Original title: F1 Spain Station – Verstappen wins the championship and leads the standings, and Zhou Guanyu retires
On May 22, Beijing time, the sixth stop of the 2022 F1 Spanish Grand Prix ended the race at the Circuit de Catalunya. The Red Bull Racing team not only won the top two, but also Verstappen won three consecutive victories, the fourth victory of the season, and the 24th championship of his F1 career; Perez won the second, Russell third Finished the race and got on the podium for the third time in his career; Hamilton was forced to make an early pit stop following a collision with Magnussen on the first lap and he wanted to retire from the race and finally won in fifth place.
Leclerc, who started from pole position and once held a clear advantage, retired in the lead position due to loss of power; Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu immediately left early for two consecutive races due to technical problems in the racing car. After this race, Verstappen overtook the top of the drivers standings with 110 points, and Leclerc retreated to second place with 6 points behind.
As usual, F1’s arrival at the Circuit de Catalunya marks the start of a new phase of the season, as teams make major upgrades here following completing the previous races. Teams such as Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and Alfa Romeo also did upgrades to varying degrees this weekend. Ricciardo ushered in his 216th F1 race this weekend, surpassing Mark Webber as the Australian driver with the most F1 races.
Leclerc started in the front row for the first six races of the season, four of which started from pole position; Verstappen started the race in the front row at the Circuit de Catalunya for the second year in a row, with Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu starting from the front row. Starting 15th, Alonso was fined to the back of the line for replacing his fourth power unit of the season.
On Sunday, the weather was still fine, with a temperature of 36 degrees Celsius, a track temperature of 49 degrees, and a humidity of 7%. There was no possibility of rain, but there was a gust of wind at Turn 4. In terms of tire selection, except for Hamilton’s medium tires, the rest are all soft tires, but Leclerc who started from pole position is a new set of soft tires, while the other top ten users who use soft tires have used 2-3 tires. lap of old tires.
After the start of the race, Leclerc kept the leading position. Hamilton started well, but when he entered the corner at turn 4, he was cut in by Magnussen and collided. As a result, Magnussen rushed out and might continue the race, but Hamilton had to suffer a puncture. The pitstop was replaced with soft tires, and the race steward noted that there was no need for further investigation. Alonso moved up 5 places, Mick Schumacher moved up 4 places to sixth place, Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu dropped two places and temporarily ranked 17th, Sainz also started poorly and was beaten by Russell and Peret. This is beyond.
After 5 laps, Hamilton TR told the team that it wanted to retire in order to save the engine. The team replied: We not only have hope of entering the points area, but also may get 8th. After that, Sainz and Verstappen were affected by the gust of wind at Turn 4 and rushed to the buffer zone one following another. Among them, Verstappen fell from the second position to the fourth place, and Sainz fell out of the points area. .
Afterwards, Russell briefly received an overheating warning from the car, which he confirmed following questioning the team. Subsequently, Verstappen and Russell launched a fierce offensive and defensive battle on the track, but Red Bull’s main car DRS was good and bad. On the 17th lap, only Leclerc, Perez and Vettel of the top ten drivers on the field had not yet pitted, and most of the other drivers had completed a stop and changed to medium tires.
On the 22nd lap, Leclerc made a pit stop and was still more than 5 seconds ahead of Russell following leaving the station. At the same time, Russell and Verstappen were in the process of fighting, Perez and the team said that their tire update might “play”. On the 27th lap, Leclerc suddenly lost momentum and retired when he had a clear lead in front, and Stroll and Gasly had a slight collision at Turn 1. On the 29th lap, Verstappen completed the second stop and was in fourth place following leaving the station. At this time, Russell was still leading, followed by Perez.
On the 30th lap, Zhou Guanyu took the car back to the pits and retired for the second consecutive race due to technical problems with the car. On the next lap, Perez overtook Russell at Turn 1 to take the lead. At the same time, Verstappen swiped the fastest lap and went back to the top three following easily passing Bottas. On the 34th lap, Alonso, who was playing at home, overtook Kakuda Yugi and rushed into the points area. On the 38th lap, Russell and Perez pitted in succession to complete the second stop. Verstappen made his third pit stop in the lead position on lap 45.
On lap 45, Hamilton was shown a black and white flag for violating track restrictions. On the 49th lap, Perez gave up the leading position to teammate Verstappen, but he had previously received a suggestion from the team to let the car, and said on the radio: This is not fair, but OK. On lap 54, Perez also completed three stops and changed to soft tires. At this point, the fastest lap belongs to Hamilton. On the 54th lap, Alonso had a problem with the replacement of the right front tire when he pitted for a tire change, and “Brother Head” happened to be in 10th place when he returned to the track.
In the end, Verstappen took the lead in crossing the line to win the Spanish Grand Prix, Perez was second and Russell was third. Hamilton slowed down to be safe at the last moment due to the car overheating. Sainz passed the fourth place in the final stage, and Hamilton finished fifth. The sixth to tenth places with corresponding points are: Bottas, O’Connell, Norris, Alonso and Kakuda Yugi. Leclerc and Zhou Guanyu became the only two drivers who left early. From May 27th to 29th, Beijing time, F1 will visit the Monte Carlo Circuit to start the seventh round of the season, the Monaco Grand Prix.
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