2022 F1 Thread

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by RBNetEngr

I looked it up, and after Lewis won his first F1 Championship in 2008, the following years with McLaren (through 2012) he finished fourth or fifth, finishing ahead of Jensen Button (his teammate) twice. Then in 2013, the last year before the turbo hybrid era, Lewis finished fourth for Mercedes, vs sixth for his teammate Nico Rosberg. So that’s really a wash, since the difference between Lewis and his teammates wasn’t so dramatic that it couldn’t be accounted for by he or his teammate losing some points in key races during a season. Could have been caused by a crash, a safety car, a pit screwup, etc.

But I still think Lewis proves that when the car is doing well, he outperforms his teammates more often. There are lots of Lewis haters out there, but his results speak more to his ability as a driver. The results so far this season look more favorably on George Russell, but I think it’s still too early to say whether George is that much better in the same car. George was fortunate to get a pass opportunity early in this last race, and maintained his position.

Conditions during the last race were varying, with rain, colder temperatures, no DRS for a long time. It was pretty funny that Lewis couldn’t get past Gasly, and Gasly was having a pretty crappy race.

Speaking of Gasly…he has been hoping to get back to the Red Bull grownup team, but Perez will be keeping him away, and he’s also getting embarrassed by his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who’s only in F1 for his second year. If Tsunoda can start AND finish all of his races I think he will end up getting more points than Gasly. And I think Gasly will be the next casualty at contract time, in 2023.

Netflix did a good job showing the RB/AT contention between Gasly and Albon.


-rb

No one really doubts Lewis is a not very talented driver. He almost never just drives off the tacks and hit the barriers as Botas often did in the same car. Verstappen often just crashes on his own. The thing that gets most fans to work up some hate is he had a car that was simply THE class of the field. When he was out sick with Covid George would have easily won the race if Mercedes did not put the wrong tires on his car and force him to come back in for another set of tires. It was almost like Mercedes could not let him cruise to win and show how good that car really was.

Hamilton has all the major records, and it was not just that he had the 911 GT3RS and everyone else had a stock 1964 911, he has some real skills. But he was gifted a far superior car for the last 8 years. The British announcers all think he walks on water, and pride for a fellow Brit driver is obvious.

[nota]

LOCAL TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW

300 friday practice

400 sat for Q

500 race day

3 day total 1200 no seat GA no discounts buy each day full price
better seats sold out at insane prices

I will try to find a temp job as no way I can see 1200 bucks to stand up

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Hamilton starts in 14th ends in 13th. I thought he was a great driver that could pass at will. Russell shows him how to drive a slow car and score points.

I was thinking the same. I'm a firm believer that given the best car, 10 out of those 20 guys would be WC - At what point does HAM get embarrassed by his performance relative to Russell?

If you think about it, over his entire career Hamilton has had ONE year of a ****box at McLaren and has pretty much been in a great car the rest of the time... I'd argue he drew vs Alonso (they both lost to Kimi by a hair), lost to Vettel in the redbull for a while too... so he beat Rosberg a few times (with all due respect, nobody ever accused Britney of being the #1 F1 talent) and actually lost one to him (strong kudos to Britney there), and then Valteri - Meh...

It's starting to look like Sir Lewis is a great driver when given the best car - like Vettel was at RedBull. After that, not so impressive and lots of whining. GOAT ? doesn't look like that right now, while Toto is apologizing to Lewis Russel is finishing 4th...

[oldE]

The track conditions were a major factor. Drivers starting on the left side gained places. Drivers starting on the right lost out. Then, when the track started to dry, there was only the racing line. Then Hamilton got stuck in the DRS train with no way past Albon's Williams. George had relatively clear air.

Best
Les

[herr_oberst]

Lewis didn't know what to do at the start with that much spray in the air, but that was the world that George lived in while he was at Williams.

[RBNetEngr]

This is a good article that talks in depth about Mercedes’ performance and issues this past weekend:

https://apple.news/A5ZU7nzQ7RsSNTHDSmxj2ZQ

[techweenie]

Originally Posted by RBNetEngr

This is a good article that talks in depth about Mercedes’ performance and issues this past weekend:

https://apple.news/A5ZU7nzQ7RsSNTHDSmxj2ZQ

Yeah it’s very sympathetic to Hamilton but even though I’m a huge Hamilton fan I feel the author goes overboard to excuse his poor performance.

[Deschodt]

What I like most about the current Mercedes situation (aside from a break from Hamilton winning all the time, and being pleased ugly cars are slow), is that it reminds people how important the car is in F1, and how good all drivers are...

If Sir Lewis, 7x WC who lapped the field in Brasil last year cannot drag his POS car above 14th - and gets a little embarrassed by his 4th finishing teammate, it's a nice kick to the collective mindset...

Have some mercy for the backmarkers in evil cars... The press is all over the place. After the first races, Leclerc was a "V2.0 of himself" (not), then he bins it once in a wet race while trying to race and he's "back to his old ways"... I gotta say though, Russell is mighty impressive. The one race he joined Mercedes last year and should have won was incredible given he was newish to the car. And now what he's doing to Lewis, wow.... Even without the luck he's had with safety cars, he at least matched him. I was not expecting him to be this good. Goes to show you the talent level all over the grid, after that it's just confidence and momentum !

It was nice while it lasted but I fear Ferrari will not match RedBull's development...

[astrochex]

^Don't forget the budget cap, RB won't be able to develop continuously. Ferrari is supposed to have a less draggy rear wing for Miami with more significant upgrades planned after that.

[techweenie]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

What I like most about the current Mercedes situation (aside from a break from Hamilton winning all the time, and being pleased ugly cars are slow), is that it reminds people how important the car is in F1, and how good all drivers are...

If Sir Lewis, 7x WC who lapped the field in Brasil last year cannot drag his POS car above 14th - and gets a little embarrassed by his 4th finishing teammate, it's a nice kick to the collective mindset...

Have some mercy for the backmarkers in evil cars... The press is all over the place. After the first races, Leclerc was a "V2.0 of himself" (not), then he bins it once in a wet race while trying to race and he's "back to his old ways"... I gotta say though, Russell is mighty impressive. The one race he joined Mercedes last year and should have won was incredible given he was newish to the car. And now what he's doing to Lewis, wow.... Even without the luck he's had with safety cars, he at least matched him. I was not expecting him to be this good. Goes to show you the talent level all over the grid, after that it's just confidence and momentum !

It was nice while it lasted but I fear Ferrari will not match RedBull's development...

Red Bull as a team has always irritated me, because I've always felt a team should ideally be based on an engine builder. But Red Bull doesn't stand for anything other than caffeinated drinks... And Alphatauri on clothing.
Having said that, I hear rumors Red Bull is negotiating with VAG to be their engine supplier at least by 2026... at first it was going to be Porsche engines, but the corporation is now apparently thinking of supplying Audi-branded engines.

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by astrochex

^Don't forget the budget cap, RB won't be able to develop continuously. Ferrari is supposed to have a less draggy rear wing for Miami with more significant upgrades planned after that.

That is a good point indeed, I forgot about that - Ferrari has not spent much on upgrades yet.... But they also don't have Newey... Yeah, you have a point...

[RBNetEngr]

Originally Posted by techweenie

Red Bull as a team has always irritated me, because I've always felt a team should ideally be based on an engine builder. But Red Bull doesn't stand for anything other than caffeinated drinks...

Not sure what you mean by that, but it’s really pointed in the wrong direction.

Look at all the World Champion winning teams:

CONSTRUCTOR ENGINE
Red Bull Honda
Mercedes Mercedes
Red Bull Renault
Brawn Mercedes
Ferrari Ferrari
Renault Renault
Benetton Renault
McLaren Mercedes
Williams Renault
McLaren Honda
McLaren TAG
Williams Ford
Lotus Ford
McLaren Ford
Tyrell Ford
Matra Ford
Brabham Repco
Lotus Climax
Lotus BRM
Cooper-Climax Maserati
Cooper-Climax Climax
Vanwell Vanwell
Maserati Maserati ?
Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo

(data from https://www.f1-fansite.com/f1-results/f1-champions/ )

So, if you scan that list, most winning constructors were not engine suppliers.


-rb

[matthewb0051]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

It's starting to look like Sir Lewis is a great driver when given the best car - like Vettel was at RedBull. After that, not so impressive and lots of whining. GOAT ? doesn't look like that right now, while Toto is apologizing to Lewis Russel is finishing 4th...

Totally agree with all.

Will add though that at least Seb had the good sense to say on radio (on a cool down lap after a victory) towards the end of his 4th WDC season something to the effect of, "enjoy it now boys, this sort of thing can't last forever".

So he acknowledged the vital role of the car over his skill. Hammy on the other hand will never, ever, say something like that. For that matter, neither will 95% of his fans.

As we all know, history has proven Seb right (at least at RB)

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by techweenie

Red Bull as a team has always irritated me, because I've always felt a team should ideally be based on an engine builder.

F1 has never been that way. Pick any given year in the modern era and constructors buying engines make up the vast bulk of the field.

I just went to Wikipedia, and randomly selected 1975.
25 separate entrants that year, most of them used Ford engines, only BRM and Ferrari were constructors that built their own engines, Matra supplied engines to one entrant, and only Ferrari also built road cars.

Many of the entrants bought chassis' from such as Lotus or McLaren, and stabbed a Ford Cosworth into the back and gave Grand Prix racing a try.

[GH85Carrera]

https://www.motor1.com/news/583212/porsche-audi-formula-1-official/

Welp, I looks like Porsche and Audi both are getting into F1

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

https://www.motor1.com/news/583212/porsche-audi-formula-1-official/

Welp, I looks like Porsche and Audi both are getting into F1

Yeah, with the usual caveats.. They sure got a lot of free publicity from dancing around joining F1 over the years... Wonder what that does to Redbull's new engine department... or Honda's motivation to keep helping this year...

As for Audi, McLaren hasn't sold yet. Maybe sauber? I read the same thing you did, guess it's closer than ever before, but I guess I'm more jaded and will wait to see the actual engine in the car. With the engine freeze, the other teams are unlikely to agree to anything making "catchup" easy for porsche/Audi, which could still decide to walk away...

[rfuerst911sc]

A buyout/merger/partnership between Audi and Sauber or Williams would be huge . Seems like the Porsche/Red Bull marriage rumors are fairly strong . Will be interesting to see how this plays out .

I would still like to see Andretti join with a team also . The US market is hot and having two American teams would be sweet . They already supposedly have an agreement in place with Renault to supply engines.

[techweenie]

Interesting that F1 had very little interest in the US -- compared to other major sports -- until the Netflix series created a whole new audience. Now we have 100 people showing up for our local viewing parties.

[CurtEgerer]

Originally Posted by nota

LOCAL TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW

300 friday practice

400 sat for Q

500 race day

3 day total 1200 no seat GA no discounts buy each day full price
better seats sold out at insane prices

I will try to find a temp job as no way I can see 1200 bucks to stand up

Personally, I'm going for the $38,000 ticket to sit on a yacht in the parking lot and pretend I'm with the glitteratti in Monaco. This is the hokiest thing I've ever seen at a race track

[javadog]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

Personally, I'm going for the $38,000 ticket to sit on a yacht in the parking lot and pretend I'm with the glitteratti in Monaco. This is the hokiest thing I've ever seen at a race track

That’s absolutely retarded. I can’t believe they would do such a thing.

They trying to unseat Caesars palace as the worst F1 race in history?