No F1 thread?

[mr_jon]

Norris pole 20/1.

[mr_jon]

Now 33, put a cheeky on one.

[mr_jon]

Save your money! Haha.

[Mito Man]

Do we reckon Valsechi (sp?) is always that hyperactive or does he pop pills during F1 sessions

[duncs500]

Might be a stupid question as it wasn't mentioned in commentary, how come they needed to red flag at the end there? Surely everybody had passed the crash on what was to be the final flying lap?

[duncs500]

Albeit probably it wouldn't have made much difference.

[Mito Man]

Finally watched through it properly. Well I tried to but Di Resta... Jesus wept.

It's odd how some cars seem to change so much on a track by track basis. The Haas was useless in Australia and it's a top runner again, having swapped places with the Mershaydeez.

I think the new stewards are just a bit overly cautious which is understandable after last year. The Haas incident could have been double yellows too but I don't think it makes a difference under new rules as a double yellow = deleted lap times so no different to a red either.

[Gavin]

Finally watched through it properly. Well I tried to but Di Resta... Jesus wept.

It's odd how some cars seem to change so much on a track by track basis. The Haas was useless in Australia and it's a top runner again, having swapped places with the Mershaydeez.

I think the new stewards are just a bit overly cautious which is understandable after last year. The Haas incident could have been double yellows too but I don't think it makes a difference under new rules as a double yellow = deleted lap times so no different to a red either.

My instinct is to defend my fellow Scot but "He's went" and his repetition of nothing phrases, a la Herbert, does grate somewhat. Swap him for DC and Herbert of pretty much anyone!

Sprint race was good though, enough action to keep it more interesting than many feature races anyway although this season there has been decent action. I hope Max can get the finish so the lead doesn't get to the point where CL can just cruise round in 2nd or 3rd and win.

[Mito Man]

He gave up on trying to pronounce words even more than usual this week. So far we’ve had the Tosser corner. Aqua Mineral and Zoo for Zhou

[Mito Man]

I was wondering when it would all go to shit for Ferrari.

[DeskJockey]

Yeah, that didn't go to plan. Sainz was just plain unlucky, but Leclerc can only blame himself.

Hamilton had a dismal race too. Russell clearly getting the better result out of the car, wonder if there were any setup differences between them.

[mik]

Might watch it later, but I did catch the first Ginetta Juniors race supporting the BTCC at Donno, and it was feckin superb as usual. , maintaining its place as one of my favourite current race series.

The youngsters were generally exceptionally well behaved this time out. 2nd place car attempted a move on the leader around lap2 which didn’t work and they ended up 4 seconds behind. The cameras covered them for a lap whilst they *just* managed to stay ahead of the chasing pack and build a slight gap again. I was keeping an eye on the gap to the leader reducing lap by lap as we approached the end of the race, but you saw none of that. Mainly because there was a mad 4 car melee battling for 3rd. And another group of 5 cars going all out for 8th.

Fabulous.

(2nd place did catch the leader on the last lap, but although they got ahead momentarily, ultimately the order remained)

[jamcg]

Yeah, that didn't go to plan. Sainz was just plain unlucky, but Leclerc can only blame himself.

Hamilton had a dismal race too. Russell clearly getting the better result out of the car, wonder if there were any setup differences between them.

Guessing so as Toto apologised post race over the radio describing it as “undrivable”

Think George vs Lewis is the result of their last couple of years experience. Yes this merc is rubbish compared to the last couple Lewis has had but it’s infinitely better than the shit George has had to deal with

[DeskJockey]

If you're used to driving a clapped out banger, even the worst from a premium brand would be an improvement.

[Mito Man]

George was fortunate with making up a few places at the start with the Sainz incident but Lewis remained in the much slower competitive midfield which was just a slipstream fest followed by a DRS train. Could be one consequence of the 2022 cars following closer. If it were last year I imagine Gasly would have dropped off Albon after a few laps due to overheating tyres then he’d be more susceptible to being overtaken by a faster car.

Still, George not being able to catch Lando and being caught by Bottas doesn’t bode well. Just last race Toto was saying they were a solid third in terms of the best car. Not sure now that Mclaren seem to have figured out their problems.

[jamcg]

According to kravitz the problem they’ve got is a result of the so called no-pod design. It leaves a massive part of the floor unsupported, so at high speed it allows the floor a massive amount of flex, sealing the floor to the tarmac at a much lower speed than other cars, which increases the porpoising to unmanageable levels

[jamcg]

They’ve added this stay to try and reduce the flex but it’s not solved it enough

[Mito Man]

I don’t think Ted is correct simply because if that was the actual problem they would have fixed it by now. The stays were introduced during testing and I many teams use them now, even Ferrari who have the widest bodywork in that area.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Yeah and have you seen how badly the Ferrari porpoises? It's almost as bad as the Merc.

I wonder if we're actually just seeing that Lewis can't get to grips with the car where Russell can, rather than there being any notable setup differences. And yes George had a bit of luck but 4 races in and 4 top 5 finishes vs Lewis's results and you have to start thinking that it's not just about catching the breaks.

Great to see Lando up there as well.

[Mito Man]

Makes you wonder how fast the Ferrari will be once they sort it out.

I wouldn’t write off Lewis yet, last race in Australia he was running a bunch of extra sensors on his car and managing some overheating problems. Before that in Saudi he was just caught out with the Safety Car, had the team pitted George first they would be in opposite places etc so just luck of the draw there.