F1 2022 thread - see post 1 for rules

PsychoPete

Interesting little bit of history on Albert Park

https://youtu.be/RgzWlc3R_XA

Frank Bullitt

Looks like a big change!

Cookie_Monster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4JE9ePFnmE&t=16s

visual summary of changes which i dont think the above video shows too well

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118533668#Comment_118533668

I hope the changes work. It's pretry reliable as one of the worst races on the calendar.

Glad they're making the effort to improve it. F1 had had a really terrible arrangement for the last few years where the 2 biggest races (season opener and Monaco) are complete duds. I'd drop both races in a heartbeat but I know lots of people are attached to Monaco through the fact that it's survived for so long and hearing about the parties.

It would be good if they can sort out Albert Park and turn into a decent race.

Jordan 199

Alpha Tauri launch: 14th of February.

Alpine launch: 21st of February.

Cool_CM

Finally properly confirmed that Barcelona testing will be behind closed doors. Booooo

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/no-fans-tv-coverage-barcelona-pre-season-test/7620825/

Aye, shower of bastards :(

bennyx_o

It's like they're trying to save the embarrassment for any teams who get it majorly wrong, or if HAAS get it majorly right

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118537941#Comment_118537941

It's a stupid decision. It's to do with Bahrain getting exclusive rights to broadcast testing but then the teams wanted a test at Barcelona because they prefer it for whatever reasons. Maybe its more useful to them as they have comparable data from other years racing and testing or maybe the track is more representative.

F1 are dopes for allowing this to happen. Although there are probably very few people who would be excited about testing who won't already watch the season anyway but it's stupid to allow testing to be unreleased.

bennyx_o

Makes more sense if there's a contract with Bahrain but equally silly to just have one in Barcelona behind closed doors.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118539133#Comment_118539133

So the F1 solution was to do a test in Barcelona but not call it a test so they don't broadcast it and don't have to admit they didn't broadcast a test.

It's clever politics but it's and example of F1 being more an industry than sport. A sport would want people to see the events. It would want to advertise them and push them in front of potentially interested audiences. Instead it's caught up in the business side and having to downplay a test and downgrade it to a shakedown

eviltimeban

Will there be photos and released lap times though? There'll be no audience, but are the media allowed at the test?

duploelabs

Liberty could've insisted on it, therefore they'd get maximum viewership on the first race

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118539573#Comment_118539573

Media can attend and cover it through social media but I don't think they can use a traditional medium like radio - so no bbc5 radio coverage.

And f1 will release summary information but I'm not sure if there will be live timing data on the app.

AMKC

Max Verstappen has unveiled his new helmet design,

https://www.planetf1.com/news/max-verstappen-unveils-2022-helmet/

Frank Bullitt

bennyx_o

New race structure next year apparently Formula 1 planning new race management structure after Abu Dhabi controversy - BBC Sport

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118542781#Comment_118542781

This is part of the dripfeeding to, amongst her things, keep Mercedes and Lewis on side.

Problem with replacing Masi is that there aren't any obvious candidates. They havebt been training anyone else and that's why they ended up with Masi.

We'll have to see how it goes.

Frank Bullitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118542781#Comment_118542781

Was bound to happen, I wonder will they actually replace Masi or just bolster up the amount of people who help make the decisions?

He was between a rock and a hard place.

Jordan 199

Ferrari were running their old 2018 car at Fiorano today. They no longer have UPS backing, but Santander have returned and have another new sponsor in CEVA.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543359#Comment_118543359

Ferrari were planning to use last years car for this test but the FIA clarified that they couldn't use such a recent car. The rules were clear. They were just chancing their arm on trying last years car.

A 4 day test seems like a big expense in a cost cap era. I wonder why they thought they needed so much practice with such an out of date car

El_Duderino 09

This is interesting. Honda will supply complete engines and full track support until the end of the current formula in2025

Motorsport.com: Honda set to extend direct Red Bull supply to 2025.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/honda-set-to-extend-direct-red-bull-supply-to-2025/7677145/amp/

"The original strategy as announced late last year was that the new Red Bull Powertrains division would take complete power units from Honda, with full engineering support at the tracks, only in 2022.

Once RBP had got up to speed it would then build the engines from Honda parts at its Milton Keynes facility in 2023, 2024 and 2025 while simultaneously working on its own project for the new F1 rules that come into force in 2026.

However Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko has revealed that the plan has changed, and the intention now is that Honda will continue to supply complete engines from Japan to Red Bull and AlphaTauri until the end of 2025.

Frank Bullitt

Crazy, so Honda could still badge the PUs too.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118547126#Comment_118547126

If I were Honda and I designed, built and ran the engines at the race and they were badged as Red Bull Powertrains, I'd be furious.

Frank Bullitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118547352#Comment_118547352

I wouldn't say "furious", especially if they are paid a handsome fee for it.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118547438#Comment_118547438

Maybe. But I'd say their main pay off for F1 is branding. I'd expect the Honda name to be on the Red Bull.

AMKC

Nice to see someone at Honda had sense and made the right decision this time. I am sure Red Bull and Honda will both benefit from this and both will be happy about it too.

It's also good that Honda is staying in F1 for another while.

dulpit

So is it the same as last year so? Red bull Honda?

Frank Bullitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118547676#Comment_118547676

Same, they’d be mad not to especially as the RB will have the No.1 on it as well.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118551067#Comment_118551067

Yeah I'd say so.

The Race podcast was talking about audi and Porsche joining F1. They were saying it hinges on the VW group meeting with the unions in the near future. They're probably going to have to make redundancies and at the same time they want to spend money on 2 F1 programmes. The argument will be that F1 it's an investment which will sell more cars in the future and cause more jobs/fewer redundancies. So it will be a question of whether they can convince the unions to go along with it.

They also said that Audi and Porsche will have very different remits. Porsche is a very profitable business (4 times as profitable per unit sold). So they will be tasked with building an engine. But Audi will have to earn its crust by buying into a team (hence the mclaren connection touted a few weeks ago) and work as a constructor to make the team profitable.

I don't pretend to know any more than they said in the podcast. Well have to see how it pans out.

PsychoPete

The second episode about Albert Park if anyone is interested

https://youtu.be/jhbMVuG_RFI

Old article, relating to 2015. Realised I should put that disclaimer in 😅

https://web.archive.org/web/20150402123101/http%3A//www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alonso-to-miss-australian-grand-prix/

Worth reading without context, interested to see what others think.

Came across the above after seeing a WTF1 video with a theory that he was electrocuted by the car. Looking it up it all reads a bit weird. McLaren almost Trumpian with their "NO DAMAGE WHATSOEVER" messaging and Alonso, I dunno, taking a stand about a concussion maybe?

mickdw

Was never explained properly.

Anything from an Alonso blackout to electric shock was suggested at the time but never cleared up as far as I remember.

Jordan 199

So we're into February now. First two car launches (so far) will take place next week on the 10th (Aston Martin) and on the 11th (McLaren).

mickdw

Any truth in the rumours that Aston Martin are struggling to get the car to Barcelona?

Seems all not well in the camp with alot of the workforce not happy.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118563198#Comment_118563198

Thats interesting. Where are you seeing that?

Cool_CM

Any Lego fans? Looks like the Mercedes W12 is included in the Lego Speed Champions range this year - https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-speed-champions-mercedes-amg-march-2022-set-revealed/

Jordan 199

Lego is cool.

eviltimeban

Aston Martin, Merc, and Red Bull have all had some kinds of issues in the off season. Red Bull failed a crash test, Merc denied they did but who knows.

SureYWouldntYa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118563954#Comment_118563954

Surely you want to be pushing the limit when it comes to your designs? Then make the adjustments needed to then pass the test. That's how I'd imagine it is, if you pass the test first time maybe certain parts of your design is too safe and slow

eviltimeban

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118564057#Comment_118564057

Or, it sets them back. Saying that, Adrian Newey was apparently "unconcerned".

flazio

In these cost cap days you would rather get it right first time. If you are Haas then you'd be delighted.

recyclebin

The time frames are too tight to be failing crash tests this close to testing. Red Bull probably put more time into last season than they anticipated and could be behind schedule on this years car.

muckwarrior

If we're lucky then both Red Bull and Mercedes will have diverted an unplanned amount of resources attempting to win the '21 championship, giving the rest a chance to catch up this year. 🤞

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118565880#Comment_118565880

Ferrari are the ones to look out for. 3rd in the 2021 championship without a race win, ahead of McLaren and Alpine who had a race win each.

Frank Bullitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118565880#Comment_118565880

If they do drop the ball, catching up will be tough due to the limit they both have on aero time under the new regs as well.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118565977#Comment_118565977

You could say the same about Ferrari every year. They're the biggest name in the sport, have one of the biggest budgets every single year, they have more influence than any single teams should have (they can unilaterally veto changes) and still fail to produce winning cars. They're without doubt the worst value for money team on the grid. They have excellent drivers this year though. Stronger than they've been in recent years. Sainz was a bit of a surprise last year (but so was Norris and they'd been battling hard for the last couple of seasons).

Every now and again Ferrari get it right but they are a very mediocre team with a huge budget that drags them up to above average.

AMKC

I see Ferrari are going to name there car for this year the F1-75 in honour of there first production car.

quokula

Thanks again to whoever linked racingnews365.com on this thread for a more international perspective on F1 news. It's been a real breath of fresh air.

Their top story right now are an interview with Mika Hakkinen where he states the absolute obvious which the British media have ignored, that the main factor in Hamilton's retirement decision is most likely whether or not he'll have a dominant car again. I've often wondered why certain celebrated world champions like Hakkinen and Prost just never get asked their opinions in the media while other ex drivers seem to never be out of it, and this has made me wonder if it's just the British media only speaking to people who will confirm their biases or refusing to publish stuff that doesn't match the narrative they're trying to portray.

Next stories on the site after that are a solid run down of the 2022 rules and regulation changes and the news that Verstappen and the Mercedes team have been nominated for Laureus awards, along with reports from a few different teams and drivers on 2022 performance expectations.

By contrast the big UK sites like motorsport.com are leading with "Red Bull drivers have a lot of penalty points" which isn't news and reads like another one of their usual attempts at a hatchet job. That's followed up with a puff piece about plucky underdogs Mercedes and all the challenges they had to overcome to build the W12, and of course the usual rumours about Masi being fired are present and correct because they seem to see it as their duty to keep stirring that pot. The laureus awards do get mentioned in fairness, with the headline "2022 Laureus nominees announced" carefully excluding the name of who from the motorsport world is nominated unless you dig into the article.

Frank Bullitt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GrO-5meHQA

Never knew how bad things were for McLaren