2022 Spanish Grand Prix

Championship standings before the race Charles Leclerc was the Drivers' Championship leader after the fifth round, the Miami Grand Prix, with 104 points, 19 ahead of Max Verstappen in second, with Sergio Pérez in third, 19 points behind Verstappen. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari leads Red Bull Racing by 6 points and Mercedes by 62. Entrants The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race. Nyck de Vries drove for Williams in place of Alexander Albon and Jüri Vips for Red Bull Racing in place of Sergio Pérez during the first practice session, making their Formula One practice debuts. Robert Kubica took part in the same session for Alfa Romeo in place of Zhou Guanyu. == Practice ==

There were three practice sessions, each lasting one hour. The first two practice sessions took place on Friday 20 May at 14:00 and 17:00 local time (UTC+02:00) and the third practice session took place at 13:00 on 21 May. Charles Leclerc led each practice session, the first ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen, the second ahead of George Russell, and Lewis Hamilton, and the third ahead of Verstappen and Russell. == Qualifying ==

Qualifying took place on 21 May at 16:00 local time and lasted one hour. In the second part of qualifying, Lando Norris, who had his time deleted for track limits at turn 9, Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly, and Zhou Guanyu were eliminated. In the third part of qualifying, Charles Leclerc spun in the chicane at turns 14–15 of his first run but was able to later take the pole position, ahead of Max Verstappen, who had DRS issues and had to abort his final lap, and Carlos Sainz Jr. George Russell, Sergio Pérez, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo, and Mick Schumacher completed the top ten. Qualifying classification ;Notes • – Fernando Alonso was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. == Race ==

The race started at 15:00 local time, Race report Charles Leclerc kept the lead ahead of Max Verstappen, suggested retiring the car but was motivated to race by the team. and Sainz said the car suffered damage that hampered his comeback, and that he was "not driving naturally". By lap 12, Verstappen was let through by Pèrez but was suffering from recurring DRS issues, despite parts of DRS being replaced before the race. On lap 13, Russell and Verstappen were the first of the top four drivers to pit for the medium-compound tyres, followed on lap 18 by Pèrez, who came out behind Russell and Verstappen. Pèrez asked to be given back the position on lap 26 but was denied, although he was promised a position swap later in the race. On lap 27, Leclerc, who pitted later than the other top four driver and had built a significant lead, retired from the race with a turbo and MGU-H failure, Zhou Guanyu retired a few laps later. handing Verstappen the lead of the race on lap 49; Despite the issues, Russell and Hamilton were able to finish third and fifth, respectively. Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, the latter of whom started 20th because he took a grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements, and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top-ten finishers. For the first time in the season, Verstappen and Red Bull took the lead in the Drivers' and Constructors' standings. Pérez later said he was satisfied after internal talks. Despite his retirement, Leclerc said he "[felt] better" with Ferrari improving race pace and tyre management, two issues that held the team back in the last two races at the Emilia Romagna and Miami Grands Prix. At the same time, Leclerc said: "We can't afford [for] this to happen too many times." Hamilton said that his comeback felt "better than a win". Race classification Notes • – Includes one point for fastest lap. • – Alexander Albon received a five-second time penalty for leaving the track multiple times. His final position was not affected by the penalty. ==Championship standings after the race==

With the win, Red Bull led Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship, while the Drivers' Championship standings switched from a 19-point Leclerc lead to a 6-point advantage for Verstappen. ;Drivers' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. == See also ==