Together with the understanding of the cars and the set-up choices, the development race is a central aspect in Formula 1, potentially capable of breaking the balance of a championship that in the first races saw Ferrari and Red Bull on the same level and a center- particularly compact group behind Mercedes. The single updates on the single-seaters guarantee marginal gains, but which, when added together over months or even within the same evolutionary package, make it possible to find important tenths, which in motorsport often prove decisive. In 2022 the teams are required to publicly declare the changes made to the cars from Grand Prix to Grand Prix, allowing for easier tracking. The following has been chosen to report the evolution of the single-seaters starting from the second test session and from the first Grand Prix in Bahrain. The use of specific wings for low or high load tracks is only carried over to the debut race of the component. Except for extreme solutions, the traditional operations of adjusting the cooling openings on the engine hood are omitted.
It is clear from the first two races of 2022 a widespread tendency of the teams to concentrate on the development of the car bottom, a determining component of around 80-90% of the competitiveness of current single-seaters, according to what Mattia Binotto estimates. The fairing of the rims and the sealing of the brake baskets exacerbated the cooling difficulties of the braking system, forcing Red Bull, McLaren and Alfa Romeo to revise their front air intakes. As for the packages for adaptation to low-load tracks such as Jeddah, Red Bull is the team that most modifies its car. In addition to the rear wing, a resized beam-wing is in fact provided, thus also reducing the extraction from the diffuser and consequently the load and resistance generated by the underbody. Regarding the fight at the top, Red Bull has introduced a relatively extensive evolution package on the occasion of the second tests in Bahrain. Ferrari on the other hand, after having progressively refined and evolved the fund in pre-season tests, preferred to invest more time to plan its own developments, postponing updates to the next races.
MERCEDES
-Bahrain: sides and radiators; nose with a greater excavation in the lower part; car bottom (rejected the second version tested in the FP1 Grand Prix); new end profiles of the front wing for changes to the aerodynamic balance; refinement of the vertical deflectors of the rear brake baskets.
-Saudi Arabia: double specification of low load rear wing;
RED BULL
-Bahrain: slight tapering of the sides; anterior wing refinement; new vertical strips of the rear diffuser.
– Saudi Arabia: widening of the front brake cooling air intakes; debut rear wing and low load beam wing.
FERRARI
-Bahrain: progressive evolution of the fund through successive modifications during the tests.
-Saudi Arabia: medium-low load rear wing.
McLAREN
-Bahrain: new front brake cooling air intakes; new rear diffuser flaps; vortex generators on the sidepods.
-Saudi Arabia: /
ALPINE
-Bahrain: repositioning of radiators; new sidepods; bottom.
-Saudi Arabia: low load rear wing.
ALPHATAURI
-Bahrain: /
-Saudi Arabia: low load rear wing.
ASTON MARTIN
-Bahrain: bottom; new rear-view mirrors; re-profiling of the air intakes of the side radiators; new rear-view mirrors; shortening of the external strip in front of the entrance section of the Venturi channel of the bottom; introduction of aerodynamic appendages on the sides of the halo.
-Saudi Arabia: low load rear wing.
WILLIAMS
-Bahrain: /
-Saudi Arabia: low load rear wing.
ALFA ROMEO
-Bahrain: new front brake cooling vents.
-Saudi Arabia: new external appendages of the rear brake sockets; re-profiling of the rear suspension arms for aerodynamic purposes; low load rear wing
HAAS
-Bahrain: bottom.
-Saudi Arabia: /
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