Reigning world champion, Max Verstappen emerged quickest in Friday Practice for 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Having finished fifth in an unrepresentative FP1, Verstappen managed to raise his speed under the lights in FP2 to finish the opening day of the 2022 season fastest ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
All ten teams though finally got to discover the likely pecking order as all 20 cars competed together for the very first time this season, in a campaign which has seen new technical regulations mix the order up.
Now, here is a full roundup of Friday Practice at 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.
FP1
Charles Leclerc was the first driver out on track to officially kick-off the new season but it was McLaren’s Lando Norris who set the initial pace on soft tyres with 1m 36.584.
Shortly after Norris went top of the timesheets, there was a 12 minute red flag to allow marshals to safely remove debris on the main straight, which contained cracked pieces from Esteban Ocon’s right-rear sidepod which had dislodged from his Alpine car.
Once the session resumed, Verstappen went top on medium tyres with 1m 34.783 ahead of Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez.
Everyone switched to soft-tyre qualifying simulations in the final 20 minutes with George Russell becoming the first driver to dislodge Verstappen at the summit, having posted 1m 34.629, which was soon bettered by Pierre Gasly with a session topping 1m 34.193.
Eventually come the checkered flag, Gasly’s fastest lap wasn’t challenged as Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished second and third for Ferrari, albeit on the medium tyres ahead of Russell, Verstappen, Lance Stroll, Lewis Hamilton, Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda and Perez who rounded out the top ten.
Aside from Leclerc and Sainz, Verstappen, Perez, Schumacher and Magnussen also set their fastest FP1 lap times on the medium tyre.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 1m 34.193 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.364 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.428 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.436 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.549 |
| 6 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.621 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.750 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.807 |
| 9 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.835 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.857 |
| 11 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 0.860 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.958 |
| 13 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 1.451 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Aston Martin | + 1.622 |
| 15 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.730 |
| 16 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 2.111 |
| 17 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 2.209 |
| 18 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 2.343 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 2.611 |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | No Time Set |
FP2
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was first out on track but it was Leclerc who instantly set the pace with an early flier of 1m 33.121 on mediums, which nobody else managed to beat on their opening runs as Verstappen found himself 0.500 seconds off the Monegasque driver.
Everyone soon switched to representative soft-tyre qualifying simulations with Alonso soon setting the initial pace as he posted 1m 32.877 to go top in the 26th minute, only for Leclerc to better his effort two minutes later with 1m 32.263 to go fastest.
Verstappen however shortly after the halfway mark produced a 1m 31.936 to top the session ahead of Leclerc, who finished 0.087s shy after needing a second flier like his Ferrari teammate – Sainz who finished third ahead of Russell and Alonso to round out the top five.
Valtteri Bottas rebounded from technical issues which stopped him from setting a lap time in FP1 to finish sixth quickest ahead of Perez in seventh, as Hamilton found himself ninth and sandwiched by Haas’ Mick Schumacher and Magnussen in eighth and tenth respectively.
FP2 eventually finished without any trouble as everyone completed race simulations with exception of Daniel Ricciardo, whose McLaren suffered a water leak which forced him to finish his day early.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 31.936 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.087 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.584 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.593 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.941 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.015 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 1.022 |
| 8 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 1.149 |
| 9 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.208 |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.247 |
| 11 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.344 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.424 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 1.685 |
| 14 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.853 |
| 15 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 2.017 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 2.022 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Aston Martin | + 2.125 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 2.230 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 2.550 |
| 20 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.789 |
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