September 13, 2022
The Italian Grand Prix is over and just like that, the triple header has come to an end. These three weeks went by so fast but at the same time, I feel like Spa was so long ago. This weekend was filled with penalties, retirements, the incredible support from the Tifosi, and appendicitis. Here is everything you need to know about the Italian Grand Prix:
FP1: September 9, 2022
Much to the roaring Tifosi’s delight, the Ferraris started the weekend off strong. Charles Leclerc was P1 while Carlos Sainz was P2. Just three-tenths down on Leclerc was George Russell’s Mercedes in P3. Max Verstappen was only P5 after he got stuck behind Lando Norris during the last sector of his flying lap and was forced to slow down.
Sergio Perez was all the way down in P14 due to a DRS issue.
AlphaTauri seem like they might have pace. Yuki Tsunoda went P8 with Pierre Gasly a couple of places behind in P13. While this isn’t phenomenal, it’s a pretty good improvement for the team.
Nyck de Vries ran his third FP1 session of the season, but this time it was in an Aston Martin. It looks like it might be a difficult weekend for the team since Lance Stroll was fifteenth and de Vries was P19.
Taking over Mick Schumacher’s car, Antonio Giovinazzi also ran an FP1 session for Haas. Giovinazzi put his car in P18 with the other Haas of Kevin Magnussen just one place ahead. The poor performance doesn’t come as a shock since Haas expects to be at the back of the grid this weekend.
FP2: September 9, 2022
Carlos Sainz went to the top of the time charts with Max Verstappen 0.143s off in P2. Verstappen would have taken P1 but he locked up into Turn 1 near the end of the session and ruined his soft-compound tires. Charles Leclerc was in P3 after nearly running into the back of Sebastian Vettel while braking late in the session.
Lando Norris is in P4! Maybe the Monza Magic is still in that McLaren.
Alex Albon went P10, giving us hope that he could put that Williams back in the points this weekend. However, a concerning matter is the fact that Latifi was more than a second behind Albon. Latifi’s performance has been really lacking lately.
Yuki Tsunoda is under investigation for failing to slow under yellow flags.
FP3: September 10, 2022
Unfortunately, Alex Albon’s chance of points has disappeared after Alex was diagnosed with appendicitis. This means that Nyck de Vries gets his F1 debut! He was already in Monza for his FP1 drive with Aston Martin, and now he gets to drive in FP3, Quali, and the Race for Williams. What was a horrible turn of events for Albon became a dream come true for de Vries. The Dutchman is a main contender for Latifi’s spot at Williams next year, so if he can outperform Latifi, de Vries will probably have proved himself as a worthy replacement.
Red Bull showed their dominance in the final practice session. Verstappen led the pack and had a three-tenths of a second lead on Leclerc in P2. Sergio Perez finally found his pace after finishing further back on the grid on Friday and went P3.
Mercedes’ pace seems to be dropping: George Russell got P7 and Lewis Hamilton got P10.
Mick Schumacher was P19 after spending most of the session in the garage with a clutch issue.
Qualifying: September 10, 2022
With nine drivers taking grid-penalties, Qualifying was not an accurate depiction of Sunday’s starting grid. Hamilton, Sainz, and Tsunoda will all start at the back of the grid; Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, and Schumacher have fifteen-place penalties; Perez has a ten-place penalty; and Esteban Ocon and Verstappen have five-place penalties. Since so many drivers have penalties, we should definitely see a lot of tows and unusual qualifying results.
Q1:
Sainz gave Leclerc a tow around the track for their final runs. The two Ferraris went to P1, but Verstappen beat that time without a tow and pushed the Ferraris to P2 and P3. This moment really shows us how strong the Red Bull really is. Verstappen, without a tow, went faster than Leclerc, who had the benefit of a tow.
Zhou Guanyu, Gasly, and Tsunoda all gave us shock performances and made it to sixth, seventh, and eight respectively.
Nyck de Vries also made it to Q2, but for him it was more exciting because this was his first ever F1 qualifying session.
Eliminated: Latifi (P16), Vettel (P17), Stroll (P18), Magnussen (P19), Schumacher (P20)
Latifi was out-qualified by his rookie teammate de Vries’ on his first Quali session. This isn’t a good look for Latifi, especially if he wants to retain his position at the team for 2023.
Vettel was really disappointed to be knocked out, but he had a problem in his cockpit that hindered him for most of the Q1. Vettel has yet to make it to Q2 this season.
Magnussen had some of his lap times deleted, leading him to finish P19.
Q2:
Tsunoda sat out of the session since he would be starting at the back of the grid anyway.
The Ferraris and Red Bulls were all at the top after just running one lap. Sainz was P1, Leclerc P2, Verstappen P3, and Perez P4.
Pierre Gasly and AlphaTauri made it to Q3!
Eliminated: Ocon (P11), Bottas (P12), de Vries (P13), Zhou (P14), Tsunoda (P15)
de Vries had a snap of oversteer that ruined his lap and put him in P13. However, he still managed to get Williams to Q2 with little preparation, so he should be proud of that performance.
Ocon, Bottas, and Tsunoda are set to take penalties and will drop further down the order.
Q3:
Leclerc gave Sainz a tow and it worked for Sainz to finish ahead of the other penalty-ridden cars with P3. The crowd then went crazy when Leclerc clocked a 1m 20.161s for pole position. Verstappen was P2 but will start around P7 due to his penalty.
Russell struggled with his tires and only managed to go P6.
Norris got to P7 and will definitely start further up the grid after penalties are applied. It looks like the Monza Magic could still be there!
Race: September 11, 2022
Russell, who got promoted to the P2 grid slot after everyone took their penalties, had the better start and almost overtook Leclerc into Turn 1. He ended up running wide through the escape road to avoid a collision and rejoined the track in second.
Verstappen’s start was also good, with him making up three places from P8. By Lap 5, Verstappen was overtaking Russell into the first chicane for P2. Leclerc had a 2.1s lead and Verstappen relaxed a little in an effort to recharge his batteries before attacking Leclerc’s position.
Magnussen and Bottas made contact into Turn 1 and Magnussen was given a five-second penalty for causing a collision.
Carlos Sainz, who started in P18, made it up to the points in P10 by Lap 6. A DRS train was quickly forming from Ricciardo in P4 to Sainz in P10, and it seemed like it would be quite difficult to clear many of these cars. Sainz, however, managed to get up to P5 by Lap 12 when he overtook Gasly.
While Sainz was on a rampage, Perez was taking his first pit stop on Lap 8. We saw smoke coming out of his right-front tire, and then a couple of brief flames came out of the brakes. Perez was forced to rely on the rear brakes to cool his front brakes and he dropped down the order.
A Virtual Safety Car was deployed when Vettel pulled over near the Ascari corner due to a loss of power. Unfortunately, Vettel had a DNF on his last run at the track where he got his first F1 win. Since there was a VSC, Leclerc took the cheap pit stop and switched his soft tires for mediums. With Leclerc’s luck, the VSC ended while he was in the pit lane and he came out in third with Russell and Verstappen ahead. Verstappen started extending his lead and he was soon seven seconds ahead of Russell.
On Lap 19, Gasly opened the pit window when he stopped for hard-compound tires and in the following laps, the rest of the DRS train pitted. Sainz was quickly losing pace in his worn medium tires and wanted to pit, but Perez was making up positions with his brake issue resolved and it was dangerous for Sainz to pit at the moment. Verstappen pitted on Lap 26 and still came out ahead of Leclerc, who was now in P2 after Russell pitted a few laps earlier. Sainz finally pitted for softs on Lap 31 and came out in P8, behind Perez.
Alonso was forced to retire his car in the pit lane after a power unit issue hit his Alpine.
Hamilton was on the hunt for points after a Lap 35 pit stop put him out in P12. He quickly overtook Zhou, de Vries, Norris, Ricciardo, and Gasly for P6 by Lap 38.
Lance Stroll made it a double retirement for Aston Martin on Lap 41. His streak of finishing every race of the season has sadly come to an end.
Verstappen was now about 17s ahead of Leclerc and had ten laps left of the race. It looked like he would be getting another victory of the season as he started lapping cars, however Verstappen’s former teammate Daniel Ricciardo quickly put these possibilities in danger. He stopped on the side of the road on Lap 47 with a loss of power, bringing out a Safety Car and giving most drivers a free pitstop. While the SC was called around Lap 48, the drivers were only able to line up behind it on Lap 51 and since no one was in the correct order and there were only two laps left, the FIA ruled that the race should end behind the safety car. This gave Verstappen the win with a small margin over a very angry Charles Leclerc and a happy George Russell.
Nyck de Vries got Driver of the Day after he took points on his F1 debut! He also finished six places ahead of Latifi, so it is very likely that he will be getting that seat at Williams.
 |
2022 Italian Grand Prix Podium |
Honorable Mentions:
This is the end of our triple header, and Max Verstappen managed to win all of them. With his three wins in a row, Verstappen is in a position where he can mathematically win the championship in the next race!
Alex Albon is doing much better since his appendicitis diagnosis and is on the mend. He will hopefully be recovered by the next race in Singapore. Let’s all wish him a speedy recovery.
Honestly, I’m not super mad that Ferrari didn’t get their win at Monza. While it would have been nice, I think Red Bull is currently in a league of its own and I’m just proud of Ferrari for not making major mistakes! We can’t really blame this loss on the team, it was the FIA not restarting the race. If the race hadn’t ended on a Safety Car, it was entirely possible for Leclerc to overtake Verstappen on the restart and win the race. I’m also very excited for Nyck de Vries. I think the F1 world has now realized how talented he is and this is definitely just the beginning of his career in Formula One. Hopefully we’ll see him on the grid in 2023!
I'm going to take a much needed break after these three weeks and will be back for the Singapore Grand Prix at the end of the month!
- Divya
Where I got these
from:
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1120/italy/practice-1.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1120/italy/practice-2.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1120/italy/practice-3.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1120/italy/race-result.html