Formula 1

[Harry_W01]

7 minutes ago, charlierc said:

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.

I feel bloody awful for Sainz, IMO the race spin wasn't his fault but it's just really bad luck, I'm hoping his 2 year extension gives him the confidence to push the living hell out of that car, otherwise I think Max and Charles will just runaway.

Redbull have seemingly fixed their issue(s)? and are right back up there lovely to see, I don't see any reason for Checo to get a 2 year extension to his contract given his current performance, of course they need to make a decision on Gasly though but Checo all the way for me, class second driver and brings lots of experience to the team

What on Earth is going on in Mercedes, they really have developed a awful car, I am hearing they may just scrap the no-pods design completely 

[charlierc]

3 minutes ago, Harry_W01 said:

I feel bloody awful for Sainz, IMO the race spin wasn't his fault but it's just really bad luck, I'm hoping his 2 year extension gives him the confidence to push the living hell out of that car, otherwise I think Max and Charles will just runaway.

Redbull have seemingly fixed their issue(s)? and are right back up there lovely to see, I don't see any reason for Checo to get a 2 year extension to his contract given his current performance, of course they need to make a decision on Gasly though but Checo all the way for me, class second driver and brings lots of experience to the team

What on Earth is going on in Mercedes, they really have developed a awful car, I am hearing they may just scrap the no-pods design completely 

Yeah - just a first lap greasy track incident. Was Ricciardo's fault mainly but even then I don't think there's much else he could've done differently (I know he was hit by Bottas but it looks like Ricciardo hit Sainz before he got hit by VB). Leclerc's mistake nearly made it worse. Ferrari are lucky that wasn't a DNF for him - maybe at a higher speed sequence it would've been.

I mean, McLaren look like they're ahead of Merc on pace atm with the same engine despite being their customer rather than work team. Plus Mercedes are still struggling hard with the porpoising thing, to the point where Russell said driving it on Sunday gave him chest pains and Hamilton is seemingly getting gloomier by the weekend.

[DareToDibble]

There is no doubt the Mercedes isn't great but this whole thing of Toto apologising to Lewis for an undriveable car seems a little odd to me when his teammate is finishing 4th. 

Once Danny Ric was effectively last by the end of the first lap I am amazed he/McLaren weren't able to make any kind of impression on making places back up. A very weird race for him.

[charlierc]

10 hours ago, Barry Fish said:

I was really surprised with Sainz's contract - bit unnecessary - he was hardly likely to join another team and he really has not had the best of starts.

I guess Sainz still has the glow from outscoring Leclerc and grabbing 3 more podiums last season, and the fact he was one of 2021's best drivers outside the title fight. But his luck does seem to have turned. He was unlucky the red flag in Australia came just as he was about to cross the line in Q3, nulling his lap-time, then had a broken steering wheel on lap 1 in Australia and his attempt to over-compensate put him out on lap 1.

I still think he'll win a race this year though.

[charlierc]

9 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

There is no doubt the Mercedes isn't great but this whole thing of Toto apologising to Lewis for an undriveable car seems a little odd to me when his teammate is finishing 4th. 

Once Danny Ric was effectively last by the end of the first lap I am amazed he/McLaren weren't able to make any kind of impression on making places back up. A very weird race for him.

Some people are going to be ready to compare this situation to Vettel & Ricciardo at Red Bull in 2014, when the young whippersnapper comes in to the big team at a moment of decline and outshines the big name. It's way too soon for that imo and it is true Russell has had a few breaks go his way, but I do agree they could be a bit happier for him.

I did wonder if Hamilton's pre-race complaint about engine issues was more severe than thought. People did seem keen to brush that concern aside but it cannot be a good sign that he just got stuck behind Gasly for the whole race, who in turn got stuck behind Albon and a pre-penalty Ocon.

[Harry_W01]

 

I think we all know where this is going... 

[DareToDibble]

12 hours ago, Harry_W01 said:

 

I think we all know where this is going... 

It would be worth it to watch the absolute meltdown on social media. I’m all for it.

[DareToDibble]

1 hour ago, Barry Fish said:

Not going to happen 🙂 

Nah not a chance. They must have backups for this kind of situation. Although provided they can get all the screens/comms to them I guess there is a chance they could do it remotely?

Not only that, the Miama GP is outside the 10 day isolation window anyway isn't it? If they're operating a 10 day window in the US that is.

[charlierc]

On 4/27/2022 at 8:04 PM, Harry_W01 said:

 

I think we all know where this is going... 

Would be an interesting test of this new structure of this new approach if it actually worked with Masi in post. Though I presume he's somewhere near the bottom of the list of standby race directors given how much people are still annoyed with him for the last few weeks of 2021.

[charlierc]

I had a look at the ticket prices for this Miami race next week and holy shit. Cheapest ticket was like 3 times the price of Silverstone with grandstands in the thousands of dollars. And all for a race that, to my eye, looks like it's gonna be in an NFL stadium car park because locals in Miami didn't really want it.

Tbf the track does look like it might potentially be better than feared, but it does give off more of a Formula E track vibe partnered with cars that are much bigger than those ones so a lot more difficult to overtake with.

[charlierc]

Given the Miami track is in an NFL stadium car park, it actually looks alright, although the slow chicane going into the back straight is a bit of a mess. Practice also indicates Mercedes might actually be closer to the front than they were in the first 4 rounds, so could open things up.

[charlierc]

3 hours ago, Barry Fish said:

I've been a bit bemused about the complaints its built in a car park - I mean - what on earth does that matter lol... 

Legacy of the Caesars Palace race in Vegas in the early 80s I guess, which was in a casino car park and was slagged off by all and sundry. And still is by contemporary F1 YouTubers.

I'd been out but arrived in time to see the final 12 laps just as the safety car was coming in. I lucked into the livelier part.

[DareToDibble]

Yeah, for all the fanfare in the build up to the weekend, that was probably the worst race of the season so far. Mercedes seem to slowly be getting back towards the front with both cars in the top 6. Still seems pretty nailed on to be a straight fight between Leclerc and Verstappen for the championship.

[charlierc]

17 hours ago, Barry Fish said:

It was an utterly dull GP...  you defo lucked in...

 

4 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

Yeah, for all the fanfare in the build up to the weekend, that was probably the worst race of the season so far. Mercedes seem to slowly be getting back towards the front with both cars in the top 6. Still seems pretty nailed on to be a straight fight between Leclerc and Verstappen for the championship.

It was genuinely something to see the sheer amount of hype F1 threw at this.

I will say I missed the Emilia-Romagna race live but to me that one sounded fairly uninteresting compared to the first two visits. I guess this had the novelty value of being a new venue and all kinds of midfield chaos after the safety car came in.

With Mercedes, it seemed curious that their new car was fastest of all in FP2 and on Ferrari/RB level in FP1, then the pace just disappeared again and they were back to being nearly a second slower. Russell did well to get P5, even if safety car and a mistake by Bottas helped, but they're still not quite at race-winning level yet.

[pryce]

not F1, but been offered tickets to Le mans next month! cant wait, bucket list stuff for me.

 

just need to keep up with my swiss cousin and her friends, lets not split the bill please! your money goes hell of alonger way than mine

[charlierc]

5 hours ago, pryce said:

not F1, but been offered tickets to Le mans next month! cant wait, bucket list stuff for me.

 

just need to keep up with my swiss cousin and her friends, lets not split the bill please! your money goes hell of alonger way than mine

My uncle's been to Le Mans and says its great. I've never quite got into it but I imagine when you're there that it's amazing.

[km9]

RIP Leclerc 

[km9]

No not that one, the Allo Allo one 

[DareToDibble]

So after a pretty boring Miami GP, we have Barcelona this weekend. Also notoriously boring. I'm hoping for a good race though. Would love to see Carlos Sainz win his home GP and I feel like he's probably due a bit of luck.

Will be interesting to see how each teams upgrades perform, we could see a bit of a shuffle around in the midfield and Mercedes join the top 2.

[charlierc]

Barcelona can be an up and down circuit tbf. Last year's was pretty good. 2020's was abysmal. Though I'm aware one of the most exciting visits there was 2016 when the Mercedes took one another out.

[charlierc]

Good race that. Plenty of stuff to keep us guessing, fair few drivers in the mix, some mistakes, the variable of Verstappen's DRS being inconsistently on or off, and some good action. I've seen worse races.

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, Barry Fish said:

Yup - its a shame Perez is firmly a number 2 driver and felt so sorry for Charles.

I did chuckle every time Max wing wouldn't open and Russells defending was fantastic.

Good the Merc has taken steps forward - hard to work out by how much.  They could possibly be the 2nd best car now.

I mean, Red Bull knew Perez would have stop a third time given the tyres weren't durable enough to do a 2 stop, which is kinda nuts to think given this was a borderline 1-stop last year. Could've just pulled him in when Verstappen had solidified his gain on Russell tbh.

Russell did very well tbf. It did help Verstappen's DRS was oddly temperamental where it seemed to only work on alternating laps, but it was working, Russell did very well to hold him off. Hamilton did really well to recover too - I didn't think he'd get points after the opening snafu with Magnussen, yet being close to P4 and still getting P5 is good. Does mean the high contrast of the slowly-slow Monaco then the speedier Baku and Montreal will be very interesting indeed. It's getting close between Mercedes and Ferrari.

Can't imagine Lando Norris had a fun afternoon. Was diagnosed with tonsillitis after a post-race meeting with the doctors and felt very ill while on a baking hot day under all those layers of fireproof clothing.

Edited May 22, 2022 by charlierc

[charlierc]

I think overall the process with delayed start worked for the wrong reason - if they'd just gone as planned, it would've been stopped straight away and lead to a shortened race.

I go back and forth on whether I think Monaco should stick around tbf. Qualifying is certainly a better watch for it, and I appreciate there's both a lot of history and a very unique challenge, but the overtaking impossibility has to be addressed. The bit where Alonso lead half the grid at a slow place for a while was hilarious, but it's not exactly the stuff of compelling racing. Even if this one was better than some recent Monaco snoozefests.

[DareToDibble]

I wouldn't miss it. I get that it's a great spectacle and I'm sure the drivers and teams all love it but the rest is an absolute snoozefest. This year wasn't quite as bad with the changing conditions but even then it wasn't great. You can make some great early tyre calls like Gasly and get very little reward for it as you still struggle to overtake when you're on clearly faster tyres.

On a different note, Ferrari really aren't doing Leclerc any favours are they. Mad.

[Ozanne]

3 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

I wouldn't miss it. I get that it's a great spectacle and I'm sure the drivers and teams all love it but the rest is an absolute snoozefest. This year wasn't quite as bad with the changing conditions but even then it wasn't great. You can make some great early tyre calls like Gasly and get very little reward for it as you still struggle to overtake when you're on clearly faster tyres.

On a different note, Ferrari really aren't doing Leclerc any favours are they. Mad.

I don't know if the drivers even like it that much, seems like a frustrating race to be a part of. They should scrap Monaco as it's not even race and has barely any overtaking.