2022 Formula 1 Thread

[ZCanadian]

Originally Posted by danegrey

Maybe Andretti can buy HAAS now?

Haas to run a plain white livery on the final day of testing.

I'm thinking they will be sweating - Uralkali won't be able to export potash, and probably Haas will be prohibited from doing business with the Russian firm by way of sanction.

[danegrey]

Day three times
1. Russell (Mercedes) 1m19.233s, C5, 66 laps
2. Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m19.756s, C3, 59 laps
3. Vettel (Aston Martin) 1m19.824s, C4, 48 laps
4. Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m19.831s, C3, 44 laps
5. Latifi (Williams) 1m20.699s, C4, 5 laps
6. Norris (McLaren) 1m20.827s, C3, 52 laps
7. Alonso (Alpine) 1m21.242s, C3, 12 laps -
8. Zhou (Alfa Romeo) 1m21.939s, C3, 41 laps
9. Gasly (AlphaTauri) 1m22.469s, C2, 40 laps
10. Albon (Williams) 1m22.652s, C2, 21 laps
11. Mazepin (Haas) 1m26.229s, C3, 9 laps

Morning summary
- Russell puts Mercedes on top for first time
- Best lap of 1m19.233s was set on softest C5 tyres
- Alpine ends its test early after hydraulic issue
- Haas limited to nine laps by suspected oil leak
- Five red flags in total
- Only Mercedes (66), Red Bull (59) and McLaren (52) clear 50 laps

[danegrey]

"Impossible to hold the Russian Grand Prix in the current circumstances"
Here's a full statement from F1, which says itself, the FIA and the teams agreed the Russian GP cannot go ahead at present.

"The FIA Formula 1 World Championship visits countries all over the world with a positive vision to unite people, bringing nations together. We are watching the developments in Ukraine with sadness and shock and hope for a swift and peaceful resolution to the present situation. On Thursday evening Formula 1, the FIA, and the teams discussed the position of our sport, and the conclusion is, including the view of all relevant stakeholders, that it is impossible to hold the Russian Grand Prix in the current circumstances."

[DLSTR]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ha...-week/8486683/

Haas set to review future of Uralkali F1 deal next week
Haas is set to review the future of its Uralkali Formula 1 title sponsorship deal next week after removing the company's stickers from its car following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Luke Smith
By:
Luke Smith
Feb 25, 2022, 6:49 AM

Haas announced on Thursday evening that it would be completing the final day of F1 testing in Barcelona without any Uralkali sponsorship or colours, which resembled the Russian flag.

It has left the future of the deal and that of driver Nikita Mazepin unclear ahead of the new F1 season.

Team principal Gunther Steiner made his first media appearance since the decision was taken on Friday, and explained that it would go through the legal ramifications next week.

“We removed it yesterday, we have to sort out all the legal stuff, which I cannot speak about, next week,” Steiner said.

“At the moment, I said we’re not going to do it today. We made the decision yesterday with our team partners. This is what we’re going to do.

“I need to work on the rest next week.”

Russian troops commenced a major military assault on Ukraine on Thursday morning after months of growing tensions.

The outbreak of war has also left the future of the Russian Grand Prix in serious doubt, leading to crisis talks between F1 officials and team bosses on Thursday evening in Barcelona.

Further information on the fate of the race is expected soon, but drivers and teams have already indicated it would not be viable to race there in September.

The Champions League final, which was due to take place in St Petersburg at the end of May, has already been moved to Paris.

Steiner said the call to remove the Uralkali sponsorship and colours had the full backing of team owner Gene Haas, and that it was “the right decision to take”.

“There is no setback for the competition side because of this, none at all,” Steiner said.

“We just need to go through the commercial issues. As I said before, we will do that in the next weeks.”
Nikita Mazepin, Haas F1 Team

Nikita Mazepin, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Asked by Autosport how much of a financial headache it would be for the team to potentially lose its title sponsor, Steiner said that “financially, we are OK”.

He also confirmed that the sanctions issued so far by the US, UK and EU had not impacted the team.

“It has no [impact] on the team, how we are running it or how we are doing, how we plan this season,” Steiner said.

“There are more ways to get the funding. There is no issue with that one.”

Uralkali is co-owned by Mazepin’s father, Dmitry, and has backed the Russian driver throughout his racing career.

Mazepin continued to test the Haas VF-22 car on Friday morning in Barcelona, but was pulled out of the planned F1 press conference at lunchtime. His media engagements on Thursday were also cancelled.

Steiner acknowledged that Mazepin’s future with the team “needs to be resolved” as there were bigger factors at play, such as government involvement.

“Not everything depends on us here, what is happening,” Steiner said.

“There are governments involved and I have no power over them. We need to see also the situation, how it develops in Ukraine.”

[danegrey]

Wet Session for this afternoon
The Race
7:40:36 AM
Gary Anderson:
I've never been a big fan of artificially soaking a circuit for wet running using methods like F1 will use this afternoon.

[ZCanadian]

Originally Posted by danegrey

Wet Session for this afternoon
The Race
7:40:36 AM
Gary Anderson:
I've never been a big fan of artificially soaking a circuit for wet running using methods like F1 will use this afternoon.

I loved Bernie Ecclestone's suggestion of putting lawn sprinklers on some corners and randomly turning them on and off!

[ZCanadian]

Next year's DTS Episode 1 starts out with:

"Hello. Michael Andretti? This is Gene Haas calling"

[DLSTR]

Summary - for today final. Next is Bahrain!!


Leaderboard

Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m19.138s, C5 - 94 laps
Russell, Mercedes, 1m19.233s, C5 - 66
Perez, Red Bull, 1m19.556s, C4 - 74
Verstappen, Red Bull, 1m19.756s, C3 - 59
Vettel, Aston Martin, 1m19.824s, C5 - 48
Leclerc, Ferrari, 1m19.831s, C3 - 44
Sainz, Ferrari, 1m20.072s, C3 - 92
Albon, Williams, 1m20.318, C4 - 94
Latifi, Williams, 1m20.699s, C4 - 13
Ricciardo, McLaren, 1m20.750, C3 - 86
Norris, McLaren, 1m20.827s, C3 - 52
Alonso, Alpine, 1m21.242s, C3 - 12
Zhou, Alfa Romeo, 1m21.939s, C3 - 41
Gasly, AlphaTauri, 1m22.469s, C4 - 40
Mazepin, Haas, 1m26.229s, C3 - 9
Bottas, Alfa Romeo, 1m30.433s, C3 - 10

[DLSTR]

Mercedes on the upgrade path already!

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/me...ution/8512081/

Mercedes set for Bahrain F1 upgrade as it chases porpoising solution

Mercedes is to add a raft of aero upgrades to its car for the next Formula 1 test in Bahrain, as it seeks a permanent solution for its porpoising problems.

Jonathan Noble
By:
Jonathan Noble
Feb 26, 2022, 3:34 AM

The Brackley-based squad was affected this week by the bouncing car phenomenon that struck a number of teams throughout the first pre-season test at Barcelona in Spain.

And, as Autosport.com’s exclusive photograph below shows(see the attached photo below I uploaded), it was only able to overcome the problem on the final day by adding some stiffening stays to its floor to help better manage flexing at high speed that was contributing to its issue.

The team knows that the stays are not a solution that it can carry forward, so much of its focus over the next week will be on revising the car to find a long-term answer to the headache.

But while Lewis Hamilton openly confessed that the team had faced some ‘obstacles’ in Barcelona, it has emerged that the team’s performance in the next Bahrain test is set to be lifted by a potentially major upgrade of aerodynamic parts.
Read Also:

There has even been speculation in the Barcelona paddock that it could include a heavily revised sidepod area to help further reduce the car’s drag on the straight and better manage airflow.

George Russell said that bringing upgrades would be a fairly common thing for the opening phase of the championship as teams better understand the potential of the new regulations.

“I think we'll see it with all the teams,” he said. “We've got this massive regulation change. We've all arrived in Barcelona with our best estimate of where we need to place the car.

“But obviously, there's a lot of things on track that were quite different to what some people may have expected. So, we need to go away and try and optimise from the limitations we've had.

“I think we'll see some changes come Bahrain, and throughout the season. I'm sure the development slope is going to be pretty rapid for everyone. Whoever can get on top of that the quickest and most efficiently will be the ones on top come the end of the season.”
Mercedes W13 stiffened floor

Mercedes W13 stiffened floor

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Mercedes is no stranger to running a base car at the first test and then introducing a more definitive version at the final pre-season run.

In 2019, it introduced a fairly basic car at the opening week of action before unleashing a complete revamp for the second and final test as it went on to secure an F1 championship double.

Although Mercedes ended the Barcelona test 1-2, Russell said that the laptimes meant absolutely nothing in terms of car potential.

“It's been incredibly intriguing and for all of us there's been a lot of unexpected issues, which have been quite visible,” he said.

“Some teams have it quite well under control, and some clearly do not. Lap time wise, I don't think it's representative at all.

“We were obviously on the softest compound of tyres, and the C5 is a very strong tyre around this track. So even though we were on the top of the timesheets, I wouldn't read too much into it.

“I think the Ferrari and McLaren were looking incredibly strong. And I think we've got some improvements to be made as we're not fully happy with the balance of the car and the limitations we have currently.

“But at the end of the day, it is only testing. We're here to learn. And I think we've made some good experiments this week and got a good indication of the direction we need to go in.”

[DLSTR]

Originally Posted by ZCanadian

Haas to run a plain white livery on the final day of testing.

I'm thinking they will be sweating - Uralkali won't be able to export potash, and probably Haas will be prohibited from doing business with the Russian firm by way of sanction.

This entire business of Haas and Uralka-Liars in Russia is dead per this from today's press --

Uralkali founder Dmitry Mazepin, the father of Nikita, was one of the business leaders who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday to discuss the sanctions placed on the country, and Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said his team would consider its options for continuing with both Uralkali and Mazepin next week.

[DLSTR]

Assessment of "porpoising" issue teams have - If someone gets it right after Bahrain and it takes 5 or 6 races to fix for a major team = season almost over lol.

https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/3...word-does-mean

--However, most technical directors believe it can be fixed with updates, albeit ones that were not part of the original development plans. McLaren's James Key suspects it will be less of a talking point by race five or six once teams have had time to solve the issue.--

[God-Speed]

Alfa Romeo 2022

[DLSTR]

Originally Posted by God-Speed

Alfa Romeo 2022

Lets hope it compete's as nice as it looks. They need a good test in Bahrain.

[ZCanadian]

[DLSTR]

Maze-spin Oligarch child cannot race in the UK - He is done unless Haas dont see the reality of all this

Russian-licenced drivers banned from British motorsport

Russian-licenced drivers and teams are to be banned from competing in motorsport events in the UK, it was announced on Wednesday.


The Motorsport UK decision potentially has huge implications for drivers competing at international and national level.

It means that Russian driver Nikita Mazepin, who races for Haas in F1, would not be able to compete in this year’s British Grand Prix if the team decided to keep him on. A decision on his future at the American-owned team is expected to be made imminently.

The only way such drivers could continue would be to race under a different nationality’s licence, as the Motorsport UK decision is based on its refusal to recognise licences issued by the Russian Automobile Federation (RAF) and the Belarus Automobile Federation (BAF).