F1 2022 thread - see post 1 for rules

Perfect timing when your body clock is set to wake for 05:30 am too!

Yeah, it was Australia - Malaysia - Brazil - then into the European races. With Japan at the end. 🙂

Not sure if it is the ICE yet, but the Merc powered teams are generally suffering overall, so it would be hard placed to just put it down to one aspect. Chances are, it is a mixture of things.

Having said that, the speed traps (again, not a true indicator of power overall, aero and drag and grip play a factor) all paint a fairly grim picture.

Kravitz on the notebook spent several minutes talking about the Piercings and Pants thing. Says its clearly the FIA targeting Lewis Hamilton. They really are insufferable fools on Sky

Yeah like, he's the most obvious one who breaks thst rule (he has earrings in post race interviews so I presume he wears them racing). But the rules are in place up and down FIA racing. It's not just a special rule for Hamilton.

Ah, its Sky Sports remit to create a siege mentality for its viewers. Plucky little Brits against the big bad world. Battling all the odds and coming out on top.

Leclerc now has a massive 46 point gap over Verstappen. The Ferrari also looks bullet proof so far. Worrying times for Red Bull and there power train. Mercedes could finish second in both championships the way it going.

McLaren have made great progress since the first race but Norris is still sounding down beat and putting it down to car being track specific. They did seem to be down on top speed and could not close in on the Mercedes even with DRS.

I don't think so. He isn't as fast as Charles but he's a lot of bad luck, plus one mistake today that cost him dearly.

Apparently they replaced his steering just before the race but it was still faulty and he had an issue with anti stall on the start? I've no idea what that is but he talks about it in the post race interview. So it may not be his fault at all.

I think it's been pretty clear which one is faster in each quali and race so far. Only one Ferrari driver can compete with, and beat, max. So it might be a bit early to sit him down for the awkward conversation, but another couple of races along the same vein and it will be unavoidable.

Alpine back in blue looks much better. They also look like they could be competitive in a few races if they can put it all together correctly over a weekend.

Driver Standings. Constructor Standings.

This is Ferrari, they'll definitely mess something up.

7kg is a huge leap. I suppose a 7kg cut means lots of parts of the car do less work over the course of the weekend. Brakes and suspension, for example, do less. But maybe it means they can adjust other parameters so they running more efficiently.

Have they said what the problem was with Max's car yesterday?

You're likely right but Alpine had a 4kg loss amongst its updates this weekend and they had a big jump in performance. 7kg would presumably be a decent improvement and help with tyre wear.

Much as I hate to say it's Mercedes will very quickly get back near the front.

They will solve the bouncing and start running the car as they need to and the performance will be there.

I often wonder how is restricted testing policed. Mercedes say they need actual running to figure out the floor and the ground effect issues.

Surely If a team wished, they could run some kind of mule at some random racetrack to try to evaluate aspects of floor design.