F1 LIVE | The first free practice for the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix

After a long period of testing, it's time for the first Grand Prix weekend of the 2022 Formula 1 season. This takes place in Bahrain. This liveblog will take you through the first free practice session of the weekend.

LIVE | FP1 for the Bahrain Grand Prix

The drivers and teams are just coming out of the F1 test days and have already gotten used to the character of the new 2022 F1 cars. They have also already put in a lot of miles on the Bahrain International Circuit, as the last three test days took place in Bahrain. Whereas last week the teams were still preparing for the season, today they are only preparing for this weekend's qualifying and race. While we probably won't see the fastest lap times yet, we will see most upgrades. 

Hamilton will be looking for revenge

Eyes will once again be focused on arch-rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton this weekend, who battled each other for the title at the previous race in Abu Dhabi last year. The rivals were on the same number of points at the start of the race. Verstappen took the title, but it was in such a way that Hamilton felt robbed of his eighth world championship. Looking at the past few days of testing, it is not inconceivable that Mercedes and Red Bull Racing are back on top.

With even more fighting spirit than ever before, Hamilton will want to get revenge on Verstappen. After all, the last time the Brit was defeated, by Nico Rosberg, he didn't get the chance for revenge because the German retired immediately. In the first free practice session, they will leave each other alone, but it will be interesting to watch their times and at the end of the session make a small prediction of who is fastest on the short runs for Saturday and the long runs for Sunday.

Are teams overcoming the problems?

It is not out of the question that other teams and drivers will get involved in the battle with Verstappen and Hamilton. Mercedes debutant George Russell will be very eager for the first time in the Mercedes in Bahrain after he took Hamilton's place at the same circuit in 2020. Ferrari also looked very strong during testing and may be able to compete this weekend. Indeed, Charles Leclerc, like Russell, will be keen to claim the victory he missed out on in Bahrain in 2019 due to a broken engine.

Other than that, hopefully, we can be surprised by the teams and drivers this weekend. However, it is important that teams like Alpine, Aston Martin, Haas and Alfa Romeo have better control of the porpoising problem. During the test days they, like Mercedes, suffered from this problem. Although most teams have been able to solve it reasonably well, the problem does not seem to have disappeared yet. Maybe the first tests will show that big steps have been made.