Bahrain: Perfect start to season raises many hopes
GP POINTS AND F3 PODIUM It wasn't just Sauber Motorsport that was jubilant after the successful F1 season opener in Bahrain. The Swiss also impressed in Formula 2 and Formula 3.
Sauber Motorsport, as the team and manufacturer of the Alfa Romeo C42, experienced its best start to the season in seven years on Sunday evening in Bahrain. On March 15, 2015, Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson drove from 11th and 16th on the grid at the Australian GP in Melbourne to finish 5th and 8th, respectively, after a good hour and a half of pacing.
Disillusionment in the further races
The mood in the Hinwil team was similarly good afterwards. But the season was sobering - it was to remain the best result of the year for both drivers and the team. In the Constructors' World Championship, eighth place resulted; only McLaren-Honda and Marussia-Ferrari had fewer points.
Mercedes celebrated a double victory in the first Grand Prix and then, with the almost unbeatable duo of Lewis Hamilton/Nico Rosberg, the world championship title.
Forza Ferrari!
In 2022, the omens are different. The C42 chassis seems to have succeeded, as does the turbo hybrid engine modified by Maranello for the Scuderia and its two customer teams Haas and Sauber. Otherwise, Valtteri Bottas (left gallery) and Guanyu Zhou (right gallery) would not have been able to fight their way back into the top ten after botched starts.
The Chinese, who matured into a GP driver in no time, benefited from the late technical retirements of the two Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez to just score points in tenth place, while the Finn, who was already convincing with P6 in qualifying and many overtaking maneuvers in the race, moved up from eighth to sixth place as a result.
Scuderia Ferrari's terrific one-two finish by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen's fifth-place finish, which sent the Haas F1 Team, which had been completely empty-handed in 2021, into a frenzy of joy, underscore the capabilities of the power unit from Italy.
Combat message from the team boss
With the nine championship points gained, the Italo-Swiss team is in fourth intermediate place in the constructors' standings behind Ferrari (maximum 44 points), Mercedes (27) and Haas (10). Even the team boss would hardly have dared to dream of this, although he is aware that it is unlikely to stay that way.
Afterwards, the Frenchman spoke of a perfect start to the season.
Frédéric Vasseur: "The team showed skill and stamina. After a poor start, we fell behind, but stuck to our plan and moved well up the field. In a way, this is an even more promising sign because it means our car is really competitive. We are aware that the season will still be long and that our competitors will challenge us as early as next week in Saudi Arabia. I'm particularly happy for Valtteri and Zhou: a result like this in their first race with the team is the best start for our collaboration. We'll try to build on this by developing our car and continuing to fight at this level."
Ralph Boschung still going strong, victory for Sauber apprentice
The performances of the two Swiss drivers in the most important classes below Formula 1, who also started their season in Bahrain, were also strong.
Ralph Boschung finished both Formula 2 races in the 600-plus hp Dallara of Campos Racing from Spain in fourth place (gallery left). The man from the Valais thus continued his top performances from the 2021 season finale in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, where he climbed the podium twice for the first time in third place. The points haul was better than ever last weekend, so he travels to Jeddah in fourth place overall.
Thanks to his victory in the main race, Théo Pourchaire (center gallery) is the first leader of the standings. The Frenchman has been a member of the Sauber Academy since 2019 - even that on Sunday morning caused jubilation in the Alfa/Sauber F1 pit.
First Formula 3 podium for Saucy, points for Jenzer team
Grégoire Saucy is also a promise for the future. The 22-year-old from Jura already finished his first race weekend in FIA Formula 3 in third place (gallery on the right). However, the 22-year-old from Bassecourt only advanced to Sunday's podium after a competitor received a time penalty. After fourth place on the grid, this result of last year's Formula Alpine champion was nevertheless highly deserved. Incidentally, Saucy is the first Swiss to make it onto the podium in the current FIA Formula 3 (since 2019, previously GP3 Series).
Jenzer Motorsport also scored its first two points. Finishing ninth in Sunday's main race, Finn William Alatalo was the best of the three new drivers in the team from Lyss. All in all, the outcome of all the races in Bahrain raises hopes of a continued positive season for the Swiss teams and their drivers.
