Popular Post BOF Posted January 14, 2022 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted January 14, 2022 Link to 2021 thread here Well having seen more interest than ever on VT in 2020 for F1, that was soon blown out of the water by last season's amazing season and 125 page thread. I'd say the drama on track along with the Drive to Survive drama off track probably means 2022 will be one of the most watched seasons this century. If not the most. This season also brings with it some of the most comprehensive design changes the sport has ever seen from one season to the next. Adrian Newey called them the most significant since 1983. Let's kick it all off with the usual set of variables and constants. LAUNCH DATES1. Haas - Feb 4th (VT)2. Red Bull - Feb 9th (VT)3. Aston Martin - Feb 10th (VT)4. McLaren - Feb 11th (VT)5. AlphaTauri - Feb 14th (VT)6. Williams - Feb 15th (VT) 7. Ferrari - Feb 17th (VT) 8. Mercedes - Feb 18th (VT) 9. Alpine - Feb 21st (VT)10. Alfa Romeo - Feb 27th (VT) TEAM CHANGES The only change at team level is the confirmation of Honda's departure and their engines being taken over by Red Bull under 'Red Bull Powertrains'. As such, the engine in the back of the Red Bull and AlphaTauri this season will be a 'Red Bull'. DRIVER CHANGES Kimi Räikkönen leaves the sport after 19 seasons and his seat at Alfa Romeo is taken by Valtteri Bottas. George Russell moves up to partner Lewis Hamilton (assuming he comes back). Russell's place at Williams is taken by the returning Alex Albon who renounces his Red Bull contract to drive the Merc powered car. Guanyu Zhou is the only rookie, promoted from Formula 2 to take the other Alfa Romeo seat from the outgoing Italian Jesus (Giovinazzi), giving Alfa an all new line-up. The rest stay the same for now. The rumours are if Lewis doesn't return then Merc would try for Gasly and then Ocon, with the latter paving the way for serial champion Oscar Piastri at Alpine. TEAM ENGINE CHASSIS DRIVERS Mercedes Mercedes W13 Lewis Hamilton George Russell Red Bull Red Bull RB18 Max Verstappen Sergio Pérez Ferrari Ferrari F1-75 Charles Leclerc Carlos Sainz McLaren Mercedes MCL36 Lando Norris Daniel Ricciardo Alpine Renault A522 Fernando Alonso Esteban Ocon AlphaTauri Red Bull AT03 Pierre Gasly Yuki Tsunoda Aston Martin Mercedes AMR22 Sebastian Vettel Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes FW44 Nicholas Latifi Alex Albon Alfa Romeo Ferrari C42 Valtteri Bottas Guanyu Zhou Haas Ferrari VF-22 Mick Schumacher Nikita Mazepin CALENDAR The usual covid caveat, but currently the plan is to have 23 races. Returning are Australia, Canada, Japan & Singapore. Miami makes its debut. Portugal, Styria & Turkey are removed. They were only in to pad the covid-hit 2021 calendar. Qatar is removed but will be back in 2023. China is also removed because of covid travel restrictions. 1 Bahrain Sakhir 20/03/2022 2 Saudi Arabia Jeddah 27/03/2022 3 Australia Melbourne 10/04/2022 4 Italy Imola 24/04/2022 (s) 5 USA Miami 08/05/2022 6 Spain Barcelona 22/05/2022 7 Monaco Monte Carlo 29/05/2022 8 Azerbaijan Baku 12/06/2022 9 Canada Montreal 19/06/2022 10 Great Britain Silverstone 03/07/2022 11 Austria Red Bull Ring 10/07/2022 (s) 12 France Paul Ricard 24/07/2022 13 Hungary Budapest 31/07/2022 14 Belgium Spa-Francorchamps 28/08/2022 15 Netherlands Zandvoort 04/09/2022 16 Italy Monza 11/09/2022 17 Russia Sochi 25/09/2022 18 Singapore Marina Bay 02/10/2022 19 Japan Suzuka 09/10/2022 20 USA Austin 23/10/2022 21 Mexico Mexico City 30/10/2022 22 Brazil Interlagos 13/11/2022 (s) 23 Abu Dhabi Yas Marina 20/11/2022 (s) = sprint race TECHNICAL CHANGES The overall remit was to make the new technical regulations as restrictive as possible to prevent radical designs that would limit overtaking. A specialist work group was tasked with closing loopholes before publication of the new regs. In theory this will stop any dominance and allow for closer competition while improving the aesthetics of the cars. SPORTING CHANGES So some more rules have been tweaked. There's now a sliding scale of race points depending on how much of the race has been completed. It used to be half points or full points. Now there are no points if the lead car has not completed 2 laps without the aid of the safety car. Anything from 2 laps to <25% is a points distribution for the top 5 of 6,4,3,2,1 From 25% to 50% is a points distribution for the top 9 of 13,10,8,6,5,4,3,2,1 From >50% to 75% is a points distribution for the top 10 of 19,14,12,9,8,6,5,3,2,1 >75% is full points. Also, sprint races will now award the top 8 finishers with 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 And the 'pole position' award goes to the person who qualifed 1st in qualifying (on the Friday) to start the sprint race first, unlike last year where 'pole position' was deemed to have been won by the winner of the sprint race who started first on the Sunday. IOW qualifying determines the 'pole position' award. The 3 sprint races are Imola, Austria & Brazil. AERODYNAMIC/BODYWORK CHANGES Ground effect makes a return since being banned in the 80s Bodywork is being simplified. These first 2 entries will make the underside of the car the primary source of aerodynamic grip. This reduces 'dirty air' for the car behind allowing closer racing. Sources say the car behind will retain 86% downforce compared to 55% previously. The bodywork changes will also reduce a team's ability to control the airflow around the front wheels, reducing the 'wake' behind the car. Front wing and end plates are being simplified, reducing the complexity and amount of different elements. The front wing must now be directly connected to the nosecone thereby encouraging airflow under the car by way of the wing's larger surface area and the nose's increased height. Rear wings will be wider and higher. Restrictions will be placed on using exhaust gas to generate downforce. Bodywork will be coated in rubber to reduce risk of debris on track. POWER UNIT CHANGES While many proposals were made, including removing the extremely complicated MGU-H, ultimately none were adopted. The only change here is the addition of the exhaust to the quota system. A maximum of 6 exhausts can now be used through a season. STANDARDISED COMPONENTS CHANGES These will now be regarded as 'standardised components' from 2022. Gearbox Fuel system Car floor front tray Tyre warmers A 'standard' part is a part that all teams must use. There are more but I haven't found a list. I also don't think they're right if they say Ferrari and Merc are using the same gearbox. It'll probably all come out early on in a preview. TYRE/WHEEL CHANGES One of the bigger changes is moving from 13" rims to 18" rims. Anyone watching Formula 2 for the past 2 years will be used to it by now. Only 65 45 days to the first race 8 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 14, 2022 Author Moderator Share Posted January 14, 2022 One story that has caught my eye in the off-season is Aston Martin's attempted hiring of Red Bull's head of aerodynamics Dan Fallows. Aston want him to start straight away, but Red Bull say his contract and the sensitive position he occupied requires considerable gardening leave. The courts preliminarily agree with Red Bull. It is now going to court proper. If they find in Red Bull's fasvour then he won't be able to start work with Aston until the end of 2022. That would be bloody hilarious. I do like to see Aston fall on their arse. The only bit of them I'm any way fond of these days is Vettel. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted January 14, 2022 Moderator Share Posted January 14, 2022 Hopefully the new regulations will throw up some change near the front, there was talk that Ferrari had been making a good fist of it and it'd be nice to see them a bit more in the mix again this year. The big hope though is that we get a good clean season where those that enforce the rules are back in the background. 2021 was F1's Black Sox world series fix, their Lance Armstrong year, their Calciopoli. It really needs something clean to make sure it's a sport again and not a scripted drama - it's a big year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 I agree on Ferrari, it would be great to see 3 teams all capable of winning races consistently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 14, 2022 Author Moderator Share Posted January 14, 2022 35 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: Hopefully the new regulations will throw up some change near the front, there was talk that Ferrari had been making a good fist of it and it'd be nice to see them a bit more in the mix again this year. Yeah a few of them; Lando IIRC; have been making noises about the Ferrari drivers this off-season. That would be a hell of an intra-team battle too. They'd take points off each other and affect their WDC, although Ferrari are probably the only team on the grid who place more importance on the WCC. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted January 14, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted January 14, 2022 I can't wait to see the car reveals this year. I think they're going to look awesome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 I’m definitely more excited for F1 than I have been for ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 I hope Lewis rejoins and the rivalry keeps going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 18, 2022 Author Moderator Share Posted January 18, 2022 And just like that, we have 3 launch dates in OP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choffer Posted January 18, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted January 18, 2022 I didn’t follow all that closely last year. Did Mazepin do anything to justify being retained by Haas? Other than bringing funding to the team, obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 18, 2022 Author Moderator Share Posted January 18, 2022 4 minutes ago, choffer said: I didn’t follow all that closely last year. Did Mazepin do anything to justify being retained by Haas? Other than bringing funding to the team, obviously. Over the whole season not really. He had some close calls to some decent results (from a Haas perspective) but they were few and far between. Very much the exception to the rule. You'd expect this season he'll be better, but then so will Schumacher, and Tsunoda who spent a worrying amount of last season stinking out the AlphaTauri aswell, but he started to come together towards the end. Ultimately Mazepin is there because his presence keeps an F1 team on the grid. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 18, 2022 Author Moderator Share Posted January 18, 2022 Aston and Red Bull have made a joint statement. Fallows will join Aston in April and stay with Red Bull until then. Means he gets no input into Aston until then with the season already underway. Decent compromise I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 19, 2022 Author Moderator Share Posted January 19, 2022 Formula E (I know, I know...) has introduced a new qualifying format which I think sounds a lot of fun for TV. It's a group stage followed by knockouts. Q1 is two groups of 11 cars in each. For the first race of the season each team will put a car in each group (from then on the groups are decided by championship standings). Each group gets 10 minutes to do as many laps as they can. The fastest 4 from each group go into a quarter final knock out. Fastest group A driver versus 4th fastest Group B driver etc etc. One lap each. Winner goes into the semis. Then the same in the semis. One lap each and the same in the final. The winner of the final is on pole position. Losing finalist second. Fastest losing semi is 3rd etc etc. That decides the top 8. The rest are decided by their group qualifying order with the drivers from the pole sitters group taking the odd numbered slots (9, 11, 13 etc) and the drivers from the runner up taking the even numbered slots. I wouldn't necessarily want that to replace the current F1 qualifying, but I'd be all for that in the races that had a sprint weekend involved. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted January 19, 2022 Moderator Share Posted January 19, 2022 Any news on whether the sprints are likely to go ahead this season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 20, 2022 Author Moderator Share Posted January 20, 2022 On 19/01/2022 at 19:12, OutByEaster? said: Any news on whether the sprints are likely to go ahead this season? They're in doubt so far by all accounts. Nothing definitive. Fingers crossed it's a no. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 26, 2022 Author Moderator Share Posted January 26, 2022 We now know half 6 of the grid's launch dates (added in OP). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted January 26, 2022 Share Posted January 26, 2022 On 20/01/2022 at 01:07, BOF said: They're in doubt so far by all accounts. Nothing definitive. Fingers crossed it's a no. I thought that it had been agreed last season that there were going to be more of them, am I just making that up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 26, 2022 Author Moderator Share Posted January 26, 2022 1 minute ago, leemond2008 said: I thought that it had been agreed last season that there were going to be more of them, am I just making that up? It was the wish of those running F1 to have more sprint races this season. 8 in total IIRC. But it had not been agreed with the teams. Now the teams want compensation for running what are effectively more races per season with the not inconsiderable risk of damage and wear that goes along with that, added to the very restrictive quotas they have to work under. The rumours were that both parties were very far away from an agreement, and if one could not be reached then sprint races would be scrapped altogether. Shame 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 26, 2022 Author Moderator Share Posted January 26, 2022 And on that note... Quote Mercedes and Red Bull push for $5m Sprint Boost Red Bull and Mercedes are pushing for a $5m additional budget to cover the costs of sprint qualifying, it has been reported. Italian site Corriere dello Sport has said that the two F1 titans are pledging for the extra cash boost to over any potential car damage caused by the new sprint qualifying format. F1 introduced a $145m cost cap in 2021 which also coincided with the introduction of Sprint Qualifying in Silverstone, Monza and the Brazilian Grand Prix. The cost cap will reduce by $5m in 2022 to $140m, and, according the Italian press, this has caused the top teams to push for additional funds to cover cost damage with other teams opposed to raising the sprint allowance. Ferrari have reportedly stated that they will accept an allowance offer of less than $5m, but have said more sprint races will need more compensation for teams. More in link ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimzk5 Posted January 26, 2022 Share Posted January 26, 2022 Not a fan of the sprint races at all personally, but I think If they are to continue then every team should be allowed to claim money for damage caused against the cost cap, so if a front wing gets damaged in a sprint race then it doesn't go against the cost cap, when it comes to engines, give them one engine to run for all the sprint races Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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