There’s a lot to look out for in Formula 1’s longest ever season. With 23 races ahead of us running all the way to the end of November, the pressure on teams and drivers to maintain a high level of performance will be immense.

And it’ll be doubly hard when new challenges emerge. Will Aston Martin upset the equilibrium between the top three teams, and how might Mercedes handle falling into the midfield? How much influence can Fernando Alonso have on the podium make-up?

Lando Norris is dealing with his third teammate in four years, but for the first time in his career he’ll be the senior driver, not the up-and-coming young gun. Will that throw him off his game or make him only more ferocious?

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Lance Stroll opens up on his bike injury as the hype around Aston Martin’s potential grows.

Everyone is optimistic at the start of a Formula 1 season until the lights go out on Sunday.

F1’s 10 teams will have nowhere to hide this weekend. Unlike the gamesmanship of pre-season testing, which requires some heavy interpretation to make any sense of the times, the stopwatch won’t lie during the Bahrain Grand Prix.

But it’s not just championship points and race wins against which teams will measure success — indeed not every team is capable of winning races, and one or two might not even score points.

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It’s a brand-new season of Formula 1, but can Ferrari or Mercedes prevent Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen from winning the championship again?

Max Verstappen prepares to drive

For the second season in a row there’s only question worth asking in Formula 1: can anyone catch Max Verstappen?

Michael and Rob are joined by some new voices for a special announcement.

Oscar Piastri’s long-awaited debut looms large this week, with just days remaining before the heralded Aussie finally turns a wheel in anger in the premier class.

But despite cracking F1 in his own right after a glittering junior career, comparisons with McLaren predecessor Daniel Ricciardo are never far from hand.

While both drivers have moved on from last year’s messy silly season merry-go-round, it’s now up to Piastri to carve out a place for himself in the F1 landscape.

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The time before the first race is generally one for optimism. Hopes and aspirations for the year are still alive in the lead-up to the first qualifying session of the year, when the stopwatch will cruelly show up those who haven’t put in the work during the off-season.

But some will start the year with more than just their own performance on their minds.

With only 20 drivers and 10 teams in the sport, there’s no space for anyone who isn’t performing at their maximum. Several drivers and even some teams will start the year knowing that how strongly they deliver on their potential this season could be career or history defining.

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It’s a Ferrari one-two to start the 2022 Formula 1 season after Red Bull Racing collapses with a double engine retirement late in the race. Featuring Edd Straw from The Race.

We introduce you to the untitled People’s Anorak and pitch to you a new six-part television series based on the life and times of Otmar Szafnauer. The Bahrain Grand Prix also happened.

Charles Leclerc claimed a commanding victory at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix after preseason favorites Red Bull Racing had both cars retire from the race with engine problems.

Carlos Sainz followed the Monegasque home to complete Ferrari’s first 1-2 finish in more than two years, while Lewis Hamilton was a late beneficiary from Red Bull’s misfortune to claim an unlikely podium finish.

Poleman Leclerc started the race strongly, sweeping across the track at launch to cover the apex ahead of Max Verstappen, who started alongside him on the front row.

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Charles Leclerc has flipped the script on reigning champion Max Verstappen to snatch pole from the Dutchman at the death in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Verstappen had been in a commanding position throughout the weekend, including the early stages of qualifying, but Ferrari had a little extra in hand for Q3, with Carlos Sainz leading Leclerc to a provisional front-row lockout.

Leclerc found time with his second lap, but Sainz couldn’t squeeze any more from a fresh set of tires, gifting his teammate top spot.

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Max Verstappen topped final practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix ahead of Charles Leclerc in a difficult-to-read session.

The Dutchman was just 0.096s quicker than Leclerc, though both drivers dropped time on their final soft-tire runs. Verstappen locked up at the first turn and opted to abandon the lap for a second attempt, while Leclerc said he was missing performance in the final sector.

Leclerc appeared to be closer to the limit in his Ferrari generally, having spun off the track at turn 11 as he tried to power over the curbs. The gravel trap saved him from a crash with the barriers by feet.

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he first day of official timed action at the Bahrain Grand Prix is in the books, and Formula 1 is finally getting some answers about the real competitive picture for the season ahead.

The answers are good for Max Verstappen and in particular Ferrari. The reigning champion led the way at the end of the all-important second practice session, the only representative hour of running before qualifying, but there almost nothing to split him from the pursuing Ferrari drivers.

The answers were undoubtedly bad for Mercedes. The team must be sick of saying, ‘I told you so’ this week, but it really did tell us not to expect much from the car in Bahrain, and not much is exactly what it delivered.

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Max Verstappen has lit up second practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix, putting Red Bull Racing at the top of the time sheet ahead of both Ferraris.

Verstappen, who was quickest at this track at the end of preseason testing, lowered the benchmark from earlier in the day to 1m31:936s. But he was pursued closely by Charles Leclerc, whose Ferrari was just 0.087s slower.

Leclerc’s best time was set on five-lap old tires and the fifth lap of a qualifying simulation run, suggesting that the C3 compound is holding its own in Bahrain this season. Indeed, the majority of the field completed competitive long-run simulations on the red-walled rubber in the second half of the session, with Verstappen’s race pace in particular looking strong.

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Pierre Gasly topped the first official timed session of the 2022 Formula 1 season for AlphaTauri, leading Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in first practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Frenchman used the soft tire with around 15 minutes remaining to edge the Ferrari driver to the top time by 0.364s.

“What a lap,” exclaimed his impressed engineer. “That was nice. We get into the mojo now.”

But Ferrari’s pace was more eye-catching, for neither Leclerc nor Sainz, who was less than half a tenth further back, used the soft-compound tire yet were both comfortably within half a second of the lead. Leclerc even had time to spin his car on the red-marked rubber that would carry him to his quickest time and still finish the session second overall.

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Michael Lamonato joined Matt Grubelich to preview the first stop on the F1 calendar in Bahrain. 

Sequels are rarely as good as originals, but in 2022 Formula 1 thinks it might be onto something special.

It’s been almost 100 days since the spectacular but controversial season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton started the race tied on points after 21 rounds of epic racing, but Verstappen emerged a first-time champion after overtaking Hamilton for the lead on the final lap of the race.

Could it possibly get any better than that?

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