As following each Grand Prix, it’s time to discover the most striking statistics, the records that have been broken, the remarkable series still in progress or that have stopped dead during the last weekend…
The qualifications
Charles Leclerc scored his 10th career pole – and his 2nd in Bahrain following his first career pole of 2019.
Like last year, Max Verstappen finished 2nd in Q3.
It’s the first time this decade that two Ferraris have started in the top three on the grid.
The last time a Ferrari driver took pole at the first GP? It was in 2007, with Räikkönen who had ended up being titled.
Fifth in Bahrain: Lewis Hamilton had never done worse on this circuit since 2009 (10th place due to penalties).
Bahrain was Valtteri Bottas’ 102nd Q3 in a row, his first with Alfa Romeo! It is also the best place on the Alfa Romeo grid since Kimi Räikkönen’s 6th in Belgium two years ago.
Kevin Magnussen, brilliant 7th, completed Haas’ first Q3 since Brazil 2019.
Mick Schumacher was a little disappointed with his 12th place in qualifying: yet it was his career best.
This is the first time since Turkey 2020 that no McLaren have been in the top 12 in qualifying…
For the first time in his career, Daniel Ricciardo was beaten on Saturday in Bahrain by a teammate.
the race
For the first time in his career, Charles Leclerc leads the F1 world championship. He is also the first Monegasque to lead the championship.
He won his 3rd career victory, the first since Monza 2019.
As in 2010 in Bahrain too, Ferrari begins a season with a double. The last red double dated back to 2019 (Singapore, Vettel-Leclerc).
Ferrari overcame a cursed series of 45 unsuccessful races, the second longest in the team’s history (59 Grands Prix between Spain 1990 and Germany 1994).
Carlos Sainz equalizes his best career result: a 2nd place, as at Monza 2020 and Monaco 2021.
Lewis Hamilton only spent 5 laps in the top 3. He is still doing better than in his first race in 2020 (4th place) with his 3rd position.
Hamilton’s podium finish made him the first driver to finish a race on the podium for 16 consecutive seasons, the previous record being held by Michael Schumacher.
Haas has never held such a high position in the constructors’ standings (3rd place).
It is only the 5th time that a Haas has finished in the top 5. In one race, Haas has scored more points than in two years (3 points in 2020, 0 last year). For Haas, it is the best result since the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, where Romain Grosjean and Magnussen finished fourth and fifth. It is the first entry into the points for the team since the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas’ 6th place is the Alfa Romeo team’s best position since Kimi Räikkönen’s 4th at Brazil 2019 (Antonio Giovinazzi was also 5th).
5 of the first 6 had a Ferrari engine. Conversely, 75% of cars with Honda-Red Bull Powertrains in the race retired.
Only Red Bull Powertrains engines dropped out in Bahrain. And excluding withdrawals, the last six drivers at the finish are equipped with Mercedes engines.
This is Red Bull’s first double retirement since Austria 2020.
Mick Schumacher is also frustrated with his 11th place: this is also his best ranking in F1 at the moment.
Straddling last year, Alpine has 4 double points finishes in 5 races.
10th, Guanyu Zhou became the 66th driver to score a point in his first race in F1. The first Chinese driver in F1, he is quite logically the first driver from the Middle Kingdom to score points.
Never has a season-opening event ended without at least one retirement: the series continues.
Max Verstappen is nevertheless the first world champion not to see the arrival of the 1st GP since… Sebastien Vettel in 2014.