Racer - you've got a technical mind! Do you think the new cars will favour one team over another? Adrian Newey was quoted as saying that the 2022 regs favour low rake cars. If so, does it favour anyone?
There is some suggestion that the new regs will suit someone like Vettel.
With the rise in rake and move towards "overteery" cars that impacted Mercedes and Aston Martin more than others.
Obviously Mercedes were able to develop their way out of it.
This wasn't the case with Aston Martin and we've just seen our first casualty of that (above ^^^).
I see mention of the grid closing up, but on any significant rule change what we have seen in the past is teams
finding a loophole or interpretation to gain an advantage. The suggstion from Mercedes is that Red Bull and Ferrari
are these teams, but I wouldn't be surprised to see McLaren find something, like they did in 2021.
Ultimately I believe it will come down to Max and Lewis going head to head.
There is nothing wrong with that.
I do however believe that we should see a return to form from the likes of Vettel and Ricciardo,
especially Vettel, as he was the king during the Red Bull blown diffuser era.
However that comes down to what Aston Martin can put under him.
With all that said, there is some noise at the moment that Ferrari put all their cards on being ready for 2022,
my reservation there is that I quite fancy Sainz to match Leclerc and I wonder what happens then.
Every team is saying they have something. Ferrari especially.
Mercedes are doing the usual "Ferrari and Red Bull have found something".
Expect the Ferrari engines to be more competitive.
Expect Mercedes and Red Bull to be the pair to beat. (How will Red Bull develop now without Honda?)
And hope that Ferrari and McLaren actually deliver.
I know it's a ramble, but I'm excited to see Russell in the Mercedes.
It could be problematic if he's on it straight away (like he was as a sub) and takes points off Hamilton.
Long term that probably plays into Verstappen's hands for the Driver's Title.
I do think Mercedes ended up as the fastest car last season.
Only a targetted rule change brought them back to Red Bull, so what is Red Bull's strategy if they both start the same?
My biggest gripe last year was Mercedes throwing engines at it from mid season with the penalties they received
ultimately meaning very little. I expect if they can get away with it they'll do that again.
We'll need a stronger Ferrari and McLaren to stop that from happening.