The twenty-second race of the year, the 178th (1078) in absolute terms, took place on Sunday, November 20, 2022 at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Each Formula 1 race is associated with a kind of paradox. Despite the fact that it is television, with an amazing variety of shots of what is happening in it, there is a significant lack of coverage of even essential parameters that can understand its final result. The final meeting at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, clearly showed the ambiguity of the events that determined the final result of the race. The special bet in the match was a second-place claim between equals Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Sergio (or Sergio) Pérez. The first place in the standings of drivers and manufacturers was determined long ago. But winning second place had a significant psychological weight, mainly in terms of future consequences for the internal balance of the respective groups. Second place for Perez would mean the complete dominance of the Austrian team this year, while its founder has finally left the world. At the same time, it would bring some normalization with Verstappen and the latter’s selfish and vengeful attitude towards him at the Brazilian Grand Prix when he did not help him score points. With second place, Leclerc further solidified his leadership position in the Italian team and at the same time softened Binotto’s rather poor year after winning the first races, mainly in terms of strategy and tactics.

After the start and the relative stabilization of the car’s position in the race, Pérez seems to have problems with speed in relation to Leclerc, who is steadily closing in on him. On lap 15, he pits with a half-second lead over Leclerc. Monegasque doesn’t come on for the next round – which seems to make sense – as at worst he’ll keep a small margin, and at best he’ll have the opportunity to overeat. But the Ferrari management insisted on keeping him out for another six laps, which ultimately allowed Perez to close the gap on the opponent. At a likely second pit stop, Perez would definitely have the advantage. Leclerc’s personal fans do not agree with the tactics of the team, which for the umpteenth time this year keeps him captivated by audacity and confusion. In the end, as the race progresses, it is clear that Ferrari chose the tactic of one stop, although at some point, when the difference in pace per lap grew to 7/10 for Pérez, the mechanics’ confidence in Leclerc was shaken in their choice. But now the possibilities there was no room for change.In the end, the choice paid off, Leclerc showed exemplary driving, protecting his tires and maintaining a 1.5-inch lead, which allowed him to finish ahead of his rival.

There are unanswered questions that arose both during the match and after it. What contributed to Perez’s slowness in the early rounds? In all likelihood, the phenomenon of graininess (grit) in his tires. Due to the low temperature (mostly after rain), the grains of decomposed rubber re-bond and seriously degrade the quality of the rubber. Information taken from a post by Mark Hughes. But why only Perez? And in general, why is so much going on with the Mexican in relation to his teammate? Engineer Leclerc’s instruction to do the opposite of any Pérez move in terms of pit stop tactics was a ploy by the Italian team to convince Red Bull that they weren’t going to choose a stop when they had already chosen one in advance. , with what happened, even if they later had doubts about their choice? It is difficult to answer, although television and journalistic coverage of the most popular sporting event in the world requires absolute clarity and factual clarity. What makes it so difficult to finally decide on the causes and consequences of this? It’s a common occurrence in Formula One that needs to be studied, if not explained, and probably impossible to erase. Perhaps this is not the result of any one factor, which, of course, is the complexity of the relationship between man and machine as a whole. Of course, even this complexity must be based on the facts of existence, on the derivational condition. Unfortunately or fortunately, we can only deal with its consequences. With patience and perseverance, with constant reductions to simpler forms of understanding, the product of time giving something new to this search, we hope for a fuller awareness of the obvious or invisible causes that lead to actions and their results. Of course, the possible causes include unpredictable and random factors, as is often the case in our daily lives.