F1 2022 Season - "Big Wheels"

F1’s new era is coming!

With the seats for 2022 now falling into place and plenty of technical changes, it feels like time to start a new thread for the 2022 season.


Aero: much more prescriptive aero regulations, aiming at clean shapes, less sensitive airflow, and much reduced turbulent wake for a following car. Complemented by the abandonment of the flat floor in favour of two ground-effect tunnels either side of the cockpit.

Wheels: 18” wheels instead of today’s 13” items (as per F2 now)

Testing: Increased differentiation of testing allowances by championship position (twice as much as this year, so a 5% reduction per place gained in championship standings)

Engines: Teams can introduce a new engine for 2022, which spec will then be frozen and used unchanged for 2023/24 also. Honda are understood to be preparing a final 2022 engine as a leaving gift for Red Bull.


Drivers:

Mercedes	Hamilton / Russell
Red Bull	Verstappen / Perez
McLaren	Norris / Ricciardo
Ferrari	Leclerc / Sainz
Alpine	Ocon / Alonso
Alpha Tauri	Gasly / Tsunoda
Aston Martin	Stroll / Vettel
Williams	Latifi / Albon
Alfa Romeo	Bottas / Zhou
Haas	Schumacher / Magnussen

Italics for the moves that appear likely but haven't yet been announced.

Thoughts on expected/hoped for driver moves? Predictions for who'll do best with the new regs?

I have a lot of faith in Red Bull and Mercedes staying on top with the new rules. I don't have faith in the new rules actually helping the racing.

I'm not expectin gmuch from the Ferrari. Probably still Ferarri and McLaren competing for third with another team or two and Williams, Alfa and Haas bring up the rear. More of the same I bet.

I think the biggest question mark will be Alpine.

I hope Russell does go to Mercedes and they split results at the beginning of the season, so we get to see some battling.

I think a middle-of-the-front team is going to get a lot of podiums this year. I agree that Alpine is a dark horse. Could also be Ferrari or McLaren. Give it two years then we will return to status quo.

And don’t forget that Adrian Newey is a genius. He may have less of an influence over the car’s shape starting this year, but you just know that he will bring something that others will copy.

And a question: I haven’t been paying too much attention but what’s everyone’s overall opinion on Schumacher vs Giovinazzi so far? I ask this because they are both in the Ferrari junior driver pipeline and are effectively competing for a seat in the red cars once they tire of one or both of their current drivers.

I don't think Gio is F1 material tbh. A shame, actually, i think he is a very interesting person.

Giovinazzi hasn't really shone in two and a half seasons against 40-yr-old Kimi. If he was great, we'd know it by now. A competent midfielder at best IMO.

Schumacher OTOH I don't think we can draw many conclusions from, half a season against a poor teammate in a poor car. Received wisdom is that his junior career was solid but not outstanding.

I’m guessing status quo as far as team order next year. The usual suspects will continue their reign.

But the real drama I want to see is Russell vs Hamilton. From what I understand Russell is a shark like Hamilton, not a guppy like Bottas. So I am interested in seeing two sharks on the same team for a change.

Yeah just listening to Russell on the radio during qualifying says it all. He is very determined to drive the wheels off it every time it's required.

I think there will be one or two years of overlap while Hamilton hands over the reigns before retirement. I don't think we will ever see them smash heads and cause chaos, plus I don't picture Hamilton fading away in lower teams like a lot of other ex-world champions.

Russell is still not as good a racer as Norris or Leclerc. He needs to do the werk.

Dude's lightning fast, though.

Russell? An hotlapper.

Russell almost won a race until Mercedes let him down. I don't think Toto's doubting him and yet you guys still don't think he deserves that seat?

I'd think he's paid plenty more of his dues in Williams than Max and Charles and Lando...

Anyway, I think these 'kids' have set things up well to be able to make F-1 interesting in the future regardless of rules and after Hamilton is gone...