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*****OFFICIAL FORMULA ONE GRAND PRIX THREAD***** (3 Viewers)

I personally won't miss the sprint races but Liberty wants them so some kind of agreement will get hammered out.

B teams aren't going anywhere. They served their purpose 10-15 years ago to fill the field and now we're stuck with them. There are more B-teams now if you include technical alliances than there are true "independent" operations. They can try to build more fences around individual teams but it'll be difficult to enforce because  F1 has always been a copycat sport.

 
The Formula E world championship begins this weekend with two races in Saudi Arabia. In typical FIA logic, it's officially called the 2021-22 season.  They're on CBS SN Friday and Saturday morning.

It's Antonio Giovanazzi's first race weekend in FE. He joins a few other F1 washouts (Vandoorne, Buemi, JEV) in the series.  American Oliver Askew is a fellow rookie.  He's driving for Andretti which has historically been a stronger team than Giovanazzi's Dragon/Penske.  Mercedes are the favorites over here too.

I've come to tolerate the sound of FE power. The racing is gimmicky as hell but it's usually close and I need a race to get the taste of Abu Dhabi out of my mouth. 

The Rolex 24 at Daytona is also this weekend.  There's something strangely relaxing about watching cars race in the night but I like train videos too.

 
massraider said:
https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/motor-sports/chances-of-f1-race-on-the-las-vegas-strip-are-very-real-2520481/ 

An F1 week in Vegas would be just amazing. 
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It would be a spectacle drawing spectators from around the world.  On the downside, there isn't much space between the Strip and the freeway to fit a proper F1 circuit. If they really want the track to use a portion of the Strip it would be another flat boring street circuit like Sochi.

The logical places near the Strip would be south of Mandalay Bay near the airport or north Strip around where the Stardust and Riviera used to stand.  The latter site would be a boon for Circus Circus.

 
Eephus said:
It's a digital rendering of an earlier iteration of the design but it's still 2022 F1 content.  Haas has brought on a bunch of Ferrari cost-cap casualties to supplement their engineering staff.
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They also started the design work on this in 2020 - completely bypassing last season.  Hope it works out for them - kind of figure this could be the last roll of the dice, and if they still can't get into the midfield - could see Haas walking away.

3 more weeks until Barcelona...

 
Couple more news bits/reminders in the last few weeks:

Mercedes will be releasing a few of their employees in April to go to Red Bull, where they will be part of Red Bull's new technical staff - particularly around engine development.  Red Bull made these hires last year, and the two teams have reached an agreement to allow them to move shortly after the season starts.

Also, somewhat lost in the new tech specs, but the engine development freeze takes place at the start of the season - two stages, but effectively, no changes to engine designs until 2025, when new power units will be introduced.  Hence, Mercedes waiting to release their employees until after the freeze takes place.

 
Not that there was a lot of doubt, but:

Lewis Hamilton @LewisHamilton ·26m

I’ve been gone. Now I’m back!

I would guess that he/Mercedes feel the FIA are taking things seriously in their internal review, and also that Mercedes must be feeling pretty good about the 2022 set-up.

Racing can't get here soon enough.  (and I don't think the Barcelona testing session will be televised, so the wait will be even longer)

 
Red Bull RB18 launch video

The car doesn't appear until 23 minutes in but there's not much to look at. It's basically a reskinned show car that the team acknowledges bears only a passing resemblance to what will show up for the first race weekend.  The livery is in their traditional corporate colors; the only major difference is that Oracle is paying for sponsor placement on the sidepods. It's the first time since 2015 (Infiniti) that somebody other than Red Bull had that prime real estate.

 
McLaren launch

Also

Looks like a real deal, as opposed to just showing off the new livery.  Aston Martin also did a full reveal at their launch.

I imagine teams have to be pretty nervous at this stage, as different designs are rolled out - not knowing who got it right, and who got it wrong.

 
Three Saturday sprint races this year at Imola, Austria and Brazil with points awarded for first through eighth place. 

The FIA also announced rule changes for partial distance races that would have changed Spa 2021 from half points to no points.

 
The new Alpha Tauri is quite a looker especially after their ugly high rake cars of recent years.

This video compares the AT03 to the other 2022 launch cars and speculates about what this may tell us about the Red Bull.

 
Michael Masi removed as F1 race director as part of FIA restructure in wake of Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Not a surprising development, but I am surprised it took this long.  In retrospect, Masi, with his marketing background, was probably never well-suited to be a race director.

Also included in the changes, and an acknowledgment that Masi was not the only person to blame for the Abu Dhabi fiasco - "as part of a wider restructure of race control aimed at providing a calmer environment, direct radio communications between the teams and the race director will no longer be allowed."  Overdue change.

 
Eephus said:
Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer has left the team he'd been a part of since the Force India days. He was linked with a move to Alpine late last season.
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And to close this out:

Formula 1@F1

BREAKING: Otmar Szafnauer becomes @AlpineF1 Team Team Principal

 
Sinn Fein said:
And to close this out:

Formula 1@F1

BREAKING: Otmar Szafnauer becomes @AlpineF1 Team Team Principal
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Szafnauer is an experienced hand whose Force India and Racing Point teams punched above their weight.  Alpine/Renault has always struck me as one of the more political teams in the sport.  Hopefully Otmar will find the coordination between the factories in Enstone and France better than dealing with Lawrence Stroll.

 
First day of testing the new cars at Barcelona.  Norris was fastest but that's probably insignificant at this early stage of the game.

This is a good article about how the cars performed at various parts of the circuit.  The word of the day was porpoising for the cyclical changes in downforce at speed caused by variation in ride height.  This was apparently worse in real life than it was in the simulations.

 
Leclerc's Ferrari was fastest in the second day of testing.  Alpha Tauri and McLaren were also impressive.  Red Bull lost some test time due to a gearbox issue.  Alpine has been slow but at least has gotten a lot of running in.

Haas is busy removing the Uralkali branding and Russian colors from their car.  They'll run a plain white car in the final test day on Friday.  No word yet on what effect sanctions will have on the future of Nikita Mazepin and the Russian Grand Prix.

 
Formula One has cancelled the Russian Grand Prix after the state’s invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian’s Giles Richards reports.

The sport did not issue any condemnation of Russia but cited the “impossibility” of holding the race under the current circumstances.

The meeting, set to take place in September, is expected to be provisionally replaced on the calendar by Turkey, with the Istanbul Park Circuit already on standby as a replacement for potential Covid-related cancellations.

On Thursday evening F1’s CEO Stefano Domenicali held a meeting with the team principals and the FIA to discuss the Russian GP, with clear, widespread opinion that the sport could not go to Russia while it engaged in an invasion of Ukraine.

Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner had described the idea of going to Russia as simply untenable and the world champion Max Verstappen had decried the idea of going racing in a country that had declared war on a neighbouring state. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was the first driver to declare he would boycott the race if it went ahead.

A statement from F1 read: The FIA Formula 1 World Championship visits countries all over the world with a positive vision to unite people, bringing nations together. We are watching the developments in Ukraine with sadness and shock and hope for a swift and peaceful resolution to the present situation. On Thursday evening Formula One, the FIA, and the teams discussed the position of our sport, and the conclusion is, including the view of all relevant stakeholders, that it is impossible to hold the Russian Grand Prix in the current circumstances.
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Eephus said:
It would be a spectacle drawing spectators from around the world.  On the downside, there isn't much space between the Strip and the freeway to fit a proper F1 circuit. If they really want the track to use a portion of the Strip it would be another flat boring street circuit like Sochi.

The logical places near the Strip would be south of Mandalay Bay near the airport or north Strip around where the Stardust and Riviera used to stand.  The latter site would be a boon for Circus Circus.
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Is Caesar's parking lot avaiable?

-QG

 
Tony Stewart, lover of all forms of racing, must thank his lucky stars every night that he did not join in on the Gene Haas F1 misadventure.

-QG

 
QuizGuy66 said:
Tony Stewart, lover of all forms of racing, must thank his lucky stars every night that he did not join in on the Gene Haas F1 misadventure.

-QG
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Gene hasn't put much of his own money into the team for the past few years and the possibility of selling the team to Dmitri Mazepin had been widely rumored.  With that off-ramp closed, it'll be interesting to see if there's a fit with Michael Andretti and his backers.

 
Eephus said:
Gene hasn't put much of his own money into the team for the past few years and the possibility of selling the team to Dmitri Mazepin had been widely rumored.  With that off-ramp closed, it'll be interesting to see if there's a fit with Michael Andretti and his backers.
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I’m very confident Michael Andretti will field an F1 team in 2024. Colton Herta will be one of the drivers. Herta is only 21, has European experience from when he was a teenager and has had a lot of great races in IndyCar the last few years. 

 
Eephus said:
Gene hasn't put much of his own money into the team for the past few years and the possibility of selling the team to Dmitri Mazepin had been widely rumored.  With that off-ramp closed, it'll be interesting to see if there's a fit with Michael Andretti and his backers.
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Andretti says he has reached out many times so indeed that will be interesting.

-QG

 
QuizGuy66 said:
Andretti says he has reached out many times so indeed that will be interesting.

-QG
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Mazepin reportedly brings $20M to Haas which is less than Zhou or Latifi. Gene won't like it but he can cover that in the short term.  There's no need for a fire sale like when Force India was in administration. 

 
If Dmitri Mazepin is liquid (or paid up in advance), he could still fund Nikita's ride without the Uralkali branding on the cars.  F1 has a long history of sponsorship payments without visible advertising.   Visas would be a problem at some races but probably not for the first two races on the calendar.

Haas reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi is the most likely short-term successor. He's had one of the stranger racing careers somehow managing to pick up enough points for a super license without winning much of anything.  I've seen Giovanazzi's  name thrown around as well but Fittipaldi brings money from Telmex.

 
Verstappen signs a five year extension with RBR that will keep him with the team until 2028.  Rumored AAV is $55M.

 
Have been meaning to get into F1 for a while, finally doing it this year. Almost done with Drive to Survive season 1. Don't think I'll be able to get through all four seasons before the racing starts, but I'm starting to get a feel for the landscape at least.

:blackdot:   :drive:

 
I love that Haas brought in Kevin Magnussen to replace Mazepin.  He'll be a better measuring stick for young Mick.

 
KMag in the Haas was fastest in Friday testing by 3/10s of a sec.  They were probably running a glory lap with low tanks and  aggressive engine mapping but it's still a glimmer of hope after two terrible seasons.

 
caustic said:
Have been meaning to get into F1 for a while, finally doing it this year. Almost done with Drive to Survive season 1. Don't think I'll be able to get through all four seasons before the racing starts, but I'm starting to get a feel for the landscape at least.

:blackdot:   :drive:
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I think if I were you I’d skip ahead and watch Season 4 before the start of the F1 2022 season. You’ll be more familiar with the current teams. Russell is with Mercedes now and Bottas at Alfa Romeo are the most significant changes from last season. 

 
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