Is Max Verstappen on his way to an easy win, in the Belgian Grand Prix in 2022?
Aaaah delicious, pine trees, flowing corner combinations, a circuit of almost seven kilometers long… that can only be one race. And yes, it is the Belgian Grand Prix in 2022! Because of the images on the TV, you immediately regret not being there live. But hey, following everything on the tube is usually not wrong either. Moreover, we now know that we will have the chance to be there live again next year. So far that’s the best news of the day, but we expect Verstappen to just win today… Of course that would be even better news.
Given the starting position of Verstappen after yesterday’s qualifying, it doesn’t really make much sense to predict a victory for VER. Max starts somewhere in the back along with a plethora of other drivers who, just like our hero, have exchanged the necessary parts. But our hero is so much faster than the rest that the thirteenth starting position doesn’t have to form an insurmountable hurdle. Originally it was supposed to be the fifteenth position, but at the last minute Alpha Tauri also decided to change parts. The blue-whites therefore start from the pitlane.
Start
When the tire warmers disappear, we see Sainz start on the soft tires. No one else in the top 10 does that. Only Verstappen and Leclerc starting from the back field do the same. Moreover, we have already seen this year that if Ferrari is the only one to choose a certain strategy, that does not necessarily mean that Ferrari is the only one who is right.
What the softs do for Sainz is give him a small advantage from the line. Normally starting second in Spa might be better than starting first. After the hairpin you can immediately dive into the slipstream through Raidillon, and then overtake at the end of the Kemmel Straight. But while Sainz has a good start on softs, Perez comes out of his place like a dragon. The Mexican immediately gets around Alonso, Hamilton and Russell.
On the straight, Checo picks up and grabs Russell back. After that, the Mexican is lucky. The two oldest bosses on the field Alonso and Hamilton clash in the chicane after the straight. Hamilton smokes the heaviest pipe, he falls out shortly after the turmoil. Alonso loses spots to Perez and Russell. The Spaniard is unimpressed and believes that his old team-mate can only race if he can pull away from the front of the field.
Verstappen is now in the melee together with Leclerc. The trickiest moment comes when Vettel and Stroll fight each other and the Canadian then gets dangerously close to our hero. However, both have a Belgian mother and let each other live. Leclerc then attacks Max, but MV1 of course rejects that.
In lap two, Latifi causes a stir with a crash, which also kills Bottas. This situation creates a safety car. Verstappen has already moved up to P8. Leclerc drives behind him, but has a problem. Some smoke is coming from one of his front tires. The Monegask stops under the medium safety car. It turns out that a tear off got stuck and ran into the tire. It won’t be a tear off with an MV1 logo, will it?
Mid Race
Sainz leads the field when the safety car goes away. He seems to be making a mess that Perez can take advantage of. But instead, Perez has to put on the brakes and comes under pressure from Russell. However, PER can repel that attack. Verstappen starts eighth behind the safety car, but cuts through the butter like a hot knife. In no time he is past Albonio, Vettel, Alonso and Russell and is closing in behind Sainz and Perez. It is an almost disconcerting image…
Verstappen soon shouts on the radio that he is losing a lot of time behind Perez. When Sainz is the first of the leaders to pit, our compatriot is in his teammate’s gearbox. He doesn’t defend and lets VER slip by. Despite the fact that Max has the soft tires that are already 14 laps old, he quickly pulls away from Perez on the mediums for a few seconds.
The only thing that can help Perez now is to make his stint on the mediums a lot longer than Max’s stint on the softs. Unfortunately for the Mexican, he is the first of the Red Bulls to stop… Perez arrives on track just before Leclerc and manages to fight the Monegask a little brusquely. SP11, however, is well behind CS55.
When Verstappen stops, he also ends up behind Sainz. But the speed difference on the same tire strategy is huge. But really, insane. Verstappen is 2.5 to 3 seconds faster than Sainz. The inevitable overtaking action is not long in coming and must hurt Ferrari. It seems as if Sainz is driving an F2 car. However…The Ferrari is still faster than all the other cars in the field that are not called Red Bull RB18.
Perez isn’t nearly as impressive on the road as his teammate. But after a few laps he also sails past Sainz. It is absolutely clear: Max and Red Bull are world champions 2022!!1! These will be a few easy 1-2s towards the end of the season. Do we think it’s getting a little boring already?
Ferrari will stop again with both cars on lap 26. Sainz switches to the hard tires and Leclerc to the mediums. SAI could also have gone for mediums, so it’s another interesting decision for Ferrari. What we can at least see is that Russell was able to stay close to Sainz on a rees tendon. This while the difference in qualifying yesterday was still so huge between Mercedes and the two other top teams (if you can consider Red Bull and Ferrari at the same level after today).
Perez stops going into lap 28 and just like Sainz switches to the hard tires. The Mexican has a good 3.5 seconds left on the Spaniard. So no drama for Red Bull if the RB18s remain intact. Russell is now past Sainz and Perez, but will have to stop one more time. Perhaps Mercedes will try something with fresher softer rubber at the end, to get close to the podium.
Verstappen comes in for his final stop at the end of lap 31. Russell has already entered before his stop, so Max comes in first and goes out first. VER goes to the mediums and complains a bit about slow shifts. He then sets the fastest lap of the race.
As already somewhat expected, it is not Red Bull that should be afraid of anything, but Ferrari. Russell is visibly closing in on Sainz, despite CS55 setting its fastest laps of the race. Leclerc, meanwhile, has no chance of threatening Russell for P4. The Spaniard asks what would happen if he made a third stop. The team informs him that he will be fourth behind Russell.
Finish
The battle for positions in the midfield is now a lot more interesting. Vettel is on P7 after a good start, but has Gasly in his neck who is trying to complete a one-stop and Ocon who wanted to do the same, but switched to a late two-stop. EO11 then makes one of the moves of the year, after Vettel grants Gasly and Ocon a slipstream through Eau Rouge. Gasly gets past Vet, but outside Ocon passes both. We’ve seen something like this before… But still a nice move for the garlic peeler.
Alpine once again underlines that it is currently the fourth best team. McLaren, on the other hand, completely sinks through the ice again and Zhou’s remaining Alfa can’t break any pots either. It’s Albon, the Astons, and Gasly bickering over the final touches.
Russell does not come alongside Sainz, who finds just enough speed to fight the Merc off the body. Ferrari still wants to believe in the title for Leclerc and let the Monegask stop with two rounds to go for softs. The problem is that Leclerc falls right behind Alonso. He will therefore first have to outwit ALO before attacking the fastest lap and the extra point. Leclerc succeeds in the last lap in any case…
But even on softs he doesn’t get to the fastest lap…And to make matters worse, LEC gets a penalty for speeding in the pit lane. As a result, he falls back in the final ranking behind ALO. If there is still any doubt: the championship is ready. Street party!
Nothing changes in the top 10. That means that Gasly finally takes some points again and that Albon collects a point. The McLarens can scratch their heads. Not only Ricciardo, but Norris did not really lay claim to points at any point. So that needs improvement. Maybe next week it will go better, because the Zandvoort circuit requires completely different qualities. Oh yes, Zandvoort! On to the Dutch Grand Prix!
UPDATE 1: According to Perez, Verstappen was from another planet today.
UPDATE 2: And yes, it was indeed a tear off of Verstappen that ruined Leclerc’s race. In several ways even.
Result Formula 1: Belgian Grand Prix 2022
- VERSTAKEN – Red Bull
- Perez – Red Bull
- Sainz – Ferrari
- Russell – Mercedes
- Alonso – Alpine
- Leclerc – Ferrari (after penalty for speeding in the pit)
- Ocon – Alpine
- Vettel – Aston Martin
- Gasly – Alpha Tauri
- Albon-Williams
- Stroll – Aston Martin
- Norris – McLaren
- Tsunoda – Alpha Tauri
- Zhou – Alfa Romeo
- Ricciardo – McLaren
- Magnussen – Haas F1
- Schumacher – Haas F1
- Latifi – Williams
DNF
Bottas – Alfa Romeo
Hamilton – Mercedes
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