re: 2022 Formula 1 Season Thread

Hard can probably do the entire distance. Maybe a 1st lap caution gets someone at the back trying the Albon strategy from last race.

I'm trying to think of someone in the midpack who took an off-cycle pit strategy this year that really worked out for them. Albon yes, but that moved him from back to mid.

Not sure if it is just bad luck, the closer racing, or the tires being so unpredictable.

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Not sure if it is just bad luck, the closer racing, or the tires being so unpredictable.

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With the new cars and the tire parameters being changed so drastically, it looks like everyone is still figuring them out. I would love to see a couple of guys take advantage of an early safety car to switch to the C2 for the rest of the race, to see how it goes.

While we've witnessed someone benefitting from essentially doing a whole race on C2 hards, we have yet to see a situation where someone sticks to the softest compound and does one more pit stop than the rest.

I'm thinking back to the days when Schumacher would start from pole, and with a clear track he would create such a gap, that he would do one more pit stop than the guys behind him and still win the race. However this was in the days of refueling so maybe it's not possible with the current rules. We've gotten so used to drivers "taking care of their tires," that we've forgotten about the all-out sprints on low-fuel loads for a whole race, with three pit stops being not uncommon.

I'd love to see that again, but like you say the lack of refueling likely makes it difficult to impossible.

However it does remind me of something Penske and Donohue did decades ago in Trans Am. Especially if he wasn't in the lead. They would short pit so that he was running all by himself with no traffic to fight with which slows everyone down.

Perhaps starting on the softs and then changing to the hards after about 15-20 laps and then running to a lap time might be beneficial.

As I mentioned earlier, I think this medium is the same one as in Australia that didn't last well. Mag's experience with them wasn't all that great today.

Finally catching up on quali and the sprint. I'm glad I could fast forward through 75% of quali. Not all that exciting and it dragged on with all the red flags.

The sprint was actually pretty decent today. That RB looked tuned perfectly. Hopefully it can go the distance tomorrow. Luck and tire strategy will win tomorrow.

As for my general feelings on tbe sprints, I'm fairly neutral. I'll enjoy them if they're on, but I wouldn't miss them if they weren't there.

I am generally agnostic about the sprint but this one was fun but as pointed out it had a lot to do with qualy screwing up the actual pace order. I was surprised RBR retained more tire for the end than Ferrari. I actually expected Ferrari to be stronger as the laps went on. I expected Charles to take Max late in the race which ended up being the exact opposite. On to tomorrow.

I was nonplussed at Mercedes' pace. I expected both drivers to make up 3-4 places. Checo and Carlos both made good work of the sprint.

Marko should be more worried about that engine. The aero isn't what left them on the side of the track multiple times this year.

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Marko should be more worried about that engine. The aero isn't what left them on the side of the track multiple times this year.

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RB bringing the updates like there's no budget.

Maybe Toto should be shouting that way versus Haas.

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Mclaren/Merc might have a duel

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Can someone tell me how McLaren went from the 9th best on the grid in the first race just ahead of Williams to seemingly top of the midfield in 4 races, while Mercedes has went from what looked like a 3rd best car to solidly midfield, maybe even worse in the same time?

Is Mercedes just pushing too much to make up the gap to Red Bull/Ferrari while others teams like McLaren, Haas and Alpine are making incremental improvements and getting better slowly but surely as they are not really trying to catch the top 2 teams? Should Mercedes reevaluate their approach to the season and try to finish 3rd in the constructor's championship, as beating Ferrari or Reb Bull seems out of reach? Or do they have too much pride to settle for bronze, and they rather try and fail, even if it means finishing lower in the standings?