Ferrari and Charles Leclerc are the favourites of this year’s race

It’s been fifteen years since the last time a Ferrari driver celebrated winning the Formula 1 World Championship. It was Kimi Räikkönen at the end of a turbulent 2007 season. Since then, it’s been a long wait for another similar triumph that F1’s largest group of fans want. This year, they are the closest they have ever come to fulfilling their expectations!

The performance map of Formula 1 is changing. Although there are only three grand prix events from the 2022 edition, it is pretty safe to say the following:: the current king seems almost dethroned. Mercedes has celebrated the world championship title continuously since 2014, the beginning of the hybrid engine era. That’s eight titles. Eight years!

Only this year, the defending Constructors’ Cup champion is struggling. The main reason is a major change in the technical rules, which significantly modifies the aerodynamic philosophy of the formulae.

As trivial as it sounds, this is a very complex engineering task. And Mercedes has not yet been able to solve it. This results in a 0.8-second-per-lap speed deficit. That’s a big number in F1 terms. And as Mercedes struggles, so do its drivers: seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and his new teammate George Russell.

The ability of Mercedes to return to the battle for grand prix victories depends on the speed with which the problems are solved and the car is tuned. But in Formula 1, missing the start is usually very expensive, and so Mercedes’ title win is fast slipping away. But, of course, others are benefiting. Namely Ferrari.

Ferrari prepared for the new era of technical rules not only honestly (which probably every team did), but more importantly without the pressure of fighting for the title in the previous season, 2021. As Mercedes and Red Bull fought very fiercely for the win, their preparations for this year were not as intense.

Mercedes are paying the price for this by having a slow car. And Red Bull is struggling with frequent breakdowns. Defending champion Max Verstappen has failed to finish two of the opening races!

That’s a huge points hit. Verstappen, who as reigning champion wears the starting number ‘1’ on his Formula One car, is only sixth in the standings. 46 points behind. 26 in one race.

So it doesn’t look hopeless for Red Bull and Max Verstappen, but once his formula stops breaking down, another problem is the fact that it’s not as fast as Ferrari’s.

It’s a record-breaking season, with 23 grand prix. But it’s a top sport and it’s extremely difficult to make up any ground. But it’s not impossible, and that’s where the start of this season is exciting.

And so the one smiling the most right now is Charles Leclerc. The 24-year-old native of Monte Carlo, where at the end of May he will race on the streets he used to drive on as a child at school, not only leads the championship after three races, but in Australia he boasted that he was able to control the pace at the front for the first time in his career. Which is usually a sign that the formula can be even faster when needed. A very strong message to all his rivals.

Ferrari and Charles Leclerc are the favourites for this year’s race. There’s a chance that Ferrari will have a champion for the first time in 15 years. The rivals know this and will do everything they can to prevent it. There are plenty of chances, 19 grand prix to go. How they will fare in this endeavour, who will get more and who will get less, can be watched live on Sport1 and Sport2.