Leclerc salvages pole after spin as DRS problem thwarts Verstappen

32 comments on “Leclerc salvages pole after spin as DRS problem thwarts Verstappen”

1. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   21st May 2022, 16:38

   Norris seemed to have two wheels on the track, though, so surprising.
   The width between the gravel edge & white line is too narrow for the entire car width without touching the gravel & he didn’t, so how could he have had right-hand side wheels over the line?
2. 

   Iosif (@afonic)
   21st May 2022, 16:43

   Charles is the best qualifier I’ve seen since Schumacher. He was under pressure after making a mistake and he did a mega lap, without a safe lap to fall back to. “Leclerc salvages pole” is a bit weak in my opinion.
   1. 

      hamiledon
      21st May 2022, 16:45

      Excellent lap.
   2. 

      AlexS
      21st May 2022, 16:53

      “Leclerc salvages pole” is a bit weak in my opinion.

      It is the narrative here, Leclerc salvages pole or Verstappen have an impediment that makes Leclerc have pole like in last Miami GP.
      Must not put any Leclerc merit in the title.
      1. 

         CheeseBucket (@cheesebucket)
         21st May 2022, 17:48

         Ahh but its so great to see the egotistical little twerp not get it, hopefully his car breaks tomorrow.
         1. 

            Ben (@x-f1-x)
            21st May 2022, 21:40

            Funny, I’ve been saying the same about Hamilton
         2. 

            Rascasse
            22nd May 2022, 16:01

            Ha ha ha ha!
            Great win, Max.
      2. 

         Tommy C (@tommy-c)
         21st May 2022, 23:54

         But he did salvage pole after a spin cost him his first run. The pressure was immense to perform on a single lap and he did it. There’s no controversy to see here.
   3. 

      MichaelN
      21st May 2022, 17:17

      Considering Leclerc put it P1 in all previous sessions (save for Q2 where he didn’t use a new set of tyres), he was the favourite for the pole. Yet he almost threw it away with his spin, so salvage seems quite apt as the pole that seemed to be his was indeed in danger, and he recovered it nicely.

      That said, and as Palmer pointed out in the commentary, the banker lap is mostly just there in case of a technical issue or a yellow flag. No driver goes into his final run without giving it everything. So in that sense Leclerc’s run wasn’t any different from Sainz’ or Russell’s, but obviously it’ll have been in the back of Leclerc’s mind that any issue would mean a P10 start.
      1. 

         Robbie (@robbie)
         21st May 2022, 18:58

         MichaelN And that’s the point as you say. He put himself in a spot where he had no fallback plan. The banker lap can also save a driver from diminishing speed in the track due to conditions, or ensure not having wasted a set of new tires. ‘Salvage’ is the appropriate word here imho too, and it needn’t mean anything too harsh or critical other than for those that wish to read more into it.

         It would seem that for a few posters here if it was Max that made that spin he’d be the laughing stock of the day and at a bare minimum ‘salvage’ for them would probably not be nearly harsh enough.
         1. 

            AlexS
            21st May 2022, 20:54

            No it is not.
            No one except a person with a negative agenda uses “salvage” to say that in last lap with bigger pressure of being only 10th if he fails, a driver makes a brilliant lap >0.3 sec faster than anyone else putting him in the first place. Salvage is if he would be or 3-4th not in top.

            The title has nothing positive. It does not celebrate F1.
3. 

   Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
   21st May 2022, 17:00

   Amazing pole lap by Charles Leclerc after the spin on his first run! So much for Charles being “mentally weak” as some keyboard warriors have labeled him after Imola 😅
   Great effort by Verstappen as well to put his RB on the front row. I didn’t expect RB to be this strong around Barcelona. A shame Max had to abort his final lap due to a DRS failure, but it likely didn’t have an impact on his position.
   While these two did great their #2s didn’t make a good impression. Both ,Sainz and Pérez were too far away from their teammates and the RB driver even got outqualified by a Mercedes. The most painful part today was seeing Carlos Sainz Sr. handing the pole position trophy to Charles Leclerc. That’s like a slap in the face to Carlos Jr.
   While Mercedes made good progress and even managed to outqualify one RB, the gap to the front of the midfield is still not very big. Russell was just 0.2 and 0.3 ahead of Bottas/Magnussen.
   The Haas really surprises me this weekend. Their strong pace might not have come out of the blue, as they were already among the top 10 in practice, but I didn’t expect KMag to put in such an amazing lap! I love the irony in this situation 🤣 Haas are running in a car that virtually hasn’t changed in three months and get within a couple of tenths of P4, while Aston Martin bring a big upgrade and don’t even make it into Q2.
   I felt a little bad for Lando Norris for losing his spot in Q3. I don’t know why race direction was even monitoring track limits in T12, because the lap time gain there is minimal.
   1. 

      Kribana (@krichelle)
      21st May 2022, 17:28

      Mentally weak? Okay then.. this guy has done the following:
      – Won a race just a day after his father passed away.
      – Won a race a day after one of his best friends passed away.
      – Won a race under the most intense pressure during an entire race I have ever seen at that time since 2010 by the most succesful team in F1 history and against the most successful driver of all time.

      These three situations are more than enough.
      1. 

         CheeseBucket (@cheesebucket)
         21st May 2022, 17:50

         You know he’s agreeing with you right?

         I’m just glad the egotistical little twerp Max didn’t get it, hopefully his car breaks tomorrow.
         1. 

            Matn
            21st May 2022, 19:19

            lol… got that off your chest….is it out of fear Max will beat Leclerc again?
         2. 

            G
            21st May 2022, 21:23

            @cheesebucket
            I think you are going to be disappointed.
         3. 

            Ben (@x-f1-x)
            21st May 2022, 21:41

            Sounds like a shamilton fan
      2. 

         petebaldwin (@)
         21st May 2022, 18:00

         I certainly wouldn’t say he’s mentally weak. He makes far too mistakes but with more experience of fighting at the front, they’ll reduce.
   2. 

      Andy (@andyfromsandy)
      21st May 2022, 17:29

      Race directors this year decided that the whole track will be monitored and the white line is the limit. That is why Lando had his lap deleted.

      For the car to end up there the corner entry speed was too high which I suspect would net an advantage if allowed.
4. 

   kpcart
   21st May 2022, 17:01

   Verstappen will win tomorrow. It is becoming a pattern: Ferrari slightly quicker in qualifying but slower in the race with higher tyre wear
   1. 

      MichaelN
      21st May 2022, 17:22

      Indeed, and with F1 doubling down on keeping DRS despite the so-called biggest aero-overhaul ever, Red Bull’s better tyre management and better straight line speed is going to make them shrug ever so slightly at another Ferrari pole. So far the Red Bull team has had the faster (not better, as it’s had too many issues) car everywhere except in Australia.

      Leclerc was also pretty open and honest about the possibility of Verstappen overtaking him later on in the stints when he spoke after quali, so at least they know that’s their main issue performance-wise at the moment. Hopefully the first serious upgrades Ferrari brings will help them address those two weaknesses.
      1. 

         petebaldwin (@)
         21st May 2022, 18:01

         Its extremely hard to overtake at this track though. He won’t just blast past with DRS like he has before.
         1. 

            Robbie (@robbie)
            21st May 2022, 18:37

            There’s always the undercut/overcut.
      2. 

         Matn
         21st May 2022, 19:22

         Take Verstappen away and Ferrari is by far the better car…it’s is not like the drivers don’t matter, with perez steady behind Sainz in near every race and unable to fight Ferrari any conclusion based on RBR being the better car is purely based on Verstappen’s and only Verstappen’s results….wonder what he could do in a Ferrari?
         1. 

            anon
            21st May 2022, 20:09

            Matn, a bit bold to claim that when we really only have a couple of races where you can run a comparison between Sainz and Perez, and where the evidence from those races really doesn’t support your position in the way you think it does.

            In Bahrain, Perez and Sainz were very evenly matched on lap times throughout that race – Sainz got a lead of about 2 seconds in the opening laps thanks to Perez’s poor start dropping him temporarily behind Hamilton, but once Perez passed Hamilton, Sainz was unable to pull any further ahead from Perez and the two were matching times throughout the remainder of the race until the late reliability issues.

            In Jeddah, Perez started that race ahead of Sainz and, in the opening laps, managed to open up a lead of 8 seconds over Sainz – Sainz only got ahead of Perez thanks to the safety car coming out just after Perez had pitted. Having gained track position thanks to the safety car, Sainz wasn’t able to pull any further than about 2 seconds ahead of Perez – again, the lap times were very evenly matched thereafter.

            Similarly, when you look at the times from Miami, Perez and Sainz were again very evenly matched in terms of lap times during that race.

            When you run a detailed comparison of the lap times from those races, you can’t say that Perez has been “unable to challenge Sainz” – in the three races where you can run a comparison, they’ve been very evenly matched in terms of lap times, and the balance really should be 2-1 overall given that Sainz was ultimately lucky with the safety car timing in Jeddah.
            1. 

               Matn
               22nd May 2022, 6:54

               ‘Evenly matched’ as in Perez being behind Sainz most of the time unable to catch him, while Verstappen finished P1 in all races he started in 2022, beating both Ferrari’s from pole or behind.

               As mentioned if Verstappen would have been stuck behind, like Perez, no one would mention RBR as ‘best’ car.
               Sainz crashed a lot, but that doesn’t say anything about Ferrari’s true potential.

               Check race by race and the outcome is still similar, Pere unable to fight Ferrari
         2. 

            Robbie (@robbie)
            21st May 2022, 20:14

            Matn Can’t say I agree. SP is sitting 13 points up on Sainz, and he is sitting 19 points back of Max. I think he is doing relatively better this season than he ever has. He’s obviously way more comfortable this year than last because of the car.

            And it’s always a car/driver/team combo, so why take Max away and put him in a Ferrari unless you intend on reinventing history and giving him time to be engrained on the team to really see what he could do? Same with if Max had had a chance at LH’s Mercedes. The fair comparison last year was between Max in his first year of having a Championship level car vs LH in his 8th straight season of having the proven WCC car. Even in your imagination you can’t just realistically swap drivers around, plop them in a strange car, and expect instant everything.

            For now both Max/RBR and CL/Ferrari are the duos to beat but they’re walking away from the field in the races. Let’s leave both of them in their very close cars and see where the season goes.
         3. 

            TT
            22nd May 2022, 8:12

            Take Leclerc away and RBR is by far the better car… with Max being miles ahead of all other drivers and no one on the grid to challenge him.
5. 

   Edvaldo
   21st May 2022, 18:38

   Leclerc is making Sainz look really bad this year.
   1. 

      If I'm not wery much mistaken (@ifiamnotwerymuchmistaken)
      21st May 2022, 18:41

      I’d say Sainz is making Sainz look bad this year.
6. 

   If I'm not wery much mistaken (@ifiamnotwerymuchmistaken)
   21st May 2022, 18:39

   Nicely mixed grid. Could be an interesting race. Hopefully the DRS isn’t as effective as it was in the last few races, and the driver in front has a chance to defend.
7. 

   Sviat
   21st May 2022, 18:43

   Now that’s how you update the car – Russell gets a position before a Red Bull, and another Mercedes is right behind. For sure, Russell is going to lose 4th to Perez, but he has a chance for another top 5. I also hope that Russell will do an Alonso at the start and will lead the race after the first corner. Alonso did it twice.

   Alpine, as expected, has got even further down the grid after their so called “updates”. If Bottas doesn’t botch it up, then Alpine might be looking at 6th place at the end of the season.
   McLarens look weak.

   I hope Ferrari wins it, but realistically, there’s no chance. Red Bull is a much better car in race than Ferrari.

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