Seven storylines to watch during the 2022 Formula One season

We’re back to the races as the 2022 Formula One season is set to kick off Sunday with the Bahrain Grand Prix.

How can 2022 possibly top last year's wild, chaotic and, at times, controversial campaign? Well, the new rule changes should keep things tight on track if all things go as planned.

We already threw some bold predictions at the wall, so it's time to focus on the realistic storylines and things to watch out for during the 2022 season.

But first, are you as fired up as Mercedes boss Toto Wolff?

All right then, away we go. 

Hamilton seeking record-breaking eighth world championship

The top storyline entering last season gets recycled as Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton continues his quest to win an unprecedented eighth driver's championship and break a tie for first with the legendary Michael Schumacher.

Hamilton came so close last season until the final lap of the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi. With the safety car deployed, Hamilton was in the lead with fellow title contender Max Verstappen of Red Bull sitting in second place. Although five lapped cars served as a buffer between the two, race control allowed just those five to unlap themselves and Hamilton and Verstappen were suddenly side-by-side on the restart. Verstappen, who had nothing to lose, had also dashed into the pits for a fresh set of tires and Hamilton was nearly helpless in his attempt to hold him off to the finish line. The dispute dragged on through the off-season and ultimately cost Michael Masi his position as race director.

Mercedes still won a record-extending eighth consecutive constructors’ championship but they’re beatable (even under questionable circumstances) and they have something to prove now that they’ve been provoked. 

Hamilton struggled during pre-season testing, but call me skeptical until we see how he looks on race day. That’s where it matters and we’ll see if there's actually trouble at Mercedes or if the German team was just bluffing. 

Can Verstappen retain the title? 

The other side of the coin is Red Bull also has something to prove: that the championship wasn’t gifted to Verstappen. You know Verstappen will take an aggressive stance to ensure he rightfully earned his title and already came out flying during pre-season testing, proving he's still the fastest. 

A new Red Bull era could also be upon us. Sergio Perez adapted quite well during his first season with the team in 2021. Should Perez continue to make strides — and if Mercedes' struggles turn out to be true — then Red Bull could win its first constructors' championship since 2013. The team held the lead early into last season and was only 28 points back of Mercedes in the end. 

Welcome to Russell-Mania 

Could this be the summer of George Russell? The 24-year-old British driver makes the leap from Williams to Mercedes, taking the second seat previously occupied by Valtteri Bottas, who is now over at Alfa Romeo.

We already got a taste of what Russell can do behind the wheel of a Mercedes when he subbed for Hamilton at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, and he would have been fighting for the win or at least a podium if not for a botched pit stop. Russell scored points four times in an underperforming Williams car last season, including a shocking P2 in Belgium — his first career podium finish — when the Grand Prix was called off after only a couple of laps due to wet weather.

Big things are expected from Russell as he was a champion rising up the ranks in the GP3 and F2 feeder series and now has a car capable of winning in F1. 

Can Ferrari return to top form?

Last season was very much the Verstappen vs. Hamilton show with the pair finishing 1-2 a total of 14 times including eight of the last 10 GPs. Taking that one step beyond, there were only two races where neither driver was on the podium, Baku and Monza, and they were still the story at the latter as they crashed into each other. 

Parity is good for the sport and Formula One changed the rules for 2022 to attempt to make things more competitive. That’s the theory at least, we'll have to wait until Sunday to see it in reality. 

Ferrari has had difficulty adapting to rule changes in recent history dropping from constructors' champions to fourth place in 2009 following the aeropackage overhaul and went winless for the first time in 20 seasons when the turbo hybrid engine was introduced in 2014. There is reason for optimism, however, as Ferrari looked like the fastest in preseason testing and may have found a way to close the gap to Mercedes and Red Bull. You know Ferrari will figure it out eventually it's just a matter of how soon.

Ferrari is also coming off of a promising season, finishing third in the constructors' championship, with Charles Leclerc securing pole position twice while new teammate Carlos Sainz scored points in all but two races (finishing just outside in P11 both times). Both will have to step it up with Leclerc earning just one podium finish in 2021 while Sainz is still seeking his first career win.

What to make of McLaren?

McLaren had a roller-coaster 2021 season. The peak came in Monza with Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris finishing 1-2 and earning the team's first victory since 2012. It also snapped a three-year Grand Prix victory drought for Ricciardo, who arrived at McLaren with much hype last season. The win should have been a turning point, but Ricciardo scored points in only three of the remaining eight GPs to finish the season and ended eighth in the championship.

Meanwhile, Norris earned his first pole position in the following Russian GP and remained in the points to finish the year for a career-high sixth overall. Norris is still just 22 years old but is now in his fourth F1 season and looking to score his first Grand Prix victory. He just has to keep plugging along to get there.

Which one of the Triple A's will charge?

The Triple A's of Alpine, Aston Martin and AlphaTauri are tricky to predict as they’ve shown flashes of brilliance but not enough on a consistent basis to stay in the conversation.

Alpine picked up a win with Esteban Ocon earning his first career victory in Hungary, but he still finished 11th in the championship. Fernando Alonso, who was 10th overall, also had sparks of vintage moments return finishing third in Qatar and doing his best to hold off Hamilton in Hungary long enough to ensure Ocon remained in the lead. The French team is still a few years off from its long-term goal of making it back to the top but could be ahead of schedule. 

There were high hopes for the Aston Martin team to build off of their successful 2020 campaign as Racing Point but were left spinning their wheels. Featuring Lance Stroll of Montreal and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, the team slipped from fourth in the constructors' to seventh. Vettel came in second in Baku but Stroll finished no higher than sixth during the season. Both will need to bounce back big time in 2022.

Pierre Gasly has seemingly done all he can at AlphaTauri to show they're not just Red Bull Jr. Gasly carried the team and finished ninth in the championship. Yuki Tsunoda had a rough rookie season but ended on a high note finishing a season-best P4 in Abu Dhabi and will need more results like that. If the main team Red Bull has a jump on the competition, expect that to trickle down to AlphaTauri as well.

Return of the Canadian Grand Prix

Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is back on the schedule after a two-year hiatus due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It's sure to be a hot ticket between hungry Canadian fans waiting to see the action live plus the "Netflix effect" with an influx of newcomers.

Just like in the driver's championship, Hamilton seeks to surpass Schumacher for a record eighth Canadian GP victory. Stroll will be the hometown favourite, where he's finished ninth twice, while Williams Racing driver Nicholas Latifi of Toronto will race on home soil for the first time in his F1 career.