F1's new era: The five best races of the 2022 season so far

Magnussen had good reason to say this after what was a thrilling race which saw a total of 77 overtakes, but only two more than the previous season.

The battle that caught the most attention was the one at the front between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, which offered a glimpse of what was to come for the rest of the year.

Starting on pole, Leclerc lost the lead to Verstappen at turn one on lap 17, before retaking it just a couple of corners later.

The exact same thing then happened the following lap and what was so good about it all, is that onboards showed the intelligence of Leclerc.

The Ferrari driver purposefully didn’t fight Verstappen heading into Turn 1 because he knew he would have DRS on his rival on the straight between corners 3 and 4, where the Monegasque overtook the Red Bull both times.

The drama then escalated late-on when mechanical problems caused a double Red Bull DNF to give Ferrari a one-two, in what was a thrilling way to start the new era.

 

Monaco Grand Prix

Monaco is a track which divides opinion; some think, with the tightness of the circuit, it is outdated for the modern day F1 car, but others want it kept for the heritage.

While the racing might not be the best at times, to give credit where it’s due, this year’s Monaco GP was highly entertaining.

Leclerc took pole for his home race but then wet weather in the principality changed things completely the next day.

Standing water on the track caused the race to be delayed by one-hour, but it was well worth the wait.

Monaco isn’t usually known for its wheel-to-wheel racing, yet fans were treated to Esteban Ocon and Lewis Hamilton going neck and neck, Pierre Gasly progressing through the field, while the battle for first was incredibly tight.

Although Leclerc seemingly had the race under control, a strategic blunder in the pit-stops saw him tumbling down to fourth after Ferrari pitted the Monegasque twice in the space of four laps due to changing conditions.

The second stop, however, was a double stack and so Leclerc lost time behind Carlos Sainz in the pits, while the Spaniard also got held up by the Williams cars on the out-lap.

This came to Red Bull’s aid, who were flawless in strategy helped by a solid drive from Sergio Perez, as he ended up taking victory with his team-mate in third.

 

British Grand Prix

Silverstone proved to be one of the first true tests of the new regulations considering it is a fast track with sweeping turns which invites wheel-to-wheel racing.

The home crowd did not go away disappointed with entertainment and tight racing throughout.

Things were scary at first after George Russell tagged Zhou Guanyu at the start, whose car was then flipped upside down before sliding into the barriers while resting on the halo.

But when the damage was cleared and it was known that Zhou was okay, a thrilling race got underway.

The early stages saw the lead change hands multiple times with Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton and Sainz all battling tightly at the front.

Then Verstappen ran over debris – caused by the AlphaTauri drivers coming together – which put him out of contention meaning it was Ferrari against Hamilton.

It looked like Leclerc would come out on top but then a safety car was signalled with 14 laps to go after Ocon stopped on the side of the track with a fuel pump issue.

That close battle continued into the race, while at the top Leclerc and Verstappen fought it out with the Ferrari driver having to overtake the pole sitter thrice in order to win the race.

Amid all of that, five drivers were all separated within half a second in a battle for eighth on lap 24, which included an elegant double overtake from Norris heading into Turn 3.

There was also Perez spinning into the gravel on the opening lap after a collision with Russell at Turn 4, while to top off all the drama, late on Sainz had an engine blowout just before he was about to make a move on Verstappen for second.

That denied a Ferrari one-two in an Austrian GP which had just about everything.

 

Hungarian Grand Prix

The Hungarian GP turned into a special victory for Verstappen, who won from the fifth row while Ferrari wasted yet another opportunity.

Heading into what was the final race before the summer break, the Scuderia trailed Red Bull by 82 points in the championship knowing anything but a win at the Hungaroring was not good enough.

After qualifying, it seemed like the only team who could stop Ferrari from winning was themselves, with both drivers starting inside the top three, while Red Bull were 10th and 11th.

Although Russell was on pole, Ferrari had stronger pace and Leclerc took the lead on lap 31 before extending it to five seconds by lap 40.

Before that, on the opening lap Alex Albon crashed into the side of Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo made a nice double overtake on the Alpine cars, while Hamilton, Verstappen and Perez all progressed through the field swiftly from seventh, tenth and eleventh, respectively.

Lap 40 is when it all changed, however, with Ferrari fitting hard tyres onto Leclerc despite prior evidence that the compound clearly wasn’t working well in Hungary.

It caused Leclerc to struggle, so much so that stint only lasted 15 laps before he had had enough and decided to pit again – by that point, it was too late.

He had already fallen out of contention for the victory after Verstappen had overtaken him twice with a 360 degree spin in between, while the Mercedes drivers were showing strong pace.

From this point, Verstappen’s win was unchallenged, while Hamilton made a late surge into second after overtaking Sainz and then Russell, with Leclerc lingering down in sixth.

It was an exciting way to head into the summer break particularly as the Hungaroring isn’t traditionally known for its overtaking due to the tightness of the circuit, as well as its many turns.

Last year there was only 18 overtakes but in 2022, with the new regulations, there were 65 in Hungary showing a significant difference.