F1 2022 thread - see post 1 for rules

...everyday on boards!

gaming is a highly fanaticised environment, us humans have a tendency to get lost in that fantasy, while engaging in it....

Sprint in Austria too I believe

It's a good trip. I'm over again for the weekend. Loads to see and do.

I'd imagine there'll be a few of the F1 lads floating about or driving something unusual.

im really liking them, its something different

He should be knowing better though. Especially these lads that have been karting from a young age, they are pretty much coached for the sponsor life from a young age.

But, such are the times that one word can alter a career or life it seems.

You'd imagine thst if Mercedes can sort out it's big issues, it will be a top car. Certainly the best of the rest after RB and Ferrari. They have always had difficult cars. Even when they were winning handily, their car was called a 'diva's because it had such a narrow setup window. When they got the setup right, it was excellent. But is wasn't easy to set up.

This year they have a major issue which knocks them out of their preferred setup window and making the car a nightmare. If they can solve that problem, and reports suggest they may have done, then they will be a competitive car again. The Canada car was off the pace and they lost 7 seconds to max in the 11 lap stint after the safety car. So that's about 6 tenths a lap. And that's too much to be part of the fight for the top.

But if they can solve the problems and improve their setup issues, they could be close to the top.

They're already comfortably best of the rest after RB and Ferrari so if that's where their improvements put them then it's not much of an improvement. George Russell has only finished behind a car from one of the other seven teams once this season, when Norris beat him in changeable wet to dry conditions in Imola.

If you want to see teams who's setups are on a knife edge and who can tumble up or down the grid from race to race or even session to session look at Alpine, look at Aston Martin, look at McLaren. The Mercedes isn't on the pace of the top two, but all the comments about it being a dog or a shitbox or a diva are completely at odds with how consistently it performs in George Russell's hands race in race out. Most of those comments come from the British media and Mercedes PR trying to create sympathy for and to cover up for poor driving performances from their superstar driver.

In recent years when Ferrari or McLaren were best of the rest you didn't get this constant circus going on about how difficult the car is for the drivers, or how once they figure it out they'll unlock massive pace. Third best car was third best car, end of story. Try again next year.

Mercedes have been on easy street for years, they had a huge head start at the start of the hybrid era and were able to stay comfortably ahead up by conservatively updating the same car year after year while others had to keep trying riskier and more radical new things to catch up, which Red Bull finally did in 2021. This year is the first time they've had to develop a new car from scratch since Ross Brawn left the team and it's just not as fast as the top two. There's no great conspiracy or mystery to it. The fact they no longer have a 30% larger budget than Red Bull to play with will no doubt be hurting them too, but Ferrari are in the same boat on that one.

I'm still surprised he lasted until this year Källenius can't have been impressed with Wolffs antics. The fact the team has now lurched backwards surely means his job is in major peril.

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Zing.

Apologies boardsies, I know this is off topic but as racing fans I think you might appreciate this clip. Wayne Rainey a 3 time 500cc (pre MotoGP) champion who was paralysed from the chest down after an accident in 1993 rides his old race bike up the hill in Goodwood accompanied by his fierce rival of the time Kenny Roberts . It does weird things to my eyes though.

ANother reason I am done with F1 after next weekend. These stupid sprint races. They add nothing to it and are just a stupid gimic. I would have preferred to see the resources the teams waste on these stupid races used in the main races instead.