Formula 1 season 2022: everything you need to know

As we announced last week, AutoWeek will pay more attention to Formula 1 this year. With good reason, because a special season awaits us in Formula 1. For many Dutch fans, that is of course because Max Verstappen is going to defend his first world title. , but there are more notable things to look forward to.

Most GPs ever

This year is the busiest Formula 1 season ever. Never before have so many Grands Prix been held as there are planned for 2022. 23 to be exact. The season starts on the weekend of March 18, 19 and 20 with the Bahrain Grand Prix and ends in Abu Dhabi on November 20. It is also not the longest F1 season ever. That was last year, because there was more time between the first and last Grand Prix. The full Formula 1 calendar 2022 can be found at the bottom of this article.

New cars

Of course teams start every new season with new cars, but usually it is a further development of the previous car. That is not the case this year. The regulations have been thoroughly overhauled, which means that the basic design of Formula 1 cars has changed considerably. The F1 cars of 2022 are less complex in terms of aerodynamics on the car than before. So you will see less violent clusters of wings. In addition, the cars look a bit less angular, for example, the front wing is more pointed than before and there are larger ‘endplates‘ on, the rear wing is a bit more rounded and the nose of the car will probably rise a bit more gradually than before. The wheels are also different. These are now 18-inch copies, with a kind of hubcaps on it.

AlphaTauri recently gave a preview of what the new car will roughly look like.
© Scuderia AlphaTauri

Formula 1 and the FIA ​​have set up this new blueprint to ensure that the cars cause less ‘disturbed’ airflow. If that really works out as hoped, it should be easier to follow each other. That should of course also make racing more exciting. The expectation is that the cars will be slightly slower than before, seen over a complete lap, because they generate less downforce. In addition, they are also a bit heavier: a minimum of 795 kilos, compared to 752 kilos in 2021.

Driver changes

Some teams will start with different drivers than last year. To start with, the Mercedes Formula 1 team. That will be with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. The latter drove for the Williams team last year. Russell’s spot at Williams will be filled by Alexander Albon, who was inactive last year, while Valtteri Bottas moves from Mercedes to Alfa Romeo. Bottas gets a novice as a teammate at Alfa Romeo: Guanyu Zhou from Formula 2. He is the only debutant this year.

New destination

In 2021 Formula 1 visited a number of new destinations: Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and Losail (Qatar). This year, another new GP will be added. On May 8, the Miami Grand Prix will be held on the semi-street circuit Miami International Autodrome. It is the first time that Formula 1 will visit the seaside resort in the American state of Florida. Incidentally, the Miami Grand Prix is ​​not a replacement for the United States Grand Prix. It will take place on October 23 at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

More sprint races

Last season, Formula 1 experimented with ‘sprint races’ or ‘sprint qualifications’. Qualifying takes place on Friday before that, followed by a short race on Saturday (around 100 km) that determines the starting grid for the Grand Prix on Sunday. For the sprint race, the top 3 points are awarded. 3 points for the winner, 2 for the number 2 and 1 point for the number 3. This year there will be six such sprint races. Reportedly in Bahrain, Italy (Imola), Canada, Austria, the Netherlands and Brazil.

Valtteri Bottas won two of the three sprint races last year.
© Red Bull Content Pool/Lars Baron/Getty Images

viaplay

For most Dutch people, watching Formula 1 was a piece of cake, by tuning in to Ziggo Sport. However, Ziggo has lost the broadcasting rights and so you can no longer watch Formula 1 on that channel in 2022. At least not live anymore. Ziggo Sport will continue with Formula 1 programs. If you want to see live Dutch coverage, Viaplay is the place to be. That now holds the broadcasting rights for the Netherlands. You can take out a subscription to that streaming service for this, but Ziggo is also working on allowing you as a Ziggo customer to add Viaplay to your TV package. Otherwise you also have the streaming service of Formula 1 itself: F1 TV. You can also choose in which language you want comments. The Dutch commentary this year is no longer provided by Olav Mol, but by Nelson Valkenburg and Melroy Heemskerk. Olav Mol can still be heard on Grand Prix Radio. If you tune in (for example via F1 TV) to the English commentary, you will hear David Croft and Martin Brundle.

winter test

Before the season starts, there are first the unveilings of the new cars and the winter test days. On February 23, 24 and 25, the teams will test their new Formula 1 cars in Barcelona. That is at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Two weeks later, on March 10, 11 and 12, there will be three more days of testing in Bahrain. Then the cars are already driving on the circuit on which the first race weekend also takes place.

Formula 1 calendar 2022