Under the red smoke screen of the loyal Tifosi in the main stand of Imola, the Red Bull Racing Team of heaven, place, people and people finally won a big victory! Verstappen took all 34 points here, and the post-match announcement that he was named laurel's 2022 Laureus Athlete of the Year drew a dramatic weekend that couldn't have been more than a happy one...
As the first Dutch driver in F1 history to win the driver's championship of the year, he finally reached the top in the highly anticipated finale in Abu Dhabi with a fight with Hamilton last season. However, when the two meet again in Imola this season, the blue flag presented at the tournament is particularly glaring, and it is lamentable as Hamilton is asked to let Verstappen pass on lap 41.
The last time this happened was in mexico in the 2017 season, when Hamilton collided with Vattel shortly after the start and the puncture fell to the end of the team, and on lap 22, he was led by Verstappen's lap after starting, but he finished in ninth place there and won his fourth F1 Drivers' Championship two times ahead of schedule. At the first time after yesterday's race, Toto spoke to the old man through the team radio and apologized to him for the team's current poor performance, but in fact, no one knew Mei Ben's current situation better than these two people.
But the most regrettable thing is Ferrari, the race Ferrari is very confident in its own car, and did not bring any upgrades in this race, but a good car can not withstand the impact of "natural disasters & man-made disasters", the arrival of the rain in qualifying Q2 makes Sainz eager to make results with dry tires and go to the wall, it is difficult to sprint up six places to the second row of departure but like the Australian station Accident early exit, and Leclerc, who has high hopes, has eaten too many shoulders because of bend 14. Missed the podium. They fought at home and were alarmed by a "complete defeat".
"I'm too greedy...", Leclerc certainly knew what his mission would be in the event of Sainz's retirement, but how could Leclerc not have an idea when he had already chased into the Perez DRS zone? Maybe it's not "greed", it's the instinct that comes down to a driver, the "nature" of every driver who craves a higher position. With a big defeat at home, Red Bull seems to have successfully put the stability hat on Ferrari's head, but unlike Ferrari, the stability of the two drivers has been marked with a question mark.
In contrast, Norris, who is "Yellow Sparrow Behind", once again received the podium at Imola with an extremely stable performance, where he also finished in P3 last year; Aston Martin relied on the normal performances of both drivers to earn points in this station, so all teams this season have points in the account; Magnussen has once again scored points for Haas, and the most surprising thing is that Kakuda also scored points for Red Bull Jr., who has been struggling this weekend...
The amazing Alben almost regained points again, the 11th place he finished with only a 4.6 second gap with the points zone, and his teammate Latifi was more long to protect the impact of Zhou Guanyu, Williams's updated tail wing helped them hold the position, which undoubtedly hindered Arrow's further ideas, but considering that Imola's track is indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack, for the sprint race to suffer a withdrawal from the maintenance area of the "China Week", the 15th place result is acceptable. But for Bottas, Arro should have created better competitive conditions for him, but this damn tire changer continued to sleepwalk! Bottas' tire change time was at the bottom of the whole field at 11.84 seconds, and Zhou Guanyu was third from the bottom with 5.29 seconds. To know that in Imola pit window it takes about 30 seconds, such a tire change time is simply incomprehensible.
If you want to say that the first three races, Ferrari is the only one, then Red Bull's adjustment of the downforce of the car has allowed them to catch up with the Prancing Horse, and in the case that Mei Ben still needs time to adjust the car to normal levels, Ferrari and Red Bull have come to the same running line. In the drivers' standings, Verstappen has caught up with Leclerc by just 27 points, Perez has climbed to third place with 53 points, and in the constructors' standings, Red Bull has already surpassed Meben after the sprint, and after the race, there is only an 11-point gap with ferrari at the top of the race.
Perhaps, the good drama of F1 in 2022 is just beginning!