The fifteenth race of the year, the 171st (1071) in absolute terms, took place on Sunday, September 4, 2022. Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands.

After the safety car was recalled, following the resumption of the race, Hamilton looked frantically in the mirrors at Verstappen’s car. As in the last race last year, he knows perfectly well that to overtake him and advance to the finish line is a matter of seconds. In addition, he made the wrong setting on the dashboard. Of course, the seriousness of last year’s situation is one title between them, compared to just played Sunday’s match. This year, Mercedes itself does not claim anything more than second place, provided that the sad course of Ferrari continues in the hands of its leader.

Hamilton’s nightmare and reality

But the wound is still open. The wound is fresh. The recovery is slow because Wolf, the leader of the German team and protagonist of its legendary race to date, has not been able to weather the misfortune that befell them in the final laps of the 2021 Abu Dhabi race.

He cited the unfair treatment of his team and threatened legal action with the certainty of a positive outcome in their favor. Of course, none of this happened, because Latifi’s accident alone was the cause of Verstappen’s victory and no appeal to the courts outside the FIA ​​would have been successful.

But the most important element of the final settlement was an internal agreement struck between Toto Wolff and the sports management, which, based on vague promises of justice, change and the appointment of a scapegoat by Michael Massey, racing director, ultimately left the wound unhealed.

For Hamilton was left with the bitterness of injustice at his expense, since Wolff’s pompous claims of justice proved groundless. He still hasn’t been able to digest the reason for his defeat and lives and breathes to make amends. He missed out on the world title, which statistically would have made him the most successful F1 driver of all time.

On the Dutch track, the nightmare came true. Inability to defend and defend. But in the end, it was all an illusion, because even if not for the previous retirements of Tsunoda and Bottas, Verstappen’s speed after the second pit stop, which he would actually have been forced to use in the last 22 laps, would probably … have been one that would dominate two Mercedes.

Of course, there would be more concern, and perhaps a different outcome, but the difference in strength this year between the two teams is so significant that it doesn’t justify either Hamilton’s curses at radio or Wolff’s commitment to doing his part.

The ongoing tension stems from the German team’s inability to face the truth, and despite an impressive turnaround from the car’s initial poor design and indiscriminate “dolphinism” of the drivers, it still remains tied to the past, opening a scoring that shouldn’t have.

Battle timeline

Start off: Hamilton tries unsuccessfully to overtake Saint at turn one (Tarzan). Mercedes, Haas and Norris started the race with medium tyres, unlike the others who used soft tyres. Obviously, the German team chose one pit stop (one change) for the race.

11/72: Vettel drives into the pits and drives out hard. In each race, Pirelli uses three sets of tires, codenamed c1, c2, c3, c4, c5. From the initial letter of the word joint and numbering from the hardest to the softest joint. The teams show up on Friday with 13 sets of tires. Sunday they have 10 of them in stock. Usually there are six soft tires, and the remaining four are divided into medium and hard. They are distinguished for convenience by a characteristic strip around the circumference. Red, yellow and white, respectively. When the engineer calls his driver to the box, the shift crew is already ready with specific instructions and prescribed positions and responsibilities. Four tires are changed within 2.5-3 seconds, and the total
the delay time on the pit is on average 20 seconds. The main purpose of the change in tactics is for the chief engineer of the race to find a suitable time “window” so that when re-entrying the car does not get stuck in traffic. This coordination, especially on urban roads, is extremely complex and requires detailed recording and analysis of conditions.

14/72: Russell is a DRS distance – less than a second – from Perez. Pérez laps at pace 8/10 seconds behind his teammate Verstappen. The phenomenon is frequent and difficult to explain, given the theoretically the same cost of cars. We don’t have the same phenomenon in Mercedes and Ferrari. Is there such a big difference in drive between Perez and Verstappen or is there something else?

16/72: The time difference between Leclerc and Verstappen is 4.3 inches.

17/72: Leclerc enters with soft tires and leaves with medium tires, finishing in 4th place.

18/72: Red Bull reacts immediately and logically. He plays Verstappen for a change. He is third after the German cars.

25/72: On all tracks of the championship without exception, the lap does not exceed two minutes and is not shorter than one. Therefore, if you count seconds over a minute, you can accurately describe the speed of the car. Hamilton scores 16.7, as does Russell. Verstappen with 16″ and Leclerc with 16.2″.

28/72: Verstappen passes Russell at the finish line.

30/72: Hamilton switches to hard, and on the next lap Russell. Mercedes’ tactics are obvious. But what is its strategic goal? Was it originally intended? Probably yes. High ambitions.

36/72: Hamilton on hard rubber pushes Perez, who is clearly slower. In turn three, he overtakes but crashes into Vettel, who is a lap behind, ignoring the blue flag and bothering the Briton.

39/72: Russell overtakes Perez in the first move. The difference between Leclerc and Verstappen is 10 inches, despite the fact that they made the same moves. F1TV cameras focus three times on Red Bull’s top tactician Hannah Schmitz, who has demonstrated her skills time and time again.

41/72: Perez suffers from tire wear and pits. He comes out 7th with difficulty.

46/72: Ferrari is out of luck. While she diligently changes the tires on her car, Tsunoda finally gives up. The rest take advantage of the virtual safety car situation and go to a cheap and time-consuming pit stop. Mercedes comes out medium and Verstappen hard. Verstappen is in the lead, followed by two Britons. Now it’s hard to lose. Hamilton is still happy. He hopes to get closer to Verstappen. He’s 12 inches behind. Continuing the conspiratorial stance apparently espoused by Toto Wolff, he said after the race that possible fraud by Red Bull’s subsidiary Alpha Tauri regarding how the damage to Tsunoda’s car was repaired should be expanded upon. In short, the head of Mercedes accuses the two teams of Dietrich Mateschitz of colluding against Hamilton, although in practice the championship decision has already been made, even if Verstappen finished second in the race in question.

55/72: Hamilton passes in 13.8 inches, Verstappen makes a “hard” circle in 14.5 inches. But Bottas gives up on the starting line. A security car pulls up. Verstappen wears soft clothes. Hamilton stays on the sidelines while Russell sticks to soft games to avoid threats from Leclerc, who also switches to mediums.

61/72: At the restart, Verstappen easily bypasses Hamilton.

64/72: Russell leaves behind a great Briton.

64/72: Hamilton concedes third place to Leclerc. He is upset. Not properly. Nothing could have been better given the circumstances. The wolf puts him in order, manipulating him under the guise of family unity. Verstappen leads the drivers’ standings by 109 points ahead of Leclerc and Pérez, who are tied. Red Bull is 135 points ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship. Mercedes is in third place, 30 points clear of second place Ferrari. Red Bull is confidently leading the race.

The next race will take place on Sunday at the Monza circuit in Italy, which was opened on September 3, 1922. It has been included in the Formula 1 race schedule since day one. Except for just one year. Throttle is 80% full. Red Bull, that is, Verstappen, is not in danger.