THE WINNERS AND LOSERS OF F1 2022’s FIRST BIG TEST
Formula 1’s new era has finally arrived. New designs, new drivers, new rules returning to an old problem – there was plenty to see, question and dig into over last week’s three days of running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The championship returned to its now traditional laboratory track, which was even soaked at one stage to test the full wet Pirellis – for all of three laps in total, all completed by McLaren and Daniel Ricciardo. As ever the usual caveats of testing applied, as all the teams and drivers are keen to point out at every available opportunity. Everyone is somewhere and everyone is nowhere.
But by combining the headline times, the reasons behind the biggest on-and-off track developments of the test (clearly not a shakedown as billed by F1), snippets of insight taken in on trackside wanders, plus data and information provided by paddock sources, we can at least paint a picture of how things appear to stand now that the Barcelona event is in the books.
By the time the F1 paddock reconvenes in Bahrain next week, that picture will develop and alter, the full reality finally revealed by the stopwatch come qualifying at the Sakhir venue a further week on. So, here’s what we know so far.
THE PROBLEMS AT THE ‘BACK’
Sport and politics can never be separated, but as the Russian invasion of Ukraine took events in eastern Europe well beyond that stage, a consequence was Haas’s test ending up being eclipsed by outside events. The branding and colours of the squad’s Russian sponsor Uralkali were removed from the VF-22 for the final day, and Nikita Mazepin’s drive with the team appears to be under major threat.
Haas’s on-track plans also took
