18/03/2022
NEWS STORY
The opening round of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship kicked off officially with practice on Friday at the Bahrain International Circuit as teams prepared for Sunday's 57-lap Bahrain Grand Prix - the first in a record-setting 23 race calendar.
Friday's action consisted of two 60-minute sessions - FP1 and FP2 - around the 5.412-kilometer (3.363-mile), 15-turn track - Bahrain International Circuit hosting the first round of a Formula 1 season for just the fourth time in its history.
FP1 saw both Haas VF-22's running early with installation laps completed before a 12-minute red-flag halted the flow of the afternoon. With 40 minutes remaining cars returned to the track. Magnussen and Schumacher headed back out on the Pirelli P Zero White hard tire for their respective wake-up runs on the compound. This was followed by a switch by both cars to the P Zero Yellow medium rubber for some baseline running. Schumacher duly banked a best time of 1:36.536 (P18) with Magnussen directly behind on the timesheets with a 1:36.804 (P19).
FP2 was hosted under the lights in the evening session - both the time of day and cooler temperatures more reflective of what the field will face in qualifying and the race. Magnussen and Schumacher sampled the medium compound to start before opting onto the P Zero Red tires for the first time. The softest rubber delivered the fastest times with Schumacher recording a hot lap of 1:33.085 (P8) while Magnussen kept both VF-22's in the top 10 courtesy of a 1:33.183 effort (P10). The session was rounded off with high-fuel runs by both cars through to the checkered flag.
Haas F1 Team ran a total of 91 laps on Friday across FP1 and FP2 - 47 by Schumacher and 44 by Magnussen.
Mick Schumacher: "It was overall very positive - we made good steps at the right moment. Now it's just about trying to fine-tune what we have and then I think the package is there to be used. We've done quite a few long runs which seem to be positive and hopefully that will be the case on Sunday as well. It's only FP2 but it does feel good to be in the top 10."
Kevin Magnussen: "The car has been feeling good all day again, like last week. In FP1 we were focusing a little more on race set-up and feeling, we weren't trying to set a lap time. In FP2, we did a qualifying sim - not fully going for it - and that looked better on timings, but I think it was the long run that I was really encouraged by. It was so consistent, lap times were really strong, and I'm still super excited."
Guenther Steiner: "It was a good day today. Surprisingly there were no issues with the car, no gremlins, nothing. That means the team did a fantastic job over the last week from testing to now - it was relentless work. For FP1 and FP2 we were out there, and we are where we actually want to be. We just need to take it now to qualifying tomorrow with the same pace and reliability, as well as for the race."
Check out our Friday gallery from Bahrain, here.