On Track

Qualifying report by Aramco: Bahrain GP

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One™ Team's Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll qualified 17th and 19th for the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Bahrain International Circuit is one of the better tracks for overtaking on the calendar and, with high tyre degradation playing its part, the duo will look to make progress in tomorrow’s race.

Nico

Nico continued his familiarisation with the AMR22 in the earlier third practice session and put together a decent run on the Soft tyre late in the session to go 12th after lapping in 1.33.971.

The earlier session isn’t representative of qualifying, which took place in evening conditions, and track evolution proved a significant factor in Q1.

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Lap times improved throughout the session, and Nico’s first fast lap time of 1.33.434 suggested he was in contention to battle for a Q2 berth.

Despite a significant improvement on a new set of Softs in the final minute, his improved lap time of 1.32.77 was not enough to progress.

"Obviously we are not happy with P17 but, on a personal level, I am happy," said Nico.

"Considering that I had very limited experience with the car, I was able to put together some clean laps without any errors.

"The field is very close this year so it was fine margins that stopped us from reaching Q2.

"The real challenge begins tomorrow for me: I have not raced a Formula One car in almost two years.

"You cannot really prepare for going wheel-to-wheel with other cars and having to do things like tyre management.

"However, I am looking forward to racing the AMR22 tomorrow and I intend to enjoy every lap in the car."

Lance

Lance was also able to demonstrate good pace in the earlier practice session, shading Nico's time with his best effort of 1.33.920.

The duo remained closely matched into qualifying, and Lance edged his team-mate in the first run by lapping in 1.33.309, which put him on the fringes of the top 10.

However, like Nico, the rapidly improving track and the subsequent last-lap shootout to make Q2 went against him.

Lance’s best lap time of 1.33.032 resulted in a 19th place grid start for tomorrow's race.

"We are disappointed with today’s result and it is not what we expected after a positive FP3," said Lance.

"We made some changes to the car and perhaps they were in the wrong direction. In qualifying, we did not have the grip to extract the performance.

"We need to go over the data and understand it so we can learn from this. The early races are going to be a learning curve as we try to understand the car more.

"Tomorrow is a new day, so we will come back ready to try to make progress in the race."

Team Principal Mike Krack

"We are obviously disappointed by today’s qualifying performance, but we will work hard this evening to see what we can do to optimise our race pace and strategy for tomorrow.

"There is not a lot more to say at this stage, but we are racers and we will work as hard and as fast as possible to remedy the situation."