There are no half terms: it was a first test of the year to be framed for Leclerc and Sainz. They win the Bahrain Grand Prix by crossing the line one after the other. We are talking about a historic double, enhanced by the fastest lap in the race and the pole position for the Monegasque. Third Hamilton, but it cannot be said that he arrived there on his own merit: both Red Bulls, in fact, were in the game until the end. But within minutes they were put out of action by mechanical unforeseen events. The pilots have no faults. Always fast and regular, they believed it. For different reasons and under investigation, Horner’s single-seaters failed their first task of 2022. As Enzo Ferrari said, cars can also last for a short time and break down, but not before crossing the finish line by one meter.
Ferrari competitive again
Today was a double that at Maranello they hadn’t remembered since 2019. After so much suffering, it can really be said that Ferrari is back to being really competitive. Proof of this is the verification of an easy and recurring equation in this world: with the winning car, the winning driver emerges. And so, with the stars again aligned in his favor, Charles made it. With honor and not a little effort: his Sunday was not a similar “walk” as those seen up to 2020 with the Hamilton road. The race pace had to deal with an opponent always close, always attacked: the new world champion in charge, full of endorphins and eager to assert his leadership, never gave him respite, giving life to several duels and mutual overtaking which greatly animated the first half of the Grand Prix. Then not much happened until the fire of Gasly’s Alpha Tauri: but with a prolonged duration, first of the virtual and then of the “physical” safety car, all those who had to have made an extra tire change and, due to the new rules and the obligation to split, there were no dangerous surprises for the “pack” of leading drivers.
Sparks from the Haas
The race was very beautiful and lively in some moments, more repetitive and “spring” in others, so much so that the direction, not infrequently, concentrated on the duels at the bottom of the standings. Some are particularly sad, taking into account the specific weight of the names involved. If Williams hasn’t been a high-end team for years, the first bad surprise of the year is McLaren’s difficulty. It is no secret that the car has not yet approached any performance targets. On the contrary, the Haas sparked, which the evil ones are starting to call “the white Ferrari”. But after having had to exclude the Russian sponsor and driver, it is almost incredible to see this team blossom like this at the beginning of the season, which has always been used to fighting for the very last positions.
Podium (lucky) for Hamilton
The lack of reliability of Red Bull had a not secondary impact on Hamilton’s day. It could be said that there was another case of “above average luck” for the great champion of the last decade. Fresh from a last round of 2021 discussed throughout the winter, which wrested from him the dream of sealing the world title record in this sport, the British driver of Mercedes immediately collected, at the first opportunity, a debt with luck who, on average, until 2020, had always smiled at him. After the rehearsals, in fact, everyone thought he was lost. But Red Bull’s double retirement immediately put him back in the game, literally giving him a very unexpected podium.
The limits of Red Bull
As a result, contrary to what many claimed after Friday and Saturday tests, it turned out that “Mercedes is not dead”. And whoever gave it up for lost was wrong. Although on the playing field it has nevertheless proved to be the third force, in the end the result is made under the checkered flag. So getting a third position was morally and technically important for the entire Wolff team. Reliability has the luck component, but there are other variables that matter. And Red Bull has proven to be less fast than Ferrari and less reliable than Mercedes. Two instead of one, Red Bull’s shortcomings versus Mercedes’ ones, which made Horner’s day very difficult. Without a doubt, in fact, it would have been more important to get to the bottom and bring home useful points.