FORMULA 1 STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX 2022 - Jeddah - Qualifying.. ▄▀▄▀▄▀ SPOILERS▄▀▄▀▄▀

Checo out of no where, that was very unexpected

 

I think Hamilton and Russell went for different set ups, and Hamilton got his wrong. The car looks tricky to drive and porpoises more than others.

It doesn't take much to completely ruin the balance of a car and make it near impossible to drive. Mostly if it has basic flaws like the Merc seems to have.

I suppose that once he did a few laps and found the car not to his liking, Hamilton gave up, not wanting to risk an off.

 

Yeah, and regularly between 8-1 second off the pace, and having to fight Alfa Romeo and Renault.

They're going through what we went through in 2009.

 

It only stands to reason, what with this being George's second race with Mercedes (I guess third, technically) and Lewis being the greatest driver in Formula 1 history.

 

what a crazy qualifying session.

First and foremost, glad Mick is okay. That was a very scary wreck. When the TV cameras stay away from what's going on and you don't hear any updates, it makes one think of terrible scenarios. Broken wrist, legs, or ribs was going through my head, and then to see him on the stretcher looking in good condition was a huge relief. As for his performance. Ooof... that might be a decent hit on his confidence as well.

Ferrari, soooo close. I thought Leclerc put in a great lap, just lost a little in the last sector. Couldn't see where exactly. Charles is the first to criticize himself, and didn't mention anything. A 2-3 start, that's solid. I didn't expect Ferrari to even be this competitive since I haven't seen a big low downforce package get thrown on the car like other teams, and this track is 80% full throttle, with 3 sections near 320 kph.

Perez, wow give him some credit. Moments after cheering out loud for Leclerc I see Green and Purple on Perez lap, heading into S3 where the RBR's are hitting upwards of 335 kph! Sure enough, nipped our boys. It's very rare that any driver out qualifies Max, so hats off. I think the race should favor Red bull in terms of outright pace, and likely have all the tools to control the race if they get out front. It's going to be near impossible to pass them with their speed advantage. But we can't rule out tire wear, strategy with safety cars, and of course reliability. I certainly think Ferrari will be in the fight.

Mercedes. HA HA! Watching Stroll out-qualify Hamilton was a delight. Anyone saying Russell is so much better than Lewis, or that Lewis can't drive a car that isn't dominant... it's just one race. That is TBD.

Alpine look strong, but should not have a shot of a podium without a mistake from at least 2 of the top 4 guys.

Shout out to Bottas and Alfa once again. They did very good.

 

I’m happy for Checo; after 215 race starts he’s finally clinched his first pole, even if he doesn’t win, it’s an accomplishment.

Don’t want to jinx anything by making Ferrari predictions, but I’m as hopeful as I was during the Bahrain gp and am going to use my inside voice!

Someone is going to trip over someone in the midfield tomorrow and I expect a few crazy restarts.

 

Really happy he didn’t retire at the end of 2021.
Just imagine what British media would say today if Bottas and Russell were driving this car ..

 

A driver tends to work with his mechanic to "tune" the car to his liking, and the parameters to play with are almost infinite.
But it's really only when he goes on the track that his choice is validated, or not.
It maybe that Hamilton and Russell work independently, trying to make the new car to work.
The Mercedes chassis is not a success, it seems, and the engine is also down on power.

 

I haven’t watched…but Russell outqualified Hamilton and it sounds like Perez outqualified Max? Talk about weird world lol!

 

Max result today demonstrated the Red Bull is a car difficult to set up with peak of downforce.
I can’t see a Red Bull better than our duo in race pace tomorrow.

 

Well the Mercedes is at best the 3rd best car on the grid. Bad performance by Hamilton plain simple…proves he has the same car as Russell at least


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True, but I wouldn't draw conclusion from that.

Now, it that happens regularly during the season, that would be a different matter.

It's undeniable that Hamilton had a bad day today.

We will see if that reoccurs in future, but I already said, Hamilton has already started the decline process.

 

2020 at Bahrain, Russell nearly drove Ham's car to victory with relatively little setup and "tuning" opportunity.

Today Russell was significantly superior to Ham. Will this be a trend going forward? Hard to say.

Perhaps the reality is the young driver Russell can more easily adapt to this new car and is less likely to have as much negative transfer from previous Formula(s) as does Ham.

Again, who knows. But I'm looking very forward to tomorrow and hopefully more slammed headsets in the Merc garage.

 

Alpine will surprise us this year !

 

That’s why we watch!

 

They were always going to produce a good engine, have always done so in the past.

I thought Danny Ric mad a mistake leaving them for McClunken

 

Possibly but I doubt. If any decline it’s mental. He is in better shape than most & at 40 Alain Prost won wdc after a year off. So to me, no excuses. I believe he is great but he got spanked.
It happens. Senna got spanked by Hakkinen a few times too.


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Well last year it seemed he didn’t but surely did this year… I’m surprised it has taken them so long to be competitive


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You are right and Russell could adapt quicker to the new "ground effect" Mercedes than Hamilton.

That would explain the bad performance.

 

I’m shocked Perez beat him today.
This could be a race where we end up with surprises, Ocon 4th last year was one


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Stroll ahead of Hamilton.

That just made my day.