The start of the 2022 Formula 1 season has given us the beginning of a well-known battle in the Great Circus. Ferrari and Red Bull, after only three disputed appointments, are running as the only two candidates for the longest course in the history of the highest category of motorsport.
In Australia, despite the fact that Charles Leclerc achieved the first Grand Chelem of his career and became the first driver of the Maranello team to do so since Fernando Alonso at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix, he had the reigning world champion, Max Verstappen, in his shadow at almost all times.
The Dutchman ended up retiring in the final laps due to a problem with his RB18, but had a wheel-to-wheel duel with the current world leader after the restart after the safety car.
Both reached turn 1 of the renovated Albert Park layout in parallel and, although Verstappen tried, Leclerc took the fight to get his second win of the season.
For this reason, and despite the fact that the setbacks with reliability have weighed down the energy drinks team, they sent a message through social networks to Ferrari for the next round of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, one of the houses of the Italians.
“Third round. More of the same at Imola, Ferrari?” Red Bull wrote on its Twitter account, accompanied by the video of the heads-up between its two drivers.
Those from Maranello want to add a new victory on local territory, a place where they have not won since the 2019 Italian Grand Prix, when Charles Leclerc himself climbed to the top of the Monza podium after a titanic fight against the Mercedes by Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
For the appointment in Imola, those in red want to return to winning ways after 16 years, since the last time a Ferrari driver crossed the finish line in first place was Michael Schumacher in 2006, ahead of Fernando Alonzo.
The Enzo e Dino Ferrari is not bad for Max Verstappen, since last year he won with an advantage of exactly 22 seconds over his closest rival, Hamilton, who was ultimately his rival for the title.
