Leclerc wins dramatic season opening Bahrain GP as Ferrari make statement of intent

In an eventful and dramatic season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, record World Constructors’ Champions Ferrari showed they are truly back in contention in the all-new 2022 Formula One season as Charles Leclerc dominantly steered the team to a one two victory alongside teammate Carlos Sainz in a race that witnessed a heartbreaking end to pre favourites Red Bull and a surprising result for reigning champions Mercedes.

With around twelve laps to go, Pierre Gasly’s car caught fire forcing the safety car to be deployed and consequently getting the pack of cars closer together. Immediately after, reigning driver’s champion Max Verstappen, who was in second behind Leclerc and ahead of Sainz and Lewis Hamilton, reported troubles with his car.

The car issues proved to be the major undoing for the Red Bull duo as both Verstappen and his counterpart Sergio Perez lost power, paving way for Sainz to jump upto second position with Hamilton finishing in an unexpected third position, Ferrari recording their first win since 2019 and Red Bull failing to collect any points as both drivers failed to finish the race.

Having started in ninth on the grid, George Russell collected a valuable P4 as the returning Kevin Magnussen incredibly completed the top five with his Haas.

The race started pretty much in control with Leclerc covering any danger from lights outs. The first duel of the season came on lap 15 when Verstappen almost reaped the benefits of the undercut as his previous 3.5 second deficit was reduced to just 0.35s after Leclerc pitted a lap later.

Wheel to wheel racing saw Verstappen take the lead twice but determined driving ensured the Ferrari driver just hang on the lead as the Red Bull number one locked up into Turn 1 on lap 19.

Red Bull attempted another undercut but this time a quick stop helped Ferrari maintain a good lead infront. Gasly’s incident on lap 46/57 ushered in the safety car and Verstappen’s steering and power issues that Red Bull could not deal with upon the race’s restart on lap 51. Sainz and Hamilton jumping into the podiums as Verstappen and Perez’s day went from bad to worse with their retirements.\

Valteri Bottas, now at Alfa Romeo, salvaged sixth position after a poor start that saw him drop from sixth to thirteenth at the start of the race. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon overcame a five second penalty for contact with Mick Schumacher to take seventh. P8 went to Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, Fernando Alonso P9 and an impressive Zhou Guanyu taking points in 10th position on his debut for Alfa Romeo.