The 2022 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Rolex Gran Premio del Made in Italy e dell'Emilia-Romagna 2022) was a Formula One motor race held on 24 April 2022 at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. It was the first Grand Prix weekend of the season to utilize the Formula One sprint racing format.
The race was won by Max Verstappen, ahead of his teammate Sergio Pérez and Lando Norris who finished third, his and McLaren's only podium of the season. It was Red Bull Racing's first 1–2 finish since the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix, as well as Verstappen's second career grand slam, having started in pole position after winning the sprint race from first position on Saturday, and set the fastest lap while leading every lap of the race he won on Sunday. Championship leader Charles Leclerc finished sixth, while his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. retired on lap 1 after a collision with Daniel Ricciardo at turn 1. This was the only race in the 2022 season where a driver outside one of the top three constructors achieved a podium.
Background Championship standings before the race Charles Leclerc was the Drivers' Championship leader after the previous round in Australia with 71 points, 34 ahead of George Russell in second, with Carlos Sainz Jr. in third, four points behind Russell. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari led Mercedes by 39 points and Red Bull Racing by a further 10.
Entrants
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.
Tyre choices
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C2, C3, and C4 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.
Track changes The DRS detection point was moved further back, being positioned before turn 17.
Practice There were two practice sessions, both lasting one hour. The first practice session started at 13:30 local time (UTC+02:00) on Friday, 22 April. The second practice session started at 12:30 local time on 23 April. The first practice session ended with Charles Leclerc quickest ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen. The session was red flagged twice due to the wet conditions causing spins at turn twelve by Lando Norris and later Valtteri Bottas. In the second practice session, George Russell set the fastest lap ahead of Sergio Pérez and Leclerc.
Qualifying Qualifying took place at 17:00 local time and was scheduled to last one hour. Unlike the season, in which the qualifying for the Formula One sprint determined the grid for Saturday and the winner of the sprint would be considered as the pole-sitter for the Grand Prix, the 2022 rules state that the driver setting the fastest time on qualifying would be considered as the pole-sitter regardless of the sprint results.
Qualifying report The first qualifying session was red flagged with 12 minutes left after Alexander Albon's brakes caught fire at turn 14 due to an incorrect switch setting, spewing debris all over the track. Only ten drivers had set times before the red flag, causing the track to become congested. The drivers eliminated were Albon, his Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi, the two AlphaTauri drivers, Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, and Esteban Ocon in the Alpine. The second part of qualifying was red flagged after Carlos Sainz Jr. spun at turn 18 and collided with the outside barrier; although his time was fast enough for him to advance to the third part of qualifying, he was not able to participate in the session due to his crash, leaving him tenth. Those eliminated were Lance Stroll, Zhou Guanyu, Mick Schumacher, and notably George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, the two Mercedes drivers, the first time since the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix that a Mercedes car did not make the final part of qualifying.
In Q3, there were three more red flags, bringing the total in qualifying to five, a new record. First was Kevin Magnussen spinning at turn 12, one of many drivers having issues at that part of the track. The second red flag in the session was called when Valtteri Bottas's Alfa Romeo had an issue causing him to pull off the side of the track at turn 16, with only three minutes left in the session. Max Verstappen, who was on pace to set the fastest lap, had to slow down due to the yellow flags and was still able to complete the lap and beat Charles Leclerc's time by 0.7 seconds; the red flag was deployed before Leclerc was able to complete his lap. Drivers were again in a frenzy to get one more chance to improve their lap time; however, with less than a minute to go, Lando Norris spun at turn 12. This caused the session to end prematurely, leaving the drivers with no more chance to improve their lap times. Verstappen had set the fastest lap ahead Leclerc, the championship leader, who qualified in second. McLaren's Norris was third and Magnussen, driving for Haas, a team that did not qualify higher than 14th in 2021, was fourth, which was the team's best qualifying in its history. Verstappen's teammate Sergio Pérez managed seventh behind Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo, with Bottas, Sebastian Vettel, and Sainz occupying the rest of the top ten.
Qualifying classification DriverConstructorSprintgridQ1Q2Q311 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-RBPT1:19.295 1:18.793 1:27.9991216 Charles LeclercFerrari1:18.7961:19.584 1:28.778234 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1:20.1681:19.294 1:29.1313420 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1:20.1471:19.9021:29.1644514 Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault1:20.1981:19.595 1:29.202563 Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes1:19.980 1:20.031 1:29.7426711 Sergio PérezRed Bull Racing-RBPT1:19.7731:19.2961:29.8087877 Valtteri BottasAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1:20.419 1:20.1921:30.439895 Sebastian Vettel1:20.364 1:19.957 1:31.06291055 Carlos Sainz Jr.Ferrari1:19.3051:18.990 No time101163 George RussellMercedes1:20.3831:20.757 N/A111247Haas-Ferrari1:20.422 1:20.916N/A121344 Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:20.470 1:21.138 N/A131424 Zhou Guanyu1:19.7301:21.434N/A141518 Lance StrollAston Martin Aramco-Mercedes1:20.3421:28.119N/A151622 Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-RBPT1:20.474 N/AN/A161710 Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-RBPT1:20.732 N/AN/A17186 Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes1:21.971N/AN/A181931 Esteban OconAlpine-Renault1:22.338N/AN/A19107% time: 1:24.311—23 Alexander AlbonWilliams-MercedesNo timeN/AN/A20Source: Notes – Alexander Albon failed to set a time during qualifying, but he was permitted to race in the sprint at the stewards' discretion.
Sprint The sprint started at 16:30 local time on 23 April and lasted for 21 laps. Unlike the season, in which only the first three placed drivers in the sprint received points, the 2022 rules expanded points to the first eight drivers. It continued to determine the grid for the race on Sunday.
Sprint report Max Verstappen had a bad start and Charles Leclerc took the lead, while Pierre Gasly hit Zhou Guanyu at turn 9, causing a puncture for Gasly, and Zhou's retirement, which brought out the safety car. In the first laps, Leclerc pushed hard to keep Verstappen out of DRS range but started to suffer from graining. On lap 19, Verstappen was able to pass him into turn 1 with the DRS to win the sprint, ahead of Leclerc. Sergio Pérez recovered to third, while Carlos Sainz Jr. came back to fourth. With the results, Sainz returned to second in the standings, while Verstappen rose from 6th to 5th, as both Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished outside the points.
Sprint classification DriverConstructorTime/RetiredPoints11 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-RBPT2130:39.567181216 Charles LeclercFerrari21 +2.975 272311 Sergio PérezRed Bull Racing-RBPT21 +4.721763455 Carlos Sainz Jr.Ferrari21 +17.578105454 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes21 +24.561 34563 Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes21 +27.740636777 Valtteri BottasAlfa Romeo-Ferrari21 +28.133827820 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari21 +30.712418914 Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault21 +32.278591047Haas-Ferrari21 +33.773 12 101163 George RussellMercedes21 +36.28411111222 Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-RBPT21 +38.29816 12135 Sebastian VettelAston Martin Aramco-Mercedes21 +40.1779 131444 Lewis HamiltonMercedes21 +41.45913141518 Lance Stroll21 +42.91015151631 Esteban OconAlpine-Renault21 +43.51719161710 Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-RBPT21 +43.79417171823 Alexander AlbonWilliams-Mercedes21 +48.8712018196 Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes21 +52.017 1819 24 Zhou GuanyuAlfa Romeo-Ferrari0 Collision14 Fastest lap: Sergio Pérez (Red Bull Racing-RBPT) – 1:19.012 (lap 14)Source: Notes – Zhou Guanyu was required to start the race from the pit lane as his car was modified under parc fermé conditions due to a collision with Pierre Gasly.
Race The race started at 15:00 local time on 24 April and lasted 63 laps. It was won by Max Verstappen ahead of teammate Sergio Pérez in second and Lando Norris in third. On home soil, Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. suffered, as the former made a mistake late in the race that cost him a podium, while the latter had a DNF on lap 1.
Race report With rain falling in the circuit in the preceding hours and the track being wet, all cars on the grid started on intermediate tyres. Those starting on the right side of the grid, such as championship leader Charles Leclerc in second and his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. in fourth, had a bad start due to a bitumen asphalt strip, which was added to cover the old starting line but had become more slippery when it rained. Going into turn 1, Leclerc lost positions to Sergio Pérez and Lando Norris, while Sainz was overtaken by Norris at the start and was hit by Daniel Ricciardo. The collision, which was not investigated, left Sainz struck in the gravel, while Ricciardo was able to get back on track and make a pit stop at the end of the lap. After the Sainz–Ricciardo collision, Mick Schumacher had a half-spin and dropped from 10th to 17th, as his rear-axle slid tagged the sidepod of Fernando Alonso, who had to retire on lap 8 after his bodywork failed. Russell, Sebastian Vettel, and Lance Stroll had a good start, with Russell sixth, Vettel ninth, and Stroll eleventh. The safety car brought out by the Sainz–Ricciardo collision was withdrawn on lap 4.
With Leclerc stuck behind Norris, the two Red Bull cars of Max Verstappen and Pérez built a lead, as Verstappen turned down a suggestion from his team to put on dry tyres and he continued racing, as did the rest of the field, despite reports of the track drying. On lap 8, Leclerc overtook Norris into turn 1, but by then he had a 6.2 and 3.3 seconds deficit to Verstappen and Pérez, respectively. In the next seven laps, those gaps remained stable, as Verstappen was 5.5 seconds ahead of Pérez, with Leclerc at 1.9 seconds behind. Verstappen told his team he was ready to switch to slick tyres in case a safety car was brought out but remained on track. Ricciardo went into the pits on lap 18 to switch to dry, medium compound tyres, which led the rest of the field to follow suit over the next few laps. On lap 19, both Pérez and Russell, the latter now running fourth after overtaking Kevin Magnussen on lap 12, pitted, which was a lap earlier than Verstappen and Leclerc, the latter of whom had a successful overcut to come in front of Pérez for second; however, due to Leclerc's colder tyres, Pérez was able to take the position back a few turns later, as Verstappen expanded his lead to 7.5 seconds.