2022 Formula 1 Season thread

[CWallace]

Raining on Isle Notre Dame as Practice 3 kicks off and expected to rain till evening so Qualifying is expected to be wet, as well. Teams have been given an extra set each of Inters and Full Wets due to the poor conditions.

In other news, Pierre Gasley has been confirmed at Alpha Tauri for another year (2023) and Ferrari might undertake a full PU swap on Charles after Qualifying and just send him to the back so he has fresh everything for tomorrow and the next races.

 

[CWallace]

Alonso is really enjoying these wet conditions:

Spoiler

first at the end of FP3 and second at the end of Q1.

 

[CWallace]

The rain made for an interesting starting grid, but with it being dry tomorrow, things should shuffle pretty impressively over the race distance.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Woukd have been great to see Fred on pole after so many years, never mind, a good effort by him.

 

[Glideslope]

Woukd have been great to see Fred on pole after so many years, never mind, a good effort by him.

Turns 41 next month. Always was good in the wet. Not Lewis good, but great job.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Woukd have been great to see Fred on pole after so many years, never mind, a good effort by him.

Agreed. With nothing to lose, I hope he takes it to Max on turn one as promised. Otherwise good bye Max. He’ll drive off into the distance never to be seen all race. He’ll have a pit stop in hand by the time he stops. Half a second quicker than the rest each lap. If not more in the dry.

 

[Pezimak]

Alonso hasn’t a hope against that RB in race trim. Those are the facts. I predict he’ll drop to 4th or 5th at the start.

 

[Glideslope]

Agreed. With nothing to lose, I hope he takes it to Max on turn one as promised. Otherwise good bye Max. He’ll drive off into the distance never to be seen all race. He’ll have a pit stop in hand by the time he stops. Half a second quicker than the rest each lap. If not more in the dry.

Max knows this. He will sit back for a bit then simply use the RB18 Honda’s straight line speed.

Reliability will be on Max’s mind. Not Fred.

 

[CWallace]

Agreed - once DNS is enabled Max will easily take Alonso along the back straight (if he even needs that long).

LeClerc did take a complete new power unit so he will be starting from the back (19th).

 

[CWallace]

Race Report

A late Safety Car allowed Sainz to at least make a go at it, but Max had enough pace in Sectors 1 and 2 to keep Sainz at bay down the DRS zones.

LeClerc from 19th to 5th and might have made the podium if Ferrari had not stuffed his first pit stop.

Lewis and George 3rd and 4th. Lewis had legitimate pace, but both still benefitted from the chaos of qualifying to keep a fair number of strong cars behind them.

The Honda and Ferrari engines still showing fragility - beyond LeClerc's PU changes, Perez and Schumacher both out with PU failures.

 

[Glideslope]

Race Report

Spoiler

A late Safety Car allowed Sainz to at least make a go at it, but Max had enough pace in Sectors 1 and 2 to keep Sainz at bay down the DRS zones.

LeClerc from 19th to 5th and might have made the podium if Ferrari had not stuffed his first pit stop.

Lewis and George 3rd and 4th. Lewis had legitimate pace, but both still benefitted from the chaos of qualifying to keep a fair number of strong cars behind them.

The Honda and Ferrari engines still showing fragility - beyond LeClerc's PU changes, Perez and Schumacher both out with PU failures.

Perez was a gearbox failure, not the PU.

Excellent race at the end. Max earned this one. Love or hate him. Incredible drive. Superb drive by Carlos as well.

Congratulations to Lewis on the Podium. Was good to seem him able to walk after the race.

Always look forward to the Canadian GP. Great track. Great race. 👍

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Nice to see Lewis on the podium again, not sure it will be a regular thing this year but I’m sure he’s happy. Two Brits in the top 5 is good too. LeClerc had an epic drive by the looks, although Ferrari are nowhere near as slick as the other top teams when it comes to strategy and pit stops. They’ve been poor in this area for 13 years now.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Overall worth staying up for. Shame Alonso couldn’t take Max at the start. As soon as Max was in the lead, you knew only reliability could stop him going on for the win. Same for the WC.
Good to see Lewis on the podium. But that taste of champagne might have to last him a while. If LeClerc and Perez had qualified without penalties, he’d have been 5th which is about the Mercedes’ position this year. Best of the rest.

 

[pachyderm]

Had to watch this one on my phone. I’d hoped Saint could somehow hang on for the win. Well done to Lewis on that podium. I do hope he wins one this season.

 

[Pezimak]

Well that start was a disaster, with the grid taking so long to line up. I hope penalties aren't issued as I think it was against the rules?

Anyway pit stops were very poor for some, like McLaren, and some elbows getting out.
But a good race Zou was flying in his Alfa! Good battles, shame Perez's gearbox failed.
Max had to keep his foot nailed to win as Sainz wasn't far behind.

And was it just me or was there a bit of an atmosphere between Max and Lewis on the podium and in that drivers room after the race before they go on the podium?

Charles seemed to be stuck down the grid?

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

And was it just me or was there a bit of an atmosphere between Max and Lewis on the podium and in that drivers room after the race before they go on the podium?

I think that was to do with a part of the race where Max was coming out of the pits and Lewis maintaining the racing line. Max had to cut in behind Lewis rather than come out level but it’s a common thing we see at Montreal.
I didn’t see anything wrong with it but drivers will have a different perspective.

The old pit entry was worse and I remember Schumacher putting Frentzen out of the race when he came out of the pits just before turn one.

 

[Pezimak]

Mercedes causing a lot of controversy and upset, they are trying to sway the FIA into changing rules for all teams, to fix their poorly designed car with bouncing issues. Also they magically had a second support for the floor, the very next day fitted when the FIA only stated it would be allowed the night before. Hmm..

 

[Pezimak]

I think that was to do with a part of the race where Max was coming out of the pits and Lewis maintaining the racing line. Max had to cut in behind Lewis rather than come out level but it’s a common thing we see at Montreal.
I didn’t see anything wrong with it but drivers will have a different perspective.

The old pit entry was worse and I remember Schumacher putting Frentzen out of the race when he came out of the pits just before turn one.

Oh yeah the design of that pit lane is God awful! Surprised they haven’t changed it. Still adds to the drama I guess?

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Mercedes causing a lot of controversy and upset, they are trying to sway the FIA into changing rules for all teams, to fix their poorly designed car with bouncing issues. Also they magically had a second support for the floor, the very next day fitted when the FIA only stated it would be allowed the night before. Hmm..

I certainly don’t agree with changing the regs because one or two teams designed a poor handling car. Mercedes need to just suck it up and focus on next season IMO. Horner can’t criticise too much as he was complaining at the start of the hybrid era because Renault hadn’t done as good a job as Mercedes. He wanted the engine freeze to apply to everyone except Renault so they could catch up. Toto is being like that now. At least Lewis is being honest and telling it like it is.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I certainly don’t agree with changing the regs because one or two teams designed a poor handling car. Mercedes need to just suck it up and focus on next season IMO. Horner can’t criticise too much as he was complaining at the start of the hybrid era because Renault hadn’t done as good a job as Mercedes. He wanted the engine freeze to apply to everyone except Renault so they could catch up. Toto is being like that now. At least Lewis is being honest and telling it like it is.

Didn’t Mercedes give Renault some development help after a few years to help them bridge the gap?
Of course this is slightly different. Ferrari and RB had more wind tunnel time than Mercedes’. So they were always going to be on the back foot.

 

[CWallace]

This may become a moot point as Toto says they have solved at least the porpoising issue with the Mercedes: https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/113529/wolff-claims-porpoising-problem-at-mercedes-is-solved.html

 

[Pezimak]

This may become a moot point as Toto says they have solved at least the porpoising issue with the Mercedes: https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/113529/wolff-claims-porpoising-problem-at-mercedes-is-solved.html

Yes but apparently the car is now bottoming out so it’s still got problems.

 

[Pezimak]

I certainly don’t agree with changing the regs because one or two teams designed a poor handling car. Mercedes need to just suck it up and focus on next season IMO. Horner can’t criticise too much as he was complaining at the start of the hybrid era because Renault hadn’t done as good a job as Mercedes. He wanted the engine freeze to apply to everyone except Renault so they could catch up. Toto is being like that now. At least Lewis is being honest and telling it like it is.

It isn‘t just RB though. Apparently Ferrari and McLaren at least were fully preppared to protest against the proposed changes Toto was trying to push through. But that is the point, if you’ve got a problem or messed up your design that’s on you, you fix it not change rules to solve it and reduce everyone else’s performance.

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Nice, both legends from a different era of racing.

 

[CWallace]

Juri Vips has been dropped from Red Bull's driver programme and as their Formula 1 test and reserve driver after using offensive language during an online game.

He remains employed by Hitech and will continue to drive for them in Formula 2.

Juri Vips: Former Red Bull reserve driver keeps Formula 2 seat despite racist slur

Juri Vips keeps his seat in Formula 2 despite being sacked by backers Red Bull for using a racist slur.

www.bbc.com