F1 Bahrain Grand Prix – Start time, how to watch, & more

At the start of F1’s new era with the ground-effect cars, Ferrari claimed the first honours with Leclerc’s pole for the Bahrain GP, secured on his final Q3 run by beating Max Verstappen by 0.123 seconds.

The Red Bull driver did prevent a Ferrari front-row lockout, with Carlos Sainz Jr slotting into third having held provisional pole during the first laps in the shootout session.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez secured fourth to leave Lewis Hamilton leading the Mercedes charge in fifth but 0.680s off Leclerc’s pole time.

George Russell endured a tough start to the 2022 F1 season as a Mercedes driver as he locked up at Turn 1 on his final Q3 run, leaving him to drop to ninth place.

Ex-Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas was therefore able to vault his Alfa Romeo up to sixth place ahead of Kevin Magnussen in the Haas, as both teams surprised the midfield runners in qualifying.

Fernando Alonso secured eighth for Alpine to qualify directly ahead of Russell, as AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10.

Sebastian Vettel will miss the 2022 F1 opener after testing positive for COVID-19, with Aston Martin reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg coming in as a super-sub. The German qualified 17th, two places ahead of Lance Stroll.

Nico Hulkenberg, Aston Martin AMR22

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Date: Sunday 20th March 2022

Start time: 3:00pm GMT, 6:00pm local time

The first round of the 2022 F1 season, the Bahrain GP at the Bahrain International Circuit, gets underway at 6:00pm local time (3:00pm GMT) on Sunday 20th March.

In the United Kingdom, Formula 1 is only broadcast live on Sky Sports, with highlights shown on Channel 4 several hours after the race has finished. Live streaming through NOW is also available