Formula 1 returns for the final nine races of the 2022 championship, after almost a month of well-deserved summer break for drivers, engineers and mechanics. The fight interrupted at the Hungaroring in Budapest is resumed in Belgium, at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit. A special track for both of the two main title contenders this season: Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
The Dutchman here practically races in front of his fans and will be therefore able to count on enormous support from the public; the Monegasque, on the other hand, took his first career race win in Formula 1 at the circuit located in Ardenne, three years ago.
But if the spectacular ups and downs of the iconic Belgian track are liked by both Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, the ranking situation indicates a very clear hierarchy. In fact, the Red Bull main driver leads the championship with an 80-point lead over the Ferrari driver ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix. An almost unbelievable advantage given the pace and performance of the F1-75 car in the first part of the 2022 Formula One season, which would allow Verstappen to repeat the 2021 title even if he no longer won a race between now and the end of the World Championship. For the favourite of the orange public it would be enough to finish all the races always in second place, including the Interlagos Sprint, to be world champion again.
The current Formula 1 Chief Executive Officer, Stefano Domenicali, however, invited Scuderia Ferrari to continue to believe in the title and not to consider this championship already lost, in a recent interview for the main Italian newspapers. The manager from Imola, who for years worked for Scuderia Ferrari, also covering the role of team principal for several seasons, in fact recalled the year when the Maranello team won its last Formula 1 championship, back in 2007. In that case Kimi Raikkonen recovered 17 points to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in the last two races (at a time when just ten points were awarded to the winner) giving the people of Maranello the most unexpected titles won in their history.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma! Enter the online Puma Store and shop securely! And get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
“80 points divide Charles Leclerc from Max Verstappen and that gap is big indeed, but in Formula 1 one must never say never – said the 57-year-old Italian manager – I remember that in 2007 Kimi Raikkonen with two races to go was 17 points behind and beat Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by just one point. Red Bull is very strong, Mercedes will improve but the second part will hold big surprises. Errors, reliability, weather… who can say? The only thing that is important that, and I’m sure they will be, [Ferrari] have to stay focused. From Belgium up to the end, all of the grands prix are sold out, so a lot of people have already booked the tickets to come. So Belgium, every day will be more than 120,000 people. Zandvoort you can imagine the same. Monza, more than 250,000 tickets sold. Singapore, sold out. That’s really something that is already reserved. So I hope we’re going to have a great race and a great second part of the season.” – Stefano Domenicali concluded.
Leave a Reply