From Albon’s new contract tweet to Bottas’s bare behind – The best F1 social media of 2022

We were spoiled for entertainment by the on-track action in 2022 but the teams and drivers did just as good a job of keeping us amused off the track too. So, with the season now wrapped, let’s look back on a few of the best moments from social media this season.

Albon pokes fun at Alpine and Piastri with contract extension announcement

We all know about the infamous Twitter fallout between Oscar Piastri and Alpine earlier this year. But one of the funniest reactions to the situation was Alex Albon posting a hilariously similar tweet to Piastri, as he announced that he had signed a contract extension with Williams. Well played Alex.

EXCLUSIVE: Piastri on joining McLaren, leaving Alpine and making his F1 debut

Grid penalties galore in Belgium

Following the summer break, several teams took grid penalties at the Belgian Grand Prix, and quite frankly, it was hard to keep up with who was starting where. Knowing how much we were all struggling to keep up, the Haas admin, kindly, simplified it for us all…

BEYOND THE GRID: Enjoy the best moments from 2022, featuring Vettel, Russell, Sainz and more

Bottas gifts Hamilton a special picture

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were team mates for five seasons at Mercedes, and by their own admission, they became quite close friends during their time working together. And ahead of the Monaco GP, Bottas gifted his pal with an especially revealing picture of himself.

Tsunoda and Gasly Got Talent

A few months ago a rumour spread that there was footage of Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly enjoying some downtime together at karaoke. Knowing the clamour that existed for the video, AlphaTauri felt it would be prudent to release the tape of them ‘singing’ along to Adele’s hit single Hello. How do we say this kindly? We’re glad they had fun…

READ MORE: ‘It was a hell of a ride’ – Gasly says AlphaTauri spell made him a ‘better driver’ as he gets set for Alpine switch

Beckham and Leclerc’s kickabout

Let’s face it, we’ve all dreamed of doing this: having a kickabout with one of the best footballers ever. So, here’s a video of Charles Leclerc living out of all our dreams.

READ MORE: ‘It was like looking at my younger self’ – Vettel reflects on time as team mate with ‘special’ Leclerc

Something loose between K-Mag’s legs

Kevin Magnussen was confined to the pit lane for a time during at practice in Austin, as something was loose between his legs. Haas, appropriately, then felt there was no time like the present to draw comparison to Sebastian Vettel’s infamous radio message from Brazil.

READ MORE: ‘We had a lot of fun’ – Father-son Magnussen duo impress with top-10 finish in Gulf 12 Hours

Drivers’ dinner breaks the internet

Ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi, all 20 the drivers convened for dinner together, as a way to pay tribute to Sebastian Vettel before of his final race. Pretty sure that we’re not the only ones that would like more footage from that evening, but at least we didn’t get stuck with the bill…

READ MORE: ‘It’s going to be strange without him’ – F1 drivers pay tribute to Vettel ahead of his retirement

To FP1… and beyond!

A lot of teams used the final FP1 session in Abu Dhabi to give their rookies a chance in their 2022 cars. So, Haas felt it best to use Woody and Buzz from Toy Story to illustrate just how many rookie drivers were out on track at the same time.

READ MORE: McLaren rookie Piastri explains why he chose #81 as his race number for 2023

Nyck Debris

After his mix-up over the radio in Mexico, Carlos Sainz will surely be spending his winter break relaxing, training for next season, and most probably learning the difference between “De Vries” and “Debris”. With Dutchman Nyck now a full-time driver at AlphaTauri, he might hear the name a bit more next year.

Yuki goes bowling

As heavy rain forced a delay to the proceedings in Singapore, the AlphaTauri admin kept us entertained by releasing some unseen footage of Tsunoda bowling. But in true Yuki style, he did it his own way.

READ MORE: From Magnussen’s mega comeback to the pursuit of Piastri – 8 crazy storylines from the 2022 season

Esteban welcomes Pierre

There will be two French drivers racing for Alpine next year, and they have a relationship that extends all the way back to their childhoods, as shown by Esteban Ocon’s wholesome welcome message to his new team mate Gasly – and a cute picture to boot.

Haas left in disbelief

After Magnussen sealed his and Haas’ first pole position in F1, the American team found themselves lining up in new territory at the front of the grid for the Sprint in Brazil – and their admin was not used to it.

READ MORE: Magnussen expects Hulkenberg to be ‘big asset’ for Haas as he addresses 2017 fall-out with German

Mick gives Seb a farewell thumbs up

As Vettel waited in a queue to head out on to the Yas Marina Circuit for the final FP1 session of his career, his good old buddy Mick Schumacher popped up in the corner of his eye with a thumbs up. A small but touching moment between the two friends who will no longer be racing each other in F1.

Mercedes and Hamilton are tired

Driving an F1 car for the best part of two hours is an exhausting affair, as shown by Lewis Hamilton being caught lying on the floor in the cool down room after the French GP. Based on Mercedes’ tweet below, he wasn’t the only member of his team left needing a nap after the action.

BEYOND THE GRID: ‘We learn the most when we lose’ – Wolff hopes rivals will ‘regret’ Mercedes’ 2022 struggles

Perez spies on… Perez

We often see the drivers invovled in intense planning with their engineers ahead of every Grand Prix. And that is what Sergio Perez was doing in Mexico, but this time under the watchful eye of his father, with Perez Senior clearly making sure his son’s workings were correct.