F1 2022 thread - see post 1 for rules

Just watching an f1 show special from sky (linked below). I'm only a bit in, but Johnny Herbert has already said that SIR Lewis Hamilton was robbed.

Makes me wonder how this would have been covered if there wasn't a British driver involved. Basically all of the f1 media I consume is British, and their bias can be pretty strong at times, such as now...

I forgot about the Coloni - Subaru relationship in 1990.

The relationship didn't last long and the couple seperated during the season.

I think Brundell is the most balanced of them all really, Herbert loves the gossip side of things and is a bit of a mouth, remember when Alonso got him after he was talking about Alonso retiring etc, that was glorious.

As for Sky overall, they are monumentally biased for any British driver, who could blame them? I guess with the last race, they are like a dog with a bone and will bang this drum for a long while to come. I try not to pay attention too much to British coverage, I will read Italian and German publications and just translate them in my browser, they aren't free of bias either but it is way more balanced.

The Subaru 1235...a 12 cylinder boxer engine...an absolute lump of a thing.

It's not just Sky, the BBC were always like that. But Murray Walker was likeable so you didn't mind him going on about Mansell / Hill etc.

Murray supported the British drivers for sure, but he also had honesty and integrity. I remember him once saying that he wanted Hill to win, but he recognised Schumacher was the better driver.

Sky’s crew are the opposite - they would never admit that they wanted the British driver to win, nor would they ever properly acknowledge the achievements of a foreign driver over a Brit.

Instead they pretend to be objective while also throwing out wild conspiracy theories and character assassinations, whether against Max last year or guys like Vettel or Rosberg or Alonso previously.

For those looking for a less British slant on coverage, I've recently discovered the RacingNews365 website and podcast, which is an extension of an existing Dutch site. The podcast is hosted by an Irish lad, and they've also hired Dieter Rencken, a well-connected journalist.

Been a long time listener to Missed Apex but found them tough to listen to at times last year. They fully admit to being Hamilton fans but seem to think that by declaring that, they have free reign to go full bias, I think it really affects the quality of the show. And then when you see the way that clown Philpot behaves on Twitter, and Spanners himself at times... I've kind of gone off them a bit lately. The episodes with Carter and Saward are always worth a listen though

Yes exactly. I get that they are just enthusiasts like the rest of us and there is no requirement to be impartial, but it goes way over board. In the early days they tried to be neutral enough, but since they openly declared their Hamilton allegiance they've gone off the scale. And I also saw they got a lot of negative feedback for Spanners behaviour and comments, given that they ask for donations, patreon etc. He's worse on Twitter, fancies himself as some kind of expert troll but is way too touchy for it, then cries like a kid when someone bites back.

The tech times are good but again I find trumpets tough to listen to, the deliberate delays and pausing between words get very tiresome.

Not sure why I listen at all, given all I've done is complain about it. I find The Race podcasts decent enough mostly, their Bring Back V10s series is the best out there imo

Ferrari launch on the 17th of February.

Do we want a separate thread for new cars? Or fair game here?

Prost to leave Alpine role, Otmar Szafnauer to join and so are BWT as a sponsor.

"The Subaru 1235 was a motor racing engine designed and built by Motori Moderni for Subaru's Formula One program in 1990. A 3.5-litre boxer-12, it was used by the Coloni team for the first eight races, but proved to be very unsuccessful and the team reverted to using the old Cosworth DFR V8 engine. Alba also used it in the World Sportscar Championship in 1990, but were similarly unsuccessful and switched to a 4.5-litre Buick V6 midway through the season."

" For Subaru, Motori Moderni came up with a 3.5-litre, 60-valve flat-twelve engine in the boxer configuration that the Japanese firm's road cars utilised."

Nope, it was a boxer-12

The engine is referred to as a boxer all over the place

"Subaru has been dominant in the world of rallying and is still making a decent fist of touring car racing. But back in the late '80s, Formula One was the supreme marketing tool of the automotive industry, and the Japanese outfit decided that it should turn its boxer engine knowledge to the top tier of motorsport."

"The 3.5-litre boxer unit debuted at the 1990 US Grand Prix, but the engine proved to be an unsuccessful companion, with it also failing at Brazil, San Marino, Canada and Silverstone. Despite ferrari's success with the same layout in the 312T '70s car, the large flat engine got in the way of ground effect venturi tunnels that were dominating the F1 landscape by 1990, thus rendering the engine a little redundant."

"I met a guy who knew Carlo Chiti via a chain of friends. Chiti ran an engine company called Motori Moderni. They were in a bit of trouble but they used to do Formula 1 engines for Minardi. They had this boxer-12 engine, made in cooperation with Subaru, that had hardly ever raced. They had trouble with the weight and getting the diffusers to work with the layout of the F1 car once the engine was in."

It's layout is that of a boxer...that is why everyone refers to it as one.

Pity they'll have those ugly wheel covers on the cars so it definitely won't look that good!