By Joe Murphy
An unpredictable weekend in terms of weather offered a rather stop start feel to race and qualifying sessions alike. We saw multiple red flags and a safety car, mainly down to the fact that the track was visibly wet in places. The dry line offered a race that occurred primarily on dry tyres and, in truth, we have seen better races so far this season. DRS took too long to introduce and, by the time it was, a lot of overtaking opportunities had been lost. That being said, this Grand Prix wasn’t without incident, so let’s ponder who came out of San Marino a winner, and who will want to forget this weekend ever happened.
Winner – Red Bull
What a weekend for the team! A first perfect result for the team in over five years, the points accumulated from Imola moved them into P2 in the Constructor’s Standings and also closed the gap to Ferrari in first. Max Verstappen had the perfect weekend, taking maximum points on offer with a pole, sprint race win, fastest lap and Grand Prix win putting his reliability issues seemingly behind him. As predicted, the Dutchman bounced back and is now truly in title contention. Across the garage, Sergio Perez performed as impressively. He illustrated his experience throughout the weekend and demonstrated his true value to the team. As aforementioned, his role will be crucial in Red Bull’s efforts to mount a challenge on Ferrari. If he keeps turning out performances like we saw here, they have an excellent chance.
Loser – Ferrari
The story couldn’t be much different over at Ferrari. Things looked promising following Charles Leclerc’s pass on Max Verstappen ahead of the first corner of the sprint. Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there. Charles had settled into P3 and a podium was practically and inevitability. In chasing down Mexican Perez, he made a mistake and was lucky to continue. He came back to claim sixth, but this was a costly weekend which saw his lead in the standings take a bit of a battering. Moreover, an excellent comeback drive from Carlos Sainz on Saturday, following a crash setback on Friday in Q2, was in vain as his Sunday race ended before the second corner. Daniel Ricciardo tangled with the Spaniard and sent the former to the back of the grid, whilst Sainz capped off another terrible weekend. They may still lead both standings, but the Scuderia cannot afford many more weekend links this one, if they are to be successful.
Winner – George Russell
With a lot of attention on Lewis Hamilton (and we’ll get to him), George Russell’s efforts across the weekend almost went unnoticed. He got a poor Mercedes car comfortably into the points, yet again. An outstanding P4 finish not only showed his talents yet again but also illustrated how much he can get out of this car, especially when you compare to his veteran teammate. When Mercedes get a half decent car again, George will surely be right up there alongside Charles and Max.
Loser – Lewis Hamilton
Yes, one of the worst weekends of his career, it has to be said. Hamilton endured a nightmare weekend from start to finish, ending up in thirteenth. He couldn’t find the pace or gaps to overtake Pierre Gasly and his misery was compounded when Max Verstappen lapped the Brit. This does show how far Mercedes are off the pace but also tells us that Lewis isn’t working with this car, at all. Toto Wolff admitted the car was “undriveable” over team radio as Hamilton crossed the line, so let’s hope they can rectify this over the coming races.
Winner – Valtteri Bottas
A performance that deserves it’s own entry. Valtteri Bottas has had an incredible start to the 2022 season and, had it not been for a poor pit stop, could have been close to a podium. For a man in a new car, with a new team, and that team being Alfa Romeo, this is borderline miraculous. It’s great to see from a neutral’s perspective that this car is competitive again. Nothing against Zhou but it’s a slight shame that Kimi Raikkonen never got a chance in this specific Alfa Romeo. If Valtteri can keep up these strong performances, then a podium isn’t out of the realms of possibility. With Miami next up, all eyes turn to a fortnight’s time and if the Finn can replicate this result.
Loser – Alpine
A car that promised so much, delivered so little around Imola. Alonso, yet again at no fault of his own, had to retire due to damage caused by Mick Schumacher. Whilst Estaban Ocon officially finished 14th after a five second penalty had been added, following an unsafe release by his team. The pair never really found their rhythm around this track, perhaps the weather didn’t help. A strong performance is needed in Miami, in order to keep the likes of McLaren and Alfa Romeo, behind.
Winner – Lando Norris
Speaking of McLaren, back to back podiums at Imola for Lando Norris. When you consider the worrying result the team suffered in Bahrain, this 3rd place finish is remarkable. Lando took the opportunity and capatalised on the misfortune of both Ferrari’s to stand on the steps alongside the Red Bull pair. From the pace the orange team demonstrated at Imola, there is no reason why they cannot challenge Alpine or Mercedes to P3, come the end of the campaign.
Loser – Mick Schumacher
In a weekend that saw Mick Schumacher’s best ever starting position for a race, it is hard to label him as a ‘loser’. However, the German made a couple of mistakes over the course of the weekend to finish in 17th, only ahead of the unlucky Daniel Ricciardo. The reason why this is especially important, is when you compare Mick’s performances to that of his teammate, who yet again scored points despite having a year out of the sport last year. With all the attention on Kevin Magnussen, the younger driver is in danger of becoming the second driver at the team. With contacts set to expire at the end of this season and drivers like Nico Hulkenberg, Antonio Giovinazzi and others available, he’s also at risk of losing his seat for next year. He needs to score some points soon and get more pace out of that ever improving Haas car.
Winner – Yuki Tsunoda
The young Japanese driver deserves his own entry. A man under pressure to perform did exactly that and, arguably, had his best race in F1 to date, this weekend. Imola served as a demonstration of his abilities as he got his Alpha Tauri into P6, and a comfortable P6 at that. Whilst Kevin Magnussen, Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll had good races and Williams ran relatively well through a consistent-looking Alex Albon in particular, Yuki’s performance shone above, fairing considerably better than his teammate Gasly. Alpha Tauri are less competitive this season that most expected, so these points are worth their weight in gold.
Don’t forget to leave your email below to stay subscribed to wheel2wheelreports.com
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 