F1 Championship 2022: Gasly finishes fastest in Bahrain's pre-season test Day 1

The 2022 F1 Championship begins on March 20 in Bahrain. The pre-season test was held on Thursday, with Pierre Gasly finishing the fastest.

Things are heating up in the motorsport department as the Formula 1 (F1) Championship 2022 gets underway with the Bahrain Grand Prix (GP) on March 20. Meanwhile, the pre-season Test was held in Bahrain on Friday, while AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly finished the fastest on Day 1 of the same. He finished 1m 33.902s.

Although Charles Leclerc dominated in the morning, Gasly capitalised post sun-set, as things cooled down and the grip improved, especially under the lights. While Carlos Sainz finished second with 1:24.359, Leclerc was third with 1:34.531. Lance Stroll received the first red flag after his Aston Martin pitched its aero rakes but was off to a flyer in the afternoon session, finishing fourth with 1:34.736.

Williams' Alexander Abon claimed fifth place, with 1:35.070, while Lando Norris of McLaren finished sixth despite starting slow and got off to a flier late in the evening. Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas took the seventh spot with over 50 laps, while his teammate Zhou Guanyu claimed the 14th spot after a pit lane stoppage during the morning session.

Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin finished eighth with 39 laps in the morning, as he finished ahead of Mercedes's George Russell at ninth. The latter was followed by Red Bill's Sergio Perez on tenth, while his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton claimed the 11th spot. The remaining four happened to be Alpine's Fernando Alonso (12th), followed by his teammate Esteban Ocon, Alfa Romero's Zhou Guanyo (14th) and Haas's Pietro Fittipaldi (15th).