Imola (AFP)
At home and in front of his fans, Ferrari will be looking for its third victory at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola this weekend, the fourth stage of the Formula One World Championship controlled by Charles Leclerc of Monaco.
The most decorated manufacturer in Formula One will be a player in his stronghold, as Imola is less than 100 kilometers from Maranello, Ferrari’s historic home, and it will be an ideal opportunity to confirm the remarkable return of “Scuderia” during the first three races.
And if Leclerc and his team dominate the drivers and constructors’ standings by 34 and 39 points, respectively, the Monaco son, with his usual style, is still keeping his calm.
After winning the Australian Grand Prix, the young driver said: “We have to deal with this race at the weekend just as we dealt with the first three races, it is very important not to put ourselves under extra pressure.”
The 24-year-old made an impeccable start to the season: winning two out of three stages (Bahrain and Australia), his worst result was second place in the Saudi Grand Prix, behind defending champion Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, 46 points off the lead.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said: “I think we have put a high priority on 2022, improving ourselves compared to previous seasons.”
Leclerc currently leads the drivers’ standings with 71 points out of a possible 78, and is ahead of the rookie British Mercedes driver George Russell (37 points), who surprisingly ranks second, as well as his Ferrari colleague Carlos Sainz (33), who is seeking to compensate after a last race to be forgotten.
At the Australian Grand Prix, Science, who extended his contract with Ferrari until the end of 2024, had a disastrous day. After starting ninth, he lost traction on the second lap, so he got out and got stuck in the gravel, which necessitated the intervention of the safety car and his exit from the race.
In theory, if the Italian team holds the championship joints, it will have to tackle Red Bull and its drivers Verstappen and Mexican Sergio Perez on the track.
That is in case the mechanical glitches, along with the rain expected over the weekend, don’t spoil the Austrian team’s day.
Since the start of the season, Red Bull has had reliability issues, which have already led to Verstappen’s two withdrawals (Bahrain and Australia), and Pires once (Bahrain).
Verstappen would have fought Leclerc for the lead without these problems, as he is currently sixth (25 points) thanks to his victory in Saudi Arabia.
With Pires, fourth (30 points), Red Bull intends to narrow the gap with Ferrari, by outperforming their opponents, as Verstappen did in 2021.
As for the Mercedes team, which is mired in its aerodynamic troubles, it seeks an acceptable result, similar to Australia, where Russell finished third and compatriot seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton fourth, and the latter climbed to fifth in the drivers’ standings.
“We realize we are not yet at the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull, but we are working hard to narrow the differences,” said Austrian manager Toto Wolff.
“There has been a lot of work done in Easter week at the factory to make improvements to the car and get it ready for the next race, and it shows the team’s dedication to trying to turn things around.”
The prestigious Imola hosted 27 Grand Prixes between 1980 and 2006, and there the Brazilian icon Ayrton Senna suffered a fatal accident in 1994, in a tragic weekend that also witnessed the death of Austrian Roland Ratzenberger.
She returned to the 2020 calendar to compensate for the cancellation of races due to the Corona pandemic, and this time it will replace the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, which is again absent due to the health situation.
Saturday’s round sees the return of the sprint race that was launched last season. As well as Emilia-Romagna, this race will take place in Austria in July and Brazil in November.
With a sprint, classic (against the clock) trials are offered Saturday through Friday. The result of this race, over a distance of 100 km and a duration of 30 minutes, determines the start of the Sunday race, and points: 8 for the first, up to a point for the eighth. Roll in the race.
Points may compensate him morally for the theft of his Richard Mille watch, worth 300,000 euros, on Monday, while he was signing his photos in the Italian city of Viareggio.
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