Formula 1 good month, bad month, February 2022

Good month

Haas anyone seen Gene?

Diehard budget F1 outfit Haas decided not to fly owner Gene Haas in for the final race of the season, but just Photoshop him into the team’s end-of- year snap instead. Makes sense.

George airs his view

In a world packed with anodyne, paid-to-keep-quiet sport stars, it really does warm the cockles to see George Russell letting rip on Twitter after the Abu Dhabi GP: “Unacceptable.”

Red Bull’s big tow

Expert Red Bull teamwork in Abu Dhabi with both cars giving each other a tow in qualifying, securing pole for Verstappen, before Pérez masterfully held up Hamilton during the race.

F1’s rogue marshal

Solidarity with the ‘rogue marshal’ in Qatar, who had given up their time, free of charge, to help one of the world’s most moneyed sports operate – and did the job completely to the letter of the law – only to get bad mouthed by Christian Horner.

Wing and a prayer

Yuki Tsunoda channelled the spirit of his countryman Takuma Sato by sweeping beautifully round the outside of Carlos Sainz in Jeddah – then crashing later, losing a front wing.

Bad month

Michael Masi’s Deal or No Deal

After impersonating Noel Edmonds in Saudi Arabia, F1’s race disruptor then went full Bullseye in Abu Dhabi, giving Lewis Hamilton a “here’s what you could’ve won” moment.

Pressing the flesh

Seeing F1 bosses smarming around Saudi’s absolute monarch Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who according to US intelligence orders the killing of journalists, doesn’t make for pleasant watching.

Full Gas

Gasly genius in Qatar – go fourth- fastest in Q3, then destroy your car Wacky Races-style on the final run, bringing out the yellow which some ‘ignore’, meaning you get promoted to second on race day!

FIA blame shifting

After the controversy surrounding the final race where rules were incorrectly applied, the FIA rushed out a statement blaming a “significant misunderstanding” among “teams, drivers and fans”. Ah, so nothing to do with them, then…

Free paddock pass

Hamilton used his standing in sport and the general public’s consciousness to draw attention to things that matter, such as F1 racing in Saudi, a country with appalling human rights laws. But why were other drivers not questioned on this?