Leclerc wins first Ferrari one and two since 2019; Verstappen ending | Formula 1

It is only the third victory in a Ferrari pilot’s career. Leclerc also scored the best lap, scoring 26 points, to open the season by leading the championship for the first time in his career, followed by his colleague Carlos Sainz. Hamilton is in third place.

Also noteworthy is the superb race of Zhou Guanyu, who made his F1 debut and scored the first point of his career, for Kevin Magnussen in fifth and for the impressive performance of Ferrari’s engines, placing three teams (Scuderia, Haas and Alfa Romeo) among the top four in the Championship. manufacturers.

Formula 1 racing resumes next weekend. On Sunday, 27, the cars will arrive at the Grand Prix circuit of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in Jeddah, at 2 pm. Practice begins on Friday 25th.

• Remember Hamilton’s records in 2021
• Check out the F1 2022 calendar

Leclerc: “I’m very happy. I still criticize myself. The last two years have been very difficult for the team. We knew it would be a good prospect for us. We started in the best possible way. First place, victory, fastest lap and double.”

Sainz: “First of all, congratulations to Charles and Ferrari. We’re back. The second person was where we wanted to be. It’s been a tough weekend for me, I’m not going to lie. Now I have some homework.”

Hamilton: “First of all, congratulations to Ferrari. I am very happy to see them do well again. It was a very difficult weekend, we had a lot of problems and this was the best result we were able to achieve. The team is working hard at the factory. It is not easy to improve, But they are working hard for it.”

Leclerc put in a great performance at the start, protecting the first position from Max Verstappen’s attacks. The one who didn’t defend well was Sergio Perez, who was passed by Hamilton and Magnussen in the first corner.

The worst out was Valtteri Bottas, losing eight places, from sixth to fourteenth. The only accident was a touchdown between Mick Schumacher and Esteban Ocon, but both got on the right track without further problems. Perez tried to regain fourth place right after the tenth lap.

Mercedes’ problems were also reflected in practice in the race. Hamilton was the first driver to stop. The seven-time world champion switched to the hard tires, and is back in twelfth place. Lewis still had to stop twice along the race due to wear and tear from fright.

RBR expected Verstappen to stop trying to undermine and the strategy almost worked. Leclerc stopped in the sequence and got back less than 1s in front of the Dutchman. thanks to that, Rivals shine in a duel Exciting On the road.

There were three laps with the Dutch and Monaco exchanging positions with exciting maneuvers from the young drivers. In the end, Charles opened the curve and pressed his head to make an X, forcing the world champion into a foul and opening just over 1 second later to avoid the moving wing opening.

The Austrian team tried to repeat the strategy, but Ferrari was more efficient at stopping and put Monaco on the track with the best comfortable advantage to avoid the opponent’s attacks.

On the track, the difference was clear between the top two cars (Ferrari and RBR) and Mercedes, the current World Constructors’ Champion. In no time, the German team’s two cars managed to threaten. Hamilton practically remained the entire race in fifth place, closely followed by George Russell, his new teammate.

When it looked like Charles Leclerc was heading for a quiet victory, Pierre Gasly’s car had an electrical problem and caught fire, forcing the safety car onto the track shortly after Verstappen left the potholes on soft tyres. The Italian team reacted quickly and managed to make the change in Leclerc’s car, putting him back on the track and still in the lead.

The restart was an anticipation of Max’s attack on Charles, but the commander was perfect and quickly opened the gap. With steering wheel issues, Verstappen started to struggle with Carlos Sainz, trying to finish second.

With four laps remaining, Carlos Sainz efficiently used the moving wing and passed the Super Max. Soon, the RBR car stalled and the reigning world champion was forced to withdraw from the race.