Verstappen and Red Bull, in another league, crushed Ferrari with Sainz 3rd

Saw it coming. Verstappendespite starting from the back, finally from 14th place, the favorite. Carlos Sainz I warned him the day before. The speed of Red Bulls is higher than Ferrari. and the one of Verstappen, more. It’s up to Max to put the wings on that car with his own hands. So it is. The Spaniard had three challenges before him this weekend: The first he accomplished, making the post against Pérez. The second, too, that was defend his first position at the start against a ‘Checo’ which started very badly and was overtaken by a great Alonso. But the hardest part remained: Stopping a plane coming from behind that wanted to ride the world. Impossible. Verstappen was in a different league and he showed it by winning in a peaceful comebackwithout breaking a sweat, elbow out to welcome the orange tide that filled the stands of Spa-Francorchamps.

FINAL RESULTS AND POSITIONS OF 2022 F1 BELGIUM GP

F1 WORLD CUP CLASSIFICATION

Max prevailed by printing an amazing pace and dealing another blow, almost certainly, to the morale of those from Maranello. For the second race in a row, Ferrari had no pace on any tire compared to Red Bull and had a greater degradation. Something is wrong, very wrong with Ferrari and thus it is impossible to win titles. They had the best car at the start of the season and what seemed like a dream, Red Bull turned into a nightmare. There is something very good about Red Bull, a team that is on a quiet path to two crowns. Verstappen’s 9th victory in 14 races. He is close to his second title. He is already 98 points ahead of Leclerc with 8 races to go. And Pérez has surpassed Charles in the runner-up position by 5 points. Sainz was 4th out of 113.

Carlos was stopped by an initial ‘Safety Car’

Carlos is very clear. “Verstappen is coming”, He said. “And if there is a Safety Car…”. Without a safety car, perhaps Carlos could have given the defending champion a harder time. But now Max smiled luck even when he didn’t need it and quickly. Less than two laps of the race had passed, and Verstappen had the ‘Safety’ he wanted. This is key. Sainz escapes from Pérez and executes his specific plan. But an accident between Latifi and Bottas and the abandonment of Lewis Hamilton caused the appearance of the ‘Safety Car’ on lap 2. So Sainz lost all the distance he had gained and the race came together again.

In just two laps, Verstappen did his part: he went from 14th to 8th place. On lap 5 the race continued, and two laps later (7) Verstappen was fourth after passing Alonso Like a rocket straight after Eau Rouge. Sainz was only 5 seconds behind him. At Ferrari they feared the worst despite the fact that Carlos was leading and told the Spaniard on the radio that they were going with ‘Plan B’. We don’t know what the plan is, but Verstappen seems to be flying and they will do their best.

the red bull flies

Carlos chose to stop in the pits before Pérez and Verstappen to avoid the ‘undercut’ of the Red Bulls. But Milton Keynes has so much left they don’t care. ‘Checo’ passed an impatient Max and the champion began to shoot at a furious pace despite riding on soft 12-turn tires. At this moment, Ferrari did not disappoint in his pit stop. Furthermore, it was very effective (Sainz’s two saves were 2”4), but they made a mistake by putting him on the track in traffic. Carlos started behind Ricciardo, who held him off despite the risk of overtaking him at Pohuon. Carlos tried to fight back by squeezing as hard as he could, but he only prolonged his agony.

When Pérez and Verstappen stopped they came out behind Sainz. It was lap 16 and Max was 4”6 behind Carlos. But to show Red Bull’s prowess, look at the following: In just one lap, Max is already at 1”5. And a lap later, Max had passed Carlos without breaking a sweat, with massive top speed in a direction that Sainz could only watch and applaud. On lap 21, it was Pérez’s turn to pass Sainz. Red Bull’s superiority is too much and the smartest thing for Ferrari to do is to think about defending Carlos’ podium against Russell and maximize the result of Leclerc, who finished in 6th place after the last disaster.

Leclerc pitted at the end to put on the soft rubber and set the fastest lap. He entered the track after Alonso and struggled to overtake the Spaniard. He finally did and got that extra point. But it cost him for an unforgivable mistake: he exceeded the speed limit in the pit lane. Because of that he lost his position and he gave one to Alonso. Fernando 5th and Leclerc 6th. To make matters worse, the battle with Alonso prevented him from setting the fastest lap. Race to forget for Ferrari.

Russell attacks Sainz

But even that’s not it. George would arrive on the hard rubber 4 laps younger at a blistering pace and closing in on Sainz late in the race. Of the 10 left, George was 4″. “Try to give the best you have”, they told Carlos on the radio. I had to grit my teeth on a car with more damage.

The Monegasque started just behind Max, in 15th place, but his return was slower, far from the barbarity of the Dutch. Charles took advantage of the initial ‘Safety’ to put on medium rubber and was ninth, just behind Max on the restart after the first safety car. But Verstappen went on to victory unchallenged and Charles could do nothing but finish 6th behind Alonso (5th) and Russell (4th).

Ferrari is still superior to Mercedes, but they are both down to earth. Red Bull is a rocket going to the moon. The Spa can be ruled out precisely: Red Bull has no rivals. The next stop will be key. With Verstappen at home at Zandvoort, it will be crucial to see if Red Bull’s insulting supremacy can be repeated. on a different track. But seeing what happened this Sunday, the Italians can now prepare for what they can experience at another top-speed track like Monza, in two weeks, in front of their fans. The mast can be very large.

Hamilton and Alonso are close together

Alonso started third, with little chance of a podium because he knew Verstappen and Leclerc were coming and because Mercedes needed to have a better pace. But he wants to try and take advantage of whatever trouble lies ahead. And asked above all “a clean race”. But he soon got the hang of it.

Everyone knows that he will be happy to start third and that he wants to catch his breath by overtaking from the first meters. So it is. He went out like a shot to pass Pérez and take second. But hamiltonwho started in 4th, took the slipstream on the front straight Les Combes. Fernando prepared his defense by tracking straight to the right to catch the inside entrance to the chicane. The 7-time champion put his front wheel first, but had to leave space for Fernando to draw the curve. And it didn’t. The British closed in on Fernando and the Asturians did not rise. The result: a clash between two controversial former allies and eternal rivals.

“Stupid! Closing the door from the outside! We had a big start but this guy only knows how to drive if he’s first”, exclaimed Fernando, out of his mind, utterly enraged by an action in which Hamilton’s car was lifted and placed on top of the Spaniard’s car. It drove Lewis’ car into a tailspin. Alonso continued, but was in fourth position, losing to Russell. Y Hamilton would drop out a lap later.

The Spaniard has lost any chance to dream of something big, although in any case the speed of his Alpine is not a podium finish if something does not happen in front of him. He continued to fight. Due to the strategy he would lose a place to Leclerc and he would finish 6th, but a mistake by Charles in the pits gave him 5th place. There is nothing I can do with that car.