Testing for the 2022 Formula 1 season got underway on February 23, 2022, at the Circuit de Cataluna in Barcelona, Spain. Here the teams turned wheels in anger for the first time and got to grips with their all-new machines. Straight off the bat, the new chassis and aerodynamic regulations, designed to even the playing field and promote better racing, saw a plethora of different design interpretations throughout the grid. Here?s what some of the technical operations personnel had to say of their testing programmes?

Scuderia AlphaTauri
Scuderia AlphaTauri AT03. Credit: Stewart Mitchell
 
Scuderia AlphaTauri Technical Director, Jody Egginton, said, ‘I think it?s fair to say that the technical changes made for this upcoming season are the largest made in Formula 1 for a very long time, so it?s a big difference this year. Firstly, it?s good to see the car running and it?s great to see all the hard work come together in that first run, but this is just the first step in a long journey to understanding the car and continuing to develop it. There?s constant optimisation, using what we?ve learnt from previous cars and re-evaluating everything to get the best package possible heading into pre-season testing and then the first race.’ Chief Race Engineer, Jonathan Eddolls added, ‘With a brand-new car, tyres and regulations it?s important to firstly validate the pre-event sim work, so we trialled a large variety of set-up direction and q...