Episode #346: 2022 Formula 1 Season Preview

The big one. The season preview to end all season previews. It’s Formula 1 2022, and we have no idea what’s really about to happen! And that’s great!

We try our very best to go team by team as we pick apart testing and multiple other factors as we try to guess how we think 2022’s F1 season will play out. New cars, some old faces, and a potential three-way title decider.

Haas had to dump Nikita Mazepin at the 11th hour and Kevin Magnussen is back, a real upgrade for the American team. Alfa Romeo were probably the biggest strugglers in testing but have a genuinely great driver in Bottas. And how will Zhou get on? And how about Williams now Alex Albon is back to spearhead the team… and have they put out that brake fire yet?

The midfield is anyone’s guess. Aston Martin look like the same team they were before. AlphaTauri have question marks over Yuki Tsunoda’s form and a car heavily “porpoising”. Alpine struggled in the test to the point where Fernando Alonso questioned the confidence in his car. And then McLaren’s Bahrain test collapsed, and this was before Daniel Ricciardo caught COVID.

And then there’s the Big 3. Ferrari became Champions of the Pre-Season in a suspiciously strong test, but can their two excellent drivers co-exist? Red Bull laid down a statement of intent right at the end of testing with some fast glory runs and a very stable looking car, right alongside Mercedes “porpoising” to all hell, causing controversy by “not running sidepods”, and Lewis Hamilton already thinking they’re not challenging for wins… yet. Who’s lying?

We try and make sense of it all in a 90 minute special Motorsport101!