An great year for the sport, despite the controversy!
Despite how it ended, 2021 was still an epic year for F1, with a worthy champion, and plenty of moments that will go down in history. It wasn’t until the outro season montage for Sky Sports, which was brilliant, that I really was able to look back and appreciate the season we had. I will not discuss the FIA in this article, as that deserves its own piece, for all the wrong reasons. This is just the good and the bad of each team, with hopefully less of the controversial!
With the most wins and most podiums in the season of any driver, no matter the ending, you have to take your hat off to Verstappen. Plus, he still had to pass Hamilton on track with a very powerful Mercedes engine, and under so much pressure, to get the title. In fact, of the four times he wasn’t 1st or 2nd, three weren’t really his fault. We all knew he had this potential when he joined the sport, so it is nice to see it being fulfilled. The car was a rocket ship this year, arguably better overall than Mercedes, and Max made the most of it. Luck was not massively on one side or another, both got unlucky in different ways. Is he the complete driver yet? No, the pace is there, and he can perform under pressure, however, the aggression when wheel to wheel does need to be brought down a notch. I hope this comes with age, and does not get worse as he gets more successful. Perez had a solid year, but there were plenty of poor weekends from him. Hopefully it will get better for him moving forwards, as he beds in more with the team. The experience though has helped him take his own direction in the team, and get his best out of the car. Baku and Mexico showed there is clear potential to be a great driver for the team. Red Bull as a whole performed well, with great strategies on occasion, strong pit stops, and simply amazing car pace. The emotion and war of words after Silverstone was a bit much, they just needed to get on with their own job, and some comments were over the top.
The streak had to end at some point for Hamilton and Mercedes, but this is not the way they wanted it to happen. As I said in the race review, with how close the title was, it is unfair to Max, to say that Lewis was robbed of the title, but he was definitely robbed of the race win. He and the team got all they could out of a car which had been severely hampered by the new regulations for 2021. This really was a year of young against old, and to begin with, Hamilton was being pushed around by the young pretender. Silverstone was where he tried to fight back, which didn’t go too well although he did gain points on him! Since then, he has played it safe in battles with Max, which went well for him mostly. I hope Lewis does return in 2022, with renewed vigour to get what he feels was probably taken from him unfairly. It was another alright season for Bottas, who like Perez could play wingman on certain occasions, yet other times was nowhere. You can see how the move to Alfa gave him more speed at Monza, clearly showing it was the right move, and he looks happier for it. He shouldn’t be disappointed with his time in the team, he was just up against one of the best ever! As for Mercedes, they were similar to Red Bull, with loads of great decisions, however, in moments like Brazil, they felt more harshly done by, than I feel is true. Similar is true of Abu Dhabi, but I can’t blame them much for that.
Only next year will be truly know if Ferrari are over the pain of 2020, yet the way they came through in the second half of this year especially, is testament to the leadership and sheer power of that organisation, and why I think they could be a threat next year. There was a limited amount that could be changed going into this year, so it was a great use of the tokens by Ferrari to maximise their impact. The drivers undoubtedly were a big part of the step up, as Vettel was nowhere near Leclerc in 2020, but Sainz has come out of the blocks and been right with him. Leclerc continues to be blistering on a Saturday, with two poles to his name, but mistakes and poor tyre wear have hurt him, he needs to grow slightly more to be a true superstar. It is easy to forget how experienced Sainz is, and this year that strength has shone through. He could be my pick for the title next year, once the issues with a new team have been ironed out.
What a weird year for McLaren! They were so fast early on, and got their first win since 2012, however, they will likely end the year disappointed, with finishing behind Ferrari. Seemingly the Ferrari engine upgrade took away the major advantage they had over the Italian team. They will see 2022 as an opportunity though, and have a lot to be proud of this year. As does Norris, who led the team for almost the whole year, and was the best driver of the first half of the season in my view. Luck then seemed to evade him as the year closed out, and the pit decision at Sochi was on both team and driver. There was a real worry halfway through the year, that Ricciardo would never get to grips with the McLaren. It seems to have got better though from the summer break onwards, although I am sure there is still more to come. Yes, Monza was lucky, but Daniel pounced at the opportunity, and earnt the win by holding them off.
Before Qatar, it seemed that Alpine were lucky to be in 5th for the constructors, as a lot of their points were from Hungary, where AlphaTauri had similar pace to them, but couldn’t get past slower cars. Now though, in the last part of the season, we have seen a return of their pace, which has been unbelievable at points. This is even more foreboding, bearing in mind how old most of their 2021 car was, so they could be a dark horse for 2022. Alonso on his return to F1 acted like he never left, with all the cunning, pace, and race craft we saw when he was last in the sport. It is nice to see he still has it, and with the right car could easily be right at the front. It was always going to be hard for Ocon to keep up with a 2 time champion, and at points in the year he was struggling, but he brought it back, and did show pace on occasion. To be honest though, I did expect more from a driver who was said to be the next big thing back in 2016, as one win doesn’t hide a season where he was beaten by a driver nearing the end of his career.
It is clear now that AlphaTauri were overhyped pre-season, as their high rake set up was not as powerful as first thought. That being said, if they had executed the season better, they should have got 5th in the constructors easily. Bahrain and Imola are two clear examples of this, and early on in the year, Gasly couldn’t back up his qualifying pace in the race. By the time he did, it was too late to take on Alpine, especially with their late spurt. Pierre had another excellent year, outperforming the car on a Saturday, he just seems to be stuck in AlphaTauri for the near future. For his rookie teammate, it did end well, however, for most of the season it was a disaster. Mostly down to overdriving the car, he was crashing a lot, and not finding pace either. Hopefully he can continue the form he found in the last few races, as when Honda goes, he will find it much harder to stay with Red Bull.
Off the back of the team’s best ever year in F1, the newly branded Aston Martin expected to continue that pace into this year. It wasn’t to be however, as they were the team hit hardest by the small rule changes for this season. They still had pretty good race pace, which is what saved their year really, but even that couldn’t get them above 7th. Vettel looks to be reborn at the team, and had great drives at Baku and Monaco, showing that he hadn’t lost it all at Ferrari. It was a shame that he couldn’t pass Ocon at Hungary, as it would have been a well-deserved win, although with the fuel issues, it could have hurt even more. Stroll has become a solid F1 driver, not far behind Vettel, and able to get good results when they are presented to him.
Alfa Romeo too had a mediocre year, and they can’t put this one down to the engine. It does feel as though the team has stagnated, after the boost the Alfa Romeo sponsorship brought. So, if a buyer such as Andretti does come along again, they have to see it is the best option for them. Kimi was clearly done with the sport early on in the year, there were odd good moments for him, but mostly he was just running around towards the back. It is a shame to see his career end this way, but I am sure he won’t care. For Giovinazzi, as much as people love him, he had his time in F1, and never really showed anything amazing to us, apart from after he had been fired. It’s a brutal business, and a new young star deserved to be there, although not Zhou.
It says a lot about 2021, that I had forgotten about Russell getting 2nd at Spa, although it can be argued if it was truly a second place. Even without that, Williams have had a superb year on track, with clear improvements all round for the team, and luck finally going their way. Obviously, the passing of Frank has put a dampener on it all, but at least he died knowing the team was on the way back to the front. Russell has been a star at the team, always pushing, despite spending most of the time towards the back. I can’t wait to see him in a Mercedes next year. Latifi is growing into F1, and was starting to get close to Russell towards the end of the year, so there shouldn’t be a pace vacuum at the team for 2022, especially with Albon joining.
We knew it would be bad for Haas, with a barely developed car, and two rookies, but even this was worse than expected. It wasn’t the driver’s fault really, apart from the crashes, the car just was so far behind the rest. Mick has been unsurprisingly quick, and hardworking, and that has yielded the odd Q2 result. He does have the potential to be a great F1 driver, he just needs to iron out the crashes. Mazepin has improved a lot over the year, although that says more about the start of the year than the end. The good thing is he is trying hard too, and has bettered his attitude it seems, so it may not be a bad 2022 for the team.
The way that history works, is that when we look back on 2021, whilst there will always be the caveat of the Abu Dhabi finish, people will mostly remember the good times, and the intense battle that went right down the last lap of the last race. A finale to rival Brazil 2008! So, just appreciate this year for the good times, instead of just focusing on the bad, which is easy to do with the world as it is right now. As for 2022, it’s a new era for the sport, and any one of a number of teams could come out the blocks best, will Verstappen or another young star confirm that the new generation are taking over the sport for good?
-M
Meaning of Motorsport 