F1 2022 season - Michael Masi sacked

First topic message reminder :

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

Ferrari has appealed Verstappen result for the pit lane line infraction.

Seems a bit desperate

They've also contested Perez for some reason

GSC wrote:Seems a bit desperate

They've also contested Perez for some reason

Didn't tsunoda get a 5 second penalty for similar and a reminder in the race director notes?

Well another great bonus weekend for Red Bull that - Ferrari clearly quicker but this time balls up strategy to lose the race. LeClerc coming away from Barcelona/Monaco with only one 4th placed finish feels like a possible point we look back on as the moment the title really slipped away...albeit still early days of course.

Not a lot else really - bit of a shambles with the whole farce around the start, and Monaco being Monaco. Having cars which are 4-5 seconds a lap quicker than the car in front, on different tyres, still not being able to pass is just not good. Really think the sport needs to consider whether it's worthy of being a track on the calendar anymore

He has a moment on a damp track and cold tyres and it's pretty marginal whether he does or not. Given he gained absolutely nothing from it, Charles was miles back, I'd be inclined to say move on, but who even knows with the stewards these days. it just comes across as a bit clutching at straws from Ferrari after they royally blew this GP

And yeah, Monaco as an event has it's prestige and history but the track is just not fit for F1 racing. We can criticise some of the places F1 goes now but I've seen more good Baku GPs in my life than Monaco GPs

They’ve been taking about land reclamation from the tunnel is down to the swimming area.
If it actually ever happens it opens up the possibility to totally reconfigure the second half of the lap.
As there’s no way alter from the start line to the hairpin.

Seems like Pérez has signed a new deal at Red Bull.

Ferrari protests rejected
Max wasn't fully over the line and Perez was fully within it

Binotto under big pressure…job on the line…

On a slight tangent, Marcus Ericsson won the Indy500. Pato O’Ward was second. Adding pressure on Danny Ricciardo.

Jeff Navarro wrote:On a slight tangent, Marcus Ericsson won the Indy500. Pato O’Ward was second. Adding pressure on Danny Ricciardo.

Danny Ric and Latifi seem most at risk of a mid-season driver change - especially with some of the young talent like De Vries, Piastri, O'Ward waiting in the wings in various development programmes, which I'm sure would love to get them a seat/drive.

Also forgot to mention in my post earlier...yet ANOTHER crash for Mick Schumacher, who is beginning to be horrible exposed. Behind his teammate on pace, and eating up the budget cap with new parts needed due to constant crashes...not a recipe to stick around for long in F1 despite your last name

Do McLaren have the funds to pay off Danny Ric midseason

Hearing that Haas(Guenther Steiner) wants talks with Ferrari over Mick Schumacher. Steiner is very much a 2+2 = 4 type of character - not one to hold back. Heard some rumours that Schumacher might not last the season...

As for Latifi, he’s truly woeful. One of the worst in F1 history.

Any finally Ricciardo/McLaren, there comes a time when you have to make the sacrifice. Ricciardo is literally offering nothing. His absurd $20m salary looks more ridiculous after every passing session. I would drop Ricciardo, considering 7 races are done, the pay off would be $12m but obviously they can try to cut that down as Ricciardo has been so poor.

GSC wrote:Do McLaren have the funds to pay off Danny Ric midseason

Suppose that depends on whether it counts towards their season budget. If not, then definitely yes.


Sad to see Ferrari throw away another race win from a commanding position. Got spooked by Red Bull's aggressive tactics and panicked. Feel for Charles - he just can't catch a break in his home race.

Could (and probably should) have just kept their guys out on the full wet tyres and waited until it was dry enough to pit for slicks. Instead they tried to copy RB and messed up. Awful comms, calling Charles in, then telling him to stay out when he was already in the pit lane.

Have to say well played RB. They rolled the dice, as they usually do when they're chasing and it paid off. Probably the most tactically astute and flexible team in the paddock. Usually the best with pit stops too.

Good race for Russell and Norris.

Some rather unsporting tactics by Alonso, trying to back Hamilton into Ocon, until he finally got bored near the end and decided to race at his normal speed. That and the closing laps, with the top 4 within 1 sec of each other, but unable to mount a serious overtake attempt, just highlights what an awful venue Monaco is. It was quite interesting while the track was wet, but once it dried out, we were back to the usual procession. Even the new aero regs, allowing the cars to follow more closely, didn't result in more overtaking.

I really won't be sorry if they don't agree a new contract...though I have a sneaking suspicion there will be enough people with vested interests to make it happen.

a) With rapidly changing conditions, track position issues, backmarkers etc it is always difficult knowing exactly when to pit for different tyres etc and so maybe we can be lenient on Ferrari a little in that it didn't quite work out for them? Threatening Binotto with the sack is maybe harsh and perhaps counterproductive - what do they have to replace him with and how long will the new guy settle in. In past races at Monaco other teams have made big mistakes - I seem to remember Hamilton being called in while leading with a few laps to go under safety car conditions, losing track position and then not being able to pass the slower cars ahead of him.

b) Ricciardo - I haven't been following his McLaren trajectory too much, but last year he changed team and it was said with the limited testing time he wasn't able to get to grips with the car quickly because it didn't match his driving style - he thought he was driving flat out but he wasn't extracting the times that Norris was setting. I seem to recall that he maybe closed the gap towards Norris towards the end of last season. This season we are back to square one with new cars and limited tested time - although Norris has adapted more quickly than Ricciardo.

c) Schumacher - it has been said that it takes Schumacher a year to get used to a new car ... Last year was his rookie season and this year we have a new car.

ps Drivers pay (which is often confidential??) is outside the cost cap so I presume that would include the extra costs that would go into dropping one driver and replacing him with another mid-season.

Happy for Checo. Not entirely sure he was going to keep Max behind him on newer tyres anyway but getting the call from that position is hard, to get his win back this week is nice. Clearly meant a lot for him, the move to RB has been a big success for both parties.

From what looked like a great title fight in prospect, now looks to be rapidly heading RBs direction. RB could be 1-2 in the championship after Baku. Ferrari and/or Mercedes need to find some big gains quickly or RB have the opportunity to open up a gap at the top in the upcoming races if they can finish.

Last year RB had championship winning experience in the team, Ferrari don't and yesterday was just a complete mess. You either go early on the inters or just hold track position. Pretty telling that sainz could work that out during while driving and refused to come in for inters. With Charles ahead of him there was absolutely no need to box.

Sainz still unlucky Latifi decided to pick a fight on his outlap or he would've won that said.

Tough on Charles, last year he screwed his own race with a fairly dodgy pole position, this year he was blameless. Wouldn't have even beaten his teammate even without the Bulls on that strategy.

Beyond that, nobody really had much chance to cover themselves in glory. Nando ultimately had no chance to go forward after the red flag and didn't have to risk the car to hold position. Bit irritating but the issue is with the track, not Nando.

If we don't see Monaco again, it'll just be the team bosses complaining

Didn't think McLaren were that cash rich, hence the constant buy out rumours

With regards to Mick Schumacher, him crashing by and large isn’t the issue. All the top drivers have crashed.

The issue is Schumacher’s two massive shunts have cost Haas around $2m. And this budget cap means that’s really killing them.

Their upgrade package has already been pushed back due to the various rebuilds of the car.

I see online ‘Schumacher is a bum’, i mean come on. He’s won F3 and F2 - of the current bunch LeClerc, Russell and Piastri are the only others that can boast that.

Haas’ primary issue is the ongoing legal dispute with Mazepin family. The $20m they currently have is vital for the team so survive. Should they lose the court case. The team is screwed.

Haas has lost that midfield edge without the upgrades, so in the near future they need to ensure they avoid these mega incidents.

Does seem like for all the talk of the new regs shaking everything up, all is settling in to how it was: it's still the same teams that are able to upgrade/develop and strategise. Looking more and more like the first few races were the opportunity for the rest to 'outperform' and the ones that didn't make hay then are going to regret it.

As for Monaco, just make it a 2 day event in the middle of a triple header with one day of practice and a modified quali as the race (best x of y laps or something).

Well the teams that had the best infrastructure and staff still do. The cars were designed before any cap came into place

GSC wrote:Didn't think McLaren were that cash rich, hence the constant buy out rumours

Maybe the team aren't. They don't have a giant multinational title sponsor like Red Bull and they aren't a works team that makes megabucks from their car divisions like Merc or Ferrari. Although they obviously have their own road car division, I'm guessing McLaren don't generate anything like the same kind of sales or revenue.

They are however backed by Mumtalakat (Bahraini royal family's investment company) who own over 50% of their shares. TAG Group (14%) and Michael Latifi (10%) are other notable shareholders.

So while they don't generate huge sums of money by themselves, I'd say they do have considerable resources to call on, if needed.

Lowlandbrit wrote:Does seem like for all the talk of the new regs shaking everything up, all is settling in to how it was: it's still the same teams that are able to upgrade/develop and strategise. Looking more and more like the first few races were the opportunity for the rest to 'outperform' and the ones that didn't make hay then are going to regret it.

As for Monaco, just make it a 2 day event in the middle of a triple header with one day of practice and a modified quali as the race (best x of y laps or something).

Its only the first season of the new regs and budget caps.

As GSC said, a lot of the initial development was done before the caps came into place. The top teams still have the best talent and it will show.

Also Christian Horner has already come out and said the budget caps need increasing, or else some teams (the big ones) may have to miss some races. Which says to me they have been burning through their budgets too quickly. Meanwhile the teams at the other end of the grid have been operating within the cap limits...

Provided the caps are enforced rigorously, we should see things become a bit more even. There will always be some disparity, due to technical and driver superiority, but it should be less lopsided than it has been for so many years.

GSC wrote:Well the teams that had the best infrastructure and staff still do. The cars were designed before any cap came into place

Shouldn't really be a surprise, but there was definitely a suggestion(/hope) before that some teams had been holding back, waiting to unleash their real potential this season.

Certainly the racing has been much better. Ferrari have designed a car that would've been perfect last year

Checo Perez re-ups at Red Bull until 2024. Essentially ending Pierre Gasly’s time at Red Bull. Additionally Red Bull declined Fernando Alonso’s offer to drive the second Red Bull for free.

I don't see why they would want him to. Perez has been the perfect #2 for them, they have a 24 year old who's probably the best driver in the world right now.

Time for Gasly and McLaren to start making eyes at each other

According to French press, Gasly’s camp has spoke to Mercedes and McLaren. Red Bull will not release him early. So he’s only available at the end of 2023. Mercedes is only an option if obviously Hamilton retires.

Red Bull won't until someone waves some cash in front of them.

There’s some talks suggesting Ricciardo being dropped but retaining his full salary until the end of 2023 - much like Ferrari did with Kimi when he was dropped for Alonso.
McLaren looking at a ‘budget option’

Despite Red Bull's "bad press" of the treatment of their drivers they seem to be the best team for supporting promising drivers with their academy. I assume that other teams do something similar but I generally don't hear about them having an academy.

Mercedes and Ferrari joining Horner in asking for the cap to be raised

Seems like Daniel Ricciardo has peed off Zak Brown yet further.
Ricciardo’s Monaco helmet had a message ‘FEA’ (f**k ‘em all).
Let’s just say Brown is said to be irate, as it’s being reported this was a targeted message from Ricciardo to Brown.
Not the most logical move when the team are actively looking to cancel your contract…

Jeff Navarro wrote:According to French press, Gasly’s camp has spoke to Mercedes and McLaren. Red Bull will not release him early. So he’s only available at the end of 2023. Mercedes is only an option if obviously Hamilton retires.

I imagine McLaren are keen to get an upgrade on Ricciardo who has been woeful since leaving Red Bull.

Jeff Navarro wrote:
There’s some talks suggesting Ricciardo being dropped but retaining his full salary until the end of 2023 - much like Ferrari did with Kimi when he was dropped for Alonso.
McLaren looking at a ‘budget option’

Hmm. I don't see Gasly as a "budget" option. Surely RB would want decent money for him. Also is a budget option really what McLaren want? Norris is single-handedly bringing the points at the moment. They ought to spend decent money to get someone on a par with him.

GSC wrote:
Mercedes and Ferrari joining Horner in asking for the cap to be raised

I hope they get told where to go. They knew the rules going into this season...its their fault if they can't adhere to them...

The whole point of the cap was to try and bring some parity and prevent the best-funded teams running away with the silverware by throwing money at their cars all season.

I see Arrow McLaren in Indycar have signed Alexander Rossi for 2023...a sign they might fancy moving O'Ward to F1 alongside Norris? Suspect that would be a good move financially too

Dr Marko did an interview regarding an assortment of Red Bull related topics.
He confirms Gasly and Tsunoda are retained for 2023. AlphaTauri will make announcement whenever they are ready to do so.

Went on to suggest a decision on Gasly will be made after 2023 is concluded - but suggests Vips, Lawson and Daruvala will be in contention for 2024.

He also confirmed no Red Bull/AlphaTauri options for Vettel or Ricciardo - door closed for good.

The most revealing moment of the interview was Red Bull aren’t looking outside their academy but if Oscar Piastri became available they would ‘make room’.

Seems like a clear nod to McLaren that Gasly is available if they are willing to pay up.

The bouncing seems like it will play a big part this weekend. Red Bull have added a metal stay as even they fear their floor can’t cope in that massive straight.

Lot of porpoising on the Ferrari - starting right at the start of that long straight, and even with DRS open towards the end. Big issue, I can't see how the drivers put up with that for a race weekend!

Ferrari very quick in sector 2. Red Bull like a missile on the massive straight.

Max's drs flap flying everywhere on the main straight, imagine the FIA will be having a word

Mercedes got to have some tough questions about their car. The much hyped Barcelona update didn’t work. Barcelona is a very smooth track and that merely masked all their issues.
So do Mercedes give up on 2022 and get on top of their car for 2023. Even if they start from scratch, the budget cap means they are still gonna be chasing their tails.

Lance Stroll redefining what is possible in a F1 car as he bins it twice in one qualifying session

Don't know if Nando can be penalised for his q1 antics but he probably should

As with most quali sessions this year, LeClerc hooks up the Ferrari in Q3 when it counts. But two RBs behind him spells trouble for sunday

Sainz goes from provisional pole to 4th. Might have been a hasty extension at this point given how it's gone.

Checo edges out Max at a circuit he usually goes well at. Max really hasn't found his Saturday form from 2021 yet.

Behind the front 2 it seems like the rest of the grid are losing ground. Russell in 5th a second off the RBs, let alone LeClerc. Good effort by the AT to finish 6th/8th.

Lewis continues to not sound very happy.

Good effort by Seb in 9th

Interesting aspect regarding top speeds

At Barcelona, both Ferrari and Red Bull had the engines in a lower mode. Ferrari obviously got the issues with reliability. Red Bull saw no benefit on a track where they wasn’t going to win - obviously LeClerc DNF worked for them.

Anyway Mercedes, fresh engine, claimed to have better top speed.

Roll forward to Azerbaijan, fresh Honda engines and Red Bull are 9kph quicker on the straights.

It’s equally amazing as well as ridiculous.

The writing is kinda on the wall at this point. A second off the RB in quali and the RB is much better on Sundays than Saturdays. 8 races in and no real significant improvement relative to the front runners since Bahrain

To be blunt. Lewis was 7 tenths off Leclerc in Bahrain. He's now 1.5 seconds off

The intriguing thing as Mercedes is they are still working to get the setup how Hamilton wants the car to behave. So Russell isn’t using the optimised setup for his driving style.

The question remains when will Mercedes opt to start going towards Russell as he’s currently getting from this car.