20 March Bahrain (Sakhir)

27 March Saudi Arabia (Jeddah)

10 April Australia (Melbourne)

24 April Emilia Romagna (Imola)

8 May Miami (Miami)

22 May Spain (Barcelona)

29 May Monaco (Monte Carlo)

12 June Azerbaijan (Baku)

19 June Canada (Montreal)

3 July United Kingdom (Silverstone)

10 July Austria (Spielberg)

24 July France (Le Castellet)

31 July Hungary (Budapest)

28 August Belgium (Spa)

4 September Netherlands (Zandvoort)

11 September Italy (Monza)

25 September Russia (Sochi)

2 October Singapore (Marina Bay)

9 October Japan (Suzuka)

23 October USA (Austin)

30 October Mexico (Mexico City)

13 November Brazil (Sao Paulo)

20 November Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi)

 

F1 2022 Drivers Line-Up

 

Red Bull: Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez

Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton, George Russell

Ferrari: Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz Jr

McLaren: Daniel Ricciardo, Lando Norris

Alpine: Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon

Alpha Tauri: Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda

Aston Martin: Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll

Williams: Nicholas Latifi, Alexander Albon

Alfa Romeo: Valtteri Bottas, Guanyu Zhou

Haas: Mick Schumacher, Nikita Mazepin

Backing Alpine and Fernando for a shock win this year

Going for a new race winner this year and hopefully multiple teams winning.

I'm looking forward to this. I hope it can be as close as it was in 2021 and hopefully there will be some first time race winners along the way.

jut realised there are 2 races in the US this year, Miami and Austin

I'm going bold and saying Leclerc for the title. I can see Merc & Red Bull having slow(ish) starts to the season in the vein of Ferrari & McLaren in 2009 although not quite that dramatic.

 

6 Sprints as well I think they're doing so even more points on the table.

It's clearly Schumacher's title this year. He's always champion in his second season.

 

 

 

 

Seriously though, if the new regs really do keep the difference in car performance to a minimum I can't see anyone other than Verstappen or Hamilton winning it again. They're both a cut above the rest of the field, have the best designers and engineers available and the most efficient teams. I can see Ferrari, Alpine and McLaren pushing them hard but if driver talent is to make the difference it'll be one of those two. Alonso as a dark horse to challenge for a while.

 

 

Realistically, it's impossible to accurately predict anything until we get testing underway. It was pretty good indicator last year and I expect the same this year. With shortened testing these days there is no longer enough time to play games hiding your pace. You have to push the car and finds its limit quickly.

Merc will sandbag until the first Q3 of the year like they always do so I ain’t even looking at testing times coz they’ll be meaningless. I imagine the cars will change a lot as well by the time we hit the first track.

 

 

All I want from testing is the new Renault package (Not the Alpine badged Enstone built chassis but the still Renault badged Viry built part of the car) is reliable out the gate. 2022 will be a new engine and gearbox from Viry having had the old package barely touched for the last three years. Let’s hope it’s fast and reliable. Need to channel 2004-2013 drivability pls. We did not get mugged out of corners coz no one put power down quite like the RS27

Merc will sandbag until the first Q3 of the year like they always do so I ain’t even looking at testing times coz they’ll be meaningless. I imagine the cars will change a lot as well by the time we hit the first track.

All I want from testing is the new Renault package (Not the Alpine badged Enstone built chassis but the still Renault badged Viry built part of the car) is reliable out the gate. 2022 will be a new engine and gearbox from Viry having had the old package barely touched for the last three years. Let’s hope it’s fast and reliable. Need to channel 2004-2013 drivability pls. We did not get mugged out of corners coz no one put power down quite like the RS27

 

Mercedes didn't sandbag at all last year.

It's not the times you look at in testing. If you watch all the running you get an impression of what the cars are like. It was clear last year that Merc had some issues around the rear end and the power unit that might put them on the back foot and that the Red Bull was going to be able to mount a serious challenge. I even suggested it might take 3 races for Merc to sort that out, which turned out to be pretty accurate.

After watching all the testing last year, the only things that really surprised me once the season got underway was how much Aston Martin struggled with the reg changes and how difficult Ricciardo found the McLaren.

 

There's also less than a week between the end of testing and FP1 in Bahrain so not a huge amount can change in that time

Oh gosh so there is! I hadn’t clocked that we were off to such a late start.

 

I think if the cars are so different to drive, it could be the European legs before we see a true pecking order start to shake out as everyone adapts at a different pace. Coz at first I think it will be a case of faster car vs faster adaptation and you will see a Fernando-esque drive the wheels off a donkey by Ham, Max, Alo et al and then see later who was slower to adapt to the car but actually has a faster car.

 

If I am optimistic then it could be an exciting year. But I’m a little cynical after the behaviour of Merc for most of the hybrid era. At this point they could be lapped by Mazepin in testing and I wouldn’t believe they had a donkey until I see them actually fail to get out of Q1

I was reading on Motorsport.com (ok for news, ghastly comment section) that this years pink (or green) Merc was a lot different because of the new areo regs meant they couldn’t copy/paste as much and took the car in a different direction to Merc. Quite interesting because as we found out in the year the rake that Merc/PinkMerc used was far more susceptible to the reg change.

 

 

Curious to see the rake concepts this year with the return of Ground Effect. I’d assume everyone goes low rake

I was reading on Motorsport.com (ok for news, ghastly comment section) that this years pink (or green) Merc was a lot different because of the new areo regs meant they couldn’t copy/paste as much and took the car in a different direction to Merc. Quite interesting because as we found out in the year the rake that Merc/PinkMerc used was far more susceptible to the reg change.

Curious to see the rake concepts this year with the return of Ground Effect. I’d assume everyone goes low rake

Yeah, that's the assumption because the underside of the car is so important now. Possibly the most interesting aspect of the new regs.

 

 

I really hope it does prove that driver talent makes all the difference. I'd love to see Alonso running back at the front again and would expect him to.

 

It'd finally give us a better idea on how good many of the drivers are compared to each other. If, as some people think, Russell is on Hamilton's level, then maybe Latifi isn't that bad, especially as he was getting closer to his pace towards the end of last year.

Yeah I think you’re right! Especially as Russell was lightly flattered by Saturday running putting him in a better position than Latifi. On race pace they didn’t look far off each other.

 

A word where driver talent makes the difference would be nice. I’d just love to turn the TV on and not be able to predict the top 10 of the race before Q1 starts and be 95% accurate. It’s nice to see more teams in a podium or points hunt and not us willing a disaster for the two second cars from Merc/RB to get literally anyone else on the podium

 

 

I lowkey want Haas to be back in the midfield this year too. I wanna see them be able to fight so we can actually see how these drivers are.

Several sources are suggesting that Lewis Hamilton will defer a decision on his future in the sport until the outcome of the FIA's enquiry in to last year's Abu Dhabi GP. Some are even going so far as to say that unless Michael Masi is replaced Lewis will either walk away or take a sabbatical.

I guess I’m rooting for Masi to stay and the enquiry to be useless then!

 

Let him throw a strop

Didn't know where else to put this but it might be of interest to some -

 

 

From www.Racefans.net -

 

F1 races which were broadcast live by ITV in the sixties and seventies are to be unearthed after the British television channel agreed a deal with Racing Past Media to explore its archive. The footage includes the dramatic, rain-hit 1976 title-decider at Fuji in Japan, and other races broadcast prior to 1981.

 

Former F1 presenter Steve Rider, who heads up RPM, said the archive includes documentary and feature material as well as races. “This is the first step in a project that, along with the co-operation of other archives and rights holders, will help provide a complete and accessible archive of the formative years of the Formula 1 world championship.”

That's good to hear, would love to watch some of the old races as they were broadcast rather than retrospective commentaries.

Red Bull will be the first team to unveil their 2022 challenger with the RB18 revealed on Wednesday 9th.

 

Aston Martin reveal their AMR-22 one day after.

McLaren will follow with their MCL36 on Friday 11th.

Mercedes are to reveal the W13 on the 18th.

And Haas have just stolen their thunder. At least they'll come first in something this year

Edit - Haas are only revealing their livery not the chassis

 

Haas: February 4

Red Bull: February 9

Aston Martin: February 10

McLaren: February 11

AlphaTauri: February 14

Ferrari: February 17

Mercedes: February 18

Alpine: February 21

Alfa Romeo: February 27

Williams: TBC

Edited February 3, 20223 yr by Severin

Not sure why Haas need a livery reveal tbh. We know it’ll be a Russian flag again