Leclerc beat Red Bull driver Max Verstappen to the top spot in qualifying for this year’s season opener, while Ferrari-powered Alfa and Haas – the teams that finished second-to-last and last in the 2021 constructors’ standings – finished sixth and seventh with Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen.
Ferrari and its customer squads endured two very difficult seasons in 2020 and 2021 after losing significant engine performance as part of the manufacturer’s settlement with the FIA over the controversial arrangement of its engine in 2019.
But Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto had said ahead of the Bahrain race weekend that he believed it had caught up a 25bhp power deficit to Mercedes and Honda (now badged as Red Bull Powertrains) with its work for 2022, with his drivers and those at Ferrari’s customer squads going on to enjoy strong showings as a result in Saturday’s qualifying at the Sakhir track.
When asked by Autosport what he felt those results said about…
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