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Pierre Gasly goes fastest in the first practice session of the 2022 season

Pierre Gasly goes fastest in the first practice session of the 2022 season

18-03-2022 13:07 Last update: 13:07
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Toby McLuskie

Pierre Gasly has claimed the fastest lap of the first practice session of the 2022 season. The AlphaTauri driver finished with a lap time of 1:34.193, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Mercedes sandbagging compared to Red Bull?

Red Bull looked much better than Mercedes in the first practice session ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were in the top 10 for the majority of the session, with George Russell also joining them. Russell led at a point, overtaking the reigning World Champion, however, was on the soft tyres compared to the Dutchman's medium tyres. Lewis Hamilton had a very quiet session, creeping in and out of the top 10, setting lap times and probably just preparing himself for FP2 and FP3. 

Ferrari are also seen to be up there with Red Bull and Mercedes this season and that was on show today. Leclerc and Sainz were in the top five for a long period of time in the first hour of practice and finished the session in second and third respectively.

AlphaTauri look strongest of midfield, McLaren lacklustre

Gasly has not waited around to find his form from last season, claiming the fastest time this session, whilst his teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished in ninth place. McLaren were the disappointment of the session, with Lando Norris finishing in 16th and Daniel Ricciardo in 17th. The British team were unable to find any pace and had an extremely quiet session, apart from at the start when Norris was on top after the red flag. Esteban Ocon caused the red flag early on after his side pod fell off his car in sector one. Fernando Alonso had a good starting session as well, finishing in the top 10.

Niko Hulkenburg made his return to F1 and managed to put in a lot of laps, due to only arriving in Bahrain yesterday. Lance Stroll finished in sixth place.

Haas struggling compared again, Alfa Romeo and Williams find some pace

Haas had no pace compared to the other teams today but didn't have the worst luck on the grid. That fell to Valtteri Bottas. The Finn had only two out laps in FP1, as his car misfired on both of the out laps and he had to return to the pits both times. Guanyu Zhou was able to find some pace out of his Alfa Romeo however, with the rookie finishing in 11th place. As for Williams, both Nicholas Latifi and Alex Albon had quiet sessions finishing in 13th and 15th respectively.