Tests with new cars starting today
Guessing is what makes Formula 1 opener so exciting
02/23/2022, 08:21 am
Formula 1 is starting a new era, at least that is the hope. The completely redesigned cars roll out of the garages for the first time. What Sebastian Vettel, Mick Schumacher & Co. can expect and what they are hoping for: questions and answers about the new season.
Don’t waste your time. Formula 1 teams only have six days of testing to prepare for the definitive dawn of a new technological era. For the dethroned world champion Lewis Hamilton, triumphant Max Verstappen and the two Germans Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher, the first trips are on the program in Barcelona from Wednesday to Friday. Here are seven facts about the new season.
How much do the cars differ from last year’s models?
Very, and it has nothing to do with the paintwork, even if the Silver Arrow is now racing in black again in the classic color look after two years. The tires are bigger, the drivers are already worried that visibility in the corners could be worse. The front and rear wings – the latter also curved – are simpler, the many little wings are omitted. Everything should serve to improve overtaking opportunities. How? Due to the rule changes in the aerodynamic area, there should no longer be such air turbulence behind the cars. The designers were challenged.
What is particularly noticeable?
Clearly, the different concepts for the sidepods. On the Mercedes W13 they are extremely narrow. The car looks elegant. “Aggressive and courageous,” team boss Mattia Binotto describes the new Ferrari. The red is a little darker, the wide sidepods with a deep indentation and gills are striking. They are allowed again. Aston Martin has also equipped Vettel’s new racing car with it for cooling. Front wheel suspension, nose construction, underbody – here too the teams rely on different solutions. However, it can be assumed that the cars will be back on the track in Barcelona with more or less major visual changes. Especially in the course of the season, which also becomes a development race.
How much is Lewis Hamilton still suffering from the bitter 2021 season finale?
Not more. On the contrary. He wants to turn the emotions from the bitter defeat of the season into “power” after a splendid race to catch up in the previous races. The Briton enjoyed the winter break and spent a lot of time with his entire family. The announcement from the seven-time world champion and 103-time race winner and pole setter suggests something: “If you think you saw the best of me at the end of last year, wait and see what you’ll see this year.”
What’s on the agenda for Germany’s Vettel and Schumacher?
Learn learn learn. Like their competitors, Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher also have to get to know the new cars at the first important exit. There’s no time to waste. Vettel’s Aston Martin project is particularly exciting this season, the team is growing while the big ones have to shrink. In four years at the latest you want to drive for the title. Schumacher’s Haas team, meanwhile, was hopelessly lagging behind last year, almost entirely using its scarce resources to develop the 2022 car – and that’s why it could make a leap into midfield.
However, the drivers share the workload with their colleagues. So Vettel will start in the Aston Martin this Wednesday before Lance Stroll takes over after the lunch break. At Haas, Nikita Mazepin takes over the start in the morning, then Schumacher replaces him. “We knew from the start last year that it would be a long and difficult season. We’re now hoping for a better season,” said Vettel. In 2021, he finished just 12th in the Drivers’ Championship in his first season for Aston Martin.
Is there a complete upheaval?
Miracles are unlikely. And yet the balance of power should shift significantly, Formula 1 has very high hopes for its new regulations. But Ross Brawn, the premier class sporting director, also admits: “I don’t think we’re going to see Mick Schumacher dominating this year.” Above all, the new cars are supposed to get to the big ones: The supremacy of Red Bull with world champion Max Verstappen and Mercedes with record champion Lewis Hamilton should no longer exist in this form. Theoretically, every team has the opportunity to land at the top thanks to good ideas. Especially since the means of the racing teams have been adjusted, 2022 is already the second year under the new budget limit.
Why does Formula 1 love testing in Barcelona?
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya offers an ideal cross-section of requirements. The 4.675-kilometer course has a mix of slow, medium-fast and fast passages. Drivers can push themselves to the max on the long straight, and test the balance of the car in the long corner three. How do the new 18-inch tires behave? How does the completely changed aerodynamics concept affect the cars on the asphalt? However, the three days in Barcelona are just an unofficial test run without spectators and without live TV images. These are only available in Bahrain.
So it only gets serious in Sakhir?
That’s the way it is. From March 10th to 12th, Hamilton & Co. in Bahrain have to collect sensitive data and insights for the first Grand Prix of the year. Conveniently, the opening race on March 20th will also be held in Sakhir. The racing teams can therefore remain on site immediately after the tests and transfer their knowledge to the racing emergency a week later. In the desert, the tests of the premier class of motorsport are then staged as an event, even if spectators are allowed on the grandstands.
What to expect from first impressions?
“We don’t even know if we can fight for the title at all,” says Mercedes Motorsport Director Toto Wolff, and that would be a real turning point. Because it was only in the 2021 season finale that Hamilton lost the world title dramatically to Verstappen, previously Mercedes drove for seven years with almost no real resistance. How well all of this works remains to be seen, the new cars are uncharted territory. In Barcelona, Verstappen, Hamilton, Vettel and Co. want to “find out how the car drives” first, which they explained almost verbatim.
But at the front? Ross Brawn continues to see Mercedes and Red Bull, accompanied more by McLaren and Ferrari. According to the Brit, you can’t become a winner in Formula 1 overnight.