How Verstappen and Red Bull went from disaster to record breakers in F1 2022

“At the moment, there is no reason to believe in it.” Can you envision, after all that ultimately went down in the 2022 Formula 1 season, that Max Verstappen really said those words in consideration of retaining the world title he’d won for the first time in 2021? But he did, in the wake of the Australian Grand Prix, where he’d suffered his second retirement of the first three races. At this point he faced a massive points deficit, but nevertheless ended up claiming the crown with four races to spare.

Verstappen’s second title was sealed in far less divisive circumstances than his first, although not without chaos, confusion and controversy at points along the way.

This, then, is the full story of F1 2022.

Red Bull appeared solid but unspectacular in testing, while Mercedes suffered the most with porpoising

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

New cars and old problems dominate testing talk

Delayed a year by the pandemic, F1’s new era finally got under way as the teams’ first cars built to the new chassis rules were unveiled ahead of winter testing.

Some teams, including Ferrari, displayed their new challengers from the off in special launch events. Red Bull claimed its launch had revealed the RB18, when in reality it had painted its 2022 livery onto a show car, while Mercedes’ W13 was a real racer, albeit not the one with which it would go racing.

Whether publicly presented or not, the teams set about shaking down their cars before heading to Spain for the first pre-season test. But even on their filming days, a surprising problem was apparent. This was confirmed at Barcelona with a range of bouncing frequency across the pack – the new machines porpoised along the straights, just as F1 cars had in the early 1980s.

It wasn’t totally unexpected. The teams had been warned by F1 that its models for the new machines showed that porpoising could happen, but they “were too far down the line [on design] and didn’t want the change”, according to F1’s now-former technical and sporting boss Ross Brawn. The issue was much worse than many teams feared. Several broke floors in the shakedowns using far from race-spec low rideheights. Ferrari sent engineers to Haas on the first morning at Barcelona to confirm that both squads were really experiencing the same issue.

Although it topped the times at Barcelona, Mercedes would become the team with which porpoising was most associated. Red Bull looked solid and understatedly rapid throughout that test and then on into the follow-up running in Bahrain, its status as pre-season favourite confirmed. Ferrari was clearly much improved compared to 2020-21, the F1-75 boosted by a new, more powerful and legal engine, while generating higher peak downforce levels from its sculpted and beautiful sidepods than the slippery, low-drag and efficient RB18. But the W13, by now revealed to have an innovative ‘zero-pod’ concept with a larger floor area than its rivals, was in trouble.

Mercedes slipped off the pace in Bahrain, as did fellow Barcelona strong-shower McLaren, which had bad brake overheating issues and lost Daniel Ricciardo to a positive COVID-19 test too. The W13 was bouncing near-comically badly along the straights and would now even do it in corners too, as well as having brake and power application inconsistencies that were far from amusing for Lewis Hamilton and new team-mate George Russell. Although Red Bull feared that its fierce 2021 rival was sandbagging, Hamilton noted: “I’m told we have a considerable amount of pace to find…”

Verstappen and Leclerc battled for victory in the opening rounds but Red Bull's reliability gremlins began to bite

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Ferrari wins early battles while Red Bull struggles to finish

When all the pre-season bluster was finally blown away in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, Ferrari confirmed its potential when Charles Leclerc beat Verstappen to pole position. He led away and the pair then engaged in a thrilling fight for the win. Three times they swapped places, with Verstappen battling hot brakes and each using DRS tactics cannily to try to gain an advantage in what was a refreshingly clean scrap, with 2021’s unpleasantness still so raw.

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Leclerc edged it before Pierre Gasly’s fiery exit brought a halt to the brilliant tete-a-tete, after which Verstappen lost power and then retired with a fuel-pump problem. On the last lap, the same thing spun Sergio Perez, which bumped Hamilton up to a shock podium for Mercedes – the seven-time world champion later, in front of a bemused Leclerc, touched his toes ahead of the post-race press conference to alleviate the stresses that race-long porpoising had placed on his body. Carlos Sainz was more circumspect in second, knowing that only Verstappen’s retirement had got him there, and explaining he was not yet as comfortable as Leclerc in taming the Ferrari’s oversteer.

Next time out in Jeddah, Perez stormed to pole but lost out with unfortunate pitstop timing before virtual safety car, then actual safety car periods were activated when Nicholas Latifi crashed. Afterwards, new leader Leclerc and Verstappen battled again, with their DRS tactics a notable focus once more. This time, the world champion won to get off the mark.

But Leclerc was brilliant in Australia, even with a car that still bounced badly on full tanks: “I don’t know why, but I’m not very sensitive to it.” Verstappen’s retirement boosted Russell to his first Mercedes podium, while Sainz had an awful weekend that ended in the gravel on lap two.

Verstappen and Red Bull struck back at Imola, taking the team's first 1-2 since the 2016 Malaysian GP

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

Red Bull hits back as Ferrari cracks appear

After returning to Europe and fixing its fuel-pump problem, Red Bull scored its first 1-2 since the 2016 Malaysian GP with a commanding Emilia Romagna GP at Imola. This included the first F1 sprint race of 2022, which Verstappen won despite losing the lead to Leclerc off the line. Here, the reverse of what had made Ferrari so dominant in Australia occurred – the Monegasque’s tyres grained and he lost pace before Verstappen eventually overhauled him two laps from home.

In the GP, Leclerc and Sainz slipped back from second and fourth on the grid, losing out on the less grippy side in wet conditions.

It immediately got worse for Ferrari when an errant Ricciardo took out Sainz at Tamburello, while much later Leclerc spun at the Variante Alta while trying to overcome Perez, with Verstappen long gone up front. Leclerc clouted the wall but wasn’t out, rejoining and fighting back to sixth. But his error gifted McLaren’s Lando Norris what would end up being the only non-Red Bull/Ferrari/Mercedes podium of 2022.

Leclerc then shipped more points in the inaugural Miami GP, where Ferrari locked out the front row of the grid – Sainz threatened pole, but was undone by a slide late in the lap as his struggles continued.

Verstappen started third but ended up winning after driving around the outside of Sainz at Turn 1 and then hunting down Leclerc, his tyre wear again superior and the key difference.

By now, it appeared that the 2022 cars could follow each other better, as had been hoped, allowing closer racing and for a chasing driver not to ruin their tyres. There was a reduced slipstream effect because of the new aero surfaces, with Verstappen again needing DRS to power past Leclerc around the Miami Dolphins NFL stadium. At the same time, Ferrari was urgently working to address Red Bull’s straightline speed advantage with a slimmer rear-wing package. “They seem to be a bit stronger and managing those tyres better,” concluded Leclerc.

Ferrari endured pain on strategy, reliability and driver errors to see its title fight unravel

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Ferrari’s title charge is totally blown off course

After returning to Europe for the Spanish GP (again, in a season of highly questionable logistical choices when considering the environmental impact and staff burnout), Leclerc claimed his fourth pole (from a season high of nine) in six events after spinning on his first Q3 lap. He led from the off, and gained a huge boost when Verstappen went off due to making a poor error when he was caught out by the wind. But Ferrari’s pleasure didn’t last – Leclerc retired just before half-distance with engine failure.

Verstappen recovered to beat Russell after a brilliant close battle, all while carrying a malfunctioning DRS. This was working only intermittently as a result of the drastic weight-saving Red Bull was making across the RB18 to get below the new-for-2022 798kg limit, which only Alfa Romeo had hit pre-season.

PLUS: The epic championship battle Ferrari stumbles have robbed us of

A further engine failure put Leclerc out in Baku, again when he was leading thanks to pitting under an early VSC. Before that, however, another major Ferrari problem emerged when it blew another front-row lockout to poor tactics in a wet Monaco thriller, enraging polesitter and home hero Leclerc. Perez won ahead of Sainz, but Verstappen wasn’t happy in third… Perez had crashed while leading his team-mate in Q3, which stopped Verstappen sneaking ahead even with a car he felt was hampered with understeer, caused by its extra weight combining with the tendency of the new 18-inch wheels to induce understeer at low-speed turns. This, apparently, caused suspicion in Verstappen’s camp.

More pain followed for Leclerc in Canada, where he had to take a fresh engine to expand his pool of depleted parts. This meant starting 19th after Fernando Alonso had brilliantly qualified second behind Verstappen in another wet session – the Alpine driver’s best Q3 result for a decade. Alonso faded immediately in the race, which Verstappen won, while Sainz – now finally getting to grips with the Ferrari F1-75 – chased impressively just behind and Leclerc recovered to fifth.

Leclerc's crash while leading the French GP became the key moment in his title defeat

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Ferrari got back to winning ways at Silverstone, but still ended up facing questions about its operations. This is because, after Zhou Guanyu had escaped from a scary first-corner shunt with Russell and Gasly, it managed a team-orders spat between its drivers poorly after Verstappen had dropped out of contention when his Red Bull picked up a piece of AlphaTauri bodywork in its floor.

Then, at a late safety car, Ferrari inexplicably left out leader Leclerc, who on his older rubber was overcome by Sainz, Perez and Hamilton. Nevertheless, he was able to pull off the pass of the season on Hamilton at Copse during a spirited defence. Team boss Mattia Binotto had to calm down his furious title contender in parc ferme, a debate that required clear-the-air talks over dinner in Monaco to soothe. This likely contributed to Binotto’s post-season exit from Ferrari.

The Prancing Horse’s tyre management superiority returned in Austria, after Verstappen had won the second sprint race of the season, and Leclerc and Sainz cost each other more time. But in the main event, Leclerc passed Verstappen three times on another outlier weekend where Red Bull got its set-up choices wrong to end up with bad tyre wear. A late throttle problem couldn’t stop Leclerc taking what would be his third and final win of 2022.

That red run of form didn’t last. Next up at the French GP, just as Leclerc had forced Verstappen off the optimum timing for the required one-stop strategy with a scintillating first stint from pole (Ferrari was enjoying an improved drag profile on a new rear wing introduced in Canada), he blew it. He pushed too hard at Le Beausset with his rival having just pitted, and the worn rubber cried enough, spinning him into the barriers. This was the moment when the title was lost, with Verstappen now 63 points ahead after a seventh win.

The summer break was approaching, but there was still time for more Ferrari strategy shambles in Hungary, after which Binotto boldy declared that there was “nothing to change”. The team put Leclerc on the hard C2 tyres after he’d reached a likely winning position, and it backfired badly as his pace dropped. Verstappen, on the medium rubber now favoured by Red Bull following his small pre-race off (and caused by lack of grip in cooler conditions), charged from 10th on the grid to win. To do so he passed Leclerc twice, due to spinning shortly after his first move. “We made all the right calls,” Verstappen said afterwards. “It’s about the little details again.”

The off-track tensions between F1 teams continued to simmer amid mid-season rule changes

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Rivals fall out over mid-season tech rule changes

Russell had grabbed Mercedes’ first pole with a stunning, clean lap in Hungary, where Hamilton completed a run of five successive podiums since Montreal, but in truth these were outlier results.

Although the W13 had been much improved with a significant floor and front-wing upgrade at the Spanish GP that essentially solved its porpoising problem, in the following races – particularly on the street tracks in Monaco, Baku and Montreal – it had been stunned to find a new problem in car stiffness over bumps. Where before the W13’s big floor was flexing and triggering the bounce, now the car’s solid suspension was the main issue. In Baku, with the system already locked out by the high-speed straights, energy shocks over every bump were so painful that Hamilton could barely climb from his cockpit.

It wasn’t just the Mercedes drivers complaining, with AlphaTauri pilot Gasly requesting: “Find solutions to save us from ending up with a cane at 30.” But the teams were split on what to do, Verstappen arguing in Canada that “rule changes in the middle of the year, I don’t think it’s correct”. But it was here that the FIA acted, revealing that it would introduce a metric to measure car-bouncing severity and force teams above the threshold (understood to be only Mercedes in Baku) to make changes to alleviate the issue.

It also announced the outlawing of plank and skid-block flexing, which Red Bull and Ferrari were at the focus of, this being a practice that allows cars to run more aggressive front-rideheights. This pleased Mercedes, whose boss Toto Wolff said it was a “shocker” to discover what its rivals had apparently been up to. Eventually, all the rule tweaks were postponed until after the summer break at the Belgian GP, with Ferrari confirming that it must make car changes to comply, and Red Bull resolute that it would not.

Additional floor tweaks for 2023 were agreed, although the teams weren’t happy to be making adjustments so late in the design process (again). Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said at Silverstone: “Don’t dick with it, just leave it alone and the teams will sort it out.” Come the season’s end, the issue was much less contentious, with porpoising hopefully now eliminated.

Verstappen was untouchable at Spa, winning by a huge margin despite starting 14th due to an engine penalty

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Red Bull blows its opposition away from Spa

After a summer break where the focus had been on Alonso jumping ship to Aston Martin for 2023 in the wake of Sebastian Vettel’s retirement announcement, igniting a contract court case between Alpine and Oscar Piastri, the on-track action got no better for Ferrari. Verstappen, driving a Red Bull perfectly suited to Spa’s dramatically undulating nature thanks to its impressive downforce levels from a higher rideheight than most others, delivered his best win yet.

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Verstappen topped qualifying by 0.6s, but started from 14th on the grid thanks to an engine-change grid penalty. Nevertheless, he was leading by the end of lap 12 and eventually came home 17.8s clear of Perez. Leclerc was sixth after getting one of Verstappen’s visor tear-offs stuck in his right-front brake duct early on while on a similar recovery drive, albeit one slower and instantly stymied, as well as losing a spot to Alonso for pitlane speeding.

Now facing a 109-point deficit, Leclerc, in a one-off Ferrari livery and all-yellow overalls to commemorate 75 years of the famous marque, claimed pole for the Italian GP at Monza. But Verstappen again dominated, despite starting seventh after another engine-change grid penalty. And that was even though Ferrari showed signs of strategy improvement with an aggressive two-stopper to ward off Leclerc’s slightly worse tyre wear when an early VSC offered an opportunity. There was controversy over the FIA not red-flagging the race when Ricciardo stopped late on, leading to a dull finish behind the safety car.

In between Spa and Monza, Verstappen had won his home race for the second year in a row at Zandvoort, where Leclerc blew his shot at pole. As the Ferrari faded early on, Mercedes became an unexpected threat. The Silver Arrows had been badly off the pace at Spa, paying a big price for their added drag and high, downforce-shedding ride. In the Dutch event, the team went aggressive with a one-stopper and showed good speed at a venue that suited its problematic package. But late virtual and real safety cars thwarted Hamilton, who ended up off the podium and beaten by Russell and Leclerc after Mercedes didn’t pit him during the safety car period.

Both Mercedes drivers made errors in the wet/dry Singapore race, where Russell clashed with Valtteri Bottas and Mick Schumacher. Verstappen also gaffed – he went off while attacking Norris needlessly quickly after a safety car period, meaning his recovery rise from eighth on the grid, after Red Bull had underfuelled him in the wet-to-dry Q3, netted no better than seventh. Up front, Perez delivered a beautiful win ahead of polesitter Leclerc, who lost the lead off the line and then spent the whole race throwing his car around trying to make amends. He couldn’t beat Perez, but still easily and repeatedly dropped Sainz in a heavily disrupted race.

Perez’s win was the last race in a seven-event run in which he took just 88 points to the 160 of Verstappen (and Leclerc’s 99). The lighter RB18 now did not suit his needs and left him generally badly off the pace of his team-mate, who finally had the razor-sharp front end he prefers, where Red Bull can add ballast to free up the front axle.

Verstappen's Japanese GP win, coupled with a late penalty for Leclerc, allowed the Dutchman to wrap up the drivers' world title

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

Verstappen’s Suzuka masterclass seals the title, but controversy reigns

Although it won in Singapore, the weekend wasn’t good for Red Bull because it was here where it was suggested that the team may have breached the $145million 2021 cost cap. The FIA later concluded that it did with a ‘minor overspend’ transgression, and the team was hit with a $7m fine and a 10% reduction in its aerodynamic testing time for 2023. This set off an unpleasant period of media punch and counterpunch.

Once the punishment was handed out in Mexico three races later, Horner held a combative press conference where he insisted that Red Bull had decided “in F1’s interests” not to fight the case further. By then, both 2022 titles were already wrapped up for Red Bull. Verstappen won a Japanese GP that lasted just 28 laps after a long rain delay following Sainz’s first-lap crash. He brilliantly retook the lead after making a slower start than Leclerc from pole before the race was stopped, then drove away from Leclerc and Perez when it did finally get going. When Leclerc went off at the final corner and copped a post-race penalty to boost Perez, it meant that Verstappen had become champion, but only because full points were surprisingly awarded for the short distance thanks to a badly worded FIA rule. Not even the teams were aware and, more worryingly, they didn’t seem to know the race had finished with the three-hour event-limit mark looming.

The FIA was also under the microscope at Suzuka after Gasly shot past two recovery cranes that had been sent out to move the crashed and stopped cars of Sainz and Alex Albon before the red flag. The governing body later explained that its systems missed the AlphaTauri pitting with damage before allowing the tractors on track, but also blamed the Frenchman for “reckless” driving.

PLUS: The steps the FIA must take to restore its authority inside and outside F1

Although it went on to win the constructors’ title at the US GP, this was a tough weekend for Red Bull with the announcement before qualifying of the death of company co-founder and race team benefactor Dietrich Mateschitz. Verstappen was visibly emotional, and a day later was moved to say: “This was actually a race he would have loved to see.”

Mercedes belatedly joined the fight for wins over the final four races thanks to upgrades

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Mercedes finally gets faster thanks to Austin upgrade

Although Verstappen’s win at Austin tied the record for victories in a single F1 season, Mercedes’ performance was the big sporting talking point. Russell turned Sainz around at the first corner to blight both their races (and end the Spaniard’s), and Hamilton got a shock shot at the win when Red Bull botched Verstappen’s second stop. But he charged to pass Leclerc and Hamilton, with Mercedes concluding that it just wasn’t quick enough to try anything different from a strategic point of view.

But the W13’s floor upgrade from that race did make a big difference, and at the next race in Mexico City the team had its best chance to win all year. Ferrari was nowhere, with its engine turned way down to avoid overheating and with its comparatively inefficient turbo struggling to compress the thin air in the high-altitude setting. It had actually been reducing power – but not to such an extreme – since its summer blowouts to improve reliability at the cost of pace.

Both Mercedes drivers blew pole position chances, with Verstappen then leading from the off. The Silver Arrows tried an alternative medium-tyre starting strategy, but their team erred in fitting hard rubber for the second stint and this gamble, hoping that Verstappen’s mediums would fade, didn’t come off.

PLUS: Why Mercedes believes it can make the step F1 needs to fight Red Bull

Next time out in Brazil, Mercedes’ fine form continued and it finally won. On the Saturday, Verstappen and Russell passed shock polesitter Kevin Magnussen and then engaged in another beautiful fight for the win in the final sprint race of year. This was won by the Briton – Red Bull had missed its set-up sweet spot in the sole practice session, meaning its tyres degraded more than usual. Russell then dominated to take an emotional first grand prix win, but there was a familiar tale in his wake.

After clashing with Hamilton in the grand prix, team orders controversy then took over between Verstappen and Perez

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Old storylines arise again at the season’s end

As Russell aced the Interlagos start and two restarts, Verstappen and Hamilton clashed at the first restart, damaging the Mercedes’ front floor lightly and leaving the Red Bull requiring a new front wing. Both appeared to be at fault, but it was only Verstappen who was penalised, and he dropped back into the pack. By passing Perez, Verstappen had recovered to sixth by the last lap, but then Red Bull asked him to swap places to aid the Mexican’s fight with Leclerc over second in the standings. It was a call that Verstappen ignored, then angrily rebuffed. Although he refused to explain the situation, even when hitting out at reports “not knowing the full facts”, Dutch media close to the Verstappens suggested that the situation had arisen due to his still being incensed by Perez’s Monaco crash.

PLUS: What Verstappen’s team orders defiance says about Red Bull

In the Abu Dhabi finale, Verstappen vowed to do what he could to help Perez, starting from pole ahead of his team-mate. On the opening lap, Hamilton’s cutting of the chicane in between the two main straights evoked memories of his actions against Verstappen in the title decider of 2021, and this time he had to hand fourth place back to Sainz. But they were relegated to the role of also-rans.

As Verstappen cruised to a record-extending 15th win of 2022, Leclerc brilliantly sealed second in the standings by beating Perez. To do so, he had to pull off an audacious one-stopper and hold Perez off to the finish with excellent tyre management. Although it was still inconsistent on this task, Ferrari’s work over the weekend to recover from a poor showing on race pace in FP2 had paid off, with Leclerc holding on to take second by 1.3s, and the same position in the points – just three ahead of Perez but 146 down on Verstappen.

Leclerc clinched second place over Perez in the final drivers' standings, but both were a distance behind Verstappen

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images