Controversy, interiors and short circuits: Formula 1 closes a year for yawning on the track but with lots of spice outside

While global sporting attention was focused on the Al Bait de Jor stadium, where Qatar and Ecuador opened the World Cupcheckered flag waved last Sunday 317 kilometers from Doha: the one that put an end to the Yas Marina circuit Abu Dhabi Grand Prix already a season of Formula 1 That yawns accumulated on the tracks before the overwhelming dominance of the two-time champion Max Verstappen and of Red Bull.

Obviously the lack of sporting surpriseswhich contrasted with last year’s vibrant definition at this same circuit, has been replaced with very spicy before and after the races.

Discussions between the pilots and their teams, in particular charles leclerc with Ferrari. Internal and controversial between teammates, who also skimmed the slopes and ignored team orders. The suffering of Lewis Hamilton with an unpresentable Mercedes in the first part of the season. Drivers kicked out of their seats and changes for 2023. Goodbye of Sebastian Vettel. The tragedy that touched guanyu zhou.

The Series “Survival Guide” Netflix will have more to tell in 2023 on the “radio corridor” in the paddock than on the action on the asphalt at 300 kilometers per hour.

“No, Mickey! No, Mickey!”

The last race of 2021 had left the doors open to sanctions or changes to the test result for the imprudent use of the safety car in the final stretch of the competition.

After two months of analysis there have been no changes to the results, but the International Automobile Federation has dismissed the position of race director of Formula 1 michele masiresponsible for the decision to withdraw the safety car with one lap to go in Abu Dhabi. “No, Mickey! No, Mickey!”had been the live statement of Toto Wolff, sporting director of the German team.

That situation had sown strong doubts about the seven-time world champion’s permanence in the category. Precisely on February 14, four days before the presentation of the W13, the new Mercedes model, the team confirmed the continuity of Hamilton, accompanied this year by his compatriot George Russell.

Mazepin paid for Putin

Anyone who couldn’t give the gift this year was Nikita Mazepin. On March 5, 15 days before the first race and 9 days after the start of military operations of the Russian army on Ukrainian territory, the pilot from Moscow he was fired by Haas.

The team also terminated its sponsorship relationship with the fertilizer manufacturer uralkali, owned by Dmitry Mazepin, Nikita’s father. Hours later, the European Union included both in the list of sanctioned Russians.

“As part of the Formula 1 community, the team is surprised and saddened by the invasion of Ukraine and we want a peaceful way to resolve the conflict,” Haas priests said.

“The FIA ​​allowed me to race with a neutral flag, I had agreed to do it, but they didn’t give me the time. I was left without the dream I’d fought for for 18 years”, complained the pilot, who was replaced by the Dane Kevin Magnussen.

Leclerc vs. Ferrari

It wasn’t a rewarding year for Leclerc either, despite a promising start, with two victories in the first three races: he prevailed in Bahrain and Australia. The collapse of the Monegasque was partly due to a conspicuous chain of strategy errorsreliability problems in his Ferrari and failures in the pit stops. All this provoked multiple anger on the part of the pilot and arguments with team managers.

The first short circuit occurred in Monaco, when Xavier Marcos Padros, his race engineer, made him come into the pits to change tires even though he was leading the race, which caused him to unexpectedly scream. That day he finished fourth, behind Sergio Pérez, Charles Sainz and Verstappen.

A month later, at Silverstone, he was not called up when he was leader and finished the race off the podium. As revealed a few days ago by the French newspaper The Teamsince then Leclerc hasn’t talked anymore Matthias Binottoteam principal, whose future at Ferrari is uncertain.

Another bad decision on tire use relegated him to sixth place in Hungary. And as if that weren’t enough, in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix last week, Leclerc started on the intermediate tires at the first attempt of Q3 when all his opponents had done so on the softs because it hadn’t rained yet. And he had to settle for a bland 10th place.

The good news was left only for the end. In Abu Dhabi Ferrari nailed the strategy and Leclerc saved the tires as best he could to finish second, the same place his team had among the constructors.

Hamilton’s disappointment

Wow, Hamilton gave birth to it on a Mercedes which, after the third place of the Briton at the start in Bahrain, has become unmanageable even for the seven-time world champion. “This car is so ugly”came the Englishman, who was suffering from horrors of back pain from the horrific bouncing of his car, said.

A worrying picture was seen in Hamilton after he crossed the line in fourth place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “My back is killing me”, he has declared. Her body language when she finished the race made it clear that she wasn’t overdoing it.

The Briton struggled to get out of the car, a task that took much longer than usual and for which he needed help. He sat on the halo and stood there for a few seconds, rubbing his lower back. And finally he walked away slowly, visibly in pain.

“I can’t express the pain you feel, especially on the straight,” he commented. It was the worst race of my life, the most painful. In the end I was just praying it would end. But we were in such a good position that I made the effort.”

Toto Wolff apologized to him over the radio: “Lewis, we all know this is a crap car to drive right now, but we’re going to fix it.”

Mercedes worked piecemeal to maintain its prestige and please Hamilton, who showed his ability from that test to take eight podium finishes before arriving in Abu Dhabi, where he dropped out.

Red Bull fine

When it comes to results, Red Bull’s year has been much better than Ferrari’s. However, the team at the energy drink company hasn’t been without controversy. The day after Verstappen secured his two-time championship in Japan, the FIA ​​reported that the team had exceeded the budget limit set by the financial regulation.

The champion team denied the $2.2 million overage, but reached an accepted infringement settlement. The governing body has imposed a $7 million fine and a sports penalty consisting of a 10 percent reduction in the limits assigned to wind tunnel testing and computational fluid dynamics.

Checo Perez versus Verstappen

Red Bull also had internal problems, which ended up acquiring public status. During the last round of the Sao Paulo Grand PrixVerstappen, who was running sixth and without needs, received a radio request from Christian Hornerteam manager, to pass his teammate Sergio Pérez, who was in seventh place and needed points in the fight for second place with Leclerc. The Dutch ignored the order and ended up hurting Czechfinally third in the championship.

“I have my reasons for the things that have happened. It is important that we sit down to discuss it”, Verstappen justified himself after the checkered flag. “I am very surprised. I don’t know what happened, I don’t understand his reasons. Especially for everything I’ve done for him. I think if he has two championships it’s thanks to me”, replied the man from Guadalajara.

The two-time champion revealed that his parents, his sister and his girlfriend received threats through social networks due to the incident. In any case, he assured that the differences with his partner had been resolved. “I’ve Never Been a Bad Partner”he concluded.

Alonso vs. Or with

Another team in which harmony among its riders did not prevail this year was Alpine: Fernando Alonso Y Esteban Ocon Sparks have been pulled out on the track more than once. The last, during the first lap of the race sprint in Brazil, where the cars of both collided at turn 4 of Interlagos. The Spaniard was penalized with a five-second penalty.

“(It happened) what usually happens when we date. Last year I avoided it several times. This year has almost put me against the wall in Jeddah, Hungary and here. Sooner or later these things happen,” complained Alonso, who won’t have to continue living with Ocon, as the two-time champion will race for Aston Martin next year.

Pilots expelled and pass market

Ocon’s new partner will be his compatriot Pierre Gasleywho will give him his place AlfaTauri in Dutch nyck devries. Gasly’s arrival at Alpine was preceded by a comical step that was difficult to understand and justify in the premier class of world motorsport: at the beginning of August, the French team announced that Alonso’s replacement would be his test driver, Oscar Piastribut shortly after the 21-year-old Australian publicly denied his employer.

“I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not drive for Alpine next year,” Piastri warned. The oceanic, Formula 3 champion in 2020 and Formula 2 in 2021, was not only a team test driver but had trained in his academy.

Alpine didn’t stand by and watch. “He has contractual obligations to us and we to him,” she warned. otmar szafnauer, the group leader. He added: “We are preparing him for what we hope will be a successful F1 career. Not all teams do this with an academy driver. We wouldn’t have done it if the goal had been to prepare him for one of our competitors.”

But there was little Szafnauer could do to prevent the departure of his driver, with whom he signed a two-year contract