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The F1 circus reaches Europe for the Imola GP this weekend. This will be the fourth race of the season and will feature the first sprint race weekend of the year. Charles Leclerc leads the standings with 71 points to his name, while George Russell is second in his Mercedes with 37 points.
The season has featured a battle for the lead between Max Verstappen's Red Bull and Charles Leclerc's Ferrari in two out of three races. Leclerc already has two wins and a P2 to his name, while Verstappen, the likeliest of title challengers, has just one win and two DNFs to show for the first three races of the season. As F1 arrives in Italy, the race could prove to be pivotal in determining which direction the championship fight will take this season.
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So, here are our preview and predictions for the 2022 Imola GP.
2022 F1 Imola GP: Preview and Predictions
Key Storylines
#1 Can Red Bull bounce back this weekend?
Red Bull's start to the 2022 season could not have been worse. The car already appears to be a few tenths behind Ferrari in the slow-speed sections of the track. Moreover, reliability issues are too big a headache for the team at the moment.
Max Verstappen is already 46 points behind leader Charles Leclerc at the moment. Had he not suffered those DNFs, the gap would have been just 10 points. The Red Bull driver cannot afford to lose out to Leclerc in this race. If Red Bull is aiming to contest for the title then the Imola GP has to be the race where they bounce back.
#2 The Sprint Race will be under the scanner
The proposal to increase the number of sprint race weekends was given a cold shoulder by the teams at the start of the season as more races meant more strain on the budget. F1 might have therefore shot itself in the foot by choosing Imola of all races to host the sprint weekend.
For a sprint race, a track like Imola is just not conducive. The track has never been famous for its wheel-to-wheel action. Even the implementation of a modified points system is not incentive enough for drivers to pull kamikaze moves on each other. The sprint race with the new generation of cars will face a stern test in the Imola GP.
#3 Multiple teams bringing upgrades
The race being held in Europe will provide the teams with the first opportunity to bring in a raft of upgrades to make improvements to their cars. So far, Red Bull, Alpine, AlphaTauri, and Aston Martin have confirmed their upgrades.
With a single Free Practice session before qualifying, it will be interesting to see how the teams understand their new upgrades and how they go about implementing them. Will we see a change in the pecking order? It's worth keeping an eye out for that.
Form Guide
Who is in form?
With 2 wins, 2 pole positions, and the fastest laps in all three races, Ferrari is towering over everyone else in the championship standings. So it would be almost blasphemous to term anyone other than the Scuderia as the team in form.
The Italian outfit has a car that is capable of performing in all conditions. Heading into the home Grand Prix for the team, it's hard to keep the spotlight on any team other than Ferrari at the moment.
Who is out of form?
Aston Martin is now last in the championship standings. The team was one of the earliest last season to start working on the challenger for this year. Yet, with Williams scoring a point in Australia, Aston Martin finds itself in a spot of bother.
The team has been struggling with porpoising, which has prevented the team's progress so far. There are upgrades planned for the team this weekend and the drivers will be hoping that they can help the team progress to the midfield at the very least.
Predictions for the Imola GP
Race winner
A home race for the team, a car that performs on any type of track, a rival that is struggling with reliability, and to cap it all off, a driver at the peak of his powers! For the Imola GP, it would not be a surprise if Charles Leclerc ends up winning the race and stretching the lead even further.
Surprise of the Imola GP weekend
Team
If there is one team that has shown that you can make significant progress despite having a bad start to the season, it is McLaren. The team has climbed its way through the pecking order from being the 8th fastest team in Bahrain to being a legitimate contender in the midfield.
The potential of the McLaren machinery is still not clear. Should the team continue on this growth trajectory, we might see them beating Mercedes at the Imola GP.
Driver
Fernando Alonso has two points to his name after the first three races of the season. Looking at the kind of performances he has put together, however, it's apparent that he is one of the standout performers this season.
The Spaniard will be seething inside his helmet looking at his points tally, especially when compared to the 20 points scored by his teammate. Like every champion driver, Alonso is just going to take it up a notch once more. Watch out for the Spaniard at the Imola GP as we might witness something special.
Disappointment of the weekend
Team
Mercedes will not be bringing any significant upgrades to the Imola GP. This is in contrast to teams like Alpine that are bringing a significant upgrade package to their car. Subsequently, the German team is nowhere close to being a contender for the championship right now.
At this point, the team needs to look for improvements. Not bringing in new parts or trying new things is not going to help the team close down the gap to Ferrari. By the looks of it, Imola might turn out to be another weekend where Mercedes is unable to close the gap to the front.
Driver
Carlos Sainz Jr. has not had a good start to the season. The Spaniard has been second best to teammate Charles Leclerc in every race. The pressure finally led to the Spaniard making his first mistake of the season as he beached his Ferrari in Australia. The gap between Leclerc and Sainz is already significant now, with the former performing at a very high level.
At the Imola GP, we might just see Leclerc breaking further away from the pack as compared to where he is right now. Consequently, we might see a few errors creeping into Sainz's game.
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