By Teryn Midzain
The Brazilian Grand Prix finished on Nov. 13 in an epic weekend of racing.
Ever since Max Verstappen clinched the championship in Japan in October, the races have been a lot more exciting to watch. The racing has been scrappier, driver egos are clashing, and the battle for 2nd in constructors and 2nd in the drivers has been more intense.
The explosive and high-flying Austin Grand Prix, followed by the slower game of chess of the Mexican Grand Prix; Brazil concluded a grand trio of fantastic racing weekends. Though the racing in the last few races leading up to the end has been fun, the races are still requiring a small crash and safety car to bunch the leaders back in with the pack to create closer and tighter racing to have the same excitement and close battles that gripped new racing fans.
Abu Dhabi and the finale are this Sunday, Nov. 20, and 2023 is around winter’s corner, the cars are staying the same, with a rearranged driver grid, and a performing Mercedes, without clear direction from the FIA on car and rule changes, things are looking to be static for the next few years.
There were five big takeaways from 2022 that will affect the next F1 seasons until the new engine and car changes, and Audi’s coming in in 2026 that will usher in bigger changes.
- Max Verstappen is the alpha lion in the Paddock:
There is no question about how dominant Verstappen has been this year, and how on-point the entire Red Bull team has been. The pit crew has been consistent and one of the fastest in pit stops. Hannah Schmitz has been the best strategist and made use of Red Bull’s exceptional pit crew to deploy under and over cuts throughout the season. As for Max, Verstappen’s at the top of his game, one of the youngest two-time world champions, broke multiple winning records this season, as the best designed car on the grid, there doesn’t seem to be a clear way to stop him, he even painted his helmet with a golden lion to assert his dominance. He has made this sport exciting and how the teams adjust to Red Bull’s and Verstappen’s style of winning, both on and off the track, is going to be the main story for the next season.
- George “Mr. Top 5” Russell and Mercedes healing:
The Mercedes 2022 season hasn’t gone as smoothly as the seven-time world champions would’ve loved. In a season riddled with issues, the biggest consistent is George Russell. 18 Top 5 finishes, nearly every race this season, eight of which podiums. The Brazil weekend was a long overdue master class of racing by Russell and a great sprint performance on Saturday to start first in the race. Sunday, Russell had a fantastic start and never slowed down. Managing his tires and pace to keep the lead and achieve his first race win.
Brazil was a long time coming for this young star, and the Mercedes team. An achievement of this year’s hardships and overcoming the technical and pace difficulties through the season. Mercedes claims they have found a fix for the mistake that has kept them behind the leaders this year, and Brazil is proof of that progress. The silver arrows were agile and fast in the corners, drove smoothly through the counter-clockwise layout of the track with hardly any porpoising, and absolutely flew down the main straights and with DRS.
The teams are running similar cars and designs through the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and if Mercedes can learn from this season, the last few races show how deadly Hamilton and Russell will be in the future.
- Fernando Alonso and the fallout of the Contract War:
Fernando Alonso was the ringleader of F1’s summer circus, kicking off the contract war that saw many drivers battle for the second seat of Alpine and to secure whatever seats were left available. The circus performance ended with a reshaped Driver’s Grid for 2023 that projects to be just as feisty.
The change from Alpine to Aston Martin was a peculiar one, as Alpine currently has a better car than Aston Martin and Lance Stroll has yet to prove any remarkable talent as a driver. The last set of races has been more eye-opening to the state of management at Alpine which has rightfully left Alonso less than satisfied. The driver vacuum created a ripple effect throughout the sport to secure the best talent for the close battle in the midfield. Pierre Gasly has moved from Alpha Tauri to Alpine, a jump from a development team to a team at the centre of the scrappy mid-field battle with McLaren. Williams let go of Nicholas Latifi, choosing Logan Sargeant, who has proven himself in Formula 2, for a long-term plan for their development.
While not a massive change-up in the starting grid, the talent distributed around the teams are more even, with an experienced driver and a new potential, or two drivers with experience but are in a tough spot and desperate for a race win.
- Growth in America
The massive events of the Miami and Austin Grand Prix. With the long-ruling of the Colton Herta case and now Logan Sargeant racing for Williams, the market of F1 has continued to explode across North America, with Las Vegas being one of the most anticipated races for 2023. More students even across the UFV campus are showing off their favorite teams and drivers’ merch. It’s great to see this magnificent sport take off, and for the last handful of races, be purely exciting. Vegas being so exciting is great mainly for the sport when you take a second look at the proposed track and realize it’s rather boring. Boxy, with three long DRS zones, and nearly 90-degree corners that only really fit two types of cars for the next handful of years. There’s no denying that Vegas should have a night race with the promo pictures, interviews, and capturing the Vegas nightlife, and the lights of the cars. It’s an F1 promoter’s dream, but should it come at the cost of a dull and boring track that is clearly designed for promotions, and not real racing?
- Is the FIA still in need of some cleaning?
The FIA had to work on a lot of damage done after the handling after the explosive ending of 2021, and for the new President Ben Sulyamen to bring in changes to strive for a “completely transparent FIA.” Which one might say, has made slow progress.
Having two Race Directors was a worthy idea, but this season’s lack of consistency in the racing rules, safety regulations, and penalties highlights the issues that still linger in the sport. On the plus side, safety car regulations were upheld tighter and more properly this season.
The FIA’s showcase in Japan, forcing the drivers to drive at Jeddah, the wet handling of Monaco, and countless others without even touching the lack of decision making and handling of Red Bull’s budget scandal, show that the FIA is still in the middle of its overhaul. Hopefully, this season is a great learning year for the organization, and can make the changes to make a singular and clear direction for racing.
Teryn Midzain is an English Major with ambitious goals to write movies and a full-time nerd, whose personality and eccentrics run on high-octane like the cars he loves. More importantly, Teryn loves sports [Formula One], and doesn’t care who knows. When not creating and running deadly schemes in his D&D sessions, Teryn tries to reach the core of what makes the romantic and dramatic World of Sports, the characters and people that make the events so spectacular.