The Jeddah GP is decided in the final with the decisive attack by the world champion on Charles with 3 laps to go. The Spaniard on the podium in front of Perez and Russell. 10th Hamilton
Giusto Ferronato
March 27, 2022 (change March 27, 2022 | 21:28)
Max Verstappen has taken his revenge, but Ferrari and Charles Leclerc are stronger than ever. In Arabia applause for the Red Bull world champion, who managed to imitate the feat of his teammate Sergio Perez yesterday, tripping the wild Monegasque of the Cavallino. Perez did it in qualifying, Max in the race, that is when he matters most. And also in a spectacular way because the final duel with the redhead is one to remember. The confirmation that the direction taken by F1 is the right one, these GPs can also be decided with overtaking and duels in the final laps. Verstappen passed Charles with 3 laps to go and it would not have been over yet if there hadn’t been an accident between Albon and Stroll in the first sector: the double yellow flag thwarted Ferrari’s last and possible attack opportunity with the Drs wide open. A disqualification, but it is still right to applaud Verstappen, the victory of the world champion is deserved.
a ferrari that goes
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Leclerc consoles himself with second place, with the additional point of the fastest lap and a ranking that always sees him as the leader. But above all thinking about the vehicle he has in his hand, which proved to be very valid also on this track, which is different from Bahrain. There was a little lack of overall speed with the hard tire, but the F1-75 is there, as demonstrated by Carlos Sainz’s podium ahead of Sergio Perez’s other Red Bull. And so the anticipation is already growing to see the next race in Australia in two weeks. Nothing to do for Mercedes, for now not the match. George Russell finished fifth at 32 seconds, Lewis Hamilton only tenth, also preceded by Ocon (Alpine), Norris (McLaren), Gasly (AlphaTauri) and Magnussen (Haas).
the departure of the gp
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At the start very good Perez, who started like a flash from pole. The Mexican put the exhausts of his Red Bull in front of Leclerc who defended himself well from an attack attempt by Verstappen, in turn decided to keep his foot down against Sainz, who took away the third position. All smooth in the rear, with a nice overtaking by Norris at Gasly and clutch problems for Zhou. Tsunoda did not start and crashed on the track with his AlphaTauri, blocked by an engine problem. The duel at Alpine between Ocon and Alonso was spectacular, which saw the door closed in the face by the Frenchman on the fifth and sixth laps, before passing it on to the next lap. Ocon then overtook Fernando in eighth, but going long in turn 1, and so he returned the position to his teammate.
crucial pit stop
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Meanwhile in front of Perez in 10 laps he gained 2 “3 to Leclerc, who in turn gave 2 to Verstappen, with Sainz 7” behind the leader of the race. Russell with Mercedes broke off, taking 18 seconds from Perez in 11 laps. Hamilton, on the other hand, began a tiring climb from the rear. On lap 15, pit stop for Perez, unlucky because at 16th Latifi (always him) went to the wall and forced the race direction to call the first Safety Car, which proved to be perfect for Ferrari, who immediately recalled Leclerc, imitated by Verstappen: the two were thus able to take advantage of Perez’s obligatory slow pace on the track to snatch the lead from him. Ferrari in command, then! With Sainz following Leclerc to the pits, but he is back on track for nothing behind Perez. Var episode, evaluated by the race direction, because the Mexican should have let the Spaniard pass, judging by the horizontal lines in the Safety Car regime. In order not to risk penalties, Red Bull made Checo surrender his position at the restart of the race.
hamilton difficulty
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The Safety Car returned to the pits on lap 20 and the race resumed with Leclerc very good at evading Verstappen’s attack on the straight, forcing the Dutchman to the right side of the track before the last corner. The interruption of the race also helped Hamilton a bit, who moved up to seventh after a full-power duel with Magnussen’s Haas. Both, however, with Hulkenberg, were the only ones in this phase to be still without stops, having started with hard tires. Those who entered the pits, on the other hand, mounted the same hard compound, having started with the average.
the grand finale
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In the final, great emotions, starting with the technical problems of Alonso and Ricciardo, with the latter who parked a few meters from the entrance to the pit lane and called the Virtual Safety Car at 39th of 50 laps. Restart and attack of the Verstappen shark at the Cavallino, in a crescendo of adrenaline, in the cockpit and in the stands. At 42 ° Max’s overtaking before the last corner, well studied by Leclerc who thus activated the Drs and took himself to the head of curve 1 again. Verstappen understood this and in the following lap he only joined the penultimate corner nailing the car, so Leclerc slipped away again and kept his head on the straight. With 3 laps to go Verstappen managed to open the Drs on the straight, taking the lead. Yet it is precisely here that we saw a Ferrari that we like, because Leclerc did not lose heart and built the attack for the last lap. Only the bad luck of the yellow flags displayed prevented him from fighting for the victory as he deserved. The regret remains, it’s true. But for Ferrari there is still an amazing start.
order of arrival
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This is the arrival order of the Arabian GP:
1. Verstappen (Red Bull) 1h24’19 “293 (average 219.481 km / h)
2. Leclerc (Ferrari) at 0 “549
3. Sainz (Ferrari) at 8 “097
4. Perez (Red Bull) at 10 “800
5. Russell (Mercedes) at 32 “732
6. Ocon (Alpine) at 56 “017
7. Norris (McLaren) at 56 “124
8. Gasly (AlphaTauri) at 1’02 “946
9. Magnussen (Haas) at 1’04 “308
10. Hamilton (Mercedes) at 1’13 “948
11. Zhou (Alfa Romeo) at 1’22 “215
12. Hulkenberg (Aston Martin) 1’31 “742
13. Stroll (Aston Martin) at 1 lap
14. Albon (Williams) rit.
15. Bottas (Alfa Romeo) rit.
17. Ricciardo (Mclaren) rit.
18. Latifi (Williams) rit.
19. Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) np
world rankings
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This is the classification of the World Championship after two races:
1. Leclerc (Mon) points 45
March 27, 2022 (change March 27, 2022 | 21:28)
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