F1 2022 thread - see post 1 for rules

The regulations on the new cars can be found here - good look deciphering them though! My understanding is that it's supposed to be pretty strict, but the rules are such a complicated list of boxes and angles and measurements that there's always the chance teams will find a loophole that they overlooked - this is how we ended up with innovations like double diffusers, or with those ridiculous proboscis noses on cars when they introduced regulations which were intended to lower the whole nosecone, but teams found that having a tip sticking out matched the letter of the rules and was the most performant design.

The wing design isn't purely aesthetic, it's shaped in a way to direct the dirty air coming from the bottom of the car and push it upwards, so it doesn't impact the car behind so much. Their seems to be a lot of confidence that it will work.

I'd say Laurence Stroll was a tough person to work for.

Otmar Szafnauer was always on the way out once whitmarsh came in.

Interesting to see him at Alpine. They really could be front runners.

Williams have won a case in the US against ROKiT for £26 million in unpaid sponsorship money. It's a significant amount of money. About one fifth what it cost Dorlinton to buy the team.

The Williams F1 team. That's who the contract was signed with. They didn't sponsor Frank Williams to whizz around in his wheelchair. They sponsored the team to advertise its brand on the cars. That's where the money will surely go.

Good question. Depends on how likely they were to win. It might have been a gamble for the new buyers and Williams will have been selling as guaranteed money. Who knows.

This was reported as a done deal back in the middle of last season, then both McLaren and Audi strongly denied it and the reports died.

But then Otmar Szafnauer leaving Aston Martin was reported in the middle of the season and that was strongly denied and the story was dropped too...

I'd take it as good news if true, McLaren's finances have been in a poor state and they've had to sell off a bunch of their assets in recent times, meaning that though they've had good on track performances this year their long term prospects were looking shaky. Seeing a new manufacture committing to the sport is good news too as the sport looks to be finally turning a corner with the next set of engine regulations in 2025 after the disastrous 2014 formula that forced smaller engine suppliers like cosworth out of the sport and created huge barriers to entry for any potential new manufacturer.

It was mainly down to their road car business being hit hard by the pandemic and they had no headroom for that which meant they had to lay off a large portion of their workforce and sell off their premises and get external investors onboard to ensure they could keep paying the bills.

Absolute guff. There's nothing else to talk about at the moment so the only way to make a video worth watching is to make stuff up or exaggerate to the point of making stuff up. Lewis might be holding out and waiting for the FIA to beg him to confirm he'll drive, and I expect most of the 50:50s to go his way and maybe a few big decisions like penalties against Max to get Lewis onside. Or they might make some big promises and not follow through.

He's having a sulk because F1 made some rules on the fly for the entertainment and he got screwed. But F1 needs him so they'll do what they need to do to secure his participation.

I don't know what they were like for F1 a few years ago, but it wasn't that long ago they used to be quite respectable for football news but have gone pure tabloid with their stuff and the yellow ticker in recent years

That is pure scrapping the gutter stuff

Hamilton not winning the eigth title might be bad news for everyone else. Mercedes and Hamilton may have said that's enough and motiivation could have dropped off. I think they will be seriously motivated for revenge now.

I think he'd love to have that 8th title as it will always be Schumacher and Hamilton on 7 world titles.

With that 8th title then Hamilton can retire with all the important records broken. I hope he sticks around and has a competitive enough car to at least fight for that eigth title. This year just left too much of a sour taste for him to go off and retire without giving it another shot.

That’s this year alright. As far as I understand it the new aerodynamics mean there’ll be less dirty air once trailing cars get close, so we should see less of those situations where cars get close on straights but lose time in corners.

Might see a lot more overtaking so. These conditions might favour drivers who are better "racers" as opposed to those who can drive fast around a track.

I was too young at the time to notice but wasn't Schumacher known as a fast driver who wasn't particularly good at wheel-to-wheel racing? Vettel possibly in that category also.