Imola GP
Race 4 Summary
April 24, 2022
Imola? More like Imo-BLAH. I have some in-depth thoughts, feelings, and opinions about the weekend, but I’ll save those for later. Let’s rewind a bit to the beginning of the weekend, shall we?
A few key headlines you may have missed before the weekend started:
Sir Lewis Hamilton put in a bid for part ownership of the Chelsea F.C.
Carlos Sainz signed a 2-year contract extension with Ferrari
Red Bull did a promotional drive to Miami as disgruntled community members fight the upcoming GP in court
QUALIFYING FOR QUALIFYING
The weekend started out with just 1 free practice before qualifying. It rained off and on for most of Friday, giving drivers their first wet conditions in the new cars. We saw some great cars, like Kevin Magnussen’s Haas, and we saw some bad ones… Anyways, Ferrari topped the FP1 timesheets, and looked promising heading into qualifying. The rain made Mercedes’s car troubles exponentially worse, as both drivers were nearly knocked out in Q1 of qualifying. I told my husband that based on their FP1 results, if the Merc boys could secure even P11 or P12, they would have a shot in the sprint. Was I a bit optimistic? Yes. Q2 was an interesting session. The rain had let up at the end of Q1, so drivers were able to switch to Softs at the start of Q2. They all had a few minutes before the rain was supposed to start, so all 15 drivers in Q2 were pushing hard to get their best lap times in. Russell got close to Q3 in P11, but Hamilton struggled, managing P13. Unfortunately, Carlos Sainz pushed too hard, and crashed, causing a red flag to the session. Once the session could resume, no driver attempted to improve their time, as it would be nearly impossible in wet conditions to improve (it’s basically impossible, because the only way you could even try is by taking big risks which no team was willing to do). Because he wasn’t able to actually drive in Q3, Carlos’s start position for the sprint was P10. Kevin Magnussen, Fernando Alonso, and Lando Norris, all put in impressive times, managing P4, P5, and P3 respectively. Verstappen secured P1, with Leclerc in P2.
SPRINT RACE
Mercedes topped the timesheets for FP2, with George Russell in P1, and Hamilton managing a very respectable P4. Well, all optimism went out the window once the sprint race started. Due to my own incompetence, I missed the first 9 laps of the sprint race, which is the only part that matters, but thank God for replay. Verstappen had a slow start, which allowed Leclerc to jump out to an early lead. Zhou and Gasly collided, causing Gasly to fall down the order, and Zhou to retire. Due to the incident and the traffic, both Merc drivers fell a few places. Russell managed to get back to his starting position of P11, as Hamilton dropped 1 place to P14. In dry conditions, the race became processional, with the exceptions of Sainz climbing from P10 to P4, and Verstappen overtaking Leclerc for P1 with 2 laps to go.
“PRACTICE ISN’T SUPPOSED TO BE EXCITING.”
I do not, repeat DO NOT, like sprint races. I understand that we’ve only had 4, but I didn’t like the first one, and the one where Hamilton was able to storm through the pack was exciting, but I’d still rather have qualifying. I was unbelievably bored during this sprint race. Again, I missed the first 9 laps, but if nothing happened after that, then what’s the point? Before you say “well Max passed Leclerc at the end”, yes he did, and good job to him, but in a season where we’ve already seen some exciting wheel to wheel action between those 2 drivers, you can’t tell me that was an exciting battle. There was no battle. It was Max trying to be less than half a second behind Leclerc, so that DRS would allow him to actually pass him. Leclerc didn’t really put up much of a fight, because the real race is on Sunday, and most drivers back down in the sprint. Sainz charging up the field was impressive, but also expected. The only reason he was P10 at the start was because of his mistake the day before. F1 Twitter made it seem like that was the best racing we’ve ever seen… I just don’t understand. That wasn’t even the best sprint race! That title goes to Brazil of 2021, because Hamilton put on an overtaking Masterclass, starting P20 and finishing P5. Most people were saying something along the lines of “I’d watch this over practice any day” or “this is way more exciting than free practice” to which I remind everyone, PRACTICE ISN’T SUPPOSED TO BE EXCITING. You can see my short thread/rant here.
Practice is vital for teams to test set up for the weekend, and losing one in the name of spectacle seems ridiculous to me. Now, the teams have apparently unanimously voted to expand to 6 sprint races in 2023, but that’s currently being challenged by the FIA. It’s a developing story, so I won’t go too much into it, but I guess teams don’t care much about that practice they missed. I feel that several drivers and principals have been critical of the format in the past, but I could be projecting. Do teams really like the sprint format? Are there actually advantages to the team outside of the spectacle for the fans? Or is it all just for money? If you have thoughts or answers, leave them in the comments.
RACE SUMMARY
It had rained most of the day, so the race started in wet conditions. Verstappen had a much better start compared to the sprint, and Perez also had an excellent start behind his teammate, overtaking Leclerc for P2. Norris jumped from P5 to P3, as both Ferraris struggled. Ricciardo made a small error, touching the curb, and ultimately crashing into Sainz. Ricciardo was able to continue, but Sainz was stuck and his race was yet again, over on lap 1. Elsewhere, George made up 2 positions on the start to climb to P9, before climbing further to P6. In the incident between Daniel and Carlos, Bottas also tapped the back of Ricciardo’s McLaren, slowing Bottas down a bit in those early stages of lap 1. Mick Schumacher also hit Alonso, which was a minor incident, but the contact caused Alonso to lose his side pod, retiring him from the race.
By lap 8, Leclerc was able to overtake Norris for P3, as the Red Bulls continued charging ahead. Russell and Magnussen had a really nice battle for P5 on lap 12. Russell overtook the Haas driver, but went a little wide, so Magnussen was able to get his position back. Russell went for it again, and was much more careful, successfully overtaking Kevin for P5. It was a brilliant move. Around this time a dry line started to form on the track, leading drivers and their teams to contemplate switching to slick tires. Ricciardo was the first to switch, opting for the Medium compound. Unfortunately, several teams had issues in the pits (what am I saying… 1 team had issues with both drivers, and the other team just had a slow stop). Russell was the first Mercedes driver to come in, and while his stop time was okay, Mercedes weren’t able to adjust his wing from wet conditions to dry, affecting his balance for the rest of the race. Let’s see… Mercedes also had a slower stop for Hamilton, and Alpine unsafely released Ocon into Hamilton, potentially making slight contact before Hamilton ultimately yielded. Ocon was awarded a 5 second penalty, but the damage was done, and Hamiton’s race was compromised. Bottas had a very slow stop, which likely cost him P4 (maybe even P3).
Tsunoda started P12 after a decent sprint race helped him make up ground from P16. By lap 48, he had charged through the field, overtaking Magnussen for P8. On lap 49, Leclerc and Ferrari opted to pit again to go onto the Soft compound. Red Bull responded, pitting both Perez and Verstappen. The hope was the Leclerc would be able to grab the fastest lap to steal a point, or even catch Perez for P2. On lap 53, Leclerc made an error, hitting the paint on the side of the track, going over the curb, spinning off track, and tapping the wall. The fact that he barely hit the wall saved his race, as he was able to continue to driving. He had to pit to replace the wing and tires, which dropped him down to P8 (around the same time, Tsunoda overtook Vettel for P6 at the time). The mistake put Norris on the podium, and Russell in P4. Leclerc spent the rest of the race trying to make up as many points as he could, ending up in P6 behind Bottas. Bottas had caught up to Russell with a couple laps to go, but even with DRS he wasn’t able to overtake him.
WINNERS AND LOSERS
This week is gonna hurt…
Winners:
-Red Bull (ugh)
-Aston Martin
-McLaren
Red Bull- look, I don’t like it either, but they had the pace this weekend, AND no reliability issues. They had good pit stops, and no team had an answer for them this weekend.
Aston Martin- after an abysmal start to the season, both drivers scored points this weekend, which is a mini-miracle. All props go to both of those drivers for keeping their heads down, and putting together a decent weekend.
McLaren- I can’t stop putting McLaren up here, can I? They keep improving every week (as a whole). Obviously, Daniel didn’t have a good race, but he was right up there with Norris on pace the whole weekend, and had gotten off to a good start before the error. McLaren also has great pitstops, which is helping them when their pace might still not be quite as good as their competitors. Every tenth of a second helps, and McLaren is delivering. No one would have believed that McLaren would have been on the podium in 3 races time after Bahrain. Well done, team Papaya!
Lando Norris on lap 61 of the race, on his way to securing a surprise P3 for McLaren.
Losers:
-Mercedes (ugh)
-Ferrari
-Alpine
Mercedes- Oh boy… Russell had an absolutely inspiring drive. He had a great start, great overtake of K-Mag, and nursed his balance issues from lap 18 when he pitted to the end of the race (lap 63), even defending his position against a faster Bottas. But… wow. The weekend as a whole was horrible for Mercedes. Bad qualifying and sprint race put them in a tough position for the weekend. But ultimately, the final straw for me (and many fans) were the 2 pit stop errors. Mercedes HAS to devote more time to pit stop practice and strategy. They could afford to lose a few tenths or even seconds before, but they need all the help they can get until this car’s potential is unlocked. STOP COMPROMISING YOUR DRIVERS WITH BAD PIT STOPS.
Ferrari- Y’all know why you’re down here… Yes, I know that Sainz got unlucky on the first lap with Ricciardo, but the weekend as a whole had a few errors that were ultimately costly. Obviously the biggest error was Leclerc nearly crashing out at the end of the race, but I want to also look at the team. They ultimately made the call to bring him in to push on soft tires, and in my opinion, it’s not a risk worth taking. If you have 2 drivers in the race, absolutely pit. No risk, no reward. However, this is now the second race in a row that one of your drivers isn’t collecting points, so you need to maximize what you have.
Alpine- Ocon (and whoever releases their drivers after a pit) ruined Hamilton’s race, and that is absolutely playing a factor here, BUT, I also would like to point out that for the second time in this young season we’ve seen the side of your car exposed. I don’t know what tin foil you use on your side pods, but I think it’s time to buy name brand. Okay, I’m being a little cruel. Ultimately a very disappointing weekend for Alpine, with 0 points for the team.
My driver of the day: Yuki Tsunoda (with George Russell in a very close second)- Tsunoda bounced back after a horrible qualifying session, and made several brilliant moves during the race. He also had the defense of the day against Lance Stroll. So happy for Tsunoda, and hoping he can continue to improve!
>SILVER ARROW POINTS:
>This is gonna be one, long point, so here we go:
The Silver Arrows are still searching for their silver bullet. They’ll find it, I’m sure they will, but I’m not sure how long it will take. Unfortunately, Mercedes is run by imperfect humans, not robots. They took on an ambitious engineering challenge this season, and so far it hasn’t paid off. Something that is interesting about Mercedes is that a lot of their fans are Hamilton fans first, Mercedes fans second. I would consider that to be true for myself, too. Many Hamilton fans (I’ve seen this sentiment on Twitter) feel that Mercedes is wasting some of Hamilton’s last few years in F1. Now obviously Hamilton is “getting up there”, but Tom Brady isn’t done yet, Alonso isn’t done yet. And if Fernando Alonso, 1x World Champion, can keep finding form as a 40 (almost 41) year old, then Sir Lewis Hamilton, 7x World Champion and the GREATEST DRIVER OF ALL TIME, can continue finding form as a 37 year old. Hamilton made it clear with this Instagram post today, he says when he’s done. While that was mostly for the former F1 drivers who think he’s done, I can’t help but hope his fans (and any F1 fan) take that message to heart. He’s not done yet.
Listen, we all had such high hopes after the heartbreak of Abu Dhabi. Toto Wolff’s warning that “everyone has a target on their back” gave Hamilton and Mercedes fans the hope that Mercedes would just dominate all year. Obviously, that’s not what happened. I can’t speak for the people of color who are Hamilton fans, but I can tell he means more to them. He’s the first driver of color to ever compete in a F1 grand prix, score points, win, etc… He’s also the winningest driver of all time, with his 103 victories to date. Hamilton (and subsequently his fans), receive so much racism online. To any fans of color reading this, I’m sorry you have to go through this. I’m not going to tell you how to feel, especially tell you that you need to feel positive/happy all the time. It’s okay to be frustrated, and it’s okay to expect better.
While I’m not going to tell any Merc fans how to feel, I will end on a positive note. This year may be tough. Maybe Merc doesn’t figure it out this year, or when they do it’s too late to win the championship. I personally believe in the team, and I have 100% in Hamilton. We have 18 (maybe 19) races to go. Anything can happen.
“THE SILVER ARROWS ARE STILL SEARCHING FOR THEIR SILVER BULLET.”
Other F1 Commentary to check out:
Quick Stop F1 Podcast: Emilia Romagna GP Review. “Nyasha and Thandie are joined by staunch Ferrari fan and F1 Content Producer Vincenzo Landino to discuss the Emilia Romagna GP weekend, including a discussion on Charles Leclerc credentials, Ferrari's chances and why it may not be all bad for Mercedes.”
On the Chicane: 2022 Emilia-Romagna Race Review. “Join Marium and Paris as they discuss all of the highlights from the race weekend at Imola. Marium is STRESSED, but the weekend is over and there are still 18 races left to go!”
ON TO SOUTH BEACH
As an American F1 fan, I can safely say I do not care about this race location and am over the hype. Lots of unknowns with this track, and according to Mercedes, they may try to bring upgrades (at least the first phase of them) to the Miami GP. My fellow Americans, that race takes place on Mother’s Day, so I’ll be watching for home with my mom cheering for some Mercedes magic!
Wear sunscreen, and in the wise words of Nicki Minaj, “Let's go to the beach-each, let’s go get a wave. They say what they gonna say”.