re: 2022 Formula 1 Season Thread

If Gene didn't want to be in F1 he has a buyer to take over. The 100-200 million would be in his bank by sundown.

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Why not just wait another year? Would they not be developing a car for 2024 under the current regs then have to redevelop another around a new engine package for the 2025 regs? I'm all for adding a couple more teams.

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Could be like Haas. Start a team a year or two before you actually put a car on the grid.

I'm assuming you mean the Mazepins? Weren't they also involved in trying to purchase Force India but were shot down and they accepted Stroll's offer?

One billionaire purchasing a team so his son can have a seat is one too many, we don't need two of them.

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They had duct tape over the mounts in the reveal.

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That was Ferrari branded "speed tape"

$8k upgrade

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That was Ferrari branded "speed tape"

$8k upgrade

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When I wrote that I wondered if teams have some "super tape" in their garage. Something made from thin carbon fiber sheets with Scotch UHB/VHB adhesive on them.


It also reminds me when I was thinking about Porsche coming into F1 what it would be like if they had a pay driver. The Lawrence Stroll/Dmitry Mazepin type father would show up at the Porsche F1 factory and there would just be a chassis sitting there. The brand specialist would then take them over to the configuration area and show them the options list if they wanted their son to have a steering wheel, rear wing, or a drink system. In the end, they would hand them a bill for $1,475,000 for the "options".

The first time my wife optioned a Porsche with me she quipped "Does it even come with a steering wheel standard?".

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Would Andretti bring a new manufacturer with him, like Volkswagen group (Porsche, Audi, Lambo) or just pick up a PU off someone current? Doubt it would be Merc since so many of them, maybe the new RB?

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That would be really interesting. They have relationships with Honda and BMW. They also co-own a V8 Supercar team with Zak Brown where they run under the Holden badge which is owned by GM.

I guess it depends on the new engine regs. If they simplify the PU to a naturally aspirated V-8 or V-10 if we pray hard enough, maybe they could be part of a group to convince a new engine supplier to join.

If they keep the same hybrid engines, I don't know what company would want to go through what Honda went through. Spend a billion dollars only to be embarrassed for years.

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New regs keep the turbo-6, but drop the mgu-h and substantially increase the mgu-k

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I remember that now that you say it. Current engine providers just want to keep the entry costs too high so that they have F1 all to themselves.

Used to be like 12 teams 10 engine suppliers. And the cars gave audio orgasms.

Ferrari at Daytona

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I keep pricing new Porsches. Then I keep wondering when the options and buttons will end.

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A group of my work friends eats out a couple of times a week together for lunch. About 6 months ago we were eating and I don't know how it came up by I said you can add 80% to the cost of a 911 with options. One guy took issue and while I had just pulled 80% out of my arse I didn't back down and we bet the loser pays for the winner's lunch the next ten times we ate together.

When we got back to the office I fired up the configurator and he gave up when I hit ~98%. It was just over $99k in options on a $101K base Carrara. I always wondered if you could actually double the price but I never went back and tried, it was getting tedious because most everything I was trying to add at the end was knocking the almost $16k Heritage Design interior package off.

One of the constant questions on the P-car forums is what options do they "have to have". My advice is move up a model and avoid as many options as possible. I can't understand someone that options a base Carrera over the price of a Carrera S and gives up over 60 horsepower. I could care less if my A/C vent slats are leather, my mirrors are carbon fiber, and the leather has deviated stitching when my loud pedal has more go behind it.

The option that really kills me is doing the seatbacks in CF, AL, wood, or painted when the only thing that fits in the backseat is a child. Why the hell would someone pay $2600 for their toddler to look at carbon fiber seat backs? Instead, give me the option of a seat delete and an exterior color painted roll cage with harness mounts.

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One of the constant questions on the P-car forums is what options do they "have to have". My advice is move up a model and avoid as many options as possible. I can't understand someone that options a base Carrera over the price of a Carrera S and gives up over 60 horsepower. I could care less if my A/C vent slats are leather, my mirrors are carbon fiber, and the leather has deviated stitching when my loud pedal has more go behind it.

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Always so weird seeing a FULLY optioned c2 or c4 buildsheet with an msrp right around the price of a turbo or gts. Like was the original owner drunk when they did their build?

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Also interesting to see the shark tooth plexiglass cowling around the front of the driver's compartment.

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They've been running this for a few years now.