Ouch!
Also fair enough for being honest about his time as a champion too.
Also fair enough for being honest about his time as a champion too.
F1 2022 Season
- Thread starter pauldyson1uk
- Start date
It is stating the obvious as well, though. Are there any champions in recent years who have ever won without the best overall car? Most of them aren’t even debatable.
Except I think it’s debatable that the Red Bull wasn’t the best car last year. But I know you won’t agree on that so let’s not get into it
The Sky reporters were talking about Leclerc and Sainz having a big advantage on Max and Russell for the start because the racing line on the straights is very much on the left side of the track meaning the right side will be dirty. I thought this was the case for most tracks but they felt the need to mention it specifically so maybe it's worse here?
Thats quite a harsh assessment. I may give sainz some stick, but it could be that the porposing in the ferrari (the sainz onboard showed how bad it was for the driver) could be the difference between him and leclerc. Also leclerc had some sort of upgrade to his car that dainz didnt. This was mentioned in fp3 without going into specifics. However sainz has made too many mistakes this season, especially as each time you bin the car, the repair bill eats up some of your development budget.
Perez could and would be quicker if the car developed around his driving style i.e. understeer rather than max who prefers a car that oversteers especially in corners where he can correct a snap oversteer and gasly, albion etc struggled to do so. Unfortunately for perez he is a no2 and his goal is to back up max on track and take points off maxs competition. He has to compromise his driving style to do so.
Russell is the future of Mercedes just as leclerc, max, lando are the future of their respective teams.
For all the information F1 gives the armchair fan what we dont get to find out is how a car is reacting for a driver and his driving style around a low/med/high speed corner?
Is it stable under braking and corner entry?
Is it oversteering or understeering?
Is the driver having to wait on purpose before putting the power down so he doesnt light up the rears or tear the rubber on the tyre?
Whats the rotation of the back end of the car like?
Does that particular driver prefer a car with pull rod ot push rod suspension?
Do they have an identical car parts wise to their teammate?
Has their engineers got the setup wrong?
Have the powertrain guys got the wrong engine map on the car for engine braking?
Has the team asked the two drivers to diverge on setup to get different data sets?
There are so many factors at play its crazy, but for us armchair fans it comes down to laptime as to how we judge a driver. Thats the bit of information we see on screen and hear about most. Its a shame we dont get more information but its understandable that the teams want to keep the strengths and weaknesses of their cars a secret.
As good as fernando is as a racer i.e. amongst the very best he has a huge flaw in his character. As we all know you cant build a team around fernando because of his fiery nature and unlike schmacher and hamilton he doesnt pull a team around him and get the best out of them.
If speed, race craft and teamwork makeup the core of a driver. Then schmacher was by far the best at the teamwork aspect especially at ferrari. Alonso has the speed and racecraft but sucks at the teamwork aspect as did kimi for example. Some drivers just do, its not in their nature to do the teamwork side of things with the garage. Thats why for all his talents, he wont get back into a ferrari or a red bull or a Mercedes. The top drivers attract the best money, the best engineers and the best teams. But if they have a flaw like fernando then they wont.
Silly comment. Quoted for prosperity.
So apparently the flexible floor was the root cause of the issues of Mercedes porposing.
Totto Wolff:
"..Wolff also explained that the German marque had been able to solve the bouncing problems through the work done back at their Brackley headquarters.
"It's simple; it's all an aerodynamic effect that creates from the floor swinging," Wolff told Sky Sports. "It was difficult to come to that conclusion in a scientific way, but the team have found it and that's great.
"We know how to unlock more performance, but we're not yet there - it's step by step.
"The other teams have continued to develop their cars when we've been in a sort of pause moment to find out about the bouncing. So, we can pick up the regular development as soon as we understand the tyres now the bouncing is gone..."
Totto Wolff:
"..Wolff also explained that the German marque had been able to solve the bouncing problems through the work done back at their Brackley headquarters.
"It's simple; it's all an aerodynamic effect that creates from the floor swinging," Wolff told Sky Sports. "It was difficult to come to that conclusion in a scientific way, but the team have found it and that's great.
"We know how to unlock more performance, but we're not yet there - it's step by step.
"The other teams have continued to develop their cars when we've been in a sort of pause moment to find out about the bouncing. So, we can pick up the regular development as soon as we understand the tyres now the bouncing is gone..."
Do you think Leclerc has enough fight in him to beat Max over the course of a season?
Alonso has always been bitter about being usurped by a young Hamilton. Great driver though. And it has always been that the best drivers need the car to be good enough to win. It is a standard part of F1 over decades.
Max had the best car over the majority of last season and then should've lost if not for rule breaking, so I don't think that's a good example of a "lesser" car winning.
The screen graphic that says "car performance ranking" during the races and quali, the one that states how much one driver is faster than the other on the straights, on slow turns etc. Anyone know where can I find this data on this seasons races? I've found some on Twitter but hoping there's a place where it's all together.
Fight? I think he’s showing he has the fight. Le Clerc has made some errors though already though, so for me the question is when the pressure is really on, can he be as consistent. It’ll be really interesting to see how it plays out but that lap today, when the pressure was really on, showed real nerve. I’m hopeful.
Can’t comment on Alonso but it’s well established that both Hamilton and Schumi were huge contributors behind the scene. That’s not always the case with F1 drivers I think.
I hope so. But I fear he lacks that killer instinct and ruthless streak that the likes of Max, Lewis and even Alonso have.
For me, I haven’t seen it yet consistently to know, and that’s my worry. But in all honesty I’m quite positive he has it. Some of his wheel to wheel racing with Max this year has been very good. He doesn’t just give up the space to him. To my mind the biggest unknown with him is how he handles things when the titles on the line with only a few races left. In terms of pace, competitiveness, I really think he has already largely proven himself.
Fair comments. Will be really interesting to see how the season develops.
It is only a perception, but I also wonder if the Ferrari team boss is too "soft" in comparison with the like of the narcissistic Horner who will "win at all costs ". But maybe nice guys won't always finish last! Or maybe he has a nasty streak just waiting to come out!
Or maybe he doesn't need to play the macho, short man role on TV, unlike somebody.
Sooner or later max and leclerc will having a incident. Always happens in title races.
Problem for both of them right now is they need as many points as possible as a resurgencent Mercedes especially in second half of season will take wins off both max and leclerc and generally annoy them.
Problem for both of them right now is they need as many points as possible as a resurgencent Mercedes especially in second half of season will take wins off both max and leclerc and generally annoy them.
Totto said yesterday that all the development on the car so far this season has been to fix porposing and nothing else. Now they can start to improve the performance of the car. If they are only 0.2-0.5 off the RB and have done nothing to improve performance so far then, I'd be very worried i were RB or ferrari.
Lets see what happens but i think they will pick up victories especially when max and leclerc eventually take each other out.
I hope they do.
I agree Max and Leclerc will take each other out before long.
My concern is that while Mercedes are improving, Red Bull and Ferrari are also improving but like you say they are not a huge margin behind.
Today could see Russell or Lewis nick a podium spot, they would have to get strategy bang on to do it.
(not sure where my post went, I did edit it but must have deleted it
)Few Hamilton Russell 1-2s in a row and the title race would get even more interesting
That said the merc has been very good in the slow speed corners all season so this circuit may suit them a bit anyway
Will be interesting though if we get to a circuit with high speed corners and they are still in the mix
Think they did an engine upgrade as well recently so will be good to see where that puts them now (think before they were generally running more rear wing as they couldn't run the car low enough to get all the downforce they needed)
If in the second part of the season the merc does unlock what is supposedly big simulation gains I wonder if we might see others have to change their approach for next season as well
Bit early i think to know what progress merc have made but the next 3 gp will be interesting to see how they do
Hamilton on this seasons struggles with the W13. BBC F1 article.
Lewis Hamilton has said he is finding it difficult to get the best out of this year's Mercedes.
Car upgrades helped Hamilton's team-mate George Russell to Mercedes' best qualifying position of the season with fourth at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Hamilton, 0.119 seconds slower than Russell in sixth, said he was "really struggling with the car this year".
"The car has potential to be third or fourth and I am not able to pull that out of the car," Hamilton said.
"I just don't feel that great in the sense of my driving and I'm working as hard as I can.
"I am still way off. I just struggle with confidence in the rear of the car. I don't know how to get around that.
"I don't know what I am going to do but I will keep trying to work hard and trying to figure it out. I just have no rear end in the car in the qualifying sessions."
But Hamilton said he was "seeing hope" for his team at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after a redesigned floor eliminated the most significant problem the the car has had so far - a high-speed bouncing created by aerodynamic disruption on the straights, known as 'porpoising'.
"We have improved the car and stopped it from bouncing in certain areas," Hamilton said.
"We don't have the bouncing in the straight line. We still have some bouncing in Turns Three and Nine [the fastest corners in Spain] but the car's a lot better.
"The [development] bits that have come have worked, so that means moving forwards more bits will come. I am looking forward to the next upgrades that we get so we can add some performance."
Lewis Hamilton has said he is finding it difficult to get the best out of this year's Mercedes.
Car upgrades helped Hamilton's team-mate George Russell to Mercedes' best qualifying position of the season with fourth at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Hamilton, 0.119 seconds slower than Russell in sixth, said he was "really struggling with the car this year".
"The car has potential to be third or fourth and I am not able to pull that out of the car," Hamilton said.
"I just don't feel that great in the sense of my driving and I'm working as hard as I can.
"I am still way off. I just struggle with confidence in the rear of the car. I don't know how to get around that.
"I don't know what I am going to do but I will keep trying to work hard and trying to figure it out. I just have no rear end in the car in the qualifying sessions."
But Hamilton said he was "seeing hope" for his team at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after a redesigned floor eliminated the most significant problem the the car has had so far - a high-speed bouncing created by aerodynamic disruption on the straights, known as 'porpoising'.
"We have improved the car and stopped it from bouncing in certain areas," Hamilton said.
"We don't have the bouncing in the straight line. We still have some bouncing in Turns Three and Nine [the fastest corners in Spain] but the car's a lot better.
"The [development] bits that have come have worked, so that means moving forwards more bits will come. I am looking forward to the next upgrades that we get so we can add some performance."
You don't last so long in Ferrari by being a nice guy, especially when they've not been winning for so long.
Hello there, F1 Thread.
Cloudy with a chance of handbags today? See Mercedes (Russell) is doing a bit better, hopefully that will throw some more drama to the occasion.
Would hate to hear "this race is boring" today.
Cloudy with a chance of handbags today? See Mercedes (Russell) is doing a bit better, hopefully that will throw some more drama to the occasion.
Would hate to hear "this race is boring" today.
It's fine if it's only one side claiming this, usually meaning they're soundly beaten.Hello there, F1 Thread.
Cloudy with a chance of handbags today? See Mercedes (Russell) is doing a bit better, hopefully that will throw some more drama to the occasion.
Would hate to hear "this race is boring" today.
Max engine troubles in qualifying also opening up a nice route for drama
If Alonso won in 2012 it would have been the most impressive WDC I've seen. Still rates as one of the more impressive seasons.
F1 LIVE: Spanish Grand Prix Build-Up and Drivers Parade
Don't think it was engine troubles.
Switched off after qualifying, so my most recent info was something along the lines of loss of power
Fingers crossed the Red Bull holds up and Max takes Charles on the first corner. Hopefully Russell can do something here today, as well.
None of the aero parts were for performance they were to deal with porposing.
Also hamilton said as quoted above they have more parts coming for next few races i.e performance parts.
It was DRS issue. Didn't open up. But then it did open up when he came back into the pits. So hopefully they can sort that out.
That would just about be the worst thing that could happen for the quality of the race.
I guess that depends on who you want to win
I will be surprised if Max finishes with a working DRS flap.
Been a bit out of the loop with F1 in recent weeks. Have Ferrari made any upgrades to the car since Miami?
Red Bull messing with the DRS again. The one time the Merc DRS was slightly out Hamilton go penalised but Red Bull gets away with their DRS being adjusted after Qualification all the time.