Formula 1 2022

[woodenhead]

17 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Perez said the engine seized. I honestly don't think he did that himself. And, radio traffic being monitored, he'd not have had orders....

 

None of the three Honda failures spewed black smoke from the exhaust, so internal IC disruption seems unlikely. The complexity of hydraulics these days in controlling so much of the powertrain makes it hard to analyse a failure as we might once have done.  

The rumour was that the Red Bulls ran out of fuel though RB do say it wasn't that and there was fuel, just it was not getting to the engine.  Odd that both had the same issue within a lap or so of each other.  According to the other teams RB never did any simulated races in practice so may simply have under estimated how much fuel they needed for their strategy.

 

If it was a fault and fuel was not getting to the engine, then it would just cut out like MV's did and the car would coast.  Why would Perez with the same issue get a siezed engine?  And not all orders need to be made in a race - i.e. spin out, it was a very slow corner so the best place to park your car where you might catch a chasing car out.  RB feel like a win at all costs kind of team to me.

[New Haven Neil]

I thought Max's 'racecraft immaturity' got a double airing, first with the take it easy order for the first lap after the pitstop - trashing the tyres he might have needed later would have resulted if he had gone for it - and then the outburst about the battery. 

 

I liked him when he first burst on the F1 scene but have cooled to the point of ice now, his aggressive-ness will catch him out, Leclerc isn't going to take any of his bullying, and he's not the only one.  It looks like there is going to be a pack of cars up front, points will be spread around much thinner I think.

 

Jammy for Merc, but that's racing.  I think it may take a handful of races to get the car right, but I am sure they will, then there will be a squabble - ace.  Plus the marked improvement in the mid (and back - Haas, wow!) fielders will see them hunting about for any scraps to pick up from other's mistakes.....there's a danger here of it getting interesting!

[4630]

A bit more from Autosport this morning on RB's fuel pump issue.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-a-standard-part-might-have-stopped-the-red-bulls-in-bahrain/9187820/

 

[New Haven Neil]

25 minutes ago, 4630 said:

A bit more from Autosport this morning on RB's fuel pump issue.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-a-standard-part-might-have-stopped-the-red-bulls-in-bahrain/9187820/

 

 

I must say while Max's issue looked as if it could be fuel related, Perez's didn't.  It stopped, suddenly, mid corner. No splutter and power down for a few seconds.  Perez said he thought it seized, it looked like something did for sure, otherwise why would it spin?

[StuAllen]

What did everyone make of the race at the weekend? Glad Mick Schumacher was ok after that crash, Haas seem to be doing well. There seems to be a bit of respect between Max and Charles - I do wonder how long that’ll last. Hoping the gap to Australia will mean some of the other teams can make some improvements (Mercedes and McLaren)

[didcot]

Schumachers on board of the footage didn't look to bad. He pulled his arms up and away from the wheel, but still a hefty crash in terms of G's and $.

Good to see Leclerc and Crashtappen going at it. They go back to karting day and there was a clip of a young Max wailing "it wasn't fair, he pushed me off". Nothing changes!

Grid seems tighter and over taking easier...ish. Playing silly beggars at the DRS line is going to get someone hurt.

Good to see the white line is the limit of the track. 

Reliability seems an issue.

Mercedes have a new rear wing for Oz apparently. They need to catch up. Russell seems more comfortable in it than Hamilton. 

 

[Oldddudders]

I didn't see Jeddah, as we were en route Portsmouth for a ferry the next morning, but heard some of it on Radio 5 Live. 

 

The rear wing may help Merc, but the real problem seems to be the lack of power, as evidenced by all the Merc customer teams, too. Turning the wick up may take some doing. 

[Andrew P]

58 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

I didn't see Jeddah, as we were en route Portsmouth for a ferry the next morning, but heard some of it on Radio 5 Live. 

 

The rear wing may help Merc, but the real problem seems to be the lack of power, as evidenced by all the Merc customer teams, too. Turning the wick up may take some doing. 

And hamper reliability, and the number of Power Units available without penilties.

[SR71]

Sick of videos explaining porpoising? Me too. But I'll take one from someone who really knows what they are taking about.

 

[didcot]

Can't say I'm that impressed with the new Las Vegas street circuit. The race will be on a Saturday, so it's shown in Europe on Sunday. Had to check the date wasn't April 1st when I read about it.

[Andrew P]

17 minutes ago, didcot said:

Can't say I'm that impressed with the new Las Vegas street circuit. The race will be on a Saturday, so it's shown in Europe on Sunday. Had to check the date wasn't April 1st when I read about it.

And far to many night Races for my liking, spectacular, yes, but not PURE F1 RACING in my eyes. Soon they wont want the likes of Spa, Monza and Silverstone etc.

 

I would almost put BIG MONEY on Monaco going to a night race within a couple of years, its halfway there with the tunnel. 🤣

Edited March 31, 2022 by Andrew P

[EddieB]

Well I'm relieved that the farcetrack that is Saudi ended no more than the one major accident - and thankfully no serious injuries.  Does the circuit (or country) have anything to commend it?

 

We're going to need a new rule about approaching the DRS line.

[Andrew P]

VW to give its green light for Audi, Porsche to enter F1 - sources.

 

https://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/33638303/vw-give-green-light-audi-porsche-enter-f1-sources

 

 

[Reorte]

14 hours ago, didcot said:

Can't say I'm that impressed with the new Las Vegas street circuit. The race will be on a Saturday, so it's shown in Europe on Sunday. Had to check the date wasn't April 1st when I read about it.

Got to be better than the one in Vegas in a casino car park surely?!

[ejstubbs]

13 hours ago, EddieB said:

We're going to need a new rule about approaching the DRS line.

 

Or they could just do away with DRS altogether.  Given that it was originally introduced to provide a wholly artificial way to overtake the car ahead back in the days when the aero rules made it more or less impossible to do so, it would seem only logical to get rid now that the new rules are supposed to have fixed that problem.  There was no DRS during the previous ground-effect era, remember.

 

I suppose if they really feel it's worth keeping then another solution would be to just allow drivers to use it when they feel like it - perhaps up to a maximum number of times, or for a maximum amount of time, during a race, rather than restricting it to certain parts of the track.  I'd even suggest in that case that the driver ahead could use it too, since they would also be using up their 'allowance'.  But IMO it's fundamentally a load of rubbish that feels more like it belongs on a Scalextric track rather than a full-size F1 circuit (not unlike the Formula E 'power boost ' nonsense).

 

Does any other motor racing formula provide such horribly artificial ways to turn a procession created by the regulations in to a fake race?

[Reorte]

IIRC there was hope that the change in regulations would mean that DRS is no longer necessary - it always was regarded as a bit of an unsatisfactory bodge to get around the dirty air flow issue, but they wanted to see how the changes played out in reality on the racetrack first without the risk of making overtaking impossible if the differences weren't as big as hoped. That strikes me as a not unreasonable position, let's hope that it's decided it can go; I've never liked it for the reasons you give (sounds  more like something out of an arcade game).

Edited April 1, 2022 by Reorte

[Pete the Elaner]

15 hours ago, EddieB said:

Well I'm relieved that the farcetrack that is Saudi ended no more than the one major accident - and thankfully no serious injuries.  Does the circuit (or country) have anything to commend it?

 

We're going to need a new rule about approaching the DRS line.

 

As above, hopefully it can be abolished completely. The number & length of the zones is discretionary at each circuit.

But surely the silliness of slowing for the DRS line was caused by its placement? If the detection line was immediately before the activation zone & not before the preceding corner, nobody would get an advantage by slowing for it.

[Chrisr40]

A better idea than drs would be a push to pass button / boost with say 30 sec of total use per car per race. You use it all up at the start then tough luck. 

[Andrew P]

Maybe I was WRONG about Monaco under the lights. 🙄

 

'2022 could just be the last edition of the Monaco GP'

 

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/107573/2022-could-just-be-the-last-edition-of-the-monaco-gp.html?fbclid=IwAR1olbld0A_ykXD0tBg6L0ptQWgF83tD9B1bUGtuEthZh_gpYCUh7la8Tuk

[Reorte]

2 hours ago, Chrisr40 said:

A better idea than drs would be a push to pass button / boost with say 30 sec of total use per car per race. You use it all up at the start then tough luck. 

 

That feels very "articficial" (for want of a better word) to me. Better the approach I think they're going for - set the rules up so that teams have to build cars that don't make overtaking as difficult. Plus it's had the effect that we've got the best-looking grid in years

[Chrisr40]

7 minutes ago, Reorte said:

 

That feels very "articficial" (for want of a better word) to me. Better the approach I think they're going for - set the rules up so that teams have to build cars that don't make overtaking as difficult. Plus it's had the effect that we've got the best-looking grid in years

No more artificial than drs and it would give a driver the opportunity to counter a move without dangerous weaving / being a sitting duck. Agree we shouldn't have to have these add ons in a perfect world but they do add a bit of spice and tactical nouse.

[Dunsignalling]

2 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Maybe I was WRONG about Monaco under the lights. 🙄

 

'2022 could just be the last edition of the Monaco GP'

 

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/107573/2022-could-just-be-the-last-edition-of-the-monaco-gp.html?fbclid=IwAR1olbld0A_ykXD0tBg6L0ptQWgF83tD9B1bUGtuEthZh_gpYCUh7la8Tuk

Wouldn't surprise me. The new cars must be getting close to being too big to allow even the tiny opportunities for overtaking that have been possible in recent years. 

 

John

[Pete the Elaner]

2 hours ago, Chrisr40 said:

A better idea than drs would be a push to pass button / boost with say 30 sec of total use per car per race. You use it all up at the start then tough luck. 

 

They already have something similar with their overtake button, giving them more power than can be sustained over a longer period. They seem to use it for both attack & defend, which cancel each other out.

[LNERandBR]

I think it's pretty clear that the DRS will need adjustment for these new cars. 

 

It seemed to be okay in Bahrain, not too powerful and we got some very good fighting using it. In Saudi it was too powerful I feel, the activation point also being in the wrong place causing the issues people are describing.

 

I think it will need evaluation at the end of this year. Then they can either ditch it for next year or change the zones at each track to adjust for the new cars ability to follow. Do we need so many zones on each circuit for example?

 

They already have power boosts in that they can change the deployment from the battery on each lap. Either in defence or attack. Therefore those are not a replacement for DRS in my opinion.

[Jol Wilkinson]

19 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Wouldn't surprise me. The new cars must be getting close to being too big to allow even the tiny opportunities for overtaking that have been possible in recent years. 

 

John

Probably a question of how much Monaco are willing to pay Liberty for the pleasure of providing them with a historic GP, compared to what some of the Sport Washing counties will pay.