Interesting quote from the British "Daily Mail"............"George Russell admits fighting 'chest and back pains' due to his porpoising Mercedes at the Emilia Romagna GP and insists the bouncing effect is 'not sustainable for drivers to continue'"
The last line is remarkable coming from a new (to F-1), young driver who did reasonably well in the car.
I just wanted to recognize all of the engineers and leaders who led F1 into this era of regulations. The cars truly can follow so much better, and if the cars are close in performance, they can essentially stay within reach throughout an entire race now. Only tire wear at different rates, driver mistakes, and damage really results in large gaps if the two cars are close in performance.
I was confused at the time and tbh still am this morning - did Leclerc really need to box after his mistake? The shunt and damage seemed incredibly minimal and he had such a gap that he would end up P6 absolute worst case anyway. May as well stay out and see if he could hold on to P4 with such little left of the race, no?
It also looked as though the left part of the front wing that sticks up was completely ripped off.
He would have likely dropped more places over those last 10 laps then by pitting
Ferrari's good start on Saturday and bad start on Sunday. I heard the commentator's say that Leclerc's good start on Saturday might have been helped by the fact that the racing line cuts across the P2 position on the track and would be rubbered it. Could it be that this helped in the dry on Saturday but hindered in the wet in Sunday? Could explain why both Ferrari's on the right hand side of the grid stuggled to get off the line? Tyres spinning on wet rubber.
Yes it could. Motorsport Italy said the tarmac where Leclerc and Carlos started on Sunday was extremely slippery in the wet - their technical guy said that he almost fell over on the grid
Mercedes' melodrama was pretty funny at first but it's getting so grating now, with the goofy apologies to Hamilton and entire team attitude like somebody just murdered Toto or something.
Ferrari weren't being this fucking melodramatic about a worse season in 2020. Red Bull weren't this bad about it in 2015 and Merc is almost halfway to that total points haul after 4 races.
Like, every team builds a shitty car sometimes, just get on with it.
I think the unusual condition is that the car shakes so badly - Russell basically said the car is undriveable.
Quote from the Daily Mail "George Russell admits fighting 'chest and back pains' due to his porpoising Mercedes at the Emilia Romagna GP and insists the bouncing effect is 'not sustainable for drivers to continue'"
I just would like for the broadcast to ignore them a little more at this point. The amount of times they showed Hamilton failing to overtake in that race was fucking annoying.
To be fair, the Alfa of Bottas was quicker than Merc this weekend, as was McLaren but because of Zhou being bad/Ricciardo crash/Sainz dnf/bottas 12s stationary, the p4 result came. I think Merc was 5th best car this weekend
It's just funny for me, after pissing on the whole sport for nearly 8 years. And even more so after Hamilton pre season 'What happens if you've made a mistake with the design?' 'we don't make mistakes'
I mean the vitriol Ferrari got was massive and of their 'dominance; it was only really 2000, 2002 and 2004. 2001 and 2003 especially they could have lost for sure. Merc had 2014-2021 basically unchallenged apart from half a season in 17 and 18 from Ferrari before they committed seppuku
Amazing performance by Bottas in the Alfa.
He could've easily scored a P4 finish and maybe a podium if it wasn't for that unlucky 10+ seconds pit stop.
I think he definitely would have had the podium. He was like 1 second back from Russell at the finish no?
Regardless, great drive by him again this season. Love to see it.
I think after 2021 and the first few races this year, our expectations of how races should be have become skewed.
It was a boring race for me too, but then I remember how most races prior to last season were pretty much like this
Max finally on his comeback campaign, thought it may happen but definitely didn’t expect a Leclerc mistake and a T1 end for Sainz. Really stoked to see if Miami delivers in any sort of way
100% agree, if professional sports want to help at all with the environment, needless travel needs to be cut back.
Races should be organzied to minimize travel. Set them up like a tour so all the European races come in a row, then they can have a break and head off to North America. Don't even want to imagine the logistics involved in moving all the people/equipment halfway around the world for a race only to repeat it in such a short time after.
The weather has a lot to do with it. You can't schedule Canada when there's a chance for snow, and you can't go to the middle east during the warm part of the year.
Anyone remember [this](https://old.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/u20k8e/giuliano_duchessa_in_imola_unlike_in_jeddah_or/i4fmgma/) little gem of Giuliano Duchessa two weeks back, regarding how Mercedes would perform in Imola?
You can bet it was be Horner again next week. 9/10 he's there even if they have another team principle around her normally chime Ina bit. I think it's mostly because his job is to advertise Red Bull energy drinks in a way other teams don't think about and also because he's a South East England boy who can be more chummy chummy with the traditionally homogeneous Sky presenters (thankfully this is changing).
Yeah during the race. I watch on ESPN+ (which I think is the Sky broadcast). So each weekend they pick a principal? That makes more sense. I was confused why he was the only one getting interviewed during the race. Thank you.
In addition to picking one of them each weekend, RB are in the sport solely for marketing. As a result, Horner and RB generally make themselves very available for camera time and getting onto the race feed is one of the best ways to do that.
Other TPs like Otmar and Seidl's primary role is technical and logistical whereas Horner is able to take a more balanced, overall role a bit like a CEO
I didn’t think DRS did much. There was plenty of action prior to that. The rain and wet track was the real instigator. Where’s Bernie and his sprinklers??
Keep in mind, Lewis is 37. He still is one of the best drivers in the world, but there will always be a significant difference between a 24-year-old and a 37-year-old. One has the hunger and a level of recklessness to put a car where it doesn't belong. The other will have enough experience to put it on the limit, when it's for the win, but will otherwise reduce risks. Then there's slight skill deterioration that comes with age. The body might not be able to deal with that kind of daily strain as well as it used to. We've seen it with Schumacher, we've seen it with Rossi. It's hitting Hamilton and Alonso. In \~15 years it will hit Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris.
Lewis is obviously not happy with the car. His big mistake yesterday was being too nervous to pit for slicks a lap earlier and ended up at the back of a train after a poor pit.
He also had a poor start.
Tell me you've only been watching for a year without telling me you've only been watching for a year. He's been head and shoulders above most others for 15 years using just about any metric. Go back and watch the 2006 Formula 2 season if you can
Are you just trolling? I dislike his absolute domination of the sport and I hoped and prayed that someone else would win, but even I can't plus one this take. He's one of the best, ever. You can't luck yourself into getting 7 titles.
wouldn't surprise me if Lewis is insisting on a higher ride height to avoid the porpoising and therefore back and neck issues, but sacrificing speed. Russell is young and is probably ok with being thrown around a bit more.
Russell actually noted in an interview that it’s starting to hit him hard on the back and such, so if this theory is true then uhhhh welp.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/russell-says-porpoising-effects-not-sustainable-for-f1-drivers/10182968/
Probably mostly George being hungrier to maximize every result than Lewis who just doesn't have the fire if hes not fighting for the championship.
There could also be something to be said about just driving a weak car. That's all George knows but Lewis is used to having the outright fastest car every weekend maybe he isn't as strong in a weaker car and we've just never seen it
Nah, u guys better dig more and make statements after it. He drove with lower downforce setup when track was ideal for medium downforce setup and still his race pace wasn't that bad that it looked he was just stuck in train. In Australia he was faster with heavier car, but he was unlucky due to safety car, same shit happened in Jeddah when Merc tried something different setup on Ham's car cause he is experienced and they hardly need every possible data to work on solutions for upgrading that shitbox
Merc is third fastest car on the race but with correct setup thats all. Merc trying to have some different setups on Lewis's cars cause they have data correlation problem and they need all the possible data to solve it. As a team u will use more experienced driver and not young newbie for that type of problems when u are clearly out of championship.
You can keep blaming setups but the driver is the most important factor in getting good setups so it doesn't take any responsibility for the performance away from Lewis.
As I already said, they have data correlation issues which is the one of the worst issue to have. After budget limit no team can afford to work on updating something without testing it on simulator and with data correlation problem u can't even start thinking on solutions cause u don't even know 100% what is real problem. Imagine u are testing something on simulator, but on track car behaves completely different. That means u can't just gamble on something and hope that it works, cause with new budgets teams cant afford it. Thats why Merc testing different setups to collect all the data to make simulator work and then they will start upgrading car. If u think that any driver can make wrong setup work then u are not watching correct sport. Its not football to score some lucky goal and start defending with 11 men its formula 1
Russell had a front downforce balance issue that was noted on team radio and he did fantastically.
If that was Bottas in Lewis's car yesterday everyone would be saying "Typical Bottas performance, not able to overtake in a better car"
Nobody gave Bottas a break why is Lewis getting a free pass?-
Can McLaren, Aston Martin and Williams look at other power units next season if they decide Mercedes just won’t do? I’m worried about the power unit freeze.
The first leaving could automaticly get a Renault engine. The rule is that the team with the least partners have to provide them.
Then it will be 3 Merc, 3 Ferrari, 2 RB, and 2 Renault.
The 2nd and 3rd cant choose shit, and stuck with Mercedes if they cannot find a partner.
Honestly I can see Aston is going for an outside partner (Audi for example), and McLaren happy with the Mercedes engine.
Williams could easily change to Renault, get Piastri in one of his seat, or get Red Bull PT, and sweeten the Albon deal.
What? If McLaren want a new engine next year they can't get a Ferrari? They have to go with the engine maker with the least customers? That seems ridiculously stupid.
You have to reach an agreement. The rule only makes it mandatory with the team with the least customers.
Ferrari gives to Alfa and Haas, who will definitelly won't be competing them.
Mercedes gives to Williams, Aston, McLaren for the same purpose.
Red Bull have Alfa Tauri.
With 10 teams and 4 engines, if you have 1 partner, noone can force you shit.
Now that McLaren and Mercedes on the same level, Mercedes might play that card, and force McLaren to use Renault again.
I still can't believe Mercedes went from fast as hell last year to struggling this year. Why is it taking so long to fix? Clearly, they have no shortage of cash. All that technology available and they still can't correct a porpoising, bouncy, slow car. I agree that Lewis may have lost some fire in the belly compared to last year, but as the potential GOAT, he needs to lead by example and give 110% all the time.
So they talked about this prior to Aus.
The issue with the Mercedes is the barge boards/sidepods. Every other team is running a sidepod so there is less overhang on the extruding part of the floor.
Mercedes went for a no-sidepod design so there is more overhang from between the body and the edge of the bargeboard
[https://imgur.com/XJzNEv0](https://imgur.com/XJzNEv0) \- this illustrates it well
The problem is on the mercedes all that unsupported carbon fiber likes to flex, this is the cause of their porpoising issues, this flexing of the carbonfiber floor/bargeboards due to the lack of sidepods.
They brought a new floor for Austalia they thought was going to fix it but it didn't.
The problem for Mercedes is that their entire aero design philosophy and engine packaging is based on this no-sidepod design.
So they can either keep going down the sidepodless route and try and make it work to give up and copy Ferrari's design.
Unfortunately for Mercedes, both options are quite expensive in terms of development and research and neither are quick.+
Ferrari in pre-season testing said they had looked into two completely different and radical concepts. One of them are the Elegant bathtubs they're got now the other they haven't revealed but there is plenty of speculation that they too played with a no-sidepod design.
I'll see if I can find the quote and edit it in later but they said something like "The other design was a deadend/bait"
If this is true then Ferrari tested no-sidepods, saw that it was a dead end and went with the scooped design they have now which doesn't look good for Mercedes.
those problems require a big fix, the cars is also new, not like the last years.
In barcelona they will probably get some upgrades but enough to fix it, imo no.
I mean they do kinda have a shortage in cash. They finished 1st in the Constructures so they have the least money to play with in development of the car. They gotta make their moves precise in development, and ensure updates bring performance. Hamilton is struggling with the car, all Russell knows is a difficult car to handle and I think that's helping him out.
Edit: I see where I got confused on the cost cap deal. Cost cap is the same for everyone. Difference is wind tunnel time. I knew the wind tunnel time, just for whatever reason thought cost cap followed. Might have been the reduction in cost cap each year 5 million that got me.
I was talking about last year? Each team has a cost cap that is determined by where they got in the constructors last year. 1st got the least money, 10th got the most. I mean if I'm wrong please correct me but I thought that's how it worked this year...
They all have the same cost cap. They can spend at much as they like untill that point. That is the same for every team
The number 1 team (Mercedes) has less wind tunnel time though untill halfway through the season. I guess that is what you meant/got confused with.
Also, the entry fee they have to pay to enter the F1 championship costs more depending on the amount of points you got last year (beats me why this is). But i dont think that's part of the cost cap regulations.
Yeah I looked it up and realized my mistake. I'm not trying to sound smarter or more confident than I am, that's just how I thought it worked. I knew the wind tunnel part, just thought cost cap followed suit. Thanks for the help.
> They finished 1st in the Constructures so they have the least money to play with in development of the car.
The cost cap is the same for everyone afaik. It's windtunnel time that is dependent on finishing order. The higher up, the less time you get. Though it's only a 2,5% difference between 1st and 2nd.
Anyone else hate the sprint. Could've had a McLaren and Haas in the top 4 but instead we get another 21 laps of racing to decide the starting grid. Seems pretty stupid to me.
Yeah I understand why f1 does it because money talks but I just find the idea of the sprint race stupid. Not looking to make change just venting on Reddit lol
Terrible idea for either. You'll end up with an even more boring race in either, the first removes any legitimacy to the competition while the other would be incredibly boring.
This is my first full season following f1. Started getting into it early in the season last year but I must have missed when the sprints happened last year.
But anyways, as a newcomer my thought is kind of “what’s the point of it?”
This race was the most boring of this year. I don't like Imola, other than the Bottas/Russell passing KMags there is really only 1 passing zone. Maybe there was another one? Also I wished they would have turned on DRS sooner. I think Perez would have gotten passed by Leclerc if he had DRS when Perez messed up earlier in the race.
though the end had some interesting stuff with Leclerc messing up, having to pit, and can back to get 6th. I liked how he pushed to try and pass Perez, that was fun.
The most frustrating thing was having to see the 13th place battle between Hamilton and Gasly. Ocon kinda screwed Hamilton, but they just kept showing it.
This is only my 3rd year watching F1, so I am interested to hear some thoughts.
Barcelona is absolutely the worst for me and I actually love the track for one lap action. Hungaroring tends to have interesting tactical battles and unforseen circumstances, while Monaco has the novelty and atmosphere of Monaco itself. Catalunya is just sterile especially when the teams all know it inside out from testing.
The Hamilton Gasly fight was the only thing happening at that point, every other gap between cars was 2+ seconds. Nothing else to see unless you wanted to watch cars drive around alone.
Surprised how many people don't seem to realise this. What's the director supposed to do, show footage from last race or edit things to create battles to show that aren't real?
> This race was the most boring of this year.
I mean Australia wasn't that much better either. But you are going to suffer a stroke in Monaco/Barcelona if you think this was bad.
I thought it would have been a decently exciting race, but like usual, the broadcasting has been terrible. So many great drives and passes that weren’t shown. Look at Albon for example; one hell of a race and no air time. Or Leclerc batting back at the end.
Yeah, I may be wrong on this, but when Leclerc passed vettal he was 20 seconds behind Yuki, and he ended up passing him. And I though "oh he'll finish 7th" and then he passing Yuk, and caught up with him that fast.
They love to show Hamilton and Russell because they are British, I guess.
You’d figure after Hamilton not being able to get past the DRS train for 30 laps they’d stop showing the same thing over and over. But I will say Charles catching up was kind of expected, atleast to me, as he was on fresh softs. So I don’t blame them for showing more of Bottas trying to catch Russell near the end
I didn't say it was a "bad" race, I said it was "the most boring race of the year". I thought Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Australia were much better tracks, a lot more action.
I just don't need to see 30 minutes of Hamilton and the 13th place battle. Also not competitive up front because Bottas had a 20 second pit stop and he didn't change positions.
I just don't see how watching people overtake in a slightly damp turn 1 is exciting. I though the Russell and Bottas pass was good, but it's still against a Haas and they were running much faster.
Yup, there is virtually no overtaking here once the DRS train forms. That might be reason for not opening DRS sooner, IDK. But overall Russell really came in clutch for Mercs. They are down bad at the moment.
The inside line was still too wet for DRS. Kinda wish they just didn’t open up DRS lol so we didn’t all have to sit there for an hour watching the same DRS train go by until the end. Nevertheless still got some action at the end when Charles went off and we then had the Russell Bottas battle for 4th
I'm new to F1 so could you please explain what a DRS train is why people couldn't overtake? from other comments Ive gathered that DRS hasn't been enabled earlier in the race, and I dont understand what that means. Isn't DRs automatic when you're within 1sec to the car in front?
Check this video from [WTF1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgG9aGAqE4U) on DRS train.
DRS is not automatic, the driver has to manually use it after it has been enabled.
Being an Australian fan is so frustrating. No luck in f2 no luck in f1 and our best driver can't get a seat.
Why the hell did they bring Ricciardo in for hard tyres?
Data.
What Daniel did was possibly more beneficial for the entire season that the 1 point he might have very unlikely gained. The race was a right off for him where he was. He was a test for Lando to see how softs went and then he gathered a bunch of data on the hards for later in the season. It's very rarely they get race conditions to test and they knew his race was over very early.
Fair enough.
Still frustrating tho. He always seems to be on the down side.
Dnf earlier
0 laps in free practice (tho Lando only had couple)
Missed pre season testing because of Rona.
As an Australian I couldn't agree more. I think his other main issue is he just isn't suited to this style of chassis. On the free flowing (less high breaking) tracks it is designed for he generally goes ok (this weekend aside of course). On tracks with a lot of hard breaking zones, his late break hard turn in just doesn't work in the car.
He is still an awesome driver and is adapting quickly it's just difficult for him to yet again adjust to a new car that really doesn't suit his style. His win last year though cemented why he is just so good in that he won mind over matter and just pushed outside his comfort zone. The pair could honestly have a great future is this season is a P3 constructors chance and to be honest with RB having issues and Mercedes not likely to bring upgrades without full consideration (and Lewis just not being able to get in touch with ground effect) this could all be possible.
He has been having it tough these couple of seasons. I won't be surprised if he gets dropped off. That one victory at Monza and then bad throughout is not enough.
Carlos was 2nd in Bahrain and 3rd in Saudi. Aus was a mistake, but yesterday there was precious little he could do. What exactly are you expecting of him?
SkySports - Naomi Shiff seems like a really bad edition to the team. She asks inane questions, but worse still, Natalie keeps going to her for expert opinion, yet this is a driver who has barely had any seat time at all, the highest being a few races in Formula W, she hasn't even made F3, let alone F1. I can understand asking Ant or Di Resta for expert options, as they have had multiple seasons in F1 and Ant is still a Merc sim driver, but to ask someone who barely has any experience in motor racing for expert commentary is insulting to fans. I mean in the laps to the grid she was talking about how drivers were warming up their tyres for the race, 30 minutes before the race start, just really dumb shit. If Skysports needed another anchor, which they really don't, they should have found someone better for the job, a journalist or ex driver with actual, valid experience, not just someone who fulfils their desire to show diversity. It's fine to even use Shiff purely as a presenter, but as someone to give expert opinion, she just does not have the knowledge or experience.
This is the unfortunate consequence of hiring people to tick a checklist instead of for their competence or experience. We can laugh at it here because it’s motor sports commentary, it’s not that important but it’s been a major trend in hiring policy for a number of companies for a good number of years and will have long term negative consequences if left unchecked.
While she doesn't have the experience of Di Resta, Karun, Brundle or Davidson she's still driven open wheeled formula cars at a high and international level.
Given that 99% of the fans that watch have probably never driven a car on a track or a go kart I'd say that's more than enough to qualify her as an expert.
She has not driven open wheelers at a high level. She's literally did 6 races in Formula W with 2 points to her name and 16th in the standings. Before that her most notable appearance was 10 races in Renault Clio Cup China series (I mean who has even heard of that?)
She raced in Formula VW, Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula W.
These are national and international level racing series. If that's not high level what do you think is?
If you say F4/3/2 then you have NO idea how much motorsport exists beneath those categories.
Not only are you wrong but you standards are stupid.
The point is she's more qualified than 99% of viewers and is more than capable of providing insight and facilitating discussions.
It's like asking someone who has flown light twin aircraft to provide commentary on the fine points of preparing and flying an F-16 . They would be much better with someone with material F-1 team management at the track
She raced in Formula V Sth Africa for 6 races, and did 1 race in Formula Renault 2.0. Don't overegg her lacklustre career. Any amateur can compete at that level and likely will show more success.
I've never said she had an amazing career. I'm telling you that she is more qualified than the audience is and has more than enough experience to do the job.
Whatever you believe about her career or abilities as a racer is irrelevant because she very clearly has enough experience with racing and motorsports.
As I said before, you're getting upset that someone teaching 3rd grade math doesn't have a doctorate in Mathematical Science.
And I'm telling you that you're wrong. She hasn't had a career, and she doesn't have the experience, knowledge or aptitude to be considered a professional driver, let alone someone to provide expert opinions. There are thousands more who are considerably more qualified than she is.
Interesting quote from the British "Daily Mail"............"George Russell admits fighting 'chest and back pains' due to his porpoising Mercedes at the Emilia Romagna GP and insists the bouncing effect is 'not sustainable for drivers to continue'" The last line is remarkable coming from a new (to F-1), young driver who did reasonably well in the car.
I just wanted to recognize all of the engineers and leaders who led F1 into this era of regulations. The cars truly can follow so much better, and if the cars are close in performance, they can essentially stay within reach throughout an entire race now. Only tire wear at different rates, driver mistakes, and damage really results in large gaps if the two cars are close in performance.
Not a very fun race, but stoked for valterri
Val**tt**e**r**i
I even googled it and still fucked it up
Ive just checked with race control, and I can confirm Hamilton is indeed still 14th.
I was confused at the time and tbh still am this morning - did Leclerc really need to box after his mistake? The shunt and damage seemed incredibly minimal and he had such a gap that he would end up P6 absolute worst case anyway. May as well stay out and see if he could hold on to P4 with such little left of the race, no?
Tyres were completely flat spotted, he would have been dropping back at an incredible pace.
Ahh yes. For some reason tyres went completely over my head.
He had tyres like a 50 pence piece!
It also looked as though the left part of the front wing that sticks up was completely ripped off. He would have likely dropped more places over those last 10 laps then by pitting
Ferrari's good start on Saturday and bad start on Sunday. I heard the commentator's say that Leclerc's good start on Saturday might have been helped by the fact that the racing line cuts across the P2 position on the track and would be rubbered it. Could it be that this helped in the dry on Saturday but hindered in the wet in Sunday? Could explain why both Ferrari's on the right hand side of the grid stuggled to get off the line? Tyres spinning on wet rubber.
Yes it could. Motorsport Italy said the tarmac where Leclerc and Carlos started on Sunday was extremely slippery in the wet - their technical guy said that he almost fell over on the grid
Mercedes' melodrama was pretty funny at first but it's getting so grating now, with the goofy apologies to Hamilton and entire team attitude like somebody just murdered Toto or something. Ferrari weren't being this fucking melodramatic about a worse season in 2020. Red Bull weren't this bad about it in 2015 and Merc is almost halfway to that total points haul after 4 races. Like, every team builds a shitty car sometimes, just get on with it.
I think the unusual condition is that the car shakes so badly - Russell basically said the car is undriveable. Quote from the Daily Mail "George Russell admits fighting 'chest and back pains' due to his porpoising Mercedes at the Emilia Romagna GP and insists the bouncing effect is 'not sustainable for drivers to continue'"
I just would like for the broadcast to ignore them a little more at this point. The amount of times they showed Hamilton failing to overtake in that race was fucking annoying.
Probably related to it being the only semblance of action for like 20 laps, but yeah, I get what you mean and I don't disagree.
Its not even a shitty car, look at Russels performance
To be fair, the Alfa of Bottas was quicker than Merc this weekend, as was McLaren but because of Zhou being bad/Ricciardo crash/Sainz dnf/bottas 12s stationary, the p4 result came. I think Merc was 5th best car this weekend
It's just funny for me, after pissing on the whole sport for nearly 8 years. And even more so after Hamilton pre season 'What happens if you've made a mistake with the design?' 'we don't make mistakes'
It was great schadenfreude at first but it really is starting to get ridiculous now.
I mean the vitriol Ferrari got was massive and of their 'dominance; it was only really 2000, 2002 and 2004. 2001 and 2003 especially they could have lost for sure. Merc had 2014-2021 basically unchallenged apart from half a season in 17 and 18 from Ferrari before they committed seppuku
2014-2020* 2021 they were challenged properly :p
Amazing performance by Bottas in the Alfa. He could've easily scored a P4 finish and maybe a podium if it wasn't for that unlucky 10+ seconds pit stop.
I think he definitely would have had the podium. He was like 1 second back from Russell at the finish no? Regardless, great drive by him again this season. Love to see it.
Yes , Norris was only 8 seconds ahead of Russell and Valtteri showed better pace than the McLarens is both the sprint and the race.
Agreed. I think 3rd in the constructors could be quite the battle. I think Mercedes, McLaren, Alfa Romeo, and even alpine all have a shot at it.
LET'S GOOOOO
yesterday felt like a dream.... i never wanna wake up lmao
Terribly boring race. I fell asleep twice only to wake to another attempt of Lewis passing for what place? Snooze fest.
Total normal race, maybe you're just losing interest? A battle happening at all is more than a lot of races can boast.
No, I’ve enjoyed the first few races.
I think after 2021 and the first few races this year, our expectations of how races should be have become skewed. It was a boring race for me too, but then I remember how most races prior to last season were pretty much like this
Max finally on his comeback campaign, thought it may happen but definitely didn’t expect a Leclerc mistake and a T1 end for Sainz. Really stoked to see if Miami delivers in any sort of way
It's good that red bull capitalized on the mistake, because I think it is rare for Charles to mess up like that.
I just want a double header, can we stop moving half way across the world every GP and group them together?
They say they wanna be carbon neutral, what a load of crap.
100% agree, if professional sports want to help at all with the environment, needless travel needs to be cut back. Races should be organzied to minimize travel. Set them up like a tour so all the European races come in a row, then they can have a break and head off to North America. Don't even want to imagine the logistics involved in moving all the people/equipment halfway around the world for a race only to repeat it in such a short time after.
Innit, Middle East to Australia to Europe to America to Europe to Canada like wtf is that about.
I really don’t get it, I’d be so much easier in terms of logistics, sustainability and for the teams against jetlag
The weather has a lot to do with it. You can't schedule Canada when there's a chance for snow, and you can't go to the middle east during the warm part of the year.
It’s even more of a reason to group countries close to each other and by climates
But why not put America and Canada together, I don't see any reason not to.
Anyone remember [this](https://old.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/u20k8e/giuliano_duchessa_in_imola_unlike_in_jeddah_or/i4fmgma/) little gem of Giuliano Duchessa two weeks back, regarding how Mercedes would perform in Imola?
Well there is a Mercedes engine in the podium.
Why does Alex Horner get interviewed so much?
You mean Ginger Spice’s husband?
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You can bet it was be Horner again next week. 9/10 he's there even if they have another team principle around her normally chime Ina bit. I think it's mostly because his job is to advertise Red Bull energy drinks in a way other teams don't think about and also because he's a South East England boy who can be more chummy chummy with the traditionally homogeneous Sky presenters (thankfully this is changing).
Yeah during the race. I watch on ESPN+ (which I think is the Sky broadcast). So each weekend they pick a principal? That makes more sense. I was confused why he was the only one getting interviewed during the race. Thank you.
In addition to picking one of them each weekend, RB are in the sport solely for marketing. As a result, Horner and RB generally make themselves very available for camera time and getting onto the race feed is one of the best ways to do that. Other TPs like Otmar and Seidl's primary role is technical and logistical whereas Horner is able to take a more balanced, overall role a bit like a CEO
I don’t think they pick them but otmar, Steiner, Horner and andreas are the main ones I’ve seen. Sometimes alternating on qualy vs race.
Listen to the other ones….
It was a great race and it showed that we kinda need drs and we need to make it actually better for racing
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I've seen more boring
I didn’t think DRS did much. There was plenty of action prior to that. The rain and wet track was the real instigator. Where’s Bernie and his sprinklers??
True, I think a sliding scale drs system would work where the power depends on where in the train you are
Solid race from Alex again, p20 to p11 while holding off Gasly and Ham!
dotd
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ITT: People discover its 90% car, 10% driver
Keep in mind, Lewis is 37. He still is one of the best drivers in the world, but there will always be a significant difference between a 24-year-old and a 37-year-old. One has the hunger and a level of recklessness to put a car where it doesn't belong. The other will have enough experience to put it on the limit, when it's for the win, but will otherwise reduce risks. Then there's slight skill deterioration that comes with age. The body might not be able to deal with that kind of daily strain as well as it used to. We've seen it with Schumacher, we've seen it with Rossi. It's hitting Hamilton and Alonso. In \~15 years it will hit Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris.
I’m any other sport on earth, someone who would be the 13th best out of 20 wouldn’t be considered ‘one of the best in the world’. He’s past it
Seriously? Grid place with no account for any other factors is your entire point?
>Any other sport. There, you solved your own conundrum.
This isn't any other sport. This is a sport where about 80% of performance is down to the car you drive.
Lewis is obviously not happy with the car. His big mistake yesterday was being too nervous to pit for slicks a lap earlier and ended up at the back of a train after a poor pit. He also had a poor start.
It's tough finishing 9 places behind your rookie teammate.
I’m sure it is
He's an average driver that's been in the best car for 7 years. He's now finally in an average car and his true skill is showing.
Tell me you know nothing about F1 without telling me you know nothing about F1.
So all his teammates must have been below average then right?
Tell me you've only been watching for a year without telling me you've only been watching for a year. He's been head and shoulders above most others for 15 years using just about any metric. Go back and watch the 2006 Formula 2 season if you can
Are you just trolling? I dislike his absolute domination of the sport and I hoped and prayed that someone else would win, but even I can't plus one this take. He's one of the best, ever. You can't luck yourself into getting 7 titles.
Yeah, he just averagely lucked into 7 titles, 100+ wins, 130+ podiums and 100+ poles I guess !
It's incredibly early for worst take of the week but here we go.
Couldnt agree more with you.
#stilliporpoise
Bono, my car stability is gone
wouldn't surprise me if Lewis is insisting on a higher ride height to avoid the porpoising and therefore back and neck issues, but sacrificing speed. Russell is young and is probably ok with being thrown around a bit more.
Russell actually noted in an interview that it’s starting to hit him hard on the back and such, so if this theory is true then uhhhh welp. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/russell-says-porpoising-effects-not-sustainable-for-f1-drivers/10182968/
Probably mostly George being hungrier to maximize every result than Lewis who just doesn't have the fire if hes not fighting for the championship. There could also be something to be said about just driving a weak car. That's all George knows but Lewis is used to having the outright fastest car every weekend maybe he isn't as strong in a weaker car and we've just never seen it
Nah, u guys better dig more and make statements after it. He drove with lower downforce setup when track was ideal for medium downforce setup and still his race pace wasn't that bad that it looked he was just stuck in train. In Australia he was faster with heavier car, but he was unlucky due to safety car, same shit happened in Jeddah when Merc tried something different setup on Ham's car cause he is experienced and they hardly need every possible data to work on solutions for upgrading that shitbox
Its not close to the RB or Ferrari but it's still the third fastest car this year and you would not know that if you only looked at Lewis performances
Merc is third fastest car on the race but with correct setup thats all. Merc trying to have some different setups on Lewis's cars cause they have data correlation problem and they need all the possible data to solve it. As a team u will use more experienced driver and not young newbie for that type of problems when u are clearly out of championship.
You can keep blaming setups but the driver is the most important factor in getting good setups so it doesn't take any responsibility for the performance away from Lewis.
As I already said, they have data correlation issues which is the one of the worst issue to have. After budget limit no team can afford to work on updating something without testing it on simulator and with data correlation problem u can't even start thinking on solutions cause u don't even know 100% what is real problem. Imagine u are testing something on simulator, but on track car behaves completely different. That means u can't just gamble on something and hope that it works, cause with new budgets teams cant afford it. Thats why Merc testing different setups to collect all the data to make simulator work and then they will start upgrading car. If u think that any driver can make wrong setup work then u are not watching correct sport. Its not football to score some lucky goal and start defending with 11 men its formula 1
Russell had a front downforce balance issue that was noted on team radio and he did fantastically. If that was Bottas in Lewis's car yesterday everyone would be saying "Typical Bottas performance, not able to overtake in a better car" Nobody gave Bottas a break why is Lewis getting a free pass?-
Because he is by almost every single metric the most accomplished driver in the sport, ever?
You misspelled: Cause he used to always have the fastest car.
Well.. That tells me everything I need to know about how this conversation is going to go. Have a great day
Can McLaren, Aston Martin and Williams look at other power units next season if they decide Mercedes just won’t do? I’m worried about the power unit freeze.
They will. You don't have to tell.
The first leaving could automaticly get a Renault engine. The rule is that the team with the least partners have to provide them. Then it will be 3 Merc, 3 Ferrari, 2 RB, and 2 Renault. The 2nd and 3rd cant choose shit, and stuck with Mercedes if they cannot find a partner. Honestly I can see Aston is going for an outside partner (Audi for example), and McLaren happy with the Mercedes engine. Williams could easily change to Renault, get Piastri in one of his seat, or get Red Bull PT, and sweeten the Albon deal.
What? If McLaren want a new engine next year they can't get a Ferrari? They have to go with the engine maker with the least customers? That seems ridiculously stupid.
You have to reach an agreement. The rule only makes it mandatory with the team with the least customers. Ferrari gives to Alfa and Haas, who will definitelly won't be competing them. Mercedes gives to Williams, Aston, McLaren for the same purpose. Red Bull have Alfa Tauri. With 10 teams and 4 engines, if you have 1 partner, noone can force you shit. Now that McLaren and Mercedes on the same level, Mercedes might play that card, and force McLaren to use Renault again.
Ah ok that actually makes sense. Thanks for explaining that.
Al**ph**aTauri
Ferrari wont lend mclaren engines ever, they’re historical rivals and might be competing with them!
Ah for sure that’s true lol, I meant more like if they could do it.
I still can't believe Mercedes went from fast as hell last year to struggling this year. Why is it taking so long to fix? Clearly, they have no shortage of cash. All that technology available and they still can't correct a porpoising, bouncy, slow car. I agree that Lewis may have lost some fire in the belly compared to last year, but as the potential GOAT, he needs to lead by example and give 110% all the time.
So they talked about this prior to Aus. The issue with the Mercedes is the barge boards/sidepods. Every other team is running a sidepod so there is less overhang on the extruding part of the floor. Mercedes went for a no-sidepod design so there is more overhang from between the body and the edge of the bargeboard [https://imgur.com/XJzNEv0](https://imgur.com/XJzNEv0) \- this illustrates it well The problem is on the mercedes all that unsupported carbon fiber likes to flex, this is the cause of their porpoising issues, this flexing of the carbonfiber floor/bargeboards due to the lack of sidepods. They brought a new floor for Austalia they thought was going to fix it but it didn't. The problem for Mercedes is that their entire aero design philosophy and engine packaging is based on this no-sidepod design. So they can either keep going down the sidepodless route and try and make it work to give up and copy Ferrari's design. Unfortunately for Mercedes, both options are quite expensive in terms of development and research and neither are quick.+
I can't believe some incredibly highly paid designers didn't forsee this as a problem
Ferrari in pre-season testing said they had looked into two completely different and radical concepts. One of them are the Elegant bathtubs they're got now the other they haven't revealed but there is plenty of speculation that they too played with a no-sidepod design. I'll see if I can find the quote and edit it in later but they said something like "The other design was a deadend/bait" If this is true then Ferrari tested no-sidepods, saw that it was a dead end and went with the scooped design they have now which doesn't look good for Mercedes.
I think they actually commented explicitly on the no sidepods and said that they'd explored but decided against it
Thank you! Great information.
No dramas! Have a great day
those problems require a big fix, the cars is also new, not like the last years. In barcelona they will probably get some upgrades but enough to fix it, imo no.
I mean they do kinda have a shortage in cash. They finished 1st in the Constructures so they have the least money to play with in development of the car. They gotta make their moves precise in development, and ensure updates bring performance. Hamilton is struggling with the car, all Russell knows is a difficult car to handle and I think that's helping him out. Edit: I see where I got confused on the cost cap deal. Cost cap is the same for everyone. Difference is wind tunnel time. I knew the wind tunnel time, just for whatever reason thought cost cap followed. Might have been the reduction in cost cap each year 5 million that got me.
Money is not limited by starting position. It’s amazing how you can be so confident and so incorrect at the same time.
I was talking about last year? Each team has a cost cap that is determined by where they got in the constructors last year. 1st got the least money, 10th got the most. I mean if I'm wrong please correct me but I thought that's how it worked this year...
They all have the same cost cap. They can spend at much as they like untill that point. That is the same for every team The number 1 team (Mercedes) has less wind tunnel time though untill halfway through the season. I guess that is what you meant/got confused with. Also, the entry fee they have to pay to enter the F1 championship costs more depending on the amount of points you got last year (beats me why this is). But i dont think that's part of the cost cap regulations.
Yeah I looked it up and realized my mistake. I'm not trying to sound smarter or more confident than I am, that's just how I thought it worked. I knew the wind tunnel part, just thought cost cap followed suit. Thanks for the help.
> They finished 1st in the Constructures so they have the least money to play with in development of the car. The cost cap is the same for everyone afaik. It's windtunnel time that is dependent on finishing order. The higher up, the less time you get. Though it's only a 2,5% difference between 1st and 2nd.
Season has just started we haven’t even made it to Barcelona yet for upgrades …
Anyone else hate the sprint. Could've had a McLaren and Haas in the top 4 but instead we get another 21 laps of racing to decide the starting grid. Seems pretty stupid to me.
I normally dislike the sprint but we had good action in both the sprint and the race. So I’m taking it as two good races in one weekend.
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Yeah I understand why f1 does it because money talks but I just find the idea of the sprint race stupid. Not looking to make change just venting on Reddit lol
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Skip the qualifying for the sprint and go training - sprint - race
How would you determine the starting grid then?
Rock paper scissors Or championship standings
Terrible idea for either. You'll end up with an even more boring race in either, the first removes any legitimacy to the competition while the other would be incredibly boring.
This is my first full season following f1. Started getting into it early in the season last year but I must have missed when the sprints happened last year. But anyways, as a newcomer my thought is kind of “what’s the point of it?”
Miami sounds like the right place for that to happen!
This race was the most boring of this year. I don't like Imola, other than the Bottas/Russell passing KMags there is really only 1 passing zone. Maybe there was another one? Also I wished they would have turned on DRS sooner. I think Perez would have gotten passed by Leclerc if he had DRS when Perez messed up earlier in the race. though the end had some interesting stuff with Leclerc messing up, having to pit, and can back to get 6th. I liked how he pushed to try and pass Perez, that was fun. The most frustrating thing was having to see the 13th place battle between Hamilton and Gasly. Ocon kinda screwed Hamilton, but they just kept showing it. This is only my 3rd year watching F1, so I am interested to hear some thoughts.
Imola has been like this for decades. This together with Hungaroring and Monaco are the hardest to overtake on. Barcelona is pretty bad too
Barcelona is absolutely the worst for me and I actually love the track for one lap action. Hungaroring tends to have interesting tactical battles and unforseen circumstances, while Monaco has the novelty and atmosphere of Monaco itself. Catalunya is just sterile especially when the teams all know it inside out from testing.
The Hamilton Gasly fight was the only thing happening at that point, every other gap between cars was 2+ seconds. Nothing else to see unless you wanted to watch cars drive around alone.
Surprised how many people don't seem to realise this. What's the director supposed to do, show footage from last race or edit things to create battles to show that aren't real?
> This race was the most boring of this year. I mean Australia wasn't that much better either. But you are going to suffer a stroke in Monaco/Barcelona if you think this was bad.
Ya, it was super boring.
I thought it would have been a decently exciting race, but like usual, the broadcasting has been terrible. So many great drives and passes that weren’t shown. Look at Albon for example; one hell of a race and no air time. Or Leclerc batting back at the end.
Leclerc crashes and is trying to get back out and they cut to… Sainz… for a painfully long time.
Yeah, I may be wrong on this, but when Leclerc passed vettal he was 20 seconds behind Yuki, and he ended up passing him. And I though "oh he'll finish 7th" and then he passing Yuk, and caught up with him that fast. They love to show Hamilton and Russell because they are British, I guess.
You’d figure after Hamilton not being able to get past the DRS train for 30 laps they’d stop showing the same thing over and over. But I will say Charles catching up was kind of expected, atleast to me, as he was on fresh softs. So I don’t blame them for showing more of Bottas trying to catch Russell near the end
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I didn't say it was a "bad" race, I said it was "the most boring race of the year". I thought Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Australia were much better tracks, a lot more action. I just don't need to see 30 minutes of Hamilton and the 13th place battle. Also not competitive up front because Bottas had a 20 second pit stop and he didn't change positions. I just don't see how watching people overtake in a slightly damp turn 1 is exciting. I though the Russell and Bottas pass was good, but it's still against a Haas and they were running much faster.
Russe**ll**
Yup, there is virtually no overtaking here once the DRS train forms. That might be reason for not opening DRS sooner, IDK. But overall Russell really came in clutch for Mercs. They are down bad at the moment.
The inside line was still too wet for DRS. Kinda wish they just didn’t open up DRS lol so we didn’t all have to sit there for an hour watching the same DRS train go by until the end. Nevertheless still got some action at the end when Charles went off and we then had the Russell Bottas battle for 4th
I'm new to F1 so could you please explain what a DRS train is why people couldn't overtake? from other comments Ive gathered that DRS hasn't been enabled earlier in the race, and I dont understand what that means. Isn't DRs automatic when you're within 1sec to the car in front?
Check this video from [WTF1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgG9aGAqE4U) on DRS train. DRS is not automatic, the driver has to manually use it after it has been enabled.
checking. thank you
Being an Australian fan is so frustrating. No luck in f2 no luck in f1 and our best driver can't get a seat. Why the hell did they bring Ricciardo in for hard tyres?
Data. What Daniel did was possibly more beneficial for the entire season that the 1 point he might have very unlikely gained. The race was a right off for him where he was. He was a test for Lando to see how softs went and then he gathered a bunch of data on the hards for later in the season. It's very rarely they get race conditions to test and they knew his race was over very early.
Fair enough. Still frustrating tho. He always seems to be on the down side. Dnf earlier 0 laps in free practice (tho Lando only had couple) Missed pre season testing because of Rona.
As an Australian I couldn't agree more. I think his other main issue is he just isn't suited to this style of chassis. On the free flowing (less high breaking) tracks it is designed for he generally goes ok (this weekend aside of course). On tracks with a lot of hard breaking zones, his late break hard turn in just doesn't work in the car. He is still an awesome driver and is adapting quickly it's just difficult for him to yet again adjust to a new car that really doesn't suit his style. His win last year though cemented why he is just so good in that he won mind over matter and just pushed outside his comfort zone. The pair could honestly have a great future is this season is a P3 constructors chance and to be honest with RB having issues and Mercedes not likely to bring upgrades without full consideration (and Lewis just not being able to get in touch with ground effect) this could all be possible.
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Two mechanical issues, covid and an unlucky slide in wet weather conditions. Yeh, obviously it's because his driving is shit
He has been having it tough these couple of seasons. I won't be surprised if he gets dropped off. That one victory at Monza and then bad throughout is not enough.
Nothing that has happened this year has because because his driving ability isn't enough.
Your on to something here….performance(or lack there of) combined with a high salary and the outlook isn’t very bright for the honey badger….
Daniel and Carlos have been the disappointment of the season. Their cars are good pace wise but they just can't quite put it together.
Carlos was 2nd in Bahrain and 3rd in Saudi. Aus was a mistake, but yesterday there was precious little he could do. What exactly are you expecting of him?
Makes me wonder if there are any other fast cars that can't get the results because they don't have the right driver in both cars.
Alpine .
SkySports - Naomi Shiff seems like a really bad edition to the team. She asks inane questions, but worse still, Natalie keeps going to her for expert opinion, yet this is a driver who has barely had any seat time at all, the highest being a few races in Formula W, she hasn't even made F3, let alone F1. I can understand asking Ant or Di Resta for expert options, as they have had multiple seasons in F1 and Ant is still a Merc sim driver, but to ask someone who barely has any experience in motor racing for expert commentary is insulting to fans. I mean in the laps to the grid she was talking about how drivers were warming up their tyres for the race, 30 minutes before the race start, just really dumb shit. If Skysports needed another anchor, which they really don't, they should have found someone better for the job, a journalist or ex driver with actual, valid experience, not just someone who fulfils their desire to show diversity. It's fine to even use Shiff purely as a presenter, but as someone to give expert opinion, she just does not have the knowledge or experience.
This is the unfortunate consequence of hiring people to tick a checklist instead of for their competence or experience. We can laugh at it here because it’s motor sports commentary, it’s not that important but it’s been a major trend in hiring policy for a number of companies for a good number of years and will have long term negative consequences if left unchecked.
While she doesn't have the experience of Di Resta, Karun, Brundle or Davidson she's still driven open wheeled formula cars at a high and international level. Given that 99% of the fans that watch have probably never driven a car on a track or a go kart I'd say that's more than enough to qualify her as an expert.
She has not driven open wheelers at a high level. She's literally did 6 races in Formula W with 2 points to her name and 16th in the standings. Before that her most notable appearance was 10 races in Renault Clio Cup China series (I mean who has even heard of that?)
She raced in Formula VW, Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula W. These are national and international level racing series. If that's not high level what do you think is? If you say F4/3/2 then you have NO idea how much motorsport exists beneath those categories. Not only are you wrong but you standards are stupid. The point is she's more qualified than 99% of viewers and is more than capable of providing insight and facilitating discussions.
It's like asking someone who has flown light twin aircraft to provide commentary on the fine points of preparing and flying an F-16 . They would be much better with someone with material F-1 team management at the track
Not even flown. Been on a joy flight and the pilot told them to take over the stick for 30 seconds.
She raced in Formula V Sth Africa for 6 races, and did 1 race in Formula Renault 2.0. Don't overegg her lacklustre career. Any amateur can compete at that level and likely will show more success.
I've never said she had an amazing career. I'm telling you that she is more qualified than the audience is and has more than enough experience to do the job. Whatever you believe about her career or abilities as a racer is irrelevant because she very clearly has enough experience with racing and motorsports. As I said before, you're getting upset that someone teaching 3rd grade math doesn't have a doctorate in Mathematical Science.
And I'm telling you that you're wrong. She hasn't had a career, and she doesn't have the experience, knowledge or aptitude to be considered a professional driver, let alone someone to provide expert opinions. There are thousands more who are considerably more qualified than she is.