The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, a circuit that all of the drivers are intimately familiar with thanks to testing and visits in their junior careers, but that doesn’t mean that everyone had the easy weekend they were hoping for. Whilst some looked quite at home, drifting along comfortably, others failed to swim against the current.
Read to find out whether your favourite ended up among the top-class contenders or the struggle bus riders. Here are the report cards from round 6 of the 2022 F1 season:
Top of the Class:
📷 George Russell on Twitter
George Russell – Qualifying: 4th | Race: 3rd
If you had asked George about his predictions for when he’d finally get that coveted Mercedes seat, he would probably have answered that leading races and drinking champagne was going to become the norm. With the shabby start Mercedes had in 2022, it took him until round six to lead a Grand Prix.
He might not have ended up on the top step, but he did vigorously defend from Verstappen for a few laps. It had to be said that the Dutchman was dealing with a rather stubborn DRS issue, but still, the Red Bull looked to have more pace, so George needed to do some heavy defending to keep him behind. In the end, the Briton crossed the finish line in third, the best result for Mercedes thus far in the 2022 season.
Red Bull
Max Verstappen – Qualifying: 2nd | Race: 1st
In the first half of the race, it looked like the Dutchman would be finding himself on the struggle bus rather than in the top of the class. He was having quite some trouble with his DRS, which seemed quite fickle in deciding when it would open or not, before a gust of wind forced Verstappen to make an off-track excursion into the gravel at T4.
Thanks to a well-executed three-stop strategy and the retirement from main rival Charles Leclerc, Max managed to secure his third win in a row, meaning that he’s still maintained his record of standing on the top step each time he’s seen the chequered flag in 2022. Whilst the Dutchman will be pleased, it’s likely that the person (or people) responsible for the DRS system will be keen to avoid both Verstappen and Horner in the upcoming days.
Sergio Pérez – Qualifying: 5th | Race: 2nd
Whilst bringing the car home second, which was a stellar result, the Mexican wasn’t entirely chuffed with how his race unfolded. He remained courteous to both his teammate and his team whilst speaking about them in the interviews, but Sergio must have been quite miffed with the fact that not only did they refuse to move Verstappen out of the way when he was on fresher tyres, they later did ask him to move when Verstappen was faster – making it abundantly clear that the reigning World Champion is their number one priority.
So, Sergio is in for a tough conversation with his team. Still, he can take a trophy home to his newborn son Emilio, which is certainly worthy of being mentioned among the top-tier students of the 2022 class.
Then for the Honourable mention:
Valtteri Bottas is the first to be named among the honourable mentions. Had he been on a three-stop strategy rather than two, then I suspect that he would have been finishing even higher, but securing sixth certainly is something both Alfa Romeo and Bottas can be proud of.
Next up is Lando Norris. He didn’t feel his best, as he was suffering from tonsillitis and the scorching Spanish sun did nothing to help, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from his performance. He brought the car home in eight, which is a heroic effort.
Lewis Hamilton also deserves an honourable mention. He didn’t earn himself a place among the top-class contenders, simply because it was disappointing to hear how little faith Lewis had in his abilities to recover after a racing incident with Kevin Magnussen dropped him to the back of the pack. Still, the Seven-times World Champion deserves an honourable mention for pulling it off anyway, because in the end, he crossed the finish line fifth, which would have been fourth had he not been forced to coast on the last two laps with a water leak in the power unit.
The last honourable mention of the day is for Alpine, as both Ocon and Alonso finished in the top 10, meaning they managed their second double-points finish of the season. Fernando in particular deserves some extra praise, as he had a superb recovery drive from the back of the pack after electing to take new power unit components which resulted in penalties. This gave the fans at his home race the action they deserved.
The Struggle Bus
Ferrari
Carlos Sainz – Qualifying: 3rd | Race: 4th
Ferrari had quite a mare of a Sunday after such a strong Saturday, and Carlos’ race was the first to unravel. A bad start meant he lost out on two places, but the true damage was done when he was caught out by a gust of wind and ended up spinning in the gravel. It was a struggle to re-join the track, which meant he lost out on precious seconds and dropped out of the top 10. He eventually ended up recovering to finish fourth, which is his best-ever result in his home race – but with how strong the prancing horses were looking on Saturday, a podium finish should have been the minimum.
Charles Leclerc – Qualifying: 1st | Race: DNF
What truly landed Ferrari on the struggle bus, however, was the power unit issue which struck Charles whilst he was in full control of the race. It simultaneously ended his longest active finish streak and dropped him down to second in the championship standings.
We can only hope that this means his bad luck has run out for the foreseeable future, as Charles has quite the horrid run at his home race in Monaco.
Aston Martin
Sebastian Vettel – Qualifying: 16th | Race 11th
Lance Stroll – Qualifying: 18th | Race: 15th
Even before the action truly got underway on track, Aston Martin was already much-discussed. Red Bull has the suspicion that some of their ex-employees made use of some confidential information to build the updated version of the AMR22. These allegations led to the Aston Martin being referred to as the green Red Bull, but whilst they might look like the current constructors’ championship leaders, they certainly didn’t have the pace.
In Dutch we would say ‘ beter goed gejat dan slecht bedacht’, which roughly translates to “It is better to steal something good than to invent something bad” but Aston Martin hasn’t even managed to do that, meaning that it’s back to the drawing board. The real question is, how much budget did they waste on this attempt?
Haas
Mick Schumacher – Qualifying: 10th | Race: 14th
Kevin Magnussen – Qualifying: 8th | Race: 17th
It’s a shame to find Haas back in the struggle bus, as on Saturday I was convinced that they’d be among the top-class contenders. With Schumacher making it into Q3 for the first time in his career and Kevin managing to do so yet again, their Sunday looked promising.
For Kevin, the race unravelled quickly, as a collision with Lewis Hamilton meant that there was no way for Magnussen to claw his way back into the points. Schumacher had a good start of the race, as he ran as high as sixth before simply fading to the background as his car didn’t have the pace for him to be able to last and the team stuck with a suboptimal two-stop strategy. This means that the team had their second successive race without points.
Then for dishonourable mentions:
The first dishonourable mention of the day goes to Daniel Ricciardo. He started ahead of Lando Norris, but whilst Lando found his way into the points despite being ill, the Australian only went backwards. Ricciardo admitted that he didn’t know where his pace went, but we can only hope he finds it again before Monaco, as that usually is a track he does well at.
The second dishonourable mention goes to Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo. He’s truly having the worst of luck, as mechanical trouble plagued him for the second race in a row, which is unfortunate for the rookie as it is robbing him of much-needed track time.
The final one goes to the circuit organisers in Barcelona. Multiple fans reported a lack of water facilities and two-hour long queues for food and public transport when leaving the track, which was exacerbated by the unusually warm temperatures in May. It was welcoming to see the Spanish GP so greatly attended after dwindling support over a number of seasons, but the provisions were simply not acceptable.
If you found your favourite back at the bottom of the list, then don’t you worry! As we won’t have to wait long for the F1 circus to return. This time we’ll find them back in Monaco, which is the second home Grand Prix for many of the drivers. Whilst iconic and of true historical value, we just have to wait and see whether these bigger modern cars can truly give us an exciting race. Tune in at 2pm UK time to find out!
