How Imola exposed the success and failure of F1's 2022 rules

By:

Jonathan Noble

Apr 28, 2022, 8:23 AM

Four rounds into Formula 1’s new era has provided a timely juncture to assess whether the new rules have achieved the intended target of closer racing. While there have been some wins and losses, overall it remains on the right track

Subscribe to PLUS Sign in

For all the excitement that a wet/dry Emilia Romagna Grand Prix could have given us, in the end it was the weather that proved to be the catalyst for not much excitement. The slow speed at which the track dried left just a single racing line around much of Imola for most of Sunday afternoon – and that meant there was almost no chance of anyone making a lunge down the inside or trying to be brave around the outside.

Once you had track position, like Pierre Gasly had over Lewis Hamilton, then as long as you didn’t make any major blunders, then there was little chance of being passed.

comments

Jonathan Noble

Twitter

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.