95 days since the end of a season overshadowed by acrimony, the ramifications of which have not completely dissipated or been resolved, the Formula 1 paddock gathers today once more.
As 2021 ended, 2022 begins in the Middle East – this time in Bahrain rather than Abu Dhabi – with relations at the front of the grid still frayed.
The departure of race director Michael Masi was effectively a season prerequisite for Mercedes – Red Bull team principal Christian Horner going further by suggesting he had been bullied out of the position.
The full details of the FIA investigation into the chaotic and controversial end to last season are set to be published this weekend, although it is wishful to think the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix can simply be swept under the carpet.
There is clearly still tension between Horner and his opposite number Toto Wolff but, unlike last season, the indications are their respective teams will not solely be the whole story this time.
Winter testing can all too often be a faux indicator of quite how the season might play out but Red Bull are the current team to beat after the three days in Bahrain last week.
In the final moments of running last Saturday, Max Verstappen’s lap times on heavy fuel – essentially race pace – were nearly half a second quicker than the best of the rest.
But no one quite knows for sure, which has only ramped up the anticipation for race one on Sunday. That expectation is, in part, down to the clear animosity between last year’s top two, but also in part because of the wholesale regulation changes delayed by 12 months because of Covid.
The planning for it has been four years in the making, aimed at improving the show twofold: with greater opportunities for overtaking season-long but also by closing the gap between the front and back of the grid.
Will that be achieved? Only time will tell but the new cars have passed the first test. Fears of a generic car have been allayed by a raft of different interpretations of the rules – take the Mercedes sidepods and fins, which were initially deemed illegal by Horner, a view point he later backed down from.
The big question mark hangs over Mercedes. The team have been notorious for talking down their chances and sandbagging in testing only to come out flying for the first qualifying session of the season.
Although, drivers following Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain observed the W13 was clearly a handful and a dejected Hamilton said: “At the moment, I don’t think we’ll be competing for wins”. But Mercedes are notoriously good and quick at rectifying issues and the whispers are its car has the most untapped potential if they can overcome their gremlins.
Bahrain won’t entirely supply the answers to how this championship plays out. With such an overhaul in regulations and inevitable reliability issues – the porpoising or shuddering of the cars down the straights a case in point – it will take time for it to become abundantly clear who may be in the title mix.
Returning to the fore appears to be Ferrari, who were consistently quick in both Barcelona and Bahrain, and look to be emerging from a difficult part of their history.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto was quick to talk down his team’s chances, saying, “We are not the favourites, I think we are outsiders,” but, behind closed doors, the team are confident the decision to begin preparations early on the 2022 rulebook are paying dividends.
A championship which last season saw two teams vying at the top could result in four if McLaren, so good in Barcelona, can resolve the issues they had in Bahrain.
Those don’t look insurmountable. For one, Daniel Ricciardo is back and out of Covid isolation, while the brake issue experienced by Lando Norris is believed to have been fixed. What the team don’t know is quite how good their race pace might be.
As Norris put it: “There are many good things that we’ve learned from the last few days.”
For every team, 2022 is a steep learning curve, Bahrain simply the first lesson.
