Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One™ Team's Lance Stroll climbed seven places to finish the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix in 12th as F1's long-awaited new regulations put on a show.
Team-mate Nico Hülkenberg kept in touch despite his inexperience with the AMR22 and finished 17th to cap his weekend deputising for Sebastian Vettel.
Lance
Lance and Nico both had to lift off at various points during the Bahrain Grand Prix, but it didn’t prevent the Canadian from making up significant ground.
A quick start helped Lance clear the Alfa Romeo of Guanyu Zhou, before he quickly powered past the McLaren of Lando Norris to cap a good start to the race.
Nico's slight error when attacking the Haas of Mick Schumacher allowed Lance to make up further ground as he moved through his first stint.
Bahrain Grand Prix
Go inside the story of our 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix and hear from Lance, Nico and Team Principal Mike Krack. Discover the data underpinning our races and more in our comprehensive race report.
"My initial impression is that it could be an exciting season of racing because it appears that you can follow cars more closely and today, I had some great battles," said Lance.
He continued to make progress as the field made their first pitstops, climbing to the fringes of the top 10 before stopping for the first time on lap 18 of 57.
Lance’s spent the majority of his following two stints on new Soft and Medium tyres before the race was turned on its head late on.
A fire at the rear of Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri required a Safety Car, and the team quickly reacted by pitting Lance for another set of new Soft tyres.
At the restart on lap 51, Lance took advantage to pass the Williams of Alex Albon for 14th.
We will benefit from completing our first race and understanding more about these new regulations.
A double retirement for Red Bull in a dramatic finale then elevated Lance to 12th at the finish.
"It is a shame we were not able to fight for points today, but we will benefit from completing our first race and understanding more about these new regulations," added Lance.
"It is early days, and there is lots to learn about how we can extract more performance in time for the race in Saudi Arabia next weekend.
"It was challenging to keep temperatures cool and manage these new tyres, too, but we now have some useful data to work with over the next few days."
Nico
While Nico had spent the practice and qualifying sessions getting back up to speed with the AMR22, race conditions threw up a whole new challenge.
In what was Nico's first race in F1 since the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, Nico had to re-adapt to a changing car balance and fuel loads, while also learning about F1's new-for-2022 tyre compounds.
Despite his disadvantage, Nico battled hard in the race – and made impressive ground early on.
Across the opening laps, Nico pulled off a string of moves on Zhou and Norris, but he hurt his race on lap 10.
I think I put together a good race, all things considered.
Sensing an opportunity to pass the Haas of Schumacher, Nico overcooked it under braking and ran wide at Turn One.
"I think I put together a good race, all things considered, with only the one mistake when I outbraked myself into Turn One," said Nico. "It was a more challenging race after that."
Attrition in the field and the late Safety Car meant Nico finished 17th.
"It was interesting to be back in a Formula One car for a Grand Prix again, especially in such a busy race with lots going on around me," added Nico.
"We knew that today was likely going to be the most difficult day in the car for that reason, which proved to be the case."
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