Last year, the formula one had a season which kicked off the start of a new era, with a bunch of new rules and regulations for both cars and drivers. Being the maiden season with the new set of rules and regulations, the 2022 season was more like a warm up for the teams to get into grip with the new design of cars. Aerodynamic changes are one of the major changes that was given to the overall design along with some old tech which used to be around Fromula one getting re-introduced. Now here is a brief round up through some of the greatest moments of last year and some of the major changes that the new set of rules and regulations gave way to.
As an overview, these are the major changes that the cars underwent while entering the new season. The 2022 season saw some of the major rule changes after the turbo hybrid era. these changes had their on share of influence in the results of the 2022 season. The new aerodynamic changes introduced reduced the amount of dirty air behind a car and thus allowed closer racing. Closer racing made possible more chance of overtaking which resulted in a wonderful show of racing skill for the audience.
Also this season saw the re-introduction of one of the past-life sins, the re-introduction of ground effects. Ground effects, were one of the marvelous formula one technology introduced back in the 1970s, and it was not recognized by the officials as a manipulation of rules and taking advantage until in 1978 when Mario Andretti won the WDC with his lotus 79. After further investigation, the technology got banned in formula one, only to get re-introduced in 2022.
The re-introduction of ground effects was not as smooth as expected. Ground effects turned out to have its own consequences along with the advantages they give out. The advantages included
enormous amount of grip throughout the circuit, as a result the overall pace of the car will increase accordingly. But the disadvantage was a big hit for almost every team for the year 2022. The disadvantage, as said earlier was the issue of proposing, also known as the bouncing of the car throughout the straights of the circuit.
Apart from these, the other specialties of the 2022 season was that, the surprise announcement of Sebastian Vettel, the Four time world champion, that he will be retiring at the end of this season. That was really a sad news but at the same time I was expecting this news from his side for a while. Also at the end of the season we saw a couple more departures, one, of Daniel Riccardo, the eight time race winner, from the team papaya giving his seat to another Australian, Oscar Piastri, the former f2 and f3 winner and one of the most demanding drivers currently on the market.
Also Mick Schumacher, the son of the former Formula one racer, the legend of the game, the seven time world champion Michael Schumacher, said that he will be parting ways with Haas F1 after the 2022 season. The 2022 season was pretty bad for the other seven time world champion, Lewis Hamilton after a while. After almost seven years dominance, Mercedes AMG finally saw their downfall in the 2022 season. Losing the drivers championship in 2021 was pretty tragic for both the team and Lewis, adding fuel to the fire was the hit with the new regulations and introduction of ground effects.
Even after every other teams were capable of de-bugging the issue of proposing, Mercedes was still struggling with a double hard bouncing of the car. This had its own impact on the performance of the two drivers, especially on Lewis Hamilton. The 2022 season was the first time in his career he couldn't find the top spot on the podium at least for once in any season. Meanwhile his teammate George Russel had a decent season where he was able to score consistent points and podiums, and as an added bonus with the W14 he was able to get on the top spot of the podium for once at Brazil 2022.
Coming into the new season, there was a new track added to the calendar, the track which Lewis Hamilton said he wanted back in 2018, Miami. The second track of the United States is the Miami international street Circuit. It is another street circuit like that of Jeddah, Monaco, Baku, Singapore, Australia, and Canada. Also a bunch of circuits which were there during the earlier seasons came back to calendar during the 2022 season, they are Albert Park Australia, Montreal Canada, Marina Bay Singapore, Suzuka Japan and Paul Ricard France.
Along with this incidents, the Russia-Ukraine war played its part in shuffling the formula one 2022 season calendar. As an impact of the war, the FIA decided to cut contacts with their Russian partners and drivers. As a result, Nikita Mazepin, who was already performing pretty bad last season, lost his seat for 2022, also the Russian GP was replaced by Singapore GP. Haas F1 also cut the contracts with their then title sponsor, Ural Kali, the company owned by Nikita Mazepin’s father, Dimitry Mazepin. As Nikita was thrown out and Gunter wanted some real talent to fill that seat he called his then fired employee, Kevin Magnussen.
As from Kevin’s words, he was pretty much surprised to find the call for return, he came back and took the wheel. It was a hell of a season for Haas this year. The last few years from 2020-21 was pretty bad and they couldn't even score a single point finish. The driver line-up was pretty rookie too. After parting ways with Ural Kali and Nikita Mazepin it feels like the Russian curse for Haas is finally gone. This year they had a pretty good point haul, with both drivers scoring points and Kevin Magnusson taking his wheel of maiden pole position.
To talk from the beginning, the 2022 season flagged off with the official testing session at the Spanish track Barcelona Catalunya during 23rd February 2022. McLaren had a strong first day of testing, with their British driver Lando Norris topping the charts. The second day was for the Monegasque, Charles Leclerc , as he took his Ferrari to the top of the timing charts. The very first red flag of the testing session of 2022 was caused by the red-bull RB-18 of Sergio Perez. Also the Haas VF22 of Nikita Mazepin joined the list causing the second red flag of the session.
Second session of testing was conducted at the Losail International Circuit, Bahrain where the inaugural race takes place. The second session was pretty good for Pierre Gasly, the Frenchman racing for Alphatauri as he took his Alphatauri AT03 to the top of the timing sheets. But it was his friend who drives for Ferrari, Charles Leclerc, who dominated the whole morning session, Gasly had a lap good enough to give him the top spot.
One of the big three team that was completely out of the picture during the testing session was Mercedes AMG, because they were severely affected by the proposing issue and was unable to find solutions to the issue. To an extend neither the other teams could debug the issue, but as the season was given the green light gradually most of the teams were able to debug the problem. During the testing sessions Mercedes was unable to put up competitive lap times which was an impact of porposing.
The pre-race free practice sessions were lead by the red-bulls and Ferraris of Max, Perez Charles and Sianz. FP1 saw Pierre Gasly lead the pack in P1, on the second session he gave the lead to Max, who lead the two Ferrari’s to the top. On the third session Max kept his lead while with the help of Perez finishing in P3 he was able to sandwich Charles who finished P2 in the session. At qualifying session, Charles had his time to take revenge on Max and was able to put his Ferrari on the pole position. Max was sandwiched by the 2 Ferraris when Carlos finished P3 and completed the top three.
Inaugural race at Losail International Circuit was where the real test took place. The team in red, Scuderia Ferrari scored with absolute domination, their win after a while, with the Monegasque taking the top spot and the Spaniard taking second, Ferrari completed their first one tow of the season after a long time. But on the first outing, red-bull, who seemed to have a strong car during the testing sessions could not hope for any worse as their two drivers failed to finish the race due to reliability issues. This bad-luck for the Red-Bull team gave Lewis Hamilton a lucky podium with his teammate George Russel finishing just behind him in P4
Max and Charles went full beans during the race and they battled bone to bone during the race. Within a couple of laps they exchanged the lead up to five times as they went on wheel to wheel not backing off an inch and racing hard. It was a reminder of the battle between two old best friends, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, back in 2014, 15 and 16. Here the only difference was that the protagonists were racing for different teams.
Second race was particularly hard compared to the first one as they went to Jeddah Corniche International circuit, the most fearsome street circuit on the calendar after Monaco. Jeddah was scary because it was a street circuit with high speed corners and tight turns. Which means, making even the slightest mistake possible can take you to the barriers. The circuit proved this fact after the race because there was a scary accident during the qualifying session. It was Mick Schumacher who took his Haas to the barriers after he got a little snap of oversteer or understeer while he was putting his flying lap. As a result was had to withdraw participation after the high gravitational impact crash.
It was Max Verstappen who took the Chequerd flag to finish on the top ahead of the two Ferrari’s of Charles and Carlos. But the qualifying session was lead by Sergio Perez who gave out an astonishing lap to take the pole position at Jeddah. But he lead the race away only to pit according to a fake call by Ferrari which was a blunder as it turned out, thanks to Nicholas Latifi who crashed and caused a safety car, which meant everyone else got a cheap pit stop under the safety car. The qualifying session was not exactly what Lewis Hamilton wanted as he was out in q1 for the first time after a while. For Valtteri, Alex, Alonso and Nicholas Latifi was not satisfied with the race results as they had to retire their car due to various reasons. Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher couldn’t participate due to reliability issues and Yuki failed to set the time within the Q1 requirement.
The third race was were the formula one had its return to the Australian soil. After 2019 it was the first time that F1 raced in Australia, the home soil of the Aussie king, the eight time race winner, Daniel Riccardo. The Circuit, Albert Park was re-surfaced before making the return to the calendar. The first two free practice sessions were dominated by the two Ferrari’s Carlos Sianz and Charles Leclerc respectively and the third session, Lando Norris led the way. But Ferrari came back during the qualifying setting up the pace with Charles finishing at the pole.
On Sunday, Charles maintained the lead to make his maiden win at Albert Park. The other Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz was unable to make it to the finishing line as he spun out and retired on lap 2. Sebastian Vettel, the four time world champion drove 23 laps before crashing out and retiring on lap 23. The RB 18 of Max Verstappen was not reliable enough at Australia as he too was caught with mechanical issues which resulted in fire on the engine compartment leading to the retirement of the defending champion.
Next eventful race was the fifth round held at the new track, the second one for the United States, the Miami International Auto drome. The inaugural race at Miami was pretty tough job for the drivers as they had a completely new track layout to byheart. It was absolutely the fire test for drivers, and adding fuel to the fire was that it was a street circuit, which means fast corners and neck breaking G forces. The free practice sessions and the qualifying sessions were dominated by the the top three teams. For FP1 Charles lead the way, while for FP2 Russel lead Charles and Checo and for FP3 Checo took the top spot. But it was the two prancing horses who took the top spot during the qualifying sessions with a front row lockout leading the two Red-Bulls of Max and Checo.
The maiden race saw and utter domination by the flying Dutchman who was literally unstoppable. With his win in Miami, He added another track to his winning list. The two Ferraris of Charles and Carlos followed Max to second and third position completing the podium. The maiden race at Miami was not the one Kevin Magnussen, Sebastian Vettel Mick Schumacher, Pierre, Norris and Zhou. Sebastian Vettel and Mick collided which resulted in retirement of Sebastian and Mick finishing P 15. Pierre and Norris Crashed which took both of them out of the race and it was Zhou who kick started the DNF program as he was the first one to retire from the race.
Next interesting race on the calendar was the Monaco Grand Prix 2022, the ultimate test of fire for every single drivers, street circuit with an average track speed of 150 miles an hour and twisty corners and turns giving a hard time for the drivers. It can also be termed as the real test in F1. A win in Monaco is something that every formula one driver dreams of, it takes some serious skill for a driver to crack the Monaco win. This time out it was Ferrari who dominated the first two free practice sessions giving way to the Red-Bull in the third session. But after that sort of a break Ferrari showed pace during the qualifying locking out the front row with their cars, Charles leading the way.
It was not exactly the Free practice session two that the Monaco race winner Daniel Riccardo wanted. He was initially ten minutes late to the session as the mechanics were struggling to sort out a mechanical issue, and as soon as he was on the tack he gave way to the red-flag which took much of the time of the session. What happened was that he lost the rear and shunted the car at the famous Swimming pool section of the track. But at the same time, this time out the home hero had a wonderful qualifying session. Taking his first pole at the home ground. He was trying to improve the time but Perez, who spun out just before the tunnel gave out a yellow which the Spaniard who was following in the Ferrari saw a bit late causing a red-flag and end to the session, giving Charles the maiden pole.
The Sunday was not exactly what the pole man Charles wanted. It was the Red-Bull who dominated the whole Sunday and it was Sergio Perez who took the chequered flag and registered his first win for the season in the initially wet then dry race in Monaco. The initial half of the race was soaked in rain, and the drivers were requested to start behind the safety car after a bit of delay and all drivers had to start the race on full wets due to high intensity rain. As the race progressed rain took the leave and the drivers switched to intermediates and the track started to dry up. But that was when the bad luck for Ferrari came in the form of miscommunication in the pitlane. They called in both Carlos and Charles at the same time which made them loose positions.
Perez took the lead from Charles and finished the race first, Charles was dropped to P4 and Carlos defended the charging Max Verstappen for P2, Max finished P3 completing the podium. Monaco was Sergio’s first win for the 2022 season and he took it with almost 1.1 second gap to Carlos who finished second. As said earlier the pitlane dilemma cost Charles his maiden win in the home ground as he was asked to box when Carlos was on the pits, hence getting held up behind him.
After Monaco, the next highlighted race was at the Canadian soil. F1 returned to Canada, Monteal after a short break of almost three year break. The last appearance of Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, was back in 2019. It was the flying dutchman with a spaceship , the Red-Bull RB18 who topped the first couple of free practice sessions, surprisingly it was the Spaniard with the Alpine, Fernando Alonso who took the top spot for the third session. But Max Verstappen had a comeback in the qualifying session taking the pole position leading the two Spaniards Alonso, who found the pace on the Alpine in the wet track under a rain soaked qualifying session and Carlos with Hamilton in the Mercedes leading Kevin Magnusson for the top five.
Sunday was a whole another story. Max Verstappen converted another pole into a win leading Carlos, Hamilton and Russel to the top four. Surprisingly there was a bunch of DNFs starting with the other Red-Bull of Sergio Perez after just seven laps, he was forced to retire due to mechanical malfunction. The second one was the Haas of Mick Schumacher who was another one forced to retire due to mechanical issues just after just after 18. The last one was Yuki Tsunoda, who took his Alphatauri into the barriers after 47 seven laps. Drama never stepped back in the whole race because Alonso received a five second penalty for making more than one direction change to defend his position. Also Lando Norris was given a five second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
The next race was on one of the most iconic tracks of the F1, the Silverstone Circuit of Great Britain. The British Grand Prix is one of the most action packed race of the whole calendar after Monaco and Singapore at least for me personally. The first practice was pretty surprising as the first two spots of the chart as it felt like a deja-vu from last year because it was Bottas and Hamilton who took the two top spots, Bottas took his Alfa Romeo to the top spot and Hamilton in his Mercedes followed his former teammate to the second position. The two ferrari’s of Sainz and Leclerc took the third and fourth spots and, surprisingly it was the Haas of Mick Schumacher who completed the top five.
The condition of the first free practice session was pretty tricky. As a result Red-Bull Racing decided not to head out to save tyers for wet soaked Saturday. It was not only Red-Bull racing who were frustrated by the tricky and wet conditions on the track. Mercedes, Alpine, Williams, and Aston Martin who anticipated an hour of dry testing time. The second session of free practice was kind of similar and it was the Ferrari of Carlos Sianz who finished on the top and Hamilton, Norris and Verstappen and Leclerc completed the top five. Lando Norris ran the returning pedal camera for the first time after a long time. Also it was not the exact session of free practice that the championship leader Max Verstappen wanted and he was not satisfied by the performance of the car.
The third session of free practice saw the reigning world champion Max Verstappen getting back up to speed after a low key Friday session, and following the lead was his Red-Bull teammate Sergio Perez. Also the third session saw the team from Brackley showed progress as the introduction of new upgrades at Silverstone started to make changes in the performance of the car. Mercedes was able to find some pace at their home circuit, Silverstone. The qualifying session at the British circuit was rain-soaked and the Spaniard with the Ferrari, Carlos Sianz took his Ferrari to the number one spot and claimed his maiden pole of Formula 1 beating the dominant Dutchman who was on the top through Q1, Q2 and the first half of Q3.
The first lap chaos resulted in the retirement of five drivers, Alex Albon, Zhou Gyanu, George Russel, Valtteri Bottas, Pierre Gasly and last, the Alpine of Esteban Ocon who was forced to retire due to mechanical failure causing a late safety car which was one of the key moment of the race. The podium finishers were the Spaniard who took his maiden win of his career lead Sergio Perez to second place who was followed by the seven time world champion, the home hero Lewis Hamilton for the third spot of the podium.
Next one to be highlighted is the 12th Round, At Paul Ricard France. The first two practice sessions were dominated by the team from Maranello. The first session was dominated by Charles, leading Max, Carlos, Russel and Pierre to complete the top five. The second session was lead by the other ferrari of Carlos, leading Charles, Max. Russel and Hamilton. But the third session saw the Red-Bull getting back on pace with Max and Perez sandwiching the top five. Max lead the way with Carlos, Charles and Lewis following him, and Perez guarded the rear end on P5.
The qualifying session was another smooth day, for Carlos it was the day of team orders. Ferrari showed a bit of collaborative teamwork effort which gave Charles Leclerc the pole position for the race. Carlos towed Leclerc to pole position which gave Ferrari their first French pole position since 1990. Hence Leclerc lead the way followed by Verstappen, Perez, Hamilton and Norris to complete the top five.
The race on the French soil was not something that the Monegasque Charles Leclerc wanted in this whole season. It was pretty heartbreaking for the Ferrari man as he took the car to the barriers when fate came in the form of a snap of oversteer at the 18th lap. Charles was pretty much disappointed as he was leading comfortably, and the win at Paul Ricard was crucial for setting back up the hopes to win the championship again. It was not just Charles who was unable to finish the race, Yuki Tsunoda, Kevin Magnusson, and Nicholas Latifi was the others who were unable to finish the race and ended up retiring. And for the race results, as always it was Max Verstappen who won and the two Mercedes’ of Hamilton and Russel took the second and third spots of the podium. The top five was completed when Perez and Carlos joined the party.
