Stroll has earned his start at the back. Flat spot the tires and then try to qualify on them? Seriously?
The difference between him and his teammate is one of the largest in the field. Good thing dad owns the team.
Stroll has earned his start at the back. Flat spot the tires and then try to qualify on them? Seriously?
The difference between him and his teammate is one of the largest in the field. Good thing dad owns the team.
alfadriver said:Having seen FP1 some, Mercedes is done with this season.
I don't think they are there yet. Maybe after the French GP they have to make that decision.
Basically they are locked into a compromised design. The aero is one piece but I think the 2021 and 2022 suspension regulation changes were targeted to ban many of the MB suspension developments. Not just the DAS or squat innovation but also several other mechanical pieces were banned. (I can not say they were targeted to knock down MB as they do seem to simplify parts from a cost standpoint but it did effectively make all of MB's past 8 years of development trash)
The aero should have been more conservative given the extent of new suspension required.
In reply to alfadriver :
I am sure Latifi is worse than Stroll. That was boneheaded though. I texted my F1 buddy and said "Dear dad, please send money. I tore up more stuff…"
In reply to Advan046 :
The reason I think they are is that the whole understanding of the bouncing isn't there. If they haven't figured it out, yet- by the time they do, the season will be over enough. I know this is an extreme track, but still.... Having the cars a second off the leader, and .7-.8 off of the top two teams is forever when they should have figured out the car by now- if it was that fast.
edit- after that first lap- Mercedes is an entire second slower than both Ferrari and Red Bull. Wow.
NY Nick said:In reply to alfadriver :
I am sure Latifi is worse than Stroll. That was boneheaded though. I texted my F1 buddy and said "Dear dad, please send money. I tore up more stuff…"
I don't disagree, but Latifi is far more likely to lose his seat on merit. Stroll is holding the team back.
Streetwiseguy said:Checo seems to be right on his game these days. Quali should be interesting.
I'm still having a bit of trouble inserting him into the championship fight, but it could happen, I guess.
Well, maybe he is looking a bit more realistic now.
Better part of a second from 4th to 5th. Wowsers.
In reply to alfadriver :
I hear you but I think at this point testing and development for 2023 is too similar to testing for 2022. Unless they decide to scrap their whole concept. Which I don't think is a good choice at this point.
The gap of teams from the top three to McLaren is big but I think MB doesn't want to finish behind anyone other that RBR and Ferrari in constructors championship. So they will keep getting solid top 10s and focus on going forward this year.
In reply to Advan046 :
What I'm meaning is winning the world championship- for either one. I would not scrap the car, yet- but their understanding of it is far enough away that it sure seems the best they can finish is 3rd and 5&6.
Bad start for Ferrari- give up the pole, and now Sainz fails. Wonder if that pit stop may help? Long way back.
Red Bull making sure Perez doesn't have a shot at Max. They keep him out an extra couple of laps so Max can build a gap before pitting and then hold him on the jack.
Hopefully Ferrari doesn't screw this up.
Not sure that I understand why McLaren held up Ricciardo like that- he was faster with hard tires- let him go, they are on totally different strategies. Instead, it put Daniel in a bad spot.
alfadriver said:Not sure that I understand why McLaren held up Ricciardo like that- he was faster with hard tires- let him go, they are on totally different strategies. Instead, it put Daniel in a bad spot.
Me too, not to mention the mental aspect. Gotta give Ricciardo a win now and then to help with his mental mindset.
adam525i said:People are always down on Latifi but he's ahead of both Ferrari's lol
And Latifi got a 5 second penalty for ignoring a blue flag. And for Canada- he'll beat Stroll....
Well a good result for RB but really wish LeClerc could have made it to the end. Race at the front really became stale once he DNF'd.
If you'd have told me after the first three races that Red Bull would be this far ahead...
Four Ferrari plants in the dumpster. That can't be good. And no more Honda failures since the early ones. That's interesting, and odd. It seems obvious there was something going on that they figured out, and it was fixable.
Lewis looks beat to death.
Yeah Lewis could barely walk after that race. MB needs to figure this car out or cut bait. That was a bit of a snoozer. Better than Spa 2021 but pretty dull
I think the race was kind of poorly directed. Or I guess they were limited to lots of overhead camera shots of trees and buildings with an occasional sighting of the cars.
The racing at the front was dead when Sainz's car stopped as it was going to be RBR vs Leclerc. A race between Perez and Ver was hampered by Perez's two slow stops. Both seemed to be the left rear wheel change being slow.
The many Ocon battles were fun. Vettel and Stroll seem to both show the AM has issues with braking. McLaren may have some issues with their drivers but I hope Lando understands the give and take that did happen.
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