Red Bull 2022 Review: an almost insolent domination
Red Bull has greatly dominated this 2022 Formula 1 season, a supremacy reminiscent of its double world champion Max Verstappen. The Austrian team could rely on one of its most high-performing cars in its history and an impeccable strategy, embodied by its chief strategist Hannah Schmitz.
Performance of the race car
Red Bull has shown a shameless domination during this 2022 season, symbolized by the supremacy of Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver shattered several records this year, notably the record for wins in a single Formula 1 season, with his 14 victories starting from the Mexican Grand Prix. The previous record belonged to Michael Schumacher, with his 13 wins in 2004, and the same number achieved by Sebastian Vettel in 2013.
Max Verstappen has won more Formula 1 races in just this season than Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, or Emerson Fittipaldi did throughout their long careers, which shows how he was in a different league. But it was only in the second half of the season that the extent of his superiority in terms of performance matched the statistics of race victories he accumulated. In the first half of the season, it was often Charles Leclerc who set the pace.
At stake: the superiority of Red Bull over Ferrari. The upward trend of the Scuderia and the poor performance of the Austrian team’s car were reversed along the way, giving a considerable advantage to the Milton Keynes team. The RB18 is undeniably one of the most high-performing cars in Red Bull Racing’s short history, allowing them to secure both the driver’s and constructor’s titles for the first time since 2013. The new regulations of 2022 particularly benefited Christian Horner’s team. It remains to be seen if they will be able to maintain this dominance next season.
Reliability
This season, Red Bull had to abandon five times. The year started off very poorly in this regard, as the first two retirements occurred at the first Grand Prix in Bahrain. Due to a suspected issue with the fuel pump of the RB18, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez lost power and had to stop the race.
The third retirement will occur no later than the third Grand Prix, in Australia, due to a problem with the reigning world champion’s car. We recall that the back of his car suddenly caught fire, apparently due to a fuel supply issue, once again according to Christian Horner. Sergio Perez will be the victim of the other two retirements this season, first in Canada due to a transmission problem, and then in Austria after a collision with George Russell’s Mercedes.
If we do the math, we can deduce that there were thus four DNFs caused by technical issues, which mainly occurred at the beginning of the season. Red Bull did not encounter any mechanical problems in the second half of the season and therefore significantly improved its reliability as the races went on.
Optimization of the strategy
It is almost a flawless performance for Red Bull here, while the other two leading teams, Ferrari and Red Bull, have suffered from numerous strategy errors during the race, particularly concerning tire choices. Red Bull owes much of its success to its brilliant team chief strategist, Hannah Schmitz. She, for example, orchestrated Sergio Perez’s victory at the Monaco Grand Prix and consistently made the right decisions to give Red Bull a considerable advantage over Ferrari, who has been criticized for their poor strategies.
Hannah Schmitz also won the Engineer of the Year award at the World Motorsport Symposium Awards for her decisive decision-making while always keeping a cool head. The judges indicated that they were impressed by her strategic abilities and her ability to make split-second decisions under pressure. Hannah Schmitz is also the first female engineer to receive this award.
Teammate duel
Qualifications: Verstappen 17 – 5 Perez
Race: Verstappen 17 – 5 Perez
Sergio Perez is rather pale in comparison to Max Verstappen in terms of their performances this season. The Dutchman has clinched his second world championship title with a colossal lead of 149 points over his teammate, who narrowly missed out on second place in the standings by just three points, thanks to Charles Leclerc.
Max Verstappen wins the battle on all fronts: 15 victories achieved compared to only two for the Mexican, with an average result of 3.5 (in terms of final position) against 5.41. His average ranking on the starting grid is also higher than his teammate’s: 3.41 compared to 4.82 for Perez. The number one at Red Bull has secured 7 pole positions, compared to just one for the former Racing Point driver.
The Dutchman finished in a better position than the Mexican on 17 occasions out of 22 races. The number of podiums won also gives him the advantage, with 17 podiums compared to 11. Max Verstappen finally takes the lead in terms of completed laps, with 1271 compared to 1183. This is what you call a resounding victory…
