The season started with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 20th. Since then a total of 13 races were held. In the first half of the season only Ferrari and Red Bull won a race, with both drivers of Ferrari and Red Bull winning at least one race. Where Charles Leclerc went home with 3 wins, Max Verstappen was the absolute winner with 8 race wins. Which gave Verstappen a lead of 80 points, with a total of 258 points.
Ferrari strong on Saturday
Ferrari lost a lot of points during the races on Sunday, but on Saturday they were very strong. Ferrari scored a pole position in 8 of the 13 races, with 7 pole positions for Leclerc. The problems as we all know it, are on Sunday. They only won 3 races from the 8 pole position they had this season; the Bahrain Grand Prix, Australian Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix.
Mercedes
Mercedes is looking very reliable the first half of the 2022 Formula 1 season. Lewis Hamilton finished all the 13 races and score points in 12 of them. George Russell didn’t finish the British Grand Prix due to a collision in the opening lap, but scored points in all the other races. Russell finished 5 times on the podium and Hamilton scored 6 podiums, which is 1 podium more than Charles Leclerc.
Mercedes will start the second half of the season with Lewis Hamilton 6th in the standings and George Russell 4th. In the constructor standings Mercedes is currently 3rd, 30 points behind Ferrari. Can Mercedes challenge Ferrari for the second place in the constructor championship?
Laps in the lead
If we take a look at the laps in the lead this season, it’s again between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. Verstappen drove with 308 laps the most laps in the lead. Leclerc is not very far behind with 290 laps in the lead. 4 other drivers, drove at least 1 lap in the lead; Sergio Pérez (83 laps), Carlos Sainz (60 laps), George Russell (28 laps) and Lewis Hamilton (13 laps).
It’s Verstappen’s championship to loose
With 9 races remaining in the second half of the season, there is a maximum of 242 points to be scored. 225 points for winning the races, another 9 points for fastest lap and 8 points for winning the last sprint race this season during the Brazilian Grand Prix.
If Max Verstappen finish every races in second place, including the sprint race in Brazil there are not enough points left for Charles Leclerc to become world champion. Even if Charles Leclerc get the fastest lap in every race. So at this point it’s Max Verstappen his championship to loose.
The season will continue on August 28th, with the Belgium Grand Prix.