The Formula One Thread

[East Londoner]

11 minutes ago, bearded_red said:

I’d like Mercedes to push this all the way to CAS, but to be honest I don’t see an outcome that awards the race to Hamilton for being in the lead of the penultimate lap. I can see a scenario of the race result being made null and void, but obviously that still ends up with Verstappen being champion on race wins.

I think Sunday’s result being stricken from the records and the end of Masi is the best possible outcome unfortunately.

We may even see a rule change that says if there is a Safety Car with less than 5/10 laps remaining you Red Flag the race, allow everyone to change tyres and have a restart. Had that happened Sunday it would still have been unfair on Hamilton and given Verstappen a chance he didn’t deserve, but had he taken it, or Hamilton had messed up, then, fair enough, that’s sport, shit happens.

What did happen however isn’t sport. At best, it’s WWE, at worst it’s nothing more than a ******* fix.

That would still be fairly controversial too given the extra win was the non race at spa. But they’ve probably already got to the point where they can’t really take it off Verstappen even if they wanted to 

I’m not convinced removing Masi is the solution either, he got the job unexpectedly when Charlie Whiting died and desperately needs some experienced help. If they remove him then whoever takes over is going to have the same problem 

[nebristolred]

Mercedes can’t really take it to CAS. Conveniently the FIA don’t recognise it.

[Super]

Mercedes confirm no appeal.

[East Londoner]

1 hour ago, Super said:

Mercedes confirm no appeal.

There’s definitely a link to the statement the FIA put out last night, that what happened tarnished the image of the sport and they have work to do to rectify that 

Realistically that’s all Mercedes could’ve expected from any appeal, it’s a shame for Max too as while he deserved the title at least until he wins another there will be an element of being gifted the title from a large part of the fan base and not only fans of Lewis 

[bartolona]

Susie Wolffs statement is quite telling.

[Maesknoll Red]

On 15/12/2021 at 13:19, Slippin cider said:

Absolutely, he did the press etc and showed huge composure and dignity, top man . I’d have been boiling mad ,and he probably was ,but handled it better than I could’ve done ..fair play to him 

I’ve never been a fan of Hamilton, in the past he has come across as petulant and spoilt, but I will,say, he seems to have matured and mellowed, he must have been devastated and livid, anyone would have been, so I must say he has gone up in my estimation. 

Question is now, will he race next year?

[Maesknoll Red]

26 minutes ago, TomF said:

I think he wants that 8th title and had he got it last Sunday that would have been it.   Maybe F1 realise that alongside Max he is still a major draw and they want him along bit longer. 

If Mercedes & Red Bull are up at the top again next season then I think he'll have a better chance with Russell alongside him. 

It’ll be interesting to see how much RB develop the 2nd car for Perez, apparently the RB 2nd drivers have had to ‘make do’ with a generic car, with just minor tweaks to suit them, whereas Max’s car is totally bespoke to him.  Maybe if Perez’s 2022 car is developed around him, he may have a say.

Russell has a big step up to make, hopefully the rules and application of them get sorted and we can get back to racing next year, just hoping no one team has got a huge technological step above the others, as whilst that’s all part of the sport, a dominant car does tend to become boring.

[East Londoner]

1 hour ago, Maesknoll Red said:

It’ll be interesting to see how much RB develop the 2nd car for Perez, apparently the RB 2nd drivers have had to ‘make do’ with a generic car, with just minor tweaks to suit them, whereas Max’s car is totally bespoke to him.  Maybe if Perez’s 2022 car is developed around him, he may have a say.

Russell has a big step up to make, hopefully the rules and application of them get sorted and we can get back to racing next year, just hoping no one team has got a huge technological step above the others, as whilst that’s all part of the sport, a dominant car does tend to become boring.

All new rules for 2022 so potentially teams that haven’t been in the title race such as Ferrari and McLaren could have a much better developed car than Red Bull for example. It’s been said that Mercedes prioritised next years car over this years 

So potentially we could see a all new champion in 2022 

[Slippin cider]

5 hours ago, bartolona said:

Susie Wolffs statement is quite telling.

I hope it’s not about me …cooks a lousy breakfast to be fair ….

[Super]

I don't think LH will call it a day he'll want that 8th title.

[phantom]

Interesting new footage 

 

 

[East Londoner]

2 hours ago, TomF said:

It’s not actually new it’s been around about 3-4 days after the race.  It just seems to have gained traction all of a sudden. 

It’s not really a smoking gun but does make for uncomfortable listening. Kinda get the impression F1 and it’s more prominent commentators have put the whole situation in the too difficult to deal with pile and thought if they kept quiet it would all go away and yet it hasn’t 

In the meantime the new cars look cool but Abu Dhabi and the sports credibility lurk just beneath the surface 

[elhombrecito]

Must say, I'm really liking how the cars look this year 

[nebristolred]

That Aston is a work of art.

[WarksRobin]

Those front wing end plates are going to cause lots of problems. Any contact and that’s big debris on the track

[Super]

Michael Masi has been replaced as F1 race director for the 2022 season, the FIA has confirmed.

[Slacker]

5 hours ago, Super said:

Michael Masi has been replaced as F1 race director for the 2022 season, the FIA has confirmed.

Why?Did he do something wrong?

[nebristolred]

So the FIA essentially acknowledge that they ****ed it.

[Slacker]

2 hours ago, nebristolred said:

So the FIA essentially acknowledge that they ****ed it.

That was the point I was trying to make.I can only assume that they will now overturn the result............

[Slippin cider]

This seasons Russian GP has been cancelled.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/60523049

Edited February 25, 2022 by Slippin cider

[Bristol Rob]

The art of saying nothing.

 

[Taz]

5 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

The art of saying nothing.

 

Very easy to gather one group of people together (in this case Russians) and label them all the same because of one person.

There are a lot of Putin's countrymen that are ashamed and embarrassed by what is happening right now.

Unfortunately for them, they are going to lose a lot of things like this, the Champions League Final, and many more things whilst Putin is in power, because of his actions.

Let's just hope that this is all resolved (one way or another) quickly.

[nebristolred]

Absolutely mental new Mercedes for this year, you have to wonder if they’ve spotted something everyone else has missed.

And it might be a new record amount of time for Horner to start whinging.

Edit: turns out that Horner quote might be fake actually. I’ve no doubt something similar will pop up though.

Edited March 10, 2022 by nebristolred

[Taz]

1 hour ago, nebristolred said:

Absolutely mental new Mercedes for this year, you have to wonder if they’ve spotted something everyone else has missed.

And it might be a new record amount of time for Horner to start whinging.

Edit: turns out that Horner quote might be fake actually. I’ve no doubt something similar will pop up though.

Would stop Max from "accidentally" going in for a side Swipe.......

[Bristol Rob]

3 hours ago, Taz said:

Would stop Max from "accidentally" going in for a side Swipe.......

He would be Mad Max if he did.

[elhombrecito]

1 hour ago, TomF said:

No surprise Karen is already crying like the moany whiny bitch that he is. 

All Horner and Marko do is moan about Mercedes non-stop.

You would have thought they'd have mellowed after winning the asterisk championship.

[nebristolred]

Seeing some reports that this new Mercedes concept could be worth as much as a second a lap. Drastically reduced drag so higher acceleration, etc, and very difficult for teams to copy it as they will have to wait until next year, if they can even make the engine package small enough to do it.

Merc will be sandbagging enormously this weekend but we could end up in a situation where the title is a foregone conclusion already, if (and it's a big if) they have no reliability issues. They were porpoising somewhat in testing so it does remain to be seen.

Interestingly I just listened again to an interview with Paddy Lowe, where he mentions a few years back when Merc were so far ahead of everyone else, they had to turn the engines down to stop their concept getting banned. They also overplayed their engine advantage to hide the fact that aerodynamically they were miles ahead of the rest of the pack. It almost makes it a shame that we never see the 'real' pace of some of these cars due to the fear of getting impacted by the rule makers.

Of course, getting slightly ahead of ourselves here, it could all go wrong, but it is always exciting to see a completely new concept like this, it doesn't happen very often within the constraints of the rules these days.

Edited March 11, 2022 by nebristolred

[East Londoner]

On 10/03/2022 at 20:14, TomF said:

It’s almost obsessive, it can’t be good for their health.  

It’s very apparent in the new series of drive to survive. It’s almost bizarre how obsessed particularly Horner is 

[Loco Rojo]

Shock horror that Netflix has dramatised and sensationalised the sport to attract viewers. Can Max really be suprised that a TV documentary has stirred it up and highlighted rivalries?

F1 reaps what it sows. You don't like what they portray, don't let them follow you around (and I'm sure pay F1 a lot of money to do it).

[nebristolred]

On 11/03/2022 at 11:20, nebristolred said:

Seeing some reports that this new Mercedes concept could be worth as much as a second a lap. Drastically reduced drag so higher acceleration, etc, and very difficult for teams to copy it as they will have to wait until next year, if they can even make the engine package small enough to do it.

Merc will be sandbagging enormously this weekend but we could end up in a situation where the title is a foregone conclusion already, if (and it's a big if) they have no reliability issues. They were porpoising somewhat in testing so it does remain to be seen.

Interestingly I just listened again to an interview with Paddy Lowe, where he mentions a few years back when Merc were so far ahead of everyone else, they had to turn the engines down to stop their concept getting banned. They also overplayed their engine advantage to hide the fact that aerodynamically they were miles ahead of the rest of the pack. It almost makes it a shame that we never see the 'real' pace of some of these cars due to the fear of getting impacted by the rule makers.

Of course, getting slightly ahead of ourselves here, it could all go wrong, but it is always exciting to see a completely new concept like this, it doesn't happen very often within the constraints of the rules these days.

Turns out this was an absolute load of nonsense  The Merc looks like it's all over the place.