But also hugely disappointed by the FIA enquiry, it makes no sense, only raises more questions and has HUGE obvious flaws. E.g.
If, as the the report states, it was a human error and the regulations were not followed then why did the stewards reject Mercedes appeal? They had a chance to fix it immediately, but instead doubled down.
The report says part of the reasoning for Masi’s wrong decision was both time pressure and distraction from teams. The stewards weren’t affected by either so what’s their excuse? Also human error? Ridiculous report frankly that doesn’t satisfy even the most basic scrutiny.
Lastly the timing for release is awful, we should be focused on 2022 season but they’ve stalled for 3 months and released it on the first day of the new season just an hour before qualifying. Should have been dealt with months ago.
Loving we are getting more helmet cam too, I think it makes for some great footage. Shows how little they can see. Any bets on how many front wings will get broken? I reckon at least 3 or 4.
This battle between Charles and Max is great to see, though that DRS on the main straight it’s a bit too much. Did you see how far back he came from? On another track without an opportunity to attack back a corner or two later that could be a bit OTT, but probably better than the alternative. Good to see cars following more closely and competing.
Wow! It all went off in the end. 3 of the 4 ‘Red Bull’ engines failing. Merc will be chuffed with that finish.
Great result for Mercedes, more than they would have hoped for today. Though it was clear they were significantly slower. Even with DRS Lewis couldn’t get an overtaking opportunity on Perez. Plus the other Mercedes powertrain cars were all at the back of the pack. Plenty of work to do for them.
For the race I thought other than that early Charles v Max battle it was actually pretty uneventful. Checo and Sainz weren’t competing, Lewis and George weren’t either. McLaren, Aston Martin and Williams all struggling. Etc.
@themightyant Yeah before the ending it wasn't the most exciting (bar those couple of laps) and it does look like the Mercedes engine might actually be the slowest right now. Hopefully some of this might be track specific. With Haas and Alfa doing so well at least we might have a season where no one team is just hanging at the back and we can't tell who will pick up points each race.
So the regs changes haven’t really changed much. There’s the usual gaps across the field and two teams being out front and the on track action was pretty mediocre. If it wasn’t for the RB teams self destructing at the end then it would have been a so so race.
As was pointed out by Sky it could be that recruitment drive that RB power trains was on has taken talent from Mercedes that actually did make a difference. But then they did have reliability so it wasn’t a total loss. Worse thing for me was seeing Williams and McLaren way back. It would have been nice to have seen them up there battling for a podium. It’s just the first race so I know there’s a long way to go but feels like it’s going to be a challenge for those behind to catch up this year with the restrictions being tougher.
Going to be very uncomfortable at the high speed jeddah circuit for the Mercedes drivers and their bouncing car.
A great weekend for Kevin and Haas, schumacher junior now has a proper benchmark.
Previous seasons would have seen red bull and Horner publicly flogging Renault or Honda for the engine woes. Not so easy for them to do that now which is satisfying.
Can’t decide if that was a great race due to the weird unsafe track or not. Not a fan of there basically being one or two areas you can realistically cleanly overtake the entire track.
@nessisonett Isn't that true of most tracks though? I thought it was a great race especially with it getting tactical with the DRS line.
It's a shame those yellow flags messed up the racing a bit in the last couple of laps. Great last lap with Ocon and Lando too, shame he couldn't get the place back but glad Maclaren got some points on the board.
@nessisonett There were a few good scraps going on but generally the action was lacking due to the big gaps between those cars out front. That was my concern going into the season and it’s definitely playing out.
I wonder if there should be some form of relaxing of the wind tunnel / CFD hours or even some additional testing for those teams further than a certain time off the front. That should allow them to make some improvements and at least get some more teams in the running for the top spots. I know there’s no way all the teams would agree on it and there might be certain flaws in the idea but feels like something needs to be done when the field spread is so great.
@render agreed! Having now watched the extended highlights, let’s also not forget that the late excitement was only due to another safety car, this time virtual. Otherwise it would have been an easy win for Charles and pretty uneventful. Relying on Retirements/SC/VSC to spice things up isn’t quite right.
I’m assuming you already know there are different times allowed for wind tunnel/CFD this year based on last seasons constructors position. (Last = most time) but I agree more could be done.
I also held that concern a few posts back pre-season. Big rule changes usually separate out the field and don’t initially lead to a closer field. Hopefully advancements will be quick and everyone will close up.
@themightyant Yeah I remember the rule for the wind tunnel / CFD being bought in for the constructors placings which might mean it's more likely to be an accepted way to go rather than additional testing.
I don't know if those teams that are struggling nearer the back would still struggle given some extra time due to the budget constraints but it just feels that left alone not enough will change to bridge those gaps, and it might actually be 2 - 3 years down the road before most of the field start coming back together. Then of course we will have the next round of engine rules so that will likely further break apart the field 🤷♂️
it might actually be 2 - 3 years down the road before most of the field start coming back together. Then of course we will have the next round of engine rules so that will likely further break apart the field 🤷♂️
Agreed. That's been my concern all along, I was saying it pre-season in posts #93 and #98 but hoping it wouldn't be the case. In the past when we have had big rule changes it typically spreads the field out as some inevitably get it 'right' and others get it 'wrong' and it takes a while (often years) for them to all figure out what works and what doesn't and fix it, meanwhile those that got it 'right' are having upgrades too and potentially further improving. The budget cap, wind tunnel/CFD and engine/upgrade limits while sensible in most respects, do come with a downside as they also potentially slow down the catch up for anyone that got it 'wrong'. The worry is that it will take too long and more rule changes will come in before the field has bunched before they are seperatated and we're in the same position again.
Last year it finally settled after years with similar rules (extended due to Covid) and we had really competitive battles throughout the field all the way from RBR vs Merc at the front, through Ferrari vs McClaren, Alpine vs Alpha Tauri to Williams v Alfa v Haas with only Aston Martin slightly on their own toward the mid bottom.
I think there's promising signs that the cars can closely follow each other if they are closely matched but at the moment too many teams are having issues and are too far apart to make this happen. Worrying that Merc couldn't even get close to an overtake in Race 1 vs RBR and FER even with DRS.
But it's early days and hopefully over the course of this season/next/regulation window we'll start to see those gaps close quickly. Fingers firmly crossed!
@Fragile Stroll's crash gave them time to get Seb out for a lap but I'm betting they would much preferred it not to have gone that way. That red flag certainly won't help with you staying up 😄
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