F1 2022 season - Michael Masi sacked

First topic message reminder :

Otmar Szafnauer has left Aston Martin, widely expected, after Martin Whitmarsh joined the team.

Bernie would've replaced it with Belarus

Saudi Arabia as part of a coalition that includes United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain, have been bombing Yemen for the past seven or eight years on an off killing civilians and militants.   UK and the USA have been selling them the aircraft and the missiles that have been used to bomb Yemen.  We live in strange times.

No name Bertie wrote:Saudi Arabia have been bombing Yemen for the past seven or eight years on an off killing civilians and militants.   UK and the USA have been selling them the aircraft and the missiles that have been used to bomb Yemen.  We live in strange times.

Not even vaguely similar situations.

No name Bertie wrote:Saudi Arabia as part of a coalition that includes United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain, have been bombing Yemen for the past seven or eight years on an off killing civilians and militants.   UK and the USA have been selling them the aircraft and the missiles that have been used to bomb Yemen.  We live in strange times.

Selling arms to countries isn't even in the same ballpark invading them with your own forces. We can't control what other countries choose to do with what we sell them.

Plus there is the old argument that if we don't sell them, someone else (namely Russia or China) would happily step in and the end results would be no different. This way at least our defence industry makes some money out of it. I agree its not a great way to make money, but the defence industry is pretty cutthroat at the best of times. its just the nature of the business.

That said, I agree there has been a fair amount of hypocrisy in F1 (and international politics in general). If F1 was serious about standing up for human rights we wouldn't have races in Saudi, Bahrain or Qatar either.

With regards to Yemen the UN should have got their fingers out of their collective backsides years ago and intervened. Again, its less about what weapons we sell to whom, than the complete and utter failure of global organisations that were founded with the express purpose of preventing (or at least resolving) conflicts.

Halfway house for Haas might be compensation from F1 to ditch the Mazepins, particularly if he gets banned anyway this year. Andretti angling for a team in the near future might dovetail nicely after that

Max Verstappen has signed a new 5 year deal with Red Bull - to be added the existing 2 years he had left on his old deal. The Dutchman will remain with Red Bull until at least the end of 2028. £40m per season salary.

The FIA will allow russian / Belarusian (?) Drivers to race under a neutral flag, but the the British Motorsport governing body has banned them. So Mazepin would be barred from a British GP even if he remained on the grid.

Must admit I'm conflicted on the idea of banning individuals if I'm honest. While the circumstances and allegiances of Mazepin and Kvyat are vastly different, they are affected equally here. Would there be the same energy to ban Kvyat as Mazepin?

GSC wrote:The FIA will allow russian / Belarusian (?) Drivers to race under a neutral flag, but the the British Motorsport governing body has banned them. So Mazepin would be barred from a British GP even if he remained on the grid....

Will that extend to all Russians / Belarussians - engineers, strategists, support staff .... spectators?

I would suspect not.

Mazepin dumped for Fittipaldi apparently

Nikita Mazepin and his sponsorship terminated by Haas. Reading the team’s statement it seems like they where pressured into removing the driver.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Nikita Mazepin and his sponsorship terminated by Haas. Reading the team’s statement it seems like they where pressured into removing the driver.

I dunno about pressured. Mazepin's statement is pretty vague and just mentions he was willing to accept conditions...which presumably refers to competing as a neutral.

I'm guessing his continued driving for the team would have meant continued sponsorship by his father's company...and since Dmitry Mazepin is known to be a close associate of Putin, Haas couldn't in all good conscience continue the relationship.

The team's statement refers directly to its "title partnership" with Uralkali, so it seems the move was decided more by Nikita's unfortunate family ties to Putin.

It was the right thing to do. I doubt losing its F1 sponsorship will hurt the company too badly, but it doesn't help F1's image to have involvement with such companies or individuals (Mazepin Snr).

I’m pretty sure the other teams will have to help out financially, this franchise bs, if haas can’t find another title sponsor.

Fittipaldi will be an underwhelming replace as the Brazilian had never been the same after his horrific Indycar accident a few years ago.

Im not sure conscience had too much to do with it, Uralkali and Mazepin Sr being sanctioned would be an ongoing threat for Haas

GSC wrote:Im not sure conscience had too much to do with it, Uralkali and Mazepin Sr being sanctioned would be an ongoing threat for Haas

And as soon as the sponsorship money is gone, it makes literally zero sense to keep Mazepin around to drive (even taking out of account the current issues). Some pay drivers you can just about justify having a seat without the money, there really isn’t any for Mazepin whatsoever

The minimum weight for the 2022 cars will be increased to 800kg after 9 teams couldn’t make the original 795kg.
Only Alfa Romeo made the original weight.
McLaren is also under the new weight limit at 797kg.
These two teams are upset they got outvoted on the increase.

Haas want Magnusson back if they can get him out of his contract apparently

GSC wrote:Haas want Magnusson back if they can get him out of his contract apparently

Haas are trying to pull a fast one here.
Mazepin Sr had paid almost 80% of the sponsorship money upfront for 2022 - around $12m.
Haas are trying to spend the money on paying K-Mag’s salary.
Mazepin Sr will take Gene Haas to court if his money is returned.
Haas will fold without that $12m

The organisers of the Russian GP will take Liberty media and FIA to court.
They also expect their $50m hosting fee refunded immediately for 2022 Russian GP.

Meanwhile the Mazepins do end up on the EU's sanctions list

Kevin Magnussen signs multiple year deal with Haas to replace Nikita Mazepin.
This is gonna get seriously messy when Mazepin sues…

https://mobile.twitter.com/adamcooperF1/status/1501836436726861828?cxt=HHwWiMC-nYeSzNcpAAAA

Mercedes has gone for literally no side pods

The usual furore over team bosses lobbying to the FIA to get parts banned has started early I see

GSC wrote:The usual furore over team bosses lobbying to the FIA to get parts banned has started early I see

The real fun stuff

Throwback to the days when everyone wanted the double diffuser banned until they could get one on their car

Haas has been given 4hrs of testing on Sunday morning to make up for the loss of morning session today. Their freight was delayed in arriving at Bahrain.

GSC wrote:Throwback to the days when everyone wanted the double diffuser banned until they could get one on their car

F1 is, and always has been, about finding the gaps in the regulations that let you design something to give an advantage. I don't think anyone is suggesting the Merc sidepods are actually against the regulations as written, although there seems to be a bit of a query about the mirrors forming part of the aerodynamic structure of the car, which is at least a grey area (and quite a dark grey one...).

Of course, there's no evidence to date that this rather radical design is actually beneficial, unlike the old Brawn diffuser where Button tested it and was about 3 seconds faster than the field straight out of the box.

I just generally mean rivals moaning. Imagine the FIA has been picking through a littany of complaints from every team after last week

Daniel Ricciardo has Covid. Should be ok to race next week, but from the pictures he released, he looks in terrible condition.

Crofty saying it’s likely Qatar replaces Sochi on the calendar this year - and expect the 3rd race in the US to be announced soon (Vegas most likely)

Consensus seems to be Ferrari are fast, with Merc sandbagging a fair amount. RB also expected to be up there

GSC wrote:Consensus seems to be Ferrari are fast, with Merc sandbagging a fair amount. RB also expected to be up there

Ferrari pace is all relative imo. Car looks a handful and rear ended stability isn’t there yet.
Mercedes if they sort out the bouncing might be rapid.
Red Bull seem solid.

That’s the top three. Don’t see anyone else in the ballpark.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Crofty saying it’s likely Qatar replaces Sochi on the calendar this year - and expect the 3rd race in the US to be announced soon (Vegas most likely)

Really see no need for three races in America. We’d be better off with an African race or returning to Argentina.

Alpine letting Piastri race for McLaren if Danny Ric can't clear covid

Yeah that Red Bull looks decent…

RB look like they've solved the bounce effect without compromising ride height which is Mercs biggest issue from this test

Lewis Hamilton has announced his with carry both parents surname going forward. Change will be implemented as soon as legal documents are completed.

Sebastian Vettel has covid and misses Bahrain.
Nico Hulkenberg replaces him.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Sebastian Vettel has covid and misses Bahrain.
Nico Hulkenberg replaces him.

A minor question - is Hulkenberg driving the no 5 car, or does he bring his own race number with him?

dummy_half wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Sebastian Vettel has covid and misses Bahrain.
Nico Hulkenberg replaces him.

A minor question - is Hulkenberg driving the no 5 car, or does he bring his own race number with him?

#27 for Hulkenberg as he’s the official third driver for Aston Martin.

Pierre Gasly fastest in FP1 in a largely irrelevant session but good headlines for the baby Bulls.
The red cars look solid. As so the Red Bulls.
Mercedes still bouncing all over the place.

More significant running to follow in FP2

A lot of bouncing for Lewis on the straight, Merc are gonna have dial up the ride height, I can't imagine you can run the car like that for an entire race distance

That new helmet camera is immense

That 2022 Scuderia power unit seems a real step up.

The severe headshake that follows from the porpoising can't be safe over a race distance.

Seems that Ferrari has the best overall package, followed by Red Bull. Verstappen was a second faster than Perez in fp2.

No name Bertie wrote:Seems that Ferrari has the best overall package, followed by Red Bull.  Verstappen was a second faster than Perez in fp2.

Wouldn't be making any proclamations yet - will see tomorrow where pace is at for everyone. Does seem as if Ferrari have made some leaps forward though...McLaren continue to have some reliability issues, brakes during the test and Danny Ric had a water leak in FP2.

Verstappen’s Red Bull is the one to beat at present. From what I saw the Dutchman wasn’t even anyway near the limit. He looked at ease.
The two red cars are fast but Charles was certainly giving it a lot more than Verstappen.
And by general this is a track Charles is really good at, so if he can get the most maybe he can beat Verstappen but I see Verstappen with a lot more in his pocket.

Mercedes really needs to fix the bouncing. Hamilton’s neck will be gone if he has these issues in Jeddah next weekend.

For once mercedes doom mongering seems on the money. Russell half a second off Max and Charles in quali and I imagine that only gets worse when Merc has to make it drivable over a race distance.

Very little between RB and Ferrari so far. Could be anyone's race behind them in the midfield