F1’s bold new era is just hitting the halfway point of its inaugural season, and it turns out it’s a lot like the F1 of old; a different team dominating, perhaps, and a slight shuffle of the running order, but there’s a feeling 2022’s regulations have introduced as many problems as they’ve fixed, and that the positive impact of the new ruleset won’t really be seen for some years to come.
F1 22 isn’t exactly a bold new era for Codemasters’ long-running series, and a familiar racer it most certainly is. It features the cast and cars of the new season – including Ferrari’s achingly beautiful F1-75, perhaps the best looking race car to roll out of Maranello since Enzo himself was calling the shots – plus the season’s new track that runs around the car park of downtown’s Hard Rock Stadium (if you’re wizened enough to remember the Caesars Palace race, first off condolences – but also isn’t it funny how what’s old is new again?)
The race in Miami always felt like the endgame for F1 owners Liberty Media’s initial push for the sport – a push that, of course, has seen the face of F1 change immeasurably, and mostly for the better thanks to the swell of new fans introduced via Drive to Survive and a new breed of social media savvy drivers.