Charles Leclerc claimed his 10th pole position in F1 after clinching pole position in a thrilling Qualifying session for 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Reigning champion, Max Verstappen entered Qualifying as favourite after topping Friday Practice and FP3 but it was Leclerc who emerged fastest by 0.123 seconds from the Dutchman.
Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez rounded out the top four ahead of Lewis Hamilton who was fifth as Mercedes struggled for pace.
Now here is a full roundup of FP3 and Qualifying for 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.
FP3
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was first out on track but failed to set a lap time as Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou headed the early order, having been the only two drivers to set a lap time in the opening minutes on hard tyres.
15 minutes into the session, Hamilton went top on soft tyres with 1m 34.256 but was soon displaced by Sainz and Leclerc just minutes later, with Perez proceeding to split the Ferrari duo in the 22nd minute.
Verstappen however went fastest just two minutes later as he posted 1m 33.035 to go top by 0.762 seconds from Leclerc, ahead of the soft tyre qualifying simulations although Leclerc did suffer a spin at Turn 11 in the 27th minute after losing control of his rear tyres on entry to the corner.
Hamilton meanwhile briefly went second as he opted for an early qualifying simulation but he was soon bettered by Mercedes teammate – George Russell who went top with 1m 32.935.
Eventually come the checkered flag, Verstappen emerged quickest with 1m 32.544 despite abandoning his first flier following a lock-up at Turn One, with Leclerc and Perez rounding out the top three.
Outside of the frontrunners, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon finished 16th and 18th respectively after setting their fastest laps on the medium tyre.
Yuki Tsunoda meanwhile missed the final practice session with a hydraulics issue.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 32.544 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.096 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.247 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.391 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.509 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.577 |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.893 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.189 |
| 9 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.336 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.376 |
| 11 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.411 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Aston Martin | + 1.427 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 1.632 |
| 14 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 1.751 |
| 15 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.834 |
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 2.084 |
| 17 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.324 |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 2.413 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 3.123 |
| 20 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | No Time Set |
Qualifying
Q1
Williams’ Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi were first out on track but pitted immediately afterwards, as Yuki Tsunoda set the initial benchmark of 1m 33.581 which was swiftly usurped by several drivers.
Verstappen soon afterwards went top with 1m 31.909 but his effort was quickly usurped by Leclerc who went fastest with 1m 31.471 to top Q1.
Once everyone had completed their opening runs, the elimination zone compromised of; Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda and Latifi.
None of those five drivers eventually managed to avoid elimination but Tsunoda was the fastest of those five ahead of Hulkenberg, Ricciardo and Stroll as Latifi failed to improve his position.
Q2
Albon was first out on track again but aborted his first flying lap as Magnussen set the initial benchmark of 1m 31.461, which however was immediately usurped by Verstappen who posted a Q2 topping time of 1m 30.757.
Once everyone except Albon completed their opening laps, the elimination zone contained; Mick Schumacher, Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly, Guanyu Zhou and Albon, although Albon improved to 13th after registering his first representative flier.
Come the checkered flag, only Gasly managed to climb out of the drop zone to ninth which meant that Ocon was eliminated, ahead of Schumacher, Norris, Albon and Zhou who had his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits.
Q3
Mercedes’ Russell and Hamilton were first out on track ahead of everyone but Magnussen, Alonso and Bottas who stayed in the pits.
Russell set down the initial benchmark time of 1m 32.291 but was swiftly bettered by Hamilton who was instantly displaced by Leclerc who posted 1m 30.731 to go top until Sainz displaced him by just 0.044s with Verstappen a further 0.012s behind in third.
Perez managed to place himself fourth after his opening run ahead of Hamilton and Russell in fifth and sixth, as Gasly finished slowest of the seven drivers who opted to do opening Q3 runs ahead of the final flying laps at end of session.
With three minutes left, Russell headed the field out for the final runs of the first Qualifying session of the 2022 season.
Eventually once the checkered flag waved, it was Leclerc who claimed his 10th pole position as a F1 driver with a 1m 30.558 ahead of Verstappen and Sainz.
Perez stayed fourth ahead of Hamilton as Bottas, Magnussen and Alonso rounded out the top eight ahead of Russell and Gasly.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 30.558 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.123 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.129 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.363 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.680 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.002 |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.250 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 1.637 |
| 9 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.658 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 2.680 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1m 31.956 |
| 12 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 0.216 |
| 13 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.226 |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.882 |
| 15 | Guanyu Zhou | Mercedes | + 1.761 |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1m 32.750 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Aston Martin | + 0.027 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 0.195 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.282 |
| 20 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 0.884 |
Leave a Reply