Damon Hill is interested to see what Ferrari and Williams can achieve in 2022, with the Briton feeling that both teams have put an extra focus on this season. Given the new technical regulations coming into effect for the upcoming campaign, it has been well documented that Ferrari switched their focus to preparing for this early in 2021. There was much discussion over the Scuderia's prospects for 2022 during the winter, and this continued following the recent pre-season test in Barcelona, with the likes of George Russell suggesting that the team looked to be ahead of Mercedes . Lewis Hamilton also tipped Ferrari to perform well, though Mattia Binotto, team boss at the Italian outfit, has played down the suggestions , arguing that it is still too soon to predict the pecking order.
Hill: Teams will be "analysing" each other
Hill believes that, due to the new technical regulations, the teams will be trying to figure out what others are doing after the initial round of testing, particularly in light of the fact that some cars look very different to others. "They will be going back and going, 'They've done something different to their front wing - have we done the right thing or not? What are they doing?'" Hill told the F1 Nation podcast. "So they will be doing a lot of analysing of each other in this period, and there'll be questions. The designers will inevitably be wondering whether they've gone down a blind alley or whether they've gone up the right alley." Hill was particularly curious about the appearance of the Ferrari. "The side pods and the bodywork [on the Ferrari] are so unique, it's phenomenal," the former Formula 1 driver added. "But I've heard one very experienced car designer, from a while ago, look at a Ferrari and go, 'Hmm, that looks like it was designed by committee. The front end looks like it was going one way, and the back end looks like it was going somewhere else.' "So nobody really knows what's going to work in the new regs, but there's such a difference [across the teams]."
Williams car "incredibly radical"
As well as Ferrari, Hill has also had his eye on Williams, who he feels are in a similar position to the Scuderia in terms of switching focus to 2022 earlier than others. "The Williams [car] is incredibly radical," Hill explained. "It's phenomenal, the packaging on that thing." The 1996 World Champion continued: "Williams are a bit like Ferrari in [their situation]. "Ferrari have had their... Their prancing horse was hobbled a bit when they had their problem with their power unit, and they were clipped back, and they've been in reset mode, as have Williams. "So they've basically given up [2021]. Last year was like a wasted year, and they've been able to maybe devote more of these resources on the 2022 car. That's maybe why they're interesting. "If Mercedes think that Ferrari are six months ahead, then you might see that the Mercedes and Red Bull have had to expend too much energy on fighting a championship last year. Let's see what happens there." The teams will be back in action again at the second pre-season test in Bahrain on 10-12 March.
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