Charles Leclerc leads home Carlos Sainz in Ferrari 1-2 after Max Verstappen suffers late retirement; Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes after Sergio Perez spins on final lap in second Red Bull; George Russel fourth with Kevin Magnussen
Monday 21 March 2022 06:11, UK
Charles Leclerc claimed a brilliant win for Ferrari at the season-opening Bahrain GP while Red Bull suffered two late podium-costing retirements as a new era of Formula 1 got off to a pulsating start in the desert.
Leclerc and Max Verstappen went toe to toe for much of the first race of the year, and had multiple thrilling wheel-to-wheel battles, before a Safety Car preceded last-gasp drama, agony for Red Bull and joy for Ferrari.
Verstappen, the reigning world champion who was running second, saw his race ended with a reliability failure with just three laps remaining, opening the door for Carlos Sainz to seal a Ferrari one-two.
It was Ferrari's first win since 2019, ending the second-longest drought in their history in a fast start for the F1 giants after the rules overhaul.
The heartache, meanwhile, was not over for Red Bull as Sergio Perez, who Red Bull confirmed also had a fuel pump issue, spun when under pressure from Lewis Hamilton in a battle for third on the final lap.
Perez also did not finish the race.
That completed damage limitation to the extreme for Mercedes as George Russell finished fourth at the end of a race where the sport's world champions were much slower than their rivals.
But this, undoubtedly, was Ferrari's day.
Leclerc held his nerve throughout, even during epic head-to-heads with Verstappen over three consecutive laps after the early pit-stops, where he was passed twice into Turn 1 before hitting back immediately.
"It's incredible to be back at the top," said Leclerc after the race.
"Ferrari is back and it's properly back," added Sainz.
Kevin Magnussen claimed an incredible fifth for Haas, F1's slowest car last year, on his return to the sport, ahead of Valtteri Bottas who similarly shone against the odds in a Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeo.
Bottas' rookie team-mate Zhou Guanyu meanwhile enjoyed a point-scoring debut after rising to 10th due to Red Bull's late issues.
Bahrain GP Race Result: Top 10
1) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
2) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
3) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
4) George Russell, Mercedes
5) Kevin Magnussen, Haas
6) Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
7) Esteban Ocon, Alpine
8) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
9) Fernando Alonso, Alpine
10) Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo
Red Bull, the pre-race favourites, conceded that Ferrari had a faster car for the season-opener - but they were still set for a large haul of points before their problems. The inquest will last long into the Sakhir evening.
The issues appeared to start right after Verstappen's third pit-stop of the day. The Dutchman, who had earlier voiced his anger on team radio over out-lap strategy, was so again after exiting the pits, insisting he "couldn't steer".
That, team boss Christian Horner said, was a track rod issue but unrelated to the one that ended his race.
Verstappen was passed by Sainz on Lap 55 of 57 before slowing right down and limping to the pits with a fuel pump fault, which was also the diagnosis for Perez's exit two laps later.
"A brutal finish to that race for us," Horner told Sky Sports F1. "What looked like a decent haul of points suddenly evaporated in the last couple of laps."
A frustrated Verstappen stated: "Of course you can always say problems can happen and you might have a retirement, but I think at this level, after already having so much information with engines and stuff, it shouldn't happen."
Add in the fact Pierre Gasly retired in a Red Bull-powered AlphaTauri - his smokey exit causing the Safety Car - and it was a miserable opener for Red Bull.
Ferrari now have a huge early points advantage thanks to the failures, and appear genuine title contenders with their F1-75 car.
That third and fourth massively flattered Mercedes says it all about how far off the pace the Silver Arrows were at the opening race, although having set out with damage limitation in mind they couldn't have hoped for much more from Sunday's race.
Hamilton, after momentarily getting past Perez at the start of the race, had a largely lonely race afterwards and he and new team-mate Russell were half a minute off the pace before the late Safety Car.
But that brought them back into the pack and, to their credit, the W13 cars had great pace following the restart and Hamilton was all over the back of Perez's car before he tripped up at Turn 1.
"You can see how you can manage expectations," said team boss Toto Wolff. "If we would have come in third and fourth last year it would have been very frustrating. But this year I think we are punching above our weight class.
"I think third and fourth is a fantastic result."
Elsewhere, there were great double points-scoring results for Alfa Romeo and Alpine.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Mercedes-powered teams Aston Martin, Williams and most suprisingly McLaren all struggled, filling the bottom positions for the whole race.
