Charles Leclerc took a glorious win in the 2022 F1 season opener in Bahrain and the fans took little to no time to share their hilarious reactions on social media. Ferrari took their first win in 46 races, with their last at the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix. To make the win even sweeter, it was a 1-2, with Carlos Sainz making it to second behind his team-mate.
Red Bull were showing decent pace today with Sergio Perez setting the fastest time lap after lap and Max Verstappen breathing down the neck of Charles Leclerc. The tables, however, were completely turned with both cars retiring due to reliability issues within the final three laps of the race.
If it could not be more dramatic, Mercedes, who insisted all weekend that their car is nowhere near the pace of Red Bull or Ferrari, found themselves right behind the Ferraris and Lewis Hamilton bagged a podium for the team from third. Additionally, Kevin Magnussen brought Haas back to life with a phenomenal fifth-place finish, while Schumacher ended the race in eleventh. Guanyu Zhou, the only rookie this season racing for Alfa Romeo, also found himself on points in his maiden F1 race and finished the Bahrain Grand Prix in tenth place, four places behind team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Pierre Gasly, who was having a decent first race of the 2022 season, was the first driver to retire this year after his AlphaTauri caught on fire due to over-heating. Thrilling wheel-to-wheel battles between Leclerc and Verstappen, and several others further down the grid, on top of all the drama, made the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix another banger for a season opener. The Bahrain Grand Prix proved to be dramatic, to say the least.
Meanwhile, several Mercedes and Hamilton fans have taken to Twitter to celebrate a dreadful day for Max Verstappen and Red Bull. This was the reigning world champion's first race since picking up the trophy last year in December, making this a day to forget for the Milton Keynes-based team.