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F1 RETURNS REVIEW: Ferrari shines, McLaren falls and we keep guessing

29 March 202228 March 2022By
F1 RETURNS REVIEW: Ferrari shines, McLaren falls and we keep guessing

The glorious sight of steaming brakes, red lights, and a shiny new array of liveries finally graced our screens last weekend, after a long three month break. F1 is back. 

The new season kicked off in the glittering extravagance of a night race at Bahrain’s International Circuit. 

This year, the sport returns with so many new regulations that the cars have had to be completely redesigned. The biggest change is the new aerodynamic systems that allow the cars to follow each other more easily, which has transformed the sizes and shapes of the tyres, front wings and rear rings – rendering the cars barely recognisable. 

And in the wake of these seismic changes, the grid order seems to have been shaken – teams are rising, teams are falling, and this season will be one hell of a ride. 

The famous red of Ferrari lit up Bahrain’s track with a one-two finish. Their first race  win since the 2019 Singapore GP, and I don’t think anyone was unhappy to see it. For what is F1, without Ferrari? 

Their beautiful, monster of a 2022 car with a shockingly fast new power unit stormed through qualifying and the race, Charles Leclerc able to fight back against a mid-race assault from Max Verstappen easily and power on through to a relatively untroubled win. 

With Ferrari back on form, the dominance of the big bad boys of F1 – Mercedes and Red Bull – could finally be under challenge. Not only might we have another title fight on our hands like last season, but there now could be three teams battling it out at the top. 

However, Red Bull suffered a humiliating double retirement in the final laps of the race with power failures and steering issues, leaving them with zero points at the end of the first race weekend. 

This gifted Mercedes a place on the podium as Lewis Hamilton finished third, and George Russel finished behind in fourth. Toto Wolff, team principle of Mercedes, was very pleased with the unexpectedly strong haul of points, following a poor qualifying performance. 

“This year, I think we are punching above our weight class,” conceded Wolff. “We’re trying to recover lost ground, but it’s not going to come from one day to the other.” 

And, where are the McLaren’s you might ask? 

The bold papaya orange was barely visible on our screens as they trundled in the background before being lapped. They came a measly 14th (Daniel Riccardo) and 15th (Lando Norris) out of the 17 cars that finished – a crushing start for a team that has spent many seasons re-clawing its way back up to the pecking order. 

In this game of snakes and ladders, McLaren seems to have slipped very far down. 

The midfield is now all over the place. Alfa Romeo, powered by Ferrari’s engine, saw Valteri Bottas outqualify his predecessor Russel, and finish the race not far behind in sixth. 

And yet, the true star of the show was Haas. 

The beauty of F1 lies in its drama, its rivalries, its unpredictability. That is what these new regulations sought to foster: a new kind of hierarchy – one that was dynamic and fluid and no longer dominated by the highest financed teams. A story that kept us guessing and delighting in the unknown. 

This opening race weekend the American team reminded of us all of that. A true underdog, Haas barely made their way through last season as they opted to focus on the 2022 car, and finished without a single point and a best finish of 12th all season. 

Sunday’s race saw the return of Kevin Magnusson, who replaced the dropped Russian driver and oligarch’s son, Nikita Mazepin. It was a very happy surprise for many, and none so than Haas. He scored a 5th place finish for the team – their best result since 2018, whilst his teammate and relative newbie, Mick Schumacher, landed a career best finish in 11th. 

So, perhaps we will throw caution to the wind when making our predictions this season. But, it seems far too optimistic to call it’s anyone’s game. 

Mercedes have a lot of work to do but they could easily come back, whilst Red Bull’s reliability issues could be an easy fix. This track has always favoured Ferrari, and never been kind to McLaren. 

What is for certain is this season is a new era of F1 – it is out with the old and in with the new. The rules of the game have changed and it’s a case of adapting or face sitting in the dirty air of 18 other cars. 

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