The 2022 season was branded a 'new era' for Formula 1 as regulations were introduced with the aim of improving overtaking and allowing the cars to follow more closely. The 2021 season featured 599 overtakes on track by the end of the season in Abu Dhabi, according to statistics from Pirelli. After the same number of races in 2022 this number was 785, which equates to an increase of 31% of overtaking moves on track. Pirelli F1 chief Mario Isola was happy with the outcome of the new regulations: "I believe this is a very good number, 30% more. They are facts, so it's not an exaggeration," he told media, including RacingNews365.com.
Less tyre management from the drivers
Isola says that the drivers were having to manage the tyres less throughout the year, which also gave them the opportunity to race more closely. He added: "In general we have much less tyre management. "Drivers had the opportunity to push a lot more, that's we had a lot of races where in the same lap they were overtaking each other a lot of times. "Obviously the DRS is helping with that a lot, but that was also there in previous years." Although the tyres enabled drivers to race closely and created greater opportunities for split strategies, Isola says the regulations achieved the goal of increasing the chances of wheel-to-wheel combat during a lap. He explained: "It's not just the number of overtakes tells us we had a good season. "If you look at the many races where drivers, not only in the front but also in the midfield, who were fighting two or three cars together. "They were overtaking each other trying to to use any possibility or any mistake from the competitor to overtake and push for not one corner, but three, four or five laps. "So that's the biggest difference that I've seen this year compared to the past. "It wasn't easy, but it was possible with the new F1 cars. Not just the tyres. Although the tyres help, so I'm happy."
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