With the 2022 regulations, the gaps have narrowed in the middle of the table

This season with the new technical regulations, the teams were forced to start from scratch. If there are always a few who quickly stood out as Red Bull et Ferrari, the mid-table teams are much closer. This has the effect of making the qualifying sessions even more important. No team is safe from early elimination in Q1 and therefore a possible weekend without points. So each free practice session is precious in order to find the best settings and a development race is currently taking place to succeed in establishing itself as the 4th force on the grid.

For the moment, it is Alpine who holds this place, but even the French team can miss out on a Grand Prix. If the Formula 1 took the right direction to Esteban Ocon, the Norman crosses his fingers so that the gap with Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari are shrinking. “ I hope that with the budget caps and everything else, the same rules will apply for a while and the tunnel will close at the top »

Bottas' new challenge in the middle of the table 

Before planning on the top 3 teams, the teams must above all ensure each weekend that they finish in the points. A new task for Valtteri botta this season at Alfa Romeo. " That's exciting. It really feels like every qualifying lap in the middle of the pack matters, you're either in or out the next session and I like that. During the entire qualification, you really need to pass all the rounds. And it's the same thing in the race, it's so close that it's always a good battle, a good race », Enthuses the 32-year-old pilot.

It must be said that he was previously quite used to achieving podiums with Mercedes. “ It's also very different in terms of race strategy, because it matters a lot more in the middle of the field, because we are fighting with a lot of cars, instead of one or two cars, as I may have- be done in the past », explains the native of Nastola.
With more teams fighting for points than places available, there are bound to be disappointments every weekend. “ It's very close and every weekend you can go into the Grand Prix thinking you can have a good result. It doesn't seem to me that it's easy to fall too far behind and be too far behind ", Explain Kevin Magnussen.

Weekends on alternating current

But from one Grand Prix to another, the dynamics can change very quickly. “ It's very difficult at the moment to do FP1 with a good car. Some weekends everything goes well and for us these are the weekends where we can fight for Q2. But at the same time, we know that there are other weekends that are a little more difficult. And that's why you see these gaps with cars that do better one weekend than others ", exposed Alexander albon. The Thai is what he's talking about. In Hungary for the last free practice session, it's his teammate Nicholas latifi who achieved the best time and the 26-year-old driver finished 3rd. So even if the rain largely explains this result, the Hungarian Grand Prix should once again be very close in the middle of the pack.

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