5 Greatest Disappointments of the 2022 F1 Season

System 1’s 2021 title battle was extraordinary, that means 2022 was at all times going to pale as compared, besides the dearth of a real challenger to Crimson Bull was a disappointing side of the yr.

The underwhelming end result was accentuated by the begin to the season, with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc battling hammer and tong throughout the primary two rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

That led to expectations that the previous karting rivals, born simply two weeks aside, would slug it out for the largest prize of all. So as to add to the narrative, Verstappen’s early reliability woes left him 46 factors behind after 4 races—a mammoth deficit within the context of his tooth-and-nail scrap in opposition to Hamilton in 2021, when each level was essential.

It took only some extra races for the image to distort right into a mirage. Verstappen and Crimson Bull obtained a deal with on the season, and by no means regarded again, whereas Ferrari’s prospects collapsed. By the point Leclerc caught the F1-75 within the wall in France, the mid-point of the marketing campaign, it was abundantly clear the place the titles have been heading—to not Maranello.

Midfield groups lately emerged as podium scorers and even race winners courtesy of a loopy Grand Prix, or stumbling into fortuitous circumstances, aided by the tip of the regulatory cycle.

Working example is that each AlphaTauri and Racing Level (now Aston Martin) gained a race in 2020 and each re-appeared on the rostrum in 2021, a yr by which each McLaren and Alpine ended prolonged waits for a rostrum. Even Williams scored a fortunate podium in 2021.

This yr, nevertheless, groups exterior of the large three had a barren spell, with McLaren’s Lando Norris the one interloper, again at Imola in April. The opposite 65 podium outcomes have been achieved by Crimson Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.

Alpine mustered a fourth-place end, courtesy of Esteban Ocon in Japan, whereas AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo and Haas every managed a top-five end, however that proved to be the ceiling of their functionality.

Hopefully subsequent yr there’s a bit of extra selection in who will get some trophies.

Other than his standout Monza victory, there have been glimpses in late 2021 that Daniel Ricciardo was getting a deal with on the type required to extract probably the most from McLaren’s equipment.

Overhauled technical laws for 2022 nonetheless offered the chance for a reset, but when something Ricciardo’s struggles worsened, consigning him to the standing of also-ran.

An eight-time race winner regarded misplaced, feeling as if progress had been made, earlier than slipping again to sq. one. At some occasions, teammate Lando Norris ran rings round him as in the event that they have been driving for various groups, such was the distinction in efficiency.

To his credit score, Ricciardo remained ultra-professional, at occasions conveying his private frustration however by no means throwing McLaren underneath the bus. It was a partnership that merely didn’t work out and a cut up was higher for either side.

It wasn’t a very disastrous season for Williams, but it surely was disappointing that one among System 1’s most historic names propped up the rear of the grid—and by fairly a margin.

If 2022 was a brand new period for System 1 then Williams’ place as a backmarker continued a sorry pattern in place since 2018, with 2021’s enchancment now showing the anomaly. Dorilton Capital carried out a long-term plan for crew principal Jost Capito (pictured) and technical head FX Demaison, however the pair brought about divisions throughout the crew, with Capito’s quirky administration type to not everybody’s liking.

To play satan’s advocate, this was a squad that had drifted—partly attributable to monetary worries—and it wanted a agency hand now and again, and a contemporary pair of eyes to pinpoint deep-rooted deficiencies.

The simultaneous exits of Capito and Demaison after the season factors to an absence of progress within the eyes of proprietor Dorilton and there may be little proof to counsel 2023 might be something aside from extra of the identical.

That is principally a given in any main sport these days, however there was ongoing frustration at erratic choices made throughout Grands Prix, or just ready hours to search out out the results of a race.

The prime instance being Singapore, the place it was solely confirmed a few hours afterwards that Sergio Perez was certainly positively the winner, regardless of two completely different penalties for ostensibly the identical offense.

There was additionally the debacle in Japan, the place the transient race (solely 28 of 53 have been accomplished) completed a lap sooner than groups anticipated, after which full factors have been awarded because of the tenuous wording of the laws. The factors ruling that in the end gave Max Verstappen the championship, nevertheless, was the results of a loophole within the guidelines solely understood by a single individual working within the timing division. It was a ruling which was not communicated successfully to anybody in a well timed vogue.

Within the latter years of Charlie Whiting’s tenure as race director, choices have been defined post-race to media, and questions answered, a session which continued with Michael Masi—bar Abu Dhabi 2021. However these discussions with the media now not befell in 2022 underneath co-directors Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas.