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Converting pole position into a race victory, Charles Leclerc claimed the ever-important race win in the season opener as he crossed the line first with Carlos Sainz finishing second and Lewis Hamilton claiming an unlikely third place.
After a fantastic battle between Ferrari and Red Bull, a late Safety Car brought the pack together however both of the Bulls retired from the race due to reliability issues.
Starting Grid
An impressive lap from Leclerc in Saturday’s Q3 session saw the Monegasque driver start from pole position, with Max Verstappen starting from second and joining the Ferrari driver on the front row of the grid.
Sainz started from third and the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was alongside him on the second row in fourth. Ex-teammates were on the third row as Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were fifth and sixth with Kevin Magnussen starting from seventh on his return to F1, Fernando Alonso in eighth, George Russell in ninth and Pierre Gasly in 10th.
Esteban Ocon narrowly missed out on the top 10 as he started 11th with Mick Schumacher recording his best starting position and joining the Frenchman on the sixth row of the grid.
Lando Norris was the quickest McLaren in 13th, Alex Albon started from 14th on his return to the sport, Guanyu Zhou qualified 15th on his F1 debut, Yuki Tsunoda in 16th, Nico Hulkenburg in 17th, Daniel Ricciardo in 18th, Lance Stroll in 19th and Nicholas Latifi in 20th and the final spot on the grid.
As It Happened
Leclerc got the better launch as he held onto the lead into the first corner. Verstappen and Sainz closely followed the pole sitter in second and third as Hamilton and Magnussen moved up to fourth and fifth after a poor start from Perez.
The Mexican did however regain a position two laps later as he took advantage of Magnussen locking up and swept around the outside of the Haas driver into turn four.
Following the first five laps of the race, Leclerc led the race with Verstappen in second and Sainz in third. Hamilton was fourth, Perez in fifth, Magnussen in sixth, Russell in seventh, Gasly in eighth, Alonso in ninth and Ocon in 10th.
Magnussen lost out on another position as he locked up again and saw Russell claim sixth. After a poor start, Bottas made amends with an overtake on Schumacher to move up to 13th and closer to the points.
Ocon was handed a five-second time penalty for his collision with Schumacher on the opening lap of the race as the German continued to fall down the order.
In the battle for fourth, Perez breezed past Hamilton into turn four and was back in his starting position. The two Alfa Romeo’s of Bottas and Zhou overtook Albon as Hamilton was the first driver to make a pit stop.
The Brit switched to the hard compound tyre and had trouble in heating them up which saw him go deep into turn one and allow Zhou to get ahead of him with ease. However, the seven-time world champion got back into the groove and overtook the Chinese driver a lap later.
Verstappen then made his stop on lap 15 as he looked to trigger the undercut with race leader Leclerc pitting a lap later. The Monegasque driver’s advantage slimmed down to less than a second as the Red Bull driver had the lead of the race in his sights.
The leading pair exchanged blows over the next couple of laps as Verstappen would take the lead into turn one but Leclerc would regain his position into turn four. After three attempts from the Dutchman, he dropped back a little bit as his brakes and tyres were overheating due to the pressure put on them.
McLaren’s woes continued as Norris dropped back down the order. Zhou, Schumacher and Albon overtook the Brit as he ran 15th.
At the halfway point of the race, Leclerc was first ahead of Verstappen in second and Sainz in third. Perez ran fourth, Russell in fifth, Magnussen in sixth, Gasly in seventh, Hamilton in eighth, Ocon in ninth and Tsunoda in 10th.
Alonso made up some ground after his pitstop as he got ahead of Albon and Schumacher to move into 12th place. On lap 31 and 32, the leading duo made their second pit stops as their teammates, Sainz and Perez were momentarily released into first and second.
A handful of laps later, both Red Bull’s stopped again and this is when problems were caused for the Bulls. Both drivers complained of problems with their cars but were assured by the team to remain calm and focused.
Gasly pulled up to the side of the track as his AlphaTauri car endured a mechanical problem and set on fire. The marshals extinguished it quickly as the full Safety Car was released and the grid dived into the pits for a cheap pit stop.
After the restart, Leclerc got a brilliant getaway as Verstappen continued to struggle with his steering. Schumacher quickly dropped out of the points with Tsunoda, Alonso and Zhou all overtaking the Haas driver.
With three laps to go, Sainz moved up to second as he got past Verstappen into turn 10 with the Dutchman pulling into the pits moments later to retire the car.
The same fortunes happened to his teammate on the final lap of the race as Perez spun on the exit of turn one, lost the engine and jumped out of the car.
This handed Hamilton an unlikely podium finish and promoted Zhou into the points on his F1 debut. However, all the glory will be shining on Ferrari as Leclerc crossed the line to claim the Scuderia’s first win since the Singapore Grand Prix and the team’s first one-two since that exact race as Sainz finished in second place.
Hamilton crossed the line third with Russell in fourth, Magnussen in fifth, Bottas in sixth, Ocon in seventh, Tsunoda in eighth, Alonso in ninth and Zhou in 10th.
What’s Next?
The F1 action continues in the Middle East as the Jeddah Corniche Circuit is set to hold the second ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in a couple of days time.
Charles Leclerc, after scoring the maximum amount of points in Bahrain, holds the championship lead and will be looking to extend it even further at the second round of the 2022 Formula 1 season.
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