F1 2022 thread - see post 1 for rules

Close, right pair, right numbers but it was 2012

Button was 1, Hamilton 2 in the McLaren. Brawn were the constructors champions and became Mercedes, so they took 3 and 4 (Schumacher & Rosberg). Red Bull had finished 2nd, so they got 5 and 6 (Vettel & Webber).

Really? People here like?

I find it hard to believe that people who saw Russel absolutely destroy Bottas (and most of the field) in the merc even though he couldn't fit in the thing and didn't know where the menus were on the dash.

I also think that despite what Bottas says about long term projects, if Merc offered him another 1 year contract he would have taken it.

Fun thought experiment: if Lewis shock retires, who would replace him?

Bottas, Vandoorne, deVries, Rosberg?

I believe contractually Vandorne is front of the queue.

BTW, Grosjean never got his spin out did he?

And he should. If he doesn't, then that's the FIA acknowledging there was a problem with the final race, which they've already said there wasn't.

He was their reserve driver in 2020, didn't stop them bringing Russell in however, I'd be surprised if de Vries wasn't brought in before Vandorne tbh (not that I see Hamilton retiring at all)

Grosjean never got his spin as the French GP he was initially meant to do a FP1 in was postoped a week Iirc.

I say Mercedes will want a champion or at least race winner in the car.

Ocon won a race now, would that be enough?

They might draft Vettel in with a two year contract to give Russell support and competition.

Yes he is but it's pretty normal. Toto also manages Bottas and brought him from Williams to Mercedes.

Ocon would be the best choice but he's under a 3 year contract. So it would take Alpine agreeing to let him go in exchange for hard money. Alpine gave him a 3 year deal so they were planning to have him at the team in the long term.

Gasley is pretty unloved by RB so he would be a good option. But RB would never let him go to help Mercedes. They'd be more likely to give him a long term contract if they thought Mercedes wanted him.

Hard to know who they'd get in. All the good options are already signed up. But it's all academic as Hamilton's not going anywhere

RB would have to agree to be bought out of the contract though. And they'd never agree to help Mercedes.

Even of they were neutral towards Mercedes, they would be left wirh the problem of filling the seat for themselves. They have a fantastic driver in great form in Gasley. They would have to take a punt on Albon in his place. There's absolutely no incentive to let Gasley go to help Mercedes out.

RB would be delighted if Mercedes had to fill the seat with a rookie. It would give them a leg up in the constructors championship

Oh yeah you're right. He's with William next year.. So RB would need to buy him back too while helping Mercedes to compete against them next year. It would never happen.

Puke. Lewis Dreamsmasher Hamilton at it again. I'm fine with legitimate Hamilton bashing but this kind of stuff is silly.

If he now flies half way across the world to spend time with this young fella, I doubt you'll be giving him any credit. No more than posters give him any credit when he does something pro environment or pro gay rights, the same posters find fault in that too.

The naked anti-Hamilton sentiment this year would make you warm towards him. He's a grand lad, just a bit of a nob. Not worthy of scraping the bottom of the barrel for an incident where he disappointed a puppy or a small child. Have you heard the one where he made the baby Jesus cry?

And a puppy. The puppy made a really sad face too, big eyes and everything. Not sure what Lewis did to the puppy but he probably did something. Amiright?

Do you report stories where Hamilton does nice things for people or makes young drivers happy? Do you fcuk. Don't pretend to give a shiny shyte about the gosson. He's just a stick to beat Lewis.

Interesting comments coming in about the 18" tyres.

Pirelli seem far more confident of the structural integrity now that they've got smaller side walls so hopefully this will be the end of the sudden blowouts that have plagued the sport for several years now.

Apparently temperature comes in more consistently, and combined with lower temperature tyre blankets they expect the tyres will need to be worked hard to bring them up to speed. Hopefully this will mark the end of the shambles we currently see in many qualifying sessions with the cars tiptoeing around.

Most interestingly, there is an imbalance of grip with the rear tyres being grippier than the fronts, leading to more understeer. The teams expect to be able to dial this out with increased front downforce in their new cars, but I wonder if this might be an opportunity for the kind of aggressive driving style Alonso was famous for back in his Renault days, on Michelin tyres that had similar understeery characteristics.

Aside from that it doesn't sound like too many surprises, similar durability and steps between compounds as the current tyres so broadly similar strategies to be expected. This is all based on mule car data of course, the 2022 chassis and aero could still throw up some surprises.

I think he has to go. If he doesn’t Mercedes will look for some sort of compensation in terms of favourable regs or something similar.