“The higher you rise, the sharper the knives. The quickest way to become unpopular in this paddock is to win consistently.”
Christian Horner is no stranger to Formula 1’s political jousting. During his 17-year stint as Red Bull’s team principal, he has outlasted and often outfoxed his competitors. But even he conceded that 2022 had proven to be one of the toughest seasons yet off-track through the various political battles. “We’ve firmly had a target on our back this year,” says Horner. “We’re a race team. We’re not a political organisation. We just focus on going racing.”
The ‘we’re just a race team’ card is one that Horner has played before, most notably in the wake of the Abu Dhabi controversy 12 months ago, when Mercedes arrived at Yas Marina with a lawyer in anticipation of a post-race protest. And while this year was a world away from the bitter, sometimes nasty nature of that 2021 title fight between Red Bull and Mercedes, it did not stop F1’s political scraps raging on through a range of issues.
The political infighting was set against very different circumstances in 2022. The technical regulations were overhauled as part of F1’s bid to create more on-track action and closer competition, opening the door to different interpretations, and some unexpected issues that took everyone by surprise. F1’s financial regulations moved into their second year, but the FIA still had to complete its first-year audit – something that would ignite the biggest political row of the season.
The FIA had also undergone significant changes. At the very top of the organisation, new president Mohammed Ben Sulayem enjoyed his first year in the role after winning last December’s election, and saw his reform of race control come into force in the wake of its mistakes in Abu Dhabi in December 2021. But this was not without teething problems, making for another year of off-track wrangling that stayed true to
