2022 - Race 4 Imola

[F1nKS]

Two weeks off, back to the European continent.

1. Does RBR = Really Bad Reliability

2. Is this the week that Mercedes brings some upgrades to get them back into the hunt? Or will hear more whine from Hamilton cry about the team putting him in a bad place to lose against his teammate?

3. Will the Ferrari dominance continue?

4. It seems some drivers are really making a case on track that they should not be driving next year (latifi, stroll, Vettel). Will anyone of these change their narrative?

[Bagwan]

Another sprint race formatted weekend ahead .
At least you can call it a race now .

The reds are ahead , but it's wet , so it could be fun to watch anyway .

[F1nKS]

Rain benefited Max. Haas and Mclaren had good days.

Mick Schumacher putting pressure on Hamilton. How the table has turned.

[Bagwan]

Was it just the tire graining that had Max that much faster in the last laps ?

I noticed that Charles said he wondered about whether Red Bull was hiding pace until the end .



I'm also noticing almost nobody around here .
I had a few days where I couldn't get on the site , and was prompted by my machine to e-mail the admins and they fixed it .

I'm still wondering if anyone else has had the same trouble getting here .

[F1nKS]

Was it just the tire graining that had Max that much faster in the last laps ?

I noticed that Charles said he wondered about whether Red Bull was hiding pace until the end .



I'm also noticing almost nobody around here .
I had a few days where I couldn't get on the site , and was prompted by my machine to e-mail the admins and they fixed it .

I'm still wondering if anyone else has had the same trouble getting here .

There is probably two issues going on:

1. The site was down for a few days for everybody

2. Mercedes actually sucks, so all the Hamilton fanboys have departed.

[airshifter]

Was it just the tire graining that had Max that much faster in the last laps ?

I noticed that Charles said he wondered about whether Red Bull was hiding pace until the end .



I'm also noticing almost nobody around here .
I had a few days where I couldn't get on the site , and was prompted by my machine to e-mail the admins and they fixed it .

I'm still wondering if anyone else has had the same trouble getting here .


Yeah, dead site for 2-3 days I guess. I'm not sure who is fixing what but I'm glad they did.

As for today, I'm not sure what it was. It seemed like Charles had things easily in hand until near the end of the sprint, then Max clawed it back over time. Hard to say, and the Ferrari looked fast. Maybe Max is just getting mature enough to not fight too hard and see how the race goes. Leclerc made the start look way too easy, and I thought he was the easy winner myself.

Tomorrow could be interesting with tire strategies and the like, and I'm sure Ferrari and Charles want to reach the top step.



There is probably two issues going on:

1. The site was down for a few days for everybody

2. Mercedes actually sucks, so all the Hamilton fanboys have departed.

Yeah, I think some of the Merc and Lewis fans will just disappear. With Merc struggling so bad it seems hopeless for them right now. Makes me glad I don't get too invested in either drivers or teams!



I had actually replied to the thread earlier and managed to delete it fixing a typo. For some reason I should just avoid editing on mobile. :laugh:


But RB need to get the car reliable or Ferrari (and Merc) are going to eat them up. Latifi, Stroll, Seb.... yeah time for at least two of them to go. I find it odd that Seb is struggling so bad, but it's been a while since he has been in a fast car and that probably hurts the talent base some.

Good sprint today overall. Some action at least with the fight at the front, Sainz making up for the qually accident, and Alonso fighting his butt off and just missing the points. I was pleased to see it work out for KMag and Haas with their tire choice. For a little while I thought it might come back to him more, but I think the safety car might have played a part there. Great to see the McLarens up near the top again, and Bottas did well to stay up there himself. I'm sure he grins ear to ear when he can place in front of the Mercs.

Sergio seems to be coming alive, I'm not sure if he is coming to grips with the new regs better, or somehow last year boosted his confidence. He seems much more capable this year, but qually is still a bad spot for him.


The porpoising is still strange.... some cars have it horribly and are fast, other cars seem stable but are slow. Those Ferrari's look like they could be spine crushing through a race, but they are still really fast.


Hopefully we have some good racing tomorrow!

[F1nKS]

Overall entertaining race. Is Sainz having the "ocon effect" - Sainz can't get any luck at all.

Just shows all those in the media crowning Ferrari, that it is a long season and anything can happen.

Some interesting team driver splits

Mclaren: Norris (3), Ricardo (18)
Mercedes: Russell (4), Hamilton (13)
Alpha Tauri: Yuki (7), Gasley (12)

[N. Jones]

Albon beating Latifi is all the proof we need that Latifi has to go.

[F1nKS]

Albon beating Latifi is all the proof we need that Latifi has to go.

What does it say when Albon beats Hamilton?

[sgr]

Toto groveling to Hamilton at the end of the race was pathetic.

[Bagwan]

Toto groveling to Hamilton at the end of the race was pathetic.

I read that Hamilton's car was a few grams heavier , so that's obviously why he was so much slower .

Where's Nitrodaze when you need him ?

Seriously , though , Hamilton's eye's are probably below the dash on the bottom of the bounce , whereas Russell's vision perhaps isn't interrupted as much as he's much taller in the saddle .
George was also driving a handful of a Willy car last year , and maybe can use his experience of that bronco to tame this one .


Any way you look at it , though , it was ugly .

[sgr]

I read that Hamilton's car was a few grams heavier , so that's obviously why he was so much slower .

How much faster could he have been had he followed the rules and removed his face piercings? :)

[airshifter]

Overall not a bad race for the track, but the slow drying kept it a one line track for quite a while. Without DRS people weren't taking too many chances getting off the dry line much. The one exception to that being Perez on Leclerc. Even the the tire temp difference and disadvantage Leclerc had, Perez seemed to make that move look almost too easy. And that pass might have been important for both drivers, as Leclerc finally made a mistake when pushing to catch and pass Perez. So the first real costly mistake from the WDC leader shows that he is still human and dealing with the pressure. He was lucky to not trash the car and recovery the points he did, so I'm sure that will be a good reminder not to push too hard all the time, especially when leading the points standings already. Every point counts for the title, but that goes both ways.

Sainz on the other hand just can't get a break. The contract extension done, he is promptly tapped by Danny Ric enough to put him stuck in the gravel. I'd agree racing incident with no real major errors, but I was really hoping to see Carlos in a more upbeat and positive mode after the contract thing. Oh well, I guess that will be at least next race. I hope he can find his mojo and drive well enough to challenge Charles through the season.

Though the start made it all too easy, a good race for Max and Perez overall. Sergio really seems to have found a better place with the car this year, and TBH I with Leclerc hadn't made the mistake as I wanted to see the two of them battle on track. A positive weekend for the team, but only time will tell if the reliability gremlins have been taken care of properly.

Lewis is just a mess right now. But then again to be fair, he got lapped last year at this track as well, so maybe that got in his head. But he struggled all weekend with the car, while George just seemed to get on with business. Amazingly right now Merc are still 3rd in the WCC, but you wouldn't know it watching the cars on track. The poor qually sessions and sprint left them in trouble for the race, and though George finished much higher he still couldn't do much on track. Being in clean air and cars in front of him going out of the race helped him quite a bit, but then again he was in the better position to benefit from those things. It will be interesting to see how it plays out over the year if George gets a real upper hand on Lewis. The Toto butt kissing session at race end was just pathetic IMHO....


....and speaking of pathetic, who in the world wants to watch Lewis try to pass Gasly for the 15th lap in a row, especially when there is other stuff going on in the race? I understand and appreciate that at times the best "race" is not at the front, but they skipped other action on track to continue following it. Lame. On the up side, the helmet cam views are much better at the daylight tracks, but they didn't seem to show them often.


Great drive by Yuki and KMag, and both Aston Martins make it into the points.

This race had 8 different constructors in the points! So it does looks like the trend is that as the cars settle to the new regs, things might stay mixed up a little more. I thought the DRS at this track was way too strong, most passes were too easy. On the other hand the new aero regs at least allow the cars to battle and stay close lap after lap.



On to Miami!