F1 2022 Season

Fluctuation0161 said:
Max Verstappen says removal of Michael Masi as race director 'very unfair' - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/60512909

:lol:
Click to expand...
It's not as bad if you read his full comments:
Verstappen said: "Of course people talk about what was decided in Abu Dhabi but can you imagine a referee in whatever sport has the coach or equivalent screaming in his ear all the time?

"'Yellow card, red card, no decision, no foul.' It's impossible to make a decision.

"That F1 allowed that team members could talk to him while making decisions is very wrong. It needed to be Michael making decisions on his own without people screaming in his ear.

"The people who sacked him allowed that in the first place. For me (that) is unacceptable and now to sack him I find it really incredible.

"I feel very sorry for Michael because he was very capable and a good race director.

"I have nothing against the new race directors. They are also very capable and good but I felt sad for Michael and I sent him a text."

The Dutchman said Masi had been put in a difficult position when he took over the race director role when FIA F1 director Charlie Whiting died on the eve of the 2019 season.

Race director was one of the roles Whiting performed.

"After Charlie died, it is hard to take over from someone like him, he had so much experience," Verstappen said.

"And also Charlie had help around him and maybe Michael just needed a little bit more."
Click to expand...
He's right that people higher up need to take a significant share of the blame here, as they put the procedures in place that made Masi's work difficult, and they are also the ones who appointed Masi as race director while he was inexperienced and didn't have the proper support. It's true that that's not very fair to Masi.

But be that as it may, Masi still made poor decisions and his position had become untenable. Whatever Verstappen thinks, Masi was clearly not 'a good race director' last season.
 
Cheimoon said:
It's not as bad if you read his full comments:

He's right that people higher up need to take a significant share of the blame here, as they put the procedures in place that made Masi's work difficult, and they are also the ones who appointed Masi as race director while he was inexperienced and didn't have the proper support. It's true that that's not very fair to Masi.

But be that as it may, Masi still made poor decisions and his position had become untenable. Whatever Verstappen thinks, Masi was clearly not 'a good race director' last season.
Click to expand...

Yes indeed. He tried too hard to be all things to all men and failed as a result.
I don't doubt his knowledge and abilities. But once you open the communication up in the way he did, the floodgates opened.
He was then completely swamped with requests and was not strong enough to tell them to shut the fxxx up and let me do my job.
 
hobbers said:
He wasn't but then I don't think anyone else would have done a better job thrown into such an isolated role in the same circumstances.

Basically a scapegoat to FIA's lack of planning not accounting for Charlie retiring, getting ill, or as sadly happened, dying suddenly.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I don't think that under the circumstances he allowed to take place, it is difficult to see that anyone could have done a more damaging job.
His problems were self inflicted.
 
hobbers said:
Well they obviously weren't self inflicted. He didn't make the decision to let Toto and Horner scream in his ear for most of the race demanding he not put out a safety car or demanding the lapped cars get to pass.

He also didn't decide on his own that they should avoid finishing races under safety car at all costs. It was all the teams who collectively agreed to that and put that extra pressure on him.
Click to expand...

Yes it was. Because of the simple fact that he allowed the teams to lobby him during the previous races.
He should have recognised what was happening and put a stop to it.
Anyway, the FIA have made their decision and he is no longer race director is he.
 
What happens to the points for Sochi? Do they just give them to Verstappen?
 
Buster15 said:
Yes it was. Because of the simple fact that he allowed the teams to lobby him during the previous races.
He should have recognised what was happening and put a stop to it.
Anyway, the FIA have made their decision and he is no longer race director is he.
Click to expand...
Indeed. Especially since "the race director has the ultimate power to change the rules".
 
Not a big loss though, I also found it weird that he would contact teams and offer them deals instead of race stewards announcing penalties. Giving up positions, "brake check" etc could have been avoided easily.
 
Buster15 said:
Yes it was. Because of the simple fact that he allowed the teams to lobby him during the previous races.
He should have recognised what was happening and put a stop to it.
Anyway, the FIA have made their decision and he is no longer race director is he.
Click to expand...
From what I understand, it's been Masi's approach from the start to be very open and communicative. I suppose it helped him at the start of his tenure, to gain confidence and understanding from the teams, and to learn more quickly and understand things better himself as well. But this ultimately did lead to last season's issues, and so 'people screaming in his ear' was ultimately also a problem of his own making.
 
Cheimoon said:
It's not as bad if you read his full comments:

He's right that people higher up need to take a significant share of the blame here, as they put the procedures in place that made Masi's work difficult, and they are also the ones who appointed Masi as race director while he was inexperienced and didn't have the proper support. It's true that that's not very fair to Masi.

But be that as it may, Masi still made poor decisions and his position had become untenable. Whatever Verstappen thinks, Masi was clearly not 'a good race director' last season.
Click to expand...
I did read it. For me it's just as bad. His comparison is a dud because football refs do have players and managers shouting for decisions.

It reads like Max trying to justify his mate who handed him his title.
 
Fluctuation0161 said:
I did read it. For me it's just as bad. His comparison is a dud because football refs do have players and managers shouting for decisions.

It reads like Max trying to justify his mate who handed him his title.
Click to expand...

Particularly a day after Lewis has called out stewards and officials being overly familiar with drivers. Timing.
 
Masi's problem was he had no backbone and was too wishy washy.

He needs to make his mind up and stick to it. What he allowed to happen in Abu Dhabi was on him. Should have just stuck to the rules but got swayed by Red Bulls Jonathan Wheatley in his ear constantly.

All season he'd been undermining him and making him look a fool - he cracked under the pressure more than once.

Maybe it was too big of a job for 1 man, but he will take the brunt of it.
 
diarm said:
Shit :lol: . I should've read the last page before jumping in thinking I was being hilarious!
Click to expand...
:D


On the current discussion about Max and Masi. Max is the one person I really can't blame for this (in the final race, stuff before is a different story). Max only went for what was given to him, like one would expect from any racer. It must have felt like a miracle to get that chance after how the race had gone for him. It's only human to rationalise it internally and be in favor of the person granting that miracle.
 
Adam-Utd said:
I see Mercedes finally showed their legs and did the fastest time of the test so far.

So much for them being behind ;)
Click to expand...
Just a bit of caution, it was set on the softest tyres, I hope the big boys will end up with a similar race pace, last thing the sport needs is another 1 team procession to the championship.
 
Adam-Utd said:
Not sure Steiner would have any choice in the decision.

Gene Haas is probably not going to want to be aligned with the Russians anymore at this point.

There would be no shortage of paid drivers wanting the seat right now also.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure it's about alignment, it's more that the USA government will restrict businesses from doing business with Russia. Haas is pretty confident it's moving to that next stage so he's cutting the contract now and will then look for other sponsors. BWT is one that screams to me that they will want more pink on the grid.

I reckon we could see a return for Antonio Giovanazzi here. Fits the profile well, and has experience in a car to jump straight in.
 
Cheimoon said:
From what I understand, it's been Masi's approach from the start to be very open and communicative. I suppose it helped him at the start of his tenure, to gain confidence and understanding from the teams, and to learn more quickly and understand things better himself as well. But this ultimately did lead to last season's issues, and so 'people screaming in his ear' was ultimately also a problem of his own making.
Click to expand...

Exactly that. Glad to see someone understands.
 
christy87 said:
Just a bit of caution, it was set on the softest tyres, I hope the big boys will end up with a similar race pace, last thing the sport needs is another 1 team procession to the championship.
Click to expand...
It was faster than both Mclaren and Ferrari's best times on the same tyre I believe.

Obviously still doesn't mean much - but that's all we have to go on.
F-Red said:
I'm not sure it's about alignment, it's more that the USA government will restrict businesses from doing business with Russia. Haas is pretty confident it's moving to that next stage so he's cutting the contract now and will then look for other sponsors. BWT is one that screams to me that they will want more pink on the grid.

I reckon we could see a return for Antonio Giovanazzi here. Fits the profile well, and has experience in a car to jump straight in.
Click to expand...
Well yes that also. I'm sure they'll have no issue finding a new sponsor if they can break the contract.
 
diarm said:
What happens to the points for Sochi? Do they just give them to Verstappen?
Click to expand...

I think what happens is they have a bonus race at an alternate venue. Verstappen is given new tyres and Hamilton has to use the oldest tyres from the previous race. The order from the previous race is used but any car between Max and Lewis is allowed to be cleared, they fairly duke it out on the track and then the winner collects 25 points.
 
So, another 1-2 in testing for Mercedes. Surprise surprise!

Will be interesting to see where teams can improve between now and Bahrain.
 
Barcelona pre-season test: Day Three timesheet
I am not reading much in to the timing to be honest, good 3 day shakedown.

Barcelona pre-season test: Day Three timesheet
DriverTeamTimeTyresLaps
1) Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:19.138C5 (very soft)94
2) George RussellMercedes1:19.233C566
3) Sergio PerezRed Bull1:19.556C4 (soft)74
4) Max VerstappenRed Bull1:19.756C3 (medium)59
5) Sebastian VettelAston Martin1:19.824C548
6) Charles LeclercFerrari1:19.831C344
7) Carlos SainzFerrari1:20.072C392
8) Alex AlbonWilliams1:20.318C494
9) Nicholas LatifiWilliams1:20.699C413
10) Daniel RicciardoMcLaren1:20.750C386
11) Lando NorrisMcLaren1:20.827C352
12) Fernando AlonsoAlpine1:21.242C312
13) Guanyu ZhouAlfa Romeo1:21.939C341
14) Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri1:22.469C440
15) Nikita MazepinHaas1:26.229C39
16) Valtteri BottasAlfa Romeo1:30.433C310
 
hobbers said:
Well they obviously weren't self inflicted. He didn't make the decision to let Toto and Horner scream in his ear for most of the race demanding he not put out a safety car or demanding the lapped cars get to pass.

He also didn't decide on his own that they should avoid finishing races under safety car at all costs. It was all the teams who collectively agreed to that and put that extra pressure on him.
Click to expand...
Could you publish the source of this agreement?
 
pauldyson1uk said:
I was thinking the same, Lewis and George on the c5, looks to be .3 / .4 faster than C4 and .6 than C3, how this will translate at race pace will be interesting.
Click to expand...
I think we a know that the fastest laps over this week would be obliterated under qualifying conditions. As for the testing I’m starting to think they should of added an extra testing week to the schedule, as half the teams could rock up in the Bahrain test week thinking they have fixed the porpoise problem only to see it again, it’s a brand new car design after all.
 
christy87 said:
I think we a know that the fastest laps over this week would be obliterated under qualifying conditions. As for the testing I’m starting to think they should of added an extra testing week to the schedule, as half the teams could rock up in the Bahrain test week thinking they have fixed the porpoise problem only to see it again, it’s a brand new car design after all.
Click to expand...
Testing times are pretty much not relevant , well I dont think so.
I only take a passing interest to be honest.
I agree about another testing, the porpoise problem could be a big problem for some teams.
I would hate to see it at full race speed.
 
hobbers said:
Well they obviously weren't self inflicted. He didn't make the decision to let Toto and Horner scream in his ear for most of the race demanding he not put out a safety car or demanding the lapped cars get to pass.

He also didn't decide on his own that they should avoid finishing races under safety car at all costs. It was all the teams who collectively agreed to that and put that extra pressure on him.
Click to expand...
Stop peddling this bullshit until you show actual evidence of this.
 
The Alfa is gorgeous

FMlsAI8WQAIw4hT
 
That is nice too!

The only one I really am not a fan of is the Haas. All the others are very nice (except the pink Alpine, I don’t like that)
 
rpitroda said:
That is nice too!

The only one I really am not a fan of is the Haas. All the others are very nice (except the pink Alpine, I don’t like that)
Click to expand...

Have you seen the has since it removed the russia colours? I think it looks better now, still not amazing but better
 
My order of preference of liveries now that we’ve seen them all:

Ferrari
Aston
Alpine (blue)
Alpha Romeo
McClaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Williams
Alpha Tauri
Haas
 
flameinthesun said:
Have you seen the has since it removed the russia colours? I think it looks better now, still not amazing but better
Click to expand...
Yeah. Still just too bland and boring for me. It’s not an abomination, but in comparison to some of these other liveries which are seriously nice, it’s pretty much the bottom of the pack still for me.
 
The sidepods slits on the alfa look interest as does the floor towards the end of the car. See they have gone with the same approach as Mercedes with the side mirror housing being bolted to the body providing a airflow channel.

Beautiful livery though.
 
Alfa make great looking production cars too. Usually unreliable great looking cars.

Does look sexy though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.