© Dan IstiteneQualifying - Bahrain Grand Prix 2022Bulls Start P2 And P4 In Bahrain Season Opener
MaxVerstappenwillopenhistitledefencefromthefrontrowofthegridattheseason-openingBahrainGrandPrixaftertheWorldChampionwasnarrowlybeatentopolepositionbyFerrari’sCharlesLeclerc.
Max’s progress to the final top-10 shootout in Sakhir was serene, with the Dutchman making a single run in each of the opening two segments to make his way through to Q3. And after outpacing the Ferraris in the middle segment of qualifying it looked like Max had the upper hand.
However, in the first runs of the final segment Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz posted the quickest lap ahead of Leclerc as Max complained of poor tyre warm-up on his out lap and then in the final runs, with the Dutchman later saying the balance wasn’t at its optimum, he was forced to settle for P2, a tenth behind Leclerc, who claimed his 10th career pole and his first since Azerbaijan 2021.
Behind the front row pair, Sainz took P3 0.129s behind his teammate while Checo qualified in P4 with a final time of 1:30.921, just 0.240 behind Max.
Back To Bahrain For The Opening Weekend Of The Season© Clive Rose
At the start of the session, Max quickly moved to the top of the Q1 order with a 1:31.909 on his opening flying lap. Checo then joined the Dutchman taking P2 with a lap four tenths behind Max.
Leclerc then stole top spot from Max with a lap of 1:31.471, while Sainz slotted into P2 in the second Ferrari. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton moved to fifth with six minutes remaining but with the 2021 Constructors’ champions struggling with the porpoising more than most, the seven-time champion found himself eight-tenths of a second off the pace set by Leclerc.
Max elected to stay in the garage for the final runs but Checo was down in P10 and the Mexican needed to make another attempt just for the sake of safety. Checo delivered a string of personal bests through the mini-sectors of the 5.4km circuit but his lap of 1:32.311 only took him to 11th place.
He was comfortably through to Q2 though, as was Max, whose opening lap time was good enough for third place at the end of the first segment. Top spot in Q1 went to Leclerc with Sainz second. With Max third, fourth place went to Bottas ahead of Magnussen and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was fifth.
Ruled out after the opening 18 minutes were AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in P16 ahead of Aston Martin’s Nico Hülkenberg (in for Sebastian Vettel who is recovering from COVID-19), McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, the second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi.
With no rules in place governing starting tyres in Q2, Max emerged on soft tyres and again the Dutchman jumped to P1 with this opening lap of 1:30.757. That put him almost six-tenths of a second ahead of Leclerc, while Checo took third place ahead of impressive returnee Kevin Magnussen. Hamilton, who was more than seven-tenths of a second off his 2021 title rival’s pace, and Russell.
Max again held his fire in the final runs of Q2 and his opening time proved good enough to hold top spot. This time it was Sainz who got closest to the Red Bull, with the Ferrari finishing just three-hundredths of a second behind Max. Leclerc took third place a little under two tenths off Max and Checo progressed to Q3 in fourth place with a final lap of 1:31.008 that put him four hundredths clear of fourth-placed Hamilton.
Eliminated at the end of the second session though were Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in 11th, Haas’ Mick Schumacher, McLaren’s Lando Norris, the Williams for former Red Bull driver Alex Albon and Alfa Romeo rookie Zhou Guanyu.
Max’s dominance of the opening runs ended at the start of Q3, however. This time it was Sainz who powered to the top of the order, with the Spaniard posting a lap of 1:30.687 to sit five-hundredths of a second ahead of Leclerc. Max, meanwhile, was third, a hundredth of a second further back and over the radio the Dutch driver blamed the deficit on poor tyre warm-up on this out lap. Checo again slotted into fourth with an opening lap of 1:31.013.
And there was to be no surge back to the top for Max in the final runs as Leclerc found the most pace to set a pole-setting time of 1:30.558. Max got close, but in the end missed out by 0.123 with Sainz just 0.006s behind and with Checo in fourth place.
Behind the leading quartet, fifth place went to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton while surprise packages Alfa Romeo and Haas claimed sixth and seven respectively with Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen. Fernando Alonso was eighth for Alpine ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and the top 10 order was rounded out by AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly.
Max Grabs P2 In The First Qualifying Of The 2022 Season© Getty Images
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Charles Leclerc | Max Verstappen | Carlos Sainz | Sergio PĂ©rez | Lewis Hamilton | Valtteri Bottas | Kevin Magnussen | Fernando Alonso | George Russell | Pierre Gasly |
| Ferrari | Oracle Red Bull Racing | Ferrari | Oracle Red Bull Racing | Mercedes | Alfa Romeo | Haas | Alpine | Mercedes | AlphaTauri |
| 1.30.558 | 1.30.681 | 1.30.687 | 1.30.921 | 1.31.238 | 1.31.560 | 1.31.808 | 1.32.195 | 1.32.216 | 1.32.338 |
Max Getting Ready To Head Out On Track In Bahrain© Getty Images
I think we have a good race car which is important and with it being the start of the season, there are still a lot of things to learn.
Max Verstappen“Overall, it’s not a bad position to be in, of course you always want more but this is a positive start to the season. I think we have a good race car which is important and with it being the start of the season, there are still a lot of things to learn. Q2 was good but Q3 was a bit more hit and miss with not really getting the right balance. There was some oversteer and understeer so you can’t really attack the corner which makes it quite difficult to put that lap together, so that’s something we’ll need to look into. The Ferraris are of course very close and it’s going to be a tough battle, they have two strong drivers so it’s going to be exciting. The weather is meant to be warmer tomorrow so it’ll be a bit tougher on the tyres. As a Team we just have to see how competitive we are in the race, it’s a long season and a lot can happen.”
This Way Checo© Getty Images
“I am optimistic about tomorrow and in the race anything can happen. I just didn’t manage to get one hundred percent out of the car today but we still have a good starting position and I hope we can make up some positions come race day. It is great to have other teams up there to make things more competitive, but it is a long road ahead and what matters is tomorrow. I think P3 was possible if we had put everything together and I was able to do that final corner again, I ran a bit too much curb through it. It would have been good to start on the clean side of the grid but a lot of overtaking can happen here and hopefully we are able to fight the Ferraris and have a good race for the fans. I am looking forward to it, I want a strong lap one and strong pace. My goal is to at least get on the podium and get a one, two for the Team. We are in a good position to fight the Ferraris.”
Christian On The Pit Wall In Bahrain© Getty Images
“With a completely new car and new regulations, to be on the front row, we are very, very happy with where both cars have qualified. We put a lot of effort into last year, we were late coming onto this car, and I think the team have done a wonderful job. With such a clean sheet of regulations, everything is different, but the times are so close, so it’s going to be a great race. We don’t really know how strong the long-run pace of Ferrari is, we’ve also got more to find out about ourselves and it’s only going to be when the lights go out tomorrow that we’ll see what kind of shape we are in. It’s going to be interesting to see how the strategies unfold with these new cars and critically can we follow closer due to the new regulations?”
Qualifying - Bahrain Grand Prix 2022
Back On The Charge In Bahrain© Getty Images
Max On The Charge In Qualifying© Getty Images
Max Grabs P2 In The First Qualifying Of The 2022 Season© Getty Images
A Happy Max After Securing A Front Row Start© Getty Images
Checo Charged On To P4 In The First Qualifying Session Of 2022© Getty Images
Back To Bahrain For The Opening Weekend Of The Season© Clive Rose
