The new F1 season
2022 is a year that sees a massive change in the Formula one industry. After having one of if not the best battles in the year 2021 expectations for the year 2022 are at an all-time high. The addition of Formula one’s drive to survive series makes the sport flushed with new and younger fan-based. The FIA had the objective of making races much more fun and exciting hence they wanted ways to increase close racing. Bearing that objective in mind they made a huge change in the technical regulations for the year 2022.
The new F1 season saw a massive change in the look and feel of the car, which got everyone up their feet in excitement to see what the designers can come up with, and they did not disappoint. Pretty much all the teams came up with some exciting designs. However, the designs that appeal to most of the fans were Ferrari and Aston Martin.
New developments
Once the testing began, we saw signs of how the grid might be shuffled this year. Mercedes was clearly struggling with a porpoising issue, on the flip side we saw a massive increase in the performance of Ferrari. All eyes were on Bahrain for the first race of 2022.
In the midst of all the excitement about the new season, drama unfolded as the War between Russia and Ukraine started. Many drivers were against racing in Russia and after a series of major discussions, the FIA decided not to Race in Russia. But it didn’t stop there. There were issues at team Haas, where their main sponsor and one of their drivers was Russian. There was a lot of debate going on around this topic and finally, Haas decided to remove their main sponsor Uralkali sadly their drive Nikita Mazapin was also removed from their team leaving him without any seat in Formula One. This incident saw the return of Kevin Magnussen who stepped into Haas and replaced Nikita.
The first Race of the year
After all of this drama was concluded we arrive in Bahrain on the 17th of March for the first-ever practice session. Even in that practice session, we saw Mercedes struggling with the porpoising issue all though many of the fans assumed that they were “sandbagging” as they usually do.
We arrive at the qualifying session where all eyes were on Max Verstappen the former champion who proudly has #1 on his car. But we saw something which none of us expected during qualifying. We saw Ferrari taking the top spot, Mercedes way below than anyone would have expected, and surprisingly Haas and the Alpha Romeo of Valtteri Bottas being higher up.
After an exciting qualifying session, we move into the first race of the season with hopes of seeing close racing and a lot of action. Last season did not disappoint hence the expectations for this season were at an all-time high. And it’s also worth mentioning that Charles Leclerc and Max locked the front row so every single F1 enthusiast was at the edge of their seats to witness this battle for top place.
Once the race was underway Max got a good start and he was unable to improve on his position however Charles, on the other hand, had a good start and was already on a 2-second lead by lap 5. The key moment of the race was when the pitstops came into play. Tyre degradation was very high during the race. Hence some teams were considering a 3 stop strategy. Among those who were considering the 3 stop strategy Mercedes, Ferrari and even Redbull were amongst them. Midway in the battle things got heated as Max kept challenging Charles for 3 laps consecutively, however, all of his efforts were futile as he locked up and went wide on the 3rd try. This gave Ferrari and Charles the opportunity to cling on to the lead.
As the race was nearing the end we saw how the car of Gasly came across a mechanical failure. The former champ Max Verstappen also came across with a mechanical failure and he too had to retire the car in the last few laps. It didn’t stop there, even the car of Sergio Perez faced a similar issue and he too had to retire in the last lap. It was a terrible weekend for the Redbull team. However, this gave the opportunity for Hamilton to climb on to 3rd place and secure a podium finish. The highlight of the night wasn’t about Hamiltons Podium but about how Ferrari after a long wait managed to finish 1,2 in the very first race of the year. This was a huge success for the team and it showed how far they have come as a team. This was only the first race weekend and things are already shaping up to be an exciting season. Join us and be a part of this amazing season and don’t miss out on our future post-race reviews.
