F1 Today – 24/05/2022
Hamilton revitalises his season with Barcelona comeback
Lewis Hamilton believes he has revitalised his season with an “amazing” comeback drive at the Spanish Grand Prix he says felt “better than a win”, and is adamant he could have fought Max Verstappen without his issues.
After five races in ‘no man’s land’ where Mercedes struggled to understand the car and unlock pace, the seven-time constructor’s champions bounce back with the most competitive weekends of the season. while not close to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc or Red Bull’s Verstappen in qualifying, had an encouraging race with George Russell third and Hamilton fifth.
While Hamilton finished fifth that followed a race where he considered retiring following an opening-lap collision and puncher, which dropped him to the back of the grid. On his way back through the field, the seven-time champion was on of the fastest drivers as he came back into contention.
Hamilton has been adamant in recent weeks that he is out of the title picture, and he is sixty-four points behind Verstappen, but it appears Barcelona has resurrected his hopes of battling at the front again. With Mercedes finishing every race this season, it is looking as if the reliability issues continue for Red Bull and Ferrari, there could be a slim chance for Mercedes.
Following the race Hamilton said he now “definitely” believes he will win a race this season, commenting: “We’ve made a lot of improvements with the car. The race pace is much, much better… the car is much nicer in the race. This is a great sign we’re going in the right direction.”
“Without [my start], I would have been fighting the Red Bulls. That gives me great hope that at some stage we’ll be fighting for the win.” Mercedes are three race wins behind Red Bull in the constructors.
Hamilton came though his come back from nineteenth and thirty seconds behind, following the collision with Kevin Magnussen. He suggested the team even suggesting retiring the car to save milage. Hamilton struggled in Jeddah to come through the field to finish in the points.
The Mercedes driver could have been fourth if the team didn’t tell him to easy up because of reliability concerns, but he insisted it was like a win.
Hamilton also opened up on his recent struggles, having gone through an extremely unlucky spell since the controversial end to last season, with his 2022 hampered by unfortunately timed Safety Cars as well as his underperforming car/
He added “Hamilton also opened up on his recent struggles, having gone through an extremely unlucky spell since the controversial end to last season, with his 2022 hampered by unfortunately timed Safety Cars as well as his underperforming car
Leclerc feels better retiring than losing points
Charles Leclerc says retiring from the Spanish Grand Prix has somehow left him feeling better than when he lost fewer points to Max Verstappen in Imola and Miami. The Monacan had been dominating the race until lap twenty-six, when he suffered an engine failure causing his first retirement of the season.
The setback not only cost him the race win, but it also made him cede the championship lead to title rival Verstappen, who took a twenty five-point haul for his fourth win of the season. Despite the massive swing in points, Leclerc said he still left Barcelona with a better feeling than after the previous two races in Imola and Miami.
At Imola when chasing Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez Leclerc crashed dropping from second to sixth and losing the podium. In Miami Leclerc lost the lead in the race to Verstappen, however, ran the Dutchman close until his second-place finish.
While Barcelona has proven a much more costly weekend, Leclerc says Ferrari’s improved form and better tyre management on Sunday have left him feeling more optimistic about the bigger picture surrounding the 2022 title fight.
The Ferrari driver told Motorsport.com, “Let’s say that I feel better after this weekend than I felt after the last two weekends. Of course, there’s this issue that we’ve had on the car and I’m very disappointed but on the other hand I think there’s plenty of positive signs other than that.”
“Throughout the whole weekend our qualifying pace, the new package works as expected, which is not always a given, and everything was working well. And our race pace and tyre management, tyre management after the last few races, we’ve been struggling quite a bit compared to Red Bull. And today it was strong.”
Leclerc said there were plenty of positives to come out of the race. His attitude to his retirement while voicing disappointment, was humble and measured consoling his mechanics in the garage, saying “there’s no reason to be angry” at anyone.
He added “I’m pretty sure that everyone is already working flat out to understand all of it and to fix it as quickly as possible. Everyone is as disappointed as me today with what’s happened and there was just no reason for me to be angry at anybody going out the car.
Leclerc now trails Verstappen by six points going into this week’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Gasly says he was a sitting duck in Barcelona
Pierre Gasly says he was a “sitting duck” for all of the Spanish Grand Prix following damaging his floor in an incident with Esteban Ocon on the opening lap. Gasly had a brush with the right rear wheel of fellow Frenchman Esteban Ocon shortly after the start which affected the balance of his Alpha Tauri and made it hard for him to defend.
Later in the race when Lance Stroll tried to pass Gasly around the outside of the first corner, they made contact with the Alpha Tauri tipping the Aston Martin into a spin, earning him a penalty, which cost him twelfth place to Daniel Ricciardo. Asked by Motorsport.com, about the decision of the stewards, he said, “Honestly, I take the blame. They thought that this was a five-second penalty, so it’s a five-second penalty, and I need to respect their decision as well.”
“I had damage from the first corner onwards, and then after I was just like a sitting duck for the whole race, I tried everything I could from inside the car, tried to race as hard as I could and defend every position. It was hard racing, there was small contact, but I take the responsibility of this deserved five-second penalty.”
Regarding the initial clash with Ocon, he said: “I had small contact, I think we were three-wide coming into Turn 1, and then we damaged the floor. From there it was just sliding a lot, losing load and you lose load you overheat the tyres in high speed, it affects all the rest of the of the lap, and just no pace.”
Gasly’s weekend had already been compromised by missing FP3 because of a broken exhaust and a fire. He said it was frustrating as they are having things come up against them, meaning they couldn’t get a whole weekend together.
Adding “But we’re not the kind of people to give up and we’ll just work with the team and come back at it next weekend and with the best energy and ambitions to do well.”
Norris hopefully recovers from tonsillitis for Monaco
McLaren CEO Zak Brown said that Lando Norris should ‘hopefully’ have recovered from his tonsillitis in time for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. The Englishman described Sunday’s race in Barcelona as “one of the hardest races ever” after battling through illness to deliver a gritty drive to eighth in his McLaren.
Following the race, Norris was withdrawn from media duties and instead went straight to the motorhome to be looked over by the team doctor. Brown gave an update on his condition to Sky Sports on Monday, saying the team remains hopeful that he will be recovered in time for this weekend’s race in Monaco.
Brown says it was a great drive, adding “He is a tough guy and he drove great. He has tonsillitis and is in bed now so hopefully, he will be okay for the weekend in Monaco. It was a pretty exciting race at the front, unfortunately, we weren’t at the front but he did great.
“I think he should be fine. It is Monday, he still doesn’t feel great today but he has got four days to recover so I would like to think so. Sitting here now, he still doesn’t feel good.”
In a statement, Norris said, “I was feeling really unwell before the race as I’m suffering with tonsillitis, and that, in combination with the high temperatures, made this one of the hardest races I’ve ever done.”
He said his weekend was compromised as he missed the pre-race anthems while being attended to and he was looked over again after the race. Although his Covid tests were all negative, Norris’s focus will be on recovering ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Team principal Andreas Seidl added “Obviously he was not feeling well all weekend. When your energy levels are low with tonsillitis, which he was suffering from, it was a very challenging race and afternoon – especially in these hot temperatures as well.
“So, he was pretty flat towards the end of the race and after the race, but thanks to the great medical support here and also within the team that he has around him.”
Speaking about Norris’s race, Brown admitted that he currently has the edge over his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who hasn’t yet got to grips with his car. Ricciardo is yet to find form in the 2022 Formula One season and the McLaren CEO believes that goes to show just how much of a world-class talent Norris is.
Brown added, “Daniel is just not comfortable yet with the car. We are trying everything we can, again it was a disappointing weekend. Short of Monza and a few races, it has not met his or our expectations of what we were expecting.”
Haas frustrated as they look for “sunshine on a Sunday”
Haas team principal Gunther Steiner says his team needs some “sunshine on a Sunday” after another frustrating weekend without points in Spanish Grand Prix. Kevin Magnussen started eighth and then tangled on the opening lap with Lewis Hamilton.
The Dane lost of a lot of time returning to the pits, and having been put on what was in effect a one-stop strategy, as the only driver to use the hard tyre, he struggled to make any progress on his way to seventeenth. While Mick Schumacher looked on course for his first points, before losing out on strategy to three stoppers meaning he finished fourteenth.
The Barcelona disappointment came in the aftermath of a disastrous race day for Haas in Miami, where both drivers were involved in incidents in the closing laps. Following Magnussen’s promising fifth in the Bahrain season opener, the team has earned just two ninth places in the past five races.
Steiner told Motorsport.com, “It gets to you a little bit because they’re lost opportunities. The car seems to be on a good pace, because we qualified eighth and 10th, so we need to get points at some stage.”
“So missed opportunities, a little bit unlucky in some places with the safety car, and obviously then it gets into frustration. It’s not all bad for us, it’s just like we need to have a little bit of sunshine on a Sunday.”
Steiner admitted that the team had made Magnussen’s life harder by stretching out his stints, expressing frustration at Hamilton’s mistake.
Steiner conceded that the team realised it had got Schumacher’s strategy wrong, and that he could have made a third stop, like most rivals. “It was too late. I mean, I think even with a three-stop it would have been difficult to get into points, but for sure there would have been more chances,” he added
Albon not “slow enough” to avoid tyre degradation
Alex Albon “couldn’t drive slow enough” to avoid high tyre degradation on his Williams at the Spanish Grand Prix that emerged even on his pre-race laps to the grid. The British-Thai driver went into the weekend hoping to continue his recent good form which has seen him score three points in the last two races.
However, after being knocked out in Q1 on Saturday, Albon endured a tough race on Sundays making four stops and finishing behind teammate Nicolas Latifi. He was hindered by high track temperatures which reach over fifty degrees for the race, which he described as “really strange” and revealed he was struggling with tyre degradation on the way to the grid.
Albon explained to Motorsport.com, “There was just incredible degradation, I think I was 20 kph slower than everyone else in Turn 3 and Turn 9, and just struggling out there. We’re not normally that bad. I think there was something [on the car], I think we need to check because I don’t think it was normal. We’ll have a look.”
Asked if it was hard to keep the tyres in the right window to be able to properly push the car, Albon said he “couldn’t drive slow enough” to stop the tyres from going off. Explaining he was driving two and a half to three seconds slower than he would normally, losing seconds from the very start.
Albon said tyre management had not been a particularly weak point for Williams so far this year, nor had to perform in the heat, as proven by his run to ninth in Miami earlier this month.