2022 Formula 1 Season Thread

Testing is coming up in a couple of weeks and some of the car reveals are already out so it's time to get the season started. If you guys have any suggestions for this opening post, please throw them out there. We had great participation and a very fun season last year and I hope this year, with all the rules changes, will be even better.

The Grid

Not much in the way of musical F1 seats this year. Alfa Romeo has an all new lineup as Bottas moves from Mercedes to join rookie driver Guanyu Zhou. Of course the big news is George Russell replacing Valteri at Mercedes. He and Hamilton now look like the best pair of drivers on the grid. I'm looking forward to his fight with Lewis this year. Then Alex Albon returns to Formula 1 to join Nicolas Latifi at Williams, replacing Russell. All the other teams remain as they were last year.

Rules Changes

Whew, where to even begin? Some of the teams had just about figured out the last formula so it's time for a new one. This time around the focus is on more competitive racing and I'm hopeful that's what we'll get.

You can subdivide the changes into two categories: tires/suspension and aero.

Tires

The tires (tyres) are going from 13" to 18" this year so a lot of sidewall is being lost. Designers used to rely on that sidewall to absorb some of the shock and vibration, thus requiring less beefy suspension components. This causes a knock-on effect with the suspension which is going to have to be more robust to absorb those loads and also more compliant to make up the difference. The tire is also getting larger in outside diameter so they gain some of that sidewall back but they're still losing a couple of inches. The lower profile tire will make the car more responsive so that's something the drivers will have to get used to. Oh and the Mercedes 3rd rear damper is now outlawed too. Some designers said that the tire change caused them more problems than the aero changes. The bottom line is that they'll have to rely on what some call mechanical grip (vs. aero grip) more than they're used to.

The cars are also getting shorter in wheelbase. They have to cram more stuff into a smaller car. How much shorter depends on how long they were last year. The longer chassis like Mercedes will lose 12 cm. which is really quite a bit considering how much crap those guys have to stuff in there.

{I also want to correct myself. Last year I incorrectly stated that they were moving to the 18" inch tires. Someone called me out on it and they were right but I got that info off the F1 website so I figured it had to be authoritative.}

Aero

The aero changes are vast. The shift in thinking has sort of brought back an idea from the 70's: ground effect. Ground effect was outlawed long ago in the belief that it made cars too fast. Ross Brawn and his team of engineers believe that aero generated from ground effect is less disruptive to trailing cars than over-body aero. So the cars will be sucked down to the pavement rather than pushed down. I guess to Bernoulli it's all the same but how you create the downforce matters. Cars have always had a certain amount of ground effect but now the underbody will be better sealed from outside air. It's not quite to the level it was back in the 70's but the idea is the same.

Gone are the multitude of little fiddly aero bits on the front wing, the floor, the rear, everywhere. They've simplified the entire aero package and made the car smoother. Bargeboards are no more. The rear wing is entirely made of curves. No straight lines or sharp corners anywhere. This is to reduce the "wingtip" vortices you sometimes see in humid settings. These vortices are responsible in part for the "dirty air". Better racing aside, to my eye, this has improved the looks of the car dramatically. It's smoother and cleaner looking while still being aggressive.

There are little winglets over the tires now. These are said to smooth out the turbulent flow caused by the tires. You'll also notice the huge endplates on the front wing. The current front wings throw the air off to the side and this is another reason trailing cars have such a hard time. The new wings force the air straight down the body rather than thrusting it off to the side.

I'll say it here. If all of these changes make for better racing and closer following then Ross Brawn may have saved the sport. I believe they will help. How much remains to be seen but this has to be a step in the right direction.

Everything you need to know about the 2022 F1 cars

Safety

There have been a number of safety improvements that I won't go into detail on but they mostly came from the fiery Grosean crash 2 years ago. While safety is certainly paramount and I don't mean to downplay it, let's face it: we're here for the racing.

Administrative Stuff

Last year they introduced a cost cap and a limit to the amount of aero testing (both wind tunnel and CFD) that could be done. The limit is a sliding scale based on how well (or poorly) you did last year. So Mercedes has the least and Haas has the most (whether they can afford to actually do it remains to be seen).

The engine spec a team introduces at the beginning of the year is "frozen" at that time. The team can make reliability and safety improvements to it but these have to be approved by the FIA. It'll be interesting to see how Mercedes and Ferrari hide their improvements as reliability enhancements.

Schedule

This is for the actual racing/testing stuff. The car reveal schedule is below.

We return to the 2-week pre-season testing but this time it's split between Barcelona and Bahrain. Barcelona will be Feb 23-25 and Bahrain will be March 10-12 with the first race to follow a week later. This year we're going for another 23 week schedule, which they tried for last year but COVID reduced it to 21 or 22 I believe. Miami is the one newcomer, replacing Turkey. Seems like a step backwards to me but money is money.

2022 Schedule

Here's to actually meeting that schedule this year!

The Cars

Finally!

Here is the car reveal schedule (some have already happened....sorry!). I'll update links below as the car reveals occur.

Haas
What the Haas livery tells us about the new F1 cars
Haas explains development stages of 2022 car design

Red Bull - Feb 09
Livery Reveal

Aston Martin - Feb 10
Livery Reveal
Key features
The hidden details

McLaren - Feb 11
Livery Reveal
Novelties in the design

Alpha Tauri - Feb 14

Williams - Feb 14

Ferrari - Feb 17

Mercedes - Feb 18

Alpine - Feb 21

Alfa Romeo - 27

Continued

The Races
F1 is a worldwide racing series but is primarily based in Europe. Races are held at some of the most iconic and historic tracks in the world such as Spa, Monza, Interlagos, Catalunya and Suzuka.

The format of race weekends is as follows. There are two practice sessions on Friday, one hour each. On Saturday there is another one-hour practice in the morning with qualification in the afternoon. Qualy is knockout style where they start with the whole grid in Q1, everybody turns laps and they take the best times from each car. The slowest 5 cars get eliminated and they do another session with the 15 that are left. Again 5 more get knocked out and the final 10 vie for pole position.

To spice up the race, there is a requirement that 2 of the 3 compounds must be used for at least one lap. In other words there is a mandatory pit stop. Speaking of which, sadly there is no refueling during pit stops. Cars carry a full load of fuel that is expected to last the entire race. If you've never witnessed an F1 pit stop, prepare to be amazed. If a pit stop takes more than 3 seconds somebody on the pit crew is going to lose their job.

The number of laps vary depending on the track. Keeping in mind that there is no refueling, races can only last so long. Races generally run about an hour and a half. Points are awarded for the 1st ten places as follows: 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1. These points are used to determine the drivers championship and the constructors championship at the end of the season. Prize money is paid after the season to the constructors based on their standing in the championship. The drivers don't win any prize money. They are paid by the team. All you get for winning the drivers championship is bragging rights. And probably a bunch of endorsements.

Sometimes new fans are bewildered by the lack of parity in F1. But that's what happens when teams are only iimited by how much money they are willing and able to spend. Sometimes F1 rules seems as if they're perversely designed to prevent parity. But this year, hopefully things change. This year many new rules have been implemented, the goal of which are to improve racing and increase parity. These changes are most welcome however I can also enjoy the sheer beauty and artistry of the fastest cars on Earth lapping around some of the most iconic racing tracks built by man. In addition, there are good races to be had farther back in the pack too. Through the course of a season the teams tend to stratify into 2 or 3 contenders, several mid-pack teams and the back markers. There are lots of good races among the mid-tier teams.

DRS. You'll see a lot of talk about DRS. It stands for drag reduction system and that's pretty much what it does. Because of the difficulty of overtaking due to "bad" air behind the leading car, an artificial means of helping the passing car was devised. It opens up a flap in the rear wing reducing the drag and giving a boost in speed to the trailing car. It can only be used when the car is a second or less behind the leading car and only in designated DRS Zones on the track.

Another term you'll hear is parc ferme. At the start of qualification the cars are placed under parc ferme conditions and this means that modifications to the car are extremely limited throughout qualification and until the end of the race. Pretty much the only things that can be changed are wing angles and tire pressures (apart from the multitude of changes the driver can make via the steering wheel). If there is a damaged component, they can replace it like-for-like.

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Red Bull

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Lets go home team!!

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HubbaBubba

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Sorry...I was working on it.

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Aston is like, "Check this out."

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No shite. They and Alpine were my favorite liveries last year. Still looks great.

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I’m hoping for a little chaos, and some good surprises.

Let's go.

My boy Russell has moved up to the big dog team. I'm excited to see how he handles it.

I have high hopes for Williams. Dorilton has a full season under their belt hopefully they've worked out some kinks back at the factory.

And what kind of horse shite is this with the testing? It's testing in Barcelona, but not testing, and no broadcasts and limited photographers, from what I understand? That's messed up. F1 once again getting a reach around from money in the Middle East.

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And what kind of horse shite is this with the testing? It's testing in Barcelona, but not testing,

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The new formula should come with extra testing. Bahrain makes the most sense for the second test since it is the week before the race.

Wish it was broadcast, but imagine the teams/sponsors might not all be onboard if their car turns out to be a tractor. Gives them some rework time.

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but imagine the teams/sponsors might not all be onboard if their car turns out to be a tractor.

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Haas, we’re looking at you.


Pretty pumped for the season, can’t wait to see some testing results.

Know who doesn't wear dresses?


THE 2021 WORLD DRIVER CHAMPION OF THE WORLD SUPER MAX VERSTAPPEN