Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstapen wins home at the 2022 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was forced to retire from power unit problems after leading comfortably for most of the race.
Fellow Red Bull driver Sergio Perez finished second, about 13 seconds behind, helping the Red Bull secure a second one-on-one finish of the season, with George Russell of Mercedes-Benz AMG finishing 33 seconds behind the winner.
Leclerc started racing on the pole and was never threatened until his power unit failed on the 26th Cole. The reason for Leclerc’s good run at first was the problem for Verstapen. The Red Bull driver was second at the start but soon suffered a spin that dropped him to fourth and then a faulty DRS put him behind Russell for most of the first half of the race. Further behind were Perez and then Alfa Romeo’s Valteri Botas.
At Cole 24, Verstapen’s DRS started working again and he was able to challenge Russell. The two pilots shift back and forth in a fierce battle, and then Verstapen’s DRS stops working again while Russell is ahead. After Leclerc retired at 27, Verstappen made a pit stop and started again in fourth place behind Botas, with Perez and Russell both leading the way. With the help of DRS, Perez passed to Russell for 31, while Verstappen passed to Botas and finished third at the same time.
2022 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix
Russell goes into the hole after the old tire, leaving Verstapen second. Then Perez’s turn goes to the hole, thus eventually leading to Verstapen. Verstappen made another stop for 44, giving Perez the lead. However, after rejoining the second-place race, Verstappen was given the go-ahead to lead Perez, with the drivers continuing their one-to-one finishing.
They were followed by Russell in third place and then Carlos Senz of Ferrari who dropped to 11th place in the first round to tour Lap Seven. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton seemed ready for fourth place, although the seven-time world champion had to slow down due to a suspicious water leak in his power unit, which allowed Synge to move to fourth place. Despite the slowdown, Hamilton was able to hold on to fifth place over Botas.
Following the weekend action, Verstappen now tops the 2022 Drivers Championship with a total of 110 points. Leclerc is second with 104 points and Perez is third with 85 points. In the Constructors ‘Championship, the Red Bulls now lead by 195 points, compared to Ferrari’s 169 and Mercedes’ 120.
The next race on the calendar is the Monaco Grand Prix this coming weekend.
2022 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix
Below are the full results of the 2022 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix:
1) Max Verstapen, Red Bull Racing
2) Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing +13.072 seconds
3) George Russell, Mercedes-Benz AMG +32.927 sec
4) Carlos Sange, Ferrari +45.208 sec
5) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-Benz AMG +54.534 sec
6) Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo +59.976 seconds
7) Esteban Oaken, Alpine +75.397 sec
8) Lando Norris, McLaren +83.235 sec
9) Fernando Alonso, Alpine +1 Lap
10) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri +1 lap
11) Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin +1 Lap
12) Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren +1 Lap
13) Pierre Gasley, Alfatouri +1 Lap
14) Mick Schumacher, Haas +1 lap
15) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin +1 Lap
16) Nicholas Latifi, Williams + 2 laps
17) Kevin Magnassen, Has + 2 laps
18) Alexander Albon, Williams + 2 laps
NC) Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo – DNF
NC) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari – DNF