Ferrari and Leclerc end long winless drought as Red Bull suffer double disaster

Leclerc, Ferrari, Verstappen, Red Bull, Bahrain, 2022 — Photo: © LAT Images

Bahrain Grand Prix

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Ferrari and Leclerc end long winless drought as Red Bull suffer double disaster

Scuderia's last victory was in Singapore in 2019

Ian Parkes

Sunday 20 March 2022 17:46 Updated: 19:52

Ferrari and Charles Leclerc ended a two-and-a-half-year wait for a win, spearheading a dramatic Scuderia one-two as reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen was forced to retire late on.

The verdict on F1's new aerodynamic era remains open to debate but for the most part, the race was captivating enough, sparked by a three-stop strategy and a fire for AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly that led to a late safety car and an eight-lap dash to the finish.

During a frenetic end, Verstappen pulled into the garage, seemingly with power-steering issues while team-mate Sergio Perez suffered an engine lock-up on the penultimate lap while attempting to hold on to third.

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When the Monégasque took the chequered flag to the delight of all at Ferrari, it gave the team its first win in 46 races, with its last the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix.

That year, Leclerc had won the previous two in Belgium and Italy, since when he has been a peripheral player.

Leclerc finished five-and-a-half seconds ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz, with Mercedes duoLewis Hamilton and George Russell taking full advantage of Red Bull's crisis to claim third and fourth.

They were followed home by Haas' Kevin Magnussen in fifth, with Valtteri Bottas sixth in his Alfa Romeo, whose team-mate Guanyu Zhou claimed a point on his debut with 10th.

At the beginning, and from the 10th pole position of his F1 career, on new soft tyres - compared to used softs for the five drivers behind him - Leclerc could not have asked for a better start.

Leclerc gave Verstappen no room or opportunity on the run down to and through the first corner where Hamilton managed to get alongside Perez before forcing his way past coming out of turn two to claim fourth.

Hamilton's former Mercedes team-mate Bottas was the main loser at the start. After lining up sixth alongside the Briton in his Alfa Romeo, Bottas dropped to 14th by the end of the first lap.

That had allowed ninth-on-the-grid Russell to grab seventh in the opening exchanges after he had also cleared Alpine's Fernando Alonso.

As the field settled into a rhythm and Leclerc eked out a small lead over Verstappen, Russell took additional advantage of Magnussen running too deep into turn one on lap five to scythe his way up to sixth.

At one stage, Hamilton challenged Sainz for third but instead fell into the clutches of Perez from behind and instead dropped to fifth on lap 10.

Shortly after, with degradation rapid on the soft rubber, Hamilton was the first to pit, surprisingly taking on the hard Pirelli compound.

But with the temperatures of the tyre blankets this season slightly cooler, it was clear when Hamilton returned to the track his rubber lacked sufficient heat as he almost slid off the track, allowing Zhou to ease through.

Although dropping to 12th at that stage, Hamilton soon reclaimed 11th with a move down the main straight on F1's first Chinese driver.

Hamilton, though, was not too disadvantaged as by the end of the first round of stops the top-seven pecking order was as you were before they had started, albeit with all the leaders expect Mercedes on medium tyres.

The stops, however, did allow Verstappen to attack Leclerc as a stunning three-lap duel under the lights captivated its audience.

Laps 17 and 18 were identical as Verstappen surged past Leclerc down the straight with the aid of a powerful DRS, only for the Monégasque to use the device in return to regain the lead out of turn four.

On lap 19, Verstappen appeared too far back to repeat his earlier move but managed to force his way through, only to lock up and flat-spot the front-right tyre, so offering Leclerc an easy retake.

From fifth position, and despite only running for 16 laps on the hard tyres, Hamilton pitted again after 27 laps - just shy of half-distance - for a set of mediums.

For Verstappen, his earlier lock-up had proven pivotal as at the halfway point he had fallen four seconds behind Leclerc, with Sainz a further seven seconds back in third, followed by Perez, Russell, Magnussen, Gasly and Hamilton in eighth.

The Dutch driver then rid himself of his flat-spotted rubber after 30 laps, followed by Leclerc with his second stop a lap later to cover, with the latter emerging comfortably ahead.

Verstappen, though, was not happy as he angrily radioed to his team to state: "Okay this is two stops I have taken it easy on the outlap and I could have easily been in front. I'm not doing it again."

As with the first set of stops, the second again failed to shake up the order.

Again the race settled into a pattern until Red Bull turned the grand prix into a three-stopper as Verstappen pitted for softs after 42 laps, followed immediately by Perez.

Verstappen, though, fumed again over the radio, complaining about power-steering issues, although was later informed it was not a reliability concern.

Ferrari reacted by bringing in Sainz to cover off the Mexican in a bid to hold onto third for Spaniard but kept Leclerc on track due to the cushion to Verstappen until Gasly's car overheated and burst into flames on lap 45.

With the safety car summoned, that allowed Ferrari to make a free stop for Leclerc.

Despite airing concerns again about his steering as the field toured behind the safety car, he was informed the condition was "stable", and that he would know what to do if the car became undrivable.

Ultimately, the issue was too great, forcing him out, with Red Bull's woe compounded when Perez suffered his spin on lap 56, bemoaning an engine issue.

For Mercedes, Hamilton and Russell, it was manna from heaven and just over three months after the ultimate high for Red Bull and Verstappen, this was a remarkable low.

Alpine duo Esteban Ocon and Alonso finished seventh and ninth, sandwiching the second AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda.