Just two of the 17 drivers who are returning to Formula 1 for the 2022 season are set to compete for different teams this year.
Of the 20 drivers who competed in Formula 1 throughout the 22-race 2021 season, three have left and 17 have returned to the sport for the 23-race 2022 campaign. However, two of the 17 drivers who are slated to compete this year are set to do so for different teams.
Those two drivers are Valtteri Bottas and George Russell. In 2021, Bottas competed for Mercedes and Russell competed for Williams.
Bottas, who spent the last five seasons competing for the Silver Arrows, has made the move to Alfa Romeo, replacing the retiring Kimi Raikkonen, while Russell, who spent his first three seasons in Formula 1 competing for Williams, has made the move to Mercedes to replace Bottas alongside Lewis Hamilton.
Russell and Bottas were teammates at Mercedes for one race in 2020 after Hamilton tested positive for COVID-19.
Bottas has joined rookie Guanyu Zhou, who has replaced now-Formula E driver Antonio Giovinazzi. Zhou is the only rookie set to compete in the 2022 season, as Russell’s replacement at Williams alongside Nicholas Latifi is Alexander Albon.
While Albon did not have a ride in 2021, he competed full-time in both 2019 (for Toro Rosso — now AlphaTauri — and Red Bull) and in 2020 (for Red Bull).
Nikita Mazepin also lost his ride with Haas for 2022, but he was replaced by a driver who, like Albon, competed in 2020 but not in 2021. That driver is the driver who Mazepin ironically replaced when he joined Haas in 2021: Kevin Magnussen.
These changes mean that six of the sport’s 10 teams — Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine, AlphaTauri and Aston Martin — have retained both of their 2021 drivers for the 2022 season.
The Bahrain Grand Prix is scheduled to get the 2022 Formula 1 season underway this Sunday, March 20 at Bahrain International Circuit. Beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET, ESPN is set to broadcast the race live, so start your free trial of FuboTV today!