Formula One was in Spain this weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the FORMULA 1 PIRELLI GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2022. It was Charles Leclerc’s race to lose, starting from pole position and getting a good start that was amplified by a mistake from Max Verstappen. But in the end it was Verstappen who took the victory after a retirement for Leclerc.
Both Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc got away well at the front, but Leclerc was slightly faster and moved to the inside to cover off the Red Bull behind. Further behind, Carlos Sainz had a poor start due to the anti-stall, losing his place to George Russell.
Sergio Perez had an excellent start from fifth on the grid. He tried a move on the inside of the first corner on Russell, but the two touched and he had to back out.
Further back, Kevin Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton collided, sending Magnussen into the gravel. Hamilton came away with a puncture, dropping to the back of the field. Despite his pleas to the team to retire, he rejoined the race in last.
Carlos Sainz spun into the gravel on the outside of the fourth corner on lap 7. He lost the rear of the car in the braking zone. Max Verstappen suffered a similar spin into the gravel at the same corner a couple of laps later. It’s believed that both incidents were caused by strong gusts of wind.
Verstappen rejoined the race behind his teammate, but the two swapped positions a couple of laps later. This left him to chase down George Russell.
It didn’t take long for Verstappen to catch up to the Mercedes ahead, but the Red Bull developed an intermittent issue with the Drag Reduction System. The DRS flap would only open sometimes and often only fluttered open for a split second. This meant Verstappen was stuck behind Russell for far longer than the Dutchman would have liked.
On lap 24, Verstappen was briefly ahead. He dove up the inside of Russell in the first corner, but Russell fought back in the second corner. The two were wheel-to-wheel around the long turn three and Russell came out ahead.
As the battle for second position went on, Sergio Perez joined the battle. On newer tyres and a different strategy, Perez believed he could overtake Russell much quicker and asked the team to swap placed. The team denied, which angered Perez.
On lap 27, the battle for second became the battle for first as Charles Leclerc crawled around to the pit lane after a loss of power. He pulled into the Ferrari garage, retiring from the race.
Shortly after, Verstappen pitted for soft compound tyres. This left Perez to attack Russell, which he did with relative ease.
While it was predicted that the two-stop strategy would be the popular choice for the race, it was ultimately the three-stop strategy that proved to be faster.
By lap 60, Hamilton was right on the back of Sainz, overtaking around the outside of the first corner. It was a fantastic recovery drive for the former champion, but in the closing laps both Mercedes cars developed a mechanical issue. Both drivers were told to lift and coast to avoid a “DNF risk”.
In the end, that allowed Sainz to catch back up to Hamilton and retake P4. Valtteri Bottas was far enough behind in P6, allowing Hamilton to maintain his top five finish while his teammate was on the bottom step of the podium.
But all eyes were on Red Bull for their second 1-2 finish of the season. With that win and the misfortune for Leclerc, Verstappen takes the lead in the World Drivers’ Championship from his championship rival.
Next up, the teams and drivers will be heading to the narrow streets in the Principality of Monaco for the Monaco Grand Prix on the weekend of May 29.
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| Race Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M. Verstappen | 25 | |
| 2 | S. Perez | 19 | |
| 3 | G. Russell | 15 | |
| 4 | C. Sainz | 12 | |
| 5 | L. Hamilton | 10 | |
| 6 | V. Bottas | 8 | |
| 7 | E. Ocon | 6 | |
| 8 | L. Norris | 4 | |
| 9 | F. Alonso | 2 | |
| 10 | Y. Tsunoda | 1 | |
| 11 | S. Vettel | ||
| 12 | D. Ricciardo | ||
| 13 | P. Gasly | ||
| 14 | M. Schumacher | ||
| 15 | L. Stroll | ||
| 16 | N. Latifi | ||
| 17 | K. Magnussen | ||
| 18 | A. Albon | ||
| DNF | G. Zhou | ||
| DNF | C. Leclerc | ||
