As things stand, Red Bull are on pole position in the race to reveal the first car which will contest the 2022 Formula 1 season.
Anticipation is high for the new machines, which are the first built to F1’s heavily revised 2022 technical regulations. These are a vital element of Liberty Media’s plan to improve the standard of competition in a sport where wheel-to-wheel racing has always been difficult, and in which a small number of teams have monopolised success in recent years.
But as eager as fans (and journalists!) may be to lay their eyes upon the new designs, teams will be just as anxious to give away as little as possible of them. This is always the case, but the arrival of such drastically new regulations has raised the stakes. An early hint about the design direction a team has taken could provide valuable information for a rival who has done something different.
The teams have built this thinking into their plans for the upcoming season. McLaren are building fewer parts…