| Position | No. | Driver | Car |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 2 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes |
| 5 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari |
| 6 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari |
| 7 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault |
| 8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Red Bull |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault |
| 10 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari |
| 11 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari |
| 12 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes |
| 13 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes |
| 14 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes |
| 15 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes |
| 16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes |
| 17 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Aston Martin-Mercedes |
| 18 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull |
| 19 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull |
Fastest lap: Charles Leclerc
Not classified: Pierre Gasly
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2022 Bahrain Grand Prix
- How “class act” Hulkenberg’s reserve outings showed his readiness for an F1 return
- Alfa Romeo working on fix for Bottas and Zhou’s “very poor” starts
- China is first country to score points on its debut since the championship began
- “I don’t hold back”: Verstappen’s full radio transcript from his luckless Bahrain GP
- Mercedes’ straight-line speed deficit due to drag levels, not power unit – Wolff
lexusreliability?
20th March 2022, 16:45
And *that* ladies and gentleman is why Red Bull didn’t win the constructors last season.
Hemz Shaw (@hemzshaw)
20th March 2022, 17:13
they did not, but was not for reliability issues like the only 1st race of the season. Don’t judge them quickly, 22 more races to go!
Manto
20th March 2022, 17:53
You mean Bottas Hungary?
Jere (@jerejj)
20th March 2022, 16:45
What an ending for RBR. Merc got lucky, but a great start for Ferrari.
Markp
20th March 2022, 16:49
Better lucky than good. So happy as a Ferrari fan. Red Bull Power Trains Gives You Flames.
mystic one (@mysticus)
20th March 2022, 16:57
well for ferrari it is deserving one after many years of struggles… but rbr, i have no sympathy. it was a rocket ship, but in the hand of mediocre drivers there is not much more adrian can deliver. aggressive and mouthful drive, mouth opening results :)
from race one, 3 of the 4 cars failing at end of first ever race, well well well… i agree with alonso: KARMA!
Illusive (@illusive)
20th March 2022, 17:02
“Mediocre Drivers”, F1 fans have really gotten worse since last year.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
20th March 2022, 17:05
Mediocre drivers tend not to have decade-long careers with multiple race wins let alone championship wins. The Red Bull and Ferrari are neck and neck in much the same way Mercedes and Red Bull were last year. Enjoy the fight.
mystic one (@mysticus)
20th March 2022, 17:46
well if the car is better than the driver, they tend to do that… isnt that what max fans were chanting all these years for lewis? why is it not true when it comes to max? maybe just maybe you know that you need a car to the finish line before you can win right? i think it shows today, ham had a car that could go to the finish line, hence he is where he is because of that talent, and he knows the race is not in the first lap, but ends after the last lap finish line!
hyoko
20th March 2022, 20:08
Where was that talent in Malaysia 2016, the race that gave the WDC to Nico?
Terrific logic. No talent can survive a random mech failure.
Max’s and Checo’s driving was good enough (not perfect, Max almost ruined his tyres in a lockout), but it was not their lucky day.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
20th March 2022, 21:09
That’s some interesting reasoning. The conventional wisdom is when there’s a double retirement it’s usually a reliability issue for which the driver has no control. The most recent example that comes to mind was both Renaults failing in Bahrain in 2019 within a lap or two of each other. Max and Sergio are great drivers. I don’t understand why there needs to be any argument about that. Lewis and George are great too. Nikita Mazepin is a driver I’d classify as mediocre. I think Kevin Magnussen proved that tonight.
LUCA (@luca)
20th March 2022, 17:21
mediocre drivers are the ones driving a mclaren at the moment.
erikje
20th March 2022, 17:46
Mediocre drivers can become 7 time world champion in the right car.
You missed that one :)
Bradders (@bradders)
20th March 2022, 18:21
Erikje, you have got to be in a very small minority here. I’m no Lewis fan, but to call him mediocre is absolutely nonsensical, and a bit tragic.
melanos
20th March 2022, 19:54
I agree, much too generous
RocketTankski
20th March 2022, 16:46
I guess that makes up for Abu Dhabi?
MG1982 (@mg1982)
20th March 2022, 16:52
What, the SC to get HAM back in business?? That SC was completely useless, I thought Masi was removed….
RomTrain (@romtrain)
20th March 2022, 17:02
HAM didnt gain anything from the SC. He gained only from RB reliability issues.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
20th March 2022, 19:13
@romtrain
The SC has probably amplified RBR issues.
Roman
21st March 2022, 7:47
Thats a far guess imho. Did they give any info, apart from its the fuel pump? Well, maybe they went to a burn-fuel mode cause of the SC.
melanos
20th March 2022, 19:58
Closing the gap when they were so far behind was an undeserved bit of luck, although in the end it was a mech failure what got them a freaky podium
Roman
21st March 2022, 7:43
All drivers but P1 closed their gap – to say HAM was the one who got back in business cause of that, while the gap didnt do anything for his result… hmm
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
20th March 2022, 16:46
3/4 Hondas with trouble in race 1 is not really a good look
JohnH (@johnrkh)
20th March 2022, 16:48
Just wondering if Honda had the PUs turned up to max and they just broke. The next few races will show if Honda can keep up with the others.
RomTrain (@romtrain)
20th March 2022, 16:51
their pace at the end of long straights looked incredible.
Nikki (@nikkit)
20th March 2022, 16:56
Yeah, the Red Bulls had a lot of speed on the straights, be interesting to see the speed traps cos they were untouchable at times.
But at what price?
Asanator (@asanator)
20th March 2022, 18:49
@nikkit
Sector2
koddamn (@gufdamm)
20th March 2022, 18:53
Do not link Honda to that tragedy that is all RBPT.
Dmitry240
20th March 2022, 16:49
Karma for Red Bull )))
MnmRacerGRO
20th March 2022, 16:53
Surprised that you’ve still got internet over in Moscow, mate.
Ben (@x-f1-x)
20th March 2022, 16:54
🤣🤣🤣
mystic one (@mysticus)
20th March 2022, 17:21
they maybe lucky because Musk probably doesnt discriminate…
erikje
20th March 2022, 17:48
As you do, you mean.
Dmitry240
20th March 2022, 17:57
I am not russian mate ))
Sergey Martyn
20th March 2022, 18:13
Surprised that you’ve still got such illiterate clowns like Liz Truss who can’t find her own… erm… let’s call it brain, with a flashlight in a daylight. Moreover, free F1 TV, Sky Sports etc. re-streams are no-brainer walk in the park for our hackers who (according to US Democrats) elected Donald Trump back in 2016.
BTW our internet is damn fast and cheap:
500 Mb/s unlimited home internet + 215 TV channels is less than five squids
1000 Mb/s unlimited home internet + 215 TV channels + mobile plan 2500 minutes + 50GB mobile internet is about nine squids.
Bradders (@bradders)
20th March 2022, 18:22
What’s this got to do with Formula 1?
Sergey Martyn
20th March 2022, 18:42
This was a response to a comment about whether we have an internet in Moscow – and that comment had nothing to do with Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, formula Renault, Porsche Cup, karting, NASCAR, WEC, Dakar, etc. etc.
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
20th March 2022, 16:49
Yes yes yes, come on Ferrari!
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
20th March 2022, 16:52
Shades of 2010, a Ferrari 1-2 after reliability gremlins for Red Bull, and Hamilton inheriting a podium in an event his team didn’t look podium-worthy.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
20th March 2022, 19:16
@wsrgo
In 2010 Alonso has no business pace wise challenging Vettel who was in control till his sparkplug issue. This race Leclerc was in total control of the race even when challenged by Verstappen he managed to regain the lead and build a gap.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
20th March 2022, 16:53
Damn we waited so long for this. Forza Ferrari! Sorry for Max, he did great too.
Nikki (@nikkit)
20th March 2022, 16:54
That had to be painfull at Red Bull, a double DNF within a couple of laps and so close to the end.
Honestly, I expected Verstappen might have been in for a DNF when his troubles started, but things seemed to sort themselves out and he was putting fast sectors in, so I thought he’d hang on and make it.
Then he just lost momentum and Sainz breezed past, then Perez, then Hamilton, then Russel, then the rest and it was clear they’d given up on the race and elected to save the rest of the car.
Then Perez’s ‘lost power’ call, but then he seemed to be okay and was holding Hamilton off and then suddenly, he’s parked up and facing the wrong way.
That’s going to be a very difficult debrief for Red Bull, especially with Verstappen’s earlier anger after being told to take it easy on the outlap following the 2nd pit stop. Tense times.
Great turn around for Ferrari after the last couple years. And I suspect when Mercedes can solve that porposing, they’ll be fully back mixed in at the front.
Haas on the ups too. Especially with Magnusson.
Hemz Shaw (@hemzshaw)
20th March 2022, 17:15
KMAG has been a revelation, and speaks a lot about how good a driver he was.. in a way, it all worked out well.. he lost drive for the year the car was pathetic and came back when it is back good again!
@HoHum (@hohum)
20th March 2022, 22:32
@nikkit, I,m just wondering, could they have mis-calculated the fuel needed due to more close battles.
stjs16 (@stjs16)
20th March 2022, 16:56
E10 doesn’t give you wings!
Ben
20th March 2022, 17:03
It gives you spins 😂
Luke S (@joeypropane)
20th March 2022, 16:58
After practice and quali, everyone was singing doom for Mercedes HPP… Then we have a race in which 3 Honda/RBR engines go pop.
This could be that season where RBR have a fast/fastest car, but reliability just works against them all season, whereas Ferrari work like clockwork and Leclerc and Sainz make the absolute most of it. Mercedes obviously have some decent baseline performance, and I fully expect them to be fighting at the front within 4-5 races (at most, could well be within the next 2-3).
McLaren must be the biggest performance surprise – along with Alfa Romeo – but for opposite reasons, obviously…
Alpine completely in the middle of the pack and very anonymous – I’m guessing Ocon’s penalty will help Alonso, though. Will be interesting to see how the battle with Alpha Tuari goes through the season.
Aston Martin as slow as I expected them to be – I know a lot of fans loved the look of the car and were fawning all over the livery, but it looked slow standing still, and wasn’t much faster when moving. I think Albon, when he gets fully up tk speed, will do exactly what Russel did and have some very good weekends/sessions in that Williams.
Bradders (@bradders)
20th March 2022, 18:25
I’d imagine Latifi is a little disappointed.
Lars (@lars)
20th March 2022, 16:58
Tough luck for Max – he raced well as always. Great racing from Leclerc and actually Lewis raced pretty good as well. KMag raced fantastic and smashed team mate Schumacher as expected. Hulkenberg parked at the back as expected. And yes HAAS made the right decision with KMAG back in the team and not Hulkenberg, Fittipaldi etc.
Moi
20th March 2022, 16:58
Ouch. RB got some work ahead. Lewis lucking out as usual.
Nice job by Ferrari though, thoroughly deserved win.
lexusreliability?
20th March 2022, 17:30
Oh dear. I seem to remember a certain driver lucking into a Netflix championship.
erikje
20th March 2022, 17:49
Three of them..
Season 4 was different.
Macademianut (@macademianut)
20th March 2022, 18:35
As someone wise once said, your wins are because of three factors: one-third what you do; one-third what your opponents do; and the remaining one-third is luck!
To anyone arguing that it’s all purely 100% due to one of the factors — there’s a lot of learning to be had.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
20th March 2022, 16:58
Not sure what to think. Ferrari certainly the car to beat, Red Bull strong but evident reliability issues, Merc needing safety cars to get to the podium. McLaren & Aston didn’t turn up while Haas & Alfa look strong. After the next race the picture may be clearer, but off the back of that you’d have to say Ferrari look like they’ve stolen a march on their competition. Got to say super impressed by Magnussen, Bottas & Albon too.
OOliver
20th March 2022, 17:08
I believe the Redbull is the car to beat.
Rlew
20th March 2022, 17:08
How did safety car help merc get to podium?
melanos
20th March 2022, 20:13
Bottas did a susprisingly decent race… but only if we factor out the horrific start
Illusive (@illusive)
20th March 2022, 16:59
Gutted for Max and Checo, both drove brilliantly. Redbulls arent reliable it seems.
Jeorge (@jeorge)
20th March 2022, 17:01
Forza
Brings back memories of 2017 Australia when I started watching F1 and saw Vettel win and there and then decided where my heart belonged
If I'm not wery much mistaken (@ifiamnotwerymuchmistaken)
20th March 2022, 17:02
I love this. It was still open until the very end, SC not withstanding. I expect some tracks to favour FER, and some RB, so hopefully the margins stay the sam for the season.
Great fighting after the first round of pit stops.
I hope soon Merc makes it a three way fight and nobody runs away with their performance.
I was glad to see they could follow each other quite closely, I hope the DRS goes away in this ganeration of formula.
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
20th March 2022, 17:06
I reiterate:
Well well well… finally justice was done… it seems that Saint Fangio decided to put things in their place. After the disgusting, shameful, scandalous THEFT of the championship from Hamilton by the indecent owners of Formula 1, fans can enjoy this well-deserved victory for Ferrari. And the podium of Hamilton, the true world champion 2021.
hyoko
20th March 2022, 20:15
After seven gifted WDCs Abu Dhabi got in a quantum of justice and karma
slowmo (@slowmo)
20th March 2022, 17:06
Amazing drive by Magnusson, easily driver of the weekend for me. Leclerc was brilliant today and thoroughly deserved the win. Sainz was a little off pace but had Perez covered all race and pressuring Verstappen after the safety car. Hamilton some how finds a way to get on the podium although I think their pace was artificially worsened by their hard stint though.
Rlew
20th March 2022, 17:09
Yeah, merc had a lot of people head scratching with that one. Sort of like giving your opponent free points.
The Dolphins
20th March 2022, 17:08
So Mercedes is the only Mercedes-powered team in the points. They could indicate that for all the aero issues they are suffering it’s likely the best car and making up for the very underwhelming power unit.
G
20th March 2022, 17:26
If that’s true then it will be a long 4 years for those teams.
antybuc
20th March 2022, 17:09
Oh well :)
What a results guys and girls. Ferrari back on top. Damage limitations for Mercedes. Haas and Alfa looked competetive as well. This season gonna be interesting.
MG1982 (@mg1982)
20th March 2022, 17:11
Awesome start for Ferrari. About time. Still early for a clear picture regarding the order, we must wait at least 2 races more. I mean, Ferrari dominated in Bahrain before with LEC, yet they weren’t title contenders. Anyway, the car looked like a race winner from the launch day.
Kinda unfortunate result for RBR, VER had a good race, but I guess there’s still work to be done in the reliability department.
G
20th March 2022, 17:24
Some bitter Merc fans on here. New season and they are still at it. Well done Ferrari, that was a great race to start the new era. Hopefully RedBull sort their issues and keep the fight close all season.
erikje
20th March 2022, 17:52
Probably sour because leclerc and verstappen showed to Lewis how real wheel to wheel racing is done.
He was on the hotseat to watch how it should been done.
Let’s hope he understood the lesson.
DaveW (@dmw)
20th March 2022, 18:56
You mean where verstappen didn’t dive bomb them from 50m back and then run off the road forcing the other car off? Or hit them. Or brake check them? We’re all glad to see he has turned over a new leaf.
hyoko
20th March 2022, 20:17
How optimistic of you, you cannot teach any lessons to a brick
G
20th March 2022, 22:23
I was thinking that when they were battling it out, how clean it was between Max and Charles. That RedBull has crazy top speed too.
DaveW (@dmw)
20th March 2022, 17:27
With drs open Hamilton was making up no ground on Perez on the straight and even after Perez started reporting issues. And to my eye RBR was running a big wing. That RBR nee Honda PU is a beast.
erikje
20th March 2022, 17:53
But seems lacking in the reliability dept. At least if that was the problem.
Steven Robertson (@emu55)
20th March 2022, 17:50
Mercedes sure have shafted their customer teams with an engine built to suit their own car. McLaren, Aston and Williams fans may as well write this season off already.
Macademianut (@macademianut)
20th March 2022, 18:39
@emu55 It certainly appears that Mercedes have tuned the performance to suit their design.. see the link below for details.. (in Italian — but you can use your browser translation if available)
http://www.formulapassion.it/opinioni/federico-albano/formula1-f1-mercedes-il-cambio-e-ancor-piu-estremo-dellaerodinamica-ferrari-alpine-dati-rapporti-608685.html
“We have therefore collected some rumors and it seems that the choice of Mercedes is the direct result of the extreme aerodynamic design of the car. The prediction of very low resistance to advancement naturally moved the point of operation of the Power Unit up compared to the past, given that we have already found in the tests and quantified in about 300 rpm. The shortening of the relationships initially appeared counterintuitive to us, but finds, at least in part, justification in the fact that the top speed itself remains a figure almost not at all sought in Formula 1. The large difference in lap time, in fact, is made with high acceleration values of the car, deriving from the driving torque of the engine. The famous clipping is the most obvious example of this, with the cutting of electrical power at very high revs and the maximum speed decreasing instead of increasing. It would therefore seem that the balance that Mercedes has found with this design and the relative design of the propulsion unit provide for a phase of literally extreme acceleration initially and later a truly substantial decrease in the resistance to motion at maximum speeds, in the order of even a few percentage points. We should therefore get used to seeing a W13 that arrives even more immediately at maximum speeds without perhaps obtaining particularly high absolute values. The fact that McLaren was able to design its own gearbox and optimize gear ratios by obtaining average values, underlines how the driver of this change is precisely the extreme aerodynamics of the W13, which produces resistance values evidently not found by the Woking team. In all this it would seem that Aston Martin is the biggest expense of it: the Stroll team has for now brought to the track a car with non-extreme aerodynamic concepts, indeed in line with most teams, but seems to be with gear ratios that are not perfectly optimal for its package. Different speech instead for Williams, which has developed a car with a philosophy in close analogy with the W13 and which therefore can benefit doubly from this situation. On the other hand Alpine shows choices and diametrically opposed, and it makes us think that at maximum speed there is a difference of over 6% between the ratio of the Mercedes package to that of the French manufacturer. What we have done, however, is to combine some hypotheses with the rumors received, but the Mercedes choice remains with some still obscure points to be understood technically, and it will be necessary to see the car in total qualifying set-up to really understand the design logic behind these data.”
Steven Robertson (@emu55)
22nd March 2022, 11:36
An Interesting read, thanks
Sergey Martyn
20th March 2022, 18:20
It was a really good and exciting racing overall and especially after the first pit stop – kinda Dijon battle v 2.0
It’s a shame Honda pulled out of F1 – they just keep doing it at the very wrong times..