The 2022 Formula One Thread

[Tony Lockhart]

Gordon Murray talking about the Brabham BT52 in Autosport:

“It was pretty non-adjustable,” he explains. “The front wing’s main plane was non-adjustable, so all you could change were the flaps. The rear wing was fixed apart from the Gurney, and it had no rear anti-roll bar. I didn’t want to fiddle with the car.”

Simple happy days!

Balestre had got his way and effectively banned ground effects, so traction again became an issue, as two tonnes of downforce had been produced by the ground effects cars. That was essential with the rising power outputs from the turbo cars.

A form of ground effects is back for this season.

 

[clivem2]

I'm very interested to see how the new cars turn out, what ideas the various teams come up with and how the developments progress during the early season. Thankfully we have the cars to fuel our interest as the politics and some highly partisan "fans" have poisoned the sport somewhat.

Will someone come up with a conquering concept (a double diffuser scenario) and if so how long will it take for others the catch up...or can they given the need for development tokens and the cost cap?

 

[cutting42]

I'm very interested to see how the new cars turn out, what ideas the various teams come up with and how the developments progress during the early season. Thankfully we have the cars to fuel our interest as the politics and some highly partisan "fans" have poisoned the sport somewhat.

Will someone come up with a conquering concept (a double diffuser scenario) and if so how long will it take for others the catch up...or can they given the need for development tokens and the cost cap?

This is the real exciting bit for me. A rule change will always benefit the richer teams with depth in their R&D. With Merc not using any development tokens last year saving them all for 2022 it will be fascinating if they have the edge over RB who used theirs during the 2021 title fight.

There is every chance that Merc will have clear water between them and the rest again.

 

[Bananahead]

…and yet here you still are, repeating days of old but claiming you have moved on. I rest my case.

And all I have done is respond to others posts. It certainly wasn't me that brought the 21 season into the 22 thread.

 

[Bananahead]

This is the real exciting bit for me. A rule change will always benefit the richer teams with depth in their R&D. With Merc not using any development tokens last year saving them all for 2022 it will be fascinating if they have the edge over RB who used theirs during the 2021 title fight.

There is every chance that Merc will have clear water between them and the rest again.

Are the teams allowed to carry over development tokens? At least McLaren will have some this year.

 

[Bananahead]

March 18th

FIA on Twitter: "FIA Statement

 

[Tony Lockhart]

March 18th

FIA on Twitter: "FIA Statement

“Optimise the organisation of the FIA F1 structure”
That could be telling.

 

[Rack Kit]

Are the teams allowed to carry over development tokens? At least McLaren will have some this year.

Check this out to see why I think McLaren could really step up next season. They could even jump RB.

 

[Rack Kit]

Gordon Murray talking about the Brabham BT52 in Autosport:

“It was pretty non-adjustable,” he explains. “The front wing’s main plane was non-adjustable, so all you could change were the flaps. The rear wing was fixed apart from the Gurney, and it had no rear anti-roll bar. I didn’t want to fiddle with the car.”

Simple happy days!

Balestre had got his way and effectively banned ground effects, so traction again became an issue, as two tonnes of downforce had been produced by the ground effects cars. That was essential with the rising power outputs from the turbo cars.

A form of ground effects is back for this season.

I was a big Brabham fan at the time. The old man had not long bought his first BMW (E21 316) which was a seriously cool car back then so I hooked on to Brabham because they used BMW engines and the livery was stunning IMO. Still think the BT55 is one of the best ever looking F1 cars and it looked so different compared to the rest of the cars on the grid. Shame it didn't go as well as it looked though.

 

[IanW]

Marcin Budkowski has been pushed out of Renault:

https://www.f1technical.net/news/23570

He has had a pretty successful career at a working level at Ferrari and McLaren, but after helping to get Renault / Alpine stable in 5th, they have stagnated. Their very strong driver line helped them to retain 5th in 2021, despite Alpha Tauri having a faster car over the whole season.

 

[Rack Kit]

Marcin Budkowski has been pushed out of Renault:

https://www.f1technical.net/news/23570

He has had a pretty successful career at a working level at Ferrari and McLaren, but after helping to get Renault / Alpine stable in 5th, they have stagnated. Their very strong driver line helped them to retain 5th in 2021, despite Alpha Tauri having a faster car over the whole season.

Read about that and Otmar steps in to replace him. It's the F1 merry go round again!

 

[IanW]

Aston Martin recruits Mike Krack to be Team Principal:

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2022/01/14/aston-martin-signs-krack-as-new-f1-team-principal/

I have not come across him but he has worked in F1 and other motorsports.

It does show that Otmar leaving had been planned by Stroll and Whitmarsh (probably predates his arrival) for some time as notice periods for someone that senior will be considerable.

 

[Tony Lockhart]

“Has anyone seen My Crack?”

etc

 

[Rack Kit]

Hard not to disagree with Peter Windsor re Hamilton.

Personally, I think that was his only and last chance of winning title No8. Time will tell...

 

[IanW]

Peter Windsor may be right about Lewis and his mindset, but I think that Lewis is so talented and the Merc car will be so good, that he will win in 2022.

Peter Windsor's technical understanding is weak, but he does have a good feel for how drivers drive.

Firstly, as I have explained on here. Merc started very early on developing the 2022 car as they had such a car advantage over so many years over the rest of the grid. They hardly developed their car from 2020 to 2021, doing just enough to deal with the regulation change designed to cause them problems with the low rake car. So they effectively traded in performance in 2021 for performance in 2022 and beyond. So I expect them to come out with the fastest car, unless someone does a blinder and finds a very good solution that others have missed. Merc had more time in the wind tunnel in 2021 to develop the car than RBR as at the point that the assessment was made, mid season, RBR were ahead in the constructors. Yes, now RBR have more time allowed in the wind tunnel due to Merc winning the constructors in 2021, but the performance of the 2022 car is an area under the curve problem, and Merc have had more time overall in the wind tunnel as they started earlier and have developed their 2021 car far less.

Secondly, overtaking. Yes the 2021 and earlier cars lost a lot of downforce when they got close to a car in front and so they could not follow that closely. But in losing the downforce on the straight they also had a large drag reduction and hence could close quickly. The 2022 and beyond regulations will allow cars to follow more closely, but they will not the drag reduction that the slipstream gave them in earlier years and so driver skill in overtaking is likely to be even more important. And Lewis is one of the best that I have seen at this.

 

[Colin L]

He seems to ignore the points that Russell in the Mercedes will likely take off Verstappen. Many more than Bottas did. Also, it will be much easier to overtake Verstappen if he does qualify on pole.

 

[Rack Kit]

What about the George Russell effect? Spoke to someone who works with RedBull at the weekend and he says he can see big problems for Lewis from him as he's going to be pushing him from the 1st lap in the way Lewis did to Alonso. And we know how that worked out.

 

[tiggers]

What about the George Russell effect? Spoke to someone who works with RedBull at the weekend and he says he can see big problems for Lewis from him as he's going to be pushing him from the 1st lap in the way Lewis did to Alonso. And we know how that worked out.

I think despite what Mercedes say that this will be properly managed by Mercedes as there is no way they will want to have Verstappen do a Raikkonen on them. Russell is their future, but Lewis is the current and is in top form. I suspect the team will look to help Hamilton for the 8th title all they can and if he achieves it I expect focus to move to Russell. The good thing is in those races where the Merc is right up there I doubt Russell will be languishing in 5th/6th place like Bottas did a lot of the time, he will be putting pressure on RB and Ferrari an will pick up the pieces if Lewis has an off weekend.

 

[Tony Lockhart]

What about the George Russell effect? Spoke to someone who works with RedBull at the weekend and he says he can see big problems for Lewis from him as he's going to be pushing him from the 1st lap in the way Lewis did to Alonso. And we know how that worked out.

A couple of assumptions in that.

Red Bull employees won't know Lewis well enough, how much he is training and on the sim, whether he has performance in reserve, if Russell is close.

(I hope it's close!)

 

[IanW]

What about the George Russell effect? Spoke to someone who works with RedBull at the weekend and he says he can see big problems for Lewis from him as he's going to be pushing him from the 1st lap in the way Lewis did to Alonso. And we know how that worked out.

If Russell is that good then he will take points off Verstappen as well as Lewis and so may be neutral to the championship and if he isn't that good then he will not be troubling Lewis.

Lewis is a lot stronger mentally now than he was when he joined McLaren. Yes he is getting older and mistakes are starting to creep in, but I still expect him to be the driver to beat.