Formula 1

[squirrelarmy]

I haven’t seen the race or any of the footage this weekend but have seen the result and I’m not surprised. 
 

The producers of this seasons Drive to Survive obviously want to move the narrative away from Merc vs Red Bull after the controversial ending of last season. 
 

What better way than bringing back an old villain for a cameo. 
 

I wonder what they have planned for the next episode of the show. 

[DareToDibble]

Early indications are that the new regs are working in regards to being able to follow other cars more closely. The Leclerc/Verstappen battle for those 2/3 laps was great.

Ferrari definitely the team to beat and if Red Bull can solve the issue they had then they're probably not too far behind so we could be in for some great races.

Hugely disappointed in McLaren. They showed so much promise in testing. I know it's not a great indicator but I don't think anyone saw them being that bad.

Some great drives in the midfield too. Bottas and Magnussen especially smashing it.

Very excited for the season ahead. 

[charlierc]

Was quite a decent season opener, though imo the 2021 opener was livelier. New regs do have potential but Bahrain is usually a good overtaking track - somewhere like Imola or Barcelona may well be a bigger acid test.

Ferrari look to have built both a strong car and strong engine, given how Alfa Romeo and Haas look to have jumped to top of the midfield. Red Bull's package looks like a close second but the brake heating after the Leclerc-Max fight will probably be a concern even before the ending failure, which was apparently an issue to do with engine fuel system. Mercedes do seem to still have major porpoising issues and a car off Ferrari/RB whilst McLaren and Aston Martin look like they are in deep shit.

Be interesting to see if there is a pecking order change for Saudi Arabia, which is certainly a different kind of test judging by 2021's lunatic race.

[Ozanne]

I didn't watch the race because I'm not ready to fully invest yet after last season but I did catch Hamilton getting 3rd, which was very lovely to see given the events of last season. 

Mercedes have said that they can have technical solutions by the start of the European season which is end of April so hopefully it won't be long before they can be back up there.

[Back of the Pymild]

Ferrari are back babyyyyyy!

[charlierc]

I wonder if the Saudi GP will be as utterly ridiculous this time or the fact it's not coming at such a crucial moment in a close title fight will control some of the madness.

[DareToDibble]

They’ve widened the track in some places which seems to have helped with visibility a bit. Still think it might be a bit of a crap race though.

Ferrari and Red Bull looking likely to lock out the front 2 rows of the grid again.

[steviewevie]

 

[charlierc]

I mean, would you blame them for being uneasy? This is not a great situation.

[Harry_W01]

 

Edited March 26, 2022 by Harry_W01

[WS_Jack_III]

What an odd looking grid that is for tomorrow. What on earth is going on at Merc and with Ham?

[DareToDibble]

Find it very odd that Hamilton is struggling so much this weekend compared to George. Something not right with that car. 
Delighted for Perez! Can’t wait for the race today now. Ferrari 1-3, Red Bull 2-4 I reckon.

[charlierc]

That Schumacher crash looked vicious, and I'm guessing it's the fact it broke the team radio that made it so much more of an awkward wait to see if he was OK. Good to know that he is.

As far as Mercedes goes, something to me looks wrong with their engine. If it wasn't for Yuki Tsunoda's engine failing to fire up, I'm going to guess there likely would've been 5/5 out in Q1 with Mercedes power, continuing a theme given the Bahrain GP last week, all of the bottom 6 finishers were Mercedes-powered teams. Looks as well as though Russell got the set-up right while Hamilton very much didn't - he himself has said they've got it wrong.

[WS_Jack_III]

The battles are much better so far this season, cars are following each other and making overtakes on each other lap after lap!

[charlierc]

Considering the pre-race anxiety over the dangerous nature of parts of the track, it's kinda funny F2 had no safety cars or even yellow flags earlier, while the F1 had 3 DNFs and a DNS that had nothing to do with crashing.

Leclerc v Verstappen is looking like a really good battle already. There was definite potential in the squabble in Bahrain but here the post-VSC stuff was very good and some good driving from both.

[Crazyfool01]

Nice race that . Merc coming back into it race by race 🙂 maybe those that talk about lucky max might now stop ?! 

Edited April 10, 2022 by crazyfool1

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, crazyfool1 said:

Nice race that . Merc coming back into it race by race 🙂 maybe those that talk about lucky max might now stop ?! 

Verstappen, Sainz, Vettel, Alonso - it's difficult to know whose race was the most luckless tbh.

I know it's 3 races into a 22/23 race season, and a DNF or two could change things, but Leclerc just looks on it. Already he has a bigger gap than either Hamilton or Verstappen managed at any stage last year, with the Red Bull being fragile and Mercedes not yet having the pace to challenge for poles. I was wondering if he was as good as the hype after Sainz beat him last year but Leclerc means business.

McLaren getting double points and Williams getting a sneaky point when both looked hopeless in Bahrain is also good going. Aston Martin, by contrast, feel like they've got a lot of issues.

[Ozanne]

Max Verstappen will get an unreal level of luck in the next race, there can’t be an event which just has him as unlucky without something happening to benefit him next. He is the human error champion after all.

[WS_Jack_III]

Do we think Merc will get up to speed this season? I'm really hoping so because a 3 way fight would be awesome.

[charlierc]

7 hours ago, Barry Fish said:

I think its time to move on from last year...  

I mean... Toto Wolff is still happy to comment on that: Toto Wolff says former race director Masi was liability to F1 and disrespectful | Formula One | The Guardian

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, WS_Jack_III said:

Do we think Merc will get up to speed this season? I'm really hoping so because a 3 way fight would be awesome.

I think Mercedes could eventually come strong in the second half of the season, similar to McLaren in 2009 when reigning champion Hamilton went from a lot of early Q1 exits after they botched the new rules to winning races and grabbing consistent podiums, but the gap their fastest times have to Ferrari's in qualifying is a huge one to overcome if they're to fight for honours.

Hell on current trajectory I think McLaren might genuinely be up to speed first, given they've gone from being one of the slowest in Bahrain to being comfortably ahead of the midfield at Melbourne, with Norris outqualifying both Mercs. Alpine think they could also fight for podiums, given Alonso was on course for a top 4 time until a hydraulic failure lead to him binning it in Q3.

[charlierc]

20 hours ago, Barry Fish said:

Yup but that is a bit different than moaning about Max and generally just having a chip on your shoulder....

True.

I know a fair amount has been made about the change of approach, given the new Race Director has been quoted of giving lengthy mentions at their pre-Australia driver's briefing about fireproof underwear and a jewellery ban that has been in force since 2005 but which nobody seemed to notice.

[DareToDibble]

Completely forgot until watching FP1 that we have Friday Quali and a sprint race tomorrow for this weekend. Can't see anything other than another Leclerc win but you never know. May be in for our first wet quali/race of the season too.

[Harry_W01]

Grid for tomorrows sprint, another good Quali for Charles & Max. such a shame to see Sainz crash again, I really hope he brings it back in the sprint and race.

Hats off to Kmag for his and Haas best ever Qualifying result, really happy to see them back in the midfield 

 

Edited April 22, 2022 by Harry_W01

[charlierc]

On 4/22/2022 at 8:02 PM, Harry_W01 said:

Grid for tomorrows sprint, another good Quali for Charles & Max. such a shame to see Sainz crash again, I really hope he brings it back in the sprint and race.

Pretty dispiriting weekend for Sainz's new Ferrari contract to be announced before he crashes in qualy, recovers in the sprint, then gets hit by Ricciardo on lap 1 and put out of the race.

Red Bull finally seem to have turned up and Leclerc making a mistake does seemingly open things back up again.