IT'S A RED BULL 1-2 AT FERRARI'S HOME GROUND!
Max finishes and wins yet another race! Absolute dominance by the Dutch machine, who now also seems to be showing an interest in tennis after winning a grand slam himself!
But one cannot overlook the absolute rock of a drive by Mexico's wall, who made no mistakes and hacked into 'Le Ferrari masterplan,' making Leclerc spin off the track.
(The podium at Emilia Romagna GP 2022. VER-P1 PER-P2 NOR-P3)
(Max adds yet another Grand Slam to his collection)
(It's Red Bull's first 1-2 since 2016!)
Absolute horrorshow for Ferrari after the honey badger decides to give a cute little peck on the lips to the sexy Spaniard (insert image below) and throws him into the gravel.
(Sainz gets beached, while Ricciardo narrowly escapes the same)
Unfortunately, the Monegasque didn't have a great weekend either, with his watch and podium places being stolen. Charles was battling for a second-place spot, that would bring vital points for Ferrari after the Sainz's DNF early on in the race, but being too quick over a curb caused the prancing horse to spin off track into the barriers - making it a weekend to forget for the Tifosi.
It was a solid drive by Lando, who did not have much to do through the race but made no mistakes till the end and won a much-deserved podium after an overall great weekend. His counterpart, 'the honey badger,' did not have a weekend as great as him after colliding with Sainz in the first lap chaos, causing him to play catch up throughout the race.
(Lando secures consecutive podiums at Imola! P3-2021 and P3-2022)
As said in the Aussie GP blog, Valtteri was yet again as consistent as porridge and must've seen redemption in his eyes while battling Russell towards the end. Gladly, we didn't see a repeat of Imola 2021 with them.
(Bottas vs Russell. First Pic: 2022 Second Pic: 2021)
While Russell bagged a handsome 4th place finish, things were grim for Sir Lewis. Surprisingly, after a good practice session, the latter struggled with the car and its porpoising and finished a limp 13th place.
(Hamilton was stuck behind the Alpha Tauri of Gasly for pretty much the entire race)
One driver not being talked about enough is Yuki. Absolute beast of a performance by the little Japanese in the Alpha the whole weekend. He indeed promises to give a fight to Pierre Gasly this season. Unfortunately, Gasly did not have a great Sprint after bumping into Zhou early on on Saturday and finishing 12th in the race.
(Yuki drove beautifully to finish a wonderful P7!)
Alpine did not have a great weekend either after the 'eyebrow man' was forced to retire early in the race. Ocon finished in the race in an underwhelming P14.
(Ocon is released unsafely by the Alpine pit crew, which results in him serving a 5s penalty)
Sadly, Mick - who was on the back of a great Sprint Race - spun out of Turns 4-5 and dented 'Nando's Alpine. Magnussen did not have a great race either, losing positions to Russell, Bottas, Tsunoda, and Leclerc.
(Fernando's Alpine is left 'dented' by a spinning Mick Schumacher)
So, the Championship battle is nicely poised, with Ferrari leading both the WDC and the WCC. Carlos did say that the Scuderia will bring quite a few upgrades to Miami and that the car he drove in the sim is much quicker than what he went around Imola. So far, no other team has come close to the performance levels of the Ferraris and the Red Bulls. Will that change in Miami? Only time will tell.