Max Verstappen has claimed his second race win of the season, to round out a fantastic weekend for the young Dutchman.
He drove a flawless race, aided by his Mexican compadre Sergio “Checo” Perez in P2, to bring home a 1-2 for Red Bull, and only their second one of the turbo hybrid era. The first one was all the way back in 2016 at Malaysia.
Completing the podium is a jubilant Lando Norris for a resurgent Mclaren, who has recorded back to back podiums at Imola.
George Russell took a brilliant P4 to keep Mercedes P3 in the constructors championship, and brilliantly fended off some valiant overtaking efforts from former Mercedes man and resident Alfa Romeo barista Valtteri Bottas, who had yet another solid day in the midfield.
Then, all the way down in P6 we have Charles LeClerc.
Oh Charles. At Imola no less. Here is where you make the first big mistake of 2022.
He dipped a wheel on the kerb at T7 whilst chasing down Checo for P2, and spun into the wall. He managed to keep the car largely out of the wall, and pitted for a new front wing. Once he rejoined, he was P9 and made a few places back to finish P6.
Behind him is Yuki Tsunoda, who drove a brilliant race to get back into the points in P7 after an underwhelming qualifying and sprint. He held off the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel in P8, and took the Silverstone outfits first points of the season.
Coming in P9 is the great Dane Kevin Mag’snussen, who drove a solid if unspectacular race to finish P9, ahead of Canadian Lance Stroll in P10. With Stroll’s P10, Aston Martin record their first points and a double points finish for 2022.
Onto the non points finishers.
P11 sees a disappointing lack of points for Esteban Ocon, who would have been aiming for a top 8 finish given the relative performance of his Alpine. He finished ahead of Alex Albon, who looked somewhat rejuvenated in the Williams, and was not far off catching Ocon himself.
P13 was Ocon’s best mate Pierre Gasly. He drove well to get to P13 after starting largely towards the back, and fended off several overtake attempts from the man who finished P14, Lewis Hamilton. Despite the best efforts of the Mercedes pilot, he just could not find a way past the Alpha Tauri, even with DRS.
Guanyu Zhou finished P15 after starting from the pitlane. He moved ahead of Latifi, who finished P16, and benefitted from the misfortune of a few other drivers.
P17 saw Mick Schumacher have a lowly finish after a spin shortly after pitting saw him fall out of the running. He finished ahead of P18 and dead last Daniel Ricciardo who had an unfortuante racing incident with Carlos Sainz at T1.
Speaking of Spanish drivers who recorded a DNF….
Fernando Alonso recorded another DNF as his Alpine did its best stripper impression and was shedding bodywork around the circuit. He retired on lap 7 after Mick Schumacher had collided with him and caused significant damage to the Spaniards Alpine.
Finally, we have Carlos Sainz.
Oh, Carlos.
It just was not Ferrari’s day today.
He got tangled up with Danny Ric and Valtteri Bottas after he tangled with the Honey Badger, and ended up beached in the gravel on the first lap. Still, the season is young.
The F1 circus rolls on in two weeks time, as we make our debut in Miami at yet another new circuit for F1.