After a tumultuous end to the 2021 season, the 2022 F1 season is promising a lot of excitement. Of course there's the buzz for the new 2022 regulations, but we'll also be seeing a revamp of the race organization (Michael Masi is no more), as well as newly reprofiled tracks (Albert Park & Jeddah) as well as the introduction of Miami.

With winter testing kicking off today (23 Feb), what should we expect from the upcoming season?

1) Ferrari & McLaren's resurgence?
2) Mercedes remaining dominant?
3) Red Bull continuing their run of success?
4) Aston Martin breaking through?
5) Alpine's "El Plan" succeeding?
6) Alpha Tauri mixing it up with the big boys?
7) Alfa Romeo-Sauber not being a backmarker?
8) Williams being a solid midfielder, if not a front runner?
9) Haas not disappointing for once after spending an entire year developing the 2022 car?

What do you think?

I for one am intrigued to see what shakes out of the new regulations. I have watched a fair few of the reviews if the cars after their launches where they talk about the different approaches each team have taken but I can’t tell what it all means yet.

Personally I hope McLaren are in the running this year.

Fred


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I really don’t know. It’s all about hitting the sweet spot with those new designs. Some teams will be there from the start and others will have to catch up. I also expect some controversy about a design or two. Exciting year ahead!

I thought the cars would be more alike with the new regulation. But there are quite a few notable differences. So it will be interesting how it will work out and what kind of choices will be on top.

Was going to start this if I didn't see it soon.

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

After a tumultuous end to the 2021 season, the 2022 F1 season is promising a lot of excitement. Of course there's the buzz for the new 2022 regulations, but we'll also be seeing a revamp of the race organization (Michael Masi is no more), as well as newly reprofiled tracks (Albert Park & Jeddah) as well as the introduction of Miami.

With winter testing kicking off today (23 Feb), what should we expect from the upcoming season?

1) Ferrari & McLaren's resurgence?
2) Mercedes remaining dominant?
3) Red Bull continuing their run of success?
4) Aston Martin breaking through?
5) Alpine's "El Plan" succeeding?
6) Alpha Tauri mixing it up with the big boys?
7) Alfa Romeo-Sauber not being a backmarker?
8) Williams being a solid midfielder, if not a front runner?
9) Haas not disappointing for once after spending an entire year developing the 2022 car?

What do you think?

Lets go one by one here. I think the gap will be a lot closer with all teams getting into the points regularly.

1) I think Ferrari will be challenging for the championship with McLaren being where they are in 4th. However the gap will be a lot closer and I can see multiple podiums and wins for McLaren.
2) Merc will be up there and will probably edge out Ferrari due to experience, especially with a driven Lewis Hamilton back.
3) This is the question with RedBull. After the first day of testing they seem to by solid and the actual car looks good. The unknown is them taking over the power unit, I know Honda is consulting with them.
4) I think they will be right in the middle.
5) I don't think Alpine will be much better in the constructors. They might improve but so will other teams. They unknown will be Otmar running the show there and can he keep a tighter ship.
6) I think Alpha Tauri will get the occasional podium but nothing super spectacular from them.

7-9) I think these teams will still be at the back but I think all of them will regularly be in the points and getting into Q3. If we have a crazy race which some are bound to happen we can see them all in the points and possible podiums.

My ranking of the constructors.

- Mercedes
- Ferrari
- RedBull
- McLaren
- Aston Martin
- Alpine
- Alpha Tauri
- Williams
- Haas
- Alfa Romeo

I like the changes to the Sprint where more points are allotted. I also like 2 of the 3 tracks they are running them at this year (The RBR and Interlagos I like, but not Imola) I would put the first sprint in Australia actually if we are going to have them in equal intervals throughout the season.

Day one of testing completed. Here's a few select coverage from F1

Jolyon Palmer's first impressions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aRiyvM9kx8
Best bit of Day 1 testing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJbVYG50Pxw&t=234s

Leclerc tops the leaderboard, but of course testing doesn't prove much. It could just be some teams sandbagging...

Still months away, but I'm guessing the September Russian GP is likely in jeopardy.

Virtual737 wrote:

Still months away, but I'm guessing the September Russian GP is likely in jeopardy.

It is very likely it will not be held due to the sanctions on Russia as to banking, doing business by the USA, EU from the invasion of the Ukraine.
What needs to happen in F1 is that there is real passing in races, not a parade set by the fastest lap times in qualifying. That is one reason I like the USA's Indy Car racing, especially on road circuits.

ltbewr wrote:

What needs to happen in F1 is that there is real passing in races, not a parade set by the fastest lap times in qualifying. That is one reason I like the USA's Indy Car racing, especially on road circuits.

That's what the new regulations are for, to reduce the dirty air from the cars' aerodynamics and allow closer racing which undoubtedly would bring about passing.

I just want to say how grateful I am that all the cars seem to look much, much better than that awful mockup that FOM showed off quite a lot last year.

Virtual737 wrote:

Still months away, but I'm guessing the September Russian GP is likely in jeopardy.

It should be dropped from the schedule immediately. Let's go to Turkey instead.

scbriml wrote:

Virtual737 wrote:

Still months away, but I'm guessing the September Russian GP is likely in jeopardy.

It should be dropped from the schedule immediately. Let's go to Turkey instead.

Malaysia please )

scbriml wrote:

Virtual737 wrote:

Still months away, but I'm guessing the September Russian GP is likely in jeopardy.

It should be dropped from the schedule immediately. Let's go to Turkey instead.

Or considering the dates you could do another race in Asia such as Malaysia as Singapore and Japan are right after the Russian GP and the Russian GP is the first of a triple header.

StarAC17 wrote:

Or considering the dates you could do another race in Asia such as Malaysia as Singapore and Japan are right after the Russian GP and the Russian GP is the first of a triple header.

Malaysia would be nice! A small FU to Russia for shooting down MH17.

Yep Malaysia would be fantastic. Ridiculously underrated track. Vettel has already said that he'll boycott the Russian Grand Prix.

zkojq wrote:

I just want to say how grateful I am that all the cars seem to look much, much better than that awful mockup that FOM showed off quite a lot last year.

I love engineering approaches the teams tried. So many concepts. Someone is going to get it right, someone is going to get it wrong. I started following in the 2015 season. What an upgrade from those ugly cars.

Is Haas in financial trouble follow the Russian invasion? Hopefully more drivers come out and don't race in Russia.

zkojq wrote:

Yep Malaysia would be fantastic. Ridiculously underrated track. Vettel has already said that he'll boycott the Russian Grand Prix.

Verstappen didn't say he would boycott but did say that that is would be unacceptable for F1 to race in a country at war and wants in cancelled.

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2022/02/ ... cellation/

PHLspecial wrote:

Is Haas in financial trouble follow the Russian invasion? Hopefully more drivers come out and don't race in Russia.

I can't find a link but did see that Gunther has planned for any contingences surrounding this but as of now he is being quiet on the issue. They pulled him from a press conference today.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-auto ... ns-F1-news

Edit. Breaking from the Race.

Haas will drop Uralkali from their car for the final day of testing in Barcelona.

https://the-race.com/formula-1/haas-ura ... e-mazepin/

Virtual737 wrote:

scbriml wrote:

Virtual737 wrote:

Still months away, but I'm guessing the September Russian GP is likely in jeopardy.

It should be dropped from the schedule immediately. Let's go to Turkey instead.

Malaysia please )

Realistically, not going to happen. There will be such a big backlash that I doubt the Malaysian government would even consider paying to organize the race.

But if it does happen, I'd be the first to buy a ticket!


On Haas, am I the only one who thinks that if Gene Haas wants out of F1, now's the time for him to start calling the Andrettis?

Well, I'll shed no tears for Sochi, politically it should not go on and frankly the track stinks anyway imo.

F1 has announced the Russian GP will not go ahead. BUT, the statement is less than forceful and includes conditional language that leaves the way open for it to go ahead.

https://twitter.com/F1Media/status/1497 ... 32/photo/1


Just grow some balls, tell the Russians it's cancelled and another race will replace it.

scbriml wrote:

F1 has announced the Russian GP will not go ahead. BUT, the statement is less than forceful and includes conditional language that leaves the way open for it to go ahead.

https://twitter.com/F1Media/status/1497 ... 32/photo/1


Just grow some balls, tell the Russians it's cancelled and another race will replace it.

They should use those amazing words of the Ukrainians defending the island...

"Russian organisers, go F*** yourselves"

scbriml wrote:

F1 has announced the Russian GP will not go ahead. BUT, the statement is less than forceful and includes conditional language that leaves the way open for it to go ahead.

Well, September is a way off. If Putin is out of power, Russian troops are out of Ukraine, and there is a stable, sane government in Moscow by then, I guess they could go ahead with the race. I think the odds of all that happening are somewhere between slim and none though.

Moose135 wrote:

scbriml wrote:

F1 has announced the Russian GP will not go ahead. BUT, the statement is less than forceful and includes conditional language that leaves the way open for it to go ahead.

Well, September is a way off. If Putin is out of power, Russian troops are out of Ukraine, and there is a stable, sane government in Moscow by then, I guess they could go ahead with the race. I think the odds of all that happening are somewhere between slim and none though.

And I thought I was an optimist!

I have a bridge for sale that you may be interested in. Only one careful owner.

T18 wrote:

Well, I'll shed no tears for Sochi, politically it should not go on and frankly the track stinks anyway imo.

This was the last year the race was going to be held there.
It was scheduled to move to St. Petersburg from 2023 onwards.

Of course F1 races will be held in China, ME, other countries with terrible human and political rights (and yes, as well the US race in Texas a state that is making it more difficult to vote by poor and non-Whites, passing laws against legal abortions, anti-GLTBQ+ policies).
I don't think F1 and many sponsors could be involved anyway due to financial sanctions imposed by US, EU, UK on Russia. Plenty of qualified places to hold a replacement race as other posters noted above.

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Virtual737 wrote:

scbriml wrote:

It should be dropped from the schedule immediately. Let's go to Turkey instead.

Malaysia please )

Realistically, not going to happen. There will be such a big backlash that I doubt the Malaysian government would even consider paying to organize the race.

But if it does happen, I'd be the first to buy a ticket!


On Haas, am I the only one who thinks that if Gene Haas wants out of F1, now's the time for him to start calling the Andrettis?

With this mess he probably does now, although they have a promising relationship with Ferrari and just opened a facility in Maranello IIRC.

In F1 forums it was thought that Dimitri Mazepin would take over Haas eventually. Andretti would be nice to be the American team in F1 but I don't really think an American team is absolutely necessary for F1.

What would really make F1 take off in the US is a driver that is on a top team that can win races and compete for a championship. If a driver like Daniel Riccardo or Sergio Perez were American's the popularity would double overnight.

F1 developments -

Motorsport UK bans all Russian and Belarus drivers from competing in races in the UK:
https://www.racefans.net/2022/03/02/rus ... rsport-uk/

Motorsport UK, the FIA-recognised governing body of British motorsport, has announced Russian licence holders are forbidden from competing in events in the UK.

It has taken the move in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine one week ago. Yesterday the FIA implemented a series of restrictions on Russian licence holders but allowed them to take part in its competitions providing they did so as neutrals.

Motorsport UK has gone further, announcing Russian and Belarusian licence-holders will be forbidden from taking part in events in Britain. The move applies to drivers and teams, and would therefore prevent Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin from being able to participate in July’s British Grand Prix.

And in a much stronger move after their initial (IMHO) weak response, the FIA has now terminated the Russian GP contract, meaning not only is this years race cancelled, but all future ones as well. It will be some time before F1 ever returns to Russia.
https://www.planetf1.com/news/russian-g ... erminated/

Now the sport’s organiser have gone one step further by terminating its contract with the Russian Grand Prix promoter, meaning there will be no races in the country for the foreseeable future.

“Formula 1 can confirm it has terminated its contract with the Russian Grand Prix promoter meaning Russia will not have a race in the future,” the statement read.

scbriml wrote:

And in a much stronger move after their initial (IMHO) weak response, the FIA has now terminated the Russian GP contract, meaning not only is this years race cancelled, but all future ones as well. It will be some time before F1 ever returns to Russia.
https://www.planetf1.com/news/russian-g ... erminated/

Now the sport’s organiser have gone one step further by terminating its contract with the Russian Grand Prix promoter, meaning there will be no races in the country for the foreseeable future.

“Formula 1 can confirm it has terminated its contract with the Russian Grand Prix promoter meaning Russia will not have a race in the future,” the statement read.

I was too late to edit this, it's F1 that cancelled the Russian GP contract, not the FIA.

Apparently the FIA is fine with Russian and Belarus drivers as long as they don't wave their flags.

scbriml wrote:

scbriml wrote:

And in a much stronger move after their initial (IMHO) weak response, the FIA has now terminated the Russian GP contract, meaning not only is this years race cancelled, but all future ones as well. It will be some time before F1 ever returns to Russia.
https://www.planetf1.com/news/russian-g ... erminated/

Now the sport’s organiser have gone one step further by terminating its contract with the Russian Grand Prix promoter, meaning there will be no races in the country for the foreseeable future.

“Formula 1 can confirm it has terminated its contract with the Russian Grand Prix promoter meaning Russia will not have a race in the future,” the statement read.

I was too late to edit this, it's F1 that cancelled the Russian GP contract, not the FIA.

Apparently the FIA is fine with Russian and Belarus drivers as long as they don't wave their flags.

FIFA says ok to participation as long as no waving flags, some teams/athletes say “nah, you can f*ck off”, FIFA reassess position and says no to any Russians.

IOC says ok to participation as long as no waving flags, some teams/athletes say “nah, you can f*ck off”, IOC reassess position and says no to any Russians.

FIA says ok to participation as long as no waving flags, some teams/athletes say “nah, you can f*ck off”, FIA then…..

The big corrupt sports just assessing if the reputational damage will be greater or lesser than the loss in dirty money.

Fred


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

flipdewaf wrote:

scbriml wrote:

scbriml wrote:

And in a much stronger move after their initial (IMHO) weak response, the FIA has now terminated the Russian GP contract, meaning not only is this years race cancelled, but all future ones as well. It will be some time before F1 ever returns to Russia.
https://www.planetf1.com/news/russian-g ... erminated/

I was too late to edit this, it's F1 that cancelled the Russian GP contract, not the FIA.

Apparently the FIA is fine with Russian and Belarus drivers as long as they don't wave their flags.

FIFA says ok to participation as long as no waving flags, some teams/athletes say “nah, you can f*ck off”, FIFA reassess position and says no to any Russians.

IOC says ok to participation as long as no waving flags, some teams/athletes say “nah, you can f*ck off”, IOC reassess position and says no to any Russians.

FIA says ok to participation as long as no waving flags, some teams/athletes say “nah, you can f*ck off”, FIA then…..

The big corrupt sports just assessing if the reputational damage will be greater or lesser than the loss in dirty money.

Fred


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Not all Russians are bad. In motorsport we only think of Mazepin but never talk about people like Shwartzman, whose father's not an oligarch with inside ties to Putin, or even Kvyat. They will be affected by this, and undoubtedly their careers will be over, simply because they're holding the wrong passport. What else can they do?

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Not all Russians are bad. In motorsport we only think of Mazepin but never talk about people like Shwartzman, whose father's not an oligarch with inside ties to Putin, or even Kvyat. They will be affected by this, and undoubtedly their careers will be over, simply because they're holding the wrong passport. What else can they do?

Yes it's not fair, but it's nothing compared to what the ordinary Ukrainian citizens are facing. I'd much rather none of this was necessary, but every and all pressure needs to be applied to Russia to stop their madness. If some of their privileged sports people are hindered in that move then I wont be losing too much sleep over it.

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Not all Russians are bad. In motorsport we only think of Mazepin but never talk about people like Shwartzman, whose father's not an oligarch with inside ties to Putin, or even Kvyat.

Kvyat's father is/was a politician - though I've got no idea if that was as a member of United Russia (Vladolf's party) or an opposition party.

Virtual737 wrote:

Yes it's not fair, but it's nothing compared to what the ordinary Ukrainian citizens are facing. I'd much rather none of this was necessary, but every and all pressure needs to be applied to Russia to stop their madness. If some of their privileged sports people are hindered in that move then I wont be losing too much sleep over it.

And in any case, Mazepin's father is an oligarch and a close associate of Putin who met with him last week. As such, he's exactly the sort of person who should be feeling the full weight of economic, sporting and Visa related sanctions.





Also, since this is a.net, Pappa Mazepin's plane is a Gulfstream G650 registered M-INSK (he was born in Minsk, Belarus). Transponder address is 43EA36 if you want to track it. Might fly some interesting sectors if he gets sanctioned.



Last trip seems to be to Dubai and back on the 27th.

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=43 ... 2022-02-27

Mazepin is out and Uralkali is no longer a Haas sponsor.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/haas ... i/8717959/

Haas F1 Team's statement:

https://twitter.com/HaasF1Team/status/1 ... 7581158412

TheF15Ace wrote:

Mazepin is out and Uralkali is no longer a Haas sponsor.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/haas ... i/8717959/

Haas F1 Team's statement:

https://twitter.com/HaasF1Team/status/1 ... 7581158412

Good riddance.

I am sure there will be a sigh of relief amongst the drivers that Mazepin is gone.

His new employer is not quite happy either.

Virtual737 wrote:

TheF15Ace wrote:

Mazepin is out and Uralkali is no longer a Haas sponsor.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/haas ... i/8717959/

Haas F1 Team's statement:

https://twitter.com/HaasF1Team/status/1 ... 7581158412

Good riddance.

Mazepin is whining in his statement on the matter. I really don’t want to link to it since he refers to a murderous invasion of another country as “a difficulty”.

scbriml wrote:

Mazepin is whining in his statement on the matter. I really don’t want to link to it since he refers to a murderous invasion of another country as “a difficulty”.

Just goes to show that money cannot buy class.

EDIT: I've just read his rant. He seems to think he was in F1 on merit. There is no way that HAAS can continue with UralKali (who are literally full of shit) and so as soon as that relationship ends then the brat goes too.

Has any decision been made by the Hass team as to a replacement ? Perhaps someone in the IndyCar series they have long participated in ?
Has any proposed replacement for the Russian slot been made yet, or will it be left empty and not replaced ?

ltbewr wrote:

Has any decision been made by the Hass team as to a replacement ? Perhaps someone in the IndyCar series they have long participated in ?
Has any proposed replacement for the Russian slot been made yet, or will it be left empty and not replaced ?

Links a plenty on the interweb, but Fittipaldi for the drive I would hope (or why have a reserve driver) and Sepang is gearing up for a potential return this year.

Excellent - don't let the door hit you on the way out, Nikita! Mazepin will forever be known as the guy who finished 21st in the 2021 season despite only twenty cars participating in the championship.

Who do we want to replace him? Looks like Has intended to call up Pietro Fittipaldi in the short term if there were any sanctions based difficulty with Mazepin. I guess it's good for the sport to have an American/Brasilian in the sport, though I'm not in any way convinced by his junior career.

I feel that Callum Ilott deserved a chance at F1, but the British Media will be absolutely unbearable if there's five Brits on the grid. He has Ferrari connections which might be worth something.

There was talk during the Barcelona Test of Giovinazzi returning, but I'm not sure if that was based on anything solid. I'm not really convinced he deserves another shot but his performance last year was much, much better than what the scoreboard reflected (seriously his bad luck was nearly as comical as Lundgaard's).

Would Nyck deVries find it worth the risk to cut ties with Mercedes and move to a backmarker F1 team? I guess Mercedes is leaving FE at the end of this season, so might as well.

Any other likely candidates? I'd love for Stoffel Vandoorne to return and prove to the world that McLaren screwed him, but have come to accept that it's not going to happen.

Virtual737 wrote:

and Sepang is gearing up for a potential return this year.

Even more good news!

Virtual737 wrote:

scbriml wrote:

Mazepin is whining in his statement on the matter. I really don’t want to link to it since he refers to a murderous invasion of another country as “a difficulty”.

Just goes to show that money cannot buy class.

EDIT: I've just read his rant. He seems to think he was in F1 on merit. There is no way that HAAS can continue with UralKali (who are literally full of shit) and so as soon as that relationship ends then the brat goes too.

I'm not sure if you and @petertenthije were hinting at it,but I seem to recall BBC's F1 commentary team saying that there was a feeling among some of the other drivers that Mazepin was not good enough to hold a Superlicence,and was frankly dangerous.

I think any driver should try to get the seat unless they're very sure of having another one next year, there is no harm in driving for Haas, however will the team even last for the season without their main sponsor ?

Breaking news. Mazepin still has hope for a seat in F1 for 2022:

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/2928286900

Virtual737 wrote:

Breaking news. Mazepin still has hope for a seat in F1 for 2022:

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/2928286900

That's just mean!

Virtual737 wrote:

Breaking news. Mazepin still has hope for a seat in F1 for 2022:

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/2928286900

He’d be good as a white van man! They’re always ‘Russian’ around…..

*a groan is as good as a laugh for a dad joke…

Fred


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

An interesting surprise from Haas - Kevin "Suck My Balls" Magnussen returns to replace Mazepin!

I guess they realized they needed an experienced racer to help develop the car.

https://www.haasf1team.com/news/kevin-m ... as-f1-team

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

An interesting surprise from Haas - Kevin "Suck My Balls" Magnussen returns to replace Mazepin!

I guess they realized they needed an experienced racer to help develop the car.

https://www.haasf1team.com/news/kevin-m ... as-f1-team

Rather him than Grosjean, but is that really the best they could do? Underwhelmed to say the least.

Pierre Gasly is giving the new cars a thumbs up in terms of racing capabilities. So are we going to get more exciting races, especially for the first one this Sunday? I sure hope so!

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... T0sqq.html

As for Mercedes & Lewis Hamilton, are they really in trouble, or is it just a case of sandbagging to the extreme?

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/24181 ... favourites

TheFlyingDisk wrote:

Pierre Gasly is giving the new cars a thumbs up in terms of racing capabilities. So are we going to get more exciting races, especially for the first one this Sunday? I sure hope so!

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... T0sqq.html

As for Mercedes & Lewis Hamilton, are they really in trouble, or is it just a case of sandbagging to the extreme?

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/24181 ... favourites

Frankly I believe it to be more sandbagging/lies from them as usual. They have form.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CbDE5EItCtC ... =copy_link