Original title: F1 Italian Grand Prix – Safety Car Leads Zhou Guanyu to Score Verstappen’s 5th Consecutive Championship
On September 11, Beijing time, the 16th Italian Grand Prix of the 2022 F1 season ended the race at the Monza circuit. The race ended under the guidance of the safety car. Red Bull driver Verstappen, who started seventh, took the lead in crossing the line. He won at Monza for the first time in his F1 career and ushered in a 5-game winning streak for the first time; Leclerc, who started at home and started from pole position, won the first Second, Mercedes driver Russell finished third, and Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu ranked 10th. After Bahrain and Canada, he has scored points for the third time this season, and currently has 6 points in hand.
This year is the 72nd time that Monza has hosted the F1 Grand Prix, and it is the track that has hosted the most times. Monza is home to Pirelli, Ferrari and AlphaTauri, and a paradise of speed. Teams race here often with low downforce kits to minimise drag and thus maximise top speed on the straights, which puts more emphasis on mechanical rather than aerodynamic grip. In addition, having good traction is the key to a good performance in a car.
This weekend attracted a total of 337,000 live spectators, including Raikkonen, Stallone and other celebrities also appeared in the paddock. Today is still fine weather, the temperature is 27.6 degrees Celsius, the track temperature is 44.2 degrees, and the humidity is 33%. The probability of rain during the race is 0. Since many drivers replaced the excess power units, nine drivers including Verstappen and Hamilton needed to be fined and refunded.
Leclerc and Russell occupy the front row, Verstappen starts from 7th, and Zhou Guanyu starts from 9th. In terms of tire selection, except for Leclerc, Russell, Verstappen, De Vries and Ocon who started with soft tires, the rest of the drivers started with medium tires. At the beginning of the race, although Leclerc felt the impact of Russell, he maintained the leading position, and at least four drivers including Russell “cut corners” at Turn 1.
Norris got off to a slow start, dropping straight from third to sixth. Verstappen continued to refresh the fastest lap, and in just 5 laps, he rushed to the second place. On the 8th lap, Perez pitted for medium tires to change to hard tires, but white smoke had been coming from the right front tire from the pit lane, and even flames appeared on the track. On the 10th lap, Sainz, who started 18th, has moved up to 7th place following overtaking Alonso. In the next lap, he surpassed Norris and rose to 6th.
On the 12th lap, Vettel parked the car on the side because the engine had no power. The race was first illuminated with a yellow flag, and then a virtual safety car was launched. Leclerc took this opportunity to pit from the leading position, took 2.2 seconds, put on medium tires, and exited the station behind Verstappen and Russell, with teammate Sainz behind him. Magnussen, ranked 17th, was given a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and making a profit.
At this time, a radio from Ferrari attracted attention, and the team told Leclerc: Don’t change gears so fast when exiting the corner; Leclerc responded: I can’t do it, please make sure the engine is working properly. On lap 24, Russell stopped to change to hard tires, but the 3.6-second stop was a bit stretched. On the 26th lap, Verstappen pitted and put on medium tires. After leaving the station, he was 9.7 seconds behind Leclerc. At this time, both of them were medium tires, but Verstappen’s tires were updated. Earlier, Ferrari and Leclerc communicated to use Plan C. According to estimates, Verstappen will be close to Leclerc around 40 laps.
On the 31st lap, Sainz pitted from third place, changed to soft tires in 2.3 seconds, and temporarily ranked eighth following his appearance. On the 32nd lap, Alonso ushered in his third retirement of the season due to technical problems. The last time was also in Italy – the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in late April. On the 33rd lap, Leclerc made a second stop and changed to soft tires. After his appearance, he ranked second, regarding 19.5 seconds behind Verstappen, which means that he needs to chase Verstappen for regarding 1 second every lap to win. Norris made a pit stop and suffered a wrong installation of the right front tire, which took 5.1 seconds.
On the track, Mick Schumacher and Latifi chased each other on the track, and eventually Mick rushed to the front and quickly passed Bottas to 14th. On lap 43, Perez made a second stop to change to soft tires. After the appearance in the seventh. Zhou Guanyu, ranked 11th, is chasing De Vries in front. On the 47th lap, Ricciardo parked the car on the side of the road in the 6/7 turn area due to engine failure, and the safety car came out. As a result, Zhou Guanyu’s ranking was improved by one place, and he rose to the 10th place in the points area.
The top-ranked drivers took the opportunity to pit for soft tyres, but Verstappen was brand new and Leclerc had three laps old soft tyres. Since Ricciardo’s car was difficult to move out of position, the race ended with a safety car. Verstappen won the 11th win of the season and the 31st championship in his career, with 335 points currently; Leclerc won second, and the gap with Verstappen widened to 116 points; Searle finished third.
The fourth to tenth places are: Sainz, Hamilton, Perez, Norris, Gasly, De Vries and Zhou Guanyu. In addition, Perez also took an extra point reward for the fastest lap. From September 30th to October 2nd, the F1 Grand Prix will start the competition for the 17th Singapore Grand Prix of the season at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. (Tauranga)Return to Sohu, see more
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