The Formula One season ended on Sunday again with Red Bull Max Verstappen’s to the party. The other was Ferrari’s Charles Leclercwhich captured the drivers’ World Cup silver for the Red Bull driver by Sergio Perez in front of the nose.
Four-time World Cup winner Sebastian Vettel drove his last F1 race. He was the most celebrated and followed driver of the entire weekend.
Alfa Romeo, which only reached 15th place in Abu Dhabi Valtteri Bottas was tenth in the Drivers’ World Series. Sports expert Jukka Mildh wraps up one season of the F1 season and is already looking ahead to next season.
Talk
Mildh says that one of the talking points of the season was the new cars. Among other things, the aerodynamics of the cars changed and 18-inch rims came into use. With the new rules, the beginning of the season saw bouncy cars, and Mercedes in particular was plagued by the problem for a long time.
The new rules were intended to make it easier to follow the car in front. In the races, there were a lot of passings. However, the top level did not expand, as only seven drivers from four different teams were on the podium.
– Maybe it (the rules) did not succeed well in itself. Engine technology was frozen until the end of 2025, so we will see how the competition will intensify in the future.
The talk of the past season was Max Verstappen’s crushing superiority. The Dutch skier, who won his second world championship, won no less than 15 times and twice broke the record for wins in one season.
– It is the current world record, even though the number of competitions has increased over the years. Yes, 15 wins tells you who is the number one driver at the moment. Red Bull has also done a great job overall, says Mildh.
Who made the noise?
Verstappen is rightfully on this list as well. According to Mildh, one of the themes of the season was the strong emergence of young drivers. 24 years old George Russell drove a strong debut season with Mercedes and beat his teammate in points Lewis Hamilton.
The young Briton celebrated his first career victory and reached the podium eight times.
– At the same time, Lewis Hamilton was left without a pole position and a win during the season for the first time in his F1 career. Of course, the Mercedes was difficult to drive from the beginning of the season, says Mildh.
One of the cheerleaders was also Verstappen’s compatriot Nyck de Vrieswho won the Monza GP Alexander Albonia at Williams. The 27-year-old driver immediately excelled in his first race by driving to the points.
De Vries’ performance made such a strong impression that AlphaTauri hired him as their driver for the next season.
– He drove in Monza with a surprisingly fast command and a bad car, immediately to the points in his first race. It was a great success.
Disappointments
Mildh lists Alfa Romeo as the season’s disappointment. Thanks to its great early season, the team finished sixth in the Manufacturers’ World Championship, but starting from the summer, Alfa Romeo’s performances were poor, apart from a few individual flashes.
– The need to develop the car backfired on them. However, Alfa Romeo is not one that would be able to use the entire amount of money included in the spending ceiling (140 million dollars). The lack of money began to show in the development of the stable.
According to Mildh, the worst disappointment among the drivers was McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, whose F1 career ended, at least for now. The 33-year-old Australian was unable to adapt to the team’s car during his two seasons at McLaren.
Ricciardo was also clearly behind his teammate who was ten years younger by Lando Norris underfoot. The conker, who won eight times in his career, shone during his F1 career, especially with Red Bull between 2014 and 2018.
– For some reason, he didn’t adapt to the team. A top driver like that can flop that much. Of course, it also happened to him that the driver of the new generation, Norris, was sovereign in his performances.
What about Bottas?
Alfa Romeo’s difficult season also reflected a lot on Valtteri Bottas. The Finn’s best finish was the seventh place in Imola. Bottas was the team’s No. 1 driver, collecting 49 points, while a rookie teammate Zhou Guanyu collected only six points.
– However, he is used to winning. Adaptation was also difficult for the driver, Mildh refers to Bottas’ Mercedes days.
However, Mildh reminds that Bottas, as an experienced driver, knows what kind of project he started.
– Such a team is not elevated to a leading position in an instant. Even if he has ideas, he is unable to influence the speed of development.
– There were situations in the season that colored through Bottas. Especially departures. There were problems with the switch. Somehow it seemed that he was not up to date with the departures. In the early stages, he had a terrible time on his feet.
What next?
The new season of Formula 1 starts as usual in March. The rules remain mainly the same.
Although the season was dominated by Red Bull, Ferrari showed very good speed from the beginning of the season. In addition, the Mercedes car worked better all the time from the end of the season. Mildh believes that the three teams in question will have a tough fight next season.
The engine plays a significant role in the top fight.
– These engines will be used for the next three seasons. Strategic choices have had to be made about what kind of engines will be driven this year and what kind of risks will be taken in developing the engine.
The driver lineups remain the same for the top teams. Verstappen and Perez continue with Red Bull, Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and at Mercedes, Russell and Hamilton.
– Hamilton has gotten off to a good start with Mercedes and Russell is tightening up. I think Leclerc and Sainz are one of the best driver duos. They play well together. Red Bull has a good leading driver, who is perhaps overshadowed by Perez. However, Perez does a good job as a gun bearer.
– This contributes to the fact that we start next year in the lead of these teams.