The entire grid for the 2022 Formula One season has now been unveiled, with Alfa Romeo waiting until after the first official testing session to reveal its car.
It was a smart move from the cash-strapped team. Go with a camouflaged livery as the official testing starts in Barcelona. Give the reporters something else to write about, as testing is notoriously dull to watch. The teams aren't pushing the cars to the brink, using the first of two scheduled testing sessions to iron out the kinks. We expect the teams to push slightly harder at the second testing session in Bahrain, a week before the first race on March 20.
The first American race is only in May, but the inaugural Miami Grand Prix will, we think, be epic.
For an idea of how the 2022 cars perform within the new regulations, look at the onboard footage McLaren recently posted. As you can see, Lando Norris is merely toying with it.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas F13
We'll look at the cars in the order the teams finished in the constructor's championship last year.
First up is Mercedes. The German team is facing significant challenges this year. Even though the new regulations didn't call for an engine redesign, Mercedes says its car is 98% unique. Essentially, only the steering wheel is being carried over.
Sir Lewis Hamilton will once again be behind the wheel, and he'll be joined by George Russell, who worked his way up to the top tier from Williams.
Oracle Red Bull RB18
Red Bull returns with the same team as 2021: The world champion Max Verstappen and his trusty sidekick, Sergio Perez.
The RB18 faces a challenging task. Verstappen will rely on it to cling to his title, and he'll be facing a highly motivated Lewis Hamilton seeking his eight record-setting world championship.
Red Bull's engine department has moved in-house as Honda departed the sport last year. Oracle is the new main sponsor, reflecting just how popular the sport has become in the USA.
Ferrari F1-75
We're expecting big things from Ferrari this season. It has two young-and-upcoming drivers hungry to prove they're worthy of a podium. Carlos Sainz finished third in the last race of the 2021 season, though the controversy overshadowed it. Charles LeClerc is also no stranger to the podium.
We saw Ferrari's engine changes pay off in the latter half of the 2021 season. Scuderia Ferrari slowly caught up and eventually overtook McLaren to finish third in the constructor's championship.
As you'd expect from the Italians, the Ferrari F1-75 looks sublime in the new Rosso/Nero livery. And we know the engine is good, but how good are the aerodynamics?
McLaren MCL36
It was hard not feeling bad for McLaren during the 2021 season. The British team won its first race since 2012 in an epic one-two finish at Monza.
But then Ferrari made the engine upgrades mentioned above, and McLaren simply didn't have an answer. It could do nothing but watch Ferrari slowly work its way up to third place. For the record, McLaren finished third in 2020, and it will be battling hard to claim that position back.
Let's hope McLaren's new papaya-colored MCL36 is as good as its current road car offerings because the 765LT is sublime in every way.
BWT Alpine A522
For the 2022 season, Alpine played around with two historic colors. First, the Alpine Blue the French brand is famous for, and the pink represents the main sponsor, BWT. As a result, the BWT Alpine A522 looks like a bubblegum-flavored F1 car running predominantly blue with pink highlights. However, Alpine revealed a second, inverted livery in predominantly pink to celebrate the new sponsorship. This will be run at the first race of the season.
It should not be discarded, however. Multiple world champion, Fernando Alonso, is returning for his 20th season in Formula One. After the Iceman's retirement, the Spaniard is now the grandpa of F1. He's still a formidable driver, however.
Alonso's teammate, Esteban Ocon, enters this season as an official race winner.
AlphaTauri AT03
Red Bull's little brother is making things a little bit awkward for the top-tier team.
AlphaTauri's livery on the new AT03 F1 car not only looks better, but it possibly has a better driver. Pierre Gasly was infamously booted from Red Bull after a dismal 2020 season. He seems much more comfortable in the AlphaTauri and is currently performing like a potential world champion. He outperformed three former world champions last year.
It will come as no surprise if he's promoted back to Red Bull after Perez's contract ends and the end of 2022. He's joined by Yuki Tsunoda, who put 32 points on the board last season.
Aston Martin AMR22
Aston Martin rolled out a special livery for the debut of the AMR22. This year it will be 100 years since Aston entered its first race, so it should come as no surprise that the British company went with the color we most associate with Britain and racing.
The Aston team will still use Mercedes-built powertrains, though it remains unclear whether the AMR22 will benefit from all the upgrades Mercedes made to its car.
Both Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll are returning as the drivers.
Williams FW44
Williams' founder, Frank Williams, tragically died last year. The family is no longer involved in F1 racing, but there's no doubt the team will want to have a bigger impact on the sport than last season. Nicholas Latifi is returning as a Williams driver, and he is joined by Alex Albon who sat on the sidelines during the 2021 season. He replaces George Russell.
Once upon a time, this team was a constructor's champion, and these days it struggles to score 30 points in a season.
The FW44 has several aerodynamic changes to that of its predecessor, including over-wheel winglets and wheel covers, 18-inch low-profile Pirelli tires, and rolled tip rear wings.
Williams is keeping its famous blue hue but has added some fluorescent red to spice things up a bit.
Alfa Romeo C42
Alfa Romeo has unveiled a stunning new red and white livery for its 2022 F1 car. The Alfa Romeo C42 was the final F1 to be shown after arriving in Barcelona for testing wearing a camouflaged wrap.
The Italian/Swiss team described the livery as being: "a subtle nod to the past, recalling historical designs of years past and the heritage of Alfa Romeo and Sauber Motorsport"
The big news here is that Alfa confirmed it would be using the updated Ferrari power unit. Considering Ferrari's stunning performance in the latter half of the season, that's reason to celebrate for all the Alfa fans out there.
This year Alfa has both a seasoned veteran and a rookie in its cars. Valtteri Bottas joined the team after his Mercedes departure, while Zhou Guanyu is Formula 1's first Chinese driver.
Oh, and the car looks stunning.
Haas VF-22
As US-based businessman Gene Haas owns it, Haas is technically the only American F1 team on the grid. There's a good chance a second US team might join in 2026.
Haas was the only team to score a grand total of zero points during the 2021 season, though it was pretty honest about the fact that its car would not be a proper challenger. Being a team with limited resources, Haas spent most of its 2021 budget on the 2022 car, the VF-22. We're genuinely interested to see how F1's beloved underdog does this season.
Mick Schumacher is returning, as is Nikita Mazepin. Unfortunately, Mazepin now has the distinction of finishing the season in 21st place out of 20 drivers. This happened because Robert Kubica filled in for Kimi Raikkonen for one race and did quite well.
Let's hope 2022 is kinder to both Haas and Mazepin.