It's A Rough Weekend To Be A Ferrari Fan: Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez Go 1-2, While Charles Leclerc Finishes P6 At The Imola Grand Prix

MRags4/25/2022 12:00 AM

SUPER MAX STRIKES AGAIN!

Max Verstappen gets his second win of the season at the Imola Grand Prix, while Sergio Perez (Red Bull) gets 2nd and Lando Norris (McLaren) gets 3rd.

It was a rough weekend to be a Ferrari fan as Sainz and Ricciardo made contact on lap 1 which resulted in Carlos Sainz having to retire from the race. That makes two races in a row that resulted in a DNF for Sainz.

Here's Ricciardo watching the replay after the race:

Ricciardo was able to finish the race, but finished in P18 or dead last for the drivers who completed all 63 laps.

On the complete end of the spectrum, Daniel's teammate, Lando Norris, was able to get his first podium of the season and had himself a brilliant race.

After a really rough start to the season for McLaren, it's gotta feel phenomenal for Lando to secure the podium finish.

Going into Lap 53/63, Leclerc was hunting down Perez for P2. However, he pushed a little too hard and ended up spinning out. Luckily for him, he gets the car going and was able to rejoin the race, pit and then push push.

He rejoined the race at P9 and finished P6, missing out on extremely valuable points dropping from P3 to P6.

Aside from what we already discussed, it was a fairly uneventful race. Not too much chaos to note, but the wet track conditions really made it difficult for drivers to push to the limits and take chances on overtakes.

Since I am #unbiased, I'd be a fool to not mention how impressive George Russell looked today in the Mercedes. He was able to finish P4 after starting the race at 11th.

All around a great day for Russell, but on the other side of the equation is a struggling Lewis Hamilton. Again, since I'm so #unbiased I felt the need to share this clip with the Twitter world:

Max Verstappen LAPPING Hamilton!?!? Imagine telling someone during the 2021 season that Max would end up lapping Hamilton a few races into next season. Absolutely NO ONE would believe you.

It's madness and Hamilton has been struggling very badly this year. He's always used to the best car on the paddock and the 2022 Mercedes couldn't be further from that.

So, I'm not sure what the next move is for Mercedes, Toto Wolff and Hamilton but something has to change ASAP.

Dartanyon gives some great perspective here:

Russell is used to previously driving a Williams - virtually driving anything else this year would've been considered an upgrade. So even though this Mercedes is no where near as powerful as prior seasons, it's still an upgrade for George. The exact opposite is the case for Hamilton.

Lastly, Mick Schumacher (Haas) broke out a really bold strategy that I'd like to see used more in F1: