Official 2022 Spanish Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***
Poll: Official 2022 Spanish Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***
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Discussion
Peter Windsor made a good point about how Max and Sainz respectively rejoined the track at turn four. Carlos straight back onto the racing line, bang, to clean his tyres nearly causing a shunt with Tsunoda, whereas Max gently eased his way back on and carefully regained the track. For all the talk of Max being a hothead this isn't the first time he has demonstrated a far higher level of awareness than other drivers.
Small incremental differences like these can make a big difference at the end.
It's clear now that trying to match Charles has buzzed Sainz's head a bit, hopefully he can calm it down and regain his temperament. He really should have rescued a podium for Ferrari today, the car ultimately is still way quicker than the Merc, at least for now.
Small incremental differences like these can make a big difference at the end.
It's clear now that trying to match Charles has buzzed Sainz's head a bit, hopefully he can calm it down and regain his temperament. He really should have rescued a podium for Ferrari today, the car ultimately is still way quicker than the Merc, at least for now.
CoolHands said:
George Russel still incredibly irritating in the after race interview with ch4. He’s so arrogant. And not in a good way but in a very bad way. He should speak to lewis about how be more humble.
Can’t stand him.
LH did well, amazing to see the mercs improvement. Wonder if it will last onto other tracks. Sains and Perez still both useless as always.
TBF, he's finished ahead of one of only two 7 times world champion, 5 races out of 6 so far this season. I like Hamilton, & there's more to it than the simple stats show, but that's better than most of his other team mates so far over such a short period. Arrogance would be acting like that with the figures reversed, surely...Can’t stand him.
LH did well, amazing to see the mercs improvement. Wonder if it will last onto other tracks. Sains and Perez still both useless as always.
jsf said:
Muzzer79 said:
I agree, but it is somewhat at odds with the “never give up” rhetoric…..
Blame the rules. Teams have been pulling cars for years to get free gearbox changes and save engine miles.Sure, his tone was understandably downbeat, it's a human to react to pressure but he was considering where to maximise the car - The Merc may not have many races to be capable of competing at the sharp end, so saving the package makes sense, although I don't think Monaco is going to be the place to show the Merc off.
It's not like he did a Mansell and parked it up in a huff, demanding they crowbar his fat arse out of the car.
Not sure where Toto's claim of race winning pace is coming from.
-2 stops was the optimal strategy today - as shown by Leclerc sticking to it and as stated by RB post race - they only went 3 stop due to getting stuck behind George for Max and to get fastest lap for Checo.
Taking the above into account - Lewis emerged 50 seconds behind Max effectively on a 2 stop strategy. He was 40 seconds behind when he was instructed to slow down. On the face of it closing 10 seconds to Max. However this ignores Max losing 10 seconds in the spin, losing a further 10 seconds stuck behind George, Max making an extra Pitstop (if you start the count at the point Lewis is 50 seconds behind) and the fact he was cruising at the end.
Lewis and Russell have been very similar on race pace and Max opened up a 30 second gap to George over 30 laps.
Much better but still a big chunk of time to find and they definitely didn't have race winning pace today.
-2 stops was the optimal strategy today - as shown by Leclerc sticking to it and as stated by RB post race - they only went 3 stop due to getting stuck behind George for Max and to get fastest lap for Checo.
Taking the above into account - Lewis emerged 50 seconds behind Max effectively on a 2 stop strategy. He was 40 seconds behind when he was instructed to slow down. On the face of it closing 10 seconds to Max. However this ignores Max losing 10 seconds in the spin, losing a further 10 seconds stuck behind George, Max making an extra Pitstop (if you start the count at the point Lewis is 50 seconds behind) and the fact he was cruising at the end.
Lewis and Russell have been very similar on race pace and Max opened up a 30 second gap to George over 30 laps.
Much better but still a big chunk of time to find and they definitely didn't have race winning pace today.
honda_exige said:
Not sure where Toto's claim of race winning pace is coming from.
-2 stops was the optimal strategy today - as shown by Leclerc sticking to it and as stated by RB post race - they only went 3 stop due to getting stuck behind George for Max and to get fastest lap for Checo.
Taking the above into account - Lewis emerged 50 seconds behind Max effectively on a 2 stop strategy. He was 40 seconds behind when he was instructed to slow down. On the face of it closing 10 seconds to Max. However this ignores Max losing 10 seconds in the spin, losing a further 10 seconds stuck behind George, Max making an extra Pitstop (if you start the count at the point Lewis is 50 seconds behind) and the fact he was cruising at the end.
Lewis and Russell have been very similar on race pace and Max opened up a 30 second gap to George over 30 laps.
Much better but still a big chunk of time to find and they definitely didn't have race winning pace today.
Agree. -2 stops was the optimal strategy today - as shown by Leclerc sticking to it and as stated by RB post race - they only went 3 stop due to getting stuck behind George for Max and to get fastest lap for Checo.
Taking the above into account - Lewis emerged 50 seconds behind Max effectively on a 2 stop strategy. He was 40 seconds behind when he was instructed to slow down. On the face of it closing 10 seconds to Max. However this ignores Max losing 10 seconds in the spin, losing a further 10 seconds stuck behind George, Max making an extra Pitstop (if you start the count at the point Lewis is 50 seconds behind) and the fact he was cruising at the end.
Lewis and Russell have been very similar on race pace and Max opened up a 30 second gap to George over 30 laps.
Much better but still a big chunk of time to find and they definitely didn't have race winning pace today.
They did very well and it's good to see the progress, but they are still a bit off. What is good is that they can really start to develop the car now the main fundamental issue is taken care of.
Muzzer79 said:
jsf said:
StRemy said:
I can imagine everyone in Mercedes has been working like crazy to improve the car (and improved it has) and then after an early slight setback LH automatically suggest to finish his race? That shows very little respect for his team’s work.
It was a sensible question to ask when they have limited engines. If they came back and said they projected he didn't stand a chance of points, you'd save the engine to allow you more performance at another event. It's just another case of the guy thinking long term.He's not going to give up being logical and thoughtful.
Fwiw I too couldn't see the logic in him staying out, retirement seemed very sensible. Obviously the room full of boffins made a better calculation than me!
paulguitar said:
StRemy said:
I can imagine everyone in Mercedes has been working like crazy to improve the car (and improved it has) and then after an early slight setback LH automatically suggest to finish his race? That shows very little respect for his team’s work.
With engines as limited as they are now, careful consideration has to be given to this. The team thought Lewis could achieve 8th place and decided to keep him out. An astonishing drive meant he did a lot better. If Hamilton had lost that engine you'd probably have been criticizing him for doing the race and not retiring the car, because it's clear from your posts that your default position, apparently without exception, is the one that casts Hamilton in the poorest light possible.He gives regular and repeated credit and praise to his team, it's kind of hard to miss as he does it in almost every interview.
He was over a minute behind the leader at one time, and around 55 secs behind Russell. Given that he had a lot of cars to pass, so increasing his lap times, he was within a few second of GR at one time. That means he's taken a lot of life from the engine. Further, there were problems. I'm unaware if the precise fault has been revealed, and even if it has, I doubt they'd mention any specifics about engine life.
If he has to change an engine and bits, he's back at the back of the grid again.
As it was, he was running fourth until a couple of laps from the end at the cost of longevity.
LH has matured and is something of a strategist. His management of various aspects is a significant strength. If he's worried about engine life, it's something to worry about.
He might also have been surprised at the race-pace of the Merc. I was.
It would have been really good to see how Lewis’s counter-strategy might have played out, if it had been allowed to run though. A two-stop Med>Med>Soft was theoretically the fastest way to run the race, and with clear air after the puncture, Lewis was the fastest man on track for most of the race.
Asking about saving the engine was a fair comment, it’s been heard before from drivers who get tripped up early on, and engine saving can have its use in an era of reliability penalties. The team were right through, that even with no safety car he was still on for points. In the end, he got more than just a handful.
Did we get any interviews with the team asking about the cooling issues? I’ll stick to my theory that the overweight cars were under-fuelled, and with no SC they had to coast the last few laps to be sure. They passed scrutineering though, so all good.
There’s definitely now three cars in the fight.
Asking about saving the engine was a fair comment, it’s been heard before from drivers who get tripped up early on, and engine saving can have its use in an era of reliability penalties. The team were right through, that even with no safety car he was still on for points. In the end, he got more than just a handful.
Did we get any interviews with the team asking about the cooling issues? I’ll stick to my theory that the overweight cars were under-fuelled, and with no SC they had to coast the last few laps to be sure. They passed scrutineering though, so all good.
There’s definitely now three cars in the fight.
Blib said:
IF Mercedes are about to get really competitive, with 18(?) races left Russell is 'only' 34 points behind Verstappen.
This could get extremely interesting.....
Red Bull are also going to continue developing their car with the aim of going faster so it's a moving target. This could get extremely interesting.....
Reliability seems like it's going to be a major factor this season (even more so than other recent seasons) and Mercedes will need to get on top of new issues which come from their development.
TheDeuce said:
No it's not.
He's not going to give up being logical and thoughtful.
Fwiw I too couldn't see the logic in him staying out, retirement seemed very sensible. Obviously the room full of boffins made a better calculation than me!
The benefit is quite simple really.He's not going to give up being logical and thoughtful.
Fwiw I too couldn't see the logic in him staying out, retirement seemed very sensible. Obviously the room full of boffins made a better calculation than me!
They have a car they still don't fully understand, with problems they can only recreate on track. They just shipped a load of new parts on the car.
They needed the mileage of BOTH cars in a full race distance to evaluate whether those parts made a difference. A 7 time WDC and the supposed GOAT should know that any mileage in this era of cost caps and testing limits is golden mileage.
At this stage, saving the engine would be a secondary priority to understanding the aero and making sure that the fixes they are shipping correlate on track to the numbers they are expecting, primarily as this will help development of not just this years car, but next years too (and all the following ones until the next major aero shake up).
The fact that they were basically free to run whatever strategy they wanted without fear of really losing significant positions or places allowed him to rescue a brilliant result considering the circumstances.
Even K-mag stayed out circling around plumb last for most of the race. Data is the most valuable commodity, especially around a track they have already driven around in a previous configuration of the car(s). They need to assess progress.
Blib said:
IF Mercedes are about to get really competitive, with 18(?) races left Russell is 'only' 34 points behind Verstappen.
This could get extremely interesting.....
I'm not sure they are - Max would have been past George pretty easily with a working DRS, and had time for the extra pit stops and a spin along the way. They've improved the car, and got it into a place it should be much easier to work out how to improve it, but they're still a long way back of pace at the moment over a race distance. This could get extremely interesting.....
It looks like this season is the Ferraris qualifying ahead of RB, and the RB being easier on it's tyres and passing later in the race. Their DRS/speed advantage on the straights mean it's easy to pass, and stop anyone else being able to come back at them after they've got past. Monaco might work out well for the Ferraris given the lack of passing places since they should qualify ahead of RB.
StRemy said:
I can imagine everyone in Mercedes has been working like crazy to improve the car (and improved it has) and then after an early slight setback LH automatically suggest to finish his race? That shows very little respect for his team’s work.
What do you feel about Max saying "you can't even get a **** DRS working?" in terms of showing respect for his team? They've given him the clearly best car this season, and yet he says stuff like that. Gassing Station | Formula 1 | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff