“I was hopeful Mercedes would have been more competitive by now” : Ross Brawn

The new rules and regulation of the 2022 season has had a significant impact on the pecking order in Formula 1. The 8 time constructor champions, Mercedes finds themselves struggling and lacking the performance in their W13. However, the team who has struggled to fight at the front in the prior seasons, Ferrari finds itself at the top. The Red Bull also has developed a promising package and is taking the fight to the Italian team in this thrilling Formula 1 season.

The driver championship protagonists currently are the Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc and the Red Bull driver, Max Verstappen. Only a 27 point gap differentiates the two drivers after the completion of four rounds. Former Mercedes boss, Ross Brawn expressed his excitement on the rivalry, saying “There’s a different dynamic between Charles and Max. We’re seeing that on the track. It’s going to be interesting to see how that evolves as we get nearer to the end of the season.”

“A third team in the Title mix would be fantastic,” says former Mercedes boss, Ross Brawn

The 2022 season entails a prospect of 19 races yet to come. Each race weekend, the teams learn and gather additional information about their modern Formula 1 cars. This has set a race for development on the grid this year with the Ferrari and Red Bull setting the benchmark at the front of the grid. The two teams are separated by only 11 points at the top of the table.

FS Video

Walking into the season, the Mercedes were considered as the favourites due to their dominance in the sport for last 8 years. However, the team is caught by issues such as porpoising and is unable to extract the performance to compete at the top. Ross Brawn elaborated on this saying “I must be honest, I was hopeful Mercedes would have been more competitive by now. They had a tough start and they’re working incredibly hard, and I thought [at Imola] we might see some progress, but they still seem to be struggling. But another, third team in the mix would be fantastic.”

The 2022 Formula 1 season has delivered great racing prospects with factors such as cars able to follow closely and introduction of 18 inch tyres. Each constructor on the grid is trying to learn more about their car faster than their rivals to have that first mover advantage and join the fight at top of the table with Ferrari and Red Bull.

ALSO READ : “Niki called me and said,” Lewis Hamilton narrates how Ross Brawn and Niki Lauda lured him to Mercedes