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Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team had a disappointing last weekend of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Season in Abu Dhabi, where their pace woes returned.

The Yas Marina Circuit has produced some incredible season finales over the last few years, but this year saw both titles wrapped up well before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. However, there was a battle for second in the Constructors’ Championship between Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes, but it would have taken a dominant performance from the German team to secure that second position.

Unfortunately for Team Principal Toto Wolff, his team could only have one car finish and that was in fifth. Mercedes struggled for pace throughout and made multiple errors in the last race of 2022.

“Today we really didn’t perform well. We did all the mistakes we could possibly have made tonight: we didn’t have the pace, one driver breaking down and the other one running out of tyres – it’s a good summary of the challenges this season for us.

“We cooked the tyres in the first few laps because we attacked. The car seemed strong at the start, but then the front right just gave out and maybe that’s something we should’ve predicted. We knew that Abu Dhabi was going to be a difficult one for us so at least that prediction was accurate but then unfortunately we made mistakes we could’ve avoided.

It was a disappointing race weekend for Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team, in the final race of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Championship at the Yas Marina Circuit for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

George Russell qualified behind his team-mate on Saturday, with the W13’s pairing up on the third row of the grid behind the two Scuderia Ferrari drivers. Russell had a poor start falling behind Lando Norris, but it only took the newest race winner a few laps to recover. Once he did recover, he passed his team-mate to put himself fifth on the road.

That fifth position is where Russell ended up finishing, with the German team failing to have any pace compared to the two top teams. The Brit was also hampered by a five-second time penalty which he served at his second pit-stop. He was awarded the penalty following an unsafe release from his opening stop, where Norris had to react rapidly to the released Mercedes.

Russell admitted that the race brought the team back to reality, and they are aware of how much work is needed between now and the season opener in Bahrain.

“This could have almost been a memorable race, but we probably got more wrong than right today. We didn’t have the pace this weekend and tried as hard as we could, but this was actually one of the toughest race of the season for us.

Max Verstappen claimed his fifteenth victory in 2022 at the season finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, to round off a dominant year for the now two-time World Champion and the Oracle Red Bull Racing team.

Verstappen led from the get-go after securing pole position for the race on Saturday. The Dutchman started on the yellow medium tyres as did the rest of the top six drivers. Verstappen held of his team-mate Sergio Pérez into Turn One for the lead of the Grand Prix and from then on, he controlled the tempo of the race and came across the finish line to win at the Yas Marina Circuit for the third year in a row.

Verstappen built up a strong lead going into the first pit-stop window, as the World Champion made his one and only stop of the race on lap twenty-one for the white hard tyres which he continued on for the rest of the fifty-eight lap race.

Verstappen ends the season with a record fifteen wins in a season and a record high points total of four-hundred and fifty-four points. Red Bull claimed the Constructors’ Championship as they finished on seven-hundred and fifty-nine points, two-hundred and five points ahead of their rivals this season Scuderia Ferrari as they clinched seventeen victories out of twenty-two races in the season.

The only disappointment for the team was that Pérez was unable to secure second place in the Drivers’ Championship as Charles Leclerc finished the Grand Prix in second place as Checo took the final podium position. The Mexican driver opted for a two-stop strategy whereas Leclerc went for the one-stop, which paid off for the Monegasque driver who finished 1.3 seconds ahead of Pérez for second place in the race and also in the Championship.

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team Principal Mike Krack praised Sebastian Vettel for a great final drive in Formula One, crossing the line in tenth place after working with a difficult one-stop strategy and battling with nearby competitors such as Daniel Ricciardo. 

“On behalf of all at Aston Martin, I want to pay tribute to Sebastian, who drove his last Formula One Grand Prix this evening. 

“One of our sport’s all-time greats – his four World Championships and 53 Grand Prix wins attest to that – he has been a brilliant driver for us this year and last, and his excellent qualifying lap yesterday and his combative race drive to P10 today showed that he has bowed out at the peak of his form. We will miss him.”

Team-mate Lance Stroll finished off the year with a strong result of eighth place– though the double points finish wasn’t quite enough to pull ahead of Alfa Romeo Racing in the constructor’s championship, ultimately finishing in a tie. 

“As for Lance, today he drove a strong race to P8. The five points we scored here in Abu Dhabi lifted our total to 55: not quite enough to wrest sixth place in the Constructors’ World Championship from Alfa Romeo, whose points total we drew level with, because they stayed ahead of us on countback.”

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Lance Stroll ended the year with one of his best results of the season, finishing in eighth place at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Stroll was pleased with the result, gaining many positions from his starting place of fourteenth to take home a solid points finish. 

“We had a competitive race with a good strategy today to round out the year. I am happy with the performance and the result: it was a great team effort.”

Aston Martin came extremely close to overtaking Alfa Romeo Racing in the constructors championship, ending up tied for points after Sunday’s result. Stroll said that the team put in the maximum to try and take sixth place, but they weren’t able to finish it off. 

“It was a shame not to pass Alfa Romeo in the Constructors’ World Championship at the end. We gave it everything we could as the races ticked by and we were so close to jumping them today.”

Stroll said that the team’s efforts have been key in the progress they have made from a performance standpoint, allowing for more points opportunities in the back half of the season. He expects the gains they’ve made to be useful in the team’s preparation for 2023. 

MP Motorsport have confirmed that Mari Boya will enter the 2023 FIA Formula 3 season with the team.

Boya finished tenth in the 2022 edition of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, and will make the step up to Formula 3 for the 2023 season.

The eighteen year old impressed in his first taste of Formula 3 machinery, recording two hundred and twenty five laps for MP across the three day Formula 3 post-season test in Jerez.

Boya commented on his feelings towards the next step of his journey, “It’s a great feeling to know that this winter I will be gearing up for a vital next step in my career, moving up to FIA Formula 3 with MP Motorsport. 

“It’s so good to be able to do that together with MP. Having worked so well with the team in 2020 and in recent months, I had no doubts in signing with them for my FIA F3 debut. I’m really looking forward to racing in front of all the Grand Prix teams, and can’t wait for the first round in Bahrain!”

British driver Zak O’Sullivan will line up for PREMA for the 2023 FIA Formula 3 season, making the switch from Carlin.

O’Sullivan greatly impressed at Carlin during the 2022 season, as the Williams junior finished eleventh in the drivers’ championship, picking up two podiums and pole position along the way.

The seventeen-year-old joins Dino Beganoivc and Paul Aron in the 2023 lineup, as the team look to secure their fourth Formula 3 championship in five years.

O’Sullivan expressed his feelings on his switch to PREMA, “I am really excited to be joining PREMA for the 2023 FIA Formula 3 season. It will be a new environment for me, but PREMA’s history says all we need to know, so hopefully, we can have a good year together.

“The first impressions in testing were good, and the pace was pretty strong. I was still learning the car as there are a few differences, getting to know all the team and the engineers, and learning some Italian as well!”

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN had a rather disappointing Saturday as the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Season draws to a close with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Yas Marina Circuit is renowned for big title wins and battles, but with all of that already decided this year, the entertainment will be with the midfield battles. One in particular will be the Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo battle for sixth place, with the latter being five points ahead. Alfa Romeo have put themselves on the back foot however, with both Aston Martin cars qualifying ahead of them, with Sebastian Vettel determined to end his incredible Formula 1 career with some heroics.

The story of qualifying was not one that will live long in the memories for Alfa Romeo, with Valtteri Bottas being knocked out in the first round of qualifying and only managing an eighteenth place, while his teammate, Zhou Guanyu did manage to get through, he could only secure a lowly fifteenth.

Alfa Romeo Team Principal Frederic Vasseur gave his thoughts after

“We looked a lot better ahead of tonight, so it is disappointing not to have a car in Q3. We struggled to get our tyres to work for a single lap and we just lacked the pace we would have needed to emerge from such a close midfield.

Toto Wolff has stated that his Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team “didn’t get the job done right” in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as the Brackley-based team failed to build on the success of the São Paulo Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell qualifying in fifth and sixth-place respectively.

The W13 struggled to match the straight line speed of Scuderia Ferrari and Oracle Red Bull Racing throughout the qualifying session, the Yas Marina Circuit also re-presented the issue of porpoising for Mercedes as both Russell and Hamilton struggled with the levels of bouncing experienced on the W13.

Wolff revealed that the lack of straight line speed on the W13 was caused by the team opting to run a high downforce and drag setup throughout qualifying. The Team Principal also noted that a brake temperature issue would need to be investigated by the team ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix.

“Today didn’t go our way unfortunately. We didn’t get the job done right and went backwards in terms of our performance, while our competitors made a step forward. We opted for a higher downforce and higher drag setup, and it was just too slow on the straights during the session. We’ve also had issues with the brakes that we need to investigate.“

Despite their lack of pace in qualifying, Wolff remains hopeful the team’s chosen set-up for the weekend will push them closer in the fight with Ferrari and Red Bull, in which Mercedes will be hoping to draw on the strong long run pace shown across the weekend in practice.

It was a disappointing day for Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN as they saw both drivers not make the final part of qualifying despite showing competitive pace throughout the Friday practice sessions.

After getting through to the second part of qualifying, Zhou Guanyu was knocked out of Q2 in a lowly fifteenth place despite showing some good pace on Friday afternoon after he came back into the car in FP2 due to Robert Kubica taking his place in the first session. The Chinese driver struggled to find the pace in the car for his final lap in the session, but still managed to qualify ahead of his teammate for the second time in a row.

“I feel I got as much as I could out of the car tonight, as my qualifying performance was alright: unfortunately, we weren’t close enough in terms of pace to be a little further up the grid. Yesterday, everything was working fairly well, while today has been more difficult.

We struggled a bit during FP3 earlier today, and even though it seemed like we got our pace back in the afternoon, I don’t think we quite had the speed to fight for Q3.

“We definitely hoped for more, but nevertheless as the midfield was pretty close during Q1, we will hopefully be able to move further up to deliver the results we worked so hard for.”

Guenther Steiner remains in good spirits after the Haas F1 Team qualifies twelfth and sixteenth ahead of Sunday’s season finale in Abu Dhabi. Drivers Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen participated in the floodlit qualifying session on Saturday, Schumacher making twelfth and Magnussen making sixteenth. Steiner believes the team has a fighting chance of scoring points on Sunday. 

The final qualifying session of the season was a mixed tale for the two drivers. Magnussen, who will be driving alongside Nico Hülkenberg in the coming season, exited at the end of the opening Q1 stage after encountering an unfortunate hold-up of traffic in the final sector. The Dane achieved a best lap of 1:25.834s whilst sporting a second set of the Pirelli P Zero red soft tyres. The opportunity to improve on the lap was taken from him in the last half minute of the session, due to traffic on the circuit impacting his last flying attempt – extinguishing his chances of graduating to Q2.

Team-mate Schumacher fared better luck and steering in his VF-22 as he made it to eleventh on the timesheets in Q1, out-qualifying his team-mate in his final Grand Prix weekend for Haas. Schumacher’s participation in qualifying ended after Q2 when the driver narrowly missed out on Q3 by two-tenths of a second. The twenty-three-year-old will start his final as a Haas driver in twelfth after McLaren F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo takes a three-place grid penalty for a collision with Magnussen in Brazil the previous week.

Team Principal, Guenther Steiner was overall happy with the team’s performance and briefly touched on Magnussen unfortunately hitting the bout of traffic towards the end of the opening Q1.

“It wasn’t a bad qualifying session today, pretty happy. Kevin got into traffic a little bit and his tires weren’t working, so he couldn’t out of Q1. Mick did a very good job getting into Q2 and got a good result out of it. Starting tomorrow in P12 and P16 puts us in a position where we can score points.” 

BWT Alpine F1 Team driver Esteban Ocon reflected on a good qualifying session for himself and the team as he will start eighth on the grid at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.

Ocon made it into his eleventh Q3 appearance of the season with a time of 1:24.830 on a new set of Red soft tyres. He just missed out on seventh place by 0.061 seconds to Lando Norris.

Ocon currently sits in eighth place in the Drivers’ Championship on eighty-six points as Alpine look to close in on a fourth-place finish in the Constructors’ Championship.

The French team find themselves nineteen points ahead of their rivals McLaren F1 Team as we head into the final Grand Prix of the season. Ocon will be hoping that he can score some vital points for Alpine on Sunday to help the team clinch fourth place in the standings.

“I’m very pleased with today’s Qualifying so a big well done to the team for one of our best sessions of the season. Every run felt like we made a step as we tried to maximise the performance of the car today.”

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Sporting Director, Alan Permane, will be hoping that both Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso can utilise the strong race pace of the A522 to finish well inside of the points as the team looks to clinch fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Ocon qualified for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in eighth place after just missing out on seventh place to Lando Norris and rivals McLaren F1 Team. Alonso on the other hand, was unable to make it into the top ten after struggling for pace in the session and could only put the car in eleventh.

However, the Spaniard will move up one place to tenth for the race after Daniel Ricciardo who qualified ahead of him, has a three place grid penalty following an incident between himself and Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen last weekend in Brazil.

This will be Alonso’s last race for the Alpine team as he will take the seat of the retiring Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team from next year.

Alpine lead McLaren in the championship by nineteen points as Alan Permane, is hoping that the team can end their great season on a high note and secure fourth place in the standings.

Mick Schumacher concluded his final qualifying session with the American Haas F1 Team on Saturday at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. After two seasons with the team, Schumacher will depart after Sunday’s race to make way for fellow German, Nico Hulkenberg, who will drive for Haas alongside Kevin Magnussen in 2023.

Schumacher qualified thirteenth for the last race of the season but has been bumped up to twelfth due to a three-place grid penalty for McLaren F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo after the Australian caused a collision with Magnussen in Brazil the previous weekend. The German driver propelled himself into Q2 after setting his best time on his second set of the Pirelli P Zero red soft tyres, setting a lap time of 1:25.711s, which Schumacher managed to improve on later in the evening with a faster time of 1:25.255s.

However, this time wasn’t enough to graduate to Q3 and Schumacher’s last qualifying session with the Hass team ended after Q2 as only the top ten moved on to Q3.

Despite his career as a Formula 1 driver being uncertain, Schumacher was happy with his performance and exceeded his own expectations after the driver was less than two-tenths away from making it into the top ten.

“Q1 didn’t look too bad and Q2 was ok, actually. We felt like we were in a good position and it was less than two-tenths to getting through to Q3 which was very unexpected to be this close. We’ll happily take it and move forward now to the race.“

After finishing fifth fastest in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team‘s Lewis Hamilton has spoken on his surprise to see his effort unrewarded around the Yas Marina Circuit.

Prior to qualifying, Hamilton was able to avoid any punishment from the FIA after the British driver had overtaken both Lando Norris and Kevin Magnussen in Free Practice Three under red flag conditions.

Despite the Brackley-based team’s success in São Paulo last time out, Mercedes were back to their usual position in the pecking order of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, as they once again played second fiddle to Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Ferrari.

Hamilton’s fastest time in Qualifying Three would prove to be just under seven-tenths of a second behind Max Verstappen’s pole time. Hamilton pointed to the W13’s lack of straight-line speed around the Yas Marina Circuit to explain the team’s struggles in qualifying.

“We came here expecting this to be a difficult one for us but we didn’t expect a gap of eight tenths to pole position. We were losing six tenths today on the straights to the top cars. I gave it everything, so it’s a bit of a surprising result and just being so far behind Red Bull and Ferrari.“