The 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship was a motor racing championship for Formula One cars, which was the 73rd running of the Formula One World Championship. It is recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body of international motorsport, as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The championship was contested over twenty-two , which were held around the world, and ended earlier than in recent years to avoid overlapping with the FIFA World Cup.
Drivers and teams competed for the titles of World Drivers' Champion and World Constructors' Champion, respectively. The 2022 championship saw the introduction of significant changes to the sport's technical regulations. These changes had been intended to be introduced in , but were delayed until 2022 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Max Verstappen, who was the reigning Drivers' Champion, claimed his second title at the Japanese Grand Prix, while his team, Red Bull Racing, achieved their fifth World Constructor Championship, and first since , at the following United States Grand Prix. Mercedes were the reigning Constructors' Champion.
This was the final season for four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel. Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton endured a difficult season with Mercedes, failing to secure either a pole position or Grand Prix win during the season, the first time either occurrence had happened in his Formula One career since it began in .
Entries
The following constructors and drivers were under contract to compete in the 2022 World Championship. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli. Each team was required to enter at least two drivers, one for each of the two mandatory cars.
Free practice drivers
In at least two sessions of Grand Prix weekends, one for each car entered in the championship, each team was required to field a driver who had not taken part in more than two Grands Prix. The following drivers were entered at selected events to drive in free practice:
Team changes
Honda initially stated that they would not supply power units beyond . The company had provided power units to Scuderia AlphaTauri (previously called Scuderia Toro Rosso) since and to Red Bull Racing since . Initially, Red Bull Racing planned to take over Honda's engine programme and manage it in-house, under a new division called Red Bull Powertrains. The decision was made after lobbying the other nine teams to negotiate an engine development freeze until 2025. Red Bull Racing acknowledged that they would have left the championship if the engine development freeze had not been agreed to as they could not develop a brand new engine, and both Red Bull Racing and Renault were unwilling to resume their former partnership. Honda later agreed to continue supplying Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri for with engines for this season, which were rebadged to Red Bull Powertrains. In addition to the assembly and maintenance of the engines, Honda continued to provide Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri with technical and operational oversight during race weekends.
Driver changes
Kimi Räikkönen retired following the conclusion of the 2021 championship; Räikkönen won 21 races, and the 2007 World Drivers' Championship across a 19 season Formula career. Räikkönen's seat at Alfa Romeo was filled by Valtteri Bottas, who left Mercedes after 5 seasons. George Russell replaced Bottas, vacating the seat that he had held for the past 3 seasons at Williams. Russell was replaced by former Red Bull Racing driver Alex Albon.
Zhou Guanyu, who finished third in the 2021 Formula 2 Championship, joined Alfa Romeo, in place of Antonio Giovinazzi, who had been at the team since 2019. Zhou became the first Chinese driver to compete in Formula One.
Nikita Mazepin was originally contracted to compete for Haas, as part of a multi-year contract that started in 2021. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resultant cancellation of Uralkali's title sponsorship of Haas, his contract was terminated. He was replaced by Kevin Magnussen, who had last competed in with the same team.
Mid-season changes
Ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel tested positive for coronavirus. He was replaced at the event, and the subsequent Saudi Arabian Grand Prix by Aston Martin by reserve driver Nico Hülkenberg, who last raced at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, driving for former team Racing Point.
During the Italian Grand Prix weekend, Alex Albon suffered from appendicitis. He was replaced at Williams by the Mercedes reserve driver 2020–21 Formula E and 2019 Formula 2 Champion Nyck de Vries, who made his Formula One race debut.