FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX 2022 - Sakhir - Practice 1/2/3 ▄▀▄▀▄▀ SPOILERS▄▀▄▀▄▀

Exciting to see F1 cars running around during a GP weekend. Through testing, I only got to see highlights.

Ferrari do look good, one of the easiest cars to drive which I think will be a strong point during the races.
Charles Leclerc really seems like he is gelling with the F1-75. It would make sense that Ferrari designed this car around Charles much more than Carlos.
Ferrari's front wing flexes a lot, you can see it at the flap adjuster. I expect Mercedes or RBR to lodge a complaint soon enough.
Ferrari power might actually be very potent. Haas and Alfa Romeo are also looking quite strong.
Haas appear MUCH better than I expected, which I hope is the case.
Alfa Romeo may be quick, but I think they will be lucky not to double DNF without being incredibly conservative during the race.
Red Bull indeed look very strong. It would seem they were either running a higher engine mode, or the car has much better drag at the top end. 317 kph to Ferrari's 311.
Verstappen once again looks like he's in a league of his own in terms of what he can get out of his car. Perez way off in comparison.
Mercedes looks pretty awful. The porpoising problem is dreadful and they seem to be throwing every part and the kitchen sink at it to resolve it. I suspect the car is fast, but a car that sensitive is going to be a handful over a race.
I honestly expect George Russell to outperform Lewis. He has been driving a junk car for years, while Lewis has had the luxury of the easiest and best car for 8 years.
Hamilton's helmet looks amazing! I love the color.
Alpine might be stronger than I expected, which is wonderful. Would love to see Alonso have a car capable of being in some fights for the podium.
Aston Martin still looks like trash, and I really hope Hulk beats Stroll.
Williams back at bottom? If so, that's rough.
I hate to say it, but I think the idea of 3 or 4 teams being capable of winning is very doubtful. Either Red Bull and Ferrari will have a close fight, or Red Bull (just Max) is going to blow everyone away. Then Ferrari will likely have a big gap to Mercedes, who will probably have a big gap to the 4th best team.


Skysport coverage. I really hate to think they got rid of Button and Rosberg to bring in some nobody. Not sure who the new girl is, never heard of her. It's not that she's bad, she just doesn't have the drivers analyst side that a former F1 driver has. The one driver they do have is that pompous idiot in Damon Hill. I swear he gets a hard on with any mention of Hamilton or George, and yet looks to make Red Bull and Max as the evil villains any chance he gets. It's actually quite comical how Christian Horner and Hill react to each other.

 

Yes … I also believe they have the funds to make progress through the year


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Probably a little early for that. I won't tip Checo ahead of either Ferrari until he proves he can match Max.

I don't anticipate an easy 2x WDC. I think the first part of the year will be battling Ferrari and expect Charles to give him trouble with Carlos not far behind. I think Merc will join the fray after a couple of races and if they can fix their dolphin problems they may push ahead (based on what we were hearing when they first released their real car).

I anticipate the season will be wide open and not take real shape until we get around the June/July timeframe. Then the leaders (whoever that may be) may start to separate from the pack. I think this weekend could be a bit of a mess, tbh.

 

loose the battery pack,
loose the turbos and bring back the V10s,
loose both motors, ICE only,
Shorten the wheelbase by ½ meter,
Shorten the nose by ¼ meter,
7 gears in the box,
½ the telemetry in the car,

But, realistically, if you had a 600 KG minimum weight, ½ the field would figure out a way to be within 1 KG of that limit.
That is what F1 engineers do.

 

None of that will happen.

BTW - Loose is the opposite of tight. Lose is the opposite of win, or in this case, gain.

 

U may very well be right!
Who knows maybe it’s like 07 with this time 3 guys able to win on the last race, last lap, last corner.


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+1 I expect a 2010 repeat if anything

 

That would be cool…

at least if our boys don’t get blocked in the last race…

 

Shouldn't matter. The 2022 cars are designed to be able to follow according to F1 at least.

Seriously though, I am really looking forward to seeing if that's true.

 

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Damon Hill is the consummate gentleman. Christian Horner is not.

 

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I said it and I’ll hold to it, similar to my prediction Shoe will be stronger than Kevin.

I like that it’s still early, there’s more on the line…. (credibility wise).

Had plenty of fun with predictions in the past, especially vs. my favourite ex-F1 alumni, Fast Ian.
Miss ya, Sir I.

 

As an example the 1992-93 Williams F1 cars were insanely complicated with miles of hydraulic lines and cables while running computers that would be put to shame by a smartphone. Those cars weighed just over 500kgs WITH DRIVER. Fact is the cars can be made significantly lighter as they are pushing 800kg now. First place to start are smaller overall dimensions and the weight will shed from there. I would imagine that most of the current technology could be packaged with simpler aero in a package that would be close to 600kg. Todays cars certainly look a lot better than the ones from last year but are still a long way from the beautifully un-cluttered designs of 30 years ago.

 

I don't know if I'd call either a gentleman, or either of them necessarily rude. They both are quite chippy with each other though.

Horner is naturally going to be heavily biased towards his team. Damon Hill is supposed to be neutral as a presenter, and that just isn't the case. From their little bicker today which dates back through the 2021 season, Horner says his team always got the short end of the stick with decisions, which is obviously not true, even though I agree they got shafted more often than Mercedes. Hill however feels Mercedes got robbed, and he really wanted to pin point the one controversial call at the end of Abu Dhabi that gave Max the chance to win the race. All throughout the season Damon Hill took the Mercedes/Lewis side over Red Bull/Max side. He is heavily heavily biased. Nico Rosberg wasn't. He just said it how it was, at least in his opinion and didn't care if he ruffled any feathers. Button was very objective too.

 

Pinnacle..........of bloated race car lol

 

Max's long run pace looks very, very promising. Ferrari's piss poor but data skewed due to very little long running. FWIW Ferrari was 1.11 a lap behind on the long runs behind red bull, Alfa and Haas...! Now that's not entirely realistic and they should be closer than that, but 1.1 is a BIG gap. Presumably in reality it's .5ish, which is still enormous.

 

The average lap time on max and Charles first stint is exactly the same 37.5.
Wait Q3 mate !

 

No mate...Leclerc only did 3 laps at the very very end of the session so it's not representative...Max constantly in 37s.

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Checo has a couple races to match up or he is Bottas-2. Sorry but there is nothing in his history about being a superb qualifier. Not last year at all. I hope he can improve but frankly, has more to push against-- the Team is built around Max via Marko, and then Max. Good luck.

 

Hill is a pompous biased and butthurt person, i can't understand why he doesn't stick his knowledge to british drivers, because they're clearly a superior race in his opinion. The way he talked to Horner, attacking Max at the end of the season, when he realized his darling Elton was about to be beaten was a total disgrace, heck he's by far the worst of the sky bunch!

 

Agree, these things are trucks...you could shave some 50cm of and they would still be big, some 30 years ago they were 1m smaller, it's insane! Reduce the size, along with the front wing, and you will have much lighter and manoevrable cars, in street circuits that will create a lot more oportunity to overtake. these things just look clumsy.

 

You have a point !
BUT Italian journalist said his stint was shorter because the team decided they didn’t need more laps..

 

I think Horner got worse over the years. He was nothing like that in Vettel time.

He has become argumentative to the point of childishness.