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The 2022 F1 season has seen new regulations shake things up a bit. It has seen some teams impress while others are still struggling with their machinery to try and find the best possible solution to the challenges of the new regulations.
This season has seen quite a few surprises. Last year's backmarker Haas becoming one of the mainstays of the midfield is one such surprise. After the first four races of the season, some teams are probably happy with the situation they find themselves in.
Some teams, however, have struggled to adapt to the new regulations. They are in desperate need of a strong performance to get their campaign back on track or keep building momentum. In this piece, let's take a look at some of the teams that are desperate for a strong result in the F1 Miami GP.
#1 Mercedes
Mercedes was in for a rude awakening at the Imola GP. While George Russell was still able to muscle his way into 4th place in the race, the same could not be said for Lewis Hamilton, who could only muster a 13th place finish. Mercedes arguably dropped from being the third-fastest car on the grid to the fourth-fastest car behind McLaren in Imola.
The German team has maintained that it is still trying to understand its 2022 challenger. It has claimed that once it does so, it can start developing the car and making suitable modifications. Having said that, Miami is going to be the fifth race of the season. By the end of the race, 20% of the season will be over and whatever ground Mercedes has lost in the F1 championship will be ever so hard to get back.
The team is expected to bring a few upgrades to Miami that are expected to close the gap to the front. For its own sake, if the team has any plans to fight at the front, then these upgrades need to work. Mercedes needs a strong F1 Miami GP, because if that is not the case then the pressure will start mounting on the team.
#2 Red Bull
It might sound strange to put Red Bull on the list of teams that are desperate for a strong result in the F1 Miami GP, but sadly that is the case. Red Bull might have had a 1-2 in Imola but that does not diminish the fact that the team has had as many as three DNFs in the first three races. Red Bull's F1 title contender Max Verstappen himself has suffered DNFs in two of the four races of the season.
The team had a poor first race in Bahrain, then everything clicked in Saudi Arabia only for it to get pear-shaped in Australia. Red Bull scored a 1-2 in Imola but questions remain on the reliability of their machinery. The team cannot afford a bad race in Miami and if it does not suffer from any reliability issues, it could transform into a legitimate title contender.
#3 Alpine F1
Everything looked great for Alpine at the end of the second F1 race in Saudi Arabia. Esteban Ocon scored a good chunk of points, the team was fourth in the championship, and it did appear to have the pace to comfortably challenge for fourth position.
Since then, Alpine has seen reliability destroy Fernando Alonso's race in Australia as he suffered a car failure in Q3. Things got even worse for Ocon at Imola as his gearbox broke during Q1 and he had to start the sprint at the back of the grid.
The French outfit had claimed that fourth was a realistic target for the team for the 2022 season. With McLaren gaining form and scoring a huge chunk of points in the last two races, Alpine has fallen behind. The team needs a very strong race to showcase the performance of the car and make a comeback in the championship.
