For the first time in the turbo-hybrid era, Mercedes did not win both the drivers and constructors world titles. While they did take an eight consecutive constructors crown, it was Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing who took the drivers title in the dramatic Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, on the final lap of the race. The manner in which the title was lost rankled with Mercedes, who went into radio silence for several days following the conclusion of the season. Despite that, they could at least celebrate another constructors crown.
The 2022 season sees a lot of change in Formula 1. Of course, we have the new cars coming in that could shake up the competitive order. But Mercedes has not resigned Valtteri Bottas who heads to Alfa Romeo, and now has George Russell as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate. Russell has impressed immensely at Williams and during his 2020 Sahkir Grand Prix outing for the Mercedes squad. He may not be the easy teammate that Hamilton has got used to with Bottas the last few years. Mercedes will be looking to keep team harmony, and also make it nine world championships in a row, although it needs to now reclaim the driver's title from a rival.
A Tough And Titanic 2021 Season
Mercedes had its toughest challenge so far in 2021. It has had threats from Ferrari in 2017 and 2018 to its dominance, but 2021 was the first time a rival took both titles down to the final race of the year. And they very nearly lost both titles. Hamilton and his team swept to the titles in 2014-2015, with only Hamilton’s teammate Nico Rosberg saving it from being a Hamilton walkover. Rosberg prevailed in 2016 before retiring, and Hamilton fought off a revived Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel in 2017 and 2018 before he and his team reasserted their dominance in 2019 and 2020, and teammate Valtteri Bottas could not keep up a season long title challenge.
Pre-season testing for Mercedes in 2021 was a nightmare, with changes to the floor regulations in the off-season hampering the team. Red Bull started the year off with the stronger car, and at one point Verstappen was over 30 points ahead of Hamilton. The Silverstone clash and Hungary pin-ball put Hamilton back in contention, and the pair were level on points in Abu Dhabi following more controversy in Brazil and Saudi Arabia. And after Nicolas Latifi crashed, the title was decided on the controversial last lap in Abu Dhabi in Verstappen’s favor.
A New Challenge For Hamilton
While Hamilton seeks a record-breaking eight world title, he has a new challenge alongside him in George Russell. The young Briton has shown incredible form at Williams, near enough having the best of teammate Nicolas Latifi at every race. He also showed how good he is at the 2020 Sahkir Grand Prix, when he substituted for Hamilton, who was absent with Covid-19. He qualified second behind Bottas in that race, but vaulted into the lead at the start. Only a tire mix-up and a late-race puncture denied Russell from a stunning victory.
Hamilton is now facing a very different teammate. Russell is no Bottas, who played the team game quite nicely and was very apolitical within the team. Russell might be a Mercedes protégé, but he is young and hungry and has shown he isn’t afraid to take on a teammate at Mercedes already when he was paired with Bottas. He might be somewhat tolerant towards playing the team game, but he will be a different animal to contain than Bottas. If Russell is on Hamilton’s pace and doesn’t back down, things could get very interesting within Mercedes.
Difficult To Read In Testing
It was difficult to read how Mercedes stacks up after the Barcelona test. While the car isn’t as radical as the Red Bull RB18, the W13 showed good reliability and was an intriguing-looking car, with tightly packed bodywork. But the team did seem to struggle more than Red Bull and McLaren with the porpoising phenomenon, and even Ferrari looked to very quickly solve the issue on the final day. It's unlikely it’ll be a real issue for Mercedes, but they have more work to do than their rivals. Equally, it would be no surprise if they are again at the top of the pecking order, along with Red Bull.
The Big Unknown Of 2022
The 2022 season is currently a venture into the unknown for the Grand Prix paddock. No one really knows the true pecking order, despite what we might be able to gleam from testing. So where Mercedes really stack up is an unknown. George Russell believed that McLaren and Ferrari might be ahead of them, and you could argue Red Bull’s aggressive RB18 might be ahead of the W13 as well. But not one team has shown any form of representative pace just yet. Hamilton put a quick lap in at the end of day three in Barcelona, no rival has even tried that. The Bahrain test will be crucial for us to find out if F1’s current dominant force will again lead the pack in F1’s new era.
Sources: Mercedes AMG F1, Formula 1