I also don’t think AM would put up a massive fight to make him stay

No I agree…Wolf and Stroll are big buddies too…and a Merc customer

Ocon seems most likely but they’d have to give Alpine a shed load of cash …

Posted 9 months ago

When does testing start?

Later this week in Lausanne. I predict three rounds before the FIA bring out the safety Barrister and a restart is order on fresh briefings.

Oh you meant the cars, not the regulations?

Posted 9 months ago

just suppose Hamilton decides to quit, right now….who would Mercedes replace him with?

Norris, Sainz, Gasly would be top of my list, maybe Alonso too. Obviously, they all have contracts but there will be escape clauses on those regarding taking a seat at a higher placed team.

Posted 9 months ago

just suppose Hamilton decides to quit, right now….who would Mercedes replace him with?

It’s not entirely Impossible that Verstappen now says he has ‘completed F1’ and does a Rosberg.
Gasly for 2022 Champ?

Posted 9 months ago

I’m a bit late to the party, having mostly allowed F1 to pass me by for the past few years. Can anyone link me to a ready-read update on the tech reg changes due for 2022 cars?

Posted 9 months ago

I’m a bit late to the party, having mostly allowed F1 to pass me by for the past few years. Can anyone link me to a ready-read update on the tech reg changes due for 2022 cars?

You are Simone Resta and ICMFP

Posted 9 months ago

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/formula-1s-2021-regulations-what-will-the-cars-look-like-in-2022-5278037/5278037/

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.10-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-all-new-2022-f1-car.4OLg8DrXyzHzdoGrbqp6ye.html

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/2022-f1-season-drivers-cars-tracks/6868238/

Posted 9 months ago

Posted 9 months ago

really can’t decide if I like the look of it, or whether it looks just a bit rubbish TBH

Posted 9 months ago

Too much black, makes it look fat. Also dont expect them to look much like that show car when they come out, that was a very basic specimen. Get ready for X-wings to come back 😉

Posted 9 months ago

I like it! A much cleaner, simpler looking car. Hopefully the real ones won’t look too dissimilar.

Posted 9 months ago

You know how the new Beetle looks vaugly like an old Beetle and the new Fiat 500 looks vaugly like an old 500, and these retro-style cars have become very fashionable?
I think it looks like someone has done the same with the Ferrari 642

Posted 9 months ago

Nose looks a bit ‘Indycar’ for my taste…

Posted 9 months ago

Exactly what I was thinking of andrewh! I always prefer clean cars to those with squillions of winglets and turning vanes – even the 2009 era with the high rise skinny rear wing was better than the 2008 hideousness.

Posted 9 months ago

I see Verstappen has decided to run #1 next year. I know he’s entitled to rules wise, but shows his class quote clearly when he won it like he did.

Posted 9 months ago

I see Verstappen has decided to run #1 next year. I know he’s entitled to rules wise, but shows his class quote clearly when he won it like he did.

Also Horner has been saying that he doesn’t think Max’s title will be tainted by the events of Abu Dhabi and we’ll all have forgotten about it when next season starts, because after all lots of titles have been won under controversial circumstances and we’ve all forgotten about them too. Really, nobody thinks any less of Shumi because he nerfed two of his opponents to try to win the title and parked his car at Monaco etc, and Senna and Prost’s rivalry was barely mentioned in the build up to AD.

Posted 9 months ago

Have to say, I don’t particularly like the new cars, but I probably said the same last time they changed a lot. They look a bit IndyCar or A1 (Or whatever it was called).
I’m sure I’ll get used to them.

Another 20kg heavier tho!

Posted 9 months ago

Twodogs
Full Member

Have to say, I don’t particularly like the new cars, but I probably said the same last time they changed a lot. They look a bit IndyCar or A1 (Or whatever it was called).
I’m sure I’ll get used to them.

As above though, don’t expect them to look like that.

Pook
Full Member

I see Verstappen has decided to run #1 next year. I know he’s entitled to rules wise, but shows his class quote clearly when he won it like he did.

#1 plate should be like the rainbow jersey in cycling, the champ should be using it regardless

Posted 9 months ago

Here’s some good news.

IndyCar champion and Paralympic hero Alex Zanardi has finally left hospital 18 months on from the handbike accident that left him with serious head and facial injuries.

Full story:https://t.co/iIXzcpBwlX

— Autosport (@autosport) December 20, 2021

Posted 9 months ago

Needs a like button.

Posted 9 months ago

Bloody hell, Alex Zanardi has more lives than a cat. I am genuinely very happy that he’s been allowed home and I hope that he continues to make a good recovery.

Re that Ferrari rendering – while I do actually quite like it, chances are that 2022’s Ferrari won’t look like that. I regularly moan about how modern cars are approximately the same length as Clacton Pier, so I fully expect that the same teams who brought a sausage fest to F1 back in 2014 will find a way to contrive some seriously offensive aesthetics as they try to exploit the regs.

Posted 9 months ago

What if I told you in 2007 McLaren had a copy of how to build a Ferrari on their shelf 😁😁

— The Special One (@TheSpec91106331) December 21, 2021

Posted 9 months ago

Nose looks a bit ‘Indycar’ for my taste…

Whole thing reminds me a bit of the STP Paxton Indy car.

Posted 9 months ago

@thols2 yep and they had a 100million fine plus lost the championship with a strange gearbox issue and weird tyre decision, which wasn’t at all part of the punishment.
Hamilton might already be on eight.
Another team had similar data but no punishment.

Posted 9 months ago

Sorry, that tweet was a reply to another tweet that had a picture from the Merc HQ with a copy of Adrian Newey’s book on the shelf behind the people. The account that posted the original tweet has been suspended, so the image was probably fake. Still, I would expect that every team on the grid would have got a copy of Newey’s book and skimmed it to see if there was anything in there that they didn’t already know. The second tweet was obviously meant to be a joke, but doesn’t make much sense without the original.

Posted 9 months ago

Bad news people – Whinger Spice is staying as redbull principal until at least 2026.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/horner-to-remain-as-red-bull-f1-team-principal-until-at-least-2026

Posted 9 months ago

So, slightly (very!) off topic, but I’ve just heard that Red Bull are teaming up with the Swiss Alinghi team to compete in the next America’s Cup. So we have Mercedes/Ineos vs Red Bull/Alinghi….and rumour is Ferrari might team up with Luna Rosa.

Apparently it’s a way to continue to employ highly skilled people now the cost cap has come in….and there’s a shed load of money sloshing around in the Americas Cup

Posted 9 months ago

Haha, and Gordon Murray could pop up with another massive fan and take a debut victory 🤣

Posted 9 months ago

So, slightly (very!) off topic, but I’ve just heard that Red Bull are teaming up with the Swiss Alinghi team to compete in the next America’s Cup

Yep well that makes sense. The AC boats are massively about aerodynamics and hydrodynamics now which are probably basically the same thing with the latter being very thick air 😉

Posted 9 months ago

And of course, Karen Horner turned up at the presser announcing it….🙄

Posted 9 months ago

Apparently it’s a way to continue to employ highly skilled people now the cost cap has come in….and there’s a shed load of money sloshing around in the Americas Cup

I wonder how many of those engineers will ‘play’ at designing F1 parts in their spare time! 🤣🤔

Posted 9 months ago

Sailing’s Adrian Newey’s biggest passion if I remember correctly.

Posted 9 months ago

Giovinazzi and Mick reserve drivers at Ferrari next year.

Posted 9 months ago

I’m not Schumacher or Ferrari fan but I must admit seeing Mick drive one would be very nice indeed.

Posted 9 months ago

He’s tested for them a couple of times already…

Posted 9 months ago

I think Sainz has the second Ferrari seat locked up for as long as he wants it. I’d like to see Mick Schumacher take over Hamilton’s Merc seat, assuming he’s fast enough.

Guess you guys missed something.https://t.co/Kz1QRPUzr0

— Jur Conijn (@FuteJur) December 23, 2021

Posted 9 months ago

Really, nobody thinks any less of Shumi because he nerfed two of his opponents to try to win the title and parked his car at Monaco etc,

I think a lot less of the cheating cockwomble.

Posted 9 months ago

Really, nobody thinks any less of Shumi because he nerfed two of his opponents to try to win the title and parked his car at Monaco

Oh yes they do.

Posted 9 months ago

Really, nobody thinks any less of Shumi because he nerfed two of his opponents to try to win the title and parked his car at Monaco etc,

I think a lot of people did. When he first burst on the scene, he was a breath of fresh air after the Piquet-Mansell-Prost-Senna years. Someone, probably Nigel Roebuck, pointed out that Schumi was the first guy in years to stand on the top step of the podium and actually look happy.

In 1994 he deserved to win on his driving, the Williams was a difficult car, but faster IIRC. Benneton were run by Flavio, Ross Brawn, and Tom Walkinshaw. Brawn always managed to push things to the absolute limit of the rules without going over the line. Flavio has a lifetime ban for his misdeeds and Walkinshaw always pushed things well into gray areas of the regulations. so Benneton and Schumacher ended up with race bans which left Hill in contention for the title. The crash between Schumacher and Hill was plausibly because Shumi was not in control of his car, and he outdrove Hill over the season so that first title wasn’t a problem. Schumi deserved that one.

The Villeneuve crash was a different thing. That was a heel turn for me, I simply never had any respect for him again after that. I’m sure a lot of people feel the same way, that crash will forever tarnish his undeniably spectacular talents.

Posted 9 months ago

Really, nobody thinks any less of Shumi because he nerfed two of his opponents to try to win the title and parked his car at Monaco etc,

Note to self – sarcasm doesn’t work so well when written down.

Posted 9 months ago