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

(Antfer) #1
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
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