Christian Horner: "Obviously we are hugely disappointed to lose the chance of podium finishes today, but congratulations to Ferrari on their one, two finish and a return to the front. We will need to conduct a full investigation into what happened, but it looks suspiciously like the failures are related to each other and it may be an issue with the fuel system. The positive side for us is that we clearly have a competitive car, I don't think we quite had the pace today, but there was some great racing between Max and Charles. It's an incredibly long season with 22 races remaining, so we need to get on top of whatever this issue was today and come back stronger next weekend."
Lewis brought the W13 home in P3 with George just behind in P4 after a dramatic opening race of the 2022 F1 season. Both drivers made positive starts with Lewis moving up to P4 and George up to P6 in the opening stages of the race.
A late safety car and reliability issues for the cars ahead allowed the team to take their opportunities and complete an effective damage limitation weekend.
Toto Wolff: Today we were punching above our weight class, with the Red Bulls DNF-ing, but third and fourth is a fantastic result. I think with the Soft tyre, on pure pace before the tyre degrades, we are almost there - not where Leclerc is but with the others. Then degradation is too big and today we tried to do something different by putting the Hard on but it was a second slower every single lap so lesson learned. I think we were over winged today, we had too much drag and that is just because we are lacking parts at the moment but hopefully we can remedy that, and make progress on the top two's advantage. We really need to leave no stone unturned on the PU side and look for all performance gains but the wing was the issue for us today on straight line speed. At the moment we are fifth and sixth on the track, and we are trying to recover ground but it is not going to come from one day to the other - we'll keep pushing.
Andrew Shovlin: We knew we weren't quick enough coming into the weekend so our goal for this weekend was one of damage limitation in the championship. In terms of pace we're more or less on our own; we couldn't realistically put any pressure on Red Bull and Ferrari, and we weren't really under any pressure from behind. This allowed us to play a bit with the strategy, moving quite early to a three stop with Lewis. Our priority has to be to get on top of our current performance issues; we don't have a car to fight for pole or race wins and that isn't something that we can tolerate for long if we ambitions to win the championships. The balance was quite tricky but the main issue is just a lack of grip, caused by the fact that we have to run the car so high to avoid the bottoming. However, the weekend hasn't been without it's positives. The gaps are pretty big but we can see so much performance that we can bring relatively quickly, the team has also worked well and the car has been reliable. We have a lot of ideas to explore to improve our pace and we'll be working hard over the next few days and weeks to bring those to the track.
Scuderia Ferrari's 2022 season has got off to the best possible start, with Charles Leclerc leading team-mate Carlos Sainz across the line to record the team's 85th one-two finish in Formula 1. This was the Maranello squad's 239th win and Charles' third after those in Belgium and Italy in 2019. He drove a perfect race, securing the first hat trick of his career, namely pole position, fastest race lap and the win. Carlos took the chequered flag in second place to record his fifth podium with the Scuderia, his seventh in total in Formula 1.
Leclerc drove an almost perfect race, as he fought off several attacks from Max Verstappen, after the Dutchman went for the undercut following the first pit stop, between laps 16 and 19. The team's engineers and mechanics also played a key role in the win. The team opted to line up on new Soft tyres, banking on the Monegasque's excellent starting ability. He showed that again today, pushing hard in the F1-75 over the first stint. The mechanics produced an impeccable performance at both pit stops, especially Leclerc's second one, which allowed him to pull out precious tenths of a second over Verstappen to put him out of reach of a second attempt at the undercut by the reigning champion.
When the Safety Car came out on lap 45 after Pierre Gasly stopped on track, the team decided to change Charles' tyres so that he could fend off any potential attack from Verstappen. At the restart, Carlos, who had not felt completely comfortable in the car all weekend, still managed to pass the Dutchman on track before his retirement, thus rounding off an unforgettable weekend for the Scuderia in Bahrain. Charles heads the Drivers' classification for the first time in his career.
This evening, the team is celebrating in Bahrain and then tomorrow, it's back to the hard work because this coming Friday the action resumes with the second round of the season, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche circuit.
Mattia Binotto: I am very happy with this result, as our race today shows how well this team has worked over the past two years in Maranello. Personally, I have always had faith in them. They have worked as a united group and reacted to the difficulties we encountered. It's nice to see we are once again battling for first place, which is our goal for this season.
To win in Formula 1, you have to do everything perfectly and today we did just that and that goes for everyone, the drivers, the F1-75, the engineers with the strategy and the mechanics,who were impeccable at the pit stops. Seeing the way the team was able to make the most of every opportunity fills me with pride.
Tonight, I wanted to go up on the podium to collect the Constructors' trophy because I felt it was the best way to represent the whole team, back home and here in Bahrain. I have to admit it was an emotional moment. I am also thinking of the fans who have always supported us, even when things were a bit tricky and I admit I can't wait to get to Imola to race in front of them.
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: "As expected, after a difficult Friday and Saturday in Bahrain for us, today's grand prix was a continuation of the issues we're facing at present. We had to manage a lot of different parameters throughout the race, and that didn't allow us to be competitive.
"Thanks to Lando and Daniel who battled hard all weekend together with the team here in Bahrain and back in Woking, who have put in an immense amount of work.
"This was a disappointing and painful experience for everyone within the team, and of course for all our great fans. We are now analysing in detail why we're not competitive and working as hard as we can to bring more performance to the car, as rapidly as possible.
"In the meantime, hopefully all the learnings from today's race, the first time we've completed a full race distance with this car, will help us prepare and be in a better position for next weekend."
BWT Alpine F1 Team claimed well-earned double points from today's Bahrain Grand Prix with Esteban Ocon finishing seventh and Fernando Alonso ninth after a gripping season-opener in Sakhir.
Patience, clinical driving and reliability proved decisive in today's result with both drivers facing a three-stop strategy during the taxing 57-lap race.
Esteban began well from eleventh on the grid on new Softs pushing up into the top 10 on the opening lap, despite tagging Mick Schumacher at Turn 6, which resulted in a five-second time penalty. Esteban served the penalty at his first pit-stop on lap 14. The Frenchman swiftly weaved his way back through the field, pitting again on lap 30 for Hards and lap 43 under the Safety Car for Softs.
Fernando's race was less straight forward with challenging stints on all three tyre compounds. The Spaniard was always knocking on the door for points throughout and, like Esteban, benefitted from the hat-trick of retirements to cars ahead in the closing stages to climb into the points.
With eight points scored from today's Grand Prix, the team heads to Saudi Arabia next weekend, sitting fifth in the Constructors' Championship.
Laurent Rossi: "What a fantastic way to start the season for the team with both Esteban and Fernando scoring deserved points today. This is certainly a great achievement, which, ultimately, is down to the three core pillars that construct our team from Enstone, Viry and the trackside team. This result is a credit to everyone's hard work to prepare the A522-RE22 package over the winter and, indeed, ensure we had the means to compete for points. Thanks to everyone for their commitment and dedication over the past couple of months and now, we undoubtedly have the means to make our 2022 challenger even more competitive in the coming races. Esteban and Fernando drove great races today with overtaking aplenty throughout the field, which is especially exciting for the Formula 1 spectacle. It was a long and very tough race for them with strategy playing a key part. The pit-stop crew were also immense across all six stops during the race, so thanks to them for maintaining focus and precision when it mattered. We've had a taste for how thrilling the 2022 season could shape up to be. We now look forward to Saudi Arabia next weekend where, I'm sure, the racing will be as exciting. Our aim is to continue the hard work and pick up more points with both cars."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "Both cars have been quite competitive in the midfield tonight and were able to deliver strong performances, moving forward during the race, which is good to see so early in the season. Pierre was looking on course for a very strong race before his issue, which was instant and without any warning. Unfortunately, the safety car which followed Pierre's stoppage went against Yuki, who had just boxed. This provided some cars around him with an opportunity to stop for free, meaning he was a bit further back when the safety car came in. However, some strong laps in his last stint saw him come home in P8, which is a good result for him and the team considering the less than ideal weekend Yuki had here. The competition in the midfield is looking very tight, and with the first weekend under our belt we now have a clearer picture on where we need to focus our attention to improve the AT03 in the coming events. We are looking forward to the challenge."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "Today's exciting first race was a good start to the 2022 season. I think that the new regulations delivered what was expected, as we saw a lot of overtaking and the cars are much closer together, like it used to be in the past. Congratulations to Ferrari for this fantastic one-two. Unfortunately, Red Bull Racing, who were fighting for the win, could not finish the race, which was also the case on our side with Pierre. We still don't know what the reason for his failure was, but the rear of the car caught fire. This was very disappointing, as he had just 12 laps to go and was sitting in eighth position at the time. Pierre started the race in P10 with a used set of soft tyres, he had his first pit stop on lap 13 for the Mediums, and then we decided to call him in once again on lap 32 for the Hards to go to the end. Pierre did a really good job today and had everything under control; he was very good at managing both the tyres and the fuel consumption and his car seemed to work very well.
"As for Yuki, he started from P16 but he was already P12 after the first lap, and thanks to several good overtakes he was soon P11. We called him in on lap 15 and changed to the Mediums. Yuki did a fantastic job defending his position and putting pressure on the cars ahead of him. We then decided to go for a three-stop strategy, so on lap 29 for his second stop we moved to the Softs. He was able to overtake Alonso and had a good fight with Ocon, and even if after the safety car he wasn't able to overtake him, Yuki drove a really good race, without any mistakes. We struggled a little in Qualifying, but in the race the car showed quite a good performance, so I think we would have deserved to finish with both cars in the points today. Now we have to find out what the reason for Pierre's retirement was and prepare everything in the best possible way for Saudi Arabia, which is already next weekend. We hope to finish with both cars in the points there."
Mike Krack - Team Principal: "Both our drivers were required to lift and coast at various points during today's race, but they did it proficiently and we were therefore able to bring both cars to the finish. A P12/P17 result is not what we wanted, of course not, but it was always going to be hard to achieve a strong finish from our starting positions. Nonetheless, Lance drove well to convert his P19 grid slot to P12 at flag-fall, and, having not raced in Formula One since November 2020 [the Eifel Grand Prix at Nurburgring], Nico also did a good job today. Our car currently lacks pace - clearly - but we will endeavour to put up a better show in Saudi Arabia in a few days' time."
Alex Albon finished 13th and Nicholas Latifi 16th in the Bahrain Grand Prix. Alex started the race 14th and Nicholas 20th, both on the soft Pirelli tyres.
Alex ran a three-stop race, taking a new set of medium tyres on laps 13 and 35. He made his final stop under the Safety Car, switching to the soft compound on lap 46.
Nicholas also pitted three times, initially boxing on lap 14 for the soft compound, before stopping for the medium tyre on lap 32. Under the Safety Car he boxed on lap 45, taking a new set of soft Pirelli tyres.
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: It has been a tough evening in Bahrain, but we got both cars to the end, and at times showed some reasonable pace. Alex made a good start and made some places early in the race. Unfortunately, today we didn't have the pace to hold on. However, we were able to race competitively with both the McLarens and the Aston Martins, which was an improvement from what we saw at the test last week.
Nicholas raced hard as he always does but struggled to find a sustainable pace without the tyre degradation becoming unmanageable. Alex was calm and collected throughout the race and he has had an excellent start to his Williams career. Qualifying and racing with a new team is never straightforward as there are so many procedures to learn and relationships to form. However, after solid simulator and winter testing programmes, he was able to acquit himself very well all weekend. There is more to come from the drivers and the car over the coming weeks, but this was a solid start for the whole team, and we are now looking forward to the very different challenges posed by Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN opened its 2022 campaign with a strong performance that delivered a double points finish, with Valtteri Bottas finishing 6th ahead of team-mate, Zhou Guanyu, in P10.
The team delivered an attacking performance and converted their pace into points, despite having to recover from two difficult starts: both drivers were involved in some nice battles, with Zhou peppering his Formula One debut with decisive overtaking moves and Valtteri using all his experience to bring home an impressive result.
The nine points acquired on the night place the team in fourth place in the Constructors' Championship as we had to Saudi Arabia for next week's race in Jeddah.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "Coming home with two cars in the points in the first race is the perfect way to start the season. The team has demonstrated skill but also resilience as we came back from a poor start, but stuck to our plan and made a lot of progress through the field. In a sense, this is an even more promising sign as we were able to mount a comeback, which means our car is genuinely competitive. We are aware the season ahead is going to be a long one and that our rivals will challenge us already next week, but we have a very good result on day one and that's a big boost for everyone at the team. In particular, I am very happy for both Valtteri and Zhou: to have such a result on their first race with the team is the best way to start our relationship. We will aim to build on this night as we keep developing our car and keep fighting at this level."
Haas F1 Team opened its 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship with Kevin Magnussen fifth and Mick Schumacher 11th at the Bahrain Grand Prix, held Sunday at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Magnussen started from seventh place on Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires and worked his way up to fifth on the opening lap as he settled into a rhythm. The Dane pitted for softs on lap 14, and again on lap 34 for Yellow mediums, before diving into the pits once more for softs on lap 47 when a safety car was deployed.
He held seventh at the restart and profited when both Red Bull drivers retired due to mechanical issues to move up to fifth. Magnussen greeted the checkered flag in fifth position to earn 10 championship points and equal his best result with Haas F1 Team.
Schumacher began the race from 12th place on soft tires and moved into the top 10. However, the German was unfortunately tapped into a spin by Esteban Ocon, for which the Alpine driver was penalized. Schumacher emerged in 13th position and came in for mediums on lap 12 before making a second stop for softs on lap 36.
When the safety car was deployed Schumacher remained out on track, moving into 10th position, but was unable to retain position compared to opponents on fresher tires and classified 11th. It marked Schumacher's highest race classification in his Formula 1 career.
Haas F1 Team holds third place in the Constructors' Championship with 10 points.
Haas F1 Team will return to action at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, to be held at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, from March 25 to 27.
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "A very good day for us today, it's good to be back for the whole team. They've done a fantastic job, not just today but for the last two years. Everyone kept their head high and just got ready for the moment that we would have a good car. When that moment came, everyone did their part and I'm very proud of them, and they can be proud of themselves."
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two from pole using a three-stop strategy in Bahrain: two initial stints on the P Zero Red soft C3 followed by a stint on the P Zero Yellow medium C2 and a final run again on the soft tyre after pitting under the safety car with 11 laps to go. Leclerc also set the fastest lap of the race on the soft tyre, shortly before the finish. His team mate Carlos Sainz followed the same strategy.
Under the 2022 regulations, all the drivers had an entirely free choice of tyres at the start. Everyone opted to start the race on the soft tyre, with the exception of the two McLarens, which fitted the medium for the first stint.
Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton made the first 18-inch tyre racing pit stop of the year, moving from the soft to the P Zero White hard tyre on lap 11.
The race got underway at 6pm with temperatures of 24 degrees centigrade ambient and 27 degrees on track - slightly warmer than the previous evenings - before dropping a couple of degrees by the finish.
Mario Isola: "The championship debut of the new Formula 1 regulations with our latest 18-inch tyres delivered a race with plenty of excitement from start to finish and some great battles. We are satisfied with how the tyres performed. The soft and medium compounds were key here, while the hard represented an alternative and more consistent choice.
"The lower temperature of the tyre blankets this year also contributed to the challenge of putting the tyres in the correct window, making the undercut for the hard less powerful than usual, while the abrasive nature of the track ensured that it was going to be at least two stops for every driver. The strategy was also influenced by the late safety car, which finally led to three stops and set up a dramatic sprint finish to the race. Congratulations to Ferrari for their one-two!"
