F1 2022

Max Verstappen won an action-packed 2022 Spanish Grand Prix as pole-sitter Charles Leclerc retired from a comfortable lead. Sergio Perez took second place ...

The Mercedes emerged ahead of the Red Bull in the battle for third, and on Lap 16 Verstappen was right on Russell’s tail. But on Lap 49, Perez complied – Verstappen thanking him – before skating away to win by 13.072s and retake the championship lead. Of course, I was in the train and I tried to pass but my DRS was not always working, so that made it very tough but we managed, due to the strategy, to get ahead again and do our own race and eventually win the race. As a result, Sainz re-took P4 having passed not only Hamilton (on Lap 65) but Bottas (on Lap 57, along with Hamilton). The following lap began with Verstappen therefore attacking Russell for the lead, Perez vying for a starring role just behind. Leclerc enjoying a comfortable lead, Perez attempted to pry P2 off Russell on Lap 10 but was held off masterfully by the Mercedes into Turn 1. Agonisingly for Verstappen, even though he was within striking distance on Lap 25, that DRS just wouldn’t open and give him that extra burst of pace. So Verstappen pitted a second time from mediums back to softs on Lap 29 and caught up to Russell’s tail by Lap 37, when Russell swapped for another set of mediums. Mercury indicating air temperature of 36 degrees Celsius and a track temperature of 49 degrees C, the heat was most definitely on. Valtteri Bottas’s soft-medium-medium strategy saw him lose out to soft-tyred finishers Sainz and Hamilton, the Finn taking a still-solid P6 finish for Alfa Romeo. In seventh was Esteban Ocon, up five places for Alpine with two soft-tyred stints. Hamilton passed Sainz for P4 with a brilliant move at Turn 1 with five laps left, but then dropped to P5 having been told to lift off by his Mercedes team. Soaring temperatures weren’t the only problem on Sunday; huge gusts into Turn 4 caused both Carlos Sainz and Verstappen to go off track and drop down the order early on.

Max Verstappen overcame a sequence of problems to lead his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez home and claim the lead in this year's title race, on an afternoon ...

I gave everything I could and I am proud to be standing here.” It was his sixth top five finish this year and his second podium. I did all I could to hold Max off, but he did a great job. “It was a difficult beginning, but a good end! “I was slow, and I simply had a lot less grip than everyone else around me. I would love to say Mercedes are back. I am very happy to win and happy for ‘Checo’ (Perez). It is a great result for the team.” A not so happy Perez was nonetheless satisfied for the team. “It was close and I’m happy for the team, but we need to speak later.” It is not nice when stuff like that happens. “Oh, no! He said the situation was unfair, adding: “I’m happy for the team, but we need to speak later.” No! What’s happened?

DRIVERS 1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing) 2 – Sergio PÉREZ (Red Bull Racing)3 – George RUSSELL (Mercedes) TRACK INTERVIEWS(Conducted by Pedro de la Rosa) ...

MV: We had a lot of options to look at because it was very difficult to judge how the deg was going to be so we were just trying to be very flexible. I only felt that in the first stint when I gave the position to Max, that I was told that I was going to get it back and when I was on the two-stop I felt that I could have gone through Max and George a bit earlier to try and make the strategy work, but probably it wouldn't have been enough. And then you're in a different situation where maybe then we do a different strategy, right, but we had to improvise a bit because of that. And of course, I went around the outside but I'm also in the blind spot of George, so I think he didn't even really notice where I was exactly, right? But I think we were so early on in the race that it was a bit difficult to tell how big the margin was exactly. And then in the last five, six laps, it was literally just bring it home, get it to the end of a race, because we were right on the limit throughout the whole race. Also, I think that lap where I did go on the inside and then George went around the outside, but then I was on the outside of Turn 3 again, I think that was a really cool fight. But the team did a great job to not allow us to go over that limit and have to retire the car. But at the end of the day, it turned out to be the three-stop the way to go today. It was a survival race, when we knew we had the gap, and as I said, just proud to bring it home in P3 and thanks to all the fans here, they have been amazing all weekend, and the support… MV: I was a bit frustrated at the time, because I couldn't get him because of the DRS issues. Q: And on the fight with George. I mean, we saw you a bit of frustrated at one point.

Formula 1's topsy-turvy 2022 Spanish Grand Prix left some drivers elated and others deflated. We pick out the key winners and losers.

– JS But he struggled for most of the race in Spain, was overtaken by Latifi early on and finished last. We’ll never know and, without saying who was in the right and the wrong in his clash with Hamilton, that’s entirely because of a first-lap incident that didn’t need to happen. But then came a classic Alonso drive with plenty of incisive overtaking that yielded the couple of points he thought was a fantasy. What a difference a day – or two – makes. Perhaps the outcome showed a lingering lack of strategic sharpness that will hurt when Alfa Romeo’s racing in such illustrious company.