2022 Formula 1 season thread

[Bruce Boudreau]

Well it has been a disasterous couple of weeks for Ferrari. The contructors championship is slipping away while they continue to lose the good will they had built up and have reverted back to the Ferrari of the last decade that continue to make bad strategy calls that end up boning their driver's championship chances.

 

Max Verstappen and the RedBulls have a comfortable lead and don't face the same amount of pressure from a team like Ferrari who hasn't won in over a decade like they did last year from a well oiled machine that is Mercedes who are beginning to come back at Ferrari as the season progresses now.

 

Hoping Ferrari can keep up in the development battle as Mercedes are rapidly catching them while RedBull continues to widen the gap every race.

 

This season could get spicy yet in the second half as Mercedes push hard to catch Ferrari while Ferrari try to stay on Red Bull's tails so they can't waltz to a double championship.

[thedestroyerofworlds]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/auto-racing/article/red-bulls-verstappen-claims-canadian-grand-prix-over-ferraris-sainz/

Red Bull's Verstappen claims Canadian Grand Prix over Ferrari's Sainz

 

 

MONTREAL — Formula One season leader Max Verstappen of Red Bull held off Ferrari's Carlos Sainz to win the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Verstappen earned his 26th career victory and sixth this season.

The 24-year-old Dutchman led the final 20 laps of the 70-lap course, 0.993 seconds ahead of Sainz. 

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes was third for just his second podium this season.

Canada's Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi finished 10th and 16th respectively. 

Mercedes driver George Russell placed fourth. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who started from the back of the grid due to a penalty for changing his engine, was fifth.

Alpine's Fernando Alonso, who started on the front row for the first time in 10 years, finished seventh. 

A day after Red Bull's Sergio Perez crashed in qualifying, the Mexican driver's day ended on Lap 9 when he lost power.

That was a blow to his championship chances. He'd started the day just 21 points behind Verstappen atop the season leaderboard.

"I've lost the engine," Perez said. "I'm stuck in gear." 

Mick Schumacher of Haas retired on Lap 20, while the day ended for Alpha Tauri's Yuki Tsunoda on Lap 50. 

The Formula One circuit made a triumphant return to Montreal after the race was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19. 

The race drew a sun-soaked crowd of about 100,000 fans. 

With two new grandstands constructed since 2019, it was a record for the event.

F1's return to Montreal coincided with the 40th anniversary of the death of Gilles Villeneuve, for whom the track is named.

[Tornado]

Sebastian Vettel has called it a career (after this season anyway).
Where do you guys rate him among the all-time greats? With 4 WDC titles, I'm sure he has to be up there?

 

I'm curious who will replace him at Aston Martin... Alonso and Mick Schumacher seem to be the most mentioned names.

[Sharpshooter]

Didn’t even know this thread existed! 
 

Looking forward to Hungary tomorrow. 
 

Well done to Russell on Pole. Amazing drive. 
 

Hope Hamilton gets past Alonso early. Unlike last year  
 

Max is going to be driving mad. Still dangerous for a podium. 
 

Ferraris have the pace and I expect Sainz and Leclerc to eventually over take Russell. But I hope not. 

[Sharpshooter]

Back to back podiums for Hamilton and Russell. 
 

I wouldn’t have thought it. Very happy for them and it seems like Mercedes is slowly but surely ‘turning a corner’. 
 

I don’t what’s going on over at Ferrari. Not having an extra set of new mediums for Charles was a huge mistake. 
 

I feel for Charles. The Championship is slipping away from him and being handed to Max on terrible team strategy. 
 

I hate this summer break now. So great to see back to back race weekends. Teams need the rest though. I get it.

 

Hope the Nucks do something to keep me from being bored in August. 

[Tornado]

Oscar Piastri has refuted Alpine's claim that they have signed him for Formula 1 2023 and insists - in a dramatic twist to the sport's transfer 'silly season' - that he will be driving elsewhere instead.

 

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12473/12664389/oscar-piastri-denies-alpine-announcement-and-says-he-will-be-driving-elsewhere-in-formula-1-2023

 

What a soap this has been...

 

[Sharpshooter]

3 hours ago, Tornado said:

Oscar Piastri has refuted Alpine's claim that they have signed him for Formula 1 2023 and insists - in a dramatic twist to the sport's transfer 'silly season' - that he will be driving elsewhere instead.

 

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12473/12664389/oscar-piastri-denies-alpine-announcement-and-says-he-will-be-driving-elsewhere-in-formula-1-2023

 

What a soap this has been...

 

Crazy, since he’s under contract with them. I don’t think he’s allowed to sign elsewhere for next season. 
 

So what’s the plan? Stay in F2? Indy? Formula-E? 

[Tornado]

13 hours ago, Sharpshooter said:

Crazy, since he’s under contract with them. I don’t think he’s allowed to sign elsewhere for next season. 
 

So what’s the plan? Stay in F2? Indy? Formula-E? 

There's a rumour that he had a clause in his contract where Alpine had to 'promote' him to full-time driver before August 1st, which they failed to do in time.
Didn't see confirmation anywhere of it though.

And as you said, even if they failed to reach that clause in time, that doesn't negate his contract with them (which he has until 2023).
He can't drive in F2 as former champions aren't allowed. He also didn't drive there this season because of this.

I agree, I don't think he can sign/drive for any other F1 team without approval from Alpine.

Either way I also don't see how Alpine could still somehow ever give this kid a seat now, after this PR fiasco.

 

I just don't understand how you can announce a driver without having discussed it with the driver before hand...

[Sharpshooter]

1 minute ago, Tornado said:

There's a rumour that he had a clause in his contract where Alpine had to 'promote' him to full-time driver before August 1st, which they failed to do in time.
Didn't see confirmation anywhere of it though.

And as you said, even if they failed to reach that clause in time, that doesn't negate his contract with them (which he has until 2023).
He can't drive in F2 as former champions aren't allowed. He also didn't drive there this season because of this.

I agree, I don't think he can sign/drive for any other F1 team without approval from Alpine.

Either way I also don't see how Alpine could still somehow ever give this kid a seat now, after this PR fiasco.

 

I just don't understand how you can announce a driver without having discussed it with the driver before hand...

I don’t have any knowledge of any potential clause. 
 

There could have been one. If so, then maybe that’s an out? 
 

But, like you said, and as far as we know, Alpine made it publicly known that he was graduated to take over Alonso’s seat.

 

Technically, that should be sufficient legally to fulfill the clause if it’s there. 
 

Legally, Alpine had the intention and made an announcement before August 1st. 
 

I don’t think Piastri has a legal case. 

[Sharpshooter]

Mercedes Benz. 
 

One step forward. 
 

Two steps back. 
 

 

Hopefully their race pace is stronger than the qualifying pace, otherwise this is going to be a frustrating race tomorrow. 

[Sharpshooter]

Goddammit. 
 

Hamilton could have been on the podium if he didn’t have that collision with Alonso. 
 

 

[Sharpshooter]

Ugh, so frustrating! Hamilton was so close to winning. 
 

What was that nonsense by Tsunoda and RedBull’s sister team? That seemed designed to help Verstappen. Bringing the car in because of a tire issue, and then pretending to make it about a seatbelt issue, and then retiring the car half a lap later is sus as f***.

 

 

[Bruce Boudreau]

On 6/5/2022 at 3:11 PM, Chip Kelly said:

Well it has been a disasterous couple of weeks for Ferrari. The contructors championship is slipping away while they continue to lose the good will they had built up and have reverted back to the Ferrari of the last decade that continue to make bad strategy calls that end up boning their driver's championship chances.

 

Max Verstappen and the RedBulls have a comfortable lead and don't face the same amount of pressure from a team like Ferrari who hasn't won in over a decade like they did last year from a well oiled machine that is Mercedes who are beginning to come back at Ferrari as the season progresses now.

 

Hoping Ferrari can keep up in the development battle as Mercedes are rapidly catching them while RedBull continues to widen the gap every race.

 

This season could get spicy yet in the second half as Mercedes push hard to catch Ferrari while Ferrari try to stay on Red Bull's tails so they can't waltz to a double championship.

As I feared the Mercedes have indeed caught up to Ferrari and are no longer behind in performance at most tracks.

 

Ferrari has a terrible pit crew/strategy blunder every race weekend. The car they have has less top speed and worse in tyre management than when it comes to RedBull or Mercedes.

 

There is a chance we have a 3 team fight from the beginning next season if Ferrari can finally run an average race strategy and pit stops wise and stop self sabotaging both their drivers.

 

McLaren and Alpine look to be in a tight midfield fight.

 

Let's see how much other teams can catch up next year after a year of better understanding the current cars and new regulations.

[Bruce Boudreau]

On 9/4/2022 at 8:56 AM, Sharpshooter said:

Ugh, so frustrating! Hamilton was so close to winning. 
 

What was that nonsense by Tsunoda and RedBull’s sister team? That seemed designed to help Verstappen. Bringing the car in because of a tire issue, and then pretending to make it about a seatbelt issue, and then retiring the car half a lap later is sus as f***.

 

 

He almost took out Sainz on the opening lap like he did when he crashed with Alonso last week. Alonso was right Hamilton is a front runner. He needs to start up the grid he is not used to fighting with the mid field.

 

Fernando Alonso is still a fantastic driver put him in the second RedBull and he would be much closer to Verstappen than Perez can get.

[Bruce Boudreau]

Interesting debate who are top 10 drivers in Formula 1 right now when we take away machinery?

1. Max Verstappen 

2. Fernando Alonso

3. Lewis  Hamilton

4. Charles  Leclerc

5. George Russel

6. Lando Norris

7. Carlos Sainz

8. Sergio Perez 

9. Esteban Ocon 

10. Pierre Gasly

 

 

 

 

 

@Sharpshooter

[Sharpshooter]

3 hours ago, Chip Kelly said:

As I feared the Mercedes have indeed caught up to Ferrari and are no longer behind in performance at most tracks.

 

Ferrari has a terrible pit crew/strategy blunder every race weekend. The car they have has less top speed and worse in tyre management than when it comes to RedBull or Mercedes.

 

There is a chance we have a 3 team fight from the beginning next season if Ferrari can finally run an average race strategy and pit stops wise and stop self sabotaging both their drivers.

 

McLaren and Alpine look to be in a tight midfield fight.

 

Let's see how much other teams can catch up next year after a year of better understanding the current cars and new regulations.

Binotto needs take charge of what’s going on in the pits. 
 

It’s incredible that the race engineers didn’t give their mechanics enough time to get the tires ready and then the pit crew seems clueless with that wheel gun  just aimlessly sitting in the path of Perez. 
 

I had a laugh when Leclerc’s race engineer was asking him what he wanted to do over the radio after the foul up from previous races. Shouldn’t the team know what to do? Why are they asking Leclerc who’s busy driving and doesn’t have the data they have. 
 

I’m not sure if Mercedes is there just yet on high speed circuits. They’re ok in the high downforce ones but have no pace to keep up with Ferrari in the straight stretches. Still catching up. 

[Sharpshooter]

3 hours ago, Chip Kelly said:

He almost took out Sainz on the opening lap like he did when he crashed with Alonso last week. Alonso was right Hamilton is a front runner. He needs to start up the grid he is not used to fighting with the mid field.

 

Fernando Alonso is still a fantastic driver put him in the second RedBull and he would be much closer to Verstappen than Perez can get.

Alonso has always been a prima donna. Hamilton was wrong and apologized last race. 
 

And this weekend with Sainz, Hamilton gave more room and used more caution. I don’t think it was comparable. 
 

Also, there have been a mountain of times that Hamilton had previously gone through the field to win a race, so Alonso was just talking out of his ass in the heat of moment. 

[Sharpshooter]

3 hours ago, Chip Kelly said:

Interesting debate who are top 10 drivers in Formula 1 right now when we take away machinery?

1. Max Verstappen 

2. Fernando Alonso

3. Lewis  Hamilton

4. Charles  Leclerc

5. George Russel

6. Lando Norris

7. Carlos Sainz

8. Sergio Perez 

9. Esteban Ocon 

10. Pierre Gasly

 

 

 

 

 

@Sharpshooter

In my opinion,

 

Verstappen

Hamilton

Leclerc

Sainz

Alonso

Perez

Russell

Norris

Ocon

Gasly

[Bruce Boudreau]

2 hours ago, Sharpshooter said:

In my opinion,

 

Verstappen

Hamilton

Leclerc

Sainz

Alonso

Perez

Russell

Norris

Ocon

Gasly

Very excited to also see Oscar Piastri at McLaren next year. He looks like a proper young talent who should not take very long to start to help push Norris.

 

Also would love to see the dynamic at Alpine if Gasly were to become teammates with frenemy Ocon next year as well. Netflix would love that result...

 

Quite a few options at Williams with Mick Schumacher being released from his contract with Ferrari. Also Nyck DeVries and Logan Sargeant chomping at the bit for an opportunity at an F1 seat.

 

There is American Colton Herta from Indy Car who may yet factor in if he is deemed eligible to drive in Formula 1 without the requisite super license points.

 

Also what happens to Ricciardo? 

 

He is looking at a sabbatical year out of Formula 1 unless he is going to get another chance back with Alpine.

[Bruce Boudreau]

On 7/29/2022 at 5:00 AM, Tornado said:

Sebastian Vettel has called it a career (after this season anyway).
Where do you guys rate him among the all-time greats? With 4 WDC titles, I'm sure he has to be up there?

 

I'm curious who will replace him at Aston Martin... Alonso and Mick Schumacher seem to be the most mentioned names.

Vettel was a good driver in a great car but the past 3 years his form had really deteriorated being at Ferrari with all the pressure and attention and screw ups.

 

It is very clear he was more comfortable in a certain type of car with a stable rare that was a fit for his unique driving style. In his prime he was a top 10 driver but imo Fernando Alonso is the better pure racer with his ability to get the most out of any car that he has been put in.