The 21st round is the penultimate round of the 2022 season with both Drivers' and Teams' Championships fully decided. Nonetheless, there has been more action in track than expected!
This was the last of the four Sprint Races scheduled for this 2022, with the recent ampliation of this format to six grand prix for 2023.
Grand Prix Evolution
New plot available for you all!
It represents the driver evolution through the different stages of the Grand Prix.
Qualifying
Track Evolution
The pattern was quite similar as last year, the teams prepared the qualifying in FP1.
Qualifying Weather
After a rain between FP1 and the Qualifying, the first laps were done in INTERMEDIATE tyres.
However, the teams realised that the track was ready for slicks.
The track was improving through Q1 and Q2.
The rain was coming in Q3, so all teams wanted to do a lap as fast as possible.
The two outliers in Q3 are LEC (who fitted the INTERMEDIATE tyres when the track was not ready for it yet) and PER, who was held behind LEC on his fastest lap.
As it started to rain, the track temperature also decreased.
MAG the first to set a lap was the quickest of Q3.
Qualifying Results
MAG achieves his first pole position of his career after a rainy Q3!
VER do not fail and secures the first line.
RUS, NOR and SAI complete the TOP 5 for the Sprint.
PER held by LEC on his fast lap, was 3s slower than HAM.
LEC, who was with the wrong tyre strategy, did not register a time in Q3.
Both AMR in Q2 while the Alfa's fell in Q1
No ideal lap analysis is done due to the biased information for the Q3 in damp conditions.
Top Speed
Once again, the WIL and the RB with the greatest top speed of the field whereas FER, AMR and MER with higher downforce.
It seems PER had a tow to register that top speed, 7kph greater than his teammate.
Average Speed
Inverse than the top speed, FER and AMR had the best average speed due to their higher downforce configurations.
Sprint Qualifying
Sprint Results
RUS wins the Sprint Race from P3 after a great move on VER
The first race win in F1 (not Grand Prix win) for RUS!
SAI secured the P2, but with a 5-place penalty for the Race
HAM finished P3 from P8, great performance from the britain in the sprint, as the last year!
VER overtook MAG in the first laps but could not escape from the great pace from the TOP 3.
VER suffered with the MEDIUM tyre. Only he and LAT had the MEDIUM fitted for the Sprint.
PER and LEC achieves their maximum potential from their starting positions
NOR went to its natural position being the first of the rest.
MAG in the last position for points after starting in P1.
Good performance from VET to start the race from points position.
Incidents between teammates were the main topic for the Sprint Race
OCO and ALO
They had their words at exit of T4 where OCO pushed ALO out of the track. ALO saved the spin but he suffered some damage and had to pit.
ALO with an outstanding pace could recover the time lost in the pit lane and catch his teammate on the last laps of the Sprint
ALO did a late move and he impacted with OCO's RR tyre on the straight. The race direction imposed him 5s penalty.
VET and STR
STR suffered with the soft tyres through all the race
VET tried to overtake him during the first laps
At his first try, both drivers were side by side after T3 and STR pushed VET to the grass in the straight.
The race direction gave him 10s penalty for that move.
ALB had a mechanical failure in lap 13.
Lap Times Analysis
VER suffered with the tyres in the late stage of the race
Note that the spikes in lap time of VER are the laps where he was overtook.
Both MER had strong pace through the race.
Sprint Pace
Most of the field fit the SOFT for the Sprint
MER were the quickest out there with good options for a great result in the race starting in P1 and P2.
SAI was also there but at lower pace.
PER and LEC had to sort out the traffic to reach their final positions.
MCL the best of the rest.
ALO with the strongest pace during his comeback after the pit stop.
Tyre Strategy
As mentioned, all drivers started with SOFT except VER and LAT.
Definetely, the Sprint tyres were the SOFT.
Only VET and STR started with used tyres and ALO fitted a set of used tyres after the pit stop.
Race
Weather Evolution
The temperatures of the Race were 10-15 degrees greater than the Sprint, so the tyre strategy was in the air.
The track temperature decreased through the race, a total of 10 deg, quite sensitive for the tyres management.
Race Results
Accumulated Delta
The race started with some action on track in T8 on lap 1 when RIC made contact with kMAG making him to spin. They both DNF'd after crashing when MAG was rolling backwards. The stewards imposed a 3 place penalty to RIC for causing the incident.
More incidents were caused after the restart:
VER vs. HAM
VER tried to overtake HAM in T2.
Both collided at the apex when VER was in the inside.
VER had to pit to repair the damage after the crash, whereas HAM remain on track in P5.
VER received a 5s penalty for causing the incident.
NOR vs. LEC
Both drivers were battling during lap 1, but the action continued after the restart.
LEC managed to be in front after T4.
NOR tried to overtake him going in the inside and made contact with the rear axle of LEC.
LEC spun losing a lot of time. He pit for a new set of tyres to clear the flat spots.
The first stop was triggered due to a slow puncture for SAI, which makes his strategy quite critical to go for 2 stops.
PER was able to keep the RUS's pace, but he had more degradation than expected with the soft during the first stint.
STR was suffering again with the SOFT losing some positions through the mid field.
HAM had a stint longer than any driver looking for another strategy to overtake PER.
HAM was able to overtake PER with fresher tyres when PER was struggling with the MEDIUM.
VET was longer in the first stint and tried to defend the undercut from BOT but failed.
VER and LEC did a short stint with the MEDIUM because it was not as good as the SOFT.
ALO was held after BOT and OCO and he tried a 3-stop strategy to finaly achieve the fifth position!
The race completely changed with the VSC after NOR's mechanical failure.
SAI, ALO and STR extracted the most advantage from the VSC and SC by entering the pits. They could finish the race in fresher tyres than their rivals to finish in P3, P5 and P10 respectively.
AMR swap their drivers positions to try the overtake to BOT for P9.
PER was in older tyres than VER. Thus, RB allowed VER to try to overtake ALO and LEC.
However, VER was not able to overtake them and RB asked to give the position back.
VER refused, causing some internal problems between the RB drivers and RB.
Finally, RUS achieved his first grand prix win to consolidate a 1-2 for MER.
Lap Chart - Drivers Evolution
Race Pace per Tyre
Soft
Medium
Tyre Strategy
The main strategy was 2 stops strategy with the SOFT as the best tyre. S-M-S would have been the best strategy.
ALO was the only driver to do 3 stops, but he took advantage of the SC in the final stages of the race. Surprisingly, he opted for a M-M-M-S, which he had an amazing pace with the MEDIUM. This strategy would have been the best for him due to the tyres available and the track temperature increment respect to the Saturday.
PER suffered with the tyres compared to both MER.
The HARD was barely used, only for the WIL drivers. Actually, ALB change the compound during the first SC.
And that's all for today!
This weekend analysis is for free! You can see all the others by joining us with a membership!
If you like it, explore the membership features to unlock exclusive content with your friends and collegues to become Performance Engineers!
You can also become a supporter to have access to some information like this!
Do not miss to follow me on twitter @theRightTurnF1 and try the F1 telemetry bot!
For more information, visit my linktr.ee!