When it comes to Formula 1 drama, nothing can compete with the 2021 title fight. However, the 2022 season more than made up for it by being as silly as possible with driver and team principal moves.
This year, we’ve been spoiled in terms of the driver carrousel. Sebastian Vettel’s retirement was a sorrowful event for many fans. But it triggered a sort of musical chairs game among the teams, giving us quite a few surprises.
Fernando Alonso was quick to ditch Alpine and jump in the chair left vacant by the four-time world champion, teaming up with Lance Stroll. This left the French team with an open seat, which caused quite a stir. Alpine thought it could force Oscar Piastri to sign for them, and after some drama, it settled for signing Pierre Gasly alongside Esteban Ocon.
Piastri ended up partnering with Lando Norris at Mclaren and replacing the departing Daniel Ricciardo, who ended up going back to his “home team” Red Bull as a reserve driver. Undoubtedly, this made a sizeable chunk of fans sad. But the Honey Badger was content with his choice, explaining that he wanted a break from Formula 1 without leaving the grid entirely.
Photo: Oracle Red Bull Racing / Twitter
The knock-on effect of Vettel’s departure further extended to Red Bull’s sister team, Alpha Tauri. Gasly was only let out of his contract after the team secured the signature of Nyck de Vries, who drove a stellar race when he replaced Alexander Albon during the Italian GP at Monza. This means Alpha Tauri’s lineup will consist of Nyck de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda.
Even though some teams were unaffected by this entire domino starting to fall down, they still chose to revamp their lineups. Haas came under scrutiny from the fans when team principal Gunther Steiner announced that the team would let go of Mick Schumacher. The American team’s lineup ended up consisting of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, who’s returning after a three-year hiatus.
Despite the son of legendary Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher not fully proving he deserves a spot on the grid in his two seasons on the team, he was beloved by the crowd. But with every door that closes, another one opens. And in this case, the open door led Mick to a reserve driver role at Mercedes, which will surely help him in the long run.
The final team who suffered a change of drivers is Williams, which opted to let go of Nicholas Latifi and sign Logan Sargeant alongside Albon. The top three teams kept the same lineup we saw in the 2022 season. Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull saw no reason to make any changes, as their driver pairings have been performing well throughout 2022.
However, driver lineups were not the only changes. Some racing outfits also chose to change their team principals. Ferrari went for Frederic Vasseur, with his role at Sauber being taken up by Alunni Bravi. Williams also went through a change in management, with former Mercedes chief strategist taking the role of team principal, while McLaren replaced the departing Andreas Seidl with Andrea Stella.
This is a quick rundown of all the changes that occurred ahead of the 2023 season. The only thing left to do is wait and see how the championship will play out, which teams made the right call, and if Ferrari can finally mount a title challenge.
As a kid, Bogdan grew up handing his dad the tools needed to work on his old Citroen and asking one too many questions about everything happening inside the engine bay. Naturally, this upbringing led Bogdan to become an engineer, but thanks to Top Gear, The Fast and the Furious series, and racing video games, a passion for automotive entertainment was ignited. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News