In the aftermath of the 2021 season finale at Abu Dhabi, there were only two things on everyone's mind... what actually happened and where do we go from here?
Despite the arguments and controversy swamping social media, they weren't the only news stories at the forefront of the press attention over the winter. So let’s recap the headlines…
Otmar Szafnauer leaves Aston Martin
During the 2021 season, there were numerous rumours floating around concerning Otmar and his departure from Aston Martin, whom he has been with since 2009. He took to social media to deny these rumours, dismissing the claims as “pure media speculation and not based on fact”. However, just after the dramatics of Abu Dhabi, he and the team collaboratively announced his departure, with Martin Whitmarsh, former McLaren team principal, taking over his role.
Just over a month later, it was announced that he was joining Alpine as team principal, becoming the team’s first since their rebrand from Renault to Alpine, as part of major changes in the team.
All change at Alfa Romeo
Over at Alfa Romeo, their driver lineup is all changed for 2022.
Having announced his departure from Mercedes, Valterri Bottas was revealed to be their first driver. There was then a long wait to hear who the second driver was going to be, and as rumours grew that Antonio Giovannazi was going to be out of a seat at the end of the season, the team announced Guanyu Zhou as their second driver, meaning he would make history as the first Chinese driver in Formula 1.
Russell moves up
In another big change, George Russel has finally been given a chance to be at the top, with his new seat at Mercedes alongside seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton. There had been many rumours when and where the announcement that he would move from his team at Williams to Mercedes, would take place, with F1 themselves adding in the announcement to the official events of the weekend at Silverstone. Whilst Mercedes were quick to deny the rumours and ask F1 to remove it, the announcement eventually came, the day after Bottas was announced at Alfa Romeo.
Lando and Max get contract extensions
At the Monaco GP, last year McLaren and Lando Norris announced an extension to his contract, ensuring his seat at the team until at least the end of 2022. This means he and teammate Daniel Ricciardo would both have contracts that end at the same time. However, during the off-season the team announced yet another extension to his contract, keeping him with the team until 2025.
Max Verstappen was already in contract to remain with Red Bull until the end of 2023, but at the start of March, it was announced he will continue with the team until 2028, in addition to his current contract. This means he has the longest ever Red Bull contract and one of the longest on the grid.
Masi loses his job
In the aftermath of the 2021 finale, there were calls from fans and media to remove Michael Masi as race director, after the events in the final laps, and the confusion over the rules. Teams have had differing opinions on this, as Mercedes has welcomed the announcement, whilst Red Bull has bashed the news, claiming it is unfair. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner even went as far as to claim that Mercedes had “bullied Masi out of his job”.
Russian GP cancelled with Mazepin out
As the world watched the terrifying situation in Ukraine develop as Russia invaded, sporting associations were part of the list of people and countries applying sanctions to Russia. This included the FIA as they announced that Russian drivers would not be able to race under the Russian flag, but could race if they promised not to show support of the invasion in Ukraine and race under a neutral flag. Silverstone announced Russian drivers wouldn’t be allowed to race at the track, and F1 announced that the contract with the Russian GP’s promoter had been terminated, meaning there will no longer be a GP in Russia in any season.
During all this, rumours swirled around the Haas F1 team, their driver Nikita Mazepin and the sponsor, Uralkali, he brought to the team through his father. During Barcelona testing, the team removed this sponsor from their livery and ran a full white livery for the final day. Team principal Guenther Steiner made a statement saying the team was unsure of what was going to happen and that they would need to “look into the legal parts” after testing.
The team then announced that Nikita Mazepin would be leaving the team, due to Russia’s actions.
A few days later they revealed Kevin Magnussen would be returning to the team after leaving in 2020, to drive for them in 2022.
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