Ferrari collects defeats in the 2022 F1 season, but this time, at home, was possibly the most frustrating. And it is that directly there were no failures in the stops, or serious errors of strategy, simply an evident lack of rhythm compared to a Max Verstappen that caresses the world championship even more.
The Dutchman, who started third, managed the start very well and quickly moved up to podium positions. Then, after the Virtual Safety Car due to Sebastian Vettel’s retirement, he stayed on track while Ferrari brought in Charles Leclerc, and with more pace than anyone, Verstappen had no problem maintaining the lead after the first two stops.
A Safety Car after Daniel Ricciardo’s retirement with five laps to go brought everyone together and threatened to upset things, giving the tifosi some hope, but the withdrawal of the car took longer than expected and although it looked like we might enjoy of a lap with a green flag, it was not like that and everything ended up behind the safety car.
It was a tremendous jug of cold water for all the fans at the Monza circuit and at home, since Charles Leclerc was going to try to attack Verstappen to win against his team and Carlos Sainz would have sought to steal the podium from Russell.
Finally Leclerc, in an alternative strategy that did not seem to be the reason for his defeat, had to settle for second place, once again seeing how he could not turn another pole position into a victory.
The podium was completed by George Russell, also beaten by Verstappen, to add his seventh race in the top three. To put it in context, there are as many podiums as those achieved by Carlos Sainz and Sergio Pérez, and one more than Leclerc.
With a great comeback from 18th position, Carlos Sainz, who chose his own strategy, finished fourth, ahead of a Lewis Hamilton who took longer to recover ground but finally, despite starting 19th, ended up winning as many places as the Spaniard.
Also from behind, but with worse performance, Sergio Pérez finished sixth and with the minor consolation of the extra point for the fastest lap. Behind the Mexican came Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly, seventh and eighth consecutively.
Fernando Alonso aspired to achieve a good result and always rode in the points zone, but his car left him stranded in the middle of the distance and, the day he reached the historical record for the greatest number of races, he ended his streak of ten grand prix consecutive scoring.
Beyond Verstappen, the big star on Sunday was Nyck de Vries , who scored points in his Formula 1 debut with Williams replacing Alexander Albon and was also chosen ‘Driver of the Day’.
He completed 10 Guanyu Zhou with Alfa Romeo, leaving seven teams in the top ten positions, with the exception of Alpine, Aston Martin and Haas.
Results of the Italian GP 2022 Formula 1 in Monza
(Click on ‘see results’ to enjoy the entire table)
| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Max Verstappen |
 |
53 | – | 25 | ||
| 2 |  Charles Leclerc |
 |
53 | 2.446 | 2.446 | 2.446 | 18 |
| 3 |  George Russell |
 |
53 | 3.405 | 3.405 | 0.959 | 15 |
| 4 |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
 |
53 | 5,061 | 5,061 | 1,656 | 12 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton |
 |
53 | 5.380 | 5.380 | 0.319 | 10 |
| 6 |  Sergio Perez |
 |
53 | 6,091 | 6,091 | 0.711 | 9 |
| 7 | Lando Norris |
 |
53 | 6.207 | 6.207 | 0.116 | 6 |
| 8 |  Pierre Gasly |
 |
53 | 6,396 | 6,396 | 0.189 | 4 |
| 9 | Nyck de Vries |
 |
53 | 7.122 | 7.122 | 0.726 | 2 |
| 10 |  Guanyu Zhou |
 |
53 | 7.910 | 7.910 | 0.788 | 1 |
| see results | |||||||
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What happened in the F1 race in Italy?
Leclerc held onto the lead at the start and through the first chicane, with Russell missing the second apex as he chased the lead. Verstappen took advantage of Norris’ terrible start to gain two positions, with the McLaren and with Alonso, who came wheel to wheel with the champion at the first lap. Then, still in the first lap, Verstappen accounted for Gasly, and at the start of lap 2 he already reached podium positions after accounting for Ricciardo.
Pérez had lost three places at the start and Sainz had won the same amount, so they met (and touched) in the fight to be fifteenth. And while Verstappen, fast lap after fast lap, got very close to Russell, Carlos continued his comeback reaching 13th place.
Verstappen had no trouble moving into second, braking faster than Russell for the first corner at the start of lap 5, and the chase for Leclerc began. Sainz passed the two Aston Martins to reach the top 10 on lap 6, while Pérez had more problems emulating the comeback from Madrid.
The Mexican was in fact one of the first to stop, on lap 8 to put hard, but his car emitted smoke that did not disappear after the pitstop, and from which a small flame soon came out that, however, did not go any further and allowed to continue.
Sebastian Vettel did not have the same luck, whose engine left him lying on lap 12, becoming the first abandonment of the day. Race direction established a period of Virtual Safety Car, and Ferrari decided to put Leclerc in to install media. The green flag came back just as the Monegasque was in the pitlane, and he rejoined the track just ahead of Ricciardo in third.
Verstappen and Russell had been left out, and Sainz left Ricciardo behind to be fourth on lap 14. After the top four, there was a ‘train of DRS’ from fifth to tenth, with the McLarens, Alonso, Gasly and De Vries nearly glued.
That was broken when Gasly, De Vries and Ricciardo pitted on lap 20. Taking advantage of other drivers’ stops, Hamilton was seventh yet to pit, and Perez moved up to ninth after overtaking Bottas.
Ferrari informed Leclerc that they would go to plan ‘C’, but their rivals ahead were still not going in, and it seemed more and more evident that they would carry different strategies in terms of the number of stops.
Russell stopped on lap 24 and Verstppen finally stopped on lap 25, and while the Mercedes driver got tough, the world leader chose midfielders, who happened to be 13 laps younger than Leclerc, who regained first place.
With DRS, Hamilton stole sixth place from Alonso on lap 27, and Sainz was looking to keep Russell behind to make good on the strategy he himself had asked for, namely to ride softs for the final part of the race.
While Verstappen began to cut Leclerc a lot of time, Ferrari made a good pitstop with Sainz, who came back eighth behind Pérez, Alonso and Hamilton. But on lap 31, as his first stop approached, Alpine asked Alonso to return to the pits and stop the car, in the second DNF of the day.
Ferrari decided to go on the attack and put Leclerc in for the second time, putting means on him looking for a comeback against Verstappen. Hamilton also entered at last and returned to the track 12th, but with a brave double overtake, as well as other stops, he moved up to seventh very soon after and then sixth.
With a brake temperature problem, Stroll completed Aston Martin’s full DNF this Sunday. Pérez made his second stop on lap 44, losing position to Hamilton and Norris, whom he would look to pass again on softs.
Sainz began to cut Russell’s time but time was running out, until a Safety Car due to Ricciardo’s breakdown caused drama five laps from the end. Mercedes put Russell and Ferrari Sainz. And, one lap later, it was Verstappen and Leclerc’s turn.
Everyone rubbed their hands in a final duel for victory and the podium, but the stewards took longer than necessary to remove the damaged McLaren. And so the laps went by until, despite the fact that it was withdrawn when there was still one left, it was announced that the race would end after the Safety Car.
Leclerc protested on the radio and the tifosi began to whistle, but nothing changed and they could only celebrate the Monegasque’s second place.
