Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna: Podium example

For the second year in a row, Imola will host the first European stage on the calendar, but it cannot be said that it will open the European part of the season, but it will allow you to take the necessary break between the stages in Australia and miami.

In 2021 the stage was the second and the race took place on March 18, now – already the fourth – and just a week later. The teams had to return to base after three away games, catch their breath and stock up on supplies before heading to Miami, where the US owners of Formula 1 will once again try to surprise the world.

The European leg of the season kicks off in Barcelona in a month, but with long breaks for Canada and Baku. The series of European races, which has been shortened this season, will start in July at Silverstone and finish in seven stages at another Italian circuit – at Monza.

Italy will host the first and last European race this year. Charles Leclerc will take first place as leader of the individual standings, and Ferrari – the leader of the constructors’ championship. I wonder what the joining of forces will be before the September stage in Monza?

Ahead of the first weekend of this season with a sprint on Saturday. In 2021 Formula 1 sporting director Ross Brawn fervently championed the idea of ​​making stages on relatively bland circuits more spectacular, but the format aroused no enthusiasm – the Grand Prix weekend lost its usual integrity.

Formula 1’s new owners have been saying from the start that the two-hour format of the Sunday race is not suitable for a young crowd, that it takes too long and nothing happens on track. That they need a short spectacular show that they can watch on their phone. Saturday’s sprint could fit everything into half an hour, adding intrigue and drawing attention to Sunday’s race, but the rules don’t always work as expected.

The sprint has become an unnecessary low between Friday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race. Only the first three got modest points, each accident knocked the driver out of the fray, as the cars were in a closed park from qualifying to the start. And nobody understood why a second training session was necessary on Saturday, if the settings could not be changed anyway.

The idea was crude, but Brown’s excuse was that “if we don’t try, we’ll never know.” The format did not work, but after the end of the season, Formula 1 announced that it would move five stages simultaneously with a sprint in 2022. Here the teams were outraged and demanded compensation for additional costs – with their withdrawal outside the framework of the adopted financial regulations.

As a result, in 2022 we will again see just three stages with a sprint – in Imola, Austria and Brazil. Common sense prevailed – now the driver who showed the best time in qualifying, and not in the sprint race, is now considered the owner of the pole position. The winner of the sprint gets 8 points and the one who finishes eighth gets one. We will see.

It is too early to judge the balance of power, but it is clear that Ferrari’s plan has worked. Scuderia spent two years developing a new car and a new power plant, sacrificing temporary results for the sake of future prospects. The technical staff, the simulator, the wind tunnel, the equipment on the base updated, the racers prepared.

Last fall, team leader Mattia Binotto said confidently: “In 2022 we will return to the battle for poles and victories. Ferrari cannot afford to start a new chapter in F1 history badly. We don’t claim to win the title right away, but we want to win as often as possible.”

In Maranello, they did not start by modifying the combustion engine, but developed a new one – for the new environmentally friendly E10 fuel, which reduced the engine power of other manufacturers. Ferrari improved the efficiency of the electrical part of the hybrid system – that was clear when it was tested at the end of last season – and took the lead.

On the contrary, Red Bull and Mercedes rested until the very end in the battle for the title last season, devoting resources to finalizing the cars – and, within existing constraints, partially sacrificing a promising project. We see the result on the track.

Red Bull has obvious reliability issues. Two retirements from the reigning champion in three races is an unacceptable loss. Already 46 points behind the leader of the individual classification. Of course the season is long this year, there is time to recuperate, but the frontrunner has not had such an advantage during the season for a long time. Another Red Bull retirement may just close the issue, despite the final race being a long way off.

The biggest difficulty for Red Bull is that the problems are always different. The reason for the withdrawal in Bahrain was different than in Melbourne, and the outages at AlphaTauri are different from Red Bull, although they are all directly or indirectly related to the power plant.

But if Red Bull is just one step behind Ferrari and battling for pole positions and wins, then Mercedes doesn’t have that chance at all. During free races, the team actively fights against the build-up of cars, the riders start with different stiffness and suspension height settings, with different versions of the bottom, but the vertical swings on the straights are so great that there are serious concerns for their health . In qualifying and races, the engineers were forced to increase the suspension height, which calmed the cars, but reduced aerodynamic efficiency – and speed.

In Melbourne, George Russell said that serious innovations will not appear in the near future, the solution of this problem will take time, in which Ferrari and Red Bull will continue. Maybe there will be a solution in Barcelona.

But enough about technology. Our heroes are racers. That’s how I saw Charles Leclerc in 2017, when he won the Formula 2 title. Seven wins, ten podiums. And that victory in Baku, four days after his father’s death, who devoted his life to his son’s career – with incredible confidence in his eyes and a desire to prove that his father was not mistaken. And a hand to the sky on the podium.

Now Charles is just as sure of himself. After getting a fast car, he tries to take every opportunity. Both wins this season gave the Monegask the maximum number of points: 26, including an extra point for the best lap.

Max Verstappen’s father also devoted himself to his son’s career, which turned out to be very successful. But in GP3 and Formula 2, Max failed to perform after dropping out of modest European Formula 3 directly under the tutelage of Helmut Marko.

In their youth they raced with Charles and even clashed, but then it was the usual youthful maximalism, and now the stakes are very high. And the pressure in Imola will also be very high. Ferrari in Italy only expects victory. And Red Bull would love to win at their rivals’ home circuit.

It will be interesting!