Race starts at 6 pm in Bahrain/11 pm in Malaysia
The 2022 Formula 1 World Championship starts a new season this weekend in Bahrain which, as in 2021, was the venue for the season-opener and replaced Australia (which had complications due to its pandemic restrictions and requirements). This is the 18th time Bahrain has hosted a round of F1 and has done so every year since 2004, except in 2011.
Although the last race at the Bahrain International Circuit was at the end of March last year, the drivers have fresher memories of the track as they had test sessions there just last month. The circuit at Sakhir is located in the middle of the desert (on what was formerly a camel farm) and has no less than 1,120 palm trees around the site. But while it may be located in a desert, sand doesn’t present much of an issue for the teams and cars, and the track surface cleans up quickly.
The majority of the F1 races held in Bahrain have used the 5.412-km Grand Prix layout, but on one occasion in 2010, the 6.299-km Endurance layout was used. It was not a popular switch as drivers found that the additional corners did not offer passing opportunities, so the GP circuit was used thereafter up till today.
The Bahrain Grand Prix is a twilight race, starting at sunset and finishing after dark when 495 lighting posts are switched on to bring daylight onto the track. Despite the new F1 weekend format, FP1 and FP3 still take place in daylight, while FP2.and qualifying take place in the evening. FP2 is therefore a crucial session for all the teams as it is the one chance to run the car in similar conditions to those experienced in qualifying and the 57-lap race.
Because of the various changes to the weekend format, there is less time for mechanics to work on the cars and less engineering time, due to the earlier curfew. So, more emphasis is put on hitting the ground running with good preparation and simulation work, hence more emphasis being on the pre-weekend preparations.
By now, racing fans will know that this year sees major changes in technical regulations to the extent that even wheel sizes have been increased. So this first round will be very interesting, and everyone will be watching to see how the changes affect performance. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes-AMG team boss, expects the performance of the cars through the corners will change. “For example, we expect the cars to take Turn 4 in Bahrain at 115 km/h in 2022, compared to 135 km/h last year. Similarly, a high-speed corner like Turn 12 will now be taken at 240 km/h, compared to 265 km/h,” he said.
“The teams had the chance get familiar with the 2022 18-inch tyre range, having spent a total of 6 days of testing with all the compounds, although not always in representative conditions. We know from the past that track temperatures can play an important role in Bahrain, affecting tyre degradation, and that’s something we noticed at the recent test as well. During the race temperatures should be milder compared to FP1 and FP3, so the teams will have to focus on their data from FP2 and qualifying. It’s still hard to predict the race strategy as, in the past, Bahrain has been a multi-stop race, but it will be interesting to see if anyone will try something different this year,” said Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Motorsport Director.
The official tyre-supplier has chosen the hardest compounds in the new low-profile range. Removing the requirement for the top ten to start the race on their Q2 rubber will, however, alter the established pattern in which the teams choose their tyres during the weekend.
2022 sees former driver Kevin Magnussen returning to take Nikita Mazepin’s place in the Haas F1 team, while Thai-British Alexander Albon gets another go at F1 with Williams Racing, along Nicholas Latifi. Joining Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN is Zhou GuanYu who is the first F1 driver from China, and he will partner Valtteri Bottas who has moved over from the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Team. You’ll notice Nico Hulkenberg listed with the Aston Martin Aramco COGNIZANT Team and that’s because Sebastian Vettel cannot take part due to being tested positive for COVID-19.
F1 tyres to go from 13 inches to 18 inches in 2022 (w/VIDEO)
