FIAbility 2022 review: Mercedes’ well-oiled machine

With Formula 1 gone on vacation, it’s now time for evaluations. Today, we focus on the reliability demonstrated by teams this season in order to establish the top 3 teams with the fewest technical issues this year.

1. Mercedes, unbeatable reliability

The performance of the W13 did not live up to expectations, but the car demonstrated solid reliability throughout the season, with only three retirements out of 22 races, only one of which was due to a technical issue: in Abu Dhabi, Lewis Hamilton’s car suffered a hydraulic problem, initially slowing him down before ultimately forcing him to retire to the garage. The other two retirements were a result of collisions during the race (Hamilton-Alonso at Spa and Russell-Zhou at Silverstone, which resulted in a spectacular crash for the Chinese driver).

With this impressive reliability, Mercedes was able to collect valuable points in the championship and even somewhat worry Ferrari, who nevertheless maintained their second place. This achievement is even more impressive considering that the design of the W13, without side pods, poses a challenge in terms of cooling, and that the car showed significant issues with “porpoising” during the first half of the season.

2. Aston Martin, only two mechanical failures

If Aston Martin did not shine much this season and finished in sixth position in the constructors’ championship, tied with Alfa Romeo, the AMR22 performed wonders in terms of mechanical reliability – it’s not a coincidence with its Mercedes engine under the hood. Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll had to retire six times this season, but only two of them were due to a car issue. In Baku, Lance Stroll had to stop the race due to a vibration problem. Then, in Monza, Sebastian Vettel withdrew after a battery issue, causing his team to fear a potential fire on the car.

The other retirements come from racing accidents: Sebastian Vettel in Australia and Miami, Lance Stroll in the United States (remember his spectacular crash that sent Fernando Alonso’s Alpine flying, but he miraculously came out of it unscathed), while the latest retirement was due to a “voluntary retirement” by the Canadian in Monza to preserve his car’s third engine unit (since Lance Stroll was struggling far behind in 10th place, Aston Martin decided to bring him in to avoid any technical issues).

3. McLaren and its three mechanical retirements.

The Woking team has only suffered five retirements this season, and only three were due to intrinsic problems with the car. Here too, we find a Mercedes engine at the back of the car, well well.

In Saudi Arabia (Jeddah), Daniel Ricciardo was the victim of an engine problem in his race car, while in Monza, an oil leak caused a loss of power in his MCL36. Then, in Brazil, it was Lando Norris’ turn to encounter an “electronic issue” in his race car.

The other two retirements came from crashes: Lando Norris with Pierre Gasly at the Miami Grand Prix, and Daniel Ricciardo with Kevin Magnussen in Brazil, which resulted in a double retirement for McLaren, the first in a long time.

Honorable mention for Red Bull, who has climbed the slope.

This season, Red Bull also fell victim to five retirements, the first two of which occurred no earlier than the very first Grand Prix in Bahrain. Both cars lost power and eventually came to a stop, due to a suspected problem with the fuel pump. The third DNF happened at the third race in Australia, after an issue with Max Verstappen’s car. While the problem initially appeared to be engine-related, with visible flames at the back of the RB18, Christian Horner stated that it was more likely to be related to the fuel supply of the car, once again. The other two retirements occurred on Sergio Perez’s car, in Canada due to a transmission issue, and in Austria after a crash with George Russell.

So, there were four retirements due to mechanical issues in total. These failures at the beginning of the season did not bode well for Red Bull, but the Austrian team seems to have found a solution to its reliability issues, as they did not experience any problems of this kind in the second half of the season. They deserve an honorable mention for overcoming a hurdle that could have, perhaps, led to Ferrari’s victory in an alternate universe…

The Williams Mystery

Finally, this ranking of the most reliable teams has an unknown factor. If we take into account the retirements due to reliability issues, what about the cars that had to withdraw frequently due to race accidents? If these crashes hadn’t occurred, would their cars have held up without any technical failures?

This is the question we ask ourselves when we look at Williams’ track record – with its Mercedes engine, too. The British team has fallen victim to no less than ten retirements this year, evenly split between its two drivers. However, there was only one retirement due to technical failure, as Alex Albon encountered a mechanical issue in Monaco, while the nine other DNFs were caused by race accidents.

The Thai driver thus fell victim to crashes in Jeddah (with Lance Stroll), in Silverstone (where he collided with Sebastian Vettel and took Guanyu Zhou into the most spectacular accident of the season), in Singapore (where he crashed into the safety barriers), and in Japan, where a minor collision with a competitor damaged his engine block.

On the side of Nicholas Latifi, his retirements were all due to race collisions: in Jeddah (with Zhou), in Austria (the floor of his car was damaged after an accident with other drivers), in France (he suffered a collision with Magnussen), in Singapore (again with Zhou), and in Abu Dhabi (this time due to Mick Schumacher’s fault).

Indeed, Williams only has one retirement due to a reliability issue. However, isn’t this result distorted by the numerous retirements of both drivers throughout the season? The same question could be raised for other teams such as Alfa Romeo (11 DNFs), Ferrari, and AlphaTauri (9 each). These questions, however, remain unanswered, until next year…