The new era of Formula 1 racing is finally here! It's time to kick off the 2022 season, which has seen significant regulation changes. There are several visible changes, such as 18-inch tyres and more simplified front and rear wings. It's fascinating to see teams' innovative solutions in terms of the side pods. Ferrari have significantly wider, more traditional-looking side pods compared to the world champion team Mercedes, who have introduced a zero-pod concept. Red Bull have ended up with a total different solution, having a sort of a tunnel under their side pods. New technical elements have also been introduced and made mandatory for the teams, such as wheel covers and winglets over the front tyres. Ground effect has returned to F1, which has had an unwanted side effect of porpoising. However, the purpose of the regulation changes has been to enable cars follow others more closely and make the races more exciting.
In the build-up to the season-opener there were breaking news in terms of Haas and Aston Martin. Due to Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine, Haas didn't only remove Uralkali's logo from their cars, but their driver Nikita Mazepin also had to go. Haas signed Kevin Magnussen to race alongside Mick Schumacher. Aston Martin, on the other hand, announced, that Vettel had been tested positive for Covid-19, so Nico Hulkenberg was to replace the German at the wheel of AMR22.
Ferrari had shown promising performance in the winter tests, especially in terms of their power unit. Qualifying underlined this performance. Throughout the first two sessions it was extremely tight with Red Bull's Verstappen and the Ferrari duo of Sainz and Leclerc. Mercedes had played down expectations after the winter tests, Hamilton stating, that the team weren't fighting for the wins. No one knew, if they were sandbagging or not, but the first qualifying of the season proved, that the world champion team had a lot of work to do. Engine wise Ferrari seemed to have an upper hand on their rival, and Mercedes seem to suffer a lot from porpoising. And it wasn't only Ferrari, who shone in the qualifying. Magnussen in Haas and Bottas in Alfa Romeo, both cars powered by Ferrari power units, showed top form as well.
McLaren had a very difficult start to the new season. They covered the least mileage in the winter test, and the team suffered especially from issues with front brakes. In addition to that, Ricciardo missed the Bahrain test session due to Covid-19. Ricciardo was out in Q1 already, and Norris, neither was able to make it to the top ten.
Sainz in his SF-75 laid his hands on provisional pole. After the first runs the top three -Sainz, Leclerc and Verstappen - were all within 0.056 seconds. The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Russell had made their first attempt on the used set of tyres, Hamilton being massive 1.4s and Russell 1.6s off the pace. Charles found more pace on his final flyer, making it on pole by 0.123s to Verstappen. Sainz was left third in the end, but two Ferraris in the top three was still a dream result. Perez qualified fourth for Red Bull, leaving Hamilton fifth. Bottas had an outstanding first qualifying at the wheel of Alfa Romeo, qualifying 6th. Magnussen made it 7th for Haas, which was an eye-catching result as well. Alonso made it 8th, leaving Mercedes debutant Russell in modest P9.
Teams had a free choice of tyres for the race, so they no longer needed to start to the race on the tyre, that they had set their fastest lap time in Q2. Everyone else on the grid opted for the red-marked soft compound, except for the McLaren duo of Norris and Ricciardo, who were on the medium compound. It was a magical moment, as the lights went out for the first time this season. Pole-setter Leclerc took a self-confident start, holding on to the lead. Verstappen maintained his second place, with Sainz third. Hamilton managed to gain a position at the start and climbed fourth. Teammate Russell took a splendid did start as well, making his way from P9 up to P7. Unfortunately Bottas had a miserable start from P6, and the Finn dropped as far down as P14.
On lap 9 everything looked perfect for the Monegasque in the lead. Charles had built up a 2.5-second gap to Verstappen and was managing his tyres well. Hamilton, on the other hand, suffered from degradation already, and Perez made his way past the struggling Briton, claiming P4. In this regard it was no surprise, that Hamilton was the first driver to pit on lap 12 already. The 7-time world champion opted for hard Pirellis for his second stint.
Three laps later Verstappen pitted for a fresh set of soft Pirellis. Ferrari were forced to react, and race leader Charles was called in on the sequential lap. Verstappen had pulled out a mesmerising lap, and it was extremely tight between the two, when Charles was exiting the pits. The Monegasque could only barely maintain his lead, and Max was attacking like a lion. For a few laps these two warriors had a hair-raising battle. At the beginning of the lap Max used all the extra energy from his power unit and attacked Charles, managing to get past. Now, that the Dutchman had no extra energy left to use, Charles made his counter attack on the next straight, claiming his lead back. Verstappen's third overtaking attempt led into a lock-up, and Charles held on to his lead. This was definitely Formula 1 racing at its very best!
Hamilton opened the second round of pit stops as well by coming in on lap 27. Once again Red Bull asked Verstappen to box, trying again to make undercut work, but Charles wasn't to be surprised. The top two were both on the medium rubber. After both Sainz and Perez had pitted for the mediums, the pecking order stayed unchanged: Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz and Perez.
Red Bull tried new strategy in the battle against their red rival. Verstappen and Perez were called in on the sequential laps, both opting for soft Pirellis for their last stint. Verstappen rejoined the track in P3 and Perez in P5. Hamilton split the Red Bull duo. Like expected, Ferrari bounced back and told Sainz to box, for soft tyres as well. Also Hamilton pitted for the third time already.
There was sudden drama with only 11 laps to go. Gasly's AlphaTauri was hit with a technical failure, and the Frenchman stopped his car on the track. There were huge flames coming from the back of Gasly's car, and two marshals were needed to extinguish the fire. For the first time this year, safety car was deployed.
Charles pitted from the lead, opting for a similar tyre choice to his closest rivals. Meanwhile, Verstappen reported on the team radio about an issue with steering. With six rounds to go, safety car came in and the season-opener was on again. Charles controlled the restart perfectly and kept Verstappen in a distance. Sainz, on the other hand, challenged Max for the second place, but the Spaniard's effort didn't quite pay off.
There was more drama to come. With only three laps to go, Verstappen shouted on the team radio, that the battery of his RB18 wasn't working properly. At the very same time, Sainz passed the unfortunate Red Bull ace, moving up to second. Ferrari had now a double lead in the race! Verstappen managed to make his way into the pits, only to retire from the season-opener. Hadn't this been enough for the energy drink team already, Perez reported about loss of power on the second last lap. The Mexican spun on the final lap, which enabled Hamilton to make a move and claim P3. Also Perez was inevitably out of the race.
Charles crossed the finish line as the race winner, with Carlos making it a 1-2 for Ferrari! What a perfect start to the season for the Italian-based team! Despite all the difficulties, Hamilton completed the podium, with teammate Russell 4th, Magnussen 5th and Bottas 6th. Ocon finished 7th for Alpine, Tsunoda 8th for AlphaTauri, Alonso 9th for Alpine and the rookie driver Zhou 10th for Alfa Romeo. The first race of the season was an absolute catastrophe for Red Bull, who scored zero points.
With Charles topping the drivers' standings with 26 points (he also got the extra point for the fastest lap time) and Ferrari topping the constructors' standings with 44 points, it's perfect to move forward for round two in Saudi Arabia this week already!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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