The 2022 F1 season starts March 18 with Practice 1 in Bahrain. 2021 gave fans a memorable season with a title fight between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton lasting till the last race of the season. This year Verstappen hopes to defend his championship while Hamilton hopes to win his record-breaking 8th championship. The new regulation change also hopes to shake up the standings closing the gap between the top and bottom teams. 

“After last season’s exciting championship battle, I can only imagine that this next season will only be even more exciting with many changes in regulations and driver line-ups,” said Logan Seto-Consorte (‘24)

Formula 1, or F1 is the highest class of international racing of open-wheel cars. It is one of the premier forms of racing in the world. 10 teams with 2 drivers each race around 22 tracks in 5 different continents spanning a period of 9 months. In each race, the top 10 receives points, with the winner getting the most points, 25. Teams and drivers compete for two championships, the winning team receives the Constructer’s Championship and the winning driver receives the Driver’s Championship. 

“Although the rules may seem a bit daunting, once you get to know it, Formula 1 gets really interesting.” said James Taylor (‘25).

New driver line-ups also hope to create an exciting season. Up in coming Chinese prospect, Guanyu Zhou joins Alfa Romea in his first season in F1. Although joining after a somewhat underwhelming 2021 F2 season, Zhou shows a lot of promise and talent. Another exciting driver change is Alex Albon returning to F1, joining Williams. Alex Albon showed his potential in the 2019 season however had a very mediocre season in 2020, losing his seat at RedBull. The most exciting driver change is George Russel joining Mercedes. After getting a surprise podium in the 2021 Belgium Grand Prix, Russel showed that he has title-winning talent. 

“I think these driver changes are going to shake up the grid a lot. It’s going to be a very interesting mix of experienced veterans paired up with young, talented drivers. I think I am most excited to see how Russel does in Mercedes.” said Devon Hyunh (‘22).

New regulations and cost caps hope to bring an unpredictable season. The 2022 regulation changes are the biggest ones since 2014. The regulation changes change the aerodynamics of the cars and hope to reduce the amount of dirty air coming from the back of F1 cars, creating better and closer racing. 

“I’m hoping that the regulation change is able to shake up the standings a bit and we can see a lot more competitive racing.” said Mihir Joshi (‘24)

Many predictions for the upcoming season still have Red Bull and Mercedes on top, however, Ferrari also seems to be catching up with the two teams. Since the engine scandal in 2019, Ferrari has seemed to be out of shape for the past two seasons but after the 2022 testing, they look like they have the third-fastest car out of the grid.

“Being a Ferrari fan, I am very excited to see how well we do this season. It has been 2 and a half years since our last win, so I’m hoping we are able to end the drought this year,” said Seto-Consorte.

As for Amador’s predictions, many students have Verstappen winning, while most of the rest have Hamilton winning. Time will tell to see who will win the championship. Will it be Red Bull, Mercedes, or even a dark horse such as Ferrari? 

“I am rooting for Hamilton to win the championship. I think he was robbed last year so I am hoping for a redemption win this year,” said Joshi.