F1 2022: Spain

F1, F2, F3, and W Series continued their respective championship seasons in Catalunya this weekend. We were finally treated to an exciting race that wasn’t in the wet! Leclerc secured pole position on Saturday, despite a strong showing from Mercedes during the free practice sessions. It was a good start for Leclerc in the race too, with Verstappen only able to get within about 1.5 seconds of the Ferrari. Hamilton meanwhile had a terrible start, making contact with Kevin Magnussen resulting in them both tumbling to the back of the pack and needing to take early pit stops.

Leclerc’s luck changed though when his engine suddenly failed with what seemed to be no warning, Verstappen having a detour into the gravel, and Russell taking the lead. The two Red Bulls struggled to get past Russell, but some clever pit stop strategy soon saw them making some decent gains on the Mercedes car. The commentators were suggesting that Perez might be on a one-stop strategy which seemed absolutely ludicrous considering the track temperature and the timing of his first stop - this was soon dispelled when he came in for pit stop number two.

Ferrari’s woes continued when Sainz had a spin into the gravel sending him to the middle of the pack, while Zhou in the Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeo was also forced to retire with engine troubles. Hamilton managed to have a very impressive recovery drive, coming back from 19th to fight for fourth place, eventually finishing fifth after Sainz also recovered well. At the front of the pack, Red Bull impressed the crowd with a front row lockout, Russell coming in to take third place. It certainly wasn’t a mundane Sunday afternoon in Spain, the hot weather, reliability issues, and strategies peppering the excitement. More races like this throughout the season would be great for the fans!