The 2022 Formula One season is already almost upon us and promises to usher in an era for the category that will look like never before.

This year will feature the biggest overhaul to F1’s regulations since the last major re-imagining of cars 40 years ago.

F1 engineer extraordinaire Adrian Newey described this as “an enormous change” that will touch virtually every component of car performance.

“The only thing that really stays the same is the power unit. Everything else is different,” Newey said on the Talking Bull podcast last year.

The changes are primarily aimed at entertaining fans while also reducing costs and forging a more even competition.

They are the result of four years of painstaking work between F1, the FIA, teams and experts.

“This is the start of a new journey, a new philosophy, a new culture, where the raceability of these cars is going to be vital to future Formula 1,” managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn said.

“And why do we do that? We do that because we want to entertain the fans, we want to engage the fans, we want new fans to come into the sport.

“We want to respect and maintain our existing fans so they remain excited about the pinnacle of motorsport.”

The 2022 concept car was put through approximately 7,500 simulations, producing half a petabyte of data, or the equivalent of 10 billion Facebook photos.

Below is not an exhaustive list of the new regulations, but a summary of the key changes that will have the biggest influence on F1 in 2022.

Others not mentioned below include a freeze on power units until 2026, the use of more sustainable fuel and safety changes.

Underbody tunnels on the floors of cars were banned in 1982, but they’re back.

The reason is because in lieu of underbody tunnels, teams have - with better and more devastating effect with every passing year - used the car’s bodywork to create more downforce instead.

This has led primarily to the development of more complex front and rear wing designs, end plates and bargeboards, while some other devices – such as McLaren’s infamous F-duct in 2010 – have been banned.

In 2022, cars will feature drastically simplified bodywork and once again rely heavily on the floor to generate downforce instead.

To understand why teams have pushed the envelope, throwing tens of billions of dollars at research and development in this area since underbody tunnels were banned, we need to understand the importance of downforce.

F1 vehicles are designed like reverse aeroplanes: The faster they go, the more they are sucked into the ground. In other words, the stronger a car’s aerodynamic downforce is, the faster it can go around middle-to-high speed corners, thus gaining crucial time.

Slow-speed corners are a matter of mechanical grip, which pertains to suspension and tyres (more on tyres later).

The trade-off of increasingly sophisticated bodywork in the pursuit of downforce, however, is the phenomenon known as turbulent, or ‘dirty’, air.

The more aerodynamic downforce a car generates, the more it creates a wake that disturbs the air behind it. In turn, the effectiveness of the trailing car’s aerodynamics is diminished.

This is why you will often see a fast car easily catch a slower one when in clear air, only to then find it exceedingly difficult to actually pass.

One engineer involved in the technical changes said ‘dirty’ air leads to a “catastrophic downforce loss”. Research last year showed that cars lose 35 per cent of downforce when three car lengths - about 20 metres - behind a leading car.

Formula One’s solution in 2011 was to create the Drag Reduction System (DRS) – which is effectively an overtaking aid. When DRS is available, a driver can open a flap in the car’s rear wing to reduce its level of downforce, and therefore go faster in a straight-line to execute an overtake.

It’s a band-aid solution, at best, and one considered to be artificial by many drivers and racing enthusiasts alike.

Which brings us back to the underbody tunnels. The science behind them is complex.

The short of it is that through channelling the passing air in a very particular way, a suction underneath the car can be created, thus generating downforce with a reduced wake.

With underbody tunnels back, cars must remove bargeboards completely, front wings will be simplified to feature only four elements, while the endplates are single-piece. The rear wing will be virtually without an endplate at all.

Wheel covers will also return and feature a deflector to assist with minimising wake.

In even shorter terms, it simply means this: Expect better, more close-quarters racing between cars in 2022 onwards.

Who does it suit?

Apart from the fans, teams with lesser resources.

Given many teams share power unit suppliers, it’s often in the area of aerodynamics that resource-rich teams, such as Red Bull and Mercedes, excel above the rest.

Investing in this area is incredibly expensive, which is why it’s been 12 seasons since either Mercedes or Red Bull have failed to win the championship.

Of course, the stronger teams don’t simply just throw money at problems. They also deploy the best and brightest minds who regularly find genius solutions to complex problems, and exploit gaps in the rules to make faster cars.

They will do so again.

But while it’s unlikely to suddenly see the likes of Haas competing at the front end, simplifying bodywork at least helps restrict the amount of areas in which the top teams can gain an advantage.

It will also work in the favour of the better drivers and more savvy overtakers, such as Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull’s pair of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc or Mercedes new boy George Russell, who are all noted attacking forces.

Those who excel in the craft of overtaking will, in theory, have their shackles removed with less ‘dirty’ air to contend with.

Ricciardo will no doubt be licking his lips, while it could leave those lesser versed in the art of wheel-to-wheel racing exposed. Valtteri Bottas is one name who’s not known as an accomplished overtaker, while some even doubt seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton’s own skills, although that’s merely because he’s led so many races from the front.

Furthermore, teams with drivers experienced in car development also stand to benefit. They don’t come much more experienced in the field than Ricciardo, who played a key role in development at Red Bull, Renault and now McLaren. Fernando Alonso and Hamilton’s experience will also be a big boost for Alpine and Mercedes respectively.