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The grid for the 2022 F1 Italian GP is more or less decided. Charles Leclerc once again produced magic for Ferrari at Monza and clinched pole position, something he has done regularly this season. The grid penalties have certainly made things all the more interesting as we will have a jumbled grid for the race and multiple drivers with grid penalties coming through the field.
Having said that, what can fans expect from Sunday's race? Who is going to make his way through the field? Who is finishing where? Well, that's what we're here to tell you as we share our race predictions for the 2022 F1 Italian GP.
#5 Sebastian Vettel could score points in this one
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Sebastian Vettel, in all likelihood, is starting the race in P13. The German has shown a great ability to nurse his tires through a stint throughout the season. To add to this, while Aston Martin has never had great qualifying speed, their race pace has been more or less competitive. Starting in P13, expect Vettel to put together another tactful race as he once again scores points for the team.
#4 The race might not feature too much drama
The F1 Italian GP is not a race that is known for too much drama. You don't see too many crashes here, safety cars are rare as well, and you won't normally see races like the one we had in Zandvoort. To contradict that, one can point to the last two F1 Italian GPs that have thrown the form book out of the window but those were freak races. You won't see that happening far too often (although we hope that it does). Having said that, expect a good race bereft of any excess drama that we saw in Zandvoort last week.
#3 Overtaking might be much easier than before
Overtaking has been a bit difficult during the F1 Italian GP. Even though the DRS zones are long, it's never been a track that has been conducive to overtakes. In this iteration of the 2022 F1 Italian GP, expect things to be a bit different.
The first piece of evidence was in the first free practice session where Max Verstappen was able to stay glued to the back of Lando Norris through the Parabolica on one of his fast laps. This is something that was not common in the previous set of regulations.
The run around the Parabolica is going to help the cars get close to the lead cars on the main straight. With the help of DRS, the overtaking is not going to be too tough by the looks of it.
#2 Sergio Perez finishes the race in the top 5, Lewis Hamilton doesn't
Sergio Perez will be starting the race in P10 with quite a few cars in front of him that have strong straight-line speed. Having said that, what the qualifying lap of the Mexican showed was that he was getting back into the groove with his car. Expect Perez to progress through the field and finish the race inside the top 5.
For Lewis Hamilton, however, things are not going to be that easy. One reason behind it is a back-of-the-grid start in a car apparently without enough straight-line speed for overtaking. While the DRS and new generation of cars do sweeten the blow, it's going to be a tough ask for Hamilton in his Mercedes. Expect him to finish outside the top 5 this weekend.
#1 Max vs George vs Charles is the battle for the F1 Italian GP (Max wins)
The front two rows for the 2022 F1 Italian GP feature the future of the sport. You have Charles Leclerc and George Russell on the front row and then you have Lando Norris and Max Verstappen on the second. Norris, unfortunately, does not have the machinery to hang with the Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari. In the race, we might see him fall back after some time.
With Red Bull opting to run a higher downforce wing, however, things do become interesting. Expect a battle for the win on Sunday amongst the future of F1 as Leclerc, Russell, and Verstappen battle it out in three different types of machinery.
Who wins? In all likelihood, at least for now, Max Verstappen appears to be the complete package in terms of the car, driver, and team. We're picking the Red Bull driver to pick up his 5th win in a row this weekend.
