2022 Car Launches and Pre-season Testing (March 10-12, Bahrain)

Last year's car reveals and preseason testing
Results from last year's testing

Day 1 of testing in Barcelona (Feb 23, 2022)
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:19.568 103
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:20.165 +0.597s 80
3 Carlos Sainz Jr Ferrari 1:20.416 +0.848s 73
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:20.784 +1.216s 77
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:20.929 +1.361s 50
6 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:21.276 +1.708s 52
7 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:21.638 +2.070s 121
8 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:21.746 +2.178s 127
9 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:22.246 +2.678s 147
10 Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:22.572 +3.004s 23
11 Alex Albon Williams 1:22.760 +3.192s 66
12 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:22.926 +3.358s 23
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:23.327 +3.759s 67
14 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:23.379 +3.811s 66
15 Nikita Mazepin Haas 1:24.505 +4.937s 20
16 Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo 1:25.909 +6.341s 9

Day 2 of testing in Barcelona (Feb 24, 2022)
Leclerc, Ferrari, 1m19.689s, C3 - 79 laps
Gasly, AlphaTauri, 1m19.918s, C4 - 147
Ricciardo, McLaren, 1m20.288s, C4 - 126
Russell, Mercedes, 1m20.537s, C3 - 66
Sainz, Ferrari, 1m20.546s, C3 - 71
Vettel, Aston Martin, 1m20.784s, C3 - 74
Perez, Red Bull, 1m21.430s, C3 - 78
Mazepin, Haas, 1m21.512s, C3 - 42
Albon, Williams, 1m21.531s, C3 - 47
Zhou, Alfa Romeo, 1m21.885s, C3 - 71
Latifi, Williams, 1m21.894s, C3 - 61
Stroll, Aston Martin, 1m21.920s, C3 - 55
Schumacher, Haas, 1m21.949s, C3 - 66
Ocon, Alpine, 1m22.164s, C3 - 125
Bottas, Alfa Romeo, 1m22.288s, C3 - 21
Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m22.562s, C2 - 40

Day 3 of testing in Barcelona (Feb 25, 2022)
Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m19.138s, C5 - 94 laps
Russell, Mercedes, 1m19.233s, C5 - 66
Perez, Red Bull, 1m19.556s, C4 - 74
Verstappen, Red Bull, 1m19.756s, C3 - 59
Vettel, Aston Martin, 1m19.824s, C5 - 48
Leclerc, Ferrari, 1m19.831s, C3 - 44
Sainz, Ferrari, 1m20.072s, C3 - 92
Albon, Williams, 1m20.318, C4 - 94
Latifi, Williams, 1m20.699s, C4 - 13
Ricciardo, McLaren, 1m20.750, C3 - 86
Norris, McLaren, 1m20.827s, C3 - 52
Alonso, Alpine, 1m21.242s, C3 - 12
Zhou, Alfa Romeo, 1m21.939s, C3 - 41
Gasly, AlphaTauri, 1m22.469s, C4 - 40
Mazepin, Haas, 1m26.229s, C3 - 9
Bottas, Alfa Romeo, 1m30.433s, C3 - 10

Day 1 of testing in Bahrain (March 10, 2022)
Gasly, AlphaTauri, 1m33.902s, C4 - 102 laps
Sainz, Ferrari - 1m34.359s, C3 - 52
Leclerc, Ferrari, 1m34.531s, C3 - 64
Stroll, Aston Martin, 1m34.736s, C4 - 50
Albon, Williams, 1m35.070s, C4 - 104
Norris, McLaren, 1m35.356s, C2 - 49
Bottas, Alfa Romeo, 1m35.495s, C3 - 66
Vettel, Aston Martin, 1m35.706s, C3 - 39
Russell, Mercedes, 1m35.941s, C3 - 60
Perez, Red Bull, 1m35.977s, C2 - 138
Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m36.365s, C3 - 62
Alonso, Alpine, 1m36.745s, C3 - 24
Ocon, Alpine, 1m36.768s, C2 - 42
Zhou, Alfa Romeo, 1m37.164s, C3 - 54
Fittipaldi, Haas, 1m37.422s, C2 prototype - 47

Day 2 of testing in Bahrain (March 11, 2022)
Magnussen, Haas, 1m33.207s, C4, 60 laps*
Sainz, Ferrari, 1m33.532s, C4, 60
Verstappen, Red Bull, 1m34.011s, C4, 86
Stroll, Aston Martin, 1m34.064s, C4, 70
Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m34.141s, C5, 47
Ocon, Alpine, 1m34.276s, C4, 111
Leclerc, Ferrari, 1m34.366s, C3, 54
Norris, McLaren, 1m34.609s, C3, 60
Vettel, Aston Martin, 1m36.020s, C3, 46
Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, 1m36.802s, C3, 120
Bottas, Alfa Romeo, 1m36.987s, C2, 25
Schumacher, Haas, 1m37.846s, C2, 23
Russell, Mercedes, 1m38.585s, C2 proto, 67
Latifi, Williams, 1m39.845s, C2 proto, 12
Zhou, Alfa Romeo, 1m41.805s, C2 proto, 48

Day 3 of testing in Bahrain (March 12, 2022)
Verstappen, Red Bull, 1m31.720, C5, 53 laps
Schumacher, Haas, 1m32.241s, C4, 85*
Leclerc, Ferrari, 1m32.415, C4, 51
Alonso, Alpine, 1m32.698s, C4, 122
Russell, Mercedes, 1m32.759s, C5, 71
Bottas, Alfa Romeo, 1m32.985s, C3, 68
Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, 1m33.002s, C5, 57
Perez, Red Bull, 1m33.105s, C4, 43
Norris, McLaren, 1m33.191s, C2, 90
Vettel, Aston Martin, 1m33.821s, C4, 81
Zhou, Alfa Romeo, 1m33.959s, C4, 82
Gasly, AlphaTauri, 1m34.865s, C4, 91
Sainz, Ferrari, 1m34.905s, C5, 68
Albon, Williams, 1m35.171s, C3, 18
Latifi, Williams, 1m35.634s, C3, 124
Stroll, Aston Martin, 1m36.029s, C3, 53
Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m36.217s, C5, 78
Magnussen, Haas, 1m38.616s, C2, 38

Haas is giving us our first look at their new car—and they’re doing it with basically the smallest budget on the grid.

On the flip side, word on the street is that Adrian Newey went for a pretty radical design concept here.
https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/10397...flow-rb18.html
They’ve shifted the cockpit closer to the front wheels, the rear end is even tighter than last year, and they’ve managed to package that Honda engine more compactly than back in '21. We should see the actual car in five days.

wiredseal7 said:Haas is giving us our first look at their new cars, and honestly, that’s pretty impressive coming from a team working with such a limited budget.

On the other hand, word on the street is that Adrian Newey was leaning toward a pretty radical concept.
I’ve been looking over the details regarding the RB18's floor design, and it’s pretty interesting how much they focused on that specific area to find performance. It seems like the team really leaned into optimizing the airflow underneath the car to maximize ground effect. They spent a lot of time refining the floor edges and the transition areas to ensure the suction remains consistent, even when the car is bouncing or hitting bumps. It’s one of those things where you don't realize how much work goes into a single component until you see the technical breakdowns. They weren't just chasing raw downforce; they were trying to make the aero platform more stable and predictable for the drivers. If the floor isn't behaving, the whole car feels off, regardless of how much power you have. It's a delicate balance, honestly. I'm curious to see if this approach holds up against the upgrades coming from teams like Ferrari or McLaren later in the season.
They moved the cockpit closer to the front wheels. The rear end looks even tighter than last year, too, especially since they’re running a more compact Honda engine compared to what we saw back in '21. We've only got five days until the car is officially unveiled.

Haas was basically the first team to jump straight into developing a car for the new era, which honestly makes their 2021 season look pretty desperate.

Ostatak—I think the Italian press corps is just talking. Absolute nonsense.It’s always the same crowd every single year, making these exact same calls about how the Ferrari car is going to look. They keep talking about this "cockpit being closer to the front wheels," but here is what they actually mean by that.

What exactly do they mean by "impossible"? Claiming the cockpit is too close to the front wheels just doesn't hold water. Everything is strictly dictated by the technical regulations—aside from the wheelbase, which isn't going to look drastically different to the naked eye anyway. Honestly, it feels like the Italians just threw out two ridiculous arguments.

I took that shot of the Haas from above to show you what I'm thinking. I’ve reworked things and come up with two different concepts that are both perfectly legal under the current regulations.





Upper concept, explanation: So, this is basically the Haas concept, just without that whole "Sidepod Airflow Directional Aid"—or APUVOB, if you want to be brief. And what exactly is an APUVOB? Well, let me show you right here on the Red Bull car from last year.



That pink highlighted area is the APUVOB—basically the part where designers have total creative freedom to interpret aerodynamic elements and wings. If I’m following this correctly, the headache from 2022 was that while you still had that design freedom, there weren't any protruding wings allowed anymore. Now, there has to be a clear, continuous edge that follows a symmetrical concave shape through the cross-section. You can't have any breaks in any part of that profile. It’s the same deal with the nose; it has to be a clearly defined concave shape symmetrically across the cross-section. This means nobody can pull off a nose like the Caterham 2014, or that dual-hole look from the Force India 2018, or those twin front ends from the Lotus 2014, or even a "finger" style nose.

So, basically, the top part of my concept sketch doesn't include an APUVOB, and the bottom image is just my best guess at how the radiator setup will actually look.

Lower concept, explanation: In this case, I used almost the entire available surface area of the APUVOB. It obstructs the sidepod air much more gently than the original Haas concept—which isn't my design, by the way—making the car feel a lot more stable. You can also see in the bottom image how the radiator is nearly larger than the one on the top Haas model, yet it somehow manages to take up less space at the same time.

Look, I’m just trying to prove that it isn't actually a case of the cockpit being closer to the front wheels. It’s more that the APUVOB is significantly longer than what we see on the Haas, which makes the entire sidepod look much longer than usual. To me, this whole thing feels like a callback to the design philosophy used on the Ferrari F1-91 back in '91. Take a look at my concept below and this image:

I went ahead and fully developed the floor concept

There’s some chatter going around that McLaren might follow Ferrari's lead and switch to a pull-rod front suspension. There are also rumors that Haas purposefully hid their push-rod setup in those recent renders. Essentially, moving to a pull-rod design would help clear up the airflow toward the sidepod air intakes. On the left, I've put together my concept for the 2022 McLaren, and on the right is the 2021 car.▼



Edit: I left out the rearview mirror on the left side just so you could get a better look at the sidepod profile.

Edit2: Mirror view of the left side:

I'm thinking Mercedes might end up having the smallest sidepod radiator inlets. Here’s a quick concept I put together using the 2019 car as a base.▼

I want to throw a bit of a curveball at you guys. Just imagine if we took that 2018 Ferrari concept and used it as the foundation for the 2022 sidepod layout. Technically, the regulations would allow it—you could raise the bottom edge of the sidepod inlets and heavily modify the APUVOB to grab as much air as possible, funneling it right under the sidepods toward the diffuser. Check out these diagrams below▼





Edit: My mistake, I messed up the math there. The APUVOB edge actually has to start from the cockpit zone; no winglets can extend past that point. There’s a "play designer" thread on this forum somewhere, so I guess I'll just start posting my sketches and theories over there from now on.

Red Bull is gearing up to unveil their new car soon, but according to the folks over at Red Bull, this isn't actually about the machine itself. It sounds more like a big production for the sponsors—lots of branding on the car, maybe some motivational speeches to get everyone pumped up. https://www.gpblog.com/nl/nieuws/103...moment-af.html I'll need someone to translate this article into English if you guys happen to know Dutch.
The actual car won't be fully ready until right before testing, so we likely won't see the real thing until they show up in Barcelona.

Managarium said:

Williams, February 15 at 1:00 PM

Red Bull did the reveal, but they basically just rolled out an FIA showcar in Red Bull livery—just like Raymond Anderson4 predicted☕
Honestly, it’s probably smarter to keep them guessing—why give the competition a two-week head start to pick apart the aero?

On the sponsorship front, Oracle stepped up as the new title sponsor, the rear wing says Red Bull, and all that's left of Honda is a tiny "HRC" logo near the exhaust. Then again, if the rumors are true (since there was no mention of them here), those Japanese folks are staying on as the official engine supplier through the whole freeze.

In case anyone missed it, here’s what an unofficial Red Bull looks like



Today at 10:00 AM Eastern Time

Aston looks beautiful. 🙂

Sebastian Vettel really left his mark on the team. 🙏
I honestly think a fresh start in a new car might be just what he needs to help Aston outperform their current standing—they definitely deserve a higher spot on the grid.

Raymond Anderson4 said:Aston looks beautiful. 🙂

Sebastian Vettel cleaned up big time. 🙏
Maybe the new car actually suits him—he might just smoke those Aston cars they deserve to beat.

It's a sharp-looking car, though that color might end up looking a bit dark on TV—aside from the yellow bits.

As for the chassis, the design is interesting and totally different from Haas. It’ll probably be similar to Mercedes regarding cooling, the engine cover, and the floor—since Aston is always so closely linked to them.

Aston looks incredible, assuming it actually moves as fast as it looks. 🙏

It’s got a pretty wild design, though. 🤔
Like a girl with a massive chest and booty but a tiny waist. 😁

Please feel free to post your images. 👋

At first glance, these cars seem to look almost identical to last year's models. This is particularly true for Haas.
Perhaps Ferrari might actually manage to surprise us this time.

Aston isn't even close to last year's car...
It looks completely different. Honestly? Pretty weird too...

stormybadger8 said:Aston is a gorgeous car, assuming it actually performs half as well as it looks. 🙏

Though the design is certainly unconventional... 🤔
It’s shaped like a girl with a massive bust and rear, but a tiny waist. 😁

Where I'm from, you see girls built like that all the time...

The AM looks solid, we just need to see how the whole thing holds up once it's all put together.

These cars look like they’re going to be an absolute blast to watch on the high-speed tracks.