Scuderia Ferrari and Charles Leclerc were looking more than good as a hot-hot-hot Spanish Grand Prix approached the half-way mark at the Circuit de Catalunya: Charles had led from the pole and now, on medium Pirellis, was starting to save the fuel, engine, brakes and rubber; the data he had accumulated from his long runs on both Friday and Saturday was beginning to pay off. Then, suddenly, on lap 28 – completely out of character for 2022 – his Ferrari power unit suddenly died. Charles was out. And the race was wide open.
Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez both looked to be potential winners – until back into the hunt came Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who had lost time with a lap 10 gravel-trap moment at T4 and then a tetchy DRS (again). His switch on lap 29 to a second set of soft tyres – and thus a three-stop strategy – looked to be a gamble. As the race unfolded, however, and the medium tyres wilted in the temperatures, three stops became the norm…and the ground that Max had recovered when he was on softs and his rivals on mediums became the phase that decided the race. He crossed the line to head a Red Bull one-two, with George a brilliant third for Mercedes. Also stunning was Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who sliced through the field to take fourth place – ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz – with but six laps to go.
Lewis was then obliged to slow down in the final lpas of the Spanish Grand Prix, and thus to give this position back, when his Merc’s running temperatures launched into orbit. In this video, Peter Windsor looks back at an enthralling day of Formula 1 racing – at the moments that defined the race and at some of the day’s outstanding feats.
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