/ MERCEDES

INGTON

ETHER

Hamilton breaks his silence as F1’s 2022 cars

hit the track at last

It took a while but, when Lewis Hamilton decided to end his silence, he did so with some strong, well-considered comments. Mercedes launched its 2022 Formula 1 attack last week and, as our piece on page 20 shows, Hamilton did not mince his words concerning December’s controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix finale, or his desire to make sure the FIA changes (p4) result in real improvements.

Hamilton was also careful not to criticise Max Verstappen in the whole saga while at the same time saying that “we will obviously grow from our races and experiences we had last year”, indicating he hopes – or expects – a cleaner on-track fight this time around…

Of course, many fans hope the battle at the front won’t just be about Mercedes and Red Bull in 2022. It really is about time Ferrari challenged for its first titles since the team’s 2008 constructors’ crown. The new F1-75 certainly looks the part and, as Luke Smith discovers on p28, there is an air of cautious optimism coming out of Maranello.

As well as looking at the latest Mercedes and Ferrari machines, our Technical Editor Jake Boxall-Legge also casts his eye over the Alpine, Williams and Alfa Romeo contenders, as testing kicks off this week.

Also getting under way before the end of February is the IndyCar season. David Malsher-Lopez investigates Romain Grosjean’s chances and picks out the main storylines in our preview on p34.

Kevin Turner Chief Editor kevin.turner@autosport.com

NEXT WEEK 3 MARCH F1 test war analysis Our expert team in Spain

assesses the 2022

contenders

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COVER IMAGES Mercedes-Benz Group AG

PIT & PADDOCK 4 FIA drops Masi a er Abu Dhabi fiasco 6 Porsche LMDh testing gets serious 8 Ex-F1 racer Pic takes over DAMS team 10 Alpine A522 technical focus 12 Williams FW44 technical focus 14 Alfa Romeo C42 technical focus 17 Opinion: Alex Kalinauckas 19 Opinion: Charles Bradley

INSIGHT 20 Hamilton on his 2022 battle plan 26 Mercedes W13 technical focus 28 Ferrari goes radical in title quest 32 Ferrari F1-75 technical focus 34 Can Grosjean conquer IndyCar? 38 IndyCar 2022: what to look out for

RACE CENTRE 42 Cindric wins Daytona 500 crashfest 50 World of Sport: Extreme E; ALMS; Formula Regional Asian

CLUB AUTOSPORT 61 Carroll/Balfe to race Audi in British GT 62 Spa GT event to mark 30 years of SRO 64 Equipe 70s launched with pilot races 67 ProConsul Special Saloon hits the track

FINISHING STRAIGHT 68 What’s on this week 71 Top five DAMS drivers 72 From the archive: 1990 Birmingham 74 My favourite track: Esteban Guerrieri

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