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🇪🇸 F1 2022 R6: A flaming hot 200mph chess match

Never ever let anyone tell you the Spanish GP is boring. The 2022 edition of the race had more intrigue than a Ruy Lopez defence. And yes, that is the first chess reference (chessference?) I’ve made on this blog. 

What made it such a compelling watch was the differing strategies that took place up and down the grid. Lewis Hamilton was the only driver to start the race on mediums, but that became something of a “What If” as an early incident with a charging Kevin Magnussen almost caused him to throw in the towel. 

But his team projected that he could push forward and finish at least eighth, eventually taking 10 points in 5th place, as Mercedes bounced back from all that bouncing that had plagued them in the first third of the season. Plagued is possibly an overstatement - while the team have extended that winless run in this era, they were still on 95 points and third in the Constructors’ coming into the race.

  
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The other ominous statement of intent from the reigning teams’ champions was George Russell no-selling literally every attack Red Bull threw at him. Russell defended brilliantly from Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, with the Dutch driver not being helped by a temperamental DRS system that was not playing ball down the main straight. 

It showed that Mercedes can hang with the leaders, and there might now be a definite three-team battle at the front. It’s not definitely over yet for them, as a late-race DNF risk meant that Hamilton had to lift and coast, allowing Carlos Sainz to nip past him at the end for fourth. F1 fans never got to see the Triple Threat match between Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes as Sainz went spinning early and Charles Leclerc blew out his engine while comfortably in the lead of the race.

Verstappen not having a DRS while chasing down Russell meant Red Bull had to do things a different way, eventually deciding that in the absence of hitting the rear wing with a shoe, they decided to beat Russell around the stops, putting the world champion on soft tyres, using his skill to get a 20+ second lead, and getting past a charitable Perez - one he never relinquished as Red Bull took their second 1-2 of the season. 

Those differing strategies made a race that’s not known for its excitement a tense, tactical battle that ended in a decisive Red Bull fork and checkmate, but lower down the order, there were also some intriguing battles. 

Take Yuki Tsunoda, for example, who gave Mick Schumacher the full Mortal Kombat FINISH HIM treatment as he took the final points-paying position, preventing the young German driver from once again breaking his duck in the elite level of the sport. 

One place above him was Fernando Alonso. Alpine had a quick race car, possibly sacrificing qualifying in the process. They were the third team, alongside Red Bull and Mercedes, to score a double points finish, with Esteban Ocon having a quiet race moving quietly up from 12th to 7th. But for the Spanish driver, who won here in 2013, he took his fourth engine in six races, forcing him to start from the back and making the most of a qualifying that saw him go out in Q1.

That extra engine in the pool gives him some options for later in the season, but is a worrying sign. There isn’t another team using the Renault power unit, so they don’t get as much data as other teams to optimise their engines. Ferrari will be able to look at Leclerc’s issue and see if there’s a correlation with Guanyu Zhou retiring in the Alfa Romeo. 

And speaking of Alfa Romeo, Valtteri Bottas again showed his class. I think I can confess this in paragraph 11 of a blog but I had secretly predicted that Zhou would out-point his more illustrious teammate. I think that prediction can happily be called rubbish as Bottas took sixth and disappointed that he wasn’t fourth. 

However, there might be the faintest of warning signs over Zhou. The Chinese driver took a point in Bahrain but hasn’t added to his score, putting more pressure on Bottas to represent the team - put it this way, even if Zhou had half the points Bottas had gained, it would be the difference between fifth and fourth in the Constructors’ Championships. 

Points by driver as a percentage of the team, after six 2022 races

Alfa Romeo are already in uncharted territory and this would get them even further forward. As it is, the Finn is competing with Lando Norris and Ocon as best of the rest, which is now classifed as 7th, down from 5th in the standings, now three teams are truly in the fight for a race win.

F1 moves on to Monaco and the traditional glamorous jewel in the crown of the sport with yachts the size of a small country pitching up in the Principality. Ferrari and Red Bull were the quickest in the tell-tale sector three chicane at the end of the Barcelona lap, so they may the teams to beat on a track which is supremely difficult to overtake on. 

With the cars being bigger than ever before, not winning from pole would be a massive shock as the first third of the season comes to an end.

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