While the Ferrari team was jubilant on the podium at the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix, Red Bull was completely stunned.
Driver Charles Leclerc served a first warning to the rest of the field by triumphing on Sunday, while reigning world champion Max Verstappen was forced to retire.
Leclerc, who started from pole position under the reflectors, at the same time signed his first victory in F1 since the Italian Grand Prix in 2019.
The 24-year-old Monegasque crossed the finish line of the first race of the 2022 campaign with a cushion of 5.598 seconds ahead of the other Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz son, thus confirming the double of the Scuderia.
” I am so happy. We knew we would get a great opportunity and the guys did an incredible job of crafting a remarkable car. A double today with Carlos is the ideal scenario. It’s fantastic to be back on top of the podium,” said Leclerc after the event.
“Ferrari is back, for real. Our hard work has paid off, and we have proof of it. I didn’t have the rhythm today, but I hung on and we completed the double,” added the Spaniard.
Against all expectations, the seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, completed the podium. The Briton seemed relieved after the race.
“Congratulations to Ferrari; it’s good to see them dominating again. It was a difficult race, and we had some problems during the tests. It was the best result we could hope for. We are grateful for these ranking points, because the guys have worked very hard at the factory, but there is still a lot of work to do,” summed up Hamilton.
His teammate at Mercedes, George Russell, ended up in fourth place, ahead – oh surprise! — Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, hired on an emergency basis following the dismissal of Russian Nikita Mazepin.
Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri), Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) completed the top-10, in order.
The sky fell on Verstappen’s head with three laps to go when he complained of a sudden loss of power from his Honda engine, forcing him to return to the pits to abdicate. His Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez suffered the same fate on the final lap.
Quebecer Lance Stroll settled for 12th place, after starting from the penultimate place on the starting grid. The Mont-Tremblant driver warned at the start of the season that there was still a lot of work to be done on the Aston Martin car.
His teammate, Nico Hülkenberg, won the 17and square. The German replaced his compatriot and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, who tested positive for COVID-19 at the start of the weekend, at Aston Martin.
For his part, Williams driver Nicholas Latifi finished 16and. The Torontonian was gone 20and.
All the pilots were rather wise at the start, in order to avoid collisions.
However, that didn’t stop Ocon from causing Haas driver Mick Schumacher to spin, resulting in a five-second penalty for the Alpine driver.
Then, a first fight between leading teams took shape on the track from the 17thand tower.
Leclerc, fresh out of the pits, found himself immediately ahead of Verstappen, and a frenzied battle for the lead position then began for a few laps – much to the delight of the spectators.
The pilot of the Scuderia finally resisted and won his battle, heading straight for victory, his third in his career. Meanwhile, Verstappen was fuming and his many questions went unanswered.
The second stopover of the season will take place next weekend, in Saudi Arabia.