Red Bull, Ferrari appear to be the class of the field as Formula kicks off opening weekend in Bahrain.
- In Friday practice in Bahrain, just 0.087 second separated reigning World Champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull from Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc.
- As for defending Constructors’ Champion Mercedes, George Russell was almost six-tenths down on Verstappen’s best time, classifying fourth, while Lewis Hamilton was over a second behind in ninth.
- Haas’ Mick Schumacher was eighth fastest, 1.1 seconds back of Verstappen, with returnee Kevin Magnussen classifying just two positions further back in 10th.
It is a dangerous yet tantalizing game to play—trying to read too much into times after just one day of practice ahead of the new Formula 1 season.
Yet there were indicators during practice in Bahrain over where some teams could fall into the pecking order of Formula 1’s new era.
During the qualifying simulations in practice on Friday evening at the Bahrain International Circuit—a representative session due to the night-time conditions in which qualifying and the race will be held—just 0.087 second separated reigning World Champion Max Verstappen from Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc. The two 24-year-olds scorched half a second clear of the rest of the pack in cool conditions in the Bahrain night.
Max Verstappen appears to be the driver to beat in Bahrain.
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“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,” said Verstappen. “You can see that Ferrari are pushing hard and are very close so that’s exciting.”
Added LeClerc, “Yeah with what we have seen today it starts to be more representative. Okay nobody is on the limit, but no bad surprises, it seems we are in the mix, which is good. It gives us a bit of a smile, but there is still work to do, and hopefully we will be able to fight for pole.”
Mercedes downplayed its chances prior to running and Friday’s sessions, and they had good reason to do so.
George Russell was almost six-tenths down on Verstappen’s best time, classifying fourth, while Lewis Hamilton was over a second behind in ninth position. He had a lock-up while a malfunctioning DRS also robbed him of speed. But while one-lap speed was one thing, longer runs were another, and that left Mercedes even more downbeat.
“It’s clear it’s all about lap time and we’re certainly not where we want to be,” said Russell. “We’ve made a bit of progress but the pace just is not there at all at the moment. We’re a long way off the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari, even the likes of AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo are seemingly on our pace or even quicker. I think high fuel pace is more representative and we were consistently over a second slower than where our rivals are. We’ve got some work to do. We are truly throwing everything at it to unlock the potential we think is there. Everything we try is maybe one step forward, two steps back. We all hoped we would solve it for this weekend but at the moment we aren’t in the fight.”
Hamilton asserted that Mercedes faces “much, much bigger problems this year” compared to previous setbacks and that “everything we do to try and kind of fix (the problems) doesn’t really change that. It appears it’s going to be more of a longer-term fix, nothing in the short term.
“We’re not going to be in the race for the win here. Red Bull are a long, long way ahead. It’s in the region of eight to ninth tenths ahead of us and Ferrari is probably something like half a second, six tenths ahead of us. So we’re fighting and scrapping with whoever is behind them.”
Finally, after its dismal 2021 season and preseason drama, there were signs that Haas is firmly back in the midfield mix.
Mick Schumacher was eighth fastest, 1.1 seconds back of Verstappen, with returnee Kevin Magnussen classifying just two positions further back in 10th. That left the VF-22 as the sixth-fastest of the 10 cars on Friday, a world away from last year, when Haas was regularly rooted to the back.
Schumacher and Magnussen tried to downplay expectations, but their broad smiles when speaking to media after were a giveaway.
Mick Schumacher was sixth quickest for Haas on Friday.
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“I don’t want to raise your expectations, or mine,” laughed Schumacher. “(But) I feel comfortable in the car, and that’s something I didn’t have all the time last year. It is a big improvement.”
Added Magnussen, “We had both cars top 10, not a bad feeling, we’ll take that. Our hope was to be in the points and it’s been a good start. Fingers crossed it will continue. We did a quali sim, still not fully going for it, and that looked better, but our long runs the car felt so consistent and lap times were really strong, I’m super excited.”
Alpine and Alfa Romeo also had a promising day; the pink-liveried Alpine was fifth in the hands of Fernando Alonso while Valtteri Bottas was sixth in his new Alfa Romeo colors.
And who could be looking a little glum at the end of practice day?
McLaren had neither cars in the top 10, with Daniel Ricciardo only 18th, amid the team bringing only an interim fix for the brake issues it encountered during testing.
When it was put to Lando Norris that McLaren was a little off the pace he retorted: “A little bit? That’s nice of you to say. I think a lot is probably a better answer. It was an average day. We still got through our run plans, and have a better idea of our brake issues we had, and how much they are fixed. (But) we’ve got a lot of pace to find to be competitive with any of the guys in the top 10.”
Last? That was Williams, with its best car 2.5 secs off the pace.
Aston Martin also had a lackluster day, with Lance Stroll only 16th overall, and while super-sub Nico Hulkenberg was a credible 17th after not having driven Formula 1 machinery since October 2020, it meant both cars were two seconds off the pace.
Last? That was Williams, with its best car 2.5 secs. off the pace. But it was closer to the pack than it expected to be, meaning all is not yet lost. After all, we’ve had less than two hours running after day one of a 23-round season.
Keyword: Why Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes F1 is facing 'much, much bigger problems' at Bahrain