Formula 1

About the season

Ground-effect aerodynamics and Venturi-tunnel floors returned to F1, and with them came "porpoising": at high speed the airflow under the floor would stall and reattach in a repeating cycle, making every car bounce violently at 4-6 Hz and taking a real physical toll on the drivers as well as costing lap time. The new street circuit built around Miami's Hard Rock Stadium made its debut in May, giving the United States two Grands Prix in a single season for the first time since 1984. Red Bull was found to have overspent the 2021 budget cap by 1.6%; the team was fined $7m and had its 2023 wind tunnel and CFD development time cut by 10% as punishment. Charles Leclerc led the championship after the first five races, but reliability failures (a turbo issue in Spain, an engine failure in Azerbaijan) and strategic blunders are estimated to have cost Ferrari over 100 points, handing the title to Verstappen and Red Bull instead. Max Verstappen won the 2022 Drivers' Championship with 454 points (Red Bull), 146 points ahead of the runner-up. Red Bull won the Constructors' Championship with 759 points, 205 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 22 completed races this season, there were 74 retirements. 5 different drivers won a race this season. Max Verstappen took the most race wins, 15 in total. Leclerc won the season-opening race, the Bahrain Grand Prix. The closest finish of the season came at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with a gap of just 0.549 seconds. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 7 drivers failing to finish. Leclerc made the biggest gain of the season at the Canadian Grand Prix, from grid position 19 to finishing 5 (up 14 places). The season's biggest upset win came from Verstappen at the Belgian Grand Prix, starting from grid position 14. The most dominant win of the season came at the Japanese Grand Prix, with a margin of 27.1 seconds. Verstappen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of the season.