Ferrari declares war
Before the 2022 season of world F1 racing, experts said that the championship race still belongs to the two main finishers of Red Bull and Mercedes teams, Maxverstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Together they created a dramatic ending in the last moment of last season. However, with many changes to the rules, including the car's design, the opportunity will be expanded for other runners. reality has proven that.
In the first race of the season, a series of surprises occurred, right from the test race, classification to the main race. Accordingly, at the end of the qualifying round, Charles Leclerc of Ferrari was the person with the best result, whileverstappen came in second, while Hamilton only had the 5th starting position.
After the main race, both Ferrari - Leclerc and Carlos Sainz races have stepped onto the winning bid with the first 2 positions. Sainz is in third place in the relegation race. The Ferrari team has gone through more than 2 years without any first prize Takers (45 prizes). They had the first runner-up finish in the opening leg of the season in 2017 and 2018, but have not won the championship since 2008.
verstappen and Hamilton may recover in the following stages, but as predicted before the tournament, Ferrari - the oldest racing team in the F1 village, soon had its first statement to its competitors.
Red Bull's nightmare
After winning the 2021 championship,verstappen and his Red Bull team entered the new season with great determination. They were even more determined when the FIA admitted that defending last year's championship was a "personal mistake" by former director Michael Masi - who lost his place after the end of the season.
However, their dream soon turned into a nightmare in the first leg, when bothverstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez could not finish. Although the Dutchman also chased Leclerc fiercely, with some attacks, Red Bull made a serious mistake in the decision to put both cars in the pit in round 44.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner said it was a " brutal end" and that the two riders could not complete the race was the " nearest nightmare" for the team. Not only the wrong decision, Red Bull's car also had problems, asverstappen explained, the braking system was too hot from a very early age and then there was problems with the ability to balance and steer before the last thing that appeared was the problem with the fuel system. It was almost unplatable. Every time I turn right, it takes a moment for something to happen, said the 24-year-old.
The car could not withstand it and forcedverstappen to give up with only 3 rounds left. The same goes for Perez, even though he has reached the final round (57).
Red Bull and its two athletes have no points after the first leg.
Mercedes satisfied
Red Bull's dream opens up for Mercedes, with Hamilton and George Russell taking third and fourth place respectively. Russell started in 9th place and jumped to 6th place. They maintained 5th and 6th place for most of the race, before the incident that happened to Red Bull created conditions for Hamilton to "surprisingly" have a name on the winning podium.
Director Toto Wolf believes that this is a great result for his Mercedes team, as the two races have shown their class, even though their car needs some problems to be adjusted.
This weekend (25 to 27 March), the F1 race will continue with the second leg in Saudi Arabia, with a track named Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
