Alongside the much-vaunted return of the ground effect concept is the revival of wheel rim covers. F1 hopes these will help smooth out the turbulence ordinarily created by the wheel and tyre, and thus help reduce the overall wake generated by the lead car when another is chasing. The rim covers used in 2022 will be […]
Year: 2022
“A shame” McLaren didn’t hang on with Honda in F1
Honda returned to F1 after a six-season absence in 2015 as McLaren’s works engine partner, only for the two parties to cut ties after three difficult and unsuccessful years. An initial deal with Toro Rosso in 2018 paved the way for Honda to link up with Red Bull the following year. Honda announced in 2020 […]
Alpine “very encouraged” by 2021 F1 season progress
Alpine suffered from an inconsistent 2021 campaign, but a shock maiden win for Esteban Ocon in Hungary and a podium for Fernando Alonso in Qatar gave the Enstone outfit the edge over AlphaTauri to clinch fifth in the constructors’ championship. While it is clear Alpine has plenty of work to do to catch up with […]
McLaren eager to continue with occasional one-off F1 liveries
McLaren ran an all-new livery for the Monaco Grand Prix race weekend, ditching its regular papaya for the orange and powder blue colours of Gulf Oil to run on the cars of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. The team also opted to tweak its livery for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, […]
New FIA president confident Hamilton won’t walk away from F1
Hamilton missed out on a record-breaking eighth world championship after being passed by Max Verstappen on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix following a late restart by race control that did not appear to follow the regulations. Mercedes initially protested the restart procedure and considered a further appeal, but ultimately put an […]
Ricciardo “wanted to make a statement” with Monza F1 victory
Ricciardo joined McLaren from Renault on a three-year deal starting in 2021, but struggled to get up to speed with the team at first, leaving team-mate Lando Norris to score the majority of its points. But Ricciardo bounced back after the summer break to score a dominant victory in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, […]
“Naive” to think closing Red Bull and Mercedes F1 gap will be easy
This year will mark the start of a long-anticipated new technical ruleset for F1, forcing teams to pursue different aerodynamic concepts and manage the introduction of the new 18-inch tyres. It will provide an opportunity for all teams to make a big step forward, with Ferrari in particular looking to return to the front of […]
Why F1’s 2022 cars will be more of a handful for drivers
While the regulations are not specifically designed to make overtaking easier per se, the hope is that the new concepts will allow drivers to follow their rivals much closer than before. To achieve that, F1 has had to move away from a reliance on downforce created by the front and rear wings and instead the […]
Mazepin feels ready for fight in F1 midfield in 2022
The Russian had a character-building 2021 rookie campaign, where he and team-mate Mick Schumacher had to battle through a season with a package that had not been developed from the previous year. But. despite making some mistakes, Mazepin feels he has learned an awful lot and thinks his knowledge can be applied to good use if Haas’s 2022 […]
Ricciardo lost “a bit of faith” after “nearly laughable” start to F1 2021
Ricciardo joined McLaren on a three-year contract for the 2021 season after his exit from Renault, but initially failed to match team-mate Lando Norris for pace. Norris scored three podium finishes and more than double the points of Ricciardo before the summer break as the Australian struggled through the first half of the season. But […]