Oh yes, I hadn't thought of that. I believe that Bottas would do well against most, especially an inexperienced F1 driver. It seems current cars are quite different to drive to other things. That said no idea what next years will be like although PU will be same buy aero and tyre changes could be interesting. I seem to remember Bottas was quite good at feedback back in his Williams days. It would be nice for him to just be able to race a team mate. I would guess that any new owner would not favour 1 driver over another, at least in the first year. I do have a feeling that Bottas was aware that the team may be bought and have a good future where he would be the experience to push forward with funding.
Fun fact, since announcing his move to alfa, Bottas has scored more points than Verstappen and Hamilton...
Bottas drove well when he was at Williams and joined Merc believing he was able to beat Lewis and he has shown he can on a good day. However, Lewis has been the golden boy at Merc and I am sure the Merc machine functions around Lewis in the main. The most telling comment from Bottas was when interviewed recently he was asked if people understood him. His response was no which for me says a) he was not opening up enough to others in the team and b) the Mercedes team were not trying to understand him which might have driven point 'a'. That would detract from his confidence and motivation. He started each season better than he finished each season. Away from the team for the winter he rebuilt his confidence only for that to be damaged after a couple of races at the start of the season. That says Bottas is fast but sensitive. If Bottas can beat his team mate you will likely see a confident, reenergised driver. I hope so. I think he is more relaxed since the announcement and it is reflected in his confidence and driving. These guys are no different to any of us other than they can drive in circles faster than the rest of us.
Yup. Imo he is like Massa a bit. Fast but not a racer. You cannot laps.in but I have rarely if ever seen bottas really race. I have seen him go backwards quite a lot though or put in certain lap times and think its enough. For me hes a very lucky boy to get race wins as theres many a driver just as good if not better who never got a car like that one.
I think it was shown clearly in drive to survive when he won a race but because Lewis had a bad race the team had packed up and left leaving him celebrating by himself.
Provisional 2022 Formula 1 calendar - 23 Races!!! Date Grand Prix Venue 20 March Bahrain Sakhir 27 March Saudi Arabia Jeddah 10 April Australia Melbourne 24 April Emilia Romagna Imola* 8 May Miami Miami** 22 May Spain Barcelona* 29 May Monaco Monaco 12 June Azerbaijan Baku 19 June Canada Montreal 3 July United Kingdom Silverstone 10 July Austria Spielberg 24 July France Le Castellet 31 July Hungary Budapest 28 August Belgium Spa 4 September Netherlands Zandvoort 11 September Italy Monza 25 September Russia Sochi 2 October Singapore Singapore* 9 October Japan Suzuka 23 October USA Austin* 30 October Mexico Mexico City 13 November Brazil Sao Paulo 20 November Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi *subject to contract **subject to FIA circuit homologation From F1 .com
23 races in 8 months (35 weeks), with a 4 week summer hols in the middle. I love watching races but this seems too much, there's a fair few in that list I'd happily see cancelled.
I've gotta agree. there's a ton of fat that can be cut from this. Just give us the meat! F1 is in danger of becoming like a season of The Walking Dead, where it meanders along for 20+ episodes, some of which are barely mildly entertaining, only to wind up in a rather predictable and disappointing climax. 18 rounds is about enough, if you're at quality venues.
I think it's somewhat deceptive. Like Miami feels completely out of place, but the Miami Dolphins play home games from August onwards and the track is built around their stadium, so Miami probably couldn't be any later in the year. The teams have 5 sets of equipment that goes around the globe. The teams pack up one shipment in January which travels to Australia for March/April, then that stuff goes directly to Canada for May/June, then usually on to Singapore. That can all go by cheaper sea freight. They can manage to take everything to consecutive distances in the European season because the distances are small enough, but for pretty much any other destination, only the car/personnel go by air freight to consecutive races, everything else will arrive on site from elsewhere. To guess at the logistics: Kit A: Bahrain (1), Baku (8) Russia (17), Saudi (23) Kit B: Saudi (2), UK (10), USA (20) Kit C: Australia (3), Canada (9) Singapore (18), Brazil (22) Kit D: Imola (4), Spain (6), Monaco (7), Austria (11), France (12), Hungary (13), Belgium (14), Netherlands (15), Italy (16) Kit E: Miami (5), Japan (19), Mexico (21) Which is probably way out, Japan to Mexico in 3 weeks is presumably not possible by sea freight, but you get the idea. Maximise the use of sea freight, minimise air freight, keep some kit (e.g. B, D) localised in certain parts of the world.
Take a bow DH. I wouldn’t even know where to start writing a post like that . and No , I’m NOT being funny
I am surprised the teams have agreed but can only assume it is financially beneficial to the teams in terms of how much they receive and also commercially for the manufacturing players increasing the exposure of their brands.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...2022-calendar-the.7vnuFbcABvQvAN0gRzlCOh.html Worth a read, sprint is here to stay, announcements coming soon, loads of interest in buying teams and more.
Interesting but buying teams is one thing attracting new ones is so much more expensive now. I think the 'buy in' is $200 million!!! It does appear that teams are on a better footing at the moment maybe it's due to the cost cap that is making teams more attractive to buyers? Sprint, I'm still not convinced, while it creates something more interesting on a Friday the reduced time to setup and learn a new track has affected teams this year but I am sure once there are more sprints they will get used to it and be a much better at adjusting to less practice time. I am not sure about parc ferme after the first practice session all the way through the weekend, it might save engineers and mechanics some work but their efforts will be redirected elsewhere to try and compensate. Maybe parc ferme should kick in after fp2? Then they can have different setups for the sprint and race?
I’m sorry , but I just hate sprint . Make it 2 days and be done with it . Never going to happen as less air time ( £££ ).
Flogging the Sprint format for commercial purposes at the cost of the actual sport. I don't like it. Don't know that many people who do like it.