If the damn cars get any bigger, or longer, they’re going to need rear wheel steering to get around the hairpin.

Would like to see Danny Ric get his $hit together starting this weekend and have solid results the rest of the year . He is now driving for his F1 career to continue .

Bottas only had 2 laps in FP1 and Schumi Jr not many more . Hopefully both cars can be repaired in time for FP2 and get some solid laps in .

Ugh ☹️ Danny Ric just smacked the wall . Car needs substancial repairs . He is ok .

Danny Ric is done, IMO... Not sure what happened to him, and I'm sad about it. He was mentioning "talking about next year's deal" to the press even though he has a contract for next year already. That suggests a potential agreed separation... If Colton Herta does reasonably OK in his test, bye bye Danny Ric. It's crazy, the guy was toe to toe with Max, but all of a sudden he is struggling badly - the monza win was a bit of a lucky thing. Then again it happens, look at Vettel, flashes but overall nothing to show anymore and 4 times WC...

The other Q is Alpine - Alonso or Piastri. Alonso is doing great but suffered terrible luck, problem is Piastri is supposed to be the second coming of Jesus and they cannot let him rot as a reserve driver. Maybe as a loaner to williams but why would they ? Or get rid of Fernando ? but he brings such drive and motivation to the team and IMO still is super competitive.

Then there's Mick. He's showing some signs but not enough, by a long shot..

Also Nicky Latifi is gone from Williams by year end, I wanna say too bad, because as pay drivers go, he is not bad (bad run of luck this year) and is a very articulate, polite, seemingly nice "rich son" type of driver, kinda the antithesis of a Mazepin. I was hoping he's surprise people.

We'll see.. I'm pissed they are talking about nixing Spa. I don't need a 12th middle east race, keep Spa !

Does Checo have an axe to grind this weekend?


(edit) - I think we're starting to realize what a pig the Williams of the past few years must've been to drive.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the current cars smaller than last year? Either way, they are too big.

I think Danny Ric spends too much time trying to be or wanting to be an American. Lost focus. Plus the move to Renault was pretty stupid, IMHO.

Spa... remember a few years back when they took it off calendar and when it came back it was incredible? Seems like yesterday but may have been 25 years ago. Anyway, that is one of the best tracks and always produces great racing. But these idiots running F1 are all about the money and turning it into a Super Bowl (whatever that is).

Its as if they want to grow the sport with new fans, that I believe are gone the minute Hamilton retires. Not so sure DTS is helping with this. Sure it gives long time fans a peek behind the curtain but seems like the new fans only see F1 for the drama DTS portrays and not the feat of engineering and great racing that it is.

I was thinking similar this morning and was wondering if the team intends to pay him back with a win assuming the conditions are right, ie Max being p2

F1 doesn't need Andretti when all the teams are financially secure for the 1st time ever and F1 has Porsche and Audi both wanting in....

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/domenicali-doubts-formula-1-needs-11th-team-amid-andretti-push/10312152/

I just don't understand the point of Andretti building a F1 facility in Indy, geographically, logistically and personnel wise it's at the wrong side of the world for it to work :confused:

^^^ Doesn't Haas F1 have a main facility in NC and a sister hub in the UK ? So the Andretti business model may be similar. Contrary to popular belief there are lots of smart folks in the US 😁 . Andretti has good engineers across Indy/IMSA and I think WEC and formula E .

F1 is an expensive arena to play in . If the rules say you belly up to the bar with 200 million dollars , and you have the 200 million to spend along with a sound business model then let them in . The elite attitude of " we don't need them " is BS .

Additional teams bring the opportunity for more drivers/engineers/team support members this can't be a bad thing . Now if the sport is all about money vs racing competition then I can see the attitude " it's our ball and you can't play " .

I would say you can decide when do we have enough based on safety or qty of pit stalls . Just my opinion I could be wrong .

I could type a long reply but this discussion would be more fun over a long evening at a bar table or over drink fuelled Zoom/TEAMS conference call :D

Is this the year Charles gets to finish his home race?
So far, so good.

Best
Les

Yes please!

Anyone think we'll see passing today ? Or will it be follow the leader ?

I do want a Ferrari 1 - 2 finish. I would not be surprised if KMag tries a couple of aggressive moves.

If it's wet there will be passing. Rain is forecast.

The announcers are quite confused over the delay of the start . I see a crash fest straight ahead 😁

Let them race!!!

I guess F1 drivers can't restrain themselves and slow down a little when it rains.
I thought this was supposed to be the highest level of racing, what the heck?

It all about pit strategy now.

This might be one of those half-point days like Spa last year.

Mick breaks it in half.

Glad he's ok. Weird how the car just snapped around under deceleration . What happened to K Mag ?

Announcer said K Mag had loss of water pressure .

Now we have a race.

And what a bizarre race it was. Strange start, and bizarre circumstances. And LONG.

Pretty much worst case scenario for an exciting race. The rain screwed everything up. Oh well, on to Indy.

So much following, Alonso was able to control a dozen cars for half the race.
Won't miss Monaco terribly if it is not on the schedule next year.
Poor Charles told to pit, no don't pit, blew his race and mind. lol

Great result! :cool:

On any other track the Red Bulls would have been passed. But it wasn't on any other track....

When Ferrari are P3 and P4, and either Mercedes (historically) or Red Bull are in front, you think: advantage Mercedes/Red Bull. It's Mercedes'/Red Bull's race to lose.

When Ferrari are P1 and P2, with RBR (or Mercedes) trailing, you still think: advantage Red Bull/Mercedes.

At Monaco, there is no way you should start the race in first and second, and not win the race.

well, as I predicted ;)

2 other things

Twice the announcers were having a spasm about Zhou and Sanoda (sp) cutting nouveau chicane and gaining advantage but not giving it up the position. Hmmmm wonder if they recall 2016 Hamilton doing same and preventing Danny Ric from winning......

Second.. ESPN arggghhh. I set DVR and took me 5 hours to watch. At the end when the announcer comes on to say F you we are cutting away... This time she says post race coverage is on ESPN3. WTF??? When did this start?

Well, if it makes you feel any better, matthew, I downloaded the ESPN app on my phone to watch the race. I saw the opening 10 laps at home, but then left to go to a cars and coffee at the Petersen Museum. One of my kids had a friend sleepover, and the boys were looking forward to this. I thought no problem, I'll just watch the race ending when I get home. But as we stepped into the museum, I got a ding on my phone with ESPN texting me that Checo had won. Great. (Well for Checo, but not for me.) F'n ESPN.

I take some solace in the fact Charles finished the race in the points. Ferrari screwed the pooch on their race strategy. For about 4 laps before they brought LeClerc in, Sam Collins, a F1 commentator was saying Ferrari was missing their window of opportunity.
Coulda, shoulda, woulda.

Best
Les

I have YouTubeTV and was sweating it through the whole replay wondering if it would cut off but they came through and had coverage through the end of the broadcast. Makes me wonder why I took so long to drop the DirecTV.

Rumors of Danny Ric departing McLaren are getting stronger . If he's let go any chance Williams picks him up to replace Latifi ? Or AM if Vettel retires ? Too soon for silly season ?

I'm starting to think ESPN has realized after the Miami GP that they have a considerable fan base in the US hence the post race coverage even if it's on ESPN 3

2022 F1 Thread
 

To add fuel to the fire…

https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/33997969/pressure-mounts-daniel-ricciardo-mclaren-extends-pato-oward-deal

I think Danny Ric will be the sob story for the next season of Drive to Survive. I don’t know why any F1 team would pick him up since there are some good, younger drivers waiting for a chance for a drive.

https://youtu.be/cRcns2DK310

And Mick has been disappointing. Last season was understandable, because Haas had two rookies and the worst car on the grid. But this year they have a good midfield car, and K-Mag has gotten good results with it (when he doesn’t crash it or break down). But Mick has been pretty mediocre.


-rb

I love Monaco, been there many times, the history, the weather, the area... And yet I've had it with F1 there. Its a bore of a race, even with weather. Make room for Spa (since it is on the chopping block). It could well happen regardless of my unimportant opinion, apparently the contract re-negotiations are not going well.
The hope is an extension of the track over what is currently water, with a passing zone... At least one !

Liberty and Monaco are coming to loggerheads; there is no contract in place for next year, both factions think they hold sway, and there will be blood. Have we seen the last race at the principality? Stay tuned!