F1 returned to racing action for the first time this weekend for the first sprint race of the season. Points on offer Saturday afternoon: 8 for the win and down to 1 for the driver in P8. But, perhaps more importantly, the winner of the race also walked away with valuable pole position for the FORMULA 1 ROLEX GRAN PREMIO DEL MADE IN ITALY E DELL’EMILIA-ROMAGNA 2022 on Sunday.
Charles Leclerc had a strong start from P2 on the grid, while Max Verstappen had a very poor start from the front of the grid. Leclerc took the lead of the sprint race almost immediately.
Behind, Kevin Magnussen was one of the few drivers to start on the slower medium compound tyres. He was under pressure from nearly the entire field, forcing him to go on the defensive to keep his fourth place. The Haas driver weaved on the straight to keep Sergio Perez at bay. The move eventually earned him a warning from the stewards.
The first lap was neutralized by the safety car, which was deployed to allow marshals to recover the damaged Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu. Zhou and Pierre Gasly had collided in turn 9. The stewards looked at the incident but decided no further investigation was necessary.
The race restarted on lap 5. Leclerc started very early, giving himself a good advantage on the restart. He quickly pulled a gap to Verstappen.
As the race progressed, Leclerc began to struggle on his tyres, allowing Verstappen to make up ground. By lap 17, he was well within DRS range of the leading Ferrari. As the laps ran down, Verstappen was close but not close enough to challenge for the lead. He struggled to get a good enough exit out of the final corner, suffering from oversteer and losing a couple of tenths in a critical corner.
However, on the penultimate lap, he was close enough to make a bold move around the outside of the second corner, taking the lead of the sprint race. In the last two laps of the race, he managed to create a strong lead, showing just how much Leclerc was struggling on his tyres.
Magnussen fell further down the field, dropping to P8 by the end of the race. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz climbed up to P3 and P4 from 7th and 10th on the grid, maximizing their positions for Sunday’s race.
