F1 - 2022

[Brit_in_TX]

It was a great race. 

The race pace that the Mercedes showed, particularly Hamilton was a huge step forwards.  At the end of lap 2 he was around 1 minute behind the leader, if you take out the final laps where he had to slow for the cooling issue - he should have finished between 30-40 seconds behind Max.  Which is a pretty good recovery.

[MiniDave]

Yep, I don't think they're pole contenders yet, but they certainly seem to be able to run with the other big dogs now in the race.....

Seems to be those three, then everyone else is just relegated to fill out the grid for now. for a while McLaren was getting podiums, and occasionally Alfa Tauri or Alpine looked like they could too but they all seem to be a ways off the pace anymore compared to the big three.

Alfa - at least in Bottas' hands - is a solid 6th almost every race, I don't see him going any further up the grid unless there's a big turn one smash up or something but he's there every race if something does happen to the front 6.

Everyone wondered how George would do against the Haminator - now we know - he does just fine! I wonder how they managed to fit him in the car tho - he's SO tall compared to the other little muchkins.

[Brit_in_TX]

Agreed that Merc race pace is getting there.  Just need to unlock the one lap pace in qualifying.

Disappointments this year have to be Alonso and Riccardo, both been out scored by their team mates.

Also one of the commentators said that Latifi could be out of the Williams part way through the year, unless his performances improve.  That is interesting as he is a pay driver, so Williams financial position must have improved enough that they don't need the money from Daddy Latifi any more.

[MiniDave]

I think Latifi drove better when Geroge was with the team, either as an inspiration, or from his technical help. Either way, with George gone his performance has definitely suffered. Albon is doing the most with the least, but if Williams is going to get out of last place something has to change.

Aston Martin has to be the biggest disappointment of the season for me so far...somehow you always knew Mercedes would figure out their problems and get on top of them, I haven't seen much of that at AM.

BTW, when did Aramco become Aston's title sponsor?

[Brit_in_TX]

BTW, when did Aramco become Aston's title sponsor?

Beginning of the year, when BWT went to Alpine.

[Brit_in_TX]

Aston Martin has to be the biggest disappointment of the season for me so far...somehow you always knew Mercedes would figure out their problems and get on top of them, I haven't seen much of that at AM.

They have lost a lot of good people from the senior level of the team.  Otmar said in a candid interview, that he left because a lot of his authority was taken away "when the new owner came in". 

 

[gr8kornholio]

Ricky Bobby has been a disappointment ever since he left Red Bull.  I get it, he didn’t want to be over shadowed by the kid Max so go somewhere else where you are top dog.  Well…..  hasn’t happened.  Everywhere he’s gone he’s become second.  I really wish he’d stayed at Red Bull and used Max as inspiration to drive the wheels off it.  Sucks bad cause he is by far my favorite.  Happy personality and a Dale Earnhardt fan, hence the number 3.   Was seriously considering painting my mini the yellow Red Bull used.  Glad I didn’t follow through on that. 

[Brit_in_TX]

From what I have read as well, he is getting paid top dollar by McLaren.  Probably part of the reason Norris signed a re-negotiated deal in the middle of last year, as the rumor was Riccardo was on $17m a year and Norris was on $1.5m a year - now Norris is getting anything between $10 and $20m, depend on what you read. 

[MiniDave]

This year F1 has given us some great racing, and Monaco was no exception....a little rain can really shake things up tho in this case I think the final result was down to Ferrari's race strategy - again.

So this race had a little of everything, rain keeping the race from even starting, then a red flag on the formation lap, a rolling start behind the pace car, lots of strategy changes due to the weather - an interesting battle between Alonslow and the Hamster that almost changed the entire race at the end, a shortened race that ran to time rather than laps, and at one point we had drivers on full rains, intermediates and slicks on the same laps.

A big crash that Mick walked away from, another red flag, more different tire strategies with the threat of rain in the last few laps (that didn't happen) and then the final where the last few laps the first 4 cars were absolutely nose to tail.

Lots going on and I think Charles has to be wondering what the hell happened to his season, it started off so well, he's been driving brilliantly at every race and yet Max is even further ahead now.

[pbraun]

Yeah, another good, interesting race at Monaco with all sorts of things going on......Hope this all keeps up, with the championships going back and forth all along!

[BruceK]

And here I was thinking that if the Monaco Grand Prix never happens again I’ve decided that I’d be OK with that.  I know there are so many arguments about keeping it for the sake of tradition, but it’s really a crappy race track. Especially if you want to see racing actually happen.   I think that fact was pretty well illustrated by Alonzo being intent on keeping seventh place (and I don’t blame him for that) but nobody could do anything about it - he was holding up a train of 10 cars behind him.   Not exactly exciting to watch.  I think if I want to get all nostalgic about Monaco I should watch the old video of Senna’s on-board lap, or the movie Grand Prix.  Because watching modern racing there is not satisfying at all.

[Brit_in_TX]

The rain made it interesting, but the Race Director decision to delay the start makes the F1 drivers look like wimps.  Also the need to do something about the track, if someone can back the entire pack up 3-4 seconds a lap and not get past it is a bit of a joke.  For me, Monaco is the one race of the year of the year that I will miss and just watch the highlights.

Monaco still does not have a contract for next year and there is apparently 5 sticking points:
- A local broadcaster still produces and directs the coverage, for every other race there is an F1 TV Director.
- The race fee is substantially lower than other races.  Even historic races like Monza and Silverstone.
- F1 do not control the track side advertising.  This has caused some problems, for example Rolex is an official F1 sponsor and Tag Heuer had prominent advertising track side.
- Refusal to make circuit layout changes to help increase overtaking options, with the cars being so much bigger it makes the passing all put impossible in the dry.
- Logistics of the paddock etc.

Monaco GP organizers have previously thought they were in the position of strength when it comes to negotiations, but the F1 organizers think they can do without Monaco as global TV is more important.  And the new audience probably do not care about the history of the circuit, but want to see a good race. 

[MiniDave]

Lots of discussion about that, and today the talk is whether Danny Ricky Bobby will even finish out the season with Big Mac. Even tho he has a contract thru the end of 2023, apparently there are performance clauses that could let the team or him end it early.

So then the question becomes, who do they bring in? The first answer seems to be Oscar P, who is under contract to Alpine - which raises the idea that either they "lend" him to MacLaren - or an even wilder scenario has him taking Alonso's seat, and Fred going to Big Mac land.

If that happens it takes a lot of pressure off Latifi I guess....

Schumacher is another guy with a target painted on his back after yet another expensive crash. Gunther is NOT happy with Mick these days.....

[Brit_in_TX]

For McLaren, they have been talking up an F1 drive for Pato O'Ward who is in their Indycar program.  Maybe he could drive after the Indycar season finishes in September.  There is also a the rumor about Colton Herta, who kept Lando Norris honest in the junior formulae.  I don't think that McLaren have a junior driver program any more.

Schumacher is effectively a pay driver, as drive to survive showed that the 1&1 sponsorship is contingent on a german driver.  And a german driver with the name Schumacher has a lot of marketing value.  Can't see Haas being able to afford another major sponsor loss this season. 

There are plenty of drivers out there that deserve a shot at F1, I would like to see the grid shaken up a bit mid season.

[MiniDave]

What a disappointing race, and not just for Ferrari.....

I think unless Max has a similar spate of issues he's pretty much sewn up his second driver's championship, and with the Reds Bull now 80 pts ahead I think they may have pretty much gotten the constructor's as well.

Once again the Mercs use their reliability to score points and keep in the game, Russell in particular. With Hammy talking about sitting out the next round in Canada, I think the handwriting is on the wall for his career now.

I can't imagine Latifi lasting the rest of this season, rumor has it that after Silverstone, he's done in favor of Oscar Piastri.

Big Mac celebrating 8th and 9th hardly seems appropriate, but I suppose you take what you can get, and Danny Ricky Bobby hasn't gotten much lately.

Gasly had a standout race to come 5th, and the old warhorses Vettel and Alonso did pretty well too in 6th and 7th.

Bottas and Schumi were the only Ferrari engined cars to finish the race......

[Brit_in_TX]

Hamilton never talked about sitting out Canada, it was Toto Wolff that brought it up.  Probably to be dramatic and draw attention to the issue. 

Ferrari have a fast but unreliable car, and making a fast car reliable can be difficult.

Agree that Red Bull are sailing towards the championship, if they can keep the wheels on.  Be nice to see if Checo can challenge Max a little more, but not sure he will be able to.

Latifi is definitely going to be done before the end of the season, I wonder if they will let him race in Canada and then he will be replaced.  With Williams scoring some points, they probably not has tight on budget as previous years.  Question is who will replace him, Merc would like to put one of their drivers in and Alpine want to put Oscar Piastri in a seat in preparation to replace Alonso. 

Still think that Schumacher and Stroll are at risk this season unless they pick up their performances.  Stroll will probably hang as Daddy owns the team (but there are other sponsors to consider now) and Schumacher might hang on with his surname and also 1&1 wanting a German driver.

[MiniDave]

Which makes me wonder about Vettel....as he's really improved the last couple of races. Is he planning to go out on a high note? Or will he carry on one more year? Cause if he retires that also will open up a decent ride.

[MiniDave]

So, Oscar has a contract with Williams for 2 years, '23 and '24, AND Williams will switch to Renault motors during the contract period......so maybe Latifi got a reprieve to the end of this season - and maybe daddy bigbucks kicked in some more coin to keep him there for now?

No question Toto was campaigning for a rules change, also no question that he won't get it. As Horner said, if they want the car not to hurt their drivers, they need to fix the damn car. Or just raise it up a bit or put on a thicker floor or something - all of which would make them less competitive - so, that's not gonna happen either!

[MiniDave]

Rumors are getting even stronger that Piastri will be in the Williams at Silverstone. Apparently there are still a lot of dominos that have to fall into place, one of which is Alonso. If Alpine decide to sign him back to the team for 23-24, then putting Piastri at Williams with a Renault engine is a good move, for everyone. But, if they don't take Alonso on for another contract, apparently Piastri could become a "free agent" so to speak, as his contract with Alpine includes a clause that he be in F1 full time drive by next year, so either Alpine has to put him with Ocon, or risk losing him permanently to another team. Mercedes also figures into this somehow - I'm not quite sure how at this point, but Piastri has had a seat fitting with Alpine, Williams, McLaren and Mercedes already......

We'll know more after this weekend's race. If by some magical alignment of the stars Latifi manages to have a great weekend and score some points, maybe pressure can be brought to bear that he stays on thru the rest of this season. Another rumor says that his mother's family is a big player in Dorilton (who own Williams now) which could be a big pressure point too.

Way to many circles involved in this to call it for sure right now, but I'm thinking if he has a poor showing or yet another crash - he's out and Oscar's in.

[Brit_in_TX]

From a purely F1 perspective, Williams could make more money if they start scoring points with someone else in the car.  A long time a go I read an article on the economies of pay drivers, and it is not as simply as they pay to be in the car.  Performance clauses in other sponsor contracts need to be factored in and F1 prize money.  So Williams know they have a car that is capable of scoring points this year in the right hands, what the bean counters will be looking at is if score more points without a pay driver we could be in a better financial position. 

Also some F1 sponsorship deals snowball year on year, so if they do well in year 1, year 2 they see an increase in funding, same in 3 etc etc.  So maximizing the Duracell deal could also be part of the equation.

Alpine has also been testing Piastri in an old F1 car at Silverstone and other circuits, and testing F1 cars at circuits is not cheap.

[MiniDave]

Well, that was an interesting qually - once again, nothing like a little rain to mix things up with both HAAS cars in the top 10!

Fernando drove an incredible lap to finish 2nd, Sainz over did it slightly in the last corner to come third, and the Haminator is 4th, his best qually this year I think.

Alonso has been quick all weekend, and his car seems to get 10 ft wide when he wants to keep someone behind him, but this track has a couple of good passing places, with DRS he may not be able to hold off Sainz.

Leclerc will have a fun race, starting from the back, it will be interesting to see just how far forward he can come by the end.

Lots of attrition and mistakes, but the real surprise was Vettel, after killing it all weekend he and Stroll both absolutely sucked in qually.....Stroll is supposed to be really good in the rain and we know Seb is quick when it's wet but they either muffed the setup completely and in which case may be good again tomorrow, or something is seriously wrong with their cars. I'm betting on setup..

Tomorrow is supposed to be dry and cool, so the cars that can fire their tires up and get them good and sticky the quickest should have a good race.
 

[BruceK]

I really enjoyed watching the Qually.   I feel bad for Perez but really thrilled to see Alonso in P2!

[MiniDave]

There seems to be a significant difference in pace between wet and dry conditions for some of these teams.

I think the race was a foregone conclusion, but Sainz def gave it all he had, and Ferrari engined cars came back strong this weekend to put 4 cars in the top 10.

Other than that, it was a pretty fun race to watch. No idea why the Mercs were so much better here than expected, or than they looked on Friday when they were struggling to get better than 12th and 18th. Russell continuing his streak of finishing every race in the top 5 this year. Merc sure has their reliability down cold.

Both Alpines came home well also, but McLaren is still not able to put a good race together it seems.

Albon is making the best of his situation at Williams, clearly showing why Latifi needs to make way for Piastri or pretty much anyone else!

I had high hopes for the HAAS boys, but again it was not to be for them.

[MiniDave]

Silverstone

All three practice sessions were dry, 10 min before Q1 it poured......it stopped mid session and the track kept improving....

Q2 started fairly dry then it started raining again, so the fastest times were set early in the session, towards the end times just kept getting slower and slower. The usual suspects were in the top 10 by the end of the session, with one surprise - Latifi put the Williams into Q3 - in 10th - but he did it.

The Astons were nowhere, as were both the HAAS cars, but Verstappen was going strong and so was LeClerc. The real surprise were the Mercs,,.running as high as 2nd and 3rd at one point. Alonso also had good pace running as high as 5th.

By the time it was all done we had a new and first time pole sitter - Sainz! Maiden pole, only took him about 150 races to do it.....

So, the order:
Sainz
Max
Charles
Checo
Hamster
Lando
Fred
George
Joe
Lafifi

Everybody else.....

Danny Ricky Bobby struggled to make it out of Q1 and only managed 14th, Lando is sure making him look bad this season. Vettel also could not make his car work and will start clear down in 18th, with Stroll dead last.

Nicky Latifi may have gotten a stay of execution for the rest of this season, especially if he doesn't wreck out

No idea if it's going to rain tomorrow or not - could be really interesting if it does. But if it's clear, I expect Max will get another notch on his gun. That said, if it's dry the Mercs might also have something to say about it.....

[MiniDave]

WOW!!

What a race! That's what we've been waiting for......