Red kidney failure in Abu Dhabi: Leclerc grabs second place in the race, in the drivers’ and constructors’ championships

Hamilton, first vintage since 2008 with zero victories

In the first five laps the fight immediately became close with Sainz and Hamilton: between the two an apparently irregular overtaking at the start by the Spaniard, who had forced his rival into a dangerous cut off the track, not without a “jump” on a high curb. Having immediately returned the position then immediately allowed the case to be closed for the federation and, on the fifth lap, Hamilton passed him back forcefully and without constraints by radio. Unfortunately, however, a problem arose on the single-seater with the three-pointed star which started to drop in the standings without ever making a significant comeback. Bad luck then hit him a second time, with a gearbox failure less than three laps from the end. For the seven-time world champion, the first Formula 1 season since 2008 ends with zero victories.

Leclerc’s race and the calculator on the wall

At about a quarter of the way into the grand prix, the first counts begin, which raise anxiety about the strategies to follow. On lap 18, the sum of the times between Leclerc and Hamilton and Perez was in the order of 21 seconds, at that moment still more or less enough to allow you to put your nose in front of Perez when the Ferrari driver had to go out to change tires. The Red Bull team today seemed to focus on early changes which, in the immediate future, obviously paid for the times. After Perez’s first stop, on closer inspection, where he only dropped by two positions, lap after lap he recovered almost one second at a time. The fever at the wall was growing. Leclerc is recalled on lap 21 with a gap that had already fallen to less than 15 seconds. One lap after his return, however, the Monegasque found himself chasing the Spaniard by five seconds. From here followed 35 laps of pure anxiety. The team’s goal was in fact to put the single-seater in front and, calculator in hand, stay ahead in both classifications. But it had to be believed.

The choice of tires is decisive

In the meantime, those who had kept the medium tires on for too long from the start were causing concern. For example, on lap 25, Vettel complained over the radio that he “was a pigeon to be impaled”: on the other hand, the tire change window for the medium-sized tires had been declared to be between 14 and 20 laps. In his case they probably kept it inside too much in the first stint, but in the end some of the more experienced drivers fared better than some colleagues who “burned” them in much less kilometres. The difference, therefore, would have been made by the hard girls, who have been Leclerc’s secret.

The Red Bull mistake

Almost on the stroke of halfway through the race, while Alonso had to retire due to a breakdown while gravitating towards the points, on lap 29 of 58 Leclerc sets the best lap time and rekindles interest in the race, in the meantime reducing the delay from Perez who, only a handful of laps later, he was recalled from the pits for the second substitution. And here, for once, there was the fatal error of judgment of the world champion team. In fact, if the Carioca driver capable of winning in Monaco lowers the best time of this grand prix, and manages to close the gap more and more, lap by firo until almost the end, his nose in front of the Ferrari driver, however, will never .

For Perez best result in his career

Therefore, despite over a dozen more laps due to the red tires, Hamilton’s mechanical debacle, Perez encounters some unexpected events in his comeback: for a few laps, between 45 and 46, the Mercedes driver makes him lose a little of time with overtaking and counter-overtaking, almost as if to “revenge” the rudeness suffered in 2021. And there was a bit of a slowdown in the dubbing of Gasly and Albon, who are fighting for positions, however, outside the points. At the finish line, the delay was just over a second. Without showing it too much, Perez is blackly angry and mulling over last Sunday’s failure to overtake: he would have changed everything. However, all that remains is to celebrate the best result of his career, which thus passes from fourth to third place overall.