RACE CRUNCH

Listen to this article McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was forced to skip the second winter test in Bahrain last week following a positive test, while Aston Martin announced on Thursday that Sebastian Vettel will miss the opening race of the new season after contracting COVID-19. For 2022, the FIA’s COVID-19 protocols have been relaxed in some…

Listen to this article The issue was mainly attributed to the design of its front brake assembly, with Lando Norris unable to do more than a few consecutive laps before the brakes overheated. It’s an issue that didn’t rear its head in Barcelona due to the lower temperatures that the teams were running in at…

Listen to this article Red Bull and Ferrari came away from testing in the strongest shape, but neither team is convinced that Mercedes is truly in trouble despite Lewis Hamilton’s fears it may not be able to win a race at present. Everyone will start from zero in Bahrain, making it the perfect time to…

Listen to this article Red Bull driver Verstappen defeated Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton after a gruelling 2021 campaign, taking his maiden world championship three months ago in Abu Dhabi. The 2021 title finale was the culmination of a seven-year project for both Verstappen and Red Bull, which started when Verstappen was drafted in at Toro Rosso…

Listen to this article The Aston Martin reserve driver has been called in to deputise for his fellow German Sebastian Vettel. The former world champion had returned to his home in Switzerland after last weekend’s running at Sakhir, and took a PCR test before he travelled back to Bahrain as part of Aston Martin’s regular…

Listen to this article For the final pre-season test in Bahrain, Mercedes completely overhauled its mirror setup as part of the sidepod revamp of the W13. Rivals questioned what Mercedes had done, as they suggested that some elements of the mirrors were being used for aerodynamic benefit – something which they are not supposed to…

McLaren’s Lando Norris was the quickest driver in the first day of pre-season testing in Barcelona, while Ferrari covered the most laps with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr. Norris was the only driver to break the 1’20 barrier on the opening day of testing for the 2022, setting a 1’19.568 in the late afternoon…

Lewis Hamilton expects Ferrari has seized an opportunity to make more progress early on with the development of their new car for 2022 than Mercedes did. His Mercedes team were locked in a championship fight with Red Bull which ran until the final race of last season. While the two teams continued work on their…

Listen to this article Reserve driver Robert Kubica completed only nine laps when he ran the C42 in the morning session, while Bottas managed a further 23 when he took over in the afternoon, the Finn finishing the day in 10th place overall. The team’s total of 32 laps was the lowest of the day,…

Listen to this article The heavier cars for this year, rather than the shift to ground effect, has emerged as the biggest difference that drivers felt in their first day of testing the new F1 cars at Barcelona in Spain on Wednesday. As a result of ramped up safety structures and the shift to 18-inch…

One of the 23 races on the 2022 Formula 1 schedule could end up being dropped as a result of Russia’s deployment of its army into eastern Ukraine. Formula 1 is set for a record-breaking 23-race season in 2022 following a record-tying 22-race season in 2021. However, there are doubts that this will end up…

George Russell believes that changing teams amidst the sweeping regulation changes being introduced into Formula 1 for 2022 could be a positive. After three years with Williams, the Briton makes the switch to Mercedes for the upcoming season. Whilst some may view the crossover of this move and the new rules as being a challenge,…

“They feel a bit different driving in the sim (simulator), but I think it will be different in real life.” “I think from a driving point of view, the main challenge for all of us will be adapting to these cars,” Vettel told media including RacingNews365.com . Following the team’s launch of their new car…

Jenson Button expects Lewis Hamilton to bounce back from the disappointment of losing the 2021 World Championship. The Mercedes driver disappeared from public view following the controversial events of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and did not re-emerge again until 5 February, when he shared a post on Instagram saying that he was “back”. During…

McLaren boss Zak Brown has hinted that there will be a new bet with Daniel Ricciardo this season after Ricciardo won their wager in 2021. At the beginning of last year, Brown made a deal with Ricciardo that, if the Australian achieved a podium finish, he would get the chance to drive his idol Dale…

Having won a first World Championship at the end of a tension-fraught season, Lando Norris says Max Verstappen was “naturally born in the zone” 2021 heralded the best title fight that Formula 1 has witnessed in years, if not decades as Verstappen took on Lewis Hamilton, the Briton seeking a record-breaking eighth crown. The two…

Aston Martin reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg has given his thoughts on why F1 is coming back to life after some relatively processional recent years. Liberty Media took over the running of the sport in 2016, and in Hulk’s words has given the championship its “glamour & star factor that has always made F1 special.” He…

Listen to this article The Australian had the option to extend his stay in the Red Bull junior programme for 2022, but elected to switch to Alpine, joining fellow FIA Formula 3 graduate Olli Caldwell and F3 drivers Victor Martins and Caio Collet as part of Alpine’s junior line-up. Last year Doohan finished runner-up to…

Listen to this article With the investigation into last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix controversy coming to an end, the FIA has promised to reveal its findings and an action plan of changes is due to be announced imminently. With fan backlash still at fever pitch over the events of last year’s season finale, when…

Listen to this article As Motorsport.com’s exclusive photograph shows, the car is running in a camouflage livery that it is expected will also be used for testing. New driver Valtteri Bottas was behind the wheel, but wearing a black helmet, as he completed the first laps just before midday in Italy on the wet track….

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is absolutely committed to fighting for an eighth title in 2022, according to F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali. The Briton dropped off the radar over the winter, breaking a social media silence that lasted nearly two months. He posted a photo (below) of himself with the following caption: “I’ve…

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel is confident about the team’s progress following the arrival of new boss Mike Krack. Krack, who hails from Luxembourg, joined Aston Martin in January and brings a wealth of experience from Formula 1, the World Endurance Championship and Formula E. Krack is a former colleague of Vettel’s having worked with the…

Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz has used an unusual and yet simple method to demonstrate the new ground-effect aerodynamic regulations used for the 2022 F1 season. Taking to Twitter and using his trusty Dyson, Kravitz attempted to explain the new aero rules coming into force this season in his own unique way. The new regulations, which…

Former Ferrari team boss Marco Mattiacci has been appointed to a new role with the Aston Martin company. Mattiacci, who served as Team Principal for Scuderia Ferrari in 2014, has become Global Chief Brand and Commercial Officer for Aston Martin Lagonda, the parent company of the Aston Martin F1 team. Mattiacci has a long career…

Red Bull’s Christian Horner won’t be able to make the most of a recent prize he won, after being the winning bidder for a tour of the Mercedes Formula 1 factory. Horner landed himself a tour of Red Bull’s chief rivals’ facilities in Brackley in the UK, after bidding on the item at the recent…

Lando Norris is now officially a resident of Monaco, as he has completed his move to an apartment he bought in the Principality. The McLaren driver has finished the exhausting process of moving homes, and now runs the risk of bumping into the likes of grid rivals and fellow Monaco residents Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas,…

It has been an eventful week for Max Verstappen; not only did the Dutchman help to launch Red Bull’s 2022 F1 car, but he has also claimed another victory in his latest virtual racing event. Verstappen took part in the online version of the 12 Hours of Bathurst over the weekend, racing for his usual…

Jacques Villeneuve has questioned how Lewis Hamilton will mentally approach the 2022 F1 season after losing the World Championship to Max Verstappen in controversial circumstances. Hamilton had looked to be on course to win a record eighth title at the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, before the dramatic events of the final laps enabled Verstappen…

Just as Formula 1’s cars evolved over the past seven decades, so have launches: where in the early days of the sport a team rocked up with its latest design whenever it was ready – or almost so in some instances – peak launch was reached 50 years later during the height of the tobacco…

In the round-up: Lance Stroll says he hopes that the radical new cars for 2022 will encourage better racing at circuits like the Hungaroring In brief Stroll hopes 2022 cars will make “tracks like Budapest” better for racing Lance Stroll says he is hopeful that the radical new cars for the 2022 Formula 1 season…

For many years now, the metaphorical glass ceiling that seems to hold midfield teams from realising their dreams of becoming title contenders has felt more like a ceiling made of reinforced concrete. Over the ten Formula 1 seasons between 2002 and 2011, seven different teams managed to secure a top three finish in the constructors’…

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo admits he did not appreciate Lando Norris’s full potential as a driver until spending a season alongside him as his team mate. Ricciardo moved from Renault to McLaren for the 2021 season and regularly struggled to match team mate Norris’s performances, ending the season 45 points adrift of the 22-year-old in the…

Listen to this article But as teams and drivers have begun digging deeper into the new cars, the reality of an entirely different handling model has come to the fore. For after years of teams having fine-tuned complex suspension systems to improve the ride, help tyre degradation and roll nicely over the kerbs, F1 drivers…

Listen to this article McLaren unveiled its new car for the 2022 season in a launch at its Woking headquarters on Friday, sporting a revised aerodynamic design and a tweaked papaya and blue livery. It was only the second team after Aston Martin to provide a true look at what the 2022 grid will look…

Listen to this article The news reflects the fact that F1 is taking advantage of the surge in popularity of the sport fuelled by an exciting 2021 season and by the popular Netflix Drive to Survive series to secure extended deals with its existing race promoters. This year’s calendar runs to 23 GPs, but with…

Listen to this article Let’s get one of the obvious things out of the way first, seeing as there has already been speculation regarding the design of the car’s front suspension. As was hinted in the team’s fire-up video, the car features a pull rod layout at the front, which we’ve seen it use as…

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior…

Listen to this article On the face of it, the AMR22 looks dissimilar in all the right places from last year’s FOM show car to give us a feel that it is a big departure in concept. However, what’s more fascinating are the small details that could easily be missed without close scrutiny. There’s plenty…

Listen to this article Launched in December 2020, the initiative derives its name from a plan to have over 25% of new starters at the organisation coming from under-represented groups until the end of 2025. Mercedes says that the target was exceeded in its first year, with 38% of new recruits fulfilling the definition. Female…

Listen to this article He added that his personal focus this year will on improving his own performance and that and his car, while setting himself “micro targets” along the way. Russell has been busy at the team’s Brackley factory getting to know his engineers and running the new W13 in the simulator, and he…

Listen to this article Ricciardo experienced a rollercoaster first season with McLaren in 2021 that saw him initially struggle to match teammate Lando Norris for pace, enduring a difficult run to the summer break. But Ricciardo took a memorable victory at Monza as he scored McLaren’s first win since 2012, leading Norris home for a…

Sky Sports’ lead F1 commentator David Croft believes Lewis Hamilton was robbed of winning an eighth World Championship in Abu Dhabi through no fault of his own. Hamilton, who lost the 2021 World Championship to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on the last lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December, returned to social media…

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez says he is ready for an “exciting” season as Formula 1 heads into a new era when everyone will be “starting from zero”. Formula 1 has introduced a completely new set of technical regulations this season as a way to help improve overtaking and to allow cars to follow each other…

Sky Sports News F1 reporter Craig Slater says there are still doubts as to whether seven-time former World Champion Lewis Hamilton will return to the sport this season. Hamilton returned to social media last weekend to say he is “back” after 56 days away, but has still yet to officially confirm he will continue racing…

Formula 1 has published its schedule for each race weekend in 2022, but a notable absence is that of sprint qualifying weekends, which have yet to be included. Speculation has been rife that the teams and sport have been at an impasse regarding the budgetary arrangements for sprint qualifying, with the sport’s big hitters said…

Sebastian Vettel believes the 2022 season will be a “true test” of Aston Martin’s status in F1 following the “hiccup” of a management reshuffle. Aston Martin are among the most fluid teams in that they are undergoing major changes in their quest to reach the sport’s pinnacle, the biggest of which was their rebrand from…

McLaren has presented its new Formula 1 car for the 2022 season in an eye-catching new livery which echoes its popular one-off design from last year’s Monaco Grand Prix. The team revealed its MCL36, which will be raced by Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, in an online event. It also presented the complementary liveries which…

McLaren technical director James Key expects all 10 F1 teams will change their new cars significantly before the opening round of the new season. Four of the ten Formula 1 teams have unveiled their car designs for the 2022 season. Haas presented renders of an early iteration of their VF-22 last week, while Red Bull…

Daniel Ricciardo believes Michael Masi should have the opportunity to remain in his position as FIA Formula 1 race director following the fall-out over the controversial end to last season. Masi has been F1 race director for the past three seasons following the sudden death of Charlie Whiting, who held the position for multiple decades….

McLaren’s new look for its 2022 Formula 1 and IndyCar liveries came about due to the positive reaction to the special colour scheme it ran at last year’s Monaco Grand Prix. The team ran a one-off Gulf livery in Monaco last year. It has adopted some of the colours from that car on its new…