The 2022 Formula 1 season sees a revolution like no other. Completely new cars are here, as the rules are rewritten to allow for closer racing action and to hopefully ensure greater competition. This is potentially the biggest rewrite of the F1 rule book for some 30 to 40 years. As pre-season testing gets underway in Barcelona, F1’s own technical expert Sam Collins has run through some of the key changes to the 2022 cars and what makes them so radical on F1's own YouTube Channel.

Wheels And Tires Kick Off The Changes

Red Bull Racing RB18 Side View
via Oracle Red Bull Racing

The wheels and tires are some of the big changes for 2022. F1 has adopted 18-inch wheel rims now, and they are clad in new, low-profile Pirelli tires. In theory, this should help make the airflow around the cars easier to manage, and allow the drivers to have more grip following another car. The winglets that sit over the tires are all about controlling the wake from the front wheels, and stop it messing up the airflow across the rest of the car. Gone are the bargeboards on the F1 cars as well, instead is what F1 calls a 3D floor, to help eliminate a lot of the dirty air that the cars throw up.

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Improving Upon The Car's Safety

F1 2022 Rule Changes Safety Improvments
via Formula 1 YouTube Channel

Safety improvements are always ongoing in Motorsport, and the same is true in F1 2022. The most obvious change for 2022 is the longer nose, allowing the cars to withstand high levels of frontal impact. The cars will also be able to withstand more load from side impacts too, while changes to the car structure should eliminate the fuel cell getting exposed in an accident like we saw with Romain Grosjean at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix when his Haas burst into flames.

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Changes To The Wings Of The Car

F1 2022 Rule Changes Front View Mercedes
via Formula 1 YouTube Channel

The wings are clearly very different on the 2022 cars. This again is to allow for closer racing between the cars, most noticeable with the rolled tips to the rear wing. The front wing is also incredibly different, and we have already spotted lots of variations to front wing design across all ten teams with where the nose joins the wing and how the elements are all structured. Closer racing is the aim of the game for Formula 1 in 2022, and if it's as good as how the cars look, we could be in for another classic season.

Source: Formula 1 YouTube Channel