Racing fans, I am delighted to announce that Formula One’s 2022 season really is living up to all of the hype. The first two races, held in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, have completely shaken up expectations, standings, and pre-season predictions. Each race deserves several pages’ worth of incoherent screaming, but here’s a short breakdown of the standout results instead.
Bahrain’s race was an explosive start to the season, proving just how much the new car standards have upset the status quo. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc started on pole position after coming first in qualifying (a stellar result for Ferrari, who’ve been struggling to achieve their former glory for the past few seasons), followed by 2021 world champion Max Verstappen and Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz, who started second and third respectively. Disaster struck for Red Bull, however, and by the end of the race, three out of four Red Bull-powered cars had retired from the race entirely, including Verstappen. This was a huge shock after Red Bull’s strength in the 2021 season — as was Ferrari’s one-two finish, with Leclerc holding first and Sainz second. A midfield standout was Zhou Guanyu, 2022’s only rookie, who finished his first F1 race in an excellent 10th place. Finally, the American team Haas, which was consistently at the bottom of the standings several years in a row, burst back onto the scene with their drivers in fifth and 11th place — an absolutely mindblowing improvement.
One week later, the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix proved Bahrain wasn’t a one-off kind of excitement. Red Bull bounced back, with Sergio Perez taking pole and Verstappen starting fourth, the teammates separated by the two Ferraris. A dramatic crash on lap 17 took Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi out of the race, and a mistimed pit stop dropped Perez down to fourth, where he finished the race. Latifi wasn’t the only driver not to finish the race, however; two cars never even started, and five more were taken out sometime during the race. Kevin Magnussen, Haas’ last-minute replacement for ousted driver Nikita Mazepin, rocketed his way to ninth, wrenching the place out of Pierre Gasly’s hands for another phenomenal finish for Haas. After a dismal qualifying session, Hamilton climbed from 16th to sixth place, after which he slid back to twelfth following a messy safety car, fought his way back to 10th, but couldn’t eke out anything higher. Verstappen, on the other hand, treated viewers to a nail-biter of a finale, claiming first place after a tense battle with Leclerc that ended with the Red Bull driver just 0.5 seconds ahead of the Ferrari.
At the risk of predicting too much, too soon, 2022 is shaping up to be a legendary battle between old and new. Ferrari, arguably the biggest legend of the sport, has largely dominated the first two races and begun to reclaim their honour after some disappointing years. Red Bull, though no longer strictly a newcomer, still has a little of that new-car smell; they stumbled badly in Bahrain, but they’ve already begun to regain their footing and hold position near the top. This is the kind of battle fans have been hoping for, and we can only hope the rest of the season lives up to these opening races.
In between horror movie marathons and arthritis-inducing embroidery sessions, Maecyn likes to correct the grammar of unsuspecting journalists. She’s currently pursuing a BA in History and a career in library science, which makes her the official ambassador for cardigan-wearers everywhere.
