The F1 thread

stickyfiddle

When does parc ferme kick in? Green light in Q1 I assume?

fretmeister

2022 in Merc colours.

Nice.

fretmeister

fretmeister

fretmeister

Is the left front flat?

stickyfiddle

I feel like the Mac and RB don't quite work but the snoopy lines on the Merc & Aston are great. 

AM should still take the opportunity to switch to sage green... 

Fretwired

For me, the Merc and the McLaren work best. I've never liked the Red Bull livery but it does the job for the main sponsor. Standard livery across all sponsored activities. From what I have red the Aston Martin colour will be changed to a classic AM green to make the car stand out more on TV.

Fretwired

Rumour: Guanyu Zhou to Williams in 2022 - to replace Russell?

https://www.essentiallysports.com/f1-news-reports-guanyu-zhou-to-williams-in-2022-as-alpine-f1-search-for-a-partner-team/?fbclid=IwAR23M8gB6pv3OfI5icr_sMmyQ3kFBNaGC-5HbCpj2Lv4Gv9UeWZYnCE1RJ4

Fretwired

Wow ... Max 7 tenths ahead of Hamilton who sounded shell-shocked over the radio when he was told. Ham was only third fastest behind Norris and Vettel with Bottas even further back. Norris could be on for a podium again.

YellowLedBetterMan

The amount of times I've heard or read "Silverstone, The Home of British Motorsport" makes me think that that is the official name of the track now.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

I see Norris's Wembley incident doesn't seem to have slowed him down any! Max in that RB is looking unbeatable at the minute, notwithstanding mechanical issues.

not_the_dj

Go George!

stickyfiddle

So far the early quali is good because they haven’t all got their setups perfect over several hours of practice. That bit I’m in favour of… 

George is a hero - Toto needs to get him in the Merc before 

And looks like Ricciardo is getting his shit together as well

stickyfiddle

Lewis on top (just!). Game on for the rest of the season?

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

Lewis on top (just!). Game on for the rest of the season?

The track was cooler .. I'd bet on Max come race day when it is hotter.

Russell has to be in a Merc seat next year.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Great sesh that! Brilliant save from Lewis on the last lap, even though he ballsed up his final lap. Proper Fast and the Furious stuff!

dazzajl

So if people like the format this weekend, are Liberty going to have split the year into good tracks where they can use use and keep the old
format for the ‘precession’ tracks? It
does seem like a great way to highlight how unsuitable a lot of the circuits are for F1. 

thumpingrug

I enjoyed the friday night qualifying. Made a change from middle of Saturday.  But Im struggling to see how this will translate through the weekend.   The main points to be won are on Sunday so drivers will be cautious during the sprint race not to have accidents or damage the car from stressing it too much.  After the first couple of bends it will be a procession.  

That then sets the grid for Sunday and we then have a standard race but with cars and drivers that are that bit more tired.  It would have been better to award a lot more points for the sprint, and then handicap the top 6 (reverse grid, harder tyre compounds, mandatory holds during pit stops) to shake things up a bit.

stickyfiddle

I don’t think I’ve changed my mind. I’ve always said that the current system of giving them several hours to optimise cars, then qualify and put the fastest at the front is generally going to lead to processional racing. The sprint race is just another step in that filtering process so the only real benefit there is an extra standing start which gives an opportunity for chaos, I guess. 

The F2 system works well where you give good points for both races and reverse the top 10 for the second one - that gives incentives to push in both races and encourages overtaking, but of course that relies on having cars that can follow each other and push for lap after lap. 

What is definitely good for race spectators is having less practice time so it’s less about having perfect cars and more about drivers wrangling whatever they’ve got. But promoters won’t want less on-track action, and understandably so.

TimmyO

I do think we (all, me included) keep letting ourselves want to asses the new format in terms of what it means or doesn’t mean for the Sunday race. 

But: It’s about trying to come up with meaningfully interesting/exciting things that can happen on Friday and Saturday to sell more tickets and more TV advertising for those days, while still keeping the same level of audience for Sunday. 

Looking at it in those terms, it’s likely to be a success