Leclerc edges Verstappen for first pole in F1’s new era at F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022 at BIC

Leclerc edges Verstappen for first pole in F1’s new era at F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022 at BIC

• Leclerc claims second pole in Bahrain and 10th of F1 career
• Versateppen on front row, with Sainz and Perez behind
• Verschoor opens new F2 season with Sprint Race win
• Algosaibi wins first Porsche Sprint Challenge race in final round

BIC, Sakhir – Charles Leclerc captured the first pole position of Formula 1’s new era this evening at the F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022 at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.

The Monegasque driver shone brightest under lights and put Ferrari at the front for Sunday’s 57-lap night race after clocking an ultra-quick best lap time of one minute 30.558 seconds in Q3 of qualifying.

It was the 10th pole position of his career and his second at BIC, previously achieving the feat in 2019.

Leclerc beat out reigning drivers’ world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing by the narrowest of margins. Verstappen’s top lap was 1:30.681.

Carlos Sainz came a close third with a 1:30.687 lap to confirm the strong pace of Ferrari in Bahrain, while starting alongside him in the second row will be Sergio Perez, who qualified fourth with a fastest mark of 1:30.921 in the second Red Bull car.

Lewis Hamilton (1:31.238) for Mercedes will start fifth and former teammate Valtteri Bottas (1:31.560)—now with Alfa Romeo—will be beside him in sixth; while seventh is Kevin Magnussen (1:31.808) for Haas and eighth Fernando Alonso (1:32.195) for Alpine.

Completing the first 10 on the grid and rounding off the Q3 participants are George Russell (1:32.216), who qualified ninth, and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (1:32.338).

Eliminated earlier from Q2 were Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Haas’s Mick Schumacher, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Williams’s Alexander Albon, and Alfa Romeo rookie Guanyu Zhou.

Eliminated from Q1 were AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, Aston Martin’s Nico Hulkenberg, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin and Nicholas Latifi of Williams.

Sunday’s F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix is scheduled for a 6pm start. It will be the 18th running of the race and it kicks off F1’s new era.

Verschoor opens F2 season with Sprint Race win

Richard Verschoor of Trident claimed the opening Sprint Race victory this evening in the FIA Formula 2 Championship’s 2022 season, held at Bahrain International Circuit in support of the F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.

Verschoor lined up in second on the start grid but was able to gain the lead heading into turn one.

After an eventful 23 laps, the Dutch driver went on to claim the chequered flag in a winning time of 43 minutes 34.983 seconds.