Duel in the Desert Round 2
Hello pool participants, another Sunday and another exciting Grand Prix. Round 2 of F1 2022 took us to Saudi Arabia and the spectacular Jeddah street circuit. Not just a spectacle for the eyes, this track was designed to test the limits of both car and driver. Who could tame this beast of a circuit and who in the pool could take advantage of the inevitable chaos this track would create?
Right from qualifying the circuit claimed several victims. The first was Lewis Hamilton. A collective shock fell over the F1 world when, for the first time since 2009, Hamilton failed to get out of Q1 on pure pace. Mark it on the calendar, a Haas out qualified a Merc on pure pace! However, Haas's victory was short lived. Mick Schumacher became the circuits next victim, losing control and crashing hard into a concrete barrier, totaling his car and ending up in hospital. Luckily the German was uninjured. When the dust finally settled it was Perez who pardon the pun, took the bull by the horns, and tamed the track, setting a blistering lap to become the first Mexican driver in history to claim an F1 pole. Unfortunately, no one in the pool took Perez this weekend. Would this lack of faith be a missed opportunity?
Come Sunday we had some very nervous participants as 9, yes 9, poor souls had chosen Hamilton who was starting 16th, while two participants were starting the race with automatic zero's. Cargo V. Roum was not going to see Tsunoda's Alpha Tauri go vroom because it didn’t even make it to the starting grid! Possibly raising more concerns about the Red Bull power unit? Now Louanne had chosen Schumacher, who might have been out of hospital but was without a car to driver☹. However, Jeddah does love chaos, so hope still remained. The big question was, without Mazaspin, Schumacher and Tsunda in the race, who could cause a wreck????? Enter Nicholas Latiffi, the great equalizer!
Just as Perez completed his first and only pit stop, he got Latiffied. The Canadian crashed into a barrier, causing a safety car and dropping Perez from 1st to 4th, and placing Charles and Max 1/2. What followed was another intense dual in the desert. Max appeared to have learned from Bahrain and his poor use of the DRS lines, eventually passing Charles and this time having the overtake stick in the final laps. Red Bull returned serve, capturing its first win of the season. Yes, the smirk is back! Christian Horner was grinning ear to ear when the checkered flag dropped. Both Red Bull and Ferrari were able to tame the circuit. Sending the majority of our pool participants home happy. However not everyone was so lucky.
Its tough to believe Louanne or Cargo V. Room didn’t take home the Williams poor performance of the weekend award, as both these competitors started the race with 0's, and especially because Louanne also picked Alonso who DNF'ed! Who could possibly of had a worse weekend then her? Brownie somehow managed to edge her out scoring a measly 16 points! Rough weekend indeed. As for top performer of the weekend, Jafyshe took the crown, scoring a solid 52 points, a sly Ocon pick putting him over the edge. A special shout out is required for Leah and Marstar who fell victim to the Bottas trap. Yes, he always seems fast in practice and qualifying; but come race day, he is guaranteed to disappoint.
We now have a week break before heading down under for the Australian Grand Prix. Matty G still remains atop the pool, but the battle is red hot as a minute15 points separate 5th from 1st. Matty G, Meg and Fyshing all used Hamilton picks this weekend, will this prove disastrous at the end of season? Only time will tell. Until then I am sure we have debriefs planned to run over all the data and prep for round 3.
