In Pictures: 2022 Pre-Season testing - Bahrain
The F1 circus arrived in Bahrain with lots of new parts in several cars, the most radical of them was the new side pods, or lack of them, in the Mercedes W13. A completely different interpretation of the rules has everyone wondering if the German team has designed a better car than the rest or not.
Another team with lots of new parts is Red Bull, especially more refined side pods than the ones seen at Barcelona.
Meanwhile, Haas’ issues continued as the team announced dropping Russian driver Nikita Mazepin permanently amid the situation in Ukraine. The selected replacement is Kevin Magnussen, who last raced for the American outfit in 2020.
Daniel Ricciardo had not been feeling well and all testing duties for McLaren were carried over by Briton Lando Norris. Ricciardo finally tested positive for Covid-19 late Friday afternoon.
Ferrari has been looking in good shape and Bahrain was no exception. Teammates Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc feeling upbeat, although purposing has been an issue with the F1-75, as with most other cars.
On Saturday morning we had the very first standing start of the season… Only four cars took part in it with Pierre Gasly aligning his AlphaTauri on Pole, Sergio Peres’ Red Bull alongside, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in third, and Alfa Romeo’s newcomer Guanyu Zhou in fourth.
Total distance covered by each team over the 6 days of 2022 Pre-Season Testing:
3941km - Scuderia Ferrari
3921km - Mercedes AMG Petronas F1
3448km - Scuderia AlphaTauri
3405km - Red Bull Racing
3218km - Aston Martin F1 Team
3019km - Williams Racing
2852km - Alpine F1 Team
2798km - McLaren F1 Team
2674km - Alfa Romeo F1 Team
1966km - Haas F1 Team
Here’s a selection of photos from Bahrain:
