Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took the lead of the F1 world championship with a commanding win in Barcelona, Spain as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc retired from the race with a power unit failure. He was seemingly in command of the race for 29 laps. Ferrari’s troubles didn’t end here as its other car which featured Carlos Sainz Jr initially lost positions at the start of the race due to a stalled start and then spun into the gravel. He was only able to recover P4 by the end of the race. This means Ferrari has lost both the constructor’s championship lead as has its driver lost the lead in the driver’s championship.
Leclerc was cruising to his third win of the season before his engine failed
Red Bull took advantage of Ferrari’s frailties as it capped off a 1-2 with Perez coming P2. For a major chunk of the race, Perez and Verstappen duelled with George Russell in a resurgent Mercedes. The Mercedes driver managed P3 ahead of the Ferrari of Sainz. Russell again finished ahead of his 7-time world champion teammate Lewis Hamilton who recovered from the first lap incident with Kevin Magnussen to finish in P5. Both the Mercedes cars had some water leak which resulted in him overtaking Hamilton in the penultimate lap of the race.
Behind them was valiant Valtteri Bottas in a P6 for Alfa Romeo, but unfortunately his teammate Guanyu Zhou didn’t finish the race. Ocon and Alonso brought in the Alpine cars for good points in P7 and P9. They were separated by Lando Norris in the McLaren who managed P8 well ahead of his Aussie teammate Ricciardo who just managed P12. Yuki Tsunoda capped off the top 10 for the AlphaTauri ahead of his teammate Pierre Gasly who managed P13.
Both the upgraded Mercedes W13 cars performed well to finish P3 and P5
Vettel just managed P11 in the newly upgraded Aston Martin ahead of Lance Stroll who managed P15. Mick Schumacher at one point in the race was looking good for his first points finish but then petered off to just P15 for the Haas. He was ahead of his teammate Magnussen whose race was largely ruined because of a first-lap collision with Hamilton. He managed P17 with the Williams of Latifi being ahead of him in P16 and Albon being behind in P18.
Race Results – 2022 Spanish GP
| Pos | Car. No. | Driver | Team | Time | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:37:20.475 | 25 |
| 2 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | +13.072s | 19 (18 + 1 point for fastest lap) |
| 3 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | +32.927s | 15 |
| 4 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +45.208s | 12 |
| 5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +54.534s | 10 |
| 6 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | +59.976s | 8 |
| 7 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine Renault | +75.397s | 6 |
| 8 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +83.235s | 4 |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine Renault | +1 lap | 2 |
| 10 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +1 lap | 1 |
| 11 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | +1 lap | 0 |
| 12 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | +1 lap | 0 |
| 13 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | +1 lap | 0 |
| 14 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | +1 lap | 0 |
| 15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +1 lap | 0 |
| 16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | +2 laps | 0 |
| 17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | +2 laps | 0 |
| 18 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | +2 laps | 0 |
| NC | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | DNF | 0 |
2022 World Driver’s Championship Standings After Spanish GP
| Pos | Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 110 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 104 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 85 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 74 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 65 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 46 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 39 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 38 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine Renault | 30 |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 15 |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 11 |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 11 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 6 |
| 14 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 4 |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine Renault | 4 |
| 16 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 3 |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 2 |
| 18 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 1 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 0 |
| 20 | Nico Hulkenberg | Aston Martin | 0 |
| 21 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 0 |
Highlights
- Verstappen has now won all races hes finished this season
- He now has 4 wins this season and leads Leclerc by 6 points
- Sergio Perez has secured P3 in the drivers championship
Keyword: Red Bull & Verstappen Take F1 Championship Lead In Spain As Ferrari Falters