Why F1 2022's biggest political fight may not be at the front

The focus for the majority of Formula 1 teams so far this winter has been on getting their 2022 cars out of the factory door, out on track and as ready as they can be for the start of the season. Amid the intensity of making sure testing has given teams the answers they need about themselves, and the guessing games on what rivals are up to, the reality of the competitive situation hasn’t hit home yet.

But don’t think for a second that this state of affairs will last long. Because once the tyre blankets come off in anger this weekend and cars are finally fully unleashed, that will trigger full-scale battles both on and off track.

So far, the only rumblings of an off-track fight between the top teams have revolved around the design of the Mercedes mirrors – something that is certainly not a topic that is going to dominate headlines in the years to come. But it may well be that the biggest rumble in 2022 does not include the teams at the top directly, and is instead focused entirely on what looks like a super close midfield fight again.

PLUS: How F1’s political battles raged on through the winter

Central to this could well be one of the feel-good stories of the campaign: the resurrection of Haas from the difficulties of its sacrificed 2021 campaign and the unexpected challenges posed by its links to Russia, to the buoyant homecoming of Kevin Magnussen.

Its testing times in Bahrain were impressive, even taking into account that they were set in the much more optimal evening conditions. But even if it the team had been low of fuel when it set those times, it still needs a good car to produce that pace.

And while nobody is suggesting that Magnussen’s test-topping time on day two is a sign that he and Haas are going to be fighting for pole position this weekend, all the indications are pointing to a pretty decent step forward in form. If that does happen, and Haas finds itself well placed within the upper bunch of midfield contenders, then it will not take long for the politics to start.

Kevin Magnussen makes a surprise return to Haas for 2022 and topped the testing times on day two in Bahrain - albeit as the only car on track in the cooler evening conditions

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

There had already been rumblings before the F1 2022 cars had been revealed about whether or not Haas’s tweaked arrangement with Ferrari – now it is operating out of a hub at Maranello – had pushed co-operation between the two teams beyond a level that rivals would be happy with.

The topic of partner teams is nothing new, and came to the fore the last time a midfield contender ramped up co-operation. Back in 2020, it was Racing Point’s turn to fall under the spotlight as it opted to copy the Mercedes design in a way that others did not like and eventually complained about.

The Haas situation is slightly different because the two car designs are not identical in any way. Instead, the issue here is how much knowledge – even incidental – has been passed about in helping focus development directions or heading off dead end routes. After all, it doesn’t take an official meeting nor a formal email for teams to help each other.

"The worry is that those who share windtunnels can have a coffee together. And especially if they're partners and say over coffee: 'How did that go, the latest floor that you tried?' 'Don't go in that direction, not so good'" Otmar Szafnauer

As Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer told F1 TV last weekend: "The worry is that those who share windtunnels can have a coffee together. And especially if they're partners and say over coffee: 'How did that go, the latest floor that you tried?' 'Don't go in that direction, not so good.'"

Asked if he had any knowledge of it happening, Szafnauer said: “Definitely it didn't happen at Aston/Mercedes because we had robust processes in place. And we didn't go have a coffee with our respective aerodynamicists.

"But it could happen if aerodynamicists are living in the same place, using the same tunnel, using the same canteen. Because we were seven miles away down the road, that didn't happen. We got a chance to use a windtunnel on the weekends, and Merc used it to during the week. The aerodynamicists didn't even see each other."

Haas’s Maranello hub, allied to it taking onboard several ex-Ferrari staff, has inevitably piqued the interest of rivals and such scrutiny on what is going on will almost certainly ramp up interest in the role that partnerships between two teams should have in F1.

If Haas makes a significant step forward this year, it's likely to result in greater scrutiny over the role of partner teams

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Like the mirror situation at Mercedes, the crux of the matter here is not that what Haas/Ferrari is doing right now is outside the regulations - so there may have been rules breaches. Instead, it’s more about heading things off for the future to avoid such partnerships getting even more prevalent and then probing the limits of the regulations. That is something that McLaren in particular has talked about frequently over the years, having always been clear that it did not want an F1 where teams were forced to find partners.

Team boss Andreas Seidl said: "It's not a secret that in general these relationships that can exist within the regulations, how they are in place at the moment is a concern for us. That's why we are definitely of the opinion that moving forward we should put steps in place that F1 is actually a championship again of 10, 11 or 12 true constructors.

"From our point of view, F1 should be to be a championship of 10, 11 or 12 teams competing where the only things you should be allowed to share are actually the power units and the gearbox environments. Everything else, you have to do yourself. We know that soon as you go further you have definitely a change or transfer of IP which is performance relevant regarding the car, and that's not what F1 should be about. That's why we are also bringing continuously this topic up together with other teams as well that have the same concerns. That's why we have the dialogue as well with the FIA.

"And I'm hoping that at some point we make steps. Because we accept as well that policing of where the limit exactly is, this is also a difficult challenge, and that's where the most effective and simplest way forward is to have clear limits of what can be shared."

If Haas is not mixing it with big budget teams like Alpine, Aston Martin and McLaren, and is instead left fighting near the rear, then the complaints aimed at it will fade away

The key now to how this story develops will be just how competitive both Haas and Ferrari are. If Haas is not mixing it with big budget teams like Alpine, Aston Martin and McLaren, and is instead left fighting near the rear, then the complaints aimed at it will fade away. But if Haas is right up there, and Ferrari too carries forward its testing promise to fight right at the front, the whispers of complaints will grow louder and the pros/cons of partner teams could become a major battleground over the next few months.

In fact, one well-connected team boss in Bahrain suggested last week that it could be the big paddock fight of 2022. All eyes on where Haas stack up this weekend.

Could Schumacher and Haas mix it with Alpine and Aston Martin in 2022?

Photo by: Motorsport Images