The new Formula One season starts this weekend with the Bahrain Grand Prix and after a thrilling and controversial 2021, nobody quite knows what will happen this time around.
Max Verstappen goes into the 2022 season as the defending champion, Mercedes will fight to remain the constructors' champs, while the rest of the paddock battle to break the hold of those two teams.
New technical regulations and rules will revolutionise the grid, but by how much is debatable.
Here, IOL Sport looks at a few key words that will no doubt be repeated in the first few weeks of the racing calendar.
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5 “George Russell”
Down there on the Twitter streets, a clutch of SA hacks have been having a good old giggle regarding the Sky Sports infatuation with the young Brit. While Russell was at Williams, the broadcasters mentioned the 24-year-old at every opportunity they could, whether he was amongst the back-runners, or somewhere ignominious, like in the middle.
Now Russell is at Mercedes, a team that enjoys a lot of airtime due to their standing as the best team in the paddock, so ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourself for an assault on the eyes and ears as the name George Russell gets thrown about like a rally between Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon.
What. A. Move.
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 15, 2022
Bit of class in Bahrain from @GeorgeRussell63 👌#F1 pic.twitter.com/Gc8dZim7WR
4 Ground effect
There is a barrage of changes to the rules and regulations this season, all arguably revolutionary. Perhaps, the biggest of these is that downforce will no longer be generated by over-engineered aerodynamics flowing over the car, but rather over-engineered aerodynamics flowing beneath it.
New era, same Max 🔥@Max33Verstappen topped the timing sheets at #F1Testing with a 1:31.720 ⏱️#F1 pic.twitter.com/lzDVKq82wp
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 13, 2022
The cars are now designed underneath much like an inverted wing, creating a suction effect that is supposed to limit the “dirty air” – note to self: add that to the Bingo card as well – that the previous aero packages created. It is all in an effort to get the cars closer to one another and stimulate more overtaking opportunities.
3 Porpoising
One of the consequences of the new design has resulted in the rather comical looking, but highly uncomfortable undulation of the cars, bouncing the drivers up and down on the straights.
Coined as “porpoising” the teams have gone to great lengths in the two pre-season testing seasons to eliminate it. Some, such as Red Bull, have apparently succeeded; while others, like Mercedes, have not completely won the battle of the bounce. It is quite a technical problem as well, and has much to do with physics - lifting the car, and then pulling it down again, so it doesn't seem like an easy fix.
Negating the effect the whole season will be a major talking point.
First stop: Bahrain!#BahrainGP 🇧![CDATA[]]>🇭 #F1 pic.twitter.com/e3nipQiIpb
2 Sidepods
The sidepods this year will come in all shapes and sizes – big, small, square, round, horizontal, vertical and nothing at all - but it is unclear who has engineered the most efficient design.
The rules and regulations have been quite strict, so it is a surprise that there are so many variants in play this season. The most extreme version has been the Silver Arrows “no pods” approach, the legality of which will be questioned and debated heavily in the opening weeks of the season.
We're almost ready to begin our adventure in 2022 🙌#F1 pic.twitter.com/iipHpyTkXY
Honorable mentions
Any mention of the “Smooth Operator” aka Carlos Sainz; Charles Leclerc’s gearbox problems at Monaco; the new Pirelli tyres, 18inch and low profile; a combo of Haas and Andretti Racing in the same sentence … and also Colton Herta.
1 Tifosi
Ferrari haven’t had much to celebrate in recent years, but this season could be one where the Prancing Horse could gallop happily and consistently once more amongst the front-runners.
Pre-season testing is always a gamble, especially when Mercedes seems to be sandbagging the conversation, but if the recent Bahrain session is anything to go by, the Scuderia are hot favourites for early podiums. It is with this in mind that their fans, the Tifosi, might crawl out of the woodwork, and those closeted fans stumble out of their dark hiding places.
There are two GPs in Italy in the racing calendar – one at Imola, the other at the Temple of Speed at Monza, while worldwide, Ferrari have a cult following. So, prepare for the Tifosi name to be spoken with vigour this year.
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