Ahead of F1 qualifying in the afternoon
Schumacher and Vettel far ahead in the rain
4/22/2022 3:04 p.m
Due to the first sprint of the season, the Formula 1 drivers in Imola only have one training session before things get serious. Heavy rain whirls the field upside down – and flushes Mick Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel unusually far forward. However, the significance for the qualification in the afternoon is questionable.
In the rain at Imola, world championship leader Charles Leclerc made a strong impression again and left his rival Max Verstappen (Red Bull) behind. Unfazed by the difficult conditions, the 24-year-old turned by far the fastest lap at the Ferrari home game in the first free practice session for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in 1:29.402 minutes, with Verstappen in third place almost one and a half seconds behind. Second was Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz (+0.877) in the second Ferrari.
Mick Schumacher showed a strong performance in fifth (+3.586) on the slowly drying track, ex-world champion Sebastian Vettel made it to eighth place in the Aston Martin (+3.963) – after the messed-up start possibly a glimmer of hope. How representative the results are will be shown in qualifying this afternoon. For 5 p.m (Sky and in the live ticker at ntv.de) Qualifying is scheduled at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, which moves to Friday due to the sprint on Saturday.
Conditions should improve somewhat by then – with Ferrari currently making the strongest impression regardless of the weather, confirming the results of the first three Grands Prix in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia. With a view to the training result, Schumacher could offer himself the chance of the longed-for first world championship points in Formula 1. There are two of them this weekend, first on Saturday (4.30 p.m.) in the sprint and then in the race on Sunday (3 p.m.), which will be broadcast live on free TV on RTL.
It is the first of three sprint races of the 2022 season, which comes up with some changes compared to last year’s premiere. Points are no longer only awarded for the first three, but for the top eight – eight points for the first, then descending to the last point for the eighth place. Today’s qualifying result determines the starting grid for the sprint, while the sprint result determines the starting grid for the Grand Prix. In short: Whoever sets the fastest time today takes pole position in the sprint. Whoever wins the sprint will start from first place on Sunday.