t easy. “The final issue looked like a fuel system problem, which is why I had to retire and it was extremely painful for both our cars to DNF. “We don’t know exactly what went wrong yet but we’ll definitely analyse the data and make sure we learn from it. At the end of the day, motorsport is unpredictable and these things can happen, this is race one, we have plenty more ahead of us.
” Leclerc crossed the finish line in a winning time of one hour 37 minutes 33.584 seconds. Sainz followed 5.598 seconds behind, while Hamilton took third 9.675s back. Holding position Leclerc did well to get away at the race start and was sideby-side with Verstappen as they headed down turn one. The Ferrari man managed to stay in the lead as, together with Sainz, the top three held their positions. Haas’s Mick Schumacher spun on the opening lap after making contact with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who was later given a five-second penalty for the incident. Later, on three successive laps from the 17th to 19th, Leclerc and Verstappen were engaged in exciting two-horse battle, with Verstappen snatching the lead heading into Turn One but then Leclerc quickly taking it back each time at Turn Four. On lap 45, Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri overheated and caught fire, bringing out the yellow flags.
Leclerc benefited from this safety car period as he was able to match the three-stop strategy of Verstappen for the restart. That set the stage for the exciting finish, when the Ferraris were able to charge to their onetwo with Hamilton and new Mercedes teammate George Russell following behind. Russell finished 11.211s from Leclerc, while Kevin Magnussen of Haas took an outstanding fifth place in the first race of his F1 comeback.
He was classified 14.754 seconds behind. Valtteri Bottas was another to impress in his first race with new team Alfa Romeo. He took sixth 16.119s from the winner, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was seventh 19.423s behind Leclerc and Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri eighth 20.386s adrift. Fernando Alonso (+22.390s) made it two Alpines in the top 10 being classified ninth while rookie Guanyu Zhou (+23.064s) had a fine start to his F1 career in 10th, rounding out the race’s points winners. Ocon commented of Alpine’s double points finish: “I’m very pleased with today and it’s a great start to the season with double points secured for the team. “Our pace today was strong, there were some good overtakes and the team made the right calls on strategy.
“I’d like to say a special shoutout to the pit crew as well who were excellent with so many pit-stops today. Other than the incident with Mick, which I hold my hands up and apologise for, I was pretty pleased with my race. “We will debrief with the team, we can take positives from today’s performance and we look ahead to next week.
Onwards and upwards.” Classified 11th to 19th, respectively, were Mick Schumacher (+32.574s) of Haas, Lance Stroll (+45.873s) of Aston Martin, Alexander Albon (+53.932s) of Williams, the McLaren pair of Daniel Ricciardo (+54.975s) and Lando Norris (+56.335s), Nicholas Latifi (61.795s) in the other Williams, Nico Hulkenberg (+63.829s) in the second Aston Martin, and Perez and Verstappen, who both had DNFs. Said Hulkenberg, who was filling in for Sebastian Vettel who had tested positive for COVID-19 right before the Grand Prix: “It was interesting to be back in a Formula 1 car for a Grand Prix again, especially in such a busy race with lots going on around me. “It was not easy to manage the tyres and drive with a changing fuel load.
The car balance was changing a lot too, and it is not easy to prepare for this until you start racing. We knew that today was likely going to be the most difficult day in the car for that reason, which proved to be the case. “I think I put together a good race, all things considered, with only the one mistake when I outbraked myself into Turn One. It was a more challenging race after that. I will be on standby should the team need me again and I am hoping that Sebastian makes a speedy return to racing.” Gasly was the only driver not classified. Leclerc’s fastest lap of 1:34.570 came on lap 51.
HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister at the BIC’s track and pit lane ahead of the race
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