Which teams adapted best to F1's new 2022 rules?

When a set of regulations reaches maturity, a mid-term report during an F1 season will often state the obvious. Some teams will continue to do well and others will fail. There may be some anomalies which have determined results, such as a specific reliability problem for a team or a driver change that isn’t working out as expected but, in general, the status quo doesn’t change much from year to year.

The 2022 season is somewhat different. An entirely new set of regulations was introduced that didn’t just change detail but actually altered the essential way a car is conceived and, as often happens in cases like this, some got it right and others struggled. However, just like in 2009 when fundamental changes were made, the interest lies not just in who got it right out of the box but more in who has been capable of improving more than others, and where lie the strengths and weaknesses of the various teams.

The extended pre-season testing that was allowed this year to give the teams more time to understand and hone their cars gave, as usual, few clues as to the pecking order. A strange anomaly whereby Haas was allowed to run later than other teams because, through no fault of its own, its freight was delayed, only served to add to the confusion. Haas recorded some impressive times but the feeling in the paddock was that this was a function of running in cool conditions rather than superior performance. There was some truth in that but nowhere near as much as rivals hoped for. After a couple of disappointing years, Haas is a force to be reckoned with and, at mid-term, that early promise has been reinforced rather than diminished as Mick Schumacher gains confidence and develops the promise many felt he had earlier in his career.

Much of the early performance of many teams was determined by the re-discovered phenomenon of ‘porpoising’, about which countless words have been written. There is no doubt a trade-off existed between ultimate performance and ride quality, as sportscar teams have known for many years. Some dealt with the problem better than others and, during the summer, suspicions were raised that this may be more to do with how the skids on the underside of the cars were installed rather than the simple aerodynamic oscillation itself.

It’s almost certainly true that it’s only when the car hits the ground multiple times that the driver feels it. The oscillation prior to grounding, while probably not pleasant, is unlikely to be detrimental to either the driver or the lap time. This was probably best illustrated by Ferrari where the bouncing could be seen on television but the performance was good and Mercedes where, particularly in Baku, the grounding was such that the drivers were complaining of severe discomfort. New clarifications on skid mounting, and the introduction of an extremely controversial ‘Aerodynamic Oscillation Metric’ at the Belgian Grand Prix, may well alter the competitive position of teams in the second half of the season.

PLUS: The 10 stories to watch out for across the rest of the 2022 F1 season

Hamilton suffered with back pain at the Azerbaijan GP due to the severity of porpoising with his Mercedes

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

So Ferrari, having mastered this, was the first to throw the gauntlet down. It was swiftly picked up by Red Bull and these two cars were the early class of the field. Reliability, something we have come to take for granted in recent years, was significant as both teams suffered more failures than might be expected. Coupled with some dubious strategy calls from Ferrari, this soon handed the advantage to Red Bull. Neither team was exemplary, though, on reliability. Some of this may be due to the shock loading imposed on the power unit through continual grounding. It’s known that in the first two races Alpine had an oil pump failure and a charge air pipe failure, both of which were attributed to high shock loads – maybe the problem was more common than the teams care to admit.

An admirable aspect of the performance of the two top teams is that they can maintain their relative performance in both qualifying and race trim and, perhaps more importantly, now that Ferrari has seemingly sorted out its drag levels, on all types of circuit.

Mercedes, in spite of its woes, was solidly picking up points early on and from time to time we saw some of the promised performance unlocked – only for it to be incarcerated again at the next appearance. There is no doubt Mercedes’ slightly unconventional design has performance, but equally it appears to be a car where it’s difficult to find the sweet spot of set-up. I’ve had cars like this in my career and they flatter to deceive. Just when you think you’re getting to understand them, they bite you! That said, Mercedes is now clearly the third-best team, albeit around half a percent off where it needs to be to challenge for wins.

Ferrari has the quickest car on most circuits by a small margin but it needs to marry that to the best team. This is where Red Bull is dominant

McLaren, after a promising start in testing, has become locked in a battle with Alpine. McLaren gained from a good haul of points in Australia and San Marino, while Alpine has not only been more consistent but had appeared, until France, to be both faster and improving more. Both teams, for different reasons, are achieving less consistent results than one would like but Fernando Alonso can always make the most of a situation, while Daniel Riccardo’s troubled season is masking some car performance aspects.

Alfa Romeo clearly has a good car and two talented drivers but reliability is compromising its season, while Aston Martin and Williams have a long way to go to be consistent points challengers.

Overall, Ferrari has the quickest car on most circuits by a small margin but it needs to marry that to the best team. This is where Red Bull is dominant. Consistent sub-three-second pitstops and clever strategy calls show just how together the Milton Keynes team is.

So far Red Bull has appeared to be at the top of the class in the new F1 era

Photo by: Alessio Morgese