The Bahrain Grand Prix 2022 was the 1st round of the 2022 F1 season, and took place at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, during the weekend of the 18th to the 20th of March.
Charles Leclerc won the race from the pole, followed by Carlos Sainz, and Lewis Hamilton completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 58 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 11-15: 16 stops
- Laps 29-38: 17 stops
- Laps 41-46: 19 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sergio Pérez's, stopping the clock at 24.173 seconds during his pit stop on lap 33, while the slowest one was was Esteban Ocon's, who stopped the clock at 30.484 seconds, 6.311 seconds slower than Pérez, during his pit stop on lap 14.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 3 stops. Only Mick Schumacher and Pierre Gasly decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Charles Leclerc, was on a 3 stops strategy.
2 stops
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1Mick Schumacher
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10Pierre Gasly
3 stops
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2Lewis Hamilton
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1Fernando Alonso
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1Alexander Albon
-
-Valtteri Bottas
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2Kevin Magnussen
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17Max Verstappen
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1Carlos Sainz
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4Esteban Ocon
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4Nicholas Latifi
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14Sergio Pérez
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-Charles Leclerc
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5George Russell
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8Yuki Tsunoda
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5Guanyu Zhou
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4Daniel Ricciardo
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7Lance Stroll
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-Nico Hülkenberg
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2Lando Norris
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 1 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 2.5 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 3 stops strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Bahrain International Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 3 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Sergio Pérez, and Max Verstappen, both suffered a fuel pressure loss, and Pierre Gasly, who had a power unit failure on lap 44.
Fuel pressure
-
Sergio PérezLap 56
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Max VerstappenLap 54
Power Unit
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Pierre GaslyLap 44
Qualifying
Charles Leclerc managed to get the pole position by 0.123 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:30.558. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Max Verstappen.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 14 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 5 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.