Checo Pérez will start fourth in the Bahrain GP: this was his qualifying day

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc won the pole position of Max Verstappen in a vibrant start to the season in Formula 1

Formula One F1 - Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain - March 19, 2022 Red Bull's Sergio Perez during practice REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

The 2022 Formula 1 season started and Checo Pérez had a regular qualifying day, as he could not beat the main rivals for the Bahrain Grand Prix and will start fourth in Sunday's race, behind only Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz.

The Ferrari team was the big surprise of the session by winning pole position and consolidating itself as a serious candidate for the season.

Starting grid for the Bahrain GP:

1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

6. George Russell (Mercedes)

7. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)

8. Fernando Alonso (Alpine)

9. Kevin Magunssen (Haas)

10. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)

11. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

12th Mick Schumacher (Haas)

13. Lando Norris (McLaren)

14. Alex Albon (Williams)

15. Gain Zhou (Alfa Romeo)

16. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)

17. Nico Hulkenber (Aston Martin)

18th Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)

19. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

20. Nicholas Latifi (Williams)

(Photo: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed)

This result comes after a very good performance in Free Practice 3 that took place three hours earlier, in which it concluded with the third fastest time of the session and only behind Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, so he excited his fans with a good qualifying session.

Problems with the gearbox

Saturday did not start in a good way for Red Bull and Checo Pérez, as they had to replace the gearbox of their car after suffering problems in practice on Friday, so they spent their first chance of the four offered by the Formula 1 without penalty.

In addition, after the last practice session this Saturday, Sergio Pérez and his career engineer Hugh Bird, announced through radio communication that they had problems with the brake pedal, so they were slow to solve the problems that reported since Friday on the entire braking system.

The Bahrain GP will be the first race of the 23 scheduled for 2022 in Formula 1 (Photo: Reuters/Thaier Al-Sudani)

Bahrain GP: when is it and what time does it start?

The Bahrain Grand Prix race will be this Sunday, March 20 at 9:00 in the morning, in Mexico City time. It will mark the start of the 2022 Formula 1 season and will be the first of 23 races scheduled in the year.

Where will the Bahrain GP be seen?

For Mexico, the broadcast will be exclusively on the Fox Sports 3 channel, in addition to being able to be viewed on the official Formula 1 channel F1TV. For Latin America and the United States, it can be viewed through ESPN and the streaming platform Star Plus.

(Photo: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed)

*Information in development