2022 Formula 1 Thread

[danegrey]

my thoughts from the race (I even got up to watch it live)

• Williams - what a strategy to get a point
• Haas - why put KelvinM on Hards to begin with, poor strategy
• MB - simply amazing to see how they are doing and Russell is 2nd in the championship
• McLaren a nice return to form..
• AM - Stroll no comment
• Alpha Romeo - Bottas, just fun to watch him race, and see his form
• RB - funny how they talk about them being an engine manufacture when they have contracted out the engines to Honda. Will be interesting to see how the season goes

Overall just fun to watch F1 this year

[DLSTR]

Originally Posted by Ventruck

Albon put in work.

Wonder how long this lasts for Ferrari. LeClerc had like 20 seconds on Perez. Forgot the split until Max pulled out, but if I recall, that gap was also just increasing.

McLaren seemed to turn things around a bit.

Ferrari just showed they are the better overall team given they are slower on the straights. That was a Mercedes position a couple years ago.

Perez looks good but does not have Max' race pace.

Aston is a joke, Stroll is inept x2 both father and son. Why is Seb even there. He should leave. Fk that entire Stroll operation. Living in the back of the grid and suffering an ego-maniac billionaires idiot brat??\

One more DNF soon for Max and he does NOT win the title = more payback for the idiocy of Masi and Max/RedBull last year. IM LOVING IT!:happydance :

[DLSTR]

In depth BBC review of the race. Not a bad read -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/61058362

[Ventruck]

Originally Posted by DLSTR

Why is Seb even there. He should leave.

I feel like he's gonna play into whatever happens to Riccardo and Gasly.

If a multiple time champion can wind up on a bottom end team like that, I can only wonder what happens to current drivers of a lesser caliber.

[DLSTR]

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff labels Michael Masi 'disrespectful' and a 'liability'


Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has accused former Formula One race director Michael Masi of being disrespectful to drivers, bad at taking criticism and a liability to the sport.

Mercedes blames Masi for costing Lewis Hamilton the championship at last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after he incorrectly implemented the safety car restart procedure at the end of the race.

Masi's decisions set up a one-lap sprint which saw Max Verstappen overtake Lewis Hamilton in dramatic fashion for his first title win.

Masi was removed from his role as race director in the aftermath and the role has been completely revised by motor racing's governing body, the FIA, for this season.

An FIA report into the Abu Dhabi race was critical of Masi's decision-making, although it insisted the Australian acted in good faith throughout.

Wolff compared how good he feels Hamilton is at taking constructive criticism to how Masi seemed to ignore it, even when it came from a good place, and recalled a meeting he had with the former race director before the controversial Abu Dhabi event.

"It is quite interesting because I had lunch with him on the Wednesday before the race, and I said to him that 'I really want to tell you, without patronising you, that you need to take criticism on board and develop from there. Lewis [Hamilton] does it every day, but you are a guy who always seems to know better'," Wolff told the Press Association news agency.

"It wasn't about influencing him but really giving my honest feedback that he shouldn't block outside opinion as simply being wrong.

"You hear from the drivers and how the drivers' briefings were conducted [by Masi] and some of the guys said it was almost disrespectful how he treated some of them.

"He was just immune to any feedback and even today he has not properly reflected that he did something wrong.

"He was a liability for the sport because everybody kept talking about Abu Dhabi and the race director, and the race director should not be somebody that people talk about, but someone who does the job and makes sure the race is run according to the regulations."

F1 has two race directors this year, Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas, who alternate duties.

One of the findings of the FIA's Abu Dhabi GP investigation was that Masi had too much to deal with, so the two new race directors are assisted by Herbie Blash, the long time deputy to Masi's popular predecessor, Charlie Whiting, who died suddenly on the eve of the 2019 season.

https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/3...tful-liability

[JARblue]

Kind of annoying I just tried to find the race broadcast replay on ESPN app only to find it is only available in Espanol (no English)

[Hotrodz]

Originally Posted by JARblue

Kind of annoying I just tried to find the race broadcast replay on ESPN app only to find it is only available in Espanol (no English)

That sucks!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[DLSTR]

The 2 pics I attached - first from nose on has small illuminated area on the ground. I could see this yellow glow as LH approached a turn on TV. I was surprised it was not sparking. Thats the first sensor. The second shows it attached to the floor on the outer edge.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/th...-plan/9835259/

The glowing light that offered clues about Mercedes’ F1 recovery plan
Eagle-eyed observers of Formula 1's Australian Grand Prix could not help but notice a strange glowing light coming from beneath Lewis Hamilton's car at points of the race on Sunday.


s2_1.jpg
By: Matt Somerfield
Co-author: Giorgio Piola
Apr 12, 2022, 7:40 AM
lewis-hamilton-mercedes-w13-1.jpg


But rather than this being some funky idea for his W13 to look better, the light was actually a working sensor, and the result of the ongoing push by Mercedes to get to the bottom of its porpoising problems.

Mercedes believes that if it can understand what's needed to stop its 2022 F1 car bouncing on the straights, then that can help it run it in a better set-up window, which will deliver an automatic step forward in performance.

The difficulty is that so far Mercedes has not yet got to the bottom of the triggers for the porpoising, and exactly what are the factors that cause the phenomenon to appear.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff admitted that there were some hidden "gremlins" with the car that needed to be found, and things were especially confusing because no matter what set-up changes were made over the Melbourne weekend, they appeared to have little impact on the problem.

The porpoising appears to be less frequent in the races, and in a bid to try to comprehend why that is, Mercedes elected to keep on an optical rideheight sensor for the duration of the Australia weekend on Hamilton's car.

undefined-1649763440600.jpg
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13

Photo by: Motorsport Images

The sensor, which emits a light when switched on, measures the ride height and the car's trajectory in relation to the track, so can be used to deliver answers on what exactly is happening on straights and in corners.

These devices are quite commonly used in F1, but normally are only fitted in free practice sessions because they do add extra weight to the car, believed to be somewhere between 1kg and 2kg.

Mercedes felt, however, that the benefits of keeping it on the car for qualifying and the race for the extra knowledge gained, would outweigh any downside in having extra ballast.

As Lewis Hamilton explained to Sky Sports F1: "I've got something on my car that makes it a little bit heavier, but it's not a huge, huge step. Hopefully it will enable the team gain more information in the race."

But the light sensor was not the only data gathering exercise Mercedes conducted, as during some of its free practice runs, it added further optical rideheight sensor housed within pods on the edge of the floor.

mercedes-w13-side-detail-1.jpg
Mercedes W13 side detail

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

[DLSTR]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mo...talks/9868145/

Monaco: Zero concerns over F1 future amid new contract talks
The organisers of the Monaco Grand Prix say they have zero concerns about the future of the Formula 1 race amid talks over a new contract beyond 2022.
Luke Smith
By:
Luke Smith
Co-author:
Benjamin Vinel
Apr 13, 2022, 11:05 AM

Monaco has long stood as one of F1's most prestigious events due to its rich history and glamorous image, acting as the original street race on the calendar in 1950.

But, amid the current expansion of the F1 calendar to include more city events such as Miami and Las Vegas, questions have been raised about Monaco's future, particularly as the race has traditionally not paid a hosting fee.

F1 CEO and president Stefano Domenicali recently warned that it was "not enough to have a pedigree anymore" for races to keep their place on the calendar, and that the arrival of new events would "force the organisers of traditional grands prix to raise their level of quality".

Following confirmation that Las Vegas would join the calendar from 2023, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said in an interview with Reuters that he thought Monaco "needs to come up to the same commercial terms as other grands prix" and give thought to its track layout due to the demands of modern cars.

Monaco's existing contract expires after the 2022 race, but the president of the Automobile Club de Monaco, Michel Boeri, responded to concerns about its future by expressing his confidence that a new contract would be signed as negotiations with F1 continue.

"I'd like to refer to what has been read in the press, where it is said that we may struggle to keep organising grand prix races beyond the 2022 event, so as early as next year," Boeri said at an event with the marshals ahead of next month's race, according to La Gazette de Monaco.

"It was implied that the fees required by Liberty [Media] were too excessive for Monaco and the grand prix would no longer be held.

"That's untrue. We are still in talks with them and must now seal the deal with a contract.

"I can guarantee you that the grand prix will keep taking place beyond 2022. I don't know if it will be a three- or five-year contract, but that's a detail."

F1 is set to hit the 24-race limit in the Concorde Agreement next year with the addition of races in Las Vegas and Qatar, as well as a possible return to China, which has a contract in place until 2025.

[ZCanadian]

Originally Posted by DLSTR

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mo...talks/9868145/

Monaco: Zero concerns over F1 future amid new contract talks
The organisers of the Monaco Grand Prix say they have zero concerns about the future of the Formula 1 race amid talks over a new contract beyond 2022.
Luke Smith
By:
Luke Smith
Co-author:
Benjamin Vinel
Apr 13, 2022, 11:05 AM

Monaco has long stood as one of F1's most prestigious events due to its rich history and glamorous image, acting as the original street race on the calendar in 1950.

But, amid the current expansion of the F1 calendar to include more city events such as Miami and Las Vegas, questions have been raised about Monaco's future, particularly as the race has traditionally not paid a hosting fee.

F1 CEO and president Stefano Domenicali recently warned that it was "not enough to have a pedigree anymore" for races to keep their place on the calendar, and that the arrival of new events would "force the organisers of traditional grands prix to raise their level of quality".

Following confirmation that Las Vegas would join the calendar from 2023, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said in an interview with Reuters that he thought Monaco "needs to come up to the same commercial terms as other grands prix" and give thought to its track layout due to the demands of modern cars.

Monaco's existing contract expires after the 2022 race, but the president of the Automobile Club de Monaco, Michel Boeri, responded to concerns about its future by expressing his confidence that a new contract would be signed as negotiations with F1 continue.

"I'd like to refer to what has been read in the press, where it is said that we may struggle to keep organising grand prix races beyond the 2022 event, so as early as next year," Boeri said at an event with the marshals ahead of next month's race, according to La Gazette de Monaco.

"It was implied that the fees required by Liberty [Media] were too excessive for Monaco and the grand prix would no longer be held.

"That's untrue. We are still in talks with them and must now seal the deal with a contract.

"I can guarantee you that the grand prix will keep taking place beyond 2022. I don't know if it will be a three- or five-year contract, but that's a detail."

F1 is set to hit the 24-race limit in the Concorde Agreement next year with the addition of races in Las Vegas and Qatar, as well as a possible return to China, which has a contract in place until 2025.

I don't know how I feel about it - Love the atmosphere and history of the Monaco event, but it is really crummy racing. I doubt that any of the 2022 rule changes will improve that.

With F1 bumping up against the limit of races (actually, will exceed it by a couple of races next year), either they need to extend the Concord agreement to go beyond the 24 event maximum (and address the cost cap and parts allotments accordingly), or races like Monaco have to go. I've heard that Spa is another on the potential chopping block and I'd rather lose Monaco than Spa any day. But Spa is in the middle of the Ardenne forest in Belgium, not a rich billionaire playground destination the way Monte Carlo and the Mediterranean is, so I know which one is more likely to lose.

[DLSTR]

Originally Posted by ZCanadian

I don't know how I feel about it - Love the atmosphere and history of the Monaco event, but it is really crummy racing. I doubt that any of the 2022 rule changes will improve that.

With F1 bumping up against the limit of races (actually, will exceed it by a couple of races next year), either they need to extend the Concord agreement to go beyond the 24 event maximum (and address the cost cap and parts allotments accordingly), or races like Monaco have to go. I've heard that Spa is another on the potential chopping block and I'd rather lose Monaco than Spa any day. But Spa is in the middle of the Ardenne forest in Belgium, not a rich billionaire playground destination the way Monte Carlo and the Mediterranean is, so I know which one is more likely to lose.

Monaco was not missed when cancelled for COVID. Not even spoken of. Its a joke of a race in a great place. It should be charity event for F1. Put the overpaid driver minions in some spec series sportscars/coupes and let them run a short race etc.

Losing SPA is hard to accept if the F1 leaders think that is a good idea............

[DLSTR]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ha...money/9890055/


Haas rejects Uralkali request to repay F1 sponsorship money
The Haas Formula 1 team has rejected a claim from former title sponsor Uralkali to refund $13 million already paid, and demanded a further $8.6m compensation for ‘loss of profits’.
Jonathan Noble
By:
Jonathan Noble
Apr 14, 2022, 4:34 AM

In the immediate aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in March, the Haas team unilaterally terminated its Uralkali sponsorship deal because of the links the company’s owner Dmitry Mazepin had with the country’s president Vladimir Putin.

It also ended the deal it had with race driver Nikita Mazepin, who has since been replaced by Kevin Magnussen.

At the time, Uralkali said it was considering legal action over the matter as it sought repayment of sponsorship money it had paid in advance of the season.

In a statement issued last month, the company said: “As most of the sponsorship funding for the 2022 season has already been transferred to Haas and given that the team terminated the sponsorship agreement before the first race of the 2022 season, Haas has thus failed to perform its obligations to Uralkali for this year's season.

“Uralkali shall request the immediate reimbursement of the amounts received by Haas.”

Uralkali subsequently wrote to Haas to dispute the team’s rights to terminate the contract, as well as request a refund of €12 million ($13m) that had been paid in advance.

It has emerged, however, that Haas has now formally responded to the Uralkali letter and wholly rejected the company’s claims.

In the letter from the Haas team to the Russian company, a copy of which has been seen by Autosport, the American-owned team insists it had a right to end the deal because of a clause in the sponsorship agreement which stated that Uralkali does not ‘injure, bring into dispute, ridicule, or lessen the public reputation, goodwill of favourable image of Haas’.

Haas claims that the Mazepin ties to the Kremlin, allied to sanctions imposed by the European Union, triggered the disrepute clause. However, no sanctions had been imposed by the European Union or any other parties when the contract was terminated.

In the letter, Haas puts forward its argument as to why it believes the Uralkali sponsorship should not be repaid.

“According to unanimous legal scholars and case law, the party which terminates the agreement for breach of the other party is under no obligation to return to such party what it has already received under the agreement,” it states.

“The claim of Uralkali to obtain the re-payment of the down paid amount of EUR 12,000,000 is therefore ungrounded and rejected.”

Haas adds that beyond the money already paid, the team is also entitled to compensation for the loss of profits it believes would have been made if the Uralkali deal had continued.

It has subsequently demanded a payment of €8m in lieu of this, which it wants transferred in a matter of days.

Haas has also made clear that it will not fulfil a clause in its original contract for Uralkali to be given one of Mazepin's 2021 F1 cars until it has received the €8m payment.

The letter adds: “Unless and until the aforesaid amount will have been paid to Haas no obligation exists on Haas’ side to deliver and no delivery of the F1 car will occur.”

According to a source with good knowledge of the situation, Haas has also refused to pay Mazepin his salary for the time worked this season before his contract was cancelled.
Nikita Mazepin, Haas F1 Team

Nikita Mazepin, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Haas’s stance is understood to have left Uralkali astonished, with sources saying they are in "disbelief" about the withholding of the money, the 2021 car and the demand for an extra payment.

One source said: “Everyone understands the world is in a difficult situation, but it is patently ridiculous to argue that Haas is entitled to keep money paid from a contract it exited unilaterally, without rendering any of the agreed upon services.

“They seem to be fine with spending Russian money - and even are asking for more - but don’t want to have any Russians around.

“It's a truly shocking treatment toward a title sponsor who stepped up last season when the team badly needed resources and who had offered to go above and beyond the contracted amounts to provide additional bonuses to team staff to achieve better results for all involved.”
Read Also:


Representatives of Uralkali and Nikita Mazepin declined to comment on the matter and instead referred to a previous statement that had been issued on the company website.

The Haas F1 team was approached for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.

The matter now almost certainly looks to be heading to court, unless there is a last-minute change of approach from Haas in relation to the money

[ZontheRocks]

I wonder who that last source is. Million dollar litigation will not be quick.

[DLSTR]

Originally Posted by ZontheRocks

I wonder who that last source is. Million dollar litigation will not be quick.

Mazepin is sanctioned and Italy seized over 100 mil$ of his assets. He can beeetch about this all he likes. HAAS should never pay that idiot or his son 1 cent. Ever. Corrupt coward in the inner circle of Putin.

[ZCanadian]

Originally Posted by DLSTR

Mazepin is sanctioned and Italy seized over 100 mil$ of his assets. He can beeetch about this all he likes. HAAS should never pay that idiot or his son 1 cent. Ever. Corrupt coward in the inner circle of Putin.

Haas should put the money in trust for a charity to rebuild an independent Ukraine!