John N
The season is underway for the new-look F1 cars and Charles Leclerc became the first man to win a race in the new age of F1. It was a disappointing start to the season for Max Verstappen who was forced to retire with three laps to go. A suspected fuel pump problem was the reason for his early retirement which also affected Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, spinning the Mexican out of the Grand Prix on the final lap. But who will win the next race? Will it be Max Verstappen or Charles Leclerc, Or will Lewis Hamilton sneak up to win first place
All this and more will be answered in our talking points ahead of the 2022 Saudi Arabian grand Prix.
- The True Pecking Order
Throughout pre-season testing, as Formula 1 teams focus on lap times and long runs, we remind ourselves every day that we still don’t know who is fastest until qualifying at the first race. And when all cars are at their absolute fastest—low fuel and full power—we see what their raw pace is like. But the raw pace is only specific to that first track and the characteristics of the Bahrain International Circuit reward cars with top speed, good traction, and cars that are strong in low-speed corners.
The question is whether Ferrari’s impressive start and 1-2 result in Bahrain will prove to be one of the Scuderia’s strongest venues or if Red Bull will move to the fore elsewhere. Similarly, Mercedes might fancy their chances more on smoother circuits where they can run their car lower without it being unsettled by the bumps. Ferrari has been quick in Bahrain before while not being strong for the whole season, but this year feels like they do have the potential to be title contenders, so we’ll find out more in Jeddah.
- RB18 Reliability Issues
It was no surprise to see Ferrari and Red Bull at the sharp end in Bahrain, with Mercedes lagging a fair distance behind the top two. However, it was Red Bull who had the biggest reliability concerns during the race weekend. There hadn’t been anything during pre-season testing that suggested Christian Horner’s team should be overly worried about the challenge presented by the first race, and the way the race weekend panned out was in good shape.
The Red Bull cars were only kept out of a race-finishing position six times in all of the 2021 season, and five of those times were due to crashes and incidents. Even more impressively, only once in all of 2021 did a driver not see the chequered flag due to an engine problem. However, at the start of 2022 two Red Bull cars suffered double-DNFs – which indicates there may be some issues that need addressing – while Pierre Gasly in the other Red Bull-powered car also retired. The team will have its work cut out for it as it tries to make certain that its quick new car does not suffer from problems in the same way as its previous vehicle had.
- Can Mercedes Powered Cars Overcome Their Issues?
Red Bull probably feels they have a better problem to try and overcome than the Mercedes customer teams. While the works team managed to salvage a very solid haul of points by finishing third and fourth after the Red Bull retirements, the three teams Mercedes supply – McLaren, Aston Martin, and Williams – were all languishing at the back of the field throughout the race and engaged in their private battle.
It’s a change from when turbocharged V6 engines were introduced—when Mercedes-AMG power dominated the field—and it was confusing to see a deficit to other power unit manufacturers at the first race. But the extent to which engine design and car design affect performance is unclear. Although Lewis Hamilton and George Russell reached Q3 and finished in the top four, they were competitive with a Mercedes power unit. In that sense, Williams occupied a similar position to last year, when they also started in the top ten. But Aston Martin and McLaren were expected to do better than they did, so they’ll need to quickly respond with a solution.
- Sebastian Availability – A Boost For Aston Martin
Despite the lack of pace from the Mercedes-powered cars at the front of the grid, Aston Martin Racing did have a disrupted start to the season after Sebastian Vettel tested positive for COVID-19 on the eve of the opening race weekend. The German was ruled out on Thursday morning, and so Nico Hulkenberg had to head out to replace him at very short notice, only driving the car for the first time in FP1. The fact he out-qualified teammate Lance Stroll was massively impressive, but Stroll came through to finish 12th and lead the Mercedes-powered pack. If Vettel is fit to return this weekend then Aston Martin will be hoping that gives the team a better chance of getting a bit more out of the car as the four-time world champion knows it well from testing, but Hulkenberg will be staying in the region to ensure his availability if Vettel is ruled out once again. Hulkenberg does also now have the added experience of a full race weekend under his belt and should be more comfortable if called upon to race for a second week in a row.
