The long wait to the first grand prix of the season is almost over.
Times:
Friday: FP1 - 12:00. FP2 - 15:00.
Saturday: FP3 - 12:00. Qualifying - 15:00.
Sunday: Race -15:00.
Bring! It! On!
Love to see Sainz win, or podium at least.
Hope Haas score points
Vettel is out , COVID , replaced by Hulk .
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/hulkenberg-replaces-vettel-in-bahrain-after-positive-covid-19-test/9070571/
Would love to see Hulkenberg at least get in the points and a podium or a win would be great too. Going to be a lot of learning for him being thrown in the deep end to learn about and to get used to the new cars from FP1 up.
I can see Hulkenburg being a bit busier this year.
For viewing this weekend - all practice sessions, qualifying and race will be live on Sky Sports F1. Qualifying highlights will be on Channel 4 at 19:30 and race highlights will be on at 19:30.
A couple of previews.
BBC
and F1TV
Worth noting if you are up north or "in the UK" you can access alternative commentary via BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Xtra. Jack Nicholls will be joined by Sam Bird. Jolyon Palmer is primarily working for the F1TV service with their own English language commentary system which you can't get in the UK or Ireland because of Sky Sports exclusivity. He's pairing up with Ben Edwards on that platform.
Did I read that its mandatory for all people in the paddock to be vaccinated this season? Should keep the numbers down but you never know.
Won't be a good luck for stroll if hulk just rocks on up the day befoee FP1 and he finishes ahead of him this weekend.
It'll be interesting to see the difference in the cars, and respective lap times, compared to practice last week.
Today will be revealing. Nobody is going to be sandbagging in practice as they need to see their true pace for the race and quali.
Have a feeling Ferrari will be fastest but Max will be good enough to compete
I'm really interested to see Mercedes' pace.
Thats the biggest question mark imo.
I imagine P2, same time of evening as quali tomorrow, is where they'll really start showing their hand.
Probably won't even break the top 10 but I'd love to see Hulk make it to the podium.
From Twitter :
Mercedes modifications for race 1: front wing (flaps), nose (more undercut), floor (edge ahead of rear tyre), rear break ducts (lower deflector endplate).
Vaccination doesn’t prevent infection, especially in the world of omicron.
They always sandbag in practice. Tomorrow will be the first time we see true quality pace.
That would be correct, or wait until later for highlights on YouTube and/or Channel 4. Sky paid big bucks for their lockout.
Yer one on Sky saying the Merc is one of the best looking cars in recent times, I have to disagree. The Merc sidepods have 4 or 5 bits that look like they've been in a crash.
Quite like this, though he missed a solidarity opportunity by going purple instead of blue.
All the questions!!!
I hope Ferrari will have the speed that the 'look' of their car deserves, as it's gorgeous!
Will Merc have the speed they need? Will Toto smile ?
It is probably the most eagerly awaited Practice session in a very long while.
The Noise we all love is back - it cannot be as good as last year but it is certainly going to be another rollercoaster of a season.
Bring it on!
I really like the new graphics!
The Alpine is falling apart.
Watching this now, with bits of the Alpine flying off and the damage we saw teams experiencing in testing, I reckon there's a good chance the first half of this season, could be a return to good old days of reliability being a shitshow. The incredible reliability of the hybrid cars was quite a shock to me when I got back into watching F1, having last watched the sport during the Jordan years.
New graphics are awful for a glance. Maybe it's good in 4k but where I'm watching the tyre colour is basically invisible so you need the letter, 4 numbers stand out (together) and the rest all look the same as each other. Font has far too heavy of a weight. Huge step back compared to last season.
I feel the take up to much viewing room. Evening driver graphics at bottom of screen needs toning back a bit. But the general graphic lay out is nice.
The Alpine sidepod disintegrated.
Graphics look good too. Better than the mess of the last few years.
Graphics are good, a nice change.
I wonder if teams will have issues with resonance. That sidepod came off roughly where the bouncing would usually start. Could just have been the first bump but if the teams are trying to dampen the movement that's something that can only really be tested on track and will vary greatly.
I do love the Helmet cam, it does look crazy good.
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