F1 Takeaways: Ferrari sends message with 1-2 finish to start season in Bahrain

The 2022 Formula One season opened with another thriller as Ferrari finished 1-2 in Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc taking the checkered flag followed closely by teammate Carlos Sainz.

Here are takeaways from the race.

Bring on the prancing horses

Sorry, not sorry for the WWE-ism but Ferrari put the locker room on notice in Bahrain. The Italian team looked like the favourites during preseason and all through practice and qualifying in Bahrain and didn't disappoint one bit on the actual race day.

Leclerc took the victory from pole while Sainz just needed to improve one position from third to second to make it a strong 1-2 finish. It's the third Grand Prix victory for Leclerc and snapped his drought with his last win coming at Monza in September 2019. It also bolds well going forward for Sainz, who is still searching for the first win of his career.

Yes, it's early but Ferrari went winless through 2021 and that's something it doesn't want have to worry about this season as the team already has taken the checkered flag, with authority, one GP into the 2022 campaign.

Red Bull loses its wings

While it was a dream start for Ferrari, Sunday was a nightmare for Red Bull and Max Verstappen's world title defence.

Verstappen started second, sandwiched between the two Ferraris, while teammate Sergio Perez was right behind him after qualifying P4. The reigning world champion and Leclerc had a thrilling back-and-forth overtake battle for the lead during laps 17-19 until Verstappen locked up his brakes and Leclerc was able to retake the lead and hold on.

Red Bull remained in the hunt until only a handful of laps remained when Verstappen started fading and limped into the pits for a DNF while Perez, who had moved up to third, was also losing power and spun out on the penultimate lap. Red Bull was left seeing red — Ferrari red that is — with a big goose egg in the constructors' championship points.

Red Bull's loss is Mercedes' gain

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton were quite open and honest about not having the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull leading up to the Bahrain GP.

Whether you believed them or not, it only matters on race day. Hamilton qualified fifth and considering no one has won the Bahrain GP from beyond the second row, the British driver was already facing a historical uphill battle to add to his record total of 103 victories.

With Red Bull bowing out though, Hamilton turned his P5 start into a third-place finish and a step on the podium.

There's still reason to believe Mercedes would slot behind Red Bull on paper/digital power rankings but then we don't hand out points for that.

What about George?

George Russell had a fine debut with Mercedes finishing right behind Hamilton in P4. It's the best result for Russell in a full and proper F1 Grand Prix — ignoring the bizarre Belgium GP last season when the 24-year-old British driver finished second for Williams when the race was called off after just two laps under safety car conditions due to wet weather.

You couldn't have asked for a better start to his Mercedes tenure for Russell, who qualified P9 behind the likes of two-time world champion Fernando Alonso (Alpine) as well as the man he surpassed in Valtteri Bottas, who started and finished P6 with his new team Alfa Romeo.

Welcome back, K-Mag

Prior to the Bahrain GP, Kevin Magnussen was the last driver to score a point for the Haas team back in July 2020 when he finished 10th (literally, one point) in Hungary. Guess who got Haas back on the board? Why yes, K-Mag is back with a bang, finishing fifth to earn 10 whole points.

The 2021 campaign was a rebuilding season for Haas with rookie drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin -- plus the team opted to focus its efforts towards 2022 with technical changes set to kick in. Even for a write-off year, 2021 was a disaster. Haas finished dead last in the constructors' as the only team to register zero points.

But 2022 offered optimism with aerodynamic changes leading to closer, competitive racing plus Magnussen made his return as Haas parted ways with Mazepin and sponsor Uralkali as sports organizations across the globe severed ties with Russian athletes and companies following the invasion of Ukraine.

Let's also not forget Ferrari is the engine supplier for Haas and look at how well the main team did this weekend.

Schumacher, the son of the legendary Michael Schumacher, came close to scoring his first point with a career-high P11, one place out of the points behind Alfa Romeo rookie Guanyu Zhou, who finished 10th in his debut. Ferrari also backs Alfa Romeo -- file that under things that make you go hmmm.

McLaren (shaking hands emoji) TikTok "Oh No" song

As nightmare-ish as Red Bull's results were, at least they showed potential. McLaren had nothing going right during a disastrous weekend with Lando Norris starting 13th and finishing 15th while Daniel Ricciardo started 18th and finished 14th.

It should have been worse for McLaren if both Red Bulls managed to keep it together and Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri, who was running in the top 10, hadn't exited the race early too due to problems with his Red Bull power unit.

McLaren uses Mercedes engines and based on how the main team has expressed its struggles, it shouldn't be a surprise to see that trickle down. Aston Martin — with Montreal's Lance Stroll ending up P12 and Nico Hulkenberg finishing P17 while subbing for Sebastian Vettel — plus Williams — with Alexander Albon in P13 and Toronto's Nicholas Latifi in P16 — posted disappointing results as well, signaling that it's perhaps the end of the line for this Mercedes engine.

Wait, what was that all about it being early? Oh yeah, there are still 21 Grand Prix rounds to come.

Up Next

The F1 season continues with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix next Sunday.

Last year's event was the penultimate race of the 2021 season with Hamilton edging Verstappen as they ended up tied atop of the standings heading into the finale in Abu Dhabi. The two also made contact as Verstappen had to give up his position and slowed down as Hamilton rammed right into him. Should be another nail-biter.