MAX AND REDBULL IN A CLASS OF THEIR OWN WITH A DOMINANT DISPLAY IN SPA
As the 5 lights went out on the 2022 Belgium GP it did not take long for action to take hold. The start was pretty standard, with pole sitter Carlos Sainz keeping the top spot heading through the first few corners and onto the long straight.
The Mercedes of Hamilton was looking to make a move round the outside of the Alpine driver going into turn 5, unfortunately for Lewis he didn’t give his ex-teammate enough room and they made contact, Hamilton’s car took to the air with the rear slamming down and spraying fluid over the front Fernando’s car.
The incident proved terminal for the 7 time champion, who was told to stop the car before the end of the first lap. Lewis is the first retirement of the race.
It wasn’t long before another driver headed to the retirement list, when Williams driver Latifi puts a wheel on the gravel coming out of turn 6, the Williams would slide across the track just as Bottas arrived at the scene, the Alfa Romeo driver was unable to avoid contact sending the car into the gravel and out of the race.
With both Hamilton and Bottas’s cars stuck on the track we had our first Safety Car. The restart was pretty uneventful other than Carlos Sainz locking up as he was about to go for the restart. Max Verstappen, who started at the back of the grid due to Power Unit penalties, was in the podium places by lap 8. The current Formula 1 Champion, would be in the lead of the race by lap18.
Ferrari, were always going to find it hard to keep the Redbull cars behind them, however they seemed to lack any sort of convidence in their own strategies, asking the drivers al sorts of questions. Is that not why you have a strategy team for? Ferrari were for a time worried that they wouldn’t even have a car on the podium with Russell catching Carlos Sainz until he ran wide during the later stages of the race, ending the Mercedes charge.
In another episode of WHAT ARE FERRARI UP TO ? They decided to pit Leclerc to go for the Fastest Lap point on the last lap, the team must have thought they had a bit more time as Alonso passed the Ferrari as they exit the pit lane. Charles would retake the place but fail to take the fastest lap.
To make matter worse Charles Leclerc was given a 5 second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, dropping the Ferrari driver down to sixth.
Further down the order the action was pretty impressive with moves all around the track, none more so than Esteban Ocon channelled his inner Schumacher/Hakkinen when he passed both Gasly and Vettel heading into turn 5.
Sebastian Vettel was having a quiet but impressive race keeping the Aston Martin eighth on merit, along with Alex Albon who finished tenth, it was a great weekend for both drivers.
It was not the same for both HAAS and McLaren. The HAAS duo were at the rear of the running order for the majority of the race with Schumacher behind Magnussen in sixteenth and seventeenth. McLaren were just not able to keep the pace with the cars around them, Norris was unlucky with pit stop timings and traffic with Ricciardo stuck back in fifteenth.
The chequered flag drops on the Belgium GP, with a masterclass from champion-elect Max Verstappen!! What does the future hold for Max, how many championships can he win? After a performance like that it could be several more.
WHAT A DRIVE, WHAT A TALENT, WHAT A FUTURE!!