The F1 thread

Cols

What happened to Perez in FP2?  A second off Verstappen is a bit much.

chillidoggy

Right!

The Chilli prediction* is Ferrari 1 - 2. They’re so fast, I think can’t see how Max is going to spoil the party. But the Mercs have found some pace, so I wouldn’t discount them either.

But if George is once again ahead of the Hamster, Mercedes might want to have a good think about how much they’re paying him. VFM and all that.

* NB: Chilli predictions have been clinically-proven to be 100% wrong, 100% of the time.

YellowLedBetterMan

Ferrari have handed the championship to Red Bull with the reliability issues. Incredibly fast car thats apparently made out of damp paper.

stickyfiddle

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGRHRGHR&(#$*&^@#*)!#R&@#^*%!±@!

skullfunkerry

stickyfiddle said:

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGRHRGHR&(#$*&^@#*)!#R&@#^*%!±@!

That was a proper primal scream wasn't it? It's starting to look like a Max Verstappen benefit season as far as Ferrari are concerned!

fretmeister

Ferrari really are arsing this up!

In out, shake it all about!

stickyfiddle

Wtf are Ferrari doing? Best driver pair on the grid and utterly fucking it up at every opportunity. 

At least Sainz is an easy vote for DOTD

Brio

Fuck me. That was great. Karen will go Batshit!

stickyfiddle

Not quite the result I wanted but a good race. And a great cheeky move from Russell in the end to nick past Checo

menamestom

So was Leclerc driver error or throttle issue?

Very disappointing Ferrari could be challenging but keep throwing it away.

Good for Merc, but very much a 2,3 aided by Ferrari.

DesVegas

Easy win for max. Charles said it was his error.


I think the throttle sticking was him trying to reverse out of the barrier

Boromedic

Na, you could still see his wheels spinning as he went round, it was definitely a throttle problem not driver error, he'd have been off the power by then. Rosberg said as much too, think it's Ferrari hushing up issues.

Good race, nice to see Merc up there again regardless of why, and tbf they kept Perez honest on race pace. Annoyed Ferrari are throwing the title away, but at least Max is winning it on merit this year rather than driving like a cock and still needing the FIA at the end.

Looking forward to Budapest, it's a circuit I quite like, fond memories of Mansell passing Senna!

boogieman

LeClerc has fessed up, it was his own fault. 

thumpingrug

boogieman said:

LeClerc has fessed up, it was his own fault. 

That was after he got back to the garage and they had a word with him.  His screams of frustration from the car and the footage of the wheels spinning indicate something else.

I agree though it was a good race.  George and Sergio going at it for a while was great action.

Boromedic

boogieman said:

LeClerc has fessed up, it was his own fault. 

Rosberg reiterated it here, his wheels were still spinning as the car went round and any normal driver would've been off the throttle. The car also carried on towards the barrier at a fair lick too. I have my doubts and it sounds like the party line/obfuscation to me, could be wrong of course but the same problem afflicted him last race too. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.eurosport.com/formula-1/french-grand-prix/2022/nico-rosberg-tells-charles-leclerc-not-to-take-blame-i-still-cant-believe-it-would-be-a-driver-mista_sto9058460/story-amp.shtml

Cols

A scream of frustration could mean many things, from "Arrrgh, my bloody car's broken again" to "Argggh, I was leading that race and just stuffed it in the barrier.  There goes the World Championship".  

The question would be - what would LeClerc's motivation be for taking the blame in order to cover up a technical failure?  It's not like he's a junior driver to be intimidated into submission in order to protect Ferrari's engineering reputation.

Aside from that - hell of a recovery drive for Sainz.  Undoubtedly star of the day.

chillidoggy

Another flawless drive by Max, but I’m very disappointed we didn’t get to see him and Leclerc battling it out to the end. The championship points difference is also disappointing because if Ferrari keep on like this, Max will soon have it wrapped up, not what I want to see.

Also, the Chilli prediction was, as expected, 100% wrong.

stickyfiddle

I don't think his wheels were rotating like Rosberg said (see below). In any case Ferrari would have stuffed him on strategy anyway, most likely. 

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.must-see-leclerc-crashes-out-of-the-lead-of-the-french-grand-prix.7M0QwKL9A6V7R5DhVipZ6s.html

This feels very much like Max's year as he has finally learned to stay cool and let results come to him over the season rather than hustling for every point. I don't like the guy or the team but he's been fantastic so far this year. 

Simonh

The thing that is lacking this year is any real sense of competition, Ferrari should be making it a battle but are managing to royally stuff that one up. I think it is too late for Merc to mount any kind of challenge so what should be a "champions* Drive" from Verstappen is just a walk in the park and no real test of his temperament or capability. 

If Ferrari can pull their socks up and give him an actual fight I think we will see him devolve back to Mad max again.

boogieman

Maybe LeClerc has been threatened with the horse’s head treatment. I’m no expert but it did seem an odd crash and he was immediately on the radio moaning about a throttle problem. Whatever, Ferrari are shooting themselves in the foot so many times and on so many different issues. And that unsafe release for Sainz was ridiculous, what were they thinking?