SUTTON

The hurdles facing Mercedes to get back to the front of F1

When can Mercedes get back into contention with Ferrari and Red Bull? Few doubt that the Silver Arrows will return to the battle at the front of Formula 1, the question is more about whether the progress can come soon enough to make it a three-way title fight.

As James Allison and Andrew Shovlin show in our cover article on page 16, the technical problems of the team’s 2022 machine are more complex than those of its predecessor 12 months ago. And the scope for improvement is more limited thanks to the cost cap and windtunnel restrictions.

Nevertheless, the squad’s record over the past decade, not to mention the strengths of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, suggests Mercedes will surely overcome the problems. F1’s new era has made a promising start – having a third team battling at the front to keep everyone guessing would really continue that momentum.

F1’s new-found success in the United States also means it will return to Las Vegas in 2023 (p4). The circuit should be more interesting than the Caesars Palace venue used in 1981-82, so all F1 needs now is the Andretti team plan to come off and for an American driver to follow in the footsteps of Mario Andretti, Phil Hill and Dan Gurney.

Elsewhere in this issue, we hear from F1 supersub Nico Hulkenberg (p24), China’s rising Le Mans star Yifei Ye (p26) and look ahead to the Goodwood Members’ Meeting this weekend (p34).

Kevin Turner Chief Editor kevin.turner@autosport.com

NEXT WEEK

14 APRIL Australian GP action Ferrari or Red Bull? F1’s

new battle heads

to Albert Park

COVER IMAGE Steve Etherington/Motorsport Images

PIT & PADDOCK 4 F1 to head back to Las Vegas in 2023 6 Loeb to make DTM debut in AF Ferrari 8 Plato announces BTCC retirement plan 11 Australian Grand Prix preview 13 Opinion: Alex Kalinauckas 15 Opinion: Matt Kew

INSIGHT 16 Can Mercedes save its 2022 F1 season? 24 Hulkenberg: F1’s latest supersub 26 China’s rising sportscar star 30 An ex-F1 racer’s return… in NASCAR 34 10 reasons to go to Goodwood MM 38 Early Lotus success at Goodwood

RACE CENTRE 43 World of Sport: GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup; MotoGP

CLUB AUTOSPORT 53 No British GT title defence for Machitski 54 Pearson gets F4 seat following recovery 56 Circuit Rally title settled by a point 59 Opinion: Stefan Mackley 60 National reports: Snetterton; Brands Hatch; Oulton Park; Donington Park 66 The ageing Porsche taking on GT3s

FINISHING STRAIGHT 70 What’s on this week 72 From the archive: 1953 Le Mans 74 My favourite track: Allan McNish

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7 APRIL 2022 AUTOSPORT.COM 3