Apologies again for the lack of activity – work has been crazy, but a highlight being my namecheck from Crofty on Sky F1…
Anyway, I’m back for another multiple-races-into-one report!
Last time it was three for the price of one. This time it’s six! And they’ve all been Red Bull wins…
The tide begins to turn in Imola
Really testing my memory here but let’s take a crack at a summary of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Having taken his first pole of the year, Max Verstappen got off the line poorly in the first Sprint Race of the year and was jumped by Charles Leclerc. He would make amends, though, reclaiming the lead on the penultimate lap.
Meanwhile, the title rivals’ respective teammates – Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz – fought their way through the field to third and fourth respectively, having started seventh and 10th after a chaotic, wet qualifying session which also saw the Mercedes caught out by a red flag and eliminated in Q2.
The rain returned on Sunday and this time it was Leclerc with the poor getaway, dropping behind Pérez and Lando Norris.
All of Sainz’s hard work during the Sprint was undone immediately as he was punted out at the first corner by an understeering Daniel Ricciardo.
Leclerc reclaimed third from Norris but was never quite able to pass either Red Bull and then made his first mistake of the season as he desperately tried to catch Pérez.
A bad day for the onlooking Tifosi got worse as Leclerc spun at the Variante Alta chicane.
He recovered to sixth – and the fastest lap – after a pit stop for a broken front wing but saw his title lead shrink as the Red Bulls picked up their first 1-2 since the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix, with Norris taking McLaren‘s only podium of the year so far.
Further back, George Russell made a great recovery drive to fourth, but teammate Lewis Hamilton was less fortunate on the opening lap and found himself stuck in a DRS train for the next 90 minutes.
Welcome to Miami
Will Smith references perhaps became a little less palatable thanks to a certain slap a month or so earlier, but the above was somewhat inevitable as F1 headed to Florida for the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.
In a race that appeared to want to be America’s version of Monaco, celebrities came from far and wide for a look at some F1 cars and a dip – or perhaps not – in the infamous fake marina.
On track, Ferrari locked out the front row for the first time in over two years but Verstappen would have them split by the first corner.
And eight laps later, he would have the lead.
The next hour or so was largely dull until a somewhat bizarre clash between Norris and Pierre Gasly brought out the Safety Car.
Leclerc gave it his all in the closing laps but Verstappen had enough to hold onto the lead, with Sainz also holding off Pérez for the final spot on the podium.
After a poor performance in qualifying, Russell got lucky with the timing of the Safety Car – not for the first time this season – allowing him to continue his run of top-five finishes, whilst Mick Schumacher threw away a chance of his first points with a clumsy lunge on hero and mentor Sebastian Vettel.
The Pain in Spain Falls Mainly on Leclerc
Having waited over five years for their last 1-2, Red Bull wouldn’t even have to wait five weeks for their next one.
This time, though, it was not on merit.
Leclerc picked up another pole and proceeded to sail away at the front as Sainz and Verstappen behind him each took a trip into the gravel at Turn Four thanks to a couple of rogue gusts of wind.
That dropped the Dutchman behind Russell and Pérez. Whilst his teammate was predictably easy to pass, the Mercedes would prove far trickier – Verstappen spending almost half the race staring at the INEOS-branded rear wing as the DRS flap on his own rear wing developed a fault.
Their battle became one for the lead when Leclerc suffered an engine failure, his despairing calls over the radio reminiscent of those at Sakhir in 2019.
Red Bull decided to mix things up with a three-stop strategy for Verstappen and it paid off.
However, that was in some part due to the team asking Pérez to let him through, the displeased Mexican saying “that’s very unfair, but okay”.
Russell would take a second podium of the season, whilst his teammate provided arguably the performance of the day.
Hit by Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap, Hamilton had fallen to the very back of the pack but produced a stellar drive through the field to fourth, before a late engine issue saw him fall back behind Sainz.
Toto Wolff said he believed a 104th win would have been possible for the seven-time world champion without the early incident. Signs of life from the Silver Arrows?
The Leclerc Monaco Curse Strikes Again
F1 returned to the setting of its favourite real marina in late May, with Leclerc surely standing the best chance to end his run of horrible luck on home soil.
And things looked even better once he’d secured the all-important pole position around the streets of Principality.
In terms of admin and organisation, it was a pretty shocking weekend for the under-pressure event.
A downpour and a local power cut saw a delay to the start of the race that was equal parts embarrassing and confusing, whilst the TV direction was once again poor at the only race on the calendar that insists upon having its own local director.
By the time the race finally got going, most of the rain had disappeared and Leclerc appeared comfortable out front.
Then came the Ferrari strategy blunder, though.
An erroneous stop for intermediate tyres put Leclerc in trouble; a belated call to stay out sealed his fate.
The end result was a top-four order of Pérez, Sainz, Verstappen and then Leclerc.
A nasty-looking crash that ripped Schumacher’s car in two brought out a red flag – as well as adding further pressure to the young German – and gave the leading cars a choice to make.
The Red Bulls chose the medium tyre for the final 45 laps of the race whilst the Ferraris went with the hard.
Ultimately it proved to be a moot point as passing was shown to be impossible once again on the tight streets, even when Pérez’s tyres were well past their best.
So, a third career win for the popular Mexican and one that almost brought him to tears on the podium.
A Definitive Swing in the Title Battle?
A fortnight later and the F1 circus headed to its often-far-more-chaotic street race in Azerbaijan.
It was yet another pole for Leclerc – his sixth in eight races – after a stunning final Q3 lap, but once again things would unravel on race day.
He was passed into the first corner by Pérez, but had been holding Verstappen at bay when teammate Sainz trundled into an escape road with a hydraulic issue.
The Spaniard’s painful 2022 season continues, but his misfortune did allow his team to take a strategy risk and bring Leclerc in for a cheap pit stop under the ensuing Virtual Safety Car.
Despite Verstappen having been tucked up behind his title rival, it was Pérez whose tyres were struggling and he was soon caught by his teammate.
The team informed the Mexican that there should be “no fighting” and car number one sailed past on the start-finish straight.
The race appeared to be heating up nicely with Leclerc retaking the lead on his alternate strategy as the Red Bulls pitted, but the weekend was about to get yet more painful for the Scuderia.
The cameras cut to a plume of smoke emerging from the back of the remaining prancing horse of Leclerc, who pulled into the pits to retire.
From there it was a comfortable run to the chequered flag for Verstappen, with Pérez and Russell equally at ease in second and third.
If there was one thing that the weekend wasn’t for many of the drivers, however, it was comfortable.
The new regulations’ bouncing and porpoising issues hit new heights – both metaphorically and literally – with Hamilton barely able to get out of his car at the end of the race due to severe back pain.
F1 Finally Returns to Canada
After three years away, the sport finally made its return to the popular setting of Montreal, and the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve showed F1 what it had been missing.
Another eventful wet qualifying session saw Verstappen secure pole, with Fernando Alonso on the front row for the first time in over a decade and Leclerc starting at the back with an engine penalty.
It was Pérez suffering an early mechanical failure this time and bringing out a Virtual Safety Car under which Verstappen and Hamilton pitted.
Once things had shaken out it was a clear front three of last year’s title rivals either side of Sainz.
With 20 laps remaining, Yuki Tsunoda embarrassingly slid straight into the barriers at the pit exit, bringing out a first full Safety Car of the race.
On fresher tyres, Sainz hounded Verstappen to the end but the Red Bull’s superior traction meant he was always able to stay just out of reach in the DRS zones.
So close, yet so far once again for the Spaniard, who now has 11 podiums without a victory and is closing in on Nick Heidfeld’s unwanted record.
No such problems for Verstappen, though, who further extended his championship lead despite Leclerc recovering to fifth.
After two painful weekends – in every sense – on street circuits, Hamilton and Mercedes showed signs that they might be able to challenge on upcoming smoother tracks, whilst Mr-Saturday-turned-Mr-Consistency Russell continued his impressive record of finishing in the top five at every race.
F1 fans feared that Red Bull’s early-season mechanical woes would ruin the title battle as Leclerc dominated.
With a sixth consecutive race win for the Austrian team and now a 49-point margin to Leclerc in the championship, it appears that it may, in fact, be the other way round.
