The teams have agreed in principle to hold six sprint races next year. Just needs the FIA to approve it now

These should be the 6 tracks they do it at:

 

Silverstone

Monza

Spa

Red Bull Ring

Interlagos

COTA

It seems that following Imola the FIA have finally agreed that DRS might well be on its way out. Jason Somerville, the FIA's head of aerodynamics has acknowledged that during the last race there were more passes completed before DRS was activated than afterwards and that cars could run close enough to enable passing without it. Somerville has even suggested that for the 2026 cars it could be something they're looking at doing away with.

 

This can't come soon enough for me. One of the best things about Imola was watching drivers having to work new lines and tactics to make passes stick, and that every single overtake in the first half was earned through skill. DRS didn't improve the quality of the racing but simply meant Leclerc's error wasn't that costly and drivers like Magnussen and Vettel saw their weekend's hard work evaporate through the following driver's ability to press a button at the right time.

 

The sooner it is gone the better.

I'm still sceptical at the idea that we don't need DRS. It's effectiveness was limited last race due to fact there was only one dry line and Imola being a very narrow track (plus there's only one real overtaking opportunity anyway).

 

The races at Jeddah & Melbourne would have been boring without DRS. The DRS chicken between Leclerc & Verstappen in Saudi I actually really loved and it brought about a new concept of intelligent racing.

 

The new regs may have helped cars follow but we're still some way off removing DRS imo. And to think all through the hybrid era everyone's been crying for more overtaking and now we have it and people are still not happy.

I think with DRS the new cars it's now changed where its effective. Previously it was a tool that aided a faster car to actually be able to get past which can then just drive off into the distance, whereas this season it's allowed similar paced cars to overtake each other, but because they're similar paced don't get away so are then at risk of being overtaken again in the next DRS period - there was quite a bit of this in Jeddah. This year Australia had about 15 more overtakes than in the last 3 Aus GPs combined.

 

Sometimes it may be too strong, but I'm still on the side of it adding to excitement. I don't think we get the three laps we had of fighting between Leclerc and Verstappen in Bahrain without it, some might think it's unnecessary and artificial but for me that was some of the best racing we've had in ages.

I'm not and never have been interested in simply watching a faster car gifted its way passed another and think that more overtakes in a race doesn't make it better. I can watch an Indycar oval and see hundreds of passing moves with far more risk involved if I want that. Sometimes watching a slower car hold up a faster one IS the excitement - Villeneuve's defensive display in Spain is regularly cited as among the greatest drives ever, Senna and Mansell at Monaco '92 likewise, or Petrov holding off Alonso to deny him the title are just three examples of where the excitement came from. Qualifying already virtually guarantees the fastest car is towards the front and DRS negates the effect of driver error or exceptional qualifying/strategy. There's few things more dull than watching Hamilton (for example) recover from some misfortune to breeze passed all his rivals by waiting for the DRS zone. DRS overtakes are neither fully earned nor memorable.

Part of the skill of racing is defensive driving. Gasly denying hamilton lap after lap in Imola was a joy to watch.

 

Take DRS away and drivers will soon stop relying on it and use their skills, track knowledge and tactics instead of waiting, and the teams will soon start building cars that don't rely on it and find new ways to improve their chances.

 

Agreed, we're not quite there yet but the best thing they can do is set a date to remove it and work towards that. 2026 seems like as good a time as any.

VW Group CEO Herbert Diess has surprised no=one by confirming that both Audi and Porsche will enter F1 in 2026

Nice to finally have the confirmation

The FIA have once again stated that, as per the rules, drivers must not wear jewelry and remove piercings whilst racing, as there are clear safety issues, particularly around the area of fires and head injuries, but Lewis Hamilton has appeared to reiterate that he will continue to ignore the rule.

 

There are obvious implications about F1 driver's behaviour filtering down through the lower formulas and so it will be interesting to see who blinks first here.

But why is this suddenly an issue now? Drivers have been racing for years with no problem.

I agree it seems odd but you've got a new FIA president and race director now. Also, a number of high profile individuals, teams and fans have, not unreasonably, pointed out that in the recent past and number of rules weren't being correctly followed at all times. The FIA agreed with all concerned at the start of the season that the rules were to be clarified and applied at all times, and this rule has been in place for years. They're just enforcing what everybody cried out for after Abu Dhabi.

 

I can sort of see why Lewis feels targeted here but he needs to see the bigger picture, and to be clear, a correctly maintained piercing is easily removed unless it is a sub-dermal body mod. Younger drivers might follow his refusal to comply in lower categories where medical facilities and capability are not as high quality as F1 and you end up with marshals or medical staff hurting a driver. An MRI scan is delayed whilst metal is removed or worse the piercing is un-noticed. Fire also has the potential to heat the metal and cause serious injury too.

 

As I wrote this they announced Lewis has agreed to remove his for this weekend but he's somehow allowed his nose stud to close around the metal and has a grace period to get it sorted.

You cry about the race director not following the rules as you interpret them loud enough to have him sacked, you can’t then bitch when the new regime that you wanted then enforce all the rules, like you wanted, and you suddenly realise that you don’t like one of the rules.

 

 

I can see why they’re making a stand over this (the FIA, not the crybaby). It’s about safety and as Severin says there’s a lot of good reasons for the rules and F1 is a role model to the lower formulas. I’m more surprised it wasn’t enforced properly tbh. And I’m surprised that the drivers were already following these rules 100%

Sainz does it again. Seems like at least once every race weekend he bins it

Edited May 6, 20223 yr by Severin

Miami Review

 

Best driver:

Worst driver:

Best team:

Worst team:

Best overtake:

Worst overtake:

Best moment:

Worst moment:

Best thing about the race:

Worst thing about the race:

 

And the race in a sentence:

Another point for Albon. Credit to Sainz too - another chance to crumble presented itself and he did not.

Best driver: George Russell

Worst driver: Stroll

Best team: Red Bull

Worst team: McLaren

Best overtake: Vettel on Latifi

Worst overtake: Alonso on Gasly

Best moment: Norris' crash forces things to liven up

Worst moment: All of the tv diirection. Russell v Hamilton double overtakes completely missed by race director and Sky commentary too in favour of front two procession.

Best thing about the race: Norris' valiant sacrifice in the name of waking us up.

Worst thing about the race: That ridiculous crap before the podium.

 

And the race in a sentence: Vettel was right, they should've spent the money on upgrading Road America

Albon: "Before the weekend started, we did say that if I score points this weekend the whole team are gonna dye their hair red...

 

"I just went to the engineering room and they're all starting to backtrack their comments!"

The double 0 for McLaren deserved for hosting that bellend James Cordon all weekend. A track not exactly likely to produce great racing with loads of horrific Americanisation - no thank you.

not the bestest race, Verstappen was the best by far, so doubt about it

really like Sanz this week, great he could stop Perez

Bottas was doing great but then he did that little error towards the end... typical Bottas...

Alonso was also great, he is much better than that horrible car

the worst was Aston Martin, what a shitty team, from poor calculations with the fuel to bad driving from Vettel

taking out his protegé Schumacher...

 

Best driver: Verstappen [faultless again, dispatched the Ferraris pretty comfortably then ran away]

Worst driver: Latifi [he was 40 seconds behind the car ahead pre-safety car, horrendous]

Best team: Red Bull [should have been a 1-3 had Perez not botched the attempt on Sainz]

Worst team: McLaren [Even despite the Norris crash their pace was terrible]

Best overtake: Verstappen on Leclerc

Worst overtake: Perez on Sainz

Best moment: Bottas clipping the wall to let the 2 Mercs through was pretty funny but honestly it was probably the Norris Gasly crash as that sparked some exciting into the race

Worst moment: Schumacher hitting Vettel - the former was definitely on for maiden points before that rash decision to divebomb

Best thing about the race: The track definitely has potential and there were a lot more overtakes than I thought there might have been

Worst thing about the race: Red Bull (well Max) was just too quick this time so Ferrari didn't really have a chance of fighting for the win. Also Merc apparently eing back then resorting to their default 3rd fastest car positions

 

And the race in a sentence: Max-imum attack & a Ferrari defeat in the midst of the Miami heat