It’s only two races in the 2022 season but it appears that the new regulations are delivering on the promise of closer racing. Not only has it pushed Ferrari to the sharp end of the grid, but it is producing spine-tinglingly, edge-of-the-seat racing from the first to the very last lap of the race.
In a record-breaking performance on Saturday, it was Checo Perez who delivered a stonking lap to become the first Mexican driver to secure pole position. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz was second and third while Max Verstappen started the race in fourth. The biggest shock of the day came in the form of Lewis Hamilton who failed to advance beyond the first part of qualifying in his Mercedes.
While Mercedes tried to understand their Saudi Arabian woes Checo Perez led cleanly off the line with Verstappen slotting into third behind Leclerc. It all looked to be going well for Perez who took to the pitlane on lap 15 to fit the hard compound tyres. Unfortunately, Nicholas Latifi’s crash brought out the safety car one lap later. It proved to be the worst possible outcome for Perez who dropped to third behind Leclerc and Verstappen. A dodgy ‘overtake’ on Sainz, exiting the pitlane, meant that Perez had to surrender third to the Ferrari driver.
Further behind the Alpine drivers, Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso, swopped position several times early in the race before settling solidly in the lower end of the top ten. Regrettably, Alonso would retire from the race with a suspected mechanical issue. He would be quickly followed into retirement by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. Both drivers ground to a halt at the entry to the pitlane which prompted race control to close the pitlane entry and deploy the virtual safety car. It was bad timing for Hamilton who had started the race on the hard compound and worked his way into the top ten. The 7-time champion had to wait for the pitlane to reopen before being allowed to make his compulsory pitstop.
It was clear that Ferrari, and Leclerc, held the pace advantage through the corners while Red Bull, and Verstappen, had the edge on the straits. But although Verstappen got to within DRS range of the leading Ferrari Leclerc outsmarted his opponent. By letting Verstappen pass him in the first DRS detection point Leclerc ensured himself DRS on the start-finish strait that follows. Still, in a testament to how much better the 2022 cars can follow, Verstappen remained on Leclerc’s gearbox and this time used the Ferrari driver’s DRS tactic against him. As it were Verstappen pulled into the lead of the race and held off Leclerc, by half a second, for his first win of the new season.
Some 8 and ten seconds down the road Carlos Sainz finished third ahead of Perez in fourth. More than half-a-minute behind was George Russell in fifth with Ocon in sixth ahead of Lando Norris in seventh. Pierre Gasly was eighth for Alpha Tauri while Kevin Magnussen finished ninth for Haas. Lewis Hamilton scored a solitary point in tenth more than a minute behind the leaders, despite a safety car bunching up the field. If it wasn’t so before Mercedes’ problems are more than just the bouncing, seen in Bahrain.
Both Verstappen and Leclerc looked properly worn-out which is an indication of just how hard the pair of them had to work. It’s evident that in this new era of F1 drivers are pushing from lights out to the cheqeured flag. It’s only two races into the season and there is an awfully long way to go. But if the rest of the year is anything like the first two races, then we’re in for a heck of a ride.
