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Charles Leclerc puts Ferrari on Pole ahead of world champion Max Verstappen

Charles Leclerc puts Ferrari on Pole ahead of world champion Max Verstappen

19-03-2022 15:01 Last update: 22-03-2022 10:43
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Oli Lewis

Editor

Charles Leclerc took the first pole of the season in Bahrain, as he beats out Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz who finish second and third respectively. The Monegasque took pole by 0.123 in his Ferrari. This is Leclerc's 10th pole of his F1 career. 

Ferrari takes top honours.

Ferrari and Red Bull seem to be the ones to beat this year after the first qualifying session, like Verstappen, Leclerc and Sainz seem to be in a league of their own at points where they held the top 3 spots across all three sessions.

The Mercedes power unit seems to be one step behind the rest of the grid, as they only see two of their eight cars make it in the final qualifying session, while this might just be a teething issue in the first race of the season. If this continues the once all-powerful Mercedes engine could be reduced to a lot of back row starts between the Aston Martins and Williams.

What became clear in today's qualifying is that the HAAS' investment into the 2022 regulations that was talked about all season long last year has paid off. With both cars getting out of Q1, and Kevin Magnussen managing to put it into Q3 despite a hydraulic issue for the Dane which meant he couldn't complete a second lap in the second qualifying session.

Leclerc on top

A first run that left the two Ferraris ahead of Verstappen but all within half a tenth of each other, left the fight for pole going into the final run too close to call. However, it was Leclerc who came out on top ahead of Verstappen and then Sainz.

While looking at the second half of the top 10, it's Lewis Hamilton who finishes best of the rest so far, with Valterri Bottas behind him, who would be happy to out-qualify the other Mercedes as Russell finished ninth. With K-Mag and Alonso in seventh and eighth respectively. With Pierre Gasly rounding out the top 10.

HAAS has done a good job to get their car back out, and Magnussen rewards them with their 10th P7 in Quali and first since 2019.

Mercedes power struggle evident in Q1

The first qualifying session of 2022 ended with Charles Leclerc at the top of the timesheets. The track had ramped up throughout the session which could have easily left anyone in danger of dropping out in the bottom 5. However, the disappointment was reserved for Yuki Tsunoda, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi. Although a slight positive for Nico Hulkenberg where he out-qualified teammate Lance Stroll despite the late substitution due to Sebastian Vettel's positive COVID test.


The signs of the strength for the Ferrari engine occurred early in the session as the Alfa Romeo and HAAS teams managed to match Red Bulls on pace, with the Ferrari factory team managing to occupy the top two spots. While on the other end of the spectrum the Mercedes engine struggled at times, with the McLarens, Williams and Aston Martins were the ones fighting to get out of tough Q1 session which saw four Merc powered cars eliminated.

Tight at the top in Q2

It was Verstappen who was the first man into the 1:30s for the first time this weekend. An impressive lap set in his first run in Q2. Which was enough for the top spot at the end of the session, where he narrowly beat both Ferraris as well as his teammate. In a session which saw the whole top 10 within a second of each other at the chequered.



Despite Kevin Magnussen's early signs of pace, it ended up being a disappointing session for the Dane, as he was recalled to the pits with a hydraulics issue that meant he couldn't change gears. So despite being in fourth at the time of the issue, he wasn't able to set another lap. Which left him in seventh at the end of the session. 

We saw Alex Albon and Lando Norris join their teammates in being eliminated, which means the only Mercedes powered cars in Q3 is the factory team. They were joined by Guanyu Zhou, Mick Schumacher and Esteban Ocon in being eliminated.