The Sunday Times - UK (2022-04-24)

2GS K1 The Sunday Times April 24, 2022 15

Verstappen is

currently on

33 points in

the Driver’s

championship

— 45 behind

leader Leclerc

GRID FOR EMILIA

ROMAGNA

GRAND PRIX

Driver Team Pts

1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 78

2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 38

3 George Russell Mercedes 37

4 Sergio Perez Red Bull 36

5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 33

6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 28

7 Lando Norris McLaren 20

8 Esteban Ocon Alpine 20

9 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 14

10 Kevin Magnussen Haas 13

Constructors’ championship

1 Ferrari 116

2 Red Bull 69

3 Mercedes 65

4 McLaren 31

Driver Team Time

1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 30min 39.567sec

2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +2.975sec

3 Sergio Perez Red Bull +4.721

4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +17.578

5 Lando Norris McLaren +24.561

6 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +27.740

7 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +28.113

8 Kevin MagnussenHaas +30.712

9 Fernando Alonso Alpine +32.278

10 Mick SchumacherHaas +33.773

11 George Russell Mercedes +36.284

12 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +38.298

13 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +40.117

14 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +41.459

15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +42.910

16 Esteban Ocon Alpine +43.517

17 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +43.794

18 Alexander Albon Williams +48.871

19 Nicholas Latifi Williams +52.017

20 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo –

CHAMPIONSHIP

STANDINGS

these first four races,” he said. “It’s

obvious that we are not anywhere

near the fight at the front. It would be

pretty unrealistic to claim to have a

slot among the frontrunners fighting

for the championship.”

With Hamilton starting 14th and

team-mate George Russell 11th, Wolff

said the “minimum” the team were

aiming for was points. But after so

many years of dominance, he con-

ceded there would be little more than

single-digit points to enjoy.

“Points-scoring needs to be the

minimum, but this is not where we set

our expectations and therefore this

weekend is a write-off,” he said.

Both drivers have expressed opti-

mism that Mercedes can find a solu-

tion to their problems, which include

insufficient drag, issues warming up

tyres and porpoising — the violent

bouncing of the cars on the straights.

It means the drivers are struggling

to overtake the midfield cars, an expe-

rience that Wolff described as hum-

bling, while Russell said they lacked

speed in a straight line.

Mercedes have struggled with the

regulations that came in over the win-

ter but, with the rules in place for

years, they have little choice but to

keep going with their car.

Wolff said they knew what the

issues were but that fixing them was

an issue in itself.

“We have a direction where we

know we can unlock the potential of

the car but at the moment we haven’t

got the key,” he said. “So we have to

continue to grind away and rely

on the science and physics, before

spiralling into some kind of negative

momentum.”

Today holds the promise of more

woe. However, with rain forecast,

anything is possible. In all likelihood,

with Red Bull and Ferrari moving fur-

ther clear at the front, Mercedes’ pre-

dictions of a trophyless season appear

to be the only thing they have got right

at the moment.

After a torrid few days in Imola, Lewis

Hamilton has conceded that he is no

longer fighting for the championship

this year. And the weekend is not even

over yet. A dismal qualifying on Fri-

day evening, when he qualified 13th

and Mercedes failed to get a car into

the final qualifying session for the first

time in ten years, led to a forgettable

sprint race yesterday afternoon in

which he finished 14th.

So dire was the performance by

Mercedes that Toto Wolff, the team

principal, declared the whole week-

end a “write-off ”. The sprint at Emilia

Romagna Grand Prix was the first of

the season — 21 laps with no pitstops

and teams free to choose whatever

tyre they want, which led to the

rejigged schedule.

Max Verstappen had started on

pole and finished victorious to start

today’s race at the front. His champi-

onship rival, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc,

will start alongside him on the front

row after finishing second to extend

his lead to 40 points. Leclerc had been

leading into the first corner but was

passed on the penultimate lap after a

great duel.

Only four months ago Hamilton

was fighting for the championship.

That is now a distant memory as he

languishes out of the points on race

day and is already 50 points behind

Leclerc — the equivalent of two race

wins and seemingly insurmountable

given Ferrari’s form.

Formula One is only halfway

through the fourth weekend of the

record-breaking 23-race season, but

already the seven-times world cham-

pion knows he will not be winning his

eighth this year.

He was realistic in his assessment of

his situation: “Ultimately, we haven’t

got it right this year. We’re not fighting

for this championship but we’re fight-

ing to understand the car and improve

and progress through the year. That’s

all we can hope for now.

“We stick together, we try to moti-

vate everyone and this is the situation

that we are faced with but everyone

has their heads down, everyone is

working as hard as they can.”

When Hamilton emerged from his

car on Friday evening he was caught

on camera having an animated discus-

sion with Wolff.

Wolff was adamant last night that

there was no simmering tension in the

team. The heated exchange was, the

Austrian said, a “shared frustration”

of “the same point of view and just

sheer anger”.

He did, however, reduce the previ-

ous odds he had given of retaining the

title from 20 per cent a few weeks ago

to virtually zero. “We are four races in

and probably today marks the low of

Hamilton waves white flag

after another poor showing

REBECCA

CLANCY

Motor Racing Correspondent, Imola

FORMULA ONE

The trouble at Yorkshire ran paral-

lel to this, Malan — who joined the club

in 2020 after many events involving

Rafiq took place — sitting in on group

calls with other players discussing a

turbulent and distressing situation.

“A lot of the boys were concerned,

considering the people that lost their

jobs were the ones who’d had the big-

gest influences over their careers. A

lot are out of contract [later this year]

and there was anxiety about who was

going to make decisions. There were

concerns about what happened off

the field too. Even though I wasn’t

here, it’s never nice to see that some-

one had gone through all that.

“Even recently the boys were

unsure about the direction of the club

but Gibbo [Ottis Gibson] and Goughie

[Darren Gough] have been fantastic

and that has calmed things down.

Everyone seems in a better place. We

can now focus on cricket.”

A superb double hundred from

Josh Bohannon at Old Trafford put

Lancashire in control against

Gloucestershire. The 25-year-old

hit a career-best 231 before the

home side reduced their

opponents to 67 for three, still 237

behind going into the final day.

Peter Siddle took six for 51 as

Somerset bowled out Surrey at

the Oval for a slight first-innings

advantage, but the visiting side

collapsed in the final session from

132 for two to 187 for seven to

leave the game tantalisingly

poised. The game was marred by

an injury to England wicketkeeper

Ben Foakes, who was diving wide

to his right to catch Tom Banton

off Reece Topley when he

collided with the frame of Jamie

Overton, moving to his left from

slip for the same ball.

Foakes lay prone, conscious

but dazed. He eventually walked

off with the Surrey physio Alex

Tysoe’s assistance but did not go

to hospital, further medical tests

being conducted at the ground.

At Canterbury, a mammoth

273-run partnership between

Liam Dawson (171) and Ben Brown

(157) catapulted Hampshire to

652 for six before James Vince

declared. Kent will resume

needing 269 to make Hampshire

bat again, with seven wickets

remaining.

A maiden hundred for

Yorkshire’s George Hill (151 not

out) at Wantage Road, alongside

75 from Dawid Malan and an

undefeated 77 from Harry Brook,

put the visiting side in the driving

seat against Northamptonshire.

Essex knocked off their deficit

against Warwickshire although

they look set for a first defeat of

the season, leading by just 73 with

two wickets remaining, one of

them Simon Harmer on 60.

ENGLAND’S FOAKES

IN INJURY SCARE

Malan has started the
season strongly for
Yorkshire but was left
out by England in the
West Indies despite
being second top
scorer during the
Ashes defeat, left

IAN TUTTLE

I thought the

West Indies

tour would

be my make

or break as a

Test player