While the new regulations are coming into effect this year, the regulations were actually planned to come into effect from 2021 and were chalked out a couple of years before that. The regulations revolved around one aim, to provide closer racing, and are designed around the concept of ground effect aerodynamics. A part of that design direction - a simplified front wing - was introduced in 2020, and was followed by a simplified floor that was introduced in 2021 to reduce dirty air and provide closer racing, and these changes proved their worth last year, with the 2021 season shaping to be one of the best F1 seasons in over 2 decades.
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For the 2022 season the cars have been completely redesigned from the ground up, except for the power units that have been largely unchanged. The teams also had the challenge to develop these designs under a cost cap, with all the teams getting the same upper limit of the amount they can spend. However, the top teams got reduced wind tunnel times as opposed to the bottom finishing teams from last year, giving them a good chance to catch up with the mammoths - Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari.
Up until qualifying yesterday, it was really uncertain which teams/drivers would come out on top. Though Ferrari and McLaren dominated the timing charts of the first test at Barcelona, Mercedes showed up with some really interesting concepts of the side pods - or the lack of them - and winglets around the mirrors. Though Red Bull first sought to protest against the extremely thin profiled side pods, they later found that the side pods were legal. However, Ferrari weren't thrilled with the way Mercedes designed their mirrors, and lashed out at FIA for banning their halo-suspended mirrors a few years ago while allowing this concept.
But even with the very radical design, the Mercedes W13 seems to be largely struggling with pace and it will be interesting to see how they manage to find their winning form later in the season after a disappointing qualifying yesterday. Even after qualifying an unimpressive P5, Lewis Hamilton was content with the finish, highlighting the fact that Mercedes might not be winning for the next few races at the very least. As it stands though, Ferrari and Red Bull seem to be in a league of their own, with the two teams putting their 4 cars in the top 4 spots for the Bahrain GP.
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Alpine and Alfa Romeo had a rather poor test as both the teams suffered with numerous issues, but it seems like they have ironed out most of their problems as the teams both had one car each in the top 10, which was unanticipated by most. Alpha Tauri's Gasly also managed to put his car in Q3, but Yuki Tsunoda's struggles continued as he was knocked out in Q1.
Another team which turned a lot of heads with a Q3 appearance was Haas. Haas struggled through the entire 2021 season as the team decided to shift their focus on the 2022 car pretty early on, and finished dead last in the 2021 standings scoring no points. The team also struggled through the first test at Barcelona, with reliability issues adding on political issues caused due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, the American team had a great second test and they lived up to the expectations in qualifying, with Kevin Magnussen scoring an impressive P7 on his comeback to F1, giving Haas their first Q3 appearance since 2019.
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While Mclaren's first test went rather well, the team later started to struggle with brake issues and slowly started to fade away from the top, delivering a very unexpectedly poor result in qualifying. Aston Martin's hopes for the 2022 season never really materialized either, as the British team is the only team that had both the cars eliminated in Q1. Williams did show some promise in the pre-season tests, but Alex Albon could only manage to qualify 14th as Latifi was last.
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While it is evident from qualifying that Ferrari seems to be in the best shape, it is crucial for all the teams to keep up the reliability of their car. As these cars are the first generation of cars under the new regulations, almost every team is suffering with some form of reliability issues, with teams having to rethink their reliability vs performance balance.
It may be easier for some teams to tune their cars to deliver their absolute best over one lap in qualifying, but to finish at the top in the race, first they have to finish. This may result in a big stir up in today's GP, as each team's race pace could largely vary from their qualifying pace. Add the fact that the new regulations are aimed squarely at making it easier for cars to overtake, we surely will be in for a delightful race filled with multiple overtakes throughout the order.
