Saudi Arabian GP 2022 | The Battle Between Max & Leclerc

So, have you seen the Saudi Arabian GP 2022? I have, and I’m waiting to share my thoughts with you. But before that, let’s take a moment and realize that we might be seeing a new constructor champion as well as a driver’s champion. Yes, I’m talking about Ferrari and Charles Leclerc.

Ferrari is still leading the constructor championship with 78 points, and Charles Leclerc is leading with 45 points. Where is Lewis Hamilton, you may ask? He is nowhere close, and that makes me sad.

In this article, I’ll talk about the qualifying and final race. But before that, I want to ask, have you seen my last article on Bahrain GP 2022. If you haven’t, please check that out.

I don’t even know where to begin. In qualifying, for the first time after 2017, Lewis Hamilton didn’t make Q1. I felt devastated to see him shattered like this. From what I can say, I’m still rooting for Lewis Hamilton, and I think he can make a comeback in the upcoming race. I’m not ready to give up on him yet.

There’s a huge accident that happened in qualifying. Mick Schumacher lost his balance. It looked scary. But nothing happened to Mick. He came out strong. Later he was taken to the hospital for a proper check-up.

Sergio Perez got the pole position, and Max got P4. Both Ferrari got 2nd and 3rd position. This year Ferrari is showing their A-game, no doubt about that.

I’ve written another post on Saudi Arabian GP, but to summarize it in one sentence. This race track has a lot of corners. It’s crazy how fast you can go on this track, and also, one small mistake can end the race then and there. So you have to watch your car while driving on this track.

In the qualifying, Yuki Tsunoda and Nicholas Latifi retired their cars. Also, Daniel Ricciardio got a 3 place grid penalty for making contact with Esteban Ocon’s car. 

So, that was pretty much everything about the Saudi Arabian GP 2022 qualifying. 

Drivers Championship Standing After Saudi Arabian GP 2022

Rank	Driver	Team	Points
1	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	45
2	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	33
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	25
4	George Russell	Mercedes	22
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	16
6	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	14
7	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	12
8	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	12
9	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	8
10	Lando Norris	McLaren	6

Constructor Championship Standing After Saudi Arabian GP 2022

Rank	Constructor	Points
1	Ferrari	78
2	Mercedes	38
3	Red Bull	37
4	Alpine	16
5	Haas	12
6	Alfa Romeo	9
7	AlphaTuari	8
8	McLaren	6
9	Aston Martin	0
10	Williams	0

Before diving into who performed the best, I pretty much knew that Lewis Hamilton wouldn’t be able to pull this off. Because he doesn’t have the pace, and he’s in the bottom 5. 

There’s everything going wrong with his car. George Russell did well in the qualifying compared to Lewis. But you can’t win the championship with 1 player only.

Now let’s talk about all 10 teams individually.

Ferrari

Leclerc and Sainz both had a decent qualifying. Both started in the front 2 rows. Leclerc didn’t disappoint Ferrari fans. He did smart driving and managed to stay ahead most of the time. There were a number of times when Max crossed him. 

But Leclerc didn’t let Max stay in the front for too long. The battle between these two seemed fascinating. 

But in the end, Ferrari got decent results. Leclerc being 2nd and Sainz being 3rd, they grabbed 34 points for the team. Ferrari is still at the top of the constructor championship.

Red Bull

In the qualifying, Perez was in pole position, and Max was in 4th. After the race, they just swapped positions. Max won the Saudi Arabian GP 2022 for the first time in his Formula 1 career, and Perez became 4th. 

They grabbed 37 points for the team. Max was frustrated many times during the race when he couldn’t cross Leclerc, but in the end, with much perseverance, he managed to cross him. 

Mercedes

Let’s just say it was a bad day for Mercedes. Lewis got P10, securing only 1 point. And Russell got 10 points. They both have the same car. I am wondering how come 1 can perform and the other one can’t. It just doesn’t make any sense. 

With 11 points from the race, Mercedes is currently 2nd in the constructor championship. They are just 1 point ahead of Red Bull. If things continue to go like this, they will lose the championship battle in no time. 

Alpine

Both Alonso and Ocon did well in the race. Alonso was battling for P6, but it was unfortunate that his car stopped during the race. He couldn’t finish the race. His teammate Ocon managed to get P6. Alpine is now sitting in 4th position in the constructor championship. 

McLaren

Daniel Ricciardo is another unfortunate driver who couldn’t finish the race. McLaren is struggling right now. However, Lando Norris got P7 and 6 points for the team. They need to push harder if they want to secure 3rd or 4th place. 

Aston Martin

Vettel missed this race as well. Nico Hülkenberg played instead of him. But got no points. Lance Stroll faced the same result. Aston Martin has 0 points. Let’s hope Vettel will come back stronger and score some points for the team.

Alfa Romeo

Bottas got DNF and Zhou managed to grab 11th position. He almost got the point. But Hamilton beat him to that.

AlphaTauri

Yuki got DNF, and Gasly got 4 points. 

Williams

Williams couldn’t score any points as both drivers got DNF.

Haas

Kevin is doing great this season. All those years of hard work are finally paying off. Kevin managed to get 2 points, and Haas is now 5th in the constructor championship. 

So far, this is the result. From what I can see, Ferrari and Red Bull are dominating the race. They both are fighting for the championship. This year we will have a lot of races. So, it’s still pretty early to pick a favorite for the championship. We have to observe a couple more races to get some ideas.

So far, all I can see is, Mercedes and McLaren are struggling. Ferrari & Red Bull have great pace. Kevin, Bottas, Yuki, Gasly all are doing great with what they have. 

The next race is on 10th April. My birthday is on 9th April. You can wish me on the next Qualifying day. The next one will be the Australian GP which will happen in Melbourne. The Australian GP was cancelled for the last 2 years due to a pandemic. The last winner was Bottas in 2019. 

Will the Australian GP have a new winner this year? We need to wait and see.