F1 was waiting for the change of technical regulations with great impatience ‘prisoner‘of the Mercedes domain. The pandemic meant that this change of pace was postponed from 2021 to 2022, a postponement that did not coincide with another obvious season, indeed. 2021 is giving great emotions, Red Bull with Max Verstappen is competing for the final success at Lewis Hamilton and six different winning drivers have already been awarded out of sixteen races. Verstappen and Hamilton alone have won twelve races (seven for the Dutch, five for the English), with Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo on their own for a total of four teams (Red Bull, Mercedes , Alpine and McLaren) take the top step of the podium.
By widening the spectrum of the teams that have celebrated at least one podium, the spectrum widens to include Ferrari, Aston Martin, AlphaTauri and Williams, with only Alfa Romeo and Haas left out. Verstappen and Hamilton are the undisputed protagonists of the season and with them Red Bull and Mercedes, but the gap between the top teams and the rest of the starting grid is less wide compared to the recent past. “It really seems a shame to change everything next year, really, this year there was great competitiveness and several different winners”he stressed Christian Horner, which sees the regulation upset just at the moment when Red Bull together with Honda has finally approached the performance of Red Bull.
The manager of the F1 sports area, Ross Brawn, believes that the new regulation will further enhance this balance: “F1 is having a blessed season – the words of Brawn – but we must not forget that it is still difficult to fight on the track due to the disturbance created by the cars ahead of those who are chasing. In 2022 this will not change as if by magic, but it will be easier to duel and I expect a season like the one we are experiencing with even more battles between the riders, a real spectacle for all fans ”.