2022 Formula 1 Constructors Standings Prediction

Photo from Dan Istitene of the New York Times

The Formula 1 season is almost upon us, and 2022 brings us brand new regulations which will shake up the sport entirely.

Because of that, we really don’t know what to expect.

And I could wait until pre-season testing to make these predictions, but that sounds boring.

So, here we go. The 2022 Constructors Standings.

10. Haas F1 Team

I believe Haas when they said that they spent all of last year developing this seasons car, much like they did in 2017 when they claimed to be building towards 2018.

And that 2018 season was their best one yet, so I would not at all be surprised if they were better this year than last year.

But they still employ Nikita Mazepin as one of their two drivers, and one season in I haven’t seen a single example of him being worthy of an F1 seat.

Because of that, they still end up last.

9. Williams

Williams has better funding and is looking to build off their 8th place finish last year.

And they might! But they also might feel the weight of losing an elite talent like George Russell.

I like Alex Albon, especially in a seat with less pressure.

I think Latifi clearly has some good racecraft, even if he is a pay driver.

But they can’t overcome a loss like George Russell.

8. Alfa Romeo

Much like Albon, I like Valtteri Bottas in a less pressure seat.

Might like Latifi, I like Guanyu Zhou despite being a pay driver and a rookie.

The bottom three teams simply came down to the battle between first drivers (Bottas, Albon and Schumacher) and the second drivers (Zhou, Latifi and Mazepin).

Alfa has the upper hand for both.

They might not be a great team, but they’ll be the best of this bunch.

7. Aston Martin

Teams 7 through 4 are all going to be competitive. It’s just going to be a shame that some of them will end up on the lower part.

Aston Martin has talented drivers and good funding, but they simply had too much turnover in such an important offseason, losing team principal Otmar Szafnauer (likely to Alpine) and hiring Mike Krack (you can go ahead and laugh) to take over for him.

It may work out in the long run, but making a switch like that in between crucial regulation changes is risky, and I don’t see it paying off.

6. Alpine

Like I said above, Otmar is likely headed to Alpine as they lost their executive director Marcin Budkowski.

Like I also said above, having big changes like that between regulation changes doesn’t seem smart.

So why Alpine over Aston?

I like the lineup of Alonso and Ocon over Vettel and Stroll.

Simple as that.

5. Alpha Tauri

Alpha Tauri just know how to build a great car.

You don’t typically see junior teams have this much success, but Red Bull know what they’re doing with Alpha Tauri.

Pierre Gasly has been arguably a top 3 driver in the sport the past two seasons, and Yuki Tsunoda came into his own as the season went on.

Being a junior team hinders them in the long run to break into the top 4, but they’re still going to be very quick.

4. McLaren

Lando Norris has become a top tier driver in front of our eyes, and Daniel Ricciardo is now coming into year two with McLaren after a relatively disappointing first year.

But his second year at Renault was significantly better, so we should expect the same and McLaren should break into the top 3, right?

Well, not necessarily.

These regulation changes mean both have to learn a brand new style from scratch. It’s a tough thing to overcome, and it may cost them.

3. Red Bull Racing

Oh yeah. It’s time to get controversial.

Red Bull knows the regulation change game.

They won the Constructors Championship four straight times from 2010-2013 before new engine changes gave the edge to Mercedes.

But last year was their chance. They were close to winning Max Verstappen his first ever championship, and they went for it.

It paid off, so good for them! And it’s Red Bull, so they’ll obviously still be a race winning team and a title contender.

But I think they put too much into last year to win that championship to truly compete for this one.

2. Ferrari

Ferrari have Matia Binotto in charge of developing the car.

They brought him in specifically for these regulation changes to turn Ferrari into the next top team of the era.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc are arguably the best driver lineup in the sport. They are unbelievably good.

Sainz in particular is so good that it made people think Leclerc isn’t that good, which is ridiculous.

Every fiber of my being wanted to put Ferrari first, because I really did think they could be the next Formula 1 dynasty and win championships over and over again.

But I didn’t in the end.

1. Mercedes

And that’s because, right before the end of last season, the public found out that Mercedes did not use any of their development tokens for 2021.

If you don’t understand what I mean by that, let me explain.

2021 was supposed to be the first year of the new regulations, but Covid backed everything up.

Because of that, every team was forced to use the same chassis as 2020, but with minor upgrades thanks to “development tokens” so that they could improve the car.

Mercedes didn’t use them, and still won the Constructors Championship.

They won the 2021 Constructors Championship with their 2020 car, and spent last season just working on the 2022 car.

They are more than prepared for the new regulations, so even if my gut is telling me to pick Ferrari and be bold, I have to be realistic.

Mercedes will continue to dominate.

Meet the new boss.

Same as the old boss.