Verstappen and van Gisbergen go on record-setting seasons as the racing world emerges from the pandemic
- Formula 1
- Supercars
- Elsewhere
- Join the conversation at our Facebook page Or email us at [email protected]
The 2022 world motorsport scene witnessed numerous highlights including plenty of on- and off-track drama, with the sport’s rise from the pandemic drawing big crowds trackside around the globe.
In Formula 1 circles, Max Verstappen proved unstoppable for Red Bull, as Mercedes battled against new technical regulations, while the fast-starting Ferrari was left behind as the defending champion hit his stride.
Locally, the World Driver’s Championship returned to a revamped Albert Park for the first time since 2020, with the Australian Grand Prix playing out in front of a capacity audience.
Elsewhere in Australia, the Repco Supercars Championship rebounded after two years of calendar disruptions with the return of key events such as the Gold Coast 600, the final meet at New Zealand’s Pukekohe Park Raceway, plus the Adelaide 500, which proved to be a resounding success despite a lack of preparation time.
In a continuation of his form from last season, Shane van Gisbergen proved to be even more dominant, as Holden officially bowed out from the sport.
Formula 1
After the 2021 title went down to the last lap of the last race, Verstappen’s record-breaking title defence showed the technical superiority of the Red Bull package under the new 2022 rules, with the Dutchman romping away to 15 victories.
A strong sign of his power came in Hungary, where he charged to the win from 10th on the grid.
At season’s end, Verstappen’s dominance reflected on the scoreboard, where he registered nearly 50 per cent more points than second place in the title chase.
After a drama-charged 2021 campaign, Verstappen’s most significant on-track issue came in the penultimate round in Brazil, when he once again came to blows with old rival Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set himself up as the man to beat in the early rounds, with two wins from the opening three events, which provided the Monégasque pilot with a handy points advantage.
Despite starring on Saturday with a season-high nine pole positions, Ferrari’s form dropped off as the year progressed, with issues compounded by some interesting strategic calls.
A highlight for Leclerc came in Austria, where he passed Verstappen on track three times to win Red Bull’s home race, and also in Abu Dhabi, where stout tactics saw him claim second in the title ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez by only three points.
Perez meanwhile doubled his career win tally with successes in Monaco and Singapore.
Fourth in the season standings went to Mercedes’ George Russell, who broke through for his maiden win in Brazil after generally having an edge over teammate Hamilton, who placed sixth in the final rundown.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was the only other race winner from the season after he came up trumps from a wild encounter at Silverstone, while the only non-Red Bull, Ferrari or Mercedes podium finisher was McLaren’s Lando Norris, who registered a third-place result at Imola.
While there was plenty to chew on from race weekends, the off-track storylines regularly dominated the conversation.
Perhaps the biggest player in the news cycle was Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who continued to struggle in his second season at McLaren, with Norris holding onto a significant advantage in the intrateam battle.
By the seventh event in Monaco, Ricciardo’s future with the squad was in question, with the silly season pantomime subsequently kicking into overdrive.
The first play came late in July when four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement from the sport, while his seat at Aston Martin was swiftly claimed by Fernando Alonso, with his Alpine F1 team finding out about the move via its media announcement.
Next, Alpine named Aussie F2 champion Oscar Piastri as a driver for 2023, replacing Alonso, with Piastri denying the claim via social media within hours.
By the end of August, Ricciardo confirmed an early split with McLaren, with the partnership ultimately netting a lone win from Monza in 2021.
At the time, 2023 race seat options for the West Australian appeared to be open at Alpine, Alfa Romeo, Haas and Williams, although he eventually landed on a reserve role back at Red Bull Racing.
Piastri was then confirmed at McLaren after F1’s contract recognition board ruled against Alpine’s claims on his services.
Following two years of pandemic-interrupted schedules, the 2022 season saw the return of Grands Prix in Australia, Canada, Japan and Singapore, plus the debut of the Miami GP, while China remained parked as the Russian GP was benched following that country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Supercars
Shane van Gisbergen continued to steamroll the field, with his third title being his most dominant to date.
After registering 14 race wins last year, this season he upped the tally to 21, a new benchmark for the category, bettering Scott McLaughlin’s 2018 count by three.
Adding to his list of achievements this year was his second Bathurst 1000 victory in three years after he teamed with Garth Tander to romp away from the field in The Great Race.
The big question facing the quick Kiwi is what will he take on next?
While SvG has committed to the Red Bull Ampol Racing squad for 2023 and the initial season with the new Gen3 ruleset, he has watched on this year as his former adversary Scott McLaughlin asserted himself abroad in Indycar competition.
In 2022, his extra-curricular activities included an assault on the Le Mans 24 Hour aboard a Ferrari, wins in the GT Challenge Australia for Triple Eight Race Engineering and Mercedes, plus selected local rallies, including a run in Rally New Zealand, where he stood on the WRC2 podium.
Next up on his agenda is a start in a sprintcar back in his native New Zealand, while the possibility of a wildcard in NASCAR competition appears to be on the table for next season.
Elsewhere in the Supercars championship this year, a smattering of drivers managed to steal race wins from the champ, although none ultimately displayed prolonged point-scoring consistency.
Cameron Waters finished second for the year aboard his Monster Mustang, with a dominant fifth round at Winton leading into regular podium finishes through to Bathurst.
Chaz Mostert meanwhile tallied five victories aboard his Optus Commodore, the second-best win count to van Gisbergen.
Third in the points for the former Bathurst champ was sealed with an emotional one-two result for the Walkinshaw Andretti United squad in Adelaide, as the team’s Commodores sported an early HRT throwback livery ahead of its 2023 switch to Ford.
Pre-season expectations of the Shell V-Power Racing Mustangs were high, although the duo of Anton De Pasquale and Will Davison placed fourth and fifth in the standings with three wins between the pair.
Perhaps the biggest news for the outfit came off track, when in August it was announced that the Ralph family had acquired a major stake in the operation, adding to their extensive list of sporting properties.
The only other race winner for the season was Broc Feeney, who replaced Jamie Whincup in the second Red Bull Ampol Racing Commodore, with his solid rookie run capped by a gritty victory in the very last race of the year in Adelaide.
Fittingly, the success was the final in the storied history of Holden, earned on the streets of its spiritual home of South Australia.
At the end of the brand’s run in the top tier of the sport, Holden had amassed more race wins than any other manufacturer, a total of 23 driver’s crowns dating back to Norm Beechey’s breakthrough win for the marque aboard the legendary HT Monaro in 1970, 16 team’s championships going back to 1999, and 15 manufacturer’s titles since the year 2000.
While Holden is bowing out from the sport, General Motors will remain involved and the US car-maker’s focus will switch to the Chevrolet Camaro under Gen3 regulations, which will also see the debut of the S560 Mustang in competition trim.
Even though it was the final season for Holden, plenty of new panels had to be produced, with races at six of the events throughout the season paused by red flag interruptions for various large incidents.
Lowlights included Jack Le Brocq going into the Symmons Plains pit wall, Scott Pye taking out Wanneroo Raceway’s pit gate, an all-in melee at Hidden Valley, Andre Heimgartner collecting the stalled Thomas Randle at The Bend, Will Brown smashing the wall down at Pukekohe, and another high-speed pile up on the Gold Coast.
Highlights on the other hand included an epic battle for the Pukekohe win between van Gisbergen and Waters, a last-lap clash between SvG and De Pasquale in Townsville, plus two wild affairs in Adelaide.
In the Super2 Series, Triple Eight-backed young gun Declan Fraser sealed the title in Adelaide after a carnage-marred season, where 65 of the 177 racing laps were contested behind the safety car.
Elsewhere
Formula 1’s chief feeder category F2 witnessed a runaway series winner in Brazilian Felipe Drugovich, who has been snapped up by Aston Martin as a reserve driver for 2023.
From an antipodean perspective, Kiwi Liam Lawson finished third in the standings with three race wins, while Aussie Jack Doohan ended his first full season sixth in the points after victories at Silverstone and Spa.
Doohan, who completed Friday practice sessions for the Alpine F1 squad in Mexico and Abu Dhabi, will get the opportunity to race at home next year, when both F2 and F3 debut on the Australian GP undercard, in a significant move for the event.
Staying in open-wheelers, Down Under drivers dominated the Indycar Series, filling three of the top four places in the final standings.
Toowoomba’s Will Power won his second title for Penske Racing, adding to his 2014 series crown and his 2018 Indianapolis 500 win, with a season built on a foundation of consistency.
Finishing 12 races in the top four, Power’s sole win came on the streets of Detroit, while his five pole positions broke Mario Andretti’s all-time Indycar pole position record.
Scott McLaughlin’s sophomore season netted fourth overall, with wins at St Petersburg, Mid Ohio and Laguna Seca.
In the crown-jewel Indy 500, former F1 driver Marcus Ericsson joined Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti as a winner of the event for Chip Ganassi.
Meanwhile over in NASCAR, Penske’s red-letter season was capped with Joey Logano sealing his second Cup series title after dominating the season finale at Phoenix.
The first season for NASCAR’s NextGen rules platform proved to be a controversial one, with the car’s safety called into question after multiple drivers were sidelined by concussions.
On the flipside, racing on the staple 1.5-mile ovals was more competitive than ever, with a record-equalling 19 different drivers visiting victory lane during the points-paying season.
Of the five first-time winners, Ross Chastain was often at the centre of attention for his forceful driving style, while his videogame-esque wall-riding move at the season’s penultimate event at Martinsville will go down as one of the most sensational in the history of the sport.
The cherry on top for Penske’s campaign was Austin Cindric’s win in the season-opening Daytona 500, and the squad was also named as the spearhead for Porsche’s LMDh-spec global sports car racing program in 2023.
The squad has enlisted Aussie Matt Campbell for driving duties after he claimed this year’s IMSA GT Daytona Pro class for the German marque.
In the World Rally Championship, Kalle Rovanperä stepped up to claim his maiden title for Toyota Gazoo Racing after six event wins, while it was also a successful year for Toyota in the Australian Rally Championship, which Lewis Bates won for the first time.
Join the conversation at our Facebook page Or email us at [email protected]
Keyword: Highs, lows and dominance in 2022