Formula 1-2022 Season

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

It's up to you.  The whole point is what tracks you would want to visit.

Looks like Audi is trying to buy the McLaren F1 team: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-03/audi-raises-offer-to-gain-foothold-in-mclaren-automobilwoche?sref=P6Q0mxvj

Volkswagen AG’s Audi brand raised its offer to gain a foothold in sports car brand McLaren to 650 million euros ($718 million) from 450 million euros, according to a report by the Germany’s Automobilwoche.

The idea is to take a stake in McLaren’s Formula 1 unit, while an investment in the sports car maker itself could happen in a second step, Automobilwoche reported, without saying how it obtained the information. The two parties plan to sign a letter of intent on Monday and Volkswagen’s supervisory board will discuss the matter later this month, according to the publication.

Personally, I'd hate to see a legendary F1 team like McLaren become yet another factory team. Those have a way of being cast aside as soon as they no longer meet the corporate goals of the mother company.

Four DRS zones in Australia, what is the record for lead changes on one lap?

So the Mercs are stull struggling. I guess I figured they would sort this quickly or revert bodywork to something more traditional. Anyhoo I saw this on the meme thread and LOL'd and said I need to put this in the F1 thread in case people don't look there.

It's only been two weeks since the last race and three since the first one. I suspect we'll see the Mercs get on top of their problems but there are limits. They're definitely struggling, though.

Vettel got fined 5000 euros for that scooter ride. Worth it :)

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Seems that the problems are pretty deep- they have a clear porpoising problem, but so does Ferrari, and they are the fastest car out there.

On the other hand, there are moments where the car shows some serious speed when the bouncing isn't an issue- so it will be interesting to see how this turns out.

I think the solution is going to come from managing the airflow around the edges of the floor to create more of a "skirt" to seal it. Get some sort of vortex curling underneath. I'd be watching the edges of the floor to see how it evolves.

Actually, I was thinking the opposite.  The problem is that they have so much downforce that the surface gets so close to the ground that the airflow changes so much that it doesn't supply downforce.  So I would think stalling the vortex of sealing the bottom should reduce the effect at high speed.

Then again, Mercedes has said more than once that it's not fully an aero problem that's causing this.  Which means chassis/suspension problems.  

Oh right, it's not the immediate loss of downforce that's the problem. That has a different effect.

With the change from huge sidewalls to shorter sidewalls and the difficulty in modeling tire behavior of tires, I can see how suspension setup would be a challenge given the limited amount of testing allowed. Kinda sounds like the right answer is just MOAR SPRING which IIRC was the solution in the original ground effect era :) 

I find it somewhat curious that Merc have focused on changing their floor with new designs and hacking it up (several times, I think) and none of their efforts seem have had any real effect (so far, at least).

-chris r.

Looks like it will be an uncomfortable race for quite a few drivers with the way some of these cars are bouncing down the straights through qualifying. I think that will wear on the Ferrari's and give the win to Max.

After three races, it's rather shocking that it seems that the Mercedes bouncing has not really gotten any better.  You can really see how that is holding them up on the straights.  It's not a *bad* car, but the flaws are pretty bad at the moment.  Still, where they ended up isn't too bad.

Ferrari still bounces, and is still the fastest car out there.  Charles is really on his game.

Great to see McLaren fix their massive flaw, and get back in the top 10.  Now they can tweak it to get to the top.

So who is worse, Stroll or Latifi?  At least one will lose their seat at the end of the season....  That crash was quite clownish.

George says the bouncing in the high speed corners is what's limiting his lap time. Which makes sense, if grip is pogoing up and down that's more of an issue there than on the straights. 

Big aero rules change, big tire change and almost no real-world testing time means this season is going to be a development race more than usual for sure. I understand the testing limitations are for cost containment, but it sure seems artificial.

Stroll vs Latifi - Lance has shown some skill over the years. Latifi never has. 

I already had a headache when I started watching quali this morning and those onboards in the back straight made my head pound.  I can't imagine doing that for 90 minutes tomorrow....

alfadriver said:

So who is worse, Stroll or Latifi?  At least one will lose their seat at the end of the season....  That crash was quite clownish.

What a pointless way to ruin two cars. Latifi was on a slow down lap and was originally told Stroll was on a lap so he pulls well off, they realize Stroll has slowed so Latifi accelerates and they end up two wide for no reason through the next corner. Then Stroll after making it past and pulls a slight gap just gets right out of it and Latifi goes for the pass again resulting in what we saw. Latifi admitted in his interview that he was on a slow down lap heading back to the pits, Stroll would have been getting ready to try again. They both looked like morons to me, F1 TV and Palmer blamed it all on Stroll but I don't think he was expecting Latifi to be coming back at him right away after he was just let past.

In reply to adam525i :

They key part is both look like morons.  But only one will lose his seat as long as daddy in in charge of one team.

wae said:

I already had a headache when I started watching quali this morning and those onboards in the back straight made my head pound.  I can't imagine doing that for 90 minutes tomorrow....

Yea, my neck is sore already.  But Max mentioned that it's not as bad on race day....

One thing that it seems on Mercedes- they really don't understand the tires very well.  To take that much time to warm them up- which were the softest of all compounds- is kind of surprising.  Then the bouncing.

If anything, the whole graduated development that Merc can have is getting to them.

On the other hand, Haas is moving to the back of the grid, and Williams is still there.  Neither team has gotten much of an advantage.  The only team that has really benefited (relatively) is Alfa Romeo. 

Albon disqualified from qualifying so both Williams at the back. I'm blaming it on Latifi as he let stroll by in the corner before so why would stroll expect him to turn around and shoot back by in a tight spot?

I was disappointed with the Haas performance, but still better than they were last year.  Vettel is having a hard time of it and I wonder how much is lack of stick time and how much is covid recovery related.

I know that Stroll got the blame for the crash, but I agree with the above: they both looked like morons.  Maybe if it was during a race or if the time for the session was just about out and Latifi had to make it to the line.  But trying to push into a gap like that fairly early in a quali session is just super risky with almost no reward.  Maybe Stroll should have looked before he moved in to the right, but Latifi had no business being there.  I don't know what kind of money he brings to Williams, but isn't that three big - expensive - shunts in three weekends with no points to show for it?

In reply to wae :

Especially when there's a spending cap. Doesn't matter where the money comes from if you've spent all you're allowed to spend. 

Great qualifying at the top 10. Very exciting.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

No doubt!  I thought I remembered some grumbling last year about trying to get exemptions or making the at-fault driver pay because of that.  I assume nothing came of that?

Who was behind the Stroll & Latifi? I would like to have seen the view from that camera. 

In reply to wae :

No idea, but I can see the logic of it. 

Stolen from the internet lol