This season was never going to top last year was it? And yet, back in February there was hope that the highly anticipated regulation changes would shake up the wheel-to-wheel action. But did it have the desired effect? For some the jury is still out.
There was a brief glimmer of hope that Ferrari would challenge Red Bull, but all-too-quickly Ferrari’s season unravelled – due to driver mistakes, unreliability and strategic errors. It got only four victories from 12 pole positions and the team’s failings have ultimately cost team boss Mattia Binotto his job.
The RB18 was the class of the field in Max Verstappen’s hands, but the biggest surprise was the lack of pace in the Mercedes – and especially on Lewis Hamilton’s side of the garage. The word of the year was ‘porpoising’ and it took a long time for the Brackley team to remedy its oscillating Silver Arrows.
There were other talking points too: Fernando Alonso’s gutsy drives and surprise signing for Aston, Ricciardo’s poor form and P45, a surprising debut from Nyck de Vries at Monza, a new race in Miami, a shock Haas pole, red flags in Japan and massive crowds at every race. To top it all, on the eve of Christmas, there was a seismic merry-go-round of team principals. So, grab that turkey sandwich and let’s digest the highlights of 2022…
‘The Red Bull was the class of 2022’
Motorsport News
1 FLASHPOINT OF THE YEAR: Sergio Perez, Monaco
We didn’t realise it at the time, but six months on, qualifying at Monaco came back to haunt Red Bull and its race-winner Sergio Perez.
Heading to the Principality, Checo had lost out in qualifying to his World champion team-mate in five of the first six rounds. Then in the dying seconds of Q3 in Monte Carlo, Perez – with a 0.037-second advantage over Max – came into Portier, gave it a boot full of throttle and spun backwards into the wall.
Carlos Sainz, unsighted, hit the Red Bull and the track was blocked – red flag. Despite a Ferrari front-row, Perez was crucially ahead of Verstappen in third. And when the Ferraris inevitably screwed up on Sunday, it was Perez who took the win.
But did he crash deliberately? While the incident was brushed under the carpet, it suddenly came to
