Formula 1 2022 – Into the Unknown | F1 2022 | Motorsport | Is It Fast

It has been ninety-six days since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. To me, as I’m sure it does for many of you, it feels like a lot longer.

Needless to say, the last race and its conclusion left a bitter taste in the mouths of many fans.

But we’re not here to talk about that. In fact, since the end of the 2021 season, I’ve only written one Formula 1 related article – and that was on the now incredibly deceased DriveTribe.

Image: Mercedes Media Centre

For those of you wondering, I was pondering over the possibilities of Fernando Alonso becoming F1 World Champion this year. Ambitious? Perhaps. But we can’t rule it out.

Since then, I’ve been writing a lot about Extreme E (go check it out, it’s awesome) and I’ve also reignited my love affair with Formula E – it’s going very well so far thank you for asking.

I’ve also dipped my toe into the world of IndyCar properly for the first time which has been interesting and I’m looking forward to the rest of that season as well.

On top of that (as if that wasn’t enough) I’ve been interviewing people left, right and centre for my podcast, On the Kerbs, and covering other parts of motorsport from WEC to Formula Woman and W Series.

However, none of that is what this article is about either. As brilliant as all of those things are in their own ways, there is one that eclipses them all.

That’s because this weekend, Formula 1 returns. The Bahrain Grand Prix will kick off the 2022 Season and I’m frothing at the mouth in anticipation. Why? Because this year, truly anything can happen.

“Anything happens in Grand Prix racing and it usually does.” – Murray Walker

While testing is never usually an incredibly accurate blueprint for how the season will pan out and who will end up on top, it’s been incredibly fascinating nonetheless. With the new regulations now in full swing for 2022, seeing how each team has interpreted these has been like opening presents at random on Christmas day.

From Ferrari’s radical design to Mercedes unveiling their innovative side pod designs in Bahrain – which were non-existent in Barcelona just a couple of weeks before – it’s like being a kid in a candy store.

But it’s not been business as usual for the silver arrows. Not yet anyway. Ferrari has looked incredibly strong. Yet so did McLaren in Barcelona. Red Bull too found their feet towards the end of Bahrain testing.

In a fruity twist though, Alfa Romeo got near to the top of the timesheets too. Even more surprising for most was when Haas managed to achieve this when Kevin Magnussen set the quickest lap time on day two of testing.

Image: Haas Media Centre

Mick Schumacher showed that this wasn’t a fluke when he stuck his Haas in P2 on the final day.

This is why making predictions for the new season has become that much harder for 2022. Sure, everyone believes that Mercedes and Red Bull are sandbagging.

But the pace of the likes of the Ferraris and the Alpha Tauris – even the Williams – shows that we’re surely going to be in for a treat this year.

The closer racing that F1 said we’d be getting this year looks set to happen after all. It’s difficult not to get too excited about the potential here.

The liveries on all of the cars too are quite something too. There aren’t any bad liveries this year, just good ones and better ones. Just look at the Alfa Romeo for proof of this. Heck, even the redesigned Haas puts a sly smile on your face.

The striking new designs that each team have adopted makes every car stand out from the pack. McLaren and Ferrari are just pure car porn at this point. It’s brilliant.

What’s more is that as part of this – and perhaps because it’s a brand-new season that seems set to blow away the cobwebs of yesteryear – as a fan, I’ve never found it harder to pick just a few drivers to root for in particular.

I want Lewis Hamilton to come back swinging and clinch his eighth World Title. I want Sergio Perez to take it to the next level and challenge Max Verstappen. I want Charles Leclerc to stop having such bad luck and have a dicey inter-team battle with Carlos Sainz.

I want Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel to prove that they’ve still got it. I want George Russell to unleash the full potential that we all know he’s got and for Daniel Ricciardo to get back to his winning ways.

I want Williams to push the envelope even further this year and take the next step in moving back to the top of the Championship and for Valtteri Bottas to be able to lift Alfa Romeo up.

I want Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda to become the most effective midfield team and now that they’ve got their proverbial horse manure sorted out, for Haas to really shine throughout the season and give us a great underdog success story.

And the best bit about everything I said I want in that last paragraph is that it could all happen. Genuinely. Sure, the first race hasn’t happened yet and like the great Murray Walker, it might turn out that I don’t make mistakes but instead make prophecies that immediately turn out to be wrong.

On the other hand though, I don’t think that will be the case. I really hope not anyway. This then is why the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship has got me all hot and bothered.

Image: Alfa Romeo Media Centre

It’s been surprisingly refreshing to take a break from F1 since the end of last season.

That’s not to say I haven’t had anything to do with it of course – because that would be madness. For example, I’ve been (relatively) gently getting back into that pool by chatting everything F1 with fellow Is It Fast? Writer Jesse Billington on our podcast, “The Undercut Podcast” on YouTube.

But the break I took after last season was exactly what was needed, and, I think others will agree with me on this, which will make stepping into the new era of Formula 1 even better.

With that in mind, I want to end this piece with another Murrayism that I hope we get to say a lot this season – “Well, now we have exactly the same situation as at the beginning of the race, only exactly opposite.” Wouldn’t that just be the cherry on top?

Author: Thiemo Albers-Daly