The F1 circus arrived back in Europe for what feels like the real start of the Championship, where the updates need to matter to Championship hopefuls, the excuses are starting to run real thin, and our 2022 Spanish Grand Prix Results, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary needs to deliver a bite sized summary of the race,
Our review covers what happened in the race so you don’t have to in the laps that matter. Plus we throw in our Race Ratings, the Best (Great) and Worst (Grape) drivers of the race weekend.
The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
2022 Spanish Grand Prix Results, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with.
And why not check out our Miami Grand Prix Power Rankings which highlight our driver of the season so far and the last race.
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2022 Spanish Grand Prix Results
THE LAPS THAT MATTERED
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the Scene – Truth be told the Spanish Grand Prix isn’t ever a race that one looks forward to. Unless you’re Spanish or it is raining. But all the same we’re going to do the important laps.
But it’s bloody hot, and so one can wonder, and hope, if the heat will add a factor that could spice things up at some stage. Well, at least Lewis Hamilton won’t win for a change.
This will test the new rules and all the FIA fanfare about them. If there’s minimal overtaking here, the new rules have failed. Fact.
GRID – LEC VER SAI RUS PER HAM BOT MAG RIC SCH
Lap 1 – Leclerc outdrags, outweaves and outlasts Max Verstappen into the first corner, behind him George Russell gets in front of Carlos Sainz. Further back in the field on turn three Kevin Magnussen runs into the side of Lewis Hamilton or Hamilton slides into Magnussen (depending on the driver), the Dane slides off into the gravel but continues. Lewis Hamilton suffers tyre damage and pits. Whilst one Haas was making a bit of a fool of themselves, Mick Schumacher had quietly leapt from 10th to 6th. The two McLarens gained on lap one which is nice. Daniel Ricciardo temporarily ahead of Lando Norris. Carlos Sainz will probably take losing two spots over a first lap exit we figure.
The worry is, have we peaked for action now?
ORDER – LEC VER RUS PER SAI MSC BOT RIC OCO NOR
Lap 5 – Valtteri Bottas (formerly known in this series as Nottas) gets past Mick Schumacher for 6th. Daniel Ricciardo starts his decline after Ocon get by for 8th. And the lap five rundown finishes with Lewis Hamilton suggesting to his team to “save his engine” aka “retire this care as I’m miles behind and don’t see the point”. The team disagree.
Lap 6 – Mick Schumacher drops another place, this time to Ocon. Further back Fernando Alonso is making decent progress, he nails Vettel for 13th on lap 7. Maybe this race will have some decent overtaking. Always easy to pick on the Spanish track we guess.
Lap 7 – Carlos Sainz spins at turn four and slides into the gravel. He drops from 5th to somewhere much further back, and the arse falls out of the Red hat wearing Spanish crowd. We confirm Sainz ends up 11th.
Lap 9 – Max Verstappen runs wide at the now very dangerous turn four. He drops to fourth behind the “lucky” George Russell and his team mate Perez who we’re sure will make it difficult to get by. Verstappen blames the wind for his off. More beleivable than Mark Webber’s electric surge from an underground train back in the day at a Singapore GP.
ORDER – LEC RUS PER VER BOT OCO NOR MSC RIC TSU
Lap 11 – Whilst the exciting Russell-Perez-Verstappen snake slithers around Barcelona, we look up to see Lando Norris is up to 7th. Bloody hell he’s good. Daniel Ricciardo in comfortable territory now, behind and disappointing. More disappointment coming too, as the McLaren is passed by Yuki Tsunoda too. McLaren put him out of his misery that lap when they pit him. Oh, and Max Verstappen passed Sergio Perez for those not expecting it.
Lap 14 – Russell and Verstappen pit for tyres in the blink of an eye, which the FIA are looking into the official time of blinking to ensure fairness, the duo come out 4th and 5th. Bottas stays out to enjoy a temporary podium spot, for a lap.
Lap 16 – In case you’re reading this or watching the coverage, Charles Leclerc does exists, and is cruising out in front. Back to Verstappen v Russell and the Red Bull’s DRS system isn’t working, which should make Max happy. It was working for the next lap, but Verstappen couldn’t get past after some stern defence from Russell.
Lap 18 – Sergio Perez pits from second, and comes out in fourth. Charles Leclerc still not pitted.
Lap 22 – Charles Leclerc finally pits from the lead, a position he keeps.
ORDER – LEC RUS VER PER BOT OCOSAI VET NOR TSU
Lap 24 – Max Verstappen looks like he is ahead of George Russell going into turn one, but the Mercedes driver swings around the outside of turn one and steals the inside line of turns two and three keeping Verstappen at bay for the rest of the lap somehow. George Russell driving beautifully managing to keep Verstappen behind. Russell helped by Verstappen’s DRS troubles.
Lap 27 – Charles Leclerc is out. Leclerc’s Ferrari loses power halfway around the lap, and the easy, easy win (yes, like a Sunday Morning) is gone. He drives straight to the pits to retire.
Lap 28 – George Russell and Max Verstappen are now battling for the lead, and Perez is sneaking up behind as they squabble.
Lap 29 – Max Verstappen pits for new tyres, looking for an undercut on George Russell. Perez takes up duties in trying to overtake Russell with no success, yet.
Lap 31 – Sergio Perez shows how it is done by overtaking George Russell with ease. Around the outside into turn one. The Mexican driver is now the new leader of the race. How long will he last in front?
Lap 32 – Not long if Verstappen’s pass on Bottas for third is any indication on lap 32. Around the outside of turn 12, which is a pretty decent overtake. For the record, Zhou retires his Alfa Romeo for a reason we’re not sure as this is the first mention of him.
Lap 36 – Sergio Perez is over five seconds in front of second placed George Russell, who has to start worrying about Max Verstappen….again,
Lap 37 – George Russell pits from second with Verstappen flying. Russell ends up third, and Verstappen takes the lead when Perez pits on Lap 38. Verstappen has 17 seconds lead on Perez, with another four to George Russell.
Lap 42 – The race has settled down a bit at the front, so we’d better do an order check for those interested.
ORDER – VER PER RUS BOT SAI HAM OCO NOR VET ALO
Lap 45 – Max Verstappen pits for new tyres. The Red Bull exits the pits just in front of George Russell. But behind his team mate Sergio Perez who takes over in front.
Lap 49 – Verstappen gets past his team mate, who provides no real level of difficulty. The Dutchman leads and is well on his way to another win.
Lap 52 – George Russell pits for new tyres, and falls back to fourth behind Valtteri Bottas. A lap later and Russell is back ahead easily.
Lap 54 – Sergio Perez pits for new tyres also. He’s probably bored. He stays second.
ORDER – VER PER RUS BOT SAI HAM OCO NOR ALO MSC
Lap 58 – Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton both get back Valtteri Bottas. Perhaps we’ll get a great battle to end the race.
Lap 60 – Lewis Hamilton goes around the outside of Carlos Sainz at turn one. That gives him fourth place now
Lap 65 – Carlos Sainz re-overtakes Lewis Hamilton for fourth, as the Mercedes drivers are told to slow down so they can make the finish.
FINAL LAP – Max Verstappen wins the Spanish Grand Prix, a decent win with a large chunk of luck with Leclerc retiring. But that DNF has happened to Verstappen already this season and now it’s his turn to cash in. Perez makes it a Red Bull 1-2 with the very impressive George Russell grabs the other podium spot. Behind, other cars finished on a sliding scale of usefulness and interest.
FINAL ORDER – VER PER RUS SAI HAM BOT OCO NOR ALO TSU
2022 Miami Grand Prix Results
RACE RATING
Was it a good race, loads of action, tense, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest.
We rate the big race itself so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 7/10
It’s still only early days, but Leclerc’s car failure proves both championship leading cars are not bulletproof, this season anyway. A pretty important race for Carlos Sainz, his effort may see Ferrari banish him to dedicated number two. And is this the start of the Mercedes comeback.
ON TRACK ACTION – 7 /10
It was better than we thought. Battles up the front, battles in the midfield. A few random spins off the track. Differing strategy. Cars breaking down and sliding off. Perhaps not quantity but quality.
ENDING 3 / 10
Not much to look at in the last 10 laps or so. Red Bull doing it easy and everyone else likely too scared to wreck their tyres. It is a dull track, and a stinking hot day, so what else did we expect? The potential of Mercedes breaking down was a decent side interest.
OVERALL RATING 17 / 30
A good race but not great. Wasn’t a complete bore-fest.
2022 SEASON RATINGS SO FAR
Want to know what we thought of previous races? Or which ones to to back and watch?
R1 Bahrain Grand Prix 26/30
R2 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix 21/30
R3 Australian Grand Prix 16/30
R4 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix 17/30
R5 Miami Grand Prix 19/30
2021 Spanish Grand Prix Results
GREAT & GRAPE OF THE RACE
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. Five points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
It used to be called the good, bad and ugly, but everyone is using that now. And who doesn’t like grapes.
THE GREAT-EST – MAX VERSTAPPEN
It doesn’t get much better for Max Verstappen, a win and his nearest rival Charles Leclerc retires from the race while in the lead. He ran wide and lost a few places during the race, but that was a minor blip. Dominated yet another race and takes the Championship lead.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
CHARLES LECLERC – So he didn’t get a win, bag O points or finish, but his drive up to the point of his retirement was sublime. Another pole position for the trophy room too, but still missing out on a win sucks.
SERGIO PEREZ – Another underrated, under appreciated drive from the Mexican. Always thrives when conditions or races have a factor that requires patient driving.
GEORGE RUSSELL – Another great weekend for the British driver, outqualifying his illustrious team mate. Battled at the front with the Red Bulls and held his own.
VALTTERI BOTTAS – Who’d think it would take an Alfa Romeo For Bottas to race ahead of Lewis Hamilton at Barcelona. Well, mostly. Another solid weekend from the Finn, almost sensational. Strong qualifying saw him line up 7th, and he ran in the top four for a large chunk of the race. An argument for being one of the top five drivers of the season so far.
LANDO NORRIS – Clearly getting the most out of a car that looks much worse in the hands of his team mate. Another solid weekend of minor points.
THE GRAPE-EST – CARLOS SAINZ
A huge crowd were hopeful that the Spanish Ferrari driver could bring home success. But his third on the grid was a minor disappointment, as was the drop to fifth on lap one. As was the spin that sent him down to the midfield. Decent end result, but is the damage done for his reputation within the team.
DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS
DANIEL RICCIARDO – A decent qualifying was soon forgotten as he fell back through the field. Of course Lando Norris didn’t take long to get past him in the race, and seemed to have fewer problems with the car.
LEWIS HAMILTON – Outqualified by his team mate again, and hit by Kevin Magnussen on the first lap on turn three. This drops him to second last, and half a minute behind third last. He asks if he can park the car, and told no by the team.
WILLIAMS TEAM – Circulating at the back of the field, despite the promise shown so far in 2022.
2022 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated.
