© Clive RoseFree Practice - Bahrain Grand Prix 2022All the latest from the first practice sessions of the weekend.
We’reback!WelcometoBahrainandthelong-awaitedseasonopenerforthe2022FormulaOneWorldChampionship.
This first race weekend will be one of unknowns and with 20 brand new cars on track it’ll be a must-see event where anything can happen.
First raced in 2004, Bahrain has become a drivers’ favourite with its easy overtaking, however with the changing winds and temperature, set up can be an issue. The track’s most challenging point is the tight downhill and off-camber turn 10.
The Bahrain International Circuit has a track length of 5.412km and the race will be 57 laps.
The RB18 Charging On In The Desert© Clive Rose
Keen to get their first laps of the weekend under their belts, the Bulls headed out onto track as soon as the Free Practice One session started.
Both Max and Checo started the session on hard tyres, with Checo’s first flying lap placed him P2, with a time of 1:37.459. Max was on his first flyer of the season and had gone purple in the first sector before the Alpine of Esteban Ocon lost its side pod on the start finish straight, causing a red flag and halting the session for 12 minutes.
After the track had been cleared, Max and Checo returned on mediums tyres. Max set a fastest time of 1:34.742 which saw him P1. Checo was just 0.308s behind, which put him second on the timesheet.
As the session went on other drivers set faster times, but Max and Checo were both onto race pace towards the end of the session. Max finished Free Practice One in P5 after 22 laps, whilst Checo finished in P10 after completing 23 laps.
Max Charging Into The 2022 Season© Joe Portlock
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Pierre Gasly | Charles Leclerc | Carlos Sainz | George Russell | Max Verstappen | Lance Stroll | Lewis Hamilton | Fernando Alonso | Yuki Tsunoda | Sergio Pérez |
| AlphaTauri | Ferrari | Ferrari | Mercedes | Oracle Red Bull Racing | Aston Martin | Mercedes | Alpine | AlphaTauri | Oracle Red Bull Racing |
| 1.34.193 | 1.34.557 | 1.34.611 | 1.34.629 | 1.34.742 | 1.34.814 | 1.34.943 | 1.35.000 | 1.35.028 | 1.35.050 |
For the first session of the season under lights, Free Practice Two, the teams were keen to discover how their cars would perform in the cooler air.
Max came out 10 minutes into the session on a fresh set of medium tyres and put in a best lap of 1:33.621, which placed him P2 at that point in the session.
Checo came out on the mediums as well, but a lock up under breaking ruined his flying lap, so he returned to the pits and changed for some soft tyres. He then set a 1:32.958 lap, which put him up to P5.
When Max came back onto track his RB18 was sporting a fresh set of soft tyres and he put in a blistering 1:31.936 to put him top of the timesheet. After setting that time, Max returned to the pits. Before starting his race sim for the last 20 minutes of the session, where he completed 20 laps in total.
That flying lap time by the Dutchman was unbeatable and saw Max end the session on top.
Checo completed 21 laps in the session and his fastest time on the softs was 1:32.958, 1.022s behind his teammate. It saw him finish the session in P7.
On The Charge In The Dark© Dan Istitene
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Max Verstappen | Charles Leclerc | Carlos Sainz | George Russell | Fernando Alonso | Valtteri Bottas | Sergio Pérez | Mick Schumacher | Lewis Hamilton | Kevin Magnussen |
| Oracle Red Bull Racing | Ferrari | Ferrari | Mercedes | Alpine | Alfa Romeo | Oracle Red Bull Racing | Haas | Mercedes | Haas |
| 1.31.936 | 1.32.023 | 1.32.520 | 1.32.529 | 1.32.877 | 1.32.951 | 1.32.958 | 1.33.085 | 1.33.144 | 1.33.183 |
Max Getting Ready For The First Free Practice Session Of 2022© Getty Images
The car felt good today, testing here last week means we've all started in a good place.
“The car felt good today, testing here last week means we've all started in a good place. We had quite a straightforward and smooth day so I’m pretty happy, we also tried a few things on the car in each session and they seemed to work well. You can see that Ferrari are pushing hard and are very close so that’s exciting. Looking ahead, we’ll have to wait and see with different teams' engine modes, no one is in quali spec yet so I think everyone still has a lot more to give. It’s good to see the teams are all closer together, in general that’s what everyone wants and I think over time teams will get even closer together.”
Checo Ready To Charge Into The First Free Practice Of The New Season© Getty Images
“It’s nice to be back out on track for a new season. We have some work to do overnight to find a good compromise with the set up. We tried some different settings across the two cars, so I think we have good data to look at and then we can pick out the best bits for qualifying tomorrow. We are learning a lot about the tyre degradation and overall, there is some work to do but I am hopeful we will have a positive day tomorrow. FP2 will be the most useful session before qualifying because the conditions should be similar and I think it will be interesting to see where everyone is come Saturday evening. The pack is really close and I think the race will be even tighter so there will be some good racing all around."
It was a slow start for Free Practice Three as only a handful of cars took to track as soon as the session started.
15 minutes after the session started Checo entered the track on fresh soft tyres and set a flying lap time of 1:34.160, which saw him go high on the timesheet. As other drivers put in quick times, Checo slipped down the leaderboard, however towards the end of the session the Mexican driver put in a blistering time of 1:32.791 which pushed him up to P3, where he finished the session after a total of 20 laps.
Max stayed in the garage until 20 minutes of the session had passed, but when he came out on a set of softs, he put in time that was 0.762s quicker than anyone else and saw him go straight into P1.
Although the Dutchman was pushed down to P3 by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell. With minutes counting down he came back out on another fresh set of softs and had to abort his first flying lap as he locked up the car. He recovered and then set the fastest time of the day. A lightning quick 1:32.544, which saw him back on top of the Free Practice Three timesheet, where he finished the session.
Charging Into The Final Practice In Bahrain© Mark Thompson
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Max Verstappen | Charles Leclerc | Sergio Pérez | George Russell | Carlos Sainz | Lewis Hamilton | Kevin Magnussen | Valtteri Bottas | Guanyu Zhou | Lance Stroll |
| Oracle Red Bull Racing | Ferrari | Oracle Red Bull Racing | Mercedes | Ferrari | Mercedes | Haas | Alfa Romeo | Alfa Romeo | Aston Martin |
| 1.32.544 | 1.32.640 | 1.32.791 | 1.32.935 | 1.33.053 | 1.33.121 | 1.33.437 | 1.33.733 | 1.33.880 | 1.33.920 |
Free Practice - Bahrain Grand Prix 2022
The RB18 Charging On In The Desert© Clive Rose
Nights In The Desert© Getty Images
The RB18 On Track For FP2 In Bahrain© Lars Baron
On The Charge In The Dark© Dan Istitene
The RB19 Ready For Another Season© Getty Images
Max Charging Into The 2022 Season© Joe Portlock
Max Getting Ready For The First Free Practice Session Of 2022© Getty Images
Checo Ready To Charge Into The First Free Practice Of The New Season© Getty Images
Checo On The Charge In FP3© Clive Rose
Ready To Race In The Desert© Lars Baron
