F1 2022 Season

And so it begins !
Mercedes come up with what could be an advantage and Horner says its not in the spirt of the regulations !!
SHARED'We did not anticipate the Mercedes concept'
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer


So, this Red Bull/Mercedes thing has all got a bit tasty this morning, hasn’t it? But let’s step back a bit. Ross Brawn, F1’s managing director, has told F1 TV: “There are some very extreme interpretations of the regulations which could lead to a lot of debate. We did not anticipate the Mercedes concept.” Brawn has been at pains to say in the lead-up to the new regulations being introduced this season that F1 is trying to stay on top of all the designs and ensure they do not take the cars too far away from the intent of the regulations.
Brawn has also been making a lot of the new voting structure around rule changes, which no longer out-laws changes within a season. So it’s possible that all this is the precursor of an attempt to get the Mercedes out-lawed. Red Bull have the option to protest at a race, which would leave it up to the stewards to decide.
But if Brawn feels the car is a step too far, he could try to use the rules to torpedo it. Changes within a season need eight out of the 10 teams to agree as well as F1 and the FIA for them to be introduced. This is likely to run for a while.
BBC Sport understands the FIA has looked at the Mercedes design and given it the all-clear. And it seems the FIA has also run it in CFD analysis and found it did not worsen the car’s wake - which is Brawn’s key concern with the regs, in terms of disrupting airflow for following cars.

Will be interesting to see what happens but if the merc is faster than all the others then for sure this will not be the last we hear about it
 
In the long ago when I used to go club racing the regulations included being charged fees if you suspected there was something illegal about a competitor's car, equipment etc and challenged it, if the stewards found nothing wrong. Could Horner backtracking mean he's suddenly been reminded how an incorrect complaint will affect his £140 million capped budget?
 
'There is a significant aero purpose in the mirrors'
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer


Red Bull are not the only team with concerns about the Mercedes upgrade and in particular the integration of the side-impact structure and mirror mount.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said: "Looking at the Mercedes car, no doubt it is a great car. That should not be a surprise to us. The concept is quite different to ours, quite interesting with the cooling layout, and the side-pods look quite interesting.
"On the mirrors, it was surprising. We were not expecting that. We always said the mirror should have no aero purpose and the way they treated their car, there is a significant aero purpose in the mirrors.
"The risk in the future is all teams will start designing mirrors that look like space ships. In the spirit of what we intend to do for the future, it is something we need to discuss.”

wonder how the smaller sidepods would function without the mirror support?
 
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Got to say that the 2022 cars, in particular Ferrari look stunning don't they. Haven't yet seen the Mercedes on track. But Little Jack Horner, instead of just sitting in the corner is already trying to play mind games.
 
Challenging things to ensure they’re legal doesn’t make him a prick.

Does anyone think for one minute that if Red Bull or Ferrari had come up with something this radical that Toto wouldn’t be raising challenges?

Yeah, although it would be naïve to think the other big teams don't do the same. Especially Mercedes.

They all do challenges all the times but no one does it quite like RB/Horner. Take that new Merc's sidepot as example, he cant shut his mouth before every news outlet run his story. I get that part of the job, but log a formal complaint to FIA and get on with your own car. Its not even FP1 yet.
His inability not know when to silent really iritating me. I quite like him in Seb era, but this one really tiresome.
 
They all do challenges all the times but no one does it quite like RB/Horner. Take that new Merc's sidepot as example, he cant shut his mouth before every news outlet run his story. I get that part of the job, but log a formal complaint to FIA and get on with your own car. Its not even FP1 yet.
His inability not know when to silent really iritating me. I quite like him in Seb era, but this one really tiresome.
from what I can see the side pod is not what people have the issue with... its the support surface (cough aero wing) it sits on

Of course most teams sit the mirrors on the side pod because its there... not an option for merc so will be interesting (seems they did raise this with the FIA during development and it has no real impact on the cars wake) but it certainly looks shaped to have an aero effect so will be something i think all teams are interesting in understanding the legality of
 
Last time I would say would be the 2008 season, with many different ideas around winglets to move the air around the car. The designs looked hideous during that year, but everyone had very different ways of trying to achieve the same goal.

With those aero package all over the car and viking horn style that 2008 McLaren was one of my favourite looking car. The livery was mint.

Whenever the stepped nose or no stepped nose season was - 2013?

Yeah, 2013, overall design was ugly that year following with pointy nose in 2014. Not a great design that one.
 
They all do challenges all the times but no one does it quite like RB/Horner. Take that new Merc's sidepot as example, he cant shut his mouth before every news outlet run his story. I get that part of the job, but log a formal complaint to FIA and get on with your own car. Its not even FP1 yet.
His inability not know when to silent really iritating me. I quite like him in Seb era, but this one really tiresome.

Do you remember Merc and the flappy wing saga last season. Same shit .they all throw a fit . Lewis especially. It's part of the drama.enjoy it
 
wonder how the smaller sidepods would function without the mirror support?

Every bit of airflow as a number of functions as it flows from front to back. The objective being to ensure that it flows with as little drag or turbulence.
So it is highly likely that the mirror supports will have a function on the airflow into the sidepod/radiator.
F1 is all about innovation. Something Horner seems to have missed.
 
Do you remember Merc and the flappy wing saga last season. Same shit .they all throw a fit . Lewis especially. It's part of the drama.enjoy it

Of course i remember. I will enjoy this one like as of the previous one. Just the excessive moaning that get a little out of my liking.
 
I really, really hope Ferrari sort their shit out this season. I'm a fan of both their drivers and think they're really good racers. You put them in the right car and I think they could compete for the title. I think Ferrari actually did alright last season finishing 3rd, I just hope they can kick on from there.

Quite frankly, ANYTHING that doesn't involve Mercedes is fine by me.
 
F1 thread is getting worse than Messi v Ronaldo :lol::lol:

Was better with Santi and his crazy meltdowns

Once he PM'ed me to dare me report him to mods or report his post to mods. Cant even remember what i've said to him exactly. All i said was some laughing emoji and told him to calm down iirc. He was really angry and took offence of everything back then.
 
I don't see much toxicity in the F1 thread. Most people are poking a bit of fun at spoilt manchild Horner for throwing his toys out of the pram so early in the season! Nothing wrong with that.
 
Once he PM'ed me to dare me report him to mods or report his post to mods. Cant even remember what i've said to him exactly. All i said was some laughing emoji and told him to calm down iirc. He was really angry and took offence of everything back then.
I had a few run ins with him, in thread and PMs, he was an angry person in general.
He was not banned just for his F1 posts.
 
Once he PM'ed me to dare me report him to mods or report his post to mods. Cant even remember what i've said to him exactly. All i said was some laughing emoji and told him to calm down iirc. He was really angry and took offence of everything back then.
I mostly remember him from the Trump thread where he was spamming green smilies. I feel I have missed a lot of quality content now.
 
Will be interesting to see what happens but if the merc is faster than all the others then for sure this will not be the last we hear about it
Traditionally Merc could have relied on the votes of their customer teams (so they would only 2 of McLaren, AM and Williams) to vote with them. However, current regulations give engine suppliers much less scope to screw their customers. As it is though, I can't see 8 teams voting for this as well as the authorities.
 
Of course i remember. I will enjoy this one like as of the previous one. Just the excessive moaning that get a little out of my liking.
They all moan excessively. Maybe because totto does it in a German accent makes it more bearable? :lol:
 
Another angle
https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/mercedes-f1-technik-seitenkasten-trick-bahrain/

Mercedes-W13-Bahrain-Test-2022-169FullWidthOdcPortrait-7c9b103b-1879722.jpg
 
gonna be interesting as merc are going to point out it has to be attached to something... and is there any rules about how unaerodynamic that something has to be?

I believe merc submitted the design showing it does not impact the wake of dirty air from the car... but quite clearly that is s very sculpted bit of kit (just like a side pod intake would be normally be)

wonder what impact its removal would have... does it channel air into the small sidepod?
 
There's no way Merc will be able to argue against that being dubbed an extra wing, and that the whole thing is turning the wing mirrors into an aero component.
SHARED'We did not anticipate the Mercedes concept'
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer


So, this Red Bull/Mercedes thing has all got a bit tasty this morning, hasn’t it? But let’s step back a bit. Ross Brawn, F1’s managing director, has told F1 TV: “There are some very extreme interpretations of the regulations which could lead to a lot of debate. We did not anticipate the Mercedes concept.” Brawn has been at pains to say in the lead-up to the new regulations being introduced this season that F1 is trying to stay on top of all the designs and ensure they do not take the cars too far away from the intent of the regulations.
Brawn has also been making a lot of the new voting structure around rule changes, which no longer out-laws changes within a season. So it’s possible that all this is the precursor of an attempt to get the Mercedes out-lawed. Red Bull have the option to protest at a race, which would leave it up to the stewards to decide.
But if Brawn feels the car is a step too far, he could try to use the rules to torpedo it. Changes within a season need eight out of the 10 teams to agree as well as F1 and the FIA for them to be introduced. This is likely to run for a while.
BBC Sport understands the FIA has looked at the Mercedes design and given it the all-clear. And it seems the FIA has also run it in CFD analysis and found it did not worsen the car’s wake - which is Brawn’s key concern with the regs, in terms of disrupting airflow for following cars.

The wing mirrors on a Formula 1 car are used to check the position of a drivers’ rivals, but can also be used by the driver to keep an eye on rear tyre wear. Formula 1 cars must have two mirrors each with a reflective surface 150mm wide maintained over a height of 50mm high.

The wing mirrors, including housings and mountings, must be situated between 250mm and 500mm from the car centre line and between 550mm and 750mm from the rear edge of the cockpit entry template. To ensure the mirrors offer good vision, drivers must be able to read letters on a board positioned 10m behind the car, and 4m either side of the centre line.
https://www.mclaren.com/racing/f1-playbook/wing-mirror/#:~:text=Formula 1 cars must have,of the cockpit entry template.

I mean I think mercs argument wil probably be the FIA were aware and have given it the all clear after CFD analysis showed it did not worsen the wake from the car and the wing mirrors were mounted as per the regs?

Other teams may well mount a challenge but if the FIA were aware and cleared it (and one suspects they must have been for the crash tests etc) then I guess the starting pount would be if they have cleared it its down to the teams to show the FIA did not understand the rules they wrote but hey its f1 so who knows

Aston have copied a few others with a modified wing mirror that also has an aero element

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/aston-martin-reveals-f1-mirror-upgrade-for-bahrain-test/8848571/
 
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Thank you Chaddy
No worries. At one point I thought every f1 car looked exactly the same no matter the era :lol:

Sidepods are the biggest visual aspect difference this year. That's why they are being spoken about so much
 
https://the-race.com/formula-1/gary-anderson-explains-mercedes-radical-f1-sidepods/


.
The first question is, does the Mercedes design comply with the regulations? And even more importantly, given this is what the teams will be asking the FIA, does it comply with the ‘intention of the regulations’?

The regulations demand that teams have to supply CAD data to the FIA to allow it to give an opinion on it before it hits the track, so from that I would say that, yes, it does all comply.
 
They all do challenges all the times but no one does it quite like RB/Horner. Take that new Merc's sidepot as example, he cant shut his mouth before every news outlet run his story. I get that part of the job, but log a formal complaint to FIA and get on with your own car. Its not even FP1 yet.
His inability not know when to silent really iritating me. I quite like him in Seb era, but this one really tiresome.
Well, his team managed to win (cheat) the drivers championship last year by pressuring the FIA. Why would he not continue trying to do so?