Will Ferrari comeback from their struggles? F1 Canadian GP 2022 Preview

The first Canadian GP since 2019 and it has some interesting prospects coming into it as we continue along the 2022 season. Red Bull are dominating at the moment while also taking advantage of Ferrari’s struggles to get even further ahead.

Even though Ferrari got off to a tremendous start this season they have struggled a lot recently, both in their results and reliability, last time out neither car finished the race and that is something that they would dearly like to change this weekend. If Ferrari are to make a proper challenge a win in Canada is a must, but that requires reliability and pace, only one of which Ferrari seem to have at the moment, that being pace. Can Ferrari get on top of their reliability issues and claw back some points?

Last weekend in Baku Daniel Ricciardo had a good result finishing ahead of his team-mate and having good pace for most of the race, while also finishing in the points. The key for Ricciardo this weekend will be to continue this form into another points finish and maybe get some consistency going after all the negative press surrounding him recently. Will he continue the form from Baku, or will he receive a disappointing result again?

After the great result for Mercedes in Baku, the 3-4 for the silver arrows have given them some confidence and it will be interesting to see if they can build on that. Even though they are down on pace compared to Red Bull and Ferrari, they have shown the consistency they have always had. Can Mercedes continue the good results? And can George Russell continue his amazing stretch of top 5 finishes this season?

The Canadian GP is going to be an exciting affair and the action could be close with the championship battle heating up as we head into the midway point of the season. Will Ferrari be able to get a win back or will Red Bull get yet another win in a row?

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Red Bull make it five in a row, Ferrari problems continue. F1 Azerbaijan GP 2022 Review & Results

In a potential championship defining race in Baku, Ferrari are massively on the back foot as Red Bull take yet another win in a great display.

From the start it seemed like the Red Bulls were going to do very well when Sergio Perez took the lead into turn 1 off the start, Charles Leclerc dropped to second while Max Verstappen held third with Carlos Sainz just behind. The other jumps off the start were Sebastian Vettel as he made up a place into ninth, and Alex Albon getting himself a place into fifteenth.

As the opening laps wore on, Sainz was dropping back a bit from Verstappen and Perez was establishing a lead over Leclerc who looked to be struggling early on medium tyres.

The other notable thing on the start was Nicholas Latifi getting a 10 second stop/go penalty for a starting grid infringement.

On lap nine in what seems to be a regular occurrence for Ferrari, Sainz suffered a hydraulic issue forcing him to retire from yet another grand prix, being the third race this year he has not finished.

This all caused a virtual safety car to be deployed the next lap, more than half the grid came into the pits to put on a new set of tyres, among them being both Mercedes, Williams, and Haas drivers, as well as Leclerc, Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guanyu.

Next lap and Vettel made an attempt to pass Esteban Ocon into turn 3, Vettel missed the corner and was forced to take the escape road and spin himself round, losing two places in the process. Zhou also got past Lance Stroll for fourteenth.

After Leclerc’s pit stop, Verstappen picked up the pace and closed down on Perez, eventually passing his team-mate on lap fifteen after Perez was asked to not fight Verstappen for the lead with Verstappen having much more pace than Perez at the time.

Lap sixteen and Zhou overtook his team-mate Valtteri Bottas for thirteenth, in what had been a decent race for him this far into the race. The next lap Bottas was overtaken again this time by Kevin Magnussen for fourteenth.

Perez came in for hard tyres on lap seventeen, then two laps later Verstappen also came in and fit new tyres. Fernando Alonso pit as well, came out in sixteenth.

Things went from bad to worse for Ferrari when on lap twenty, Leclerc suffered an engine failure. This ended his race and Ferrari’s chances at getting anything from this weekend after a great qualifying.

Same lap and Norris came into the pits and comes out in sixteenth onto the hard tyres. On lap twenty-two his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was overtaken by Pierre Gasly to get into fourth. While Tsunoda overtook Ocon to get himself into seventh.

Lap twenty-four and this time it is the Alfa Romeo of Zhou that fails with an issue that forced Zhou to retire from the race, which was a shame after he was running a good race up until that point.

Fifteen laps later after Vettel’s error trying to get past Ocon, he does it this time on lap twenty-five making no mistake this time into turn 3.

Lap twenty-six saw Alonso get himself into the points passing Magnussen, showing some of the pace he had on newer tyres. On the same lap Lewis Hamilton got into fifth passing Ricciardo into turn 3.

A lap later Alonso gained another position getting himself into ninth by passing his team-mate Ocon. Norris also had some good pace on his new tyres getting past Albon for fourteenth.

Norris continued his good pace by passing Bottas getting up to twelfth on lap thirty-two. The next lap another engine failure happened, this time to Kevin Magnussen. At the end of that same lap, both Red Bulls pit, as well as Russell and Hamilton.

Another virtual safety car was deployed which gave the opportunity for Ricciardo to pit for mediums, who then came out in ninth. Ocon also pitted. Hamilton came out after his stop in sixth behind Tsunoda. By Lap thirty-six after struggling to get past, Hamilton managed to get by.

Tsunoda had issues with his rear wing, with half of it being broken, he came into the pits for the pit crew to try fix the issue. He did get back out after they taped the wing up, meaning Tsunoda was not able to use DRS for the rest of the race.

Leading up to lap forty-four, Hamilton caught up to Gasly who was in fourth, and while it took a few laps, Hamilton eventually got past Gasly, and got himself into fourth place. Lap forty-eight and the last of the retirements happened with Stroll having to end his race only a few laps away from the end.

Verstappen won the race, with a great drive, Perez came in second with a Red Bull 1-2, giving them a third 1-2 of the season. Russell with a third podium of the season comes in third with Hamilton coming in fourth. Gasly fifth with a good result for Alpha Tauri, Vettel sixth and Alonso seventh.

Norris was chasing down Ricciardo in the last few laps, but in the end the pace just was not there, and Ricciardo was unable to find the pace on his mediums to catch Alonso. Ricciardo finished just ahead of Norris for eighth and ninth in a McLaren double points finishes. Ocon rounded out the top ten.

Bottas, Albon, Tsunoda, Schumacher and Latifi were the rest of the finishers. Stroll, Leclerc, Sainz, Zhou and Magnussen all did not finish.

This result means Red Bull move even further ahead in the championship above Ferrari with Red Bull taking maximum points from Baku. Mercedes move closer to Ferrari after a good 3-4 finish for the silver arrows. McLaren remain in fourth far off Mercedes in third and an 18 point gap to Alpine in fifth. With Alpine’s double points finish, it takes them 6 points ahead of Alfa Romeo. Alpha Tauri remain in seventh, while Haas and Aston Martin are on the same points in joint eighth. Williams remain tenth still with only one points finish this season.

Max Verstappen extends his lead in the drivers championship, while Perez now overtakes Leclerc, having a 13 point gap over the Ferrari driver. Leclerc is now 34 points off Verstappen following this result.

With the Canadian GP next up in a week, questions loom over Ferraris reliability and whether they can fix their issues that are costing them crucial points in the championship fight. Can they find a solution or will Red Bull continue their winning streak and extend their championship lead?

F1 Azerbaijan GP 2022 Race Results

1 - Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

2 - Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

3 - George Russell (Mercedes)

4 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 5 - Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri)

6 - Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin)

7 - Fernando Alonso (Alpine)

8 - Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)

9 - Lando Norris (McLaren)

10 - Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

11 - Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)

12 - Alex Albon (Williams)

13 - Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri)

14 - Mick Schumacher (Haas)

15 - Nicholas Latifi (Williams)

DNF - Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

DNF - Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

DNF - Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)

DNF - Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

DNF - Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

Source: https://www.thehamdenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Azerbaijan-Grand-Prix-Baku-F1-live.jpeg

Leclerc pole again, can he convert this time? F1 Azerbaijan GP 2022 Qualifying Review & Results

Qualifying in Baku gave us another great battle for pole. Ferrari and Red Bull pushing each other once again, while Mercedes continue their struggles this season. If the qualifying is anything to go by, there could be plenty of twists in the race for the championship.

At the start of Q1 the whole grid came out. Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon were first to set times with Ocon ahead of Alonso and Norris. Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda and Sebastian Vettel all took top five early beating the first runners.

The Red Bulls came out and took first and second, with Charles Leclerc beating out team-mate Carlos Sainz for third. George Russell slotted into fourth while Lewis Hamilton struggles continued as he went eighth.

Pierre Gasly went another time and went seventh, Norris, Alonso and Ocon went again, and Norris got seventh just behind Alonso and then Ocon beat both. Ricciardo went twelfth.

Ferrari improved with Sainz going second while Leclerc went quickest. Then Max Verstappen went fastest just after Sergio Perez did the same. The chopping and changing of the top four proving to be unpredictable.

Two and a half minutes to go and Lance Stroll crashed his Aston Martin on the exit of turn 2 into the wall, this caused a red flag. Just before this Hamilton attempted a lap again and got eighth.

After the session resumed, everyone but the Ferraris, Red Bulls, Vettel and Ocon went out to do a final run. Hamilton stayed down to ninth, Russell got sixth, then Tsunoda beat him to sixth, Gasly fifth and then Bottas just getting himself through to Q2.

The drivers eliminated were, Mick Schumacher, Lance Stroll, Nicholas Latifi, Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen.

Q2 and the Red Bulls come out and set the pace early with Perez first then Verstappen beating him. Gasly behind Perez, Ocon fourth before being beaten by Vettel, Tsunoda fifth, Norris seventh, Hamilton eighth, his team-mate Russell fourth. All while Sainz goes quickest, with Leclerc being slightly down on Sainz’s time.

Another run for Perez who then tops the time sheets with Leclerc again going second. Bottas with what was poor qualifying only good enough for fourteenth before Zhou Guanyu beat his team-mate for the first time this season.

Norris went tenth, while Ricciardo only thirteenth. Hamilton got ahead of Russell going sixth, Vettel then going seventh just behind. With this going on Norris was now in eleventh. But Norris made a mistake on his lap costing him meaning he was only P11. Ocon went twelfth before Ricciardo improved and slotted in behind Norris.

The drivers eliminated in Q2 were Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Esteban Ocon, Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris.

With the battle for pole now underway in Q3 calling the outcome was a tricky task. Gasly started out by setting the pace, Alonso behind him just under a second slower. Hamilton then splits them before Russell beats out Hamilton. Tsunoda behind all of them.

With the frontrunners completing their laps it saw Sainz go top with Leclerc just behind, Perez third and then Verstappen fourth, Vettel completed his lap after putting himself in seventh.

Final runs take place and Alonso only good enough for eighth on this occasion, Leclerc then goes fastest while Sainz did not improve. Tsunoda went seventh while Hamilton just beat him out, Russell again beat Hamilton taking fifth. Verstappen, on a good lap was enough to get him onto the front row, only long enough until Perez finished his lap snatching second away from his team-mate and grabbing a front row start.

After an eventful qualifying, it does look like any of the top four have the potential to win this race, and with Red Bull seemingly having the better race pace, could Perez pull off another win? Will Verstappen win this time? Or will Ferrari manage to take a win for the first time since the Australian GP?

F1 Azerbaijan GP 2022 Qualifying Results

1 – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 2 – Sergio Perez (Ferrari) 3 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 4 – Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 5 – George Russell (Mercedes) 6 – Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) 7 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 8 – Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) 9 – Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) 10 – Fernando Alonso (Alpine) 11 – Lando Norris (McLaren) 12 – Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) 13 – Esteban Ocon (Alpine) 14 – Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) 15 – Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) 16 – Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 17 – Alex Albon (Williams) 18 – Nicholas Latifi (Williams) 19 – Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 20 – Mick Schumacher (Haas)

Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2022/06/F1-Baku-GP-920x518.jpg