Red Bull, Scuderia Ferrari were once again the only teams capable of fighting for race wins in the 2022 Formula 1 season, as the top three sides almost complete locked out the podium during the campaign that has just ended.
The only time a driver from a different team finished on the podium in 2022 took place at the Imola circuit, when Lando Norris ended up in P3 at the end of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The solid pace shown by Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes led to concerns that Formula 1’s attempt to close up the field was not prividing the expected results, even more so if we take into consideration the fact that one of the main goals of the rules and regulations introduced in 2022 was to allow smaller teams to reduce the gap to the top sides.
However, racing car designer Nikolas Tombazis, FIA’s single seater technical director, pointed out that the history of Formula 1 clearly shows this situation is normal when the rules change. Most of the times the gap reduces as team have move time to understand what went wrong and work in finding solutions more similar to the ones of their opponents, as the field inevitably closes up.
When asked to comments on why just one other driver was able to finish on the podium this season from outside the top three teams, Nikolas Tombazis explained:
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
“It wasn’t unexpected. The effect of the cost cap, it will take some years for it to sink in because there’s still an initial advantage for people. I think initially, it was bound to still be the better-off or well-off teams that adapted better to the rules. But I do think now people have seen what the solutions are, and are likely to be adapting for next year. I think it was the outcome of it being the first year of the regulations.” – FIA’s single seater technical director added.
Nikolas Tombazis feels that the performance gap between Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and the rest of the teams was in fact smaller than it might have been. This is the reason why the racing car designer is not at all worried about the situation.
“I mean in terms of being the first year of regulations, I think the gaps were very low,” he said. “I think if it was the fifth year like that, it would be a bit more worrying, but it was the first. If you look back at the first year of regulations, 2014 or 2009 or whatever, or 1998 I guess, these first years usually had some fairly big gaps. I think this year it’s been much less than that.”
Nikolas Tombazis’s comments share the view of Formula 1’s outgoing managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn, who confirmed a few days ago that the regulation needs at least one more season to prove if it has worked in closing up the field.
“I think, when you have these new regulations, there’s teams that get on top of it. In the 2009 season, which was a new set of regulations, two or three teams were on top of the regulations, and the rest struggled – even some of the big teams. So, I think we need another season. I’m not sure what we do if it continues that way because I think we’ve put a number of initiatives – the cost cap, the cars and tracks we’ve tried to help with, the format of racing. Everything is now tuned towards trying to maintain the integrity of the sport, but bringing it closer together. And we’ve got the aero restrictions, which are just taken now depending on where you are finish in the championship. So, there’s a lot of things pushing it in a good direction. I’m optimistic.” – he concluded.
Leave a Reply