2022 Formula 1 Season: Official Discussion Thread

Tim Cook has promised to wave the flag slightly better next year, but you’ll have to pay him $1,500 for the upgrade

Probably just needs a patch download.

“Lance stroll whose birthday was spoiled by a 3 place grid penalty”

That hurt

1 Like

Nice to See Ricciardo putting his elbows out, was a definite penalty for the contact with Tsunoda but I think 10 sec was a bit harsh given that Russell got 5 for hitting Sainz last time out. Nonetheless was very happy to see, drove very well after the contact.

1 Like

Danny drove like a man possessed that last stint.

Fairly boring race the rest of the time. Some good battles here and there but a safety car would’ve really spiced it up.

Poor Alonso also.

You are correct a safety car would’ve spiced it up but I hate it when safety cars affect the finishing order! And for the same reason I don’t like DRS!

2 weeks in a row that Mercedes tried to make it interesting on conservative tire strategy and lost out to a Redbull that made a softer compound work longer than it should have.

Thought for sure we were going to get a better ending with tires going off on Max but never happened.

Mercedes continue to show good progress but I think the lack of performance from Ferrari just means Redbull can relax and run an easier pace which is helping the perception that Mercedes is actually getting closer.

Still annoyed with the penalty for cost cap violations but is what it is I guess.

1 Like

I thought for sure we would get a lot more strategic mix-ups given that the grid was basically split 50/50 on starting tire.

Degradation was far lower than expected. After that first stint, Ferrari told Charles his softs still had plenty of life left in them. And same with Max’s, he felt the tires going away but there was still lots of tread, so it seemed like they all started graining a bit but not actually wearing. So if you were gentle enough, you could coax a lot of laps out of them. Vettel did like 30-some laps on the soft. So once that was determined, Red Bull figured they could go to the end on mediums, where Mercedes thought there would be drop-off.

I think more than anything, that’s Merc sort of dropping the ball on the dynamics of the race strategy. They should’ve realized the deg levels and taken note of what other cars were able to do with the tires and adjusted. Problem was they both started on the mediums, so they had to go hard or soft, or two-stop. Red Bull starting on the softs meant they could choose medium for the second stop if they found the degradation was okay.

1 Like

I actually think that Merc were ok starting on the mediums but should have stayed out longer for the first stint then gone for softs. Might have got spicy near the end with Hammy and Max!

Valtteri great qualy then fluffs the start and couldn’t recover, I’m always rooting for him but it seems that he is too timid sometimes around other cars. Either that or he goes for it and ends up causing a collision :man_shrugging:

Looking forward to Brazil.

I mean Danny’s pace showed that starting on mediums the correct call was to go softs not hard. Oh well. On to the next. As i see it as the only chance for Merc to end up on the top step. Final race is to fast for merc to get that draggy car up front.

Also, saw an interesting take that Gasly should attempt to get 2 penalty points next race and sit out the final. Otherwise he risks either getting the points and having to sit out race one at alpine or essentially be incredibly careful all the way to May when points start to drop off.

Where, if he takes the points now he could ensure he gets a clean run with alpine.

So all you rules nerds, what’s the most benign way to get 2 penalty points?

Track limits violation or ignoring blue or yellow flags would both give him a point and would be a pretty silly way to get a ban. Brazil has that fast pit entry so speeding on pit lane is a possibility too.

For him to get two in one go he would have to cause a collision I think.

10 car lengths behind the safety car seems like a pretty dumb reason to get two points, but that seems easy enough, but here we are:

1 Like

This helps to explain why Ferrari was so bad in Mexico, and will most likely be quite poor in Brazil. Yes, turbo related.

Anddddd pole for k mag :joy:

4 Likes

Yes yes yes! Mega! Lots of luck but KMag drove great all session being there in the mix. Like Brundle said, 8 cars did a flyer on that run and he was quickest of all; wasn’t a fluke. He had clear track but that was a great lap. Amazing!

6 Likes

This is inconceivable!

Now you’re killing my already limited Friday afternoon productivity…:laughing::face_with_spiral_eyes: