Formula One Season Review Part 2: A mixed bag for the chasing pack
Ryan Brolly
In the second part of this three part series, the teams of Mercedes, Alpine, McLaren and Alfa Romeo-Sauber are under the microscope.
Mercedes- The German outfit that were so dominant throughout the previous generation of cars got it badly wrong in 2022. Severe issues with porpoising (which is when the car is not stable on a straight) destroyed their pace and caused injury to their drivers. This culminated in bringing Merc to the midfield for the first time in years and also cost Lewis Hamilton his record of a pole position and race win in every year since 2007.
The future looks bright though, George Russell was able to drag the car into places it should not have been, finishing in the top five of the first nine races and gaining a shock pole position in Hungary as well as a win in Brazil. It appears a question of when not if will be the next world champion.
Alpine- A solid season all round from the French outfit was capped off by beating McLaren to 4th in the constructors championship, although they failed to get on the podium or win a race like in the 2021 season. The most interesting part of Alpine’s season came in the summer break where driver Fernando Alonso was announced to replace Sebastien Vettlel at Aston Martin. This was after the supposed signing of multi junior formula champion Oscar Piastri, who it transpired was under contract with Alpine without his consent.
A storm of drama ensued with Piastri tweeting he did not sign with Alpine to race in 2023, instead choosing McLaren. Alpine signed Pierre Gasly after the controversy had died down, a race winner in his own right who should bring the consistency he showed for Alpha Tauri in 2021. This should enable Alpine to retain 4th spot and perhaps even crack the top three.
McLaren- Their season can be viewed from two opposing perspectives in line with their two drivers. The first is a positive one, that Lando Norris again showed his quality. He was the only driver from outside the top three teams to earn a podium all season in a car nowhere near the pace required to do so. He was essentially battling for 4th in the constructors himself as his teammate Daniel Ricciardo continued to slump in form.
The statistics emphasise as much as Norris out qualified him 20-2 over the whole season showing that McLaren have such a great talent in their ranks. That leads us to the second perspective, and Daniel Ricciardo, who as has been mentioned, had a poor season and has now been replaced by another hot prospect in Oscar Piastri. A break is likely what the ‘Honey Badger’ needs to reset and he will do this next season back where it all began as reserve driver for Red Bull.
Alfa Romeo-Sauber - This was an unremarkable season for Alfa Romeo. They had a strong start after signing former Mercedes number two Valtteri Bottas and hot prospect Zhou Guanyu who had lots of top 10 finishes between them however, this tailed off mid-season stopping any chance of challenging the upper midfield on a regular basis. There is hope for next season though as this driver line-up has great potential to be a solid midfield team.
Ryan Brolly is a History and International Relations student at Queen’s University Belfast and a Sport Reporter for The Scoop.