Yes indeed. Fan favourite to be sure. Might be good for him if he cannot get a better ride.

The Ricciardo situation is really odd to me. I had never heard of him before he started F1 but he did very well vs Verstappen and established himself as a great passer/late braker. He did OK at Renault with a so-so car... And now he's nowhere... Could it be that babyface Norris is actually a top 1% driver, clearly superior, and we dont know it because he's in a mclaren ? (but he was evenly matched vs sainz before)... Or is there something odd about that car ? I often wonder the same about Vettel being so superior with a double diffuser but essentially nowhere after. I agree Danny Ric would be a hoot in indycar !

Of all the F1 drivers, most of us mere mortals have never met them, or at most got a signature from them. We really have no idea what they are like personally, except from TV interviews.

Of all of the drivers, Danny Ric is the guy I would pick if I was allowed a day to hang out with one of the drivers.

A blast from the past,
 

Wish I'd bought two of these shirts, one of my favshttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1657740816.jpg

I met ''pete'' who was a reserve driver for the new ATS team early 80's

he was in miami for the first miami ?GP downtown for IMSA

PETE WAS CRAZY but in a good way
he fell in love with our local secret waterfront bar in dinner key
and came by most days

fun to talk with a guy who knew senna and prost and was in awe of both

sadly at a later IMSA race ''pete'' died so he never came back the next year
guess I could look him up but we called him pete as he said no american could pronounce his full name correctly

Ham out!!
 

Ham has a stand in for first practice on Friday morn
it's either a haircut, a tattoo, groceries, or oil change. Whatever it is
I'm backing him, he's my man. Could even been tutoring French swear words.

The French could be wanting him to get some decent looking clothes to wear to the track.

Better wardrobe, I thought of that. That could be it.

Each driver at Mercedes has to give up one free practice a season to a young team driver. Russell's is going to be later in the season.

That was reserve driver Nyck de Vries

Well that race had a little bit of everything 😋 . Stupid unforced error by the leader , silly pit lane decision by a potential podium finisher and some wheel banging mid pack . A great move by Russell on Checo on the restart . Double points day for McLaren. Overall an interesting race .

So Russels move was legal? Where was Perez supposed to go with that nose stuck in there?

off track like he did

the red guys can't do pit stop strategy
and likely lost the title to the bulls today

Ferrari strategists must have all been drunk or high. Just WTF.

One thing the announcers mentioned, only one driver has seen the checkered flag in ever race this year, Hamilton. Every other driver has had a DNF. Crashing when in the lead has to really be an ego buster.

2022 F1 Thread
 

I guess Ferrari gambled that Sainz’ tires could potentially fail before the end of the race, so that trying to hold 3rd Place would end up with a DNF, versus a late pit (and 5 second penalty) put him in a guaranteed but lower points position?

But regarding pit strategy - if the radio communications were in real time with what we saw on TV, where Sainz was passing Perez and Ferrari told Sainz to pit - that’s just stupid, and inattention to the actual race needs to be addressed by the team if they expect to maximize their points and position finishes through the rest of the season.

2022 F1 Thread
 

How ironic…

I’m watching the Sunday pre-race show NOW, after watching the race, and they are talking to LeClerc about his qualifying lap, and he repeatedly talked about the rear of the car getting loose, and the downforce makes it tricky to manage the rear because if the downforce decreases, the rear can let go unpredictably. But he also said he like the chassis setup to be loose at the rear.

And if you watch the replay of his crash, it looks like when the rear broke loose, his counter steering response was way too slow, so the rear just came around faster than he expected.

RB on the counter steering it doesn’t seem the f1 guys do a lot of seesawing with the wheel. Looks like when it lets go it LETS GO. A function of aero downforce as opposed to the constant contractions involved in mechanical traction?

Bummed about the race result.

Gutted when LeClerc lost it. He had done a terrific job holding off the RB and getting him out of DRS range.

With all due respect to Capt and Won, who really do F1 for a living, I say only semi tongue in cheek that I could do a better job for calling the strategy for the Scuderia. Capt assured me that in addition to the trackside staff, Maranello has a room.for of engineers back at the factory poring over every aspect of telemetry to tell them what to do when. OK, that's great there are all those engineers doing so. But **someone** on the team has to be a racer with a feel for the pulse for what's going on in front of their eyes on the track.

To vascillate on whether or not (and when) to make that second stop, and then finally call in Sainz to box as he's actually 1) in the process of finally passing the car in front, and 2) just as he's coming onto the front straight (heck, could you guys have figured this out about 10 seconds and 2 corners ago, before the pit entrance?) Is just so disorganized and embarrassingly amateur.

If you think a set of mediums will make to the end (for what, like 35 or 40 laps?!) for a one-stopper, then you have to communicate that to the driver, whether it was Plan A, B, C, or D. But if you were going to make it a two-stopper, then you have to call him in for that second stop with enough time/laps left to allow him to catch up the 34 or so seconds a stop costs. Especially with the really slow pit in and pit exit of Paul Ricard. Ferrari should have called in Sainz with 15 or so laps left, not with only 10 to go. They dropped him from P3 to P9, with few laps to claw his way back through the pointier end of the peloton. had he stayed out, maybe he would have lost a place or two (or not) due to tire deg towards the end of the race. But that's an assessment that has to be made in prompter, real-time fashion. Either make the decision, or don't. But don't do it half-@$$ed and leave your driver with an impossible mission.

Great pass by Russell, coming off the virtual safety car. That was brilliant. I'm surprised he could snooker a veteran like Checo, by sandbagging under virtual yellow.

And I also loved Alonso's response when he was told by his engineer that the car behind had just turned a 39.whatever and was catching up. Fernando said something to the effect of: "Great. I want him closer so he'll ruin his tires."

Just some really wily racing by both those guys.

I wonder if Ferrari suffer from paralysis by analysis ? Maybe they have too many engineers/experts performing so much data analysis that they can't make quick decisions . Or react quickly to a track changing event . Attempting to call Sainz into the pit lane as he is performing a pass and is within feet of pit entrance is comical .

Was there a penalty assessed for the pit lane cut off? I don't get F1 live only highlights.

If I remember correctly Sainz/Ferrari were given a 5 second penalty .

Had they pitted him 5-10 laps earlier he would have been even further back in the field with a lot more passes to make. I think regardless of when they pitted he was going to end up in fifth. Running to the end might have gotten him third, the risk of DNF or a late late pit to the back would have been too high.

For starting 19th, not too bad!

They mentioned the 5 second penalty as a factor in deciding to pit.

They could use that release video as a textbook unsafe release. When the other car had to lock up the tires to avoid a collision, and the pit worker was missed by inches. I hope the FIA also fines Ferrari some major bucks for that classic cluster fudge of a release. It just should not happen like that. It could easily been a total catastrophic event.

Ran over the air hose with the rear tire:

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I'm not sure Ferrari can get out of their own way long enough to win the constructors championship this year.

I was good with Russell until yesterday. His assessment of the contact with Checo was way off, but it was his continued crying that made me think Hammy is coaching him up (as they say in american football) and was just over the top. Glad to hear Toto tell him to calm down.

Once again though the SC or VSC really F'ed up some races. Totally screwed over the Haas boys that had just pitted. They really need to just close the pits under SC or VSC. It is too great of an advantage and isn't sporting in the slightest.

Russell was saying something about the position of his car being on the inside in the turn, and the relationship of his front tire to Checo’s rear tire. So, he was implying that even though Checo’s car was ahead, that the position of his car on the inside of the turn meant that he had a right to the space (which he quickly took to the right curb, basically running Checo off the track). He kept indicating that he was correct, according to the passing rules.

Not sure where to see this rule to know who was correct. But given that no penalty was issued, was Russell correct?

If anyone would know the rules to a T, I'm thinking it is him. But it doesn't sound right though. What he is saying is... I got alongside to a point therefore it's my corner. Well crap, then just lung at any corner and say that...

Plus it didn't seem like the left was the problem, it was him being out of line for the right that caused the contact. His line was straight thru each apex, which won't work if there are 2 cars and one is 3/4 car length behind.

Terrific, another whiny mercedes driver. And ham managed to top himself by claiming he lost 3 kilos of weight because his "drinks" bottle was broken. Not only did he drive harder than any other person ever in the history of driving, he also suffered.
He suffered!!!!

Oh, clearly he did not suffer as much as our Nige.

Nope.

Yeah, the laying on the floor of the driver cool down room was a bit over the top. Just a bit.

But TBH, he has caused the rise in temps with his private jet trips and driving a race car. ;)

As soon as the VSC light went on I thought, great, more Hamilton luck.

Louis sold his private jet three years ago…

:eek:

Will the sufferfest never end?


Stand aside, Job, you've got company!!!

Nooooo!! Hamilton sold his private jet? And STILL he rises?

Russell was known as difficult and demanding when he was at Williams. An F1 driver, in other words.

That was my thinking! How could that possibly be right? I cannot see how that was his corner.

Red Bull have now protested that last restart after VSC. Russell was not sandbagging as it appeared to all of us, Checo had resumed race pace prior to the light on his steering wheel going out to indicate he could do that. As a result, his sector time would have been too fast, and he would have been penalized, so he had to slow way, way down and wait for his light to go off.

Red Bull's protest is that the Sporting Regulations specify a precise time from declaration of the end of the VSC period to the resumption of racing. Checo resumed race pace at that time, not waiting for the light, which he either assumed was malfunctioning or possibly didn't even see. He then slowed, trying to avoid a penalty. Essentially, the doofus with his thumb on the button for the light - either an FIA or more likely a local race control official - cost him, and Red Bull, the position. Nothing the least bit "savvy" in any way about what Russell did. It was handed to him.

Oh, and it actually was Russell's corner under the new Sporting Regulations. His front tire only has to be past the other car's rear tire, and it was. But, well, that is only part of the Sporting Regulations. The other part that applies in that situation is that even if it is his corner, he is obliged to leave the other car "racing room". Russell did not do that, and forced Checo off on the outside. If he is going to invoke the Sporting Regulations, he better adhere to all of them... Hence, no penalty for Checo for leaving the track to avoid a collision. Or a worse collision, actually. Russell still tagged him pretty good.