Grand Prix thread PIRELLI GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2022

I think he's quite good at presenting although I do think permanently wearing shorts is a bit of attention seeking. I like his enthusiasm and energy.
As for some of the C4 padding it's just silly. I would like to see a bit of techy stuff about upgrades, a few before interviews - drivers and team bosses (not always Horner, Toto, or Mattia) then race highlights and post race interviews and analysis. All the padding with celebs is just a waste.

 

Looking ahead to Monaco, have they ditched the traditional Thursday practice and gone in line with other events by doing it on Friday?

 

Yes I believe they have. All starts Friday!

 

The cameras gave us a close up of the graining on, I think, the Ferrari softs and Crofty ignored that and carried on his banter about something not worth remembering.

 

The helmet seems to have "explained" that first red bull have weight saved to **** the drs up (either the actuator is too light, or it is not able to open when there's a heavy wind load on it)
But importantly that verstappen is indeed a complete moron who was smashing the button and realising his open drs wing.

Why doing this didn't simply reopen the thing I don't know

Anyway. After they explained it in language a 4 year old could understand and after the tantrum subsided they finally got the brat to pass

I can only conclude that the force to keep the wing closed has to be over come as well as the force of the air on the wing. I can only assume that this issue was not having enough force to do this though.... Red bull were saying do the activation after coming off kerbs and please stop spamming the button. Not sure how vibration from.kerbs would stop the wing unless red bull have made the actuator so weak it bent.

 

I think the rules are written so that in the event of a DRS system failure the wing has to close. I think you are right that the actuator has to overcome the closing 'spring' and the air pressure to open.

 

3 is better than 1.

 

Sad day to be dressed in red all around... Didn't see this race until late in the day and was distracted while watching. How did Hamilton make it from the back to close to the front at one point?

Felt like he was 18.. then next time I looked up in 6th

 

And my bloody jinx is failing me... Urgh .

 

Not sure if you heard the congratulations from Toto but according to Toto, Lewis was the fastest on the day. He lost 50 seconds with the incident involving HAAS yet he finished only 40 seconds off the leader. Not strictly a comparison you can make but an interesting stat. Lewis likely was slowed by the traffic but then he got DRS many times as he went through the pack. The top three had DRS on far fewer occasions than Lewis. George did a very good job and I don't think there is much to choose between Lewis and George.
Either way, we hopefully will see some good racing at the front after the farcical parade in Monaco. I always wanted to do Monaco but not fussed now.
I do think RBR yet again showed creativity after Max had problems with his DRS, putting him on the softs for a charge was a really good strategic call. Does DRS make teams lazy about strategy? I am beginning to think it does albeit it enables an overtake which purports to satisfy the fans, but does it? With the ability to follow now easier will DRS become little more than a people pleaser? Too early to know but maybe some tracks should be DRS free as an experiment and encourage more creativity on tyre strategy.

 

Hamilton's strategy is certainly a big "what if"...

He started on mediums which arguably contributed to him getting in trouble on lap 1, then had to switch to the softs which cost him a chunk of time and robbed him of any strategy advantage. Both Hamilton and Russell managed to make the softs last well, with Hamilton pitting for the second time long after most others had given up on their first set of softs.

On DRS, it's definitely a balancing act. The aim originally was for it to help people get alongside into the corner, rather than breeze past. There was one yesterday where the pass was made on the main straight before the pit exit, and the most interesting fight in the race was when Max didn't have DRS. I feel like it needs dialling back a little.

 

How was Hamilton being on mediums the reason why Magnussen hit him?

 

Looks like Red Bull have spent too much, so Horner is crying that big teams will have to miss races and the budget cap needs a rethink.

 

It wasn't the reason Magnussen hit him, but if he'd had the better traction off the line/tyre warmup of the softs, he's likely never in the position where KMag is anywhere near him.

 

Really, already screaming about the budget cap? I think the reliability issues they have had are bringing this message from Red Bull.

 

The politics of F1 is so ****ing tiresome.

6 races in and already the bully’s are trying to remove the thing that rebalanced the fairness.

Utterly ridiculous.

 

I did laugh when I read him whining about not attending 4 races!!! As part of the Concorde agreement they have to attend and get cars out on track at all F1 events!
Surely that just means that Red Bull can't keep spending to win!!!! I think Horner will find this is exactly why the budget cap was introduced - to stop 'rich' teams just spending more and more to win!
I would love the budget cap to force Red Bull into having no updates from mid season as they have used up their budget It would be great if a team like, say Hass could then make big improvements and give them a run for 'their money' Well you can't blame me for dreaming......

 

Alpine have come out and said they anticipated the inflation, increased shipping costs, etc and budgeted accordingly. Half the teams on the grid didn't hit the current spending cap before it was introduced, so presumably no big issue for them.

If their development plan has to be scaled back so they can meet the costs of doing business, then that's what they have to do. Not whine that it's unfair.

 

F1 is a circus and RBR are the bad guys, which we all secretly love, I guess (meaning love a bad guy, not love RBR). As has been said, even by Crofty, manufacturing teams can potentially hide their spend with a bit of creativity. How much has it cost Mercedes to get to grips with their issue(s), has it all been properly accounted for? Not to say RBR are right to moan but I do think transparency may be hard to find with all teams.
Great to see the bad guy squirming though.

 

I have a solution, any money spent over the budget cap gets round up to the nearest £10m, and however much a team goes over they have to pay to each team.