Bahrain

Colapinto opened 2022 with pole at Sakhir, but the headlines belonged to others. In the Sprint, O'Sullivan led from reversed-grid pole before Bearman muscled past for the lead; Bearman then crossed the line first only to lose it to a five-second track-limits penalty, handing Hadjar the win on his F3 debut. O'Sullivan tumbled away as Maloney, Hadjar and Smolyar all picked him off at Turn 4, and Leclerc snatched a late place near the end. Bearman was classified second, Smolyar third. The Feature belonged to Martins, who led every lap and resisted Leclerc to give ART a 1-3 with Saucy third and Correa fourth. Maloney was a non-starter with an engine failure and Collet fell out on the opening lap. A rash of penalties scrambled the lower order, Smolyar losing 20 seconds for track limits and a clash with Hadjar. Stanek took fastest lap. Out of the gate Martins led the standings from Leclerc by a single point, the pair already setting the early tone of a long title fight.