Grand Prix thread LENOVO GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE 2022

Not through his own doing. Second mistake this season, and the first that's ended his race.

 

Hard to know what to read into today’s race as I have the impression that Max was only going as fast as he needed to after the SC. It seems the combination of Ferrari and Leclerc isn’t yet a Championship winning one, with too many mistakes on both sides to iron out still - even if they get some luck and they come back, I can’t see them thriving under end of season pressure.

 

Charles is fine under pressure, as he showed at Monza with Hamilton up his arse the whole race, and the first part of the race today. I think that Ferrari can be a bit tail-happy though, as shown by both Charles and Carlos this season, where it suddenly bites you once the tyres are beginning to go.

Agreed though that CLC and Ferrari aren't *quite* there as a combo just yet though. Sadly.

 

I have to say, in my humble opinion, Carlos might yet rise to be a better performer than Charles.
Almost in shock that my prediction of Merc 2nd on the podium was spot on, didn't predict third too though.

Still not a circuit that inspires me though.

 

In todays episode of how many ways can Ferrari eff up a championship...

Honestly... All I have is a sigh....

 

Reliability - Check
Driver Errors - Check
Strategy ****ups - Check
Failure to apply team orders - Check

All they're missing now is to somehow get disqualified and they'll officially have the complete set.

Sainz makes just as many errors as Leclerc does. They just usually fly under the radar because he's not high up the order when he goes off. He's also just not as quick, which is a much harder problem to solve than consistency is.

 

Close to a full house, but I'm confident they'll find more ways. Urgh.

 

Let's be honest Ferrari haven't been any good since the Schumacher years and even before him they were crap to.

 

Brawn is the missing component.

 

12 rounds in.. Max is close to three wins ahead of Charles. Ferrari sit on 314pts with a rocket ship of a car, Mercedes on 270 with a donkey... It just shows how bad Ferrari are throwing this away, in what is typical Ferrari fashion.

It's painful to watch.

 

Sainz has made more errors than Leclerc this season.

Charles has this odd reputation that seems to stem from him overdriving a crappy car last season more than anything. It's exactly the same trajectory as Max, who used to make LOADS of mistakes. CLC has made one major mistake this season (today) and one minor mistake (Imola). That's pretty standard. Lewis and Max made mistakes last season - it's just that Max is metronomically consistent so far this year, and RBR don't really cock up on strategy.

Point being, the rep that CLC has for making errors is a little bit unjustified imho.

 

I am not a fan of RBR, mostly because I just don't like Horner and Helmut, but as a team, they are literally a machine. They have arguably the best designer this sport has ever seen, the have probably the best young driver on the planet at this moment, they are completely decisive when it comes to strat calls and decisions, and are almost fearless when it comes rolling the dice and making their opposition react.

I may not be a fan of them, but I've totally got to respect what they do.

 

My not voting for Charlie isn't working... I'm changing my voting strategy in Hungary.

 

Agree .

Take Horner in particular out of the equation, and you have an excellent team .



I don’t like Marko , but at least he has been there done that when it comes to racing .

It’s how he lost his eye .

 

I’d say this is a harsh assessment, Horner had a reasonably successful British junior career, but soon realised he wouldn’t cut it on the international stage and dropped out of F3000 after a couple of unsuccessful seasons, but he definitely knows racing from a driver’s perspective.

He also came into F1 and made that team successful during a period when a lot of big names failed.

There are a lot of things that mark the RedBull team out, fun, ultra competitive, decisive, ruthless when required, the team that lured Newey… all that starts at the top. In my opinion, their success is because of Horner not despite him.

 

I don't think Horner is that bad. He only became a wind up because of Toto doing the same. They both just winge winge winge calling foul of each other to get an advantage or knock the other team down. I think naturally people take sides depending on what side of the fence they are sitting on. But From my point of view not supporting either of them, They are not that bad. They love racing and I respect them for it

 

I’m clinging to the idea that Hungary should suit the Ferrari. The trouble being, Ferrari doesn’t suit the Ferrari.

 

I don’t like the way TOTO has stooped to the low levels of Horner . But Horner has acted like an ungracious prick as far as I can remember . Remember Renault and Cyril ?

Quick to take all the plaudits when they were winning , little mention of Renault , then when Renault struggle , the knives are out and IN PUBLIC as well .

And multi 21 ? Seb is a far far better driver than Webber , but the way Horner tried to install team orders , what a fing joke . No he isn’t the first , but he did it so pathetically , he might as well not have bothered .

I accept he is good for the team , but he is a classless grade a c**t and the way team principles etc act counts a lot for me , though I may be in a minority but so what ?

 

This race was very good for mercedes but q