F1 Italian Grand Prix Is Up Next, 2022 Drama Continues at the Temple of Speed

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen is currently leading the championship with a total of 310 points. He has scored a total of 10 victories this season, after 15 races. Talk about dominating!

Meanwhile, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is in second place overall. With 201 points, it feels almost impossible for him to overcome the gap at this point. He has won three races this year, but he's going to need a miracle to defeat Verstappen at this rate.

The fact that he's tied for points with Sergio Perez makes it even harder on him. Even though the Mexican driver has only won one race so far, it still feels like he has the resources to put on a strong performance in the upcoming events.

If you look at the scoreboard, it's somewhat obvious that 2022 has been dominated by three teams: Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, and Mercedes. George Russell is fourth overall in the rankings, 13 points ahead of Carlos Sainz.

The young British driver has yet to win a race in 2022, but getting on the podium doesn't seem like such a difficult task for him. Lewis Hamilton is still in the books for a good result this season, at least from a mathematical standpoint.

It's not yet clear if we will ever see him competing at the same level as he did in previous years, but he will surely be doing his best until the last lap in Abu Dhabi later on in November.

The Italian Grand Prix is coming right up this next weekend, as teams are ready to take on the Temple of Speed once again. This is the second event for Formula 1 in Italy this year, after the Emilia Romagna GP in April.

Both Red Bull Racing drivers were on top of the game, with Verstappen in first and Perez in second. Meanwhile, Lando Norris took third, for his only podium of 2022. The Italian Grand Prix marks the end of the European stint for F1, as Round 17 will be held in Singapore.

Looking at the circuit stats, the first Italian Grand Prix was held at Autodromo Nazionale Monza in 1950. The circuit is 3.59 miles (5.793 km) long, and drivers will have to run a total of 53 laps on Sunday for the main event.

That adds up to 190.58 miles (306.72 km) of pure racing, as drivers will go head to head for a place on the podium. The race lap record was set by Rubens Barichello in his F2004 almost 20 years ago, and it stands at 1:21.046! The Scuderia Ferrari driver also won the race, while Michael Schumacher crossed the finish line just 1.347 seconds later in P2.

Last year's race was won by Daniel Ricciardo, while both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen had to retire early due to colliding with each other. Ricciardo has been competing in Formula 1 for over a decade now, but he's had a pretty rough season so far as he sits in P13 overall.

In 2020, it was Pierre Gasly that won the Italian Grand Prix, and to this day that is his sole victory in Formula 1. At present time, the two most successful drivers here are Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. Both have won five Italian GPs each, with Nelson Piquet in second place with four victories.

Drivers will go through two free practice sessions on Friday, which adds up to two hours of track time in total. Then, on Saturday they will be going out for one last practice session before qualifying. The main race is live on Sunday, starting at 3 PM GMT+2. We will be keeping you updated on how the event unfolds in due time. Until then, you can watch Sergio Perez going for a virtual lap around Monza below.