2022 Formula 1 Bahrain GP
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F1 Bahrain GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2
Friday's action from the 2022 Formula 1 season opener
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However, with air temperature at 17.5c that is positively chilly. It is almost warmer in London currently.
Sun
The risk of rain for FP2 is 0% which you may laugh at, but rain did hit the Bahrain paddock yesterday so it isn't too much of a wild possibility. But for the next hour the desert will remain dry.
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Is it even the new season if you don't show off a new helmet design? Mick Schumacher ticks that task off his to do list with this new look:
Gasly topped FP1 for AlphaTauri, admittedly running the soft tyres, to beat both Ferrari drivers with Leclerc just ahead of Sainz. At the other end of the times, it was a nightmare session for Bottas who completed just two laps due to an engine issue.
Good afternoon! FP2 for the Bahrain GP is a little over 15 minutes away. Before then here's a quick recap on what's happened so far today.
And that's it for FP1 - we'll be back a bit later on for all the FP2 fun - see you a little later!
Breaking news
Here's the report from FP1, led by AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly:
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-bahrain-gp-fp1-report/9104508/
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We get a few practice starts before the cars return to the pits - and the teams begin to prepare them for FP2, which will take place in the dark.
It doesn't look like it, and it looks like Gasly will have drawn first blood as he heads the session - 0.364s clear of Leclerc, who's ahead of Ferrari team-mate Sainz. Russell, Verstappen, Stroll, Hamilton, Alonso, Tsunoda and Perez complete the top 10.
Checkered flag
And there's the chequered flag - that went by VERY quickly! Let's see if there's any final glory runs...
Alonso moves up to P8 on his latest run, while Zhou shuffles up to 11th fastest. Bottas is still struggling with engine issues, so there's a chance Alfa Romeo has to enact a swap. He's not had the rub of the green with reliability so far...
Breaking news
13th fastest for Zhou, which will be some crumb of comfort with Alfa Romeo as it deals with Bottas' car.
At least, Bottas WAS out for a lap, but he's retreated to the pits as his team-mate Guanyu Zhou begins a run on the soft tyres.
Hamilton gets up to P7, with a 1m34.943s. Meanwhile, his former team-mate Valtteri Bottas is back out after a misfiring issue.
Albon went very wide at Turn 4, perhaps getting caught out by traffic, but manages to lift himself into P13. There's more time in that Williams.
That's P5 for Stroll, before Leclerc goes second-fastest with a 1m34.557s lap. Top nine all within a second at this stage.
Stopwatch
It's a 1m34.193s for Gasly who goes fastest, as Sainz now shuffles up to P2 - just under 0.5s behind the AlphaTauri.
Leclerc was on a purple lap, but had a spin into Turn 11 and had to hit the abort button. Tsunoda now goes P4, as Hulkenberg finds P8 in the timing boards.
Stopwatch
Schumacher moves up to P11 on the mediums, before Latifi goes P5 on the softs. Russell then fires up to the top with a 1m34.629s on the soft tyres too.
We get a few more cars on track for the final 20 minutes, with more variety in tyre compounds; lots more medium and soft compounds being run for the final part of FP1.
There's a bit of a lull in proceedings at the moment - although Ocon is making up for lost time on what my gut tells me is the older sidepod design. Will need another look to confirm that...
“Halfway through the session, there’s been none of the big lock-ups between Turns 9 and 10 as there was in testing. Schumacher had a small moment with his left-front a minute ago that meant he went onto the back straight sideways and slow, but that’s it so far”
Stopwatch
Perez now shuffles Alonso down from P2, going fastest in the final sector to punch in a 1m35.050s.
On those softs, Ocon duly moves up to P4 in the times - two Red Bulls and two Alpines occupy the top four.
Ocon is back out after his sidepod fixes - on the soft tyre. Mainly hard-tyre running going on down the field, as teams focus on mileage rather than outright fast laps.
Perez improves his time in P3, getting within a tenth of Alonso, as Russell moves up to P8. It seems that there's also a little missing piece of Mercedes sitting on the straight.
Quote
"Car feels very affected by the wind," says Russell, which he experienced heavily with a "peaky" Williams last year.
Albon gets back onto the track for his first FP1 session since 2020 - having a slight snap into Turn 2 and running a bit wide as he got on the power. Sainz and Leclerc, meanwhile, move up to fourth and fifth.
Stopwatch
Alonso goes top for now with a 1m35.247s, on the soft rubber. No having to delineate between the C4 and C5s now, so that's nice - as Verstappen now punches in a 1m34.783s to go fastest.
The drivers immediately flock to rejoin the circuit, with Gasly nipping past Tsunoda at the pit exit. Lots of learning to do in this remaining 38 minutes of running.
Green flag
The session resumes, with Norris and Alonso the first to kick us back off for the remaining 40 minutes.
The session will resume in one minute.
A look at the new Bang & Olufsen sticker on the side of the Williams - why sign a deal with a stereo company?
The TV is showing Ocon's sidepod, which had a giant hole in it. Good advertising for B, less so for the remaining WT.
Before the red flag, Verstappen moved up to P4, as Gasly went fifth and Sainz set a time to go eighth.
"The Mercedes cars were really struggling to put the power down out of Turn 10 early on - both Hamilton and Russell were squirming hard each time heading into the back straight."
Red flag
We've got a red flag now to pick up the bodywork - that's off the new Alpine sidepod, so not an ideal debut...
Yellow flag
There's a yellow flag along the start-finish line, with bits of Alpine just fluttering off Ocon's car.
By: autosport.com
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