Red Bull’s Max Verstappen emerged victorious in a dramatic 2022 Emilia Romagna Sprint ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen and Leclerc both enjoyed a relatively quiet FP2 but it was Leclerc who seized the advantage at the start of the Sprint, only for Verstappen to fight back and snatch victory in the closing laps to secure pole for the main race.
Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz meanwhile mounted recovery drives to round out the top four ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo.
Now here is a full roundup of all the action across both FP2 and the Sprint.
FP2
Lance Stroll was first out on track as everyone focused on race simulations in completely dry conditions for the first time this weekend, as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez set the initial pace after the first round of flying laps with 1m 20.447 on soft tyres.
Perez then lowered his benchmark lap time to 1m 19.878 as several drivers focused on a mixture of medium and soft tyre simulations throughout the session.
Mercedes had struggled in Friday’s wet conditions which saw neither car reach Q3 but bounced back with a strong session, as George Russell set the session-topping time of 1m 19.457 in the 29th minute on soft tyres.
Perez eventually settled for second and 0.081 seconds shy of Russell despite setting his eventual fastest lap on medium tyres, as Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top six on soft tyres.
Sprint pole-sitter, Max Verstappen finished seventh quickest after setting his fastest effort on medium tyres like his Red Bull teammate – Perez, as AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly finished eighth and ninth with the latter also having done his quickest lap on the medium tyre.
Outside of the top ten, Mick Schumacher, Stroll, and Latifi set their best lap times on the medium tyres, whilst Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas failed to set a time due to brake and exhaust issues respectively.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 19.457 |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.081 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.283 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.535 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.717 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.801 |
| 7 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.914 |
| 8 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.924 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.982 |
| 10 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.041 |
| 11 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.134 |
| 12 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.283 |
| 13 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 1.520 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.692 |
| 15 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 1.698 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.722 |
| 17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 1.806 |
| 18 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 4.364 |
| 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | No Time Set |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | No Time Set |
Sprint
At lights out, Verstappen struggled to quickly engage his gears from pole position which enabled Leclerc to breeze away into the lead unchallenged ahead of the reigning champion and Norris.
Just behind the front three, Magnussen and Ricciardo banged wheels which allowed Perez who had swiftly cleared Alonso to sneak through into fifth in-between the Danish and Australian drivers.
Guanyu Zhou’s first F1 Sprint Qualifying however came to an early end after he was spun out at Piratella by Gasly, after he clipped the Frenchman’s front right tyre which launched him into a race-ending spin to bring out the Safety Car.
Racing resumed on Lap Five as Leclerc comfortably kept Verstappen at a gap of around one second whilst Sainz cleared Alonso for seventh on Lap Seven.
Perez then passed Magnussen for fourth a lap later before chasing down and passing Norris for third at the start of Lap 11 into Tamburello, whilst Ricciardo shortly afterwards passed Magnussen with an inside move at the same corner with Sainz following through a lap later.
Magnussen meanwhile began to fall back on his slower medium tyres as he was eventually usurped by Valtteri Bottas who finished seventh ahead of the Dane, as they rounded out the top eight points-paying finishers.
Up front, Leclerc pushed his soft tyres just too hard which enabled Verstappen to reel him in from Lap 15 although he was made to bide his time, until he swept round outside of Tamburello on the penultimate lap to snatch victory from Leclerc and improve to fifth in the standings.
Perez finished third ahead of Sainz who recovered from 10th on the grid to finish fourth after passing Ricciardo then Norris on Laps 14 and 19 respectively, as Norris claimed fifth in the end ahead of Ricciardo.
Mercedes meanwhile endured a difficult race as Russell finished 11th after losing a position to Schumacher at the start, whilst Hamilton dropped two positions to 15th but eventually finished 14th on the road.
Leclerc meanwhile extended his championship lead to 40 points as Sainz improved to second ahead of Russell and Perez, as just two points separated those sat second, third and fourth
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 21 | 3..m ….. |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 21 | + 2.975 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 21 | + 4.721 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 21 | + 17.578 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 21 | + 24.561 |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 21 | + 27.740 |
| 7 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 21 | + 28.133 |
| 8 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 21 | + 30.712 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 21 | + 32.278 |
| 10 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 21 | + 33.773 |
| 11 | George Russell | Mercedes | 21 | + 36.284 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 21 | + 38.298 |
| 13 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 21 | + 40.177 |
| 14 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 21 | + 41.459 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 21 | + 42.910 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 21 | + 43.517 |
| 17 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 21 | + 43.794 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | 21 | + 48.871 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 21 | + 52.017 |
| 20 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 0 | Collision |
Leave a Reply