2022 Season So Far: Part One

Four down and… a lot to go. This is how the opening exchanges of 2022 played out.

Formula

One

story

continuity

and

change.

The

Championship

now

into

its

eighth

decade,

and

its

races

enraptured

with

that

history

–

but

also,

constantly

evolves.

It’s

sport

that

exists

strata:

clearly

defined

technological

epochs,

denoted

layout,

horsepower

and

aero.

The 2022 season marks the start of a new era: a radical reset of aerodynamics, designed specifically with closer racing in mind, with a call back to the ground-effect cars of the early 1980s, supported the vast reserves of power available from the modern hybrid power units. It’s the biggest change we’ve ever experienced in F1. It might be the biggest change anyone has ever witnessed in F1.

There’s a strong argument that, having taken 11 victories and the Drivers’ title in 2021, ending Mercedes’ clean sweep of the hybrid era in the process, a wholesale reset of the regs was the very last thing we needed. And yet… there’s something very exciting about designing a new car with radical aerodynamics from the ground up. With the new ways in which the cost cap is starting to bite, 2022 is going to be an incredible challenge… but also add an exciting whiff of the unknown. A change is going to come… this is how it played-out over rounds one through four.

Round

One:

Bahrain

Grand

Prix

Circuit: Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain

Max: DNF

Checo: DNF

After a short winter testing season, the first round of the year neatly ended any speculation of sandbagging and hidden potential. Despite a winter of great change, once again we found ourselves in a two-horse race at the front of the pack, though this time the other horse was red, rather than silver.

After qualifying, we found ourselves lining up second (Max) and fourth (Checo) with the narrowest of margins separating the RB18s from the two Ferraris, with which they were sharing the front two rows.

The lap chart states Max never led the Bahrain Grand Prix. It isn’t correct: Max led the race on laps 17, 18 and, perhaps, 19, but like the old drafting battles at Hockenheim and Monza, the lead was changing from corner to corner.

Following the first round of pit stops, twice Max passed Charles Leclerc to take the lead at turn one, only for Leclerc to get into the tow for the next DRS zone and take the lead back coming out of turn four. Max’s third attempt to snatch the place led to him locking-up badly, after which he tried a more roundabout way of gaining the lead, running long for his second stop, and then going short for his third. On both occasions, however, Leclerc had just enough to emerge with his lead intact. It looked like Max would have to settle for second.

However, even that was not to be. Bahrain is a tough venue at any time of year but, first up, it’s a brutal examination. Tough on brakes, tough on tyres and tough on power units. Max’s failed on lap 54 of the 57, and he pulled into the pits to retire.

That promoted Checo to third, but his tenure in a podium position was short-lived, as he retired on the final lap when another power unit failure pitched him into a spin. The positive from the first race was that the RB18 was in the title fight, however, with just a few days before the race in Jeddah, the Team had ground to make up.

Season So Far - Bahrain

RB18 Under The Lights In Bahrain

Not The Start To The Season We Wanted, By Onwards And Upwards

Throwing It Back To The First Race Of The Season

Round

Two:

Saudi

Arabian

Grand

Prix

Circuit: Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Max: P1

Checo: P4

A freak of scheduling saw the second Saudi Arabian Grand Prix take place just 15 weeks after the first. Following a dramatic debut in December ’21, some slight tweaks had been made to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit to improve sight-lines and also to allow drivers to graze the barriers in the corner apices. However, the circuit we returned to looked much like the one we had departed: an astoundingly fast tarmac tunnel hemmed in by unforgiving walls, with peril waiting around every bend.

Round Two of the 2022 Championship turned into a continuation of the Max and Leclerc show from Round One, with Max and the Ferrari driver separated by a tenth in Friday’s two practice sessions and then by a matter of hundredths in FP3… but Checo had also been within a tenth of the fastest lap in that final practice session, and it was he who popped up in the much-delayed session to take pole position. His first pole at the 215th time of asking, removing him from the top of the unlovely ‘most races without a pole position’ list.

Under the lights on Sunday night, Checo made a great start, but a lot of everything in Jeddah comes down to luck. He defended against the undercut with the first pit stop… just before a safety car came out for a stricken Williams. He was jumped by Leclerc, Max and, after a look at the GPS, Carlos Sainz. Nothing he could do about it except grit his teeth and plough on.

Despite different cars and different tyres, race strategies in 2022 are much as they were in 2021, with everyone settling into a long stint to the flag on the hard tyre, looking after their rubber for a final push.

Max began to close the gap to Leclerc with ten laps to go, and, as had been the case in Bahrain, the pair began exchanging the lead through the DRS zones – the 2022 cars definitely make following a little easier. The length of the straights and the power of DRS this year led to the peculiarity of both drivers attempting to dummy the other, and be second across the line into the zones, to be the one with the flap open, before furiously trying to break the tow ahead of the next DRS zone.

Max eventually made his move stick on lap 47 of the 50 and eked out a tiny advantage to take the chequered flag with a gap of half a second. It had been that close all race. With Checo coming home fourth, we were off and running in 2022.

Season So Far - Saudi

Checo Leading The Pack In Saudi

First Win Of The Season In Saudi

Kicking Off Our Season In The Second Race

Round

Three:

Australian

Grand

Prix

Circuit: Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne, Australia

Checo: P2

Max: DNF

Two years ago, Albert Park was the focus of the world with a global pandemic declared on the Wednesday, and the race formally cancelled a few hours before the start of practice on Friday, and the season went on hiatus. Despite several attempts to reclaim the Australian Grand Prix, the race stayed off the calendar for 24 months. It made up for it this year with a truly massive crowd – even by Australian Grand Prix standards – thronging the park for all four days of the meeting.

It was, however, a different Albert Park: after years of supplying a processional race, the track had been widened in places, and had a chicane removed, creating a much faster, hopefully more overtaking-friendly, layout. It has also had its first wholesale resurfacing, resulting in a smoother track with most of the notorious lumps and bumps eradicated.

Through practice on Friday, the RB18s were lapping near the top of the timesheets, but the cars weren’t quite on the pace of the Ferraris, as they had been in the Middle East. Max seemed unhappy with the balance of his car. Qualifying once again took a while with multiple red flags, but, with Sainz having all sorts of problems, Max and Checo were able to take second and third on the grid, but the Ferrari of Leclerc looked like a formidable obstacle.

And so it proved, as Leclerc got a good start and pulled away from Max, while Checo slipped back to fourth behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, taking one for the team after leaving Max plenty of room into turn one. Leclerc managed to edge away through the first stint, building up a cushion of around 10 seconds to Max, while Checo fought his way back up to third. With the race likely to be a one-stop affair, there wasn’t much room to deploy a strategy. Max gamely tried the undercut, but Leclerc didn’t bite, leaving his pit stop four laps later, to emerge with his lead comfortably intact.

A safety car was deployed to remove Sebastian Vettel’s stricken Aston Martin, which brought the field back together, and Max made a spirited dive for the lead at the restart on lap 27 of the 58, but Leclerc managed to hold the place. Checo, who once again was disadvantaged by the timing of the safety car had to battle his way back through later-stopping cars, but did it with some style, and, with the race entering a static phase, the team looked good to record its first double-podium finish of the season. Then, on lap 38, Max had to park the car, with a power unit problem. Checo made a good fist of it to finish second, but it was a dissatisfied team that made the long trip home from Down Under.

Season So Far - Australia

What A Pleasure To Be Back In Aus

Podium Celebrations For Checo Down Under

A Strong Start For Max In Aus

Round

Four:

Emilia-Romagna

Grand

Prix

Circuit: Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy

Max: P1

Checo: P2

There’s always a special buzz around the grand old circuits of motorsport, and Imola certainly fits into that category, especially with crowds once again allowed into the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Our first European race of the year was also the first Sprint weekend of 2022, with the now-familiar accelerated schedule of a single practice session before plunging directly into qualifying.

Unfortunately for the massed ranks of exposed spectators on the hillside above Rivazza, the capricious nature of weather at the end of April decided to throw everything at the circuit and Friday got a deluge. The practice session started on Full Wet tyres and gave way to the Inters before Qualifying was a drying, dry, wet session with five red flags.

Max and Checo avoided problems in the first two sessions, but three halts in Q3 disrupted Checo’s afternoon, leaving him seventh. Max, however, took pole position, which this season counts as a genuine pole, despite having to lift for yellow flags on his fastest lap.

Saturday was a little drier for the F1 Sprint, and Max lined-up on pole with the car pointing into turn one, his intention of cutting across the bows of Leclerc quite clear. He got a horrible start, however, and had to blend into second going into Tamburello. Checo, however, jumped up to fifth. He picked off Kevin Magnussen for fourth on lap eight and Lando Norris on lap 11 for third. Up front, Max left it late to make his move, making a classic DRS-assisted pass down the main straight, taking the place around the outside of Tamburello. The Bulls were lining up first and third for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

Sunday saw the rain return in the afternoon, but teasingly, stopped just after the cars had gone to the grid. As was the case last year, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix started with a drying track, but not one dry enough for slick tyres, and so the whole field started on an Intermediate compound. Max hooked-up a good start and held the lead, Checo hooked-up a very good one and took second place, and there they stayed.

The next moment of drama came when the track became dry enough for slicks. After the scouts had started posting purple lap times, Checo dived in on lap 18, ahead of Max and Leclerc on lap 19. The Ferrari briefly got ahead of Checo, but with the Mexican’s tyres warm, he managed to retake second at Tamburello.

For the rest of the race Checo had his wing mirrors full of Ferrari, but even in these cars, Imola isn’t a place where overtaking is straightforward, and Checo put his car in the right place lap-after-lap and simply soaked-up the pressure.

On lap 49, Leclerc rolled the dice and pitted for a set of new soft tyres. Checo covered on lap 50, and then Max on lap 51. It looked tense for Checo, until Leclerc spun and fell from contention. Max picked up the fastest lap, to record his second grand chelem of pole, fastest lap and victory after leading every lap of the race and, with the Sprint victory now worth eight points, took home a whopping 34, from the Team’s unusual-to-look-at total of 58.

Perhaps more significantly, it was our first one-two finish since 2016. “That was a very lovely Sunday!” said Max at the flag. He wasn’t wrong.

And so, the scene is set. Four down, 18, but probably 19, to go. We have cars that can overtake, a battle royal at the front of the grid, and micro-advantages that swing first one way and then the other. This is going to be a terrific season for Formula One.

Season So Far - Emilia Romagna

Welcoming The Boys Across The Line

A Historic Result For The Bulls

The Mexican Minister Of Defence Visits Italy

stop,

Miami!