F1 2022 thread - see post 1 for rules

quokula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119288281#Comment_119288281

Yeah these decisions are going to hurt the sport in the long run. The sport is riding on a high right now with the new regulations and closer more competitive racing as it puts the disastrous previous era behind it, but if they just chase short term money by going to soulless street circuits instead of classic racing track it will just make the racing worse and they'll start losing fans again.

ShamoBuc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119288233#Comment_119288233

Crazy, yes but not from a financial perspective. Spreading F1 worldwide is the game as money talks. Europe has an abundance of tracks in essence and fans can fairly easily travel to many of those. Bigger TV money and new tracks - Vegas for example - are key to F1's expansion and development.

Having 3 weeks between a few races should be cut, that might be an option and allow for the season to start and finish within their timeframe.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119288419#Comment_119288419

I don't think many people would disagree with the fact that F1 needs to be spread around the world a bit more, but losing another iconic (and previously seen as untouchable) location is going to upset a lot of the long time fans. Not many people are complaining about losing the French GP for example. There's also the abundance of street circuits now, which may add to the spectacle of the event, but very rarely does it add to the excitement of a race. And also, 4 races in the Middle East is a bit excessive - Qatar will be coming back next year after taking a break for the World Cup.

recyclebin

There are plenty of European grand prix that should be dropped before Spa.

Barcelona and Hungary would be no big loss for a start.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119289856#Comment_119289856

Such a shame. Monaco, France, Netherlands, and Spain. Hungary can be good but I wouldn't hugely object if it was dropped for a better track.

Spa is usually good. Great mix of corners.

As Bernie showed last week, it's a grubby sport. The financial side of the sport is pretty shameful.

kksaints

Spa can be boring if the weather is good and I'd say a fiasco like last year didn't help matters. But I'd still much rather Spa than Barcelona, Paul Ricard, Monaco and Netherlands.

flazio

Theory:

Although optimum result going on race performance for Ferrari would have been Charles P1, Carlos P2 could Ferrari turn around to Sainz now and say "OK, you have your race win and quite a prestigious one at that, fair enough but now it's time to help Charles catch Max and Ferrari catch Red Bull" and actually possibly get a more positive response from Carlos. I'm sure he'd love more race wins, but now that his first is out of the way perhaps he won't be so ruthless against his teammate, considering where Ferrari are in relation to Red Bull and that threat of Mercedes-Benz getting their act together looming larger and larger.

For all the talk of expansion they'd want to be a little careful. Look at NASCAR selling out to be a fad and now racing in front of low 10s of thousands and instead of letting the fad-chasers drift off they gimmicked the **** out of the races.

Losing Spa would be ridiculous and one has to wonder where the Hungarians are able to get the money to be beyond any danger while Spa is constantly on a knife-edge. Also they've just blown was it €20 million on upgrades. Ugh.

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294647#Comment_119294647

It's not like Formula 1 is the only event that goes on there. There's 24 hour GT racing, various stock car events. It's not like, say Ballybrit racecourse in Galway which hosts 2 meetings a year and lies idle most of the rest of the year. Macau, Le Mans, the Nordscheiffe, Brands Hatch, Indianapolis. All these tracks have plenty of life in them without Formula 1. Spa would be no different.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294681#Comment_119294681

Oh sorry, thought we were talking about F1, my bad.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294647#Comment_119294647

Someone mentioned that Spa is mostly general admission which is cheaper than stand tickets. Hungary had loads of stand tickets. Plus fand mostly stay in Budapest and spend plenty of money in the country. So the Government probably won't mind chipping in to cover the cost as they make money through income and business tax, people make money through employment, everyone's a winner. In Spa, people tend to camp and not spend money in the regular economy.

There are lots of reason why Hungary could pay for a GP. They're not linked to the quality of the races, but that's not the question.

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294693#Comment_119294693

You make it sound like if tracks like Spa fall off the calendar, traditional Formula 1 dies forever. It doesn't. Nothing is forever, just look at Imola.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119295500#Comment_119295500

You make it sound like you're making up stuff and attributing it to me rather than actually reading my posts. Your first reply was as though I said the circuit would die when I said nothing of the sort, now it's that one circuit leaving would be the death of "traditional" F1, which I also didn't say.

However, since you brought up "traditional" F1, how would you define that? Following on, what would constitute an "end" to it?

recyclebin

They should seriously consider alternating some tracks so that they are run every second year rather than kill them off all together. Some of these combinations could free up space for emerging markets and new tracks.

Holland and Belgium

France and Germany

Austria and Hungary

Spain and Portugal

Imola and Monaco

Las Vegas and Miami

flazio

David Croft will be commentating on the Austrian GP remotely as there isn't a plane big enough to carry his ego over to Austria after Silverstone.

https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/1544378327129022464?t=L3Aj6awnWn5YWifZ0mOOzA&s=19

guyfo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119297169#Comment_119297169

The further we get into this season the more I get to hate British media, especially SKY. When Lewis was winning I understood the hype but it's just gotten so bloody cringey now.

A man with one of the most famous names in motorsport just took his first victory after a fantastic race. And all we hear about is that Mercedes are "back" and that bloody "overtake" that didn't even stick.... ESPN seem to be just as bad.

duploelabs

Anyone any experience of heading over to the Austrian GP. Got offered tickets but the logistics appear to be a nightmare

DrZeuss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119297496#Comment_119297496

Not to mention all the "Silverstone truly is the best track", "look at the crowds here", "never seen crowds like it", "Silverstone is amazing".....all effing weekend on SKY, painful.

TheRona

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294632#Comment_119294632

The biggest problem they have with that is that Sainz is only 11 points behind Leclerc. He's just as likely to view himself as a legitimate competitor.

duploelabs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119298073#Comment_119298073

A British based broadcaster, broadcasting predominantly to a British audience, about a British grand prix, of course they're going to trump it up

PsychoPete

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119294632#Comment_119294632

I do think F1 drivers need to be selfish if they want to win, Bottas was the ideal team mate for Hamilton because he'd play the team game. For the teams it's about winning the constructors but for drivers it's the championship. Sainz only being 11 points behind Leclerc, he would probably be ahead of him as he was unlucky to dnf in imola. I think it's too early to prioritise one over the other

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119298284#Comment_119298284

FYP \/

\/

Sainz only being 11 points behind Leclerc, he should probably be ahead of him as he was unlucky to dnf in imola. I think it's too early to 

Killinator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119298284#Comment_119298284

It's fair to say that Sainz should still be considered in the fight right now just as much as Leclerc is but you can't really say he should/would be ahead due to Imola without qualifying it with the fact that Leclerc has had his fair share (or more) of bad luck that would have extended the gap to Sainz.

It's not a fair representation to just pick Imola as the deciding factor as to why he is behind, the whole season has to be taken into account for both.

As much as I would love the Smooth Operator to be on top, if races had gone as planned (no DNFs for either) it would be a fair shout that Leclerc would be ahead by a bit.

El_Duderino 09

Sainz isn't as fast as Leclerc. He is only 11 points behind, but if he beats leclerc this season it would be through bad luck, not sainz being faster. So the question for Ferrari is whether to back the faster driver. And I doubt they will back him because the points difference is so small.

They might make a decision to back the faster driver on the day which would almost always be leclerc. It would free them up to let leclerc past sainz in an instance like last weekend. But I'd say any kind of explicit no.2 role (like Peez at RB) for sainz is not likely

Zaph

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119289856#Comment_119289856

I know that the circuit is more than one corner, but an F1 season without Eau Rouge would be a very sad thing. But as someone said, Spa has a great mix of corners and its location means that the weather can be enjoyably unpredictable. Gimmicks like Baku or Abu Dhabi, or snoozefests like Paul Ricard or the Hungaroring should be for the chopping block long before Spa should ever be considered. But obviously money talks, and even more so in the world of Liberty Media, so it's inevitable they'd want to offload a historic circuit for something as bland as Miami.

Cookie_Monster

Haven't you heard, racing in carparks is where its at!!!

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119302077#Comment_119302077

That's cheap There's great variety in the quality of street circuits. There are snoozefests like Monaco and Singapore and albert park, but Baku and Jeddah and miami were good races. They shouldn't be afraid of trite "racing in carparks" comments, and should purge the bad tracks that don't produce good racing.

Someone above called Baku a gimmick. Is the gimmick that it tends to be entertaining? If it was old and boring, there would be great opposition to criticising it from the old guard. But a relatively new track that's generally good to watch, is a gimmick.

blade1

Has anyone spur of the moment, packed a bag and headed to a race.

Just wondering does it make it financially not worth it?

duploelabs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119302230#Comment_119302230

You'd be looking at the wrong side of 2.5k to get two people to the styrian GP, but it's the logistics that are a nightmare

guyfo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119302230#Comment_119302230

Aren't all the races sold out apart from the stupidly expensive VIP packages?