Official 2022 Miami Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[hammo19]

I was impressed with Russells post race interview. What a level headed sensible driver he is.

[a_dreamer]

NRS said:

Like they did when letting the drivers race all the time before? You might have seen it was only once one driver was clear in the championship they did that sort of thing. Do you not remember Hamilton being allowed past once to have a go, only to give the place back when he couldn't pass either?

Yep. Hence why odd they didn't yesterday

[jimPH]

NRS said:

a_dreamer said:

paulguitar said:

This comment suggests you've completely failed to understand the situation.

I do wonder if they'd let Russel go straight after the safety car, given the tyre situation, how much further up the road he could have got.

They'd have done it instantly if it were Hamilton (but Merc don't have first and second drivers )

I wonder how different the two cars are as they look to find solutions to their cars problems

Like they did when letting the drivers race all the time before? You might have seen it was only once one driver was clear in the championship they did that sort of thing. Do you not remember Hamilton being allowed past once to have a go, only to give the place back when he couldn't pass either?

The futility of Hamilton defending from his team mate when he is in no position to gain from doing so. The only objective worth pursuing was an RB down on power and Russell on new tyres. Completely scuppered by hamiltons ego.

[paulguitar]

NRS said:

a_dreamer said:

paulguitar said:

This comment suggests you've completely failed to understand the situation.

I do wonder if they'd let Russel go straight after the safety car, given the tyre situation, how much further up the road he could have got.

They'd have done it instantly if it were Hamilton (but Merc don't have first and second drivers )

I wonder how different the two cars are as they look to find solutions to their cars problems

Like they did when letting the drivers race all the time before? You might have seen it was only once one driver was clear in the championship they did that sort of thing. Do you not remember Hamilton being allowed past once to have a go, only to give the place back when he couldn't pass either?

Yeah, yesterday they found the two cars out of sync due to the safety car benefitting George. There were no messages ordering a direct swap of positions, so they 'raced' but it was always going to be completely one-sided, given the offset, as George said in his post-race interview with the Sky team. George went off the track a bit with his first pass, but they were both being cautious, there was no drama and even less when he breezed by with DRS to make the move stick a lap or two later.

[jimPH]

I wonder how many more poll guesses we'll get now the race has finished...

[paulguitar]

jimPH said:

I wonder how many more poll guesses we'll get now the race has finished...

I predicted Verstappen before the weekend started. It's all rather one-sided at the moment, Ferrari doesn't have an answer to the Red Bull top speed advantage, Perez is realistically seldom any threat to Verstappen, and Verstappen himself appears quite within himself given the car advantage he has, and so able to drive calmly.

[TypeRTim]

Pretty dull race tbh. I was hopeful we would have more 'incidents' or maybe a Florida shower, but neither happened so the actual racing was rather dull.

Very few overtaking opportunities here, especially as the effect of DRS seems to have been somewhat neutralised by these new rules. The cars can follow each other much closer, for much longer - which is great - But the braking zones are too short and the cars too big/heavy to allow for regular overtaking opportunities into or through the corners.

I feel like Lewis had a solid race, but George just seemed so switched on to the strategy calls whereas Lewis was fumbling and asking his engineers to tell him what to do re: Pit strategy rather than call it himself like GR did. That car is one hell of a diva, it looks to be the opposite of the Mclaren - the Mclaren hates high temperatures and is pretty rapid when it's colder - whereas the Mercedes is pretty much nowhere unless the track is hot enough to switch on the tyres. They (merc) still don't look to have dialled out it's wild nature, with multiple moments on the onboards of seemingly random over/understeer mid-corner.

The merc PU definitely seems down on power too, maybe they've reached the peak of their development curve whereas others are still progressing? Most have only recently shifted to the long shaft split turbo concept whereas Merc have had it since 2014 and have ridden that wave ever since.

On a side note, I can't stand Brundle any more. He's so far up Merc / Lewis' arse that I just find his commentary unbearable at times. Much preferred Jenson and DiResta when they have subbed in at previous races. There was a moment at one of the previous races where in the paddock Brundle kept banging on about how "once they solve the porpoising, it's going to be rapid" and it was either DiResta or Davidson getting visibly quite irate at him and having to correct him saying it was 'more than just the porpoising' as the car is fundamentally unbalanced at this stage.

[Cold]

paulguitar said:

Cold said:

Further back, at least the Mercedes number two driver didn't get lapped this time, but his deliberate delaying of his consistently faster teammate only punished the team as a whole.

This comment suggests you've completely failed to understand the situation.

This comment suggests you still think your opinion is the only one that matters.

[Sandpit Steve]

poo at Paul's said:

What happens to the track now? Do they leave the asphalt down, or rip it all up til next year?

The only new permanent structure is the pit building. Everything else will be gone by the time the NFL season starts again in September. Most of the track itself will probably stay, as it was car parking for the stadium previously. It did cross a couple of roads, so small sections might need reprofiling for public use. Google maps shows it before F1 turned up.

[paulguitar]

Cold said:

paulguitar said:

Cold said:

Further back, at least the Mercedes number two driver didn't get lapped this time, but his deliberate delaying of his consistently faster teammate only punished the team as a whole.

This comment suggests you've completely failed to understand the situation.

This comment suggests you still think your opinion is the only one that matters.

Not at all, I am always interested to read remarks and different views from those who have an understanding of what they are watching.

You appear not to be one of them.

[anonymous-user]

TypeRTim said:

I feel like Lewis had a solid race, but George just seemed so switched on to the strategy calls whereas Lewis was fumbling and asking his engineers to tell him what to do re: Pit strategy rather than call it himself like GR did.

The two situations were completely different.

GR call was a no brainer option to discuss and then take, LH at the SC taking an extra stop or not needed a team call as they could see where that would feed him out in the pack.

[Muzzer79]

jimPH said:

NRS said:

a_dreamer said:

paulguitar said:

This comment suggests you've completely failed to understand the situation.

I do wonder if they'd let Russel go straight after the safety car, given the tyre situation, how much further up the road he could have got.

They'd have done it instantly if it were Hamilton (but Merc don't have first and second drivers )

I wonder how different the two cars are as they look to find solutions to their cars problems

Like they did when letting the drivers race all the time before? You might have seen it was only once one driver was clear in the championship they did that sort of thing. Do you not remember Hamilton being allowed past once to have a go, only to give the place back when he couldn't pass either?

The futility of Hamilton defending from his team mate when he is in no position to gain from doing so. The only objective worth pursuing was an RB down on power and Russell on new tyres. Completely scuppered by hamiltons ego.

He's a racing driver, racing for position. You think he should just wave George past?

No driver on the grid would do that. Apart from maybe Perez......

[kambites]

I think there's a strong argument that Mercedes should have told the drivers to switch positions so Russell could have a go at the wounded Perez, but that's never really been Mercedes' way unless they're in a battle for the championship.

[Muzzer79]

TypeRTim said:

I feel like Lewis had a solid race, but George just seemed so switched on to the strategy calls whereas Lewis was fumbling and asking his engineers to tell him what to do re: Pit strategy rather than call it himself like GR did.

It's the team's job to call strategy, not the driver.

George saw an opportunity to stay out and wait for a safety car. This was the right thing to do, so the team confirmed to him - they were doing that anyway.

Lewis was in a different position and not on a contra-strategy to everyone else, so not on an obvious strategy path like GR.

I always find that when drivers call strategy it's a sign of weakness and lack of trust in the team - exhibit A & B would be Alonso and Vettel at Ferrari.

[TypeRTim]

jsf said:

TypeRTim said:

I feel like Lewis had a solid race, but George just seemed so switched on to the strategy calls whereas Lewis was fumbling and asking his engineers to tell him what to do re: Pit strategy rather than call it himself like GR did.

The two situations were completely different.

GR call was a no brainer option to discuss and then take, LH at the SC taking an extra stop or not needed a team call as they could see where that would feed him out in the pack.

I don't really think so - both were asked to box or not. GR was quite steady in his response to wait and see for VSC/SC. LH was a bit flustered on the radio to me, if he was confident in his tyres and didn't deem the stop necessary he would have told the team that (we've seen it in the past), but it was more of a "how do I know, you tell me!" response. He just seems to be struggling a bit more from the (admittedly few) radio messages we seem to be broadcast of him now. Maybe the team are too as they don't understand the car and are relying more on the drivers to make the calls. Maybe GR is more used to that from his time at Williams... can only speculate.

The main difference between the 2 I suspect was GR's convo was in open racing whereas LH was in a VSC/SC scenario so there was potentially more at stake for LH. But it is very rare to hear him so flustered like that about having to make a decision.

[LP670]

paulguitar said:

Cold said:

paulguitar said:

Cold said:

Further back, at least the Mercedes number two driver didn't get lapped this time, but his deliberate delaying of his consistently faster teammate only punished the team as a whole.

This comment suggests you've completely failed to understand the situation.

This comment suggests you still think your opinion is the only one that matters.

Not at all, I am always interested to read remarks and different views from those who have an understanding of what they are watching.

You appear not to be one of them.

Why is that then? what he put seemed to be a perfect understanding.... was Lewis lapped last race? YES..... is Lewis behind George in the championship? YES..... did Lewis delay George in this race? YES

[Wills2]

Muzzer79 said:

He's a racing driver, racing for position. You think he should just wave George past?

No driver on the grid would do that. Apart from maybe Perez......

Very true, you probably wouldn't be in F1 without that attitude to start off with, some of the posters have clearly never seen an F1 race before (or more likely are just hating on Lewis because it's Lewis)

[a_dreamer]

Wills2 said:

Muzzer79 said:

He's a racing driver, racing for position. You think he should just wave George past?

No driver on the grid would do that. Apart from maybe Perez......

Very true, you probably wouldn't be in F1 without that attitude to start off with, some of the posters have clearly never seen an F1 race before (or more likely are just hating on Lewis because it's Lewis)

The "apart from Perez" and then the idea that it's people hating on Lewis is pretty fking petty and also ignores the fact that it does happen and drivers do let their team mates past when on different strategies etc. Perhaps it is you two who lack previous experience watching F1. I wish that comments on F1 didn't get reduced to this absolute playground bullst. We are on here to discuss F1 and talk about it, our opinions will differ and that's fine but we could leave the fan boy ste alone a bit

No one is expecting Hamilton to suggest it or be happy about it, it just seems weird mercedes did not try to role the dice and see what Russel could do on the better tyres. I'm pretty certain bottas would have been asked to yield to Hamilton in the same situation. Maybe they don't think Russel had it in him (they have all the data) but it just seems odd.

[LP670]

Muzzer79 said:

jimPH said:

NRS said:

a_dreamer said:

paulguitar said:

This comment suggests you've completely failed to understand the situation.

I do wonder if they'd let Russel go straight after the safety car, given the tyre situation, how much further up the road he could have got.

They'd have done it instantly if it were Hamilton (but Merc don't have first and second drivers )

I wonder how different the two cars are as they look to find solutions to their cars problems

Like they did when letting the drivers race all the time before? You might have seen it was only once one driver was clear in the championship they did that sort of thing. Do you not remember Hamilton being allowed past once to have a go, only to give the place back when he couldn't pass either?

The futility of Hamilton defending from his team mate when he is in no position to gain from doing so. The only objective worth pursuing was an RB down on power and Russell on new tyres. Completely scuppered by hamiltons ego.

He's a racing driver, racing for position. You think he should just wave George past?

No driver on the grid would do that. Apart from maybe Perez......

What about Rosberg letting Hamilton through in Monaco when they were fighting each other for the title?

[Sandpit Steve]

TypeRTim said:

I don't really think so - both were asked to box or not. GR was quite steady in his response to wait and see for VSC/SC. LH was a bit flustered on the radio to me, if he was confident in his tyres and didn't deem the stop necessary he would have told the team that (we've seen it in the past), but it was more of a "how do I know, you tell me!" response. He just seems to be struggling a bit more from the (admittedly few) radio messages we seem to be broadcast of him now. Maybe the team are too as they don't understand the car and are relying more on the drivers to make the calls. Maybe GR is more used to that from his time at Williams... can only speculate.

The main difference between the 2 I suspect was GR's convo was in open racing whereas LH was in a VSC/SC scenario so there was potentially more at stake for LH. But it is very rare to hear him so flustered like that about having to make a decision.

George took a gamble to stay out long and hope for a safety car, as the hard tyres didn’t wear as much as expected, after taking a while to get up to temperature at the start of the race. He got lucky with the VSC then SC at just the right time.

I still can’t see why Lerclerc and Hamilton didn’t stop with the SC though. Charles would have been behind only Carlos and left MV stranded out still on the hard tyres, the leader was right at the pit entry when the VSC changed to the SC.

Lewis, if he’s stopped first time around with the VSC, would have retained his position even if he was held up double-stacking behind George. Once the full SC was called, it was a total no-brainer for Lewis to pit for softs, given it was going to be at least four laps just for the process, knowing there were lapped cars in the field. Lewis and the team were more worried about losing position to George, but the younger driver was always going to be faster at the restart on the new mediums.