Africa-Press – South-Africa. It was a day of joy and tribulation at the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix as both Red Bull Racing, and Ferrari had something to write home about. The Austrian team scored maximum points after Max Verstappen led a dominant 1-2 finish, while for Ferrari… well, the Italian team came away with zero points.
Here are three key takeaways from the race around the streets of Baku.
Verstappen on course for 2022 championship
Max Verstappen didn’t have the easiest of weekends in Baku. From the first practice session to qualifying, he trailed Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and struggled to make the most of his car’s performance potential. However, in the race, Verstappen extracted every ounce of performance from his RB18 to 1) pass Perez for the race’s lead before 2) holding on for the win.
At one point, Verstappen’s pace was so strong that the team asked him to decrease it. Though he obliged, he still increased his lead over Perez to eventually win by more than 20 seconds.
“Today, we had incredible pace in the car,” an elated Verstappen said after the race. “Overall, really happy with how the balance of the car was. To have the 1-2 as a team – a really good day for us.”
Verstappen has won five of the season’s eight races so far and looks to be in prime position to win the 2022 F1 Drivers’ championship. He is driving with more composure than ever before and is more calculated in his risks and passing manoeuvres.
Reliability sending Ferrari’s season up in smoke
“It hurts. We really need to look into that for it not to happen again. I can’t really find the right words to describe [it]. It’s very disappointing.”
These were the words of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc after he retired from the race with what looked to be a power unit-related issue. Leclerc’s issue wasn’t the only one robbing Ferrari of some joy. Laps earlier, teammate Carlos Sainz Jr retired with a hydraulics issue. Later, Kevin Magnussen’s Haas also suffered an engine-related issue, as did Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo.
Leclerc’s exit was the most spectacular of the four, but it would not have given team boss Mattia Binotto any comforting thoughts.
Leclerc and Ferrari lost championship ground to Verstappen and Red Bull. Any fightback attempt would require a monumental effort if they’re to have any say in this year’s title outcome.
The physical toll
The Mercedes-AMG team is struggling to make the most of a challenging season, and it always seems to go from bad to worse for the German outfit. But in Baku, however, there was hope as both drivers managed to finish inside the top 5, with George Russell coming home in third place and Lewis Hamilton in fourth. Still, the car’s biggest challenge this year was especially evident in Baku.
Russell has managed to extract every ounce of performance from his car in 2022 thus far, leaving Hamilton, his highly-rated teammate, scrambling for position in a car that seems to enjoy porpoising (bouncing) a bit too much. The porpoising was so bad in Baku that Hamilton complained about back pain during the race, to which team boss Toto Wolff responded at the end of it: “This is a bit of a **** box to drive. And sorry for the back problems.”
Every F1 team is suffering from porpoising this year, some more than others, but Mercedes-AMG has been especially hit hard by the issue. Baku’s 2.2km main straight exasperated the issue, leaving Hamilton bothered throughout the race.
Yet, despite the troubles, the team still managed to be best-of-the-rest with its strong result. The Mercedes star said after the race: “I was just holding and biting down on my teeth due to the pain, and the adrenaline [helped]. I cannot express the pain that you experience, particularly on the straight here.
“At the end [of the straight], you are just praying for it to end. But we were in such a good position still, third and fourth, a great result for the team. The team did a great job with the strategy.”
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