Lewis Hamilton crashed into Imola
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Max Verstappen won the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday to reduce Charles Leclerc’s lead in the Formula One Championship after a Ferrari driver threw the podium with an expensive late turn in Imola, but there is still drama far from the title race with Lewis Hamilton enduring another nightmare weekend while Mercedes continues to struggle. Although George Russell showed the way to the Silver Arrows, surpassing his more famous teammate so far as Toto Wolfe and co. looking to deal with their problems since the beginning of the season.
Sergio Perez finished second to seal Red Bull one or two, but only after Leclerc made a late pit stop for soft tires in an attempt to catch him. However, this move had the opposite effect, as the leader of the championship withdrew with the remaining 10 laps of the race. Leclerc managed to recover to save 6th place, but sealed the nightmarish weekend for Ferrari in their home race in Italy after Carlos Sainz retired in the first lap after a shot by Daniel Ricciardo.
Hamilton’s misery in Imola was compounded when his bitter rival Verstappen circled him before the Briton finished 14th. And the Belgian-Dutch driver targeted Mercedes, insisting it didn’t mean outperforming his 2021 title rival after their problems throughout the season. Meanwhile, Hamilton dropped out of the title race, with a difference of 31 points from the second Verstappen and 58 points behind leader Leclerc.
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
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Toto Wolff apologizes to Lewis Hamilton for “uncontrollable” Mercedes car in the “terrible” Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna
Hamilton was again disappointed with the performance of his car, struggling to make his way across the field and failed to overcome Pierre Gasley, who held the seven-time world champion in fear for much of the Imola race.
George Russell managed to overcome the ongoing problems of Mercedes and continue to rank in the top five, ahead of Valteri Botas, the man he replaced in the team to secure fourth.
Michael Jones April 25, 2022 3:39 p.m.
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George Russell reveals chest pain from a Mercedes that got on a guinea pig at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
The current champions of the constructors are tormented by the problem of bouncing more than most other teams in the grid in the first four races of the 2022 F1 season.
Still, despite securing his fourth consecutive place in the top five since joining Mercedes, Russell admits that the guinea pig has had a physical impact on his body.
Speaking after the Imola race, he said: “Jumping really takes your breath away. This is the most extreme I’ve ever felt.
Michael Jones April 25, 2022 3:25 p.m.
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Charles Leclerc cannot afford to make mistakes if he wants a title, warns Nico Rosberg
Leclerc ruined his position at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix when he ran over the curbs of Variante Alta and slid back into the barrier while chasing second Sergio Perez.
Leclerc recovered on the pit lane for a new front wing, appearing in ninth place before overtaking Kevin Magnussen, Sebastian Vettel and Yuki Tsunoda to finish sixth.
Michael Jones April 25, 2022 3:15 p.m.
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“It looks easy on TV,” says Verstappen
Max Verstappen of Red Bull finished the perfect weekend, winning maximum points in the Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna. Sunday’s result looked pre-determined after Verstappen took the lead and remained in the lead throughout the race, but the reigning champion said his victory was anything but.
“Melbourne was not great for us and the start of the season in general was not amazing, so we needed a good weekend. I didn’t expect it to be like that, but when you have such a weekend at the end, it’s amazing: one or two for the team, but also the maximum number of points.
“Also, the way we handled the race, we didn’t make any mistakes and I think we made the right stakes, switching from inters to slics, and from then on we just controlled the race. Of course, it probably seemed easy on TV, but you have to be focused. ”
Asked about the biggest obstacle he faces on the road to victory in Imola, he replied: “Crossing backmarkers. Some of them, of course, stayed on the dry line and had to pass them on the wet sections. It wasn’t amazing, but that’s what it is. You just have to deal with it, but again, then it’s easy to just get off the track.
“Of course, we saw this yesterday in the Sprint qualifier, that we had a good pace in the car and we could take good care of our tires. A very positive weekend. “
Michael Jones April 25, 2022 3:00 p.m.
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Max Verstappen shoots Mercedes after touring Lewis Hamilton during Emilia Romagna’s Grand Prix victory
But Hamilton, who withdrew from the drivers’ championship after the race, suffered all the time and managed to finish only 13th in another difficult day for the seven-time champion.
The Briton’s troubles are exacerbated by the fact that Verstappen embraces him, just four months after the couple fought for the title in one of the greatest rivalries of all time.
And while Verstappen insists he didn’t get much pleasure from passing Hamilton, he took the opportunity to even out a thin veiled Mercedes dig.
Michael Jones April 25, 2022 2:50 p.m.
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Nico Rosberg believes that Toto Wolf is “annoyed” by Lewis Hamilton after the Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna
Wolfe and Hamilton were watched in a heated discussion on Friday after the seven-time champions managed to get through Q1 only before finishing only 13th in the net in Q2.
He will then finish 14th in the sprint race and 13th in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, before Wolf rejects speculation about a rift between him and the seven-time champion.
But Rosberg, who has worked with Hamilton and Wolfe for several years at Mercedes, believes there is more to it than the Austrian says.
Michael Jones April 25, 2022 2:35 p.m.
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Sainz is “not happy” with his second retirement after a clash with Ricciardo
Carlos Sainz was eliminated from the Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna after only two and a half turns and had to retire for the second consecutive race.
He and Daniel Ricciardo made contact on the first lap, which forced Sainz to enter the gravel, leaving the Spaniard “unhappy” that he had to retire again.
It was Sainz’s mistake that knocked him out of last week’s race in Melbourne on lap 2, and after winning the P4 on the sprint, the slow escape from Sainz saw him duel with starting P6 Ricciardo at Tamburelo in Imola.
The two made contact, and Sainz spun around in the gravel, where his Ferrari landed.
“It was a tough start, as you saw,” Sainz said, “but there are still 63 laps left and even losing a position from McLaren as Lando [Norris] or whatever, it’s still a long race, especially in these conditions.
“But unfortunately, I think I left enough space for Daniel inside, but he decided to get on the curb and hit me and that was all for my race. Very bad luck – I can’t do anything differently there, but that’s what it is.
“It’s hard, I’m not happy and it’s hard to get through this, especially in a home competition like this with all the fans, getting support from them, wanting to do a good race for them. Yes, as I said, the beginning was not great; we will analyze why, but it was still a long race ahead and for some reason I was the unfortunate one who had to pay for someone’s mistake. That’s right.”
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Michael Jones April 25, 2022 2:23 p.m.
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“An Amazing Race” shows Norris claiming third place for McLaren
Lando Norris of McLaren says Sunday’s grand prize was “amazing” as he climbed two places since his start in P5 to win his first podium of the season.
“An amazing race, an amazing weekend, to be honest,” Norris said. “Beating a Red Bull and a Ferrari is much more than we expected. I am happy. The team deserves it. From where we were in competition one, so far we have scored a podium, they all deserve it, so it’s a great job for the team.
“I don’t think this weekend was necessarily all about the car; I think a lot of that was teamwork, the pit stop was amazing and how we did the weekend, which gave us that result.
“With the start, the strategy, the qualifications, the evaluation of the tires and all those things, the smaller things that you can’t see, that brought us to this podium today, so it’s great to see. I guess the fourth would still be an amazing position, an amazing result for us and better than we expected, coming to the race and on the weekend for sure. “
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Michael Jones April 25, 2022 2:11 p.m.
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Mercedes recognizes the possibility that the W13 concept “just doesn’t work”
Mercedes continued its struggles in Emilia Romagna’s Formula 1 Grand Prix over the weekend, leaving team boss Toto Wolf to admit that the new car, created for the 2022 season, is likely to “just not work”.
The new rules for this campaign provided for each Formula 1 team to design and refine new vehicles, but while some – such as Ferrari’s F1-75 – allowed the team to make huge leaps in competitiveness, Mercedes failed.
Their W13 has been plagued by torrential problems, even before reaching top speed, both in straight and cornering, with the unconventional “zero capsule” design behind most of their problems in the eyes of some experts. They were again predominant on Sunday, where Lewis Hamilton finished 13th and George Russell performed well and finished fourth.
Michael Jones April 25, 2022 2:00 p.m.
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Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
A few photos from yesterday’s Grand Prix. Lando Norris storms in front of Charles Leclerc, while Carlos Sainz spins, Sergio Perez holds Leclerc’s Ferrari, and Lewis Hamilton fights for Mercedes.
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
Michael Jones April 25, 2022 1:50 p.m.
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