Charles LeClerc wins the US GP and makes it a Ferrari 1-2 with Sainz. Max and Lando fight hard for the final podium position.

Ferrari dominance : LeClerc shines in US

Charles LeClerc recently celebrated his 27th birthday. When asked what he would like as a birthday gift, he said a win on Sunday would be nice. This is exactly what he got. Ferrari while not having good Quali pace certainly looked better in Race mode. While the entire focus was on Lando and Max, Ferrari quietly built a strong case for themselves. Starting from P4, Charles took the lead on first turn as Lando and Max squabbled in the first row. From then onwards there was no turning back. Driving in fresh air throughout the race LeClerc kept the pace and neither Max in Red Bull or Lando in McLaren could catch up to him. This is certainly one of the unexpected win and he relish his birthday gift a lot.

Not to be outdone even Carlos Sainz had a great weekend. There was hardly much to show in the practice session but Carlos got a P5 in Sprint Quali and finished P3 in the Sprint. Then for the main race he qualified P3 and finished P2, while overtaking Max. He would rue his chances of race win but would be very happy with a Ferrari 1-2. Ferrari are just 8 points behind Red Bull in the Constructors and it would be very embarassing for Red Bull to finish third in Constructors while Max wins the World Championship.

Max and Lando at each other in US

In the Sprint Quali and Race it seemed like the Max of the first half of the season was back. He found his mojo, easily taking Pole for Sprint and then winning the Sprint easily, just like the good old days. However that was not the case to be for the main race. He had to abort the final lap in Q3 but still managed to start from the front row. As the race started he got ahead of Lando but then the Ferrari of LeClerc went past everyone to take the lead. Surprisingly Max did not have the race pace to catch up to LeClerc. In fact he kept losing time to LeClerc and eventually Sainz went ahead with an undercut.

However it was the fight with Lando for the final podium position that got everyone’s attention. Both the drivers went hard at each other but Lando was unable to overtake Max despite having better pace. Eventually did he overtake Max but only after going off the track, when Max went off the track too. Still it was Lando who the 5 seconds penalty and had to settle for the P4 position. The fight between them is very much on, although realistically the gap is too big to be covered in the last 5 races.

Both their teammates had races to forget. Oscar drove average at best and finished P5. Checo even worse with a P7 finish. Lewis also had a weekend to forget as he spun into gravel while starting from the pit lane. His team mate George also started from the back but managed to recover to a good P6 position.

Rookies had their moment of sunshine. Lawson in his first foray for RB this season managed to score points at P9. Colapinto finished in the P10 position while it was another strong performance by Hulkenburg with P8 finish.

US GP Race Classification : LeClerc shines

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Charles LeClerc pulled on a stunning 1-stop race to win at Monza. Oscar and Lando came P2 and P3.

LeClerc : King of Monza

No one had expected this to happen. Ever since the home win for LeClerc at Monaco Ferrari have been on a backfoot and really struggled with the car pace. LeClerc has mostly been disappointed after the race and the standard statement is that there is a lot of work to be done on the car. Monza, the home race for Ferrari, was where they got a lot of upgrades and specially a new ultra-slim back wing. All this apart from a new race suit for the drivers in Carbon black and a slight change in livery.

The practice sessions were good and they were in the mix with the Mercedes and the Red Bulls. LeClerc started P3 and Carlos P5. At the race start Oscar pipped Lando and the Charles overtook him to secure P2. After the first pit stop LeClerc found himself behind Lando again. However Ferrari decided to go for only one pitstop as compared to two for the McLarens. LeClerc worked his magic and made the 1 pit strategy work somehow and winning the race. Carlos couldn’t do the same but still finished P4.

McLaren woes at Monza

McLaren were actually not that bad. It is just that LeCLerc pulled off a stunner by making a one-stop strategy work. Still they would be disappointed. Lando starting from pole was ahead at the first turn but then Oscar pulled off a great move to secure the race lead. In all of this LeClerc got ahead of Lando but Lando got the second position back after the first pit stop. The McLarens soon had a second pit-stop too but the Ferraris did not and that made all the difference. This was a great opportunity for McLaren to come equal to the Red Bull, something which was unthinkable a few months ago. Now they are still 10 points behind and with 8 races to go. McLaren has to put their best if they want to win the championship.

Red Bull disaster at Monza

Red Bull had the third or fourth fastest car and it showed. Both Max and Checo qualified a lowly P7 and P8. From then it was just a recovery race with Max finishing P6 and Perez P8. While there is a big gap between Max and Lando, the Constructor’s battle is truly on and Red Bull literally needs to change the enitre car, according to Max.

Mercedes showed promise but it did not convert into race result. Lewis did a decent job to finish P5. George had a bad start and he finished P7. Albon drove decently to finish P9. Kevin Magnussen got the final point at P10 but he also got a one race ban for accruing too many penalty points.

Monza GP : Top 10 with LeClerc race winner

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Charles wins his maiden F1 home race in Monaco. Oscar followed him in P2 and Carlos P3

King Charles of Monaco

Finally the curse is broken. Charles LeClerc manages to win the home race of Monaco for the first time in his career. This was his third attempt starting from Pole and it was all nerves and jitters for everyone. Yet he managed it in as calm as fashion as possible. Overall it was a boring race with hardly any overtakes happening. Monaco is a narrow street circuit and modern F1 cars are very wide. Barring one overtake from Bottas it was more of a race of tyre management than of going fast and overtaking other cars. Charles and Ferrari were overjoyed with the win at Monaco. He got a big big hug from the teary eyed Prince Philip.

The Monaco race actually started with a bang – literally. First Carlos and Oscar touch each other at turn 1 and Carlos got a puncture. This pretty much meant race over for him. But the heavenly bodies had other plans for him. In the back there was a massive collision as Magnussen tried to go past Sergio Perez and also took Hulkenburg down with him. Red flag happened and the Ferrari team were not only able to fix his car, he got to keep his P3 position as one lap was not done by then. Carlos must be thanking his stars for the second life.

First Podium of 2024 for Oscar

Oscar has been in very good touch but the past results unfortunately do not reflect so. The McLaren has been working well but he was overshadowed by Lando, especially in Miami, as Lando won the race and Oscar was way back the grid due to an accident. That was not the case today. Oscar started P2 and maintained his position throughout the race. In the end he was a bit slow as compared to Charles but it did not matter much. He got the Silver. Meanwhile Lando will have to be satisfied with the P4 as there was hardly any overtaking opportunity. He should still be positive and look forward to the next races. While Red Bull and Max Verstappen are clearly ahead, the 2024 season is long and anything can happen in the future.

A weekend to forget for Red Bull

Red Bull knew that the street circuits do not suit them and Monaco exposed their weakness. Sergio Perez could not get beyond Q1 and crashed in just 500m from the race start. Even Max Verstappen started from P6 and could not do much from there despite having a faster car at times. Still there are quite dominant on normal race tracks. They should be vary though as the development gap is reducing and Red Bull cannot take things that easy.

Mercedes have a slew of upgrades planned but they are still far from McLaren and Ferrari. George finished P5 and Hamilton P7. Yuki Tsunoda got a brilliant P8, Albon got P9 and Gasly finished P10. Some much needed points for Williams and Alpine.

Monaco GP Top 10 : Charles wins home race

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Home boy Charles LeClerc scores his third Pole in Monaco. Oscar Piastri takes P2 in his McLaren. Carlos Sainz manages to put his car on P3.

Monaco Magic for LeClerc

This is the third time that Charles LeClerc has put his Ferrari on Pole position in his home track of Monaco. However this time he would be fully focused on the race day and convert this pole into a race win. Till date his best finishing position in Monaco has been P4 and LeClerc would dearly want to change that. Monaco is a street track and very difficult to overtake. Track position matters a lot and being on Pole significantly helps in converting it to a race win. This has not happened the last two times. Once Ferrari fumbled in strategy as the rains poured in and the second time the team could not detect that the drive shaft is broken. This time LeClerc would be hope there would be no more gaffes and he cruises to victory. Just a week before at Imola, Ferrari looked like a distant third to Red Bull and McLaren. However here in Monaco they are on the front foot.

Well not so much for Carlos Sainz. He struggled in all the practice sessions and lacked the confidence of LeClerc. Still he pushed hard when it mattered and managed to put in on P3. He must be hoping to get a good start and at least take the P2 position and may be even a race win if somethings falters.

Adopted LeClerc of Monaco

Who would have thought there will be two local boys on the front row. Aussie Oscar Piastri mentioned on social media that he is checking his family history to see if there is any Monagasque roots. Charles LeClerc jokingly said that he can adopt him. Some more jokes ensued and Oscar’s name was put as Oscar Piastri-LeClerc on the time-sheets. McLaren looked really strong in the last week with Lando just 0.7 seconds behind race winner Max Verstappen. They had a good car here too with Oscar at P2 and Lando P4. Lando is still he alpha in the team and he would be a bit disappointed with P4 as he did not have a clean Quali session. Oscar did well in the last two races but it did not convert into good position. He must be hoping to correct that this weekend.

Missing RedBulls at Monaco

The Red Bulls struggled the entire practice sessions but no one anticipated it to be this bad. Sergio Perez had a tough time coming to terms with the car and he could not even get out of Q1. His job is still on the line for next year and this does not bode well for him.

We are all used to seeing Max Verstappen struggle in practice sessions only to pull out a stunner in the final lap of Q3. Well that did not happen in Monaco. He took too much risk and ended up touching the barriers too hard in his final run. Eventually he had to give up. The time margins are so less in Monaco that he will be starting P6 in the race. Yes it is tough to overtake in Monaco but Max would be giving it all to jump up a few places.

Mercedes looked good all weekend, probably the best this season. However they did not have it in them to be better than the Ferraris and McLarens. In the end George was P5 and Hamilton P7. They have made gains but there is a lot of work to be done. Yuki was impressive with a P8, so was Albon in P9 and his first Q3 appearance in 2024. Gasly managed a P10.

Monaco Quali Classification : LeClerc on Pole

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Max Verstappen scores another Pole, this time at Abu Dhabi. Charles will give him company on front row.

Mighty Max in Abu Dhabi

Max Verstappen did not have a dominant practice sessions. He failed to get clean laps and put on a good time. However the current dominant World Champion performed when it mattered the most. Quali seemed to be smooth sailing. In the first run of Q3 he put in a great lap and it was good enough to get the Pole Position. It won’t be surprising to see Max have a good start and sail away to victory, capping off a dominant season in a spectacular fashion.

The same cannot be said about his team-mate Sergio Perez. While Checo has secured P2 in drivers championship, he has struggled with RB19. Even in the Quali while he was doing well, the final lap got deleted and he will be starting P9 in the race. Perez has the 2024 Red Bull seat but he will be looking forward to a fresh start and give a good challenge to Max in the next year.

Charles doing fine in Abu Dhabi

Charles has put his Ferrari on the row for five times in a row. This is impressive given that the Ferrari performance varies greatly from race to race. His team-mate unfortunately was stuck in traffic and couldn’t get out of Q1. He will be starting P16.

Mercedes Ferrari fight for P2

Mercedes and Ferrari are separated by just 4 points and it is very tight between them in the last race. Russell managed to drag his car to P4 but Hamilton struggled and will be starting P11. It will be an interesting race to see who comes on top takes the best of the rest position.

McLaren once again did well but Lando messed it on the final lap, securing only P5. His rookie team-mate did much better to finish P3. Tsunoda managed a season best start of P6. Alonso did well with P7. Hulkenburg pulled another great quali lap to be starting P8 and no. 10 driver Pierre Gasly will be starting at P10.

Abu Dhabi Starting Grid: Max on Pole

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In a completely new format at Baku, Charles LeClerc took pole in Quali as well as Sprint shootout. However Ferrari doesn’t have the race pace. In the Sprint race it was clear that Red Bull has better race pace than the Ferraris.

Top Gun Charles at Baku

When it come to a single lap pace, Charles LeClerc is undoubtedly the fastest person on the grid. He can make the fresh tires work like magic and extract the maximum out of his car to secure Pole position. 2023 is his worst start to a season as a Ferrari driver. He is currently languishing at P10 whereas Championship leader Max Verstappen is miles ahead. Ferrari were expecting a tough weekend at Baku but were positively surprised to find their pace, at least in Quali sessions. Charles LeClerc, who recently launched a music album, would be chuffed with the outcome. This would give him a spring in his steps and make the 2023 a bit more exciting.

Meanwhile his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. was completely out of touch. He struggled in FP1 and then in Quali and then in Sprint Quali too. Carlos needs a lot of work to do and get his game up and match Charles.

Red Bull has the race pace

Max Verstappen looked frustrated but he knows deep down he has a car which has the race pace. Points come only in Sprint and the Race and this is where the Red Bull shines. For Quali session Max Verstappen was P2 and Sergio P3. In the Sprint shootout Sergio was P2 and Max P3. As the Sprint started Sergio overtook Charles quite easily and maintained the gap. Charles had no other option but to hold on to his P2 position. Max had an altercation with Mercedes driver George Russell which caused a damage to his sidepod and compromised his race performance. He was really angry with George and said some stuff which shouldn’t have been mentioned in open. This is very unlike of a Championship Leader. Still he finished P3 in the Sprint and will be starting from the front row of the grid, knowing very well that he the best car in terms of race pace.

Mercedes lacking the pace

Everyone had high hopes from Mercedes after a long gap between the race. Toto Wolff had hyped up the upgrades and we were expecting them to challenge the Red Bulls for wins. Reality turned out to be a bit different. They were barely able to match the Ferraris and no way they are matching the Red Bulls. Still both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are trying their best to at least put themselves ahead of the Aston Martins and may be even ahead of Carlos who is not looking in good form this weekend.

Aston Martin seems to have fallen behind the Mercedes mainly because their DRS was not working. McLaren upgrades are working and they can now fight to be in Q3. Pierre Gasly’s bad luck continues and he needs to work hard. Albon is in touch in his Williams and should be expecting to score some points if luck is in his favour.

Baku always gives us unexpected result and this year should be no different. Expect a spicy race ahead.

Baku Sprint Classification : Checo P1, Charles P2

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Charles Leclerc delighted the Tifosi to secure a home F1 pole position for Ferrari at Monza.

Charles left it until his last lap of Q3 to seal his second pole at Monza.

Eighth Pole for Charles in 2022

Leclerc posted a 1m20.161s to edge out runaway championship leader Max Verstappen by 0.145s. Howver the Red Bull driver will drop five places for using too many engine parts.

Leclerc will be the only driver to start where he qualified due to a litany of grid penalties. He will be joined on the front row by Mercedes’ George Russell. 

Russell ended up sixth-fastest behind Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. But penalties for Verstappen (second), Carlos Sainz (third), Sergio (fourth) and Hamilton will see the Briton move up four places. 

Sainz and Hamilton, who are both carrying back-of-the-grid penalties, will start from 18th and 19th respectively. Red Bull’s Perez is set to be demoted to 10th.

McLaren pair Lando and Daniel, who were seventh and eighth, are due to line up from third and fourth. They will be ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso. 

De Vries impresses on debut 

Nyck de Vries qualified 13th on his F1 debut and outpaced Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi despite only finding out he was driving just before final practice on Saturday morning, when Alex Albon was ruled out with appendicitis. 

The Dutchman, who won the 2020-2021 Formula E title, will start from eighth ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou and Perez as a result of the penalties for drivers ahead of him. 

If this weekend turns out to be an addition for de Vries, who is understood to be in the running for the second Williams seat next season, it couldn’t have got off to a much better start. 

In contrast, Williams regular Nicholas Latifi was eliminated in Q1, though he will start just outside the top-10 in 11th when all the grid penalties are applied. 

Monza Starting Grid : Charles on Pole and Max P7

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Max Verstappen takes a comfortable win at the French GP after Charles lost his rear and crashed. Mercedes made the most of it with Lewis and George getting P2 and P3.

Max points for Max at French GP

Charles LeClerc starting from Pole had a good start to the race. He was ahead in at the first corner and was generally able to hold Max behind despite him being in the DRS zone all the time. It was super hot and the race was all about managing the tyres. So we don’t know if Charles was pushing too much which would cause massive tyre degradation. Max Verstappen unable to get ahead of Charles decides to go for an early pit stop and went back of the grid for the time being.

Ferrari disaster continues

Things were going smooth when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Charles loses his rear. Yes he was pushing his Mediums in the sweltering French heat but you would expect him to keep things in control. French GP is a circuit where there is more than enough space and runway in case you go off the track. The red and blue stripes depicting the French flag are meant to slow down the car. Still the Ferrari luck is such that one snap of the rear and Charles finds himself in the barrier and his race pretty much over.

Ferrari has the fastest car on the grid. They have two top drivers in Charles and Carlos. And yet at every race misfortune – whether internal or external – strikes them somehow. They either have reliability issues with the Engine giving up or they mess up the Strategy like in Monaco, or simply their driver makes one mistake and then are completely out of the race.

Once Charles crashed out it was all managing tyres and bringing the car home for Max. However it was a difficult day for the other Red Bull driver Sergio Perez. The new upgrades brought by Red Bull seems to help Max more. The gap between the two drivers has increased significantly in the last few races. Checo struggled in all the practice and Quali sessions. In the race he couldn’t even keep up or overtake the much slower Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. The other Mercedes driver George Russell kept pushing Checo, inviting him to make any mistake. In the end he made one when he was caught napping as the VSC ended and George zoomed past him, never to look back.

Mercedes making the most

First double podium for Mercedes in 2022 and they sure would be delighted with the result. Mercedes seem to have the porposing issue in control and can finally get back to focusing of the performance. Charles crashed out, Carlos was starting from the back and Checo was struggling. All this meant that Hamilton kept P2 position in his 300th race and George took the last podium position. They still lack the race pace and are approximately 1 sec per lap behind the race leaders Red Bull and Ferrari.

Fernando Alonso was the best of the rest and very impressive with his P6 position. Lando Norris came in P7, Ocon managed a decent P8 in his home race, Danny Ric brought the second McLaren in points too and Stroll just managed to get P10 with his team mate right behind him at P11.

French GP: Max extends his lead by 63 points

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Charles LeClerc finally found the pace in Austria and had a clean race. Max just could not match up to the Ferrari.

Charles too fast in Austria

It is not something that too many people had anticipated. Home race for Red Bull and Max Verstappen looked at the top of his game. In the Sprint Race Charles and Carlos were just not able to catch up with Max Verstappen. But things turned around on Race Day. Starting from the front Max Verstappen got a clean start. He we was unable to hold on to it. Charles had stronger pace and with 3 DRS zones he was easily able to overtake the Dutchman. Red Bull went for a different strategy and pitted Max early. But nothing worked. Charles overtook Max thrice in the race. This was his first victory since Melbourne and was very happy to be on the top step after having bad luck in the last 5 races. Charles moved to P2 in the driver’s standing but the gap to Max is still quite big.

DNFs for Carlos and Checo

Checo starting from P5 looked to move up quickly as soon as the race started. However as he tried to move up against George Russell, he got hit by the front left tyre of George, throwing him into the gravel and then back of the grid. However his car had suffered damage and lost performance, so they retired the car.

Carlos was looking in very good touch. He finally found the pace in the car and could catch up with Charles in Austria, but not yet surpass him. Still he would be happy with the progress and confident after the race win in Silverstone. But then tragedy strikes. Ferrari were looking good for a 1-2 finish before a dramatic engine failure stopped Carlos Sainz in his tracks. His car literally went on fire and had to stop immediately. This was the moment for Ferrari to make big gains against Red Bull, especially with Checo retiring early in the race. However reliability issues are still plaguing them and they need to get on top of it.

Mercedes making the most of the DNFs

This has been their story so far in 2022. They have been a distant third to Red Bull and Ferrari but move up the ladder whenever the top 2 teams fumble.

Lewis Hamilton after crashing in Quali and starting P8 went long on his first stint, had very good pace and kept moving up the grid to finally finish P3. This is his third consecutive P3 finish and would be very happy with his performance. George Russell meanwhile got a 5 second penalty for the contact with Checo and moved to the back of the grid. But he fought like a champion, eventually finishing an impressive P4.

More points for Mick in Austria

The tide seems to have finally turned with Mick finishing his career best P6 and getting back to back points. Yesterday he complained about having better pace than team-mate Kevin Magnussen ( who also finished an impressive P8) and today he actually proved it. HAAS team is really looking up for now.

Both the Alpines finished in points too with Ocon managing a very impressive P5 and Alonso finishing P10 after having started from the back of the grid. They must be looking forward to their home race in two weeks times. McLaren put up a decent performance and their both drivers finished in points – Lando at P7 and Daniel P9.

Austria GP Race Classification : Charles the winner, Max P2

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After a strong start to the 2022 season, Charles LeClerc as has slipped massively in the Championship. Can he bounce back and be in the contention?

New Regulations for 2022

Mercedes has pretty much dominated the tubro-hybrid era, winning 8 Championships in a row. With the new Aero-regulations for 2022 there was a hope for a change in the Peking order. And change it did. Mercedes as still struggling to figure out their car and are a distant third to the front-runners. Ferrari has made a massive leap after struggling from 2019 to 2021. Red Bull has been able to hold on to their position with a great car and an engine to match it.

Advantage LeClerc, in the beginning

If 2021 was a fight between Mercedes and Red Bull, 2022 was to be a fight between Ferrari and Red Bull. Instead of Lewis vs Max, we were to have LeClerc vs Max. The first few races saw Verstappen and LeClerc going up against each other and having some great battles. Ferrari seemed to have figured out the regulations and have given a great car to LeClerc. Meanwhile Andrian Newey has not done a bad job either and neither has the newly formed Red Bull Powertrain department.

Reliability issues

Ironically both Ferrari and Red Bull were plagued by reliability issues at a time when engine rules were hardly changed, expect the E10 fuel.

As the season started Ferrari and LeClerc had the upper hand. Charles had a great car under him and he is in the form of his life, driving like a true Championship contender.

By the time Australian GP ended LeClerc was 46 points ahead of Max. Many wondered if 2022 will be a one-sided show with Ferrari and LeClerc dominating the season.

Max makes a come-back

Alas, it all proved to be wrong. While LeClerc was driving like a champion and kept on getting pole after pole, Ferrari showed the chinks in their armor. It brought back memories of 2008 and 2012 and 2018 when Ferrari gave up on the Championship after a dominating start to the season.

It all started with the reliability issues of the super-powerful Ferrari engine. LeClerc had to retire twice and the penalties caused him to start from the back of the grid in Canada. In Monaco, his home race, LeClerc moved from P1 to P4 because of a strategy blunder by the Ferrari team.

On the other hand Red Bull seems to have fixed their reliability issues, for now. Max also is continuing his top form from 2021 and has won pretty much all the times he has finished the race. Even Checho is in a very good form and is literally ahead of LeClerc in the championship.

The tide has turned completely. From a 46 point deficit, Max is not 49 points ahead.

Long 2022 season

2022 is a long season and more than half of it is still left. As LeClerc said, two wins for him and two DNFs by Max is enough is cover the gap. Ferrari team still has a good car and will not take much to get things together.

Let’s hope we have an exciting 2022 season, just like the previous one.

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