This sprint has been an excellent addition to the F1 calendar and this one did not disappoint. Lets take a look below.

Qualifying

Qualifying is where we saw something we have all been waiting for. Lewis Hamilton back up front.

Hamilton set pole and we had to wait for the McLaren’s to cross the line however both McLaren’s had errors in sector three meaning Hamilton got his first sprint pole position at Ferrari. Verstappen came very close being only 2 hundredths behind.

Start of the Race

Hamilton had an excellent launch off the line covering off Verstappen. This gave Piastri room to pressure Max however Charles Leclerc was looking for every opportunity to get Piastri with the two nearly colliding several times in the first two corners.

Norris struggled with a slide down on the downhill breaking in to turn 6. This lost him 2 positions. Not a great start for the Brit. Ultimately this ruined his race.

The Ferrari was looking strong on the straights pulling away from the Redbull with ease. This was coming together for Hamilton nicely. It was crucial that he gets out of DRS range. 0.9 seconds at the end of lap 1.

Lawson starting making his way up the pack however it wasn’t the most elegant of overtakes, touching wheels and getting air time against a rookie Alpine. It should be much easier in a RedBull, simply no need for contact. 

On lap 8 Norris was asking his engineer about tyre wear and it was surprising that the McLaren seemed to have had worse degradation than the surrounding cars. I thought the philosophy of the McLaren build was lower Deg so this is most likely down to driving style and probably situational as Norris had lost places and in now playing catch up in dirty air.

Lawson still moving through the pack and it definitely helped that he had a battling pack of Hadjar, Gasly and Sainz however there was part of his front wing end plate that flew over in the process impacting any further pushing. You can seen he is trying to demonstrate than he can compete. Unfortunately it shouldn’t be for double digits finishing positions in a Redbull.

It wasn’t until lap 14 where we saw some competition in the top 3 with Piastri gaining on Max and pushing into turn 1. Max was having to be as defensive as possible unfortunately that McLaren is fast and that straight is very long. With the DRS assist Piastri gains and overtakes Verstappen in to turn 14.

Russell and Leclerc we having a good tussle however Leclerc couldn’t quite get the job done. finishing 5th.

Lap 19 Hamilton crosses the line winner of the Sprint race and an impressive 7 seconds ahead of 2nd place, Piastri, Verstappen in 3rd. Excellent showing for the first Sprint of the season.

Summary

Amazing first sprint of the season. There is a very mixed top 10 however it is still all to race for at the GP.

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