F1 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix: Max Verstappen tops final practice session
19th March 2022Red Bulls Max Verstappen topped the final practice session as Mercedes seemed to make improvements on their porpoising trouble, ahead of the first qualifying session of the season.
How the final practice session unfolded…
As the pit lane exit light went green, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was the first driver to venture out onto the track to get the final practice session of the weekend underway.
After 10 minutes, both Alfa Romeo’s were the only cars to put in a timed lap. Valtteri Bottas topped the time sheets with a 1:38.840 lap while his teammate Zhou Guanyu was only 0.046 seconds off the pace.
However, it wasn’t long until that lap time was beaten. Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheets with a 1:34.256 lap – on the soft compound tyres. This beat McLaren’s Lando Norris and Aston Martin’s Nico Hulkenberg, on the medium tyres, who occupied second and third respectively.
The Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were the next ones to pop up at the top of the leaderboard, respectively. The Monegasque beat his Spanish teammate with a 1:33.797 lap, 0.420 seconds quicker than Sainz. But it wasn’t long before the reigning world champion, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, topped the timing board with a 1:33.035.
Leclerc had a scary moment with 34 minutes left on the clock. As the Monegasque tried to put the throttle on the exit of turn 11, and his car snapped with oversteer. Fortunately, the #16 Ferrari managed to collect the car before it glided off into a barrier, and made his way back to the pit lane.
Despite struggling with porpoising across the weekend, Hamilton managed to put his Mercedes second fastest in the final practice session of the weekend – 0.086 seconds slower than Verstappen. However, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell went on to put his W13 at the top of the timing boards with an incredible 1:32.935, 0.100 seconds faster than Verstappen.
With an improvement from Leclerc and Sainz, this dropped Hamilton down to fifth.
Haas’ Mick Schumacher managed to put in a purple middle sector – going faster than anyone else – and put in an impressive lap, but could only manage P14. While Magnussen secure a lap to put his Haas P7.
Fastest three drivers:
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull
That’s it for the article: ‘F1 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix: Max Verstappen tops final practice session.’ Now the practice sessions are over with, who do you think will be on pole position? Let us know in the comments!
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.