Charles Leclerc took the first first victory of the season, followed by a Carlos Sainz who gave Ferrari its first one-two more than two years later, and Lewis Hamilton completed the podium after several problems that caused a double retirement at Red Bull. However, the Bahrain GP left many other things to highlight.
1) Changes to the 2022 F1 grid pecking order confirmed
Without a doubt, one of the main objectives of the new Formula 1 rules for this new season was to alter the hierarchical order of the grid, giving the opportunity to teams that until now were not in the top positions to climb positions.
If some changes were already glimpsed in the pre-season tests, the Bahrain Grand Prix confirmed the suspicions. At the top of the standings, Ferrari was placed as the great favorite after his double, without forgetting Red Bull, which if it were not for his double abandonment, would have competed and finished very close to the Maranello team.
Mercedes suffered and fell to the third step, although still quite far from the two leaders. In the middle zone, Haas pleasantly surprised both in qualifying and in the race, and his third position in the constructors’ standings at the moment proves it.
Alfa Romeo was the other big surprise, but we must not forget Ferrari in those last two cases, since the step forward they have taken with their engine in 2022 has been enormous and at the same time key when it comes to making progress in their client computers.
At the back of the grid, McLaren and Aston Martin have been the biggest disappointments. Both teams arrive at this new season with high hopes and, however, reality seems to have dealt them a very hard blow.
2) F1 2022 rules work; action and battles on the track
Although it is true that the fight between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc for the lead in the first part of the race took almost all the limelight, throughout the test there were great fights between the pilots.
With new technical regulations that came with the aim of creating more spectacular races and giving drivers more opportunities to fight hand-to-hand, the first race of the season confirmed the good omens that had been hinted at in the tests.
The middle area of the grid was very compact and throughout the race there were exchanges of positions between the drivers with and without the help of the DRS , an element that this course is under review and that could be eliminated in the future if the sensations are finally maintained. in future appointments.
3) Mercedes has real problems in F1 2022
During many of their years of dominance, the German team was playing the game until they reached the first race, claiming to have problems in preseason that once the moment of truth arrived, they never reproduced again.
This course, some of his rivals thought that history was repeating itself, especially after the surprise they gave on the first day of testing in Sakhir with a totally revolutionary aerodynamic design.
However, from the first free practice of the Bahrain Grand Prix something began to be strange in Mercedes . Far from the top positions, negative radio messages, constant complaints and endless problems that seemed to have no short-term solution.
The Mercedes drama was confirmed in qualifying, with Hamilton finishing fifth and Russell ninth, far behind Ferrari and Red Bull, who held the top spots quite comfortably.
In the race, neither of the two drivers from the Brackley team managed to fight or maintain a pace close to the leaders, confirming problems that seem to be consistent, both in one lap and in long runs.
4) Haas smiles again after the 2022 Bahrain F1 GP
After two seasons to forget, including a 2021 in which they ran practically the entire campaign with the same car, due to their focus on the 2022 car from the outset, it seems that Haas’ plans are finally coming to fruition.
During pre-season, the performance of Gene Haas ‘ team went almost unnoticed as a result of all the problems that engulfed the team related to its former sponsor Uralkali and its ex-driver Nikita Mazepin.
Despite the fact that in the last two days of tests in Sakhir they already gave some warnings of the potential that the new VF-22 hid, until the classification of the Bahrain Grand Prix nobody took the Americans seriously, when Kevin Magnussen slipped into the Q3.
The Danish driver, who replaced Mazepin , finished the race in fifth position, just behind the Ferraris and the Mercedes , placing Haas in third place in the constructors’ championship, generating faces and celebrations that had not been seen in the team since his first years in the highest category.
5) McLaren and Aston Martin sink, the great disappointments of F1 2022
Aston Martin said during his presentation that the goal for 2022 was to fight for podium finishes, while at McLaren they earned the favorites tag alongside Ferrari in pre-season testing in Barcelona.
But in the end it has been the opposite. Winter testing at Sakhir already foreshadowed these poor feelings, with the AMR22 lacking pace and the MCL36 suffering serious brake cooling problems.
In qualifying, none of the Aston Martins made it to Q2, while in the McLaren garage only one of them could make it, a Lando Norris who had to settle for 13th position, quite far from the top 10 who managed to get into the last and definitive round of Q3.
In the race, Aston Martin confirmed its lack of pace and McLaren ‘s problems worsened as expected. Their results, with the four single-seaters placed among the last six cars that saw the checkered flag in Sakhir, reaffirmed some bad feelings that also do not seem to have a short-term solution.
