So the Ferrari powered cars have all progressed and all the Merc powered cars have gone backwards! Always interesting the first race of new regs to see a massively shuffled pecking order.

I was having a proper look in to the engine side of things yesterday and the switch to E10 fuel has really hurt Mercedes, but that was pretty clear early on. What was much more interesting is that the Honda/RBPT engine appears to be the most powerful. The top 4 cars through the speed traps were all powered by it. It was actually visible in the race too with the Red Bull being noticeably faster than the Ferrari on the longer straights (even without DRS). The Ferrari though is 10Kg lighter than the RB and has a much better acceleration because of it. This should also mean the Red Bull is harder to control in corners and d has to brake heavier - giving increased tyre deg.

 

All of this means that if Red Bull can lighten their car by that weight it could nullify Ferrari's early advantage, one which should be more apparent at slower tracks with shorter straights. Mercedes have a much tougher job to adapt their engine.

 

I haven't yet figured how air density and temperature will factor but the Red Bull engines seem to have failed because of a heat problem with the fuel pump. These are prescribed parts by the FIA which means all the teams are running the same part and all had the opportunity to test them with McLaren being the only team to switch them out before the race. All of this suggest the Red Bull team should be able to re-locate the part to help keep it cool or their car could have an over-heating problem. That shouldn't be too difficult to prevent but can they fix the issues they also had with overheating brakes?

 

In short Ferrari need to take advantage now before Red Bull sort their problems out as they don't look too serious

Edited March 21, 20223 yr by Severin

OK then;

 

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/125...undle-exclusive

Kyalami returning would be brilliant and he's hinted at it on so many occasions now I believe it could be on the calendar before the decade is out.

 

30 races sounds far too impractical in reality but I guess 20 years ago people never would have expected there to ever be more than 20 so...

I'd say it's more likely that there could be 30 circuits hosting races on a 23-25 races per year calendar.

 

For example Hockenheim would struggle to finance an annual race but if shared with the Nurburgring it would be viable, and they would alternate between them. Same could work for Portimao, Istanbul, etc.

Nico Hulkenberg will once again fill in for Sebastian Vettel, the reserve driver in the AMR22 for the second race in succession.

Apparently there's been a missile attack at an oil depot near the track. Whole event might get pulled here...

Still on.... :nocheer:

Edited March 26, 20223 yr by Severin

Hahahaha

 

Dirty oil money from dictatorships matters more than anything else to F1

You know. You really should laugh once in a while. It’s really good for your health.

 

Id like to dedicate todays abdominal workout to the absolutely giant slice of Schadenfreude I am currently feeling

 

 

 

 

Like I have said for years. Unless the car is dominant as hell, he is average as a driver.

Thats a horrific crash there for Mick. Absolutely horrific. And exactly the type of thing we worried about with this circuit.

 

I hope he is ok. I really truly do. But I’m very worried. Given what they’re showing on the tv which is anything but the crash and only the occasional very very distant picture

Mick Schumacher out of the race for tomorrow, really glad he is fine after that horrific crash.

Bottas has already outqualified Hamilton and Russell this season.

 

It took him two races.

and a car that is 327682378 times better, this doesn't make him suddenly a better pilot

No but he seems to have profited from being replaced by a younger model :lol:

 

Im still cackling after Q1. All the Merc/Ham fan boys who Wanked themselves into a frenzy about karma last weekend getting a dose of reality. If karma is settling scores it’s gonna be a rough year for Sir Douchecanoe

I suspect they'll be a red flag in the race today, hoping there isn't any big crashes in the race.

Tsunoda will not start the race due to an engine related problem

didn't realise Perez had never had a pole position!

Weird accident from Latifi.

Looked like oversteer causing a slight loss of grip, as Latifi turned right to compensate, the tyres achieved grip and launched him at the wall.

 

Instantly reminded me of Gordon Smiley's accident at the Indy 500 years ago