Formula One 2022

[Cleoriff]

This is the year of the change to regulations and a new look for F1 cars. According to the FIA, 'it's to level the playing field'. I'm not happy with that, it's killing innovation and turning an elite sport into F2.

I may be wrong but that needs to be proved.

Anyway the 'confirmed' calendar is here.

In other news, various sports articles are showing concern that Lewis Hamilton has maintained a social media blackout since the fiasco of Abu Dhabi.

Depending on your point of view, this race was 'nearly' won by Hamilton who was 12 seconds ahead of Verstappen until 5 laps from the end when a crash by Latifi brought out a safety car. The race director who was being harangued by Toto Wolff (Mercedes manager) and Christian Horner (Red Bull manager), made some very controversial decisions in order to 'get one lap of racing'.

The outcome was, Verstappen won the race and his first championship.

Hamilton who was within 5 laps of an historical 8th WDC, behaved with utmost dignity at race end. Congratulated Verstappen and Horner. Was interviewed by Jenson Button and refused to be drawn on any comment regarding the controversy. Stood on the podium and continued to go through the motions of the celebration.

Since then nothing has been heard from him.

According to his brother Nicholas 'Lewis is fine. He's having a break Social Media can be a very toxic place'.

Further rumour is Hamilton was the one who stopped Mercedes from taking this case to the F1 Court of Appeal, which was their intention after their appeal was dismissed by the FIA in Abu Dhabi.

Anyway roll on February when the cars are revealed and March when testing begins.

[Cleoriff]

P3. Very eventful. Both Aston Martins crash out and Lando Norris in a McLaren (with a Merc engine) topped the time sheets

[Cleoriff]

Into Qualifying.

Latifi (YET AGAIN) has crashed and brought Q1 to a halt with 2 minutes to go.

It gave Aston Martin of Vettel a precious few minutes to get fixed.

Hamilton 8th and Russell 9th..so go into Q2.

Albon, Vettel, Stroll, Latifi and Magnussen are out. The amount of cars Latifi has written off at the start of this season, with the cost cap, he needs replacing!

Q2

Gasly Bottas Tsunado Zhou and Schumacher are out. (George and Lewis are 7th and 8th)

Q3.

Alonso into the wall. Session red flagged.

Leclerc on pole

Verstappen

Perez

Norris

Hamilton

Russell

Ricciardo

Ocon

Sainz

Alonso.

[Cleoriff]

Good race. I stayed awake 😂

Mercedes did well all things considering. Lewis got himself into 3rd at race start while his team mate stayed 5th. Safety car came out and George made a 'free' pitstop and came out 3rd. Max had another fuel issue and stopped the car. 

Leclerc for Ferrari was in a class of his own today.

[Cleoriff]

Onto Imola and the first Sprint race of the season.

So the running order is. Practice 1, Qualifying (Friday) Qualifying sets the grid for the sprint on Saturday. Where we have Practice 2 and then the Sprint, Sunday is the Race.

Each session was plagued by different weather. From lashing rain, to a dry track. The two main protagonists are Ferrari (Leclerc) AND Red Bull (Verstappen) swapped the lead and the 3 sessions on Qualy had 5 crashes and 5 red flags/safety cars.

Results Qualifying:

As you can see Mercedes did NOT get out of Q2. The TV showed a heated exchange between Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton. Both denied they were arguing. My opinion is, Lewis is being paid 40 million a year to drive a car which is absolutely rubbish.

Then onto the Sprint yesterday. 20 laps and the hope was Mercedes could make their way through the field. They couldn't and these are results.

Sprint

Merc finished 11th and 14th. Oh dear. The race is today at 2pm.

[Cleoriff]

This weekend F1 travels to Miami for the inaugural F1 race. Lots of razzamatazz as expected.

 The good news (for me) is that Mercedes seem to have made a great improvement.

Practice 1

Practice 2 saw a few cars spinning off. Max Verstappen had a hydraulic issue and a loss of steering so didnt take part.

Practice 2

[Cleoriff]

Qualifying and varying fortunes for Mercedes. George Russell out in Q2. Hamilton fared a lot better and was ok into Q3.

Usual suspects take the top 4 positions.

Seems funny to see Lewis and Bottas (former team mates) lining up together on the 3rd row.

[pgn]

Well, only tangentially related to F1, and to another team - but he speaks well when offered the chance - 2 clips here: 

https://twitter.com/bmay/status/1525223641629265921?t=HSvSAqAocfUYhKxXW3IQnA&s=19

[Cleoriff]

It was the talk of the F1 paddock. Seb Vettel, who, 10rs ago was a different racer, now is never frightened to speak out on all human rights issues globally. He, like Lewis, cares about the future of the planet and put their millions into conservation projects.

Seb is far more articulate than Lewis and I think Question Time was a massive platform for him. Even when Fiona Bruce asked him if he was a hypocrite for driving F1 cars and travelling all over the world, he replied yes but we are addressing that. The cars are hybrid now and if I can travel by train then I will. I also don't set the calendar for the racing year. He was excellent. Proud of him.

[Cleoriff]

Onto Spain and it looks as if Mercedes have unlocked some performance at long last!

Practice 1

Practice 2

Practice 3

Now we are on to Qualifying and both Mercs have been successful in Qualifying Q1 and Q2.....just started Q3

[Cleoriff]

Qualifying.