F1 2022 season - Michael Masi sacked

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Rumours suggesting Fernando Alonso's deal with Aston Martin could be up to 4 years long. 2 years guaranteed. Third year is driver side option and fourth year is team side option.
Alonso might never retire at this rate LOL

In the end Max Verstappen is inevitable. Mercedes may well regret not chancing the mediums at the end though. Max made them last and Lewis just didn't have anything to fight with

But that is also ignoring that the lead he had was opened by a SC and a slow stop. Mercedes might not get a better chance to win this year.

Decent recovery from LeClerc, just didn't have the pace in clear air

RBR take out the constructors, Max ties the record for most wins in a season

Perez nowhere really, George's chance of a result ended at turn 1.

Good 7th for Alonso considering he was on two wheels without a front wing at one point

Didn’t see the race live but just caught up now. Verstappen different league. He’s the best driver on the grid by a big margin.
Congratulations to Red Bull for their WCC title, can’t be considered a flash in the pan when you win the WCC in two different eras.
Good drives by Hamilton and LeClerc.

Russell is average. Big mouth average ability.
Stroll should be banned. Idiot trying his best to kill Alonso.
Vettel shouldn’t be retiring…

GSC wrote:In the end Max Verstappen is inevitable. Mercedes may well regret not chancing the mediums at the end though. Max made them last and Lewis just didn't have anything to fight with

According to Toto Wolf post race they didn't have any mediums left. Ham: M,H,H. Russell:M,H,H,S. Verstappen: M,H,M

Alonso received 10 sec stop + go penalty post race = 30 second time penalty. Haas protested Alonso car unsafe due to loose mirror…
Drops out off the points - Alpine says they will appeal.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Alonso received 10 sec stop + go penalty post race = 30 second time penalty. Haas protested Alonso car unsafe due to loose mirror…
Drops out off the points - Alpine says they will appeal.

Haas have a point. Magnussen has had multiple black and orange flags this year and Alonso and Perez both completely got away with it yesterday.

Alonso nearly getting killed by an incompetent driver was why his car was smashed to pieces.

Anyway seems like wind tunnel time reduction will be Red Bull’s penalty. 25% current offer will not be acceptable. I would assume Red Bull will be looking more around 10%…
Regardless don’t see it making any real difference. Verstappen is the best driver and the RB18 can go much quicker, from what I’ve been told…

Jeff Navarro wrote:Alonso nearly getting killed by an incompetent driver was why his car was smashed to pieces.

Not sure how that's relevant, despite it being true.

It's tough for Alonso and Alpine given the incident wasn't his fault in any way. But teams are responsible for ensuring their cars are safe to drive at full speed, for everyone's benefit. Haas have been held to that standard many times this year

Audi-Sauber confirmed for 2026 and beyond.

Daniel Ricciardo set to land a pundit gig for ESPN F1 in 2023. He also rejected a chance to race in IndyCar.

Red Bull made a counter offer to Mercedes’ offer for a reserve role as well.

Hamilton dialling back on the terms of extending his deal with Mercedes. Previously hinting at a firm 2 year deal that would take him until the end of 2025. Now he’s saying 2024 is the target and no fixed plans for 2025…

Mexico has re-upped until 2025, great atmosphere and one of my favourite races. But the track needs lengthening.

Red Bull and the FIA have an agreement on punishment for the cost cap breach. Press conference tomorrow at 5.30

Such an agreement can't contain a points deduction

Renault wins appeal, Alonso’s 7th place in Austin reinstated.

It should be clarified.

They appealed that Haas' protest came after the deadline, not that the penalty was incorrect. On that basis it was upheld

Red Bull gets a 7m fine and 10% reduction.

The breach was 1.8m, albeit had a tax credit been applied correctly it would've been around 400k

Initial submission was around 4m under, costs related to unused parts, catering etc were not included

As wdc RB would be permitted 70% of wind tunnel/cfd time. That will now be 63%

As I predicted 10% down from the 25% FIA offered.
Red Bull has 2023 in the bag.

450k for AM. Filed some items wrong

Unsurprisingly, the other teams want a higher penalty unless it's them breaching in the future, in which case they'll be happy to take the precedent

I feel a literal slap on the wrist would have been harsher.

They won more money than they were fined. The punishment is pointless.

They got fined 14-15x their effective overspend, and lost 10% of their development capacity for a 0.4% overspend the FIA deemed was not intentional the first year this stuff has actually been audited.

I get what people wanted but let's be realistic for a minute

Logan Sargeant didn't complete 100km in fp1 so will need a top 5 finish in F2 for his super license

I consider this teething issues rather than intentional. As someone mentioned Bottas effectively clearing out both Red Bulls in one of the races made a difference. However of course that doesn't count. Also it doesn't count that if Masi had applied the rules correctly Hamilton would have won his 8th championship title. 70% wind tunnel use down to 63% wind tunnel use does sound significant to me given that every percentage usage could be important. 25% penalty would have been 52.5% wind tunnel use.

It's probably the most complex and open to interpretation regulation the FIA has ever had to implement. Working against an army of accoutants that spent their career hiding inconvenient costs

Ferrari unhappy Red Bull didn’t receive a cost cap reduction for 2023. In addition Ferrari unhappy Red Bull aren’t restricted in weight reduction changes.
I don’t understand the second part.

Verstappen might legitimately win one day, slap on the wrist, pathetic.

The altitude in Mexico helps propels Mercedes draggy chassis down the pit straight, but it's only enough for p2/3 as Verstappen pulls out a special lap at the death.

Perez p4 and Bottas pips LeClerc to p6.

Still, long run to T1 as we know from last year. Mercedes are in the game but can they double up on Max

The slingshot will obviously make a difference at the start. But Perez could be the danger from P4.

Be interesting to see the tyre choices. Max will probably have to take softs and get the best start possible. Mercedes could put George on mediums and split the strategies

Verstappen and Perez soft tyres. Verstappen held the lead, Perez jumped Russell. Hamilton took Russell

Red Bull two stopping
Mercedes one stopping

Verstappen
Hamilton
Perez
Russell

Missed the start and apparently little else after that.

RB probably have some optionality on two stopping from here but I think Mercedes hand was forced by Perez. Not sure what they were going for with George tbh beyond praying for a SC

Think Merc might need a SC

This has been sh!t so far

Looks like RB are sticking to the end. Tyres need to go off pretty soon.

Bit kamikaze from Danny Ric

10 laps to go and Lewis needs to be gaining over a second a lap now

Started to catch but nowhere near enough atm

Vsc from Fernando won't help

Alonso has been fantastic this season yet reliability has screwed him over numerous times.

Verstappen with a record breaking 14th win of the season, easy money for the world champion. Most points in a season as well
Hamilton and Perez complete the podium.
Pretty dreadful race, so boring that I’d probably not watch in 2023.

Well that was a bit ****

Not sure this win was on for Mercedes but they pretty much killed any chance of it with their strategy. Hards were awful. Hard enough to beat this RB package on even footing but when you're shooting yourself in the foot it's near impossible, as Ferrari have proven. Why not just leave George out to go to softs having kept him out that long anyway.

Pretty disappointing race from Russell, pretty much the story of his second half season. Not coming close to Lewis on Sundays. If Merc can get back to the front he has to up his game if he doesn't want to be another Bottas or Rosberg.

Ferrari nowhere but this track/conditions didn't work for their package at all. Bank the points and move on.

Sidenote, Gasly is now 2 penalty points away from being banned for a race and he won't lose any until May