Red Bull Racing are Constructors Champions!
Max Verstappen brought home his record-breaking 13th race win of the season to seal the double for Red Bull Racing in 2022. Max won the race ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
The Biggest Talking Points
Carlos Sainz, who started the race from pole, was taken out by George Russell in the first corner. It was a massive shame for Carlos and George received a 5 second penalty. In my opinion, that seemed quite lenient given that contact ended Sainz’s race. On the first lap after the safety car restart, Fernando Alonso went airborne after making contact with his future teammate Lance Stroll. The crash ended Stroll’s race but somehow, Fernando was able to keep going even though he ended up receiving a post-race penalty (30s) due to his car being deemed unsafe. After a bad pitstop from the Red Bull crew, Max Verstappen found himself having to overtake Charles Leclerc before he went on the hunt for Lewis Hamilton. In the end, Max was able to beat Lewis with a lovely overtake.
The Standout drives in the race
I handed out three 10’s for yesterday’s race. The first one obviously went to the race winner Max Verstappen. Verstappen drove really well and showcased his brilliant race craft with his two overtakes that meant he won the race. The second guy I gave a 10 to is Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was excellent yesterday; he got the most out of his car and came so close to winning it. With 3 races to go, is his streak going to end? The final guy I’ve given a perfect race rating is Sebastian Vettel. Seb was amazing yesterday; at one point he was even leading the race. He was on for a comfortable 6th place but really unfortunately, his pitstop was pretty awful (16.1 seconds). This meant he dropped all the way down to P14, but he used his skill to climb all the way up to 7th place, including overtaking Kevin Magnussen on the last lap. He is ending his career in a really positive way right now. Shoutout to Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Kevin Magnussen who all had excellent races.
Drivers who had a horror race
I have given three drivers a rating of 1. The first person I gave a 1 to is Daniel Ricciardo. I genuinely don’t think we saw anything from Daniel Ricciardo’s race and that is due to the fact that he was incredibly slow. Being a Danny Ric fan is depressing. After getting a 10 in the last race, Nicholas Latifi is back to his traditional rating of 1. Latifi was nowhere in this race and he ended up finishing 23 seconds behind his teammate. And finally, Valtteri Bottas receives the lowest possible grade for the first time all year. Bottas started the race in P7 but after 16 laps, he spun and beached his car in the gravel. It’s now been 10 races since his last points.
Overall Race Result and my ratings
Max Verstappen: 10
Lewis Hamilton: 10
Charles Leclerc: 9
Sergio Perez: 8
George Russell: 7 (FL)
Lando Norris: 9
Sebastian Vettel: 10
Kevin Magnussen: 9
Yuki Tsunoda: 8
Esteban Ocon: 7
Zhou Guanyu: 6
Alex Albon: 7
Pierre Gasly: 4
Mick Schumacher: 3
Fernando Alonso: 7 (30s Penalty)
Daniel Ricciardo: 1
Nicholas Latifi: 1
Lance Stroll: 7 (DNF)
Valtteri Bottas: 1 (DNF)
Carlos Sainz: - (DNF)
The only way is up for Danny ric!!