A season dominated by Verstappen
FIA ‘raceability’ changes kicked off new era
Anew era began at the start of the 2022 season, with the Fe´de´ration Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) ceasing control of the design of the cars, bringing in changes in the regulations regarding aerodynamics, coupled with budget restraints. It also brought clarification on the rules in respect of things like safety-car interventions, in the light of the 2021 Abu Dhabi fiasco.
Retiring F1 chief executive Ross Brawn is delighted with the way the changes imposed turned out, in terms of what he describes as allowing “raceability.”
“The technical changes were a big change,” he said in his Forumla1.com column.
“We came at the regulations with a fresh view. The priority was building a better racing car because that has never been a priority in the past, which was one of my frustrations.”
“In the past, the teams were allowed to develop the car regulations. The FIA’s priority was safety, making sure the speed of the cars was always within a reasonable range. We created a group whose priority was to build a better racing car, that can race another car in close proximity, is consistent to drive, and doesn’t have bits fall off it if there are touches.”
“The mindset came from a different direction raceability, and that will be the priority in the future. It’s one of the changes to the mindset of F1 I’m really pleased about.”
“It was a huge thrill for me when I saw the 2022 cars first race and we experienced two or three cars racing alongside each other; we hadn’t seen that before. Now you can run hard behind another car for several laps without issues.”
As the season of regulatory change began, the question was which team had best interpreted those new regulations and produced a car that was fast and reliable. It seemed initially Ferrari was that team, with Charles Leclerc winning the seasonopening race in Bahrain, while world champion Max Verstappen and his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez both failed to finish. Max bounced back in Saudi Arabia, narrowly beating Leclerc after a race-long battle. But in Australia, Verstappen had another retirement, while Leclerc won again. Perez was second, and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz third. After three races, Verstappen was way behind Leclerc in the points, and Red Bull was thinking they had a fast, but unreliable car.
The Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, had picked up a podium each, even though Mercedes were lamenting the fact that the car was way off the pace of the Ferrari and Red Bull cars. Worse still, the car had no barge boards and appeared too low to the ground, and was suffering from what was quickly dubbed as “porpoising,” as the car at speed seemed to be going up and down in an action reminiscent of a porpoise, giving the drivers an uncomfortable ride. More particularly, it was having an adverse effect on pace and movability, and clearly lacked Brawn’s concept of raceability.
The championship would be between Ferrari and Red
Bull, with the former appearing poised to have its first champion driver since Kimi Raikkonen won in 2007. But Verstappen had other ideas. He won at Imola and then at a new venue in Miami, although Leclerc was hanging tough, with third and second-place finishes in both of those races. On to Spain, and Verstappen won again after Leclerc lost power while leading the race and failed to finish.
It was cruel luck, and literally the turning point of the season. On to Monaco, where Verstappen would run into problems during qualifying because Perez, who already had the fastest time, crashed, blocking the track and ending qualifying. He would go to win the race from Sainz, with Verstappen and Leclerc next. Perhaps Perez would be Verstappen’s main challenger? But you sensed Verstappen had it under control, which he did, with victories in the next two races in Azerbaijan and Canada.
Returning to Silverstone where in 2021, Hamilton had punted Verstappen off the track in the opening lap - to add to the acrimony building between the 2021 title contenders, Verstappen had an ailing car and could only finish sixth. The opening lap saw one of the most dramatic crashes you will ever witness in F1. Tagged by another car at the first corner, the Alfa
Romeo of rookie driver Guanyu Zhou flipped over and slid upside-down towards the tyre wall at great speed. It did another flip after hitting the tyres, and then slotted down between the tyres and the catchment fence. Zhou was trapped, and the race redflagged whilst Zhou was retrieved from his car, remarkably unhurt.
When racing resumed, it initially became a battle between Leclerc, Sainz, Perez and Lando Norris, but with about five laps to go, they were joined by Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in the Alpine. The sort of close racing and wheel-to-wheel action that Brawn had hoped for came to life in a thrilling finish, with Sainz prevailing to win his first grand prix.
On to Austria, and Leclerc beat Verstappen, with Hamilton third, the Mercedes slowly but surely closing the competitive gap to Red Bull and Ferrari. But it was Max again in France,