With the new technical regulations already in force from the upcoming season, there were many question marks when it came to the designs of the new generation of the Formula 1 cars. With teams still hiding their designs before the final testing sessions, it was only now we’ve got to see more of the potential the cars had. Red Bull’s RB18 looked vastly different compared to the launch version of the car, and there will be more to uncover before the season starts in Bahrain next week. 

Amongst many excited were even the team principals of the F1 teams, that described the variety of designs as “fascinating”. Especially the principals of McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull had something to say about the cars. 

Christian Horner, the principal of Red Bull, was definitely surprised by the spread of different designs under the new regulations. As he said: “It’s always interesting to see the cars for the first time, particularly with such a big regulation change. And in what are pretty prescriptive regulations, to have such variance, is fascinating, to see how the different teams are interpreting these rules.

“And of course, there will be convergence over a period of time. But you’ve certainly got some very variant themes between the teams and it’s going to be fascinating to see how that development plays out, because I’m sure as the cars progress through the season they’ll probably look very different by the time we get to Abu Dhabi.”

Toto Wolff, the team principal of Mercedes F1 definitely echoed the enthusiasm of Horner regarding the 2022 specification. As he said: “Our development route has been chosen much earlier, probably beginning or middle of last year. Everybody was continuing to develop their own car and switching the focus.

“Obviously from a fan's perspective, which I count myself in as well, looking at the other concepts and seeing what everybody comes out with, and the interpretation of the regulations, is fascinating. This is also what makes Formula 1.”

Lastly, Andreas Siedl from McLaren said that the variation between the cars as well as the new regulations generally are a positive for F1, hoping this season they can go back to the very front of the grid. As he said: “Of course with such a big regulation change, there is huge interest within the team and the aerodynamic side to see what everyone else has done in terms of interpretation of these new regulations, to see if there’s any inspiration we should take on board moving forward.

“So, exciting times for everyone; for you [the media and fans] as well, which is great, great for Formula 1 and yes, it will be very interesting [to see] how everyone is moving forward until the first race in Bahrain.”

In just over a week's time, we’ll have the first race of the 2022 season, hosted at the Bahrain International Circuit between the 18th and 20th of March 2022.