2022 Formula 1.5 Season

The 2022 Formula 1.5 season was the 73rd season of the Formula 1.5 World Championship. The season started at the 20th of March with the Bahrain Grand Prix and is expected to end on 20th November with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The 2022 championship saw the introduction of significant changes to the sport's technical regulations. These changes had been intended to be introduced in 2021, but were delayed until 2022 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lando Norris won the 2022 Pole Position Award for the first time at the Japanese GP.

Lando Norris won his second title, successfully defending his crown from the previous year, beating his rival Esteban Ocon. Lando won the race in the Sprint race at Brazil on a saturday. McLaren failed to win the constructors title though, with Alpine taking their maiden constructors title. This is the third year in a row that the Drivers championship winner did not win the constructors title.

## Entries

The entries to the 2022 Championship were expected to be announced after the fith round of the championship at Miami, however due to Mercedes' pace the confirmation was pushed back to round 6. The roster ended up not including Mercedes due to their pace at the Spanish Grand Prix after significant upgrades. This meant the final roster consisted of McLaren, Aston Martin, Alpine, AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo, Haas, and Williams. Ferrari left F1.5 after a massive pace increase to join F1.0.

### Team Changes

* AlphaTauri changed to Red Bull Power Trains as an engine supplier following Honda leaving the sports
* Ferrari left Formula 1.5 to join F1.0
* Teams excluded from Formula 1.5 this season: Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari.

### Driver Changes

* Both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. left F1.5 with Ferrari to compete in F1.0
* George Russell left Williams to join Mercedes in F1.0
* Alexander Albon returned to F1.5 after 1 and a half years to replace Russell at Williams.
* Nico Hulkenberg raced for Aston Martin at the first 2 races of the season, as Sebastian Vettel contracted COVID-19.
* Nikita Mazepin was dropped by Haas during the off-season, in response to the conflict in Ukraine.
* Kevin Magnussen replaced Mazepin at Haas.
* Kimi Raikkönen left Alfa Romeo for retirement
* Antonio Giovinazzi was dropped by the Alfa Romeo team.
* Valtteri Bottas returned to F1.5 after an absence from 2017, returning to Alfa Romeo.
* Zhou Guanyu joined F1.5 as a rookie with Alfa Romeo
* Nyck De Vries replaced Alex Albon at Williams for the Italian GP after Albon was unwell to drive.

## Calendar

The 2022 calendar originally consisted of twenty-three events, subject to the replacement of the cancelled Russian Grand Prix, and permissive COVID-19 regulations set by local governments. However, on the 18th of May 2022 the FIA announced that the Russian Grand Prix would not be replaced and therefore the calendar would only consist of 22 races.

### Calendar Expansion and Changes

* The Australian, Canadian, Japanese and Singapore Grands Prix returned to the calendar after a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
* The Miami Grand Prix is due to make its debut, with the race expected to take place at Miami International Autodrome in Miami Gardens, Florida.
* The Portuguese, Styrian and Turkish Grands Prix were not included in the list of 2022 races. These Grands Prix were specifically added to the 2021 calendar in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure that as many races as possible could be held.
* The Qatar Grand Prix, which made its debut in the 2021 championship at the Losail International Circuit, is not present on the 2022 calendar. The Grand Prix is planned to return in 2023 at a new purpose-built circuit, after a one-year hiatus during which the country would focus on hosting the FIFA World Cup.
* The Chinese Grand Prix was under contract to feature on the 2022 calendar, but was not included due to Chinese travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Grand Prix is due to return in the 2023 championship.
* The Russian Grand Prix at Sochi Autodrom, Sochi, which was scheduled to take place on 25 September as the 17th round of the championship, was initially suspended from the calendar in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, before being ultimately cancelled. The Grand Prix was due to be replaced, however the decision was made to not replace the event, leaving only 22 races on the calendar.

## Regulation Changes

### Race Direction

Michael Masi, who had served as race director since the death of Charlie Whiting in 2019, was removed from the role of race director after an inquiry into the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. As part of a restructuring of race control, Masi was replaced by former DTM race director Niels Wittich and World Endurance Championship race director Eduardo Freitas. The pair will assume the role on an alternating basis. Herbie Blash, Whiting's former deputy, was appointed as permanent senior advisor to the race director.

The FIA will also introduce a new virtual race control system, much like the video assistant referee in football, as well as a ban on team communications that lobby race officials. Radio between teams and FIA officials will also no longer be broadcast on television to protect race officials. Unlapping procedures are to be reassessed.

### Technical Regulations

The 2022 World Championship is due to see an overhaul of the technical regulations. These changes had been planned for introduction in 2021, with teams developing their cars throughout 2020. However, the introduction of the regulations was delayed until the 2022 championship in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the delay was announced, teams were banned from carrying out any development of their 2022 cars during the 2020 calendar year. Prior to the season the FIA said it anticipated that the car performance deficit between the fastest and slowest teams on the grid would be cut by half when compared to 2021.

Drivers were consulted on developing the new technical regulations, which were deliberately written to be restrictive so as to prevent teams from developing radical designs that limited the ability of drivers to overtake. The FIA created a specialist Working Group, or committee of engineers, tasked with identifying and closing loopholes in the regulations before their publication. The elimination of loopholes will, in theory, stop one team from having a dominant car, and in turn allow for closer competition throughout the field while improving the aesthetics of the cars. This philosophy was a major aim of the new regulations.

#### Aerodynamics and Bodywork

The technical regulations will reintroduce the use of ground effects for the first time since venturi tunnels under cars were banned in 1983. This will coincide with a simplification of the bodywork, making the underside of the car the primary source of aerodynamic grip. This aims to reduce the turbulent air in the wake of the cars to allow drivers to follow each other more closely whilst still maintaining a similar level of downforce compared to previous years. Further changes to the aerodynamics are aimed at limiting the teams' ability to control airflow around the front wheels and further reduce the cars' aerodynamic wake. This includes the elimination of bargeboards, the complex aerodynamic devices that manipulate airflow around the body of the car. The front wing and endplates will be simplified, reducing the number and complexity of aerodynamic elements. The front wing must also directly connect to the nosecone, unlike pre-2022 designs where the wing could be connected to the nose via supports to create a space under the monocoque, thereby encouraging airflow under the car by way of the wing's larger surface area and the nose's increased height. The rear wings will be wider and mounted higher than in previous years, with additional restrictions in place to limit the constructors' ability to use a car's exhaust gases to generate downforce. Figures released by the Working Group revealed that where a 2019-specification car following another car had just 55% of its normal levels of downforce available, a 2022-specification car following another car would have up to 86% of its normal levels of downforce.

Teams will be further restricted in the number of aerodynamic upgrades they can introduce to the car, both over the course of a race weekend and over the course of the championship. These rules were introduced to further cut the costs of competing. Following the decision to delay the 2021 regulations to 2022, aerodynamic development of the cars was banned from 28 March 2020 to the end of 2020.

In 2021 the championship introduced a sliding scale system to regulate aerodynamic testing. Under this system, the least successful teams in the previous year's World Constructors' Championship standings would be given additional time for aerodynamic testing. Conversely, the most successful teams would be given less time to complete testing. The system was trialled in 2021 with the results used to create a more formal, structured and steeper model for the 2022 championship.

#### Power Units

Discussions over the 2022 engine regulations began in 2017 and were finalised in May 2018. The proposed regulations involved removing the motor generator unit–heat (MGU-H) to simplify the technology used in the engine whilst raising the maximum rev limit by 3,000 rpm. Further proposals dubbed "plug-and-play" would see engine suppliers bound by the regulations to make individual engine components universally compatible, allowing teams to source their components from multiple suppliers. Manufacturers would also be subject to a similar regulation concerning commercially available materials as chassis constructors would be subject to from 2021. The proposals were designed to simplify the engine technology whilst making the sport more attractive to new entrants. However, as no new power unit suppliers committed themselves to entering the sport in 2022, the existing suppliers proposed to retain the existing power unit formula in a bid to reduce overall development costs.

The quota system of power unit components would continue in 2022, with teams given a limited number of individual components that can be used before incurring a penalty. The exhaust system would be added to the list of components, with teams allowed to use a maximum of six throughout the championship.

#### Standardised components

Standardised components were introduced in 2022, with the technical regulations requiring standard components to be in place until 2024. These standardised components include the gearbox and fuel system. Some aerodynamic components—such as the tray that sits at the front of the car floor—will also be standardised so as to restrict teams' ability to develop the area and gain a competitive advantage. Individual parts will now be classified as a way of clarifying the rules surrounding them:

* "Listed parts" refers to the parts of the car that teams are required to design by themselves.
* "Standard parts" is the name given to the parts of the car that all teams must use, including wheel rims and equipment used in pit stops.
* "Transferable parts" are parts that a team can develop and sell on to another team, such as the gearbox and the clutch.
* "Prescribed parts" are parts that teams are required to develop according to a prescriptive set of regulations. Prescribed parts include wheel arches and wheel aerodynamics.
* "Open-source parts" may be developed collectively by teams and sold on to customers. Steering wheels and the DRS mechanism are listed as open-source parts.

The system of categorising parts was introduced to allow for design freedom as the overhaul to the aerodynamic regulations was highly prescriptive.

#### Tyres

Wheel diameter will increase from 13 inches (33 cm) to 18 inches (46 cm). The 18-inch wheels were introduced into the Formula 2 Championship in 2020, to test changes in tyre behaviour. It was originally proposed that the use of tyre warmers—electric blankets designed to keep the tyres at the optimal operating temperature when not in use—would be banned, although this decision was later reversed after opposition from the tyre supplier Pirelli. Tyre warmers will instead become a standardised piece of equipment, with all teams required to use the same product with a view to eventually phase them out altogether by 2024. While Pirelli remain the official tyre partner and provider, BBS would partner and supply the rims to all teams.

### Sporting Regulations

#### Sprint Races

Having been first trialled under the name "sprint qualifying" in 2021, the format returned also for this championship with the name changed to "sprint". The weekend format will be unchanged from 2021 and will be run at the Emilia Romagna, Austrian and São Paulo Grands Prix with points now awarded to the top eight finishers rather than the top three finishers as was the case in 2021. Unlike the previous season, the driver who sets the fastest time in qualifying will be credited as the official polesitter, with the winner of sprint continuing to have the right to start the Grand Prix from the first place grid spot.

#### Point System for shortened Races

Following the controversy surrounding the awarding of points at the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, the criteria needed for points to be awarded for uncompleted events was altered. The requirement, pending approval by the World Motor Sport Council, was changed so that:

* No points will be awarded unless a minimum of two laps had been completed under green flag conditions.
* If more than two laps are completed, but less than 25% of the scheduled race distance, points will be awarded on a 6–4–3–2–1 basis to the top 5.
* If 25%–50% of the scheduled race distance is completed, points will be awarded on a 13–10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1 basis to the top 9.
* If 50%–75% of the scheduled race distance is completed, points will be awarded on a 19–14–12–10–8–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the top 10.
* If more than 75% of the scheduled race distance is completed, full points will be awarded.

The previous criteria had been in place for over 40 years prior to the change, last being altered some time between the 1977 and 1980 seasons.

Additionally, the fastest lap point will now only be awarded if more than 50% of the scheduled race distance is completed.

#### Safety Car Procedure

In light of the controversy surrounding the safety car at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the procedures for the safety car restart have been changed. Rather than waiting until the lap after the last car has unlapped itself from the leader, the safety car will now be withdrawn one lap after the instruction that lapped cars may unlap themselves has been given. Additionally, the wording of the regulations was altered and now state that "all" cars rather than "any" cars will be allowed to unlap themselves, if deemed safe by the race director.

#### Starting Tyre Choice

The rule that had been in place since 2014, requiring drivers that advance to the third segment of qualifying to start the race on the tyres they used to set their fastest time in the second segment of qualifying, has been scrapped. All drivers will now have free choice of starting tyre for the Grand Prix on Sunday at all events.

## Results and Standings

### Leader Progression

1. ↑  Ocon qualified on pole but took a grid penalty for exceeding his power unit allowence, promoting Alonso to pole after qualifying P2
2. ↑  Magnussen took pole on Friday however due to the sprint race on Saturday, Magnussen finished behind Norris. Norris took pole for the Brazilian GP but officially Magnussen took pole position after traditional qualifying on friday.
3. ↑ Ahead of Norris on countback