The 2022 Formula 1 season is fast approaching, and expectations are mounting. Could we possibly see a thrilling a finish as last season, which saw Red Bull’s Max Verstappen clinch the title in controversial fashion.
This year’s F1 championship will no doubt see a series of hard-fought grudge matches between Verstappen and his main rival Lewis Hamilton.
More politics to come in 2022
No doubt the politics of the season will also be fascinating to watch. The burning questions ahead of the new season will be how will George Russell fare now he has moved to Mercedes? Will Valtteri Bottas be successful in his new position as lead driver at Alfa Romeo?. It will take until the end of the season in November to find out the answers to these questions.
2022 season will begin in Bahrain on Saturday and finish on the 20th November in Bahrain. This season will see the addition of one new track- Miami- scheduled for May 8th.
Who will be able to stop Mercedes once again
Once again it is looking likely that the F1 world champion will come from the Mercedes stable. The team have retained Hamilton, who will certainly be hungrier than ever to win another championship. Russell has replaced Bottas, and this 1-2 already look the team to beat.
Their biggest challenge this campaign looks to be coming from Red Bull. The driver line up remains the same with Sergio Perez the number one driver. Red Bull has already laid down a marker by becoming the fastest car in testing in Barcelona.
No changes at Ferrari
Like Red Bull, Ferrari have made no changes ahead of the new campaign. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will be in the hot seat with Leclerc having won two F1 victories and Sainz finishing second twice.
There is also consistency in the driver line-up at McLaren with Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris both staying. Norris is somebody who many people are predicting will be a future world champion. The Woking based outfit have done well to secure his services for another season, whilst Ricciardo took a little time to warm up with the Woking based outfit following his move from Renault.
McLaren looking to push on
There was some good success last season for McLaren, who will be looking to push on this campaign with another haul of points.
A reasonable 2021 performance from Fernando Alonso has seen him stay at Alpine ahead of the new season alongside Esteban Ocon. Alpine improved throughout 2021, with Alonso scoring a brilliant podium in Qatar.
New car for Alpha Tauri
Alpha Tauri have a new car for 2022 with a Honda power unit involved. Pierre Gasly was one of the real stars of 2021 and is expected to secure regular points for the team this campaign. Yuki Tsunoda remains, although he underperformed last year and needs to be more consistent in 2022.
Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll are staying with Aston Martin.Four times world champion Vettel secured Aston Martin it’s first podium position at Baku in 2021.
New line up at Alfa Romeo
A new line up at Alfa Romeo sees Kimi Raikkonen who retired from F1 and Antonio Giovinazzi replaced by Bottas and Chinese F1 driver Guanyu Zhou.
Bottas has proved in the past he can be a consistent driver who can finish on the podium, with Zhou who finished third in in the 2021 F2 championship looking to impress.
Poor season for Haas
It has to be said the 2021 season was an embarrassment for Haas. Inexperienced drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin were left battling to keep the worst cars in F1 away from each other.
2022 hasn’t started well for the team after they took the decision to drop it’s Russian title sponsor Uralkali as a result of the current conflict against Ukrain.Team boss Guenther Steiner has stated that the team have no financial concerns with the loss. Only time will tell if that statement will be a correct one.
Haas has also decided to drop Mazepin to be replaced by former Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.
New lead driver at Williams
With Russell now at Mercedes, Williams has a new lead driver in Alex Albon, backed up by returning Nicholas Latifi. Williams have had a string of lacklustre seasons, which needs to improve.