First Free Practice Results 2022 Bahrain F1 GP
F1 Race Event: Bahrain Grand Prix
Race Track: Bahrain International Circuit
BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - MARCH 18: Pierre Gasly of France driving the (10) Scuderia AlphaTauri AT03 on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit on March 18, 2022 in Bahrain, Bahrain. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Weather: dry 35.4°C
Tarmac: dry 19.7°C
Humidity : 38.0%
Wind : 1.0 m/s W
Pressure: 1016 bar
Charles Leclerc was the first driver who entered the Sakhir track in the Ferrari to kick-off the very first practice session of the much anticipated 2022 Formula 1 season. Valtteri Bottas had a misfiring Ferrari engine in the back of his Alfa Romeo and returned back to his mechanics to get it the problem fixed.
Lewis Hamilton had changed his helmet. The British driver added a kind of bright yellow 'Rossi' paint on the helmet and now also has a bright yellow no. 44 and camera on his car. Last minute F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg, who was replacing covid infected Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel, had a huge task cut out for him. The German reserve driver of Aston Martin had to drive the brand new car for the first time
Eight minutes into the session the practice was red flagged because Esteban Ocon's Alpine lost a huge piece of it's brand new right side-pod cover on the main straight. All cars had to return back to the pits, to get the track cleaned up of all little bits of carbon fibre.
With 38 minutes to go the track was given a green light again and all cars went out quickly to resume their practice programme. Halfway the session Max Verstappen was quickest on medium tyres in the Red Bull RB18. The first Dutch F1 champ clocked a lap time of 1:34.742 min. Second was Alpine driver Fernando Alonso on 0.437s on softs. Sergio Perez was 3rd on mediums half a second behind his Red Bull teammate. Both Ferrari's were 1.5 sec. slower than Verstappen and both Mercedes drivers were a few tents behind the Ferrari's together with the both McLaren.
It took Perez 12 laps to get closer to Verstappen and be second fastest on 0.3s behind his teammate.45 minutes into the session Mercedes George Russell went quickest on a set of soft tyres, but his time was quickly beaten by both Ferrari drivers and AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly.
1:31,394 min was the fastest lap time of last years FP1 in Bahrain and was clocked by Max Verstappen in the Red Bull..
FP1 Times Table 2022 Bahrain GP
| P | No | Driver | Team | Time | 1st Gap | Laps | Tyres |
| 1 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 1:34,193 | 22 | S | |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:34,557 | +0,364s | 21 | M |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:34,611 | +0,418s | 22 | M |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:34,629 | +0,436s | 22 | S |
| 5 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:34,742 | +0,549s | 21 | M |
| 6 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:34,814 | +0,621s | 21 | S |
| 7 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:34,943 | +0,750s | 16 | S |
| 8 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 1:35,000 | +0,807s | 13 | S |
| 9 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1:35,028 | +0,835s | 19 | S |
| 10 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | 1:35,050 | +0,857s | 22 | M |
| 11 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 1:35,053 | +0,860s | 19 | S |
| 12 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:35,151 | +0,958s | 14 | S |
| 13 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1:35,644 | +1,451s | 14 | S |
| 14 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Aston Martin | 1:35,815 | +1,622s | 22 | S |
| 15 | 23 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1:35,923 | +1,730s | 16 | S |
| 16 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:36,304 | +2,111s | 21 | S |
| 17 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 1:36,402 | +2,209s | 19 | S |
| 18 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 1:36,536 | +2,343s | 22 | M |
| 19 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:36,804 | +2,611s | 20 | M |
| 20 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | no time | - | 2 | - |
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
I was surprised yesterday when I found out about practice starts on the grid since this has been a thing only for circuits where practice starts anywhere past pit exit are impossible.
I guess Wittich applied this dual approach in DTM, hence the same now in F1.
Last week I opined: "Toughest season in a long time to forecast. For the first race I look for RB and the red cars to battle at the front, ALO teasing the podium, and MSC to begin his march toward points."
I'll stick with the guess but Haas needs to find pace for MSC to make any progress. Quali' sim's in FP2 should give a clue.
✅ Checkout the latest 50 F1 Fans comments.