2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Jeddah, March 25 - 27

[ringo]

That was a thrilling race! Shame that Perez lost out to an unfortunate situation. It also once again reaffirms the belief that Verstappen is so far ahead as a racer than Perez. He simply couldn't do to Sainz what Verstappen did to Leclerc. I doubt if Perez would have held on to the lead for the whole race looking at the pace Leclerc was showing.

I disagree. Max had no chance of touching leclerc for laps. He alsmost settled into coming second. Latifi came to the rescue and the other safety cars. No inroads were made until the end until the Redbull were clearly much faster.

[Big Tea]

I think they should clamp down on this… It’s just poor sportsmanship if you ask me and for sure getting an unfair advantage… (good thing no-one asks me anything)…

They can not without changing the rules, even then it would be difficult. They need to make it plain that if the car gets 1 inch of its nose in front for 1 second it is a penalty, then let the drivers decide. Just a tap or lift if you want to chance it

that would be one of the dumbest things ever, SC restart is part of a racing skill, there is a game being played by the lead AND the following cars, the lead car is trying to slow everyone down, so when the reaction game is played, they gain the most, and the following car is trying to bait the lead car into acceleration when it is backing off and/or trying to guess when the lead car will make its move

I personally think that VSC already has robbed some of the action from the races, and preventing restart games would make these periods even duller

I know there is an opinion that SC periods ruin racing, because usually it gives following cars an advantage on the leader, but those sour grapes usually start moaning when their guy happens to lose out

What is the difference between crossing the white line and getting in front?
You pass the limit and you pass the limit. If you do not, you are fine. The same as if you cut the track to gain an advantage, you get done. No one is forcing anyone to pass the boundary, but persistent pushing means you probably will, and pay the price.

[chrisc90]

Good race. Sad Checo was just unlucky but he could have ran away easily at the front without the Latifi sweepstakes.
The redbull did have the pace this race and Horner new it was coming to them and it did.
Leclerc did his best but you could see the ferarri did not have the composure to increase the gap to redbull.
I waa hopong Charles would win, but he didnt have enough tricks to fool Max so many times without him realizing what to do.
And at the end of the day Charles got lucky because he was gifted the lead by the safety car.
Max did his usual today but the ferrari does make him look more ordinary. He wasnt really able to make a dent all race until the second safety car.
Sainz disappointed. He just doesnt have the pace of his teammate. And i know deep down he is happy Charles did not win today.

Mercedes ran a respectable race. George had a really good first set of laps of usual.
Hamilton raced well but got unlucky with the vsc and the other safety cars. He could have finished higher than tenth but at least he was able to maintain a little points scoring streak.

Haas is really good. The car manages the tyres well and is fast. Mercedes need to beat them before they can think of fighting ferrari and redbull. And mercedes pitstops are horrible.

I think it was mentioned that max should conserve a bit and attack at the end knowing the tyres were probably going to hang on better after charles was .3 up in sector 1. Which RB did tell Max on the radio

[jknights]

The hate for Max is strong here.

A stonker of a race. Not sure if I like the new formula yet, if you loose grip you make a big step and that is dangerous, but the first two races where worthwhile.

I dont think necessarily it is for Max. I think if you follow F1 and look back it is RedBull (Christian Whingeing Horner) that people dont like.
I think him and to a lesser extent Toto Wolff have made F1 become a hostile place.

Agree that this race was a fine spectacular.
Shame that last year's last race was cocked up big time. That way maybe LH might have retired and another driver would have go a chance.
I dont know what AMG did last year when they were concentrating on the 2022 car!

[Bill_Kar]

That was a thrilling race! Shame that Perez lost out to an unfortunate situation. It also once again reaffirms the belief that Verstappen is so far ahead as a racer than Perez. He simply couldn't do to Sainz what Verstappen did to Leclerc. I doubt if Perez would have held on to the lead for the whole race looking at the pace Leclerc was showing.

I disagree. Max had no chance of touching leclerc for laps. He alsmost settled into coming second. Latifi came to the rescue and the other safety cars. No inroads were made until the end until the Redbull were clearly much faster.

This is just me, but judging from the radio talks as well, I believe MV was just waiting to push when the moment was appropriate. After the fights on lap 52/53, he fell back 1.6-1.7 seconds behind Leclerc -which was on average the distance he hold before the VSC- and then he managed to come back to him again and overtake.

[jz11]

They can not without changing the rules, even then it would be difficult. They need to make it plain that if the car gets 1 inch of its nose in front for 1 second it is a penalty, then let the drivers decide. Just a tap or lift if you want to chance it

that would be one of the dumbest things ever, SC restart is part of a racing skill, there is a game being played by the lead AND the following cars, the lead car is trying to slow everyone down, so when the reaction game is played, they gain the most, and the following car is trying to bait the lead car into acceleration when it is backing off and/or trying to guess when the lead car will make its move

I personally think that VSC already has robbed some of the action from the races, and preventing restart games would make these periods even duller

I know there is an opinion that SC periods ruin racing, because usually it gives following cars an advantage on the leader, but those sour grapes usually start moaning when their guy happens to lose out

What is the difference between crossing the white line and getting in front?
You pass the limit and you pass the limit. If you do not, you are fine. The same as if you cut the track to gain an advantage, you get done. No one is forcing anyone to pass the boundary, but persistent pushing means you probably will, and pay the price.

I kind of misquoted, I think the idea of clamping down on the acceleration/lift game being played is the dumb idea, if the following car gets 1mm in front - it deserves to be punished because it failed at its own game, but at the same time - the lead car shouldn't tap the brakes to make it happen, because that may constitute dangerous driving - the thing that Max got hit for when he tried to make Lewis pass him before the DRS line last year when he had to give the place back would be an example of that

so some leeway is kind of necessary judging these situations, and drivers/teams must immediately accept and respect consequences (which is easier said than done with all the adrenaline involved at the time), but sterilizing this and preventing the following car playing this game IMO would be a big mistake

[ringo]

Yes there was some holding back by redbull. They knew the twisty parts of the track was where ferrari were stronger. The straights and high speed stuff the Redbull seemed to have the legs.
It was a well executed race by redbull and Max.
I thought he was going to crash when they both locked up but it looks like he controllee himself a little better this race.
Leclerc need to pressure ferrari to improve the car. He cant keep giving up position to retake it again. It just goes to show the car is not fast enough if they have to resort to defensive driving. They need to sort out the drag on the ferrari. Everything else works well.
Redbull dont need to do much really. The car is perfect over the race. Maybe improve reliability.

[SiLo]

The hate for Max is strong here.

A stonker of a race. Not sure if I like the new formula yet, if you loose grip you make a big step and that is dangerous, but the first two races where worthwhile.

I dont think necessarily it is for Max. I think if you follow F1 and look back it is RedBull (Christian Whingeing Horner) that people dont like.
I think him and to a lesser extent Toto Wolff have made F1 become a hostile place.

Agree that this race was a fine spectacular.
Shame that last year's last race was cocked up big time. That way maybe LH might have retired and another driver would have go a chance.
I dont know what AMG did last year when they were concentrating on the 2022 car!

Horner and Marko and the Red Bull whining make me dislike them and Max a lot. I like Perez though, always got time for the RB 2nd driver. Pretty much the only driver I don't like, and if he moved to another team tomorrow I wouldn't have a problem with him. I just find them toxic (for me).

Also stroll, but he's a donkey.

[TNTHead]

I think tyre preservation was the key element of Max' win today. Somehow he could keep his tyres alive in the middle of the stint on hards. Then, when the inevitable SC came he could get his nose in front.

[LHamilton]

I know what I'm betting on next race: Latifi to crash again. Although, those odds might be rather low at this point. Friendly reminder that Latifi was, presumably, signed to Williams for another year because of this racing prowess since Williams didn't need pay drivers anymore. This according to Capito prior to signing Latifi for the 22' season.

Not a good look thus far.

If Williams are serious about making steps forward, perhaps looking at another driver would be prefered. Not only for driver performance, but perhaps some help in the development area as well. If Latifi can't figure out why he crashed, perhaps his knowledge elsewhere might be lacking as well.

[Big Tea]

I know what I'm betting on next race: Latifi to crash again. Although, those odds might be rather low at this point. Friendly reminder that Latifi was, presumably, signed to Williams for another year because of this racing prowess since Williams didn't need pay drivers anymore. This according to Capito prior to signing Latifi for the 22' season.

Not a good look thus far.

If Williams are serious about making steps forward, perhaps looking at another driver would be prefered. Not only for driver performance, but perhaps some help in the development area as well. If Latifi can't figure out why he crashed, perhaps his knowledge elsewhere might be lacking as well.

T.B.H, I thought Latifi was doing OK last year. He had his up's and downs but nothing to call out. This year so far he is a complete fail though.

[Magicsenna_41]

So expected a VSC for last lap but I think show was more important than safety.
Put this into perspective that safety was topic of the whole weekend...

And for the mods think before deleting comments.

[Sevach]

So expected a VSC for last lap but I think show was more important than safety.
Put this into perspective that safety was topic of the whole weekend...

And for the mods think before deleting comments.

If there was time to clear things that's 100% a VSC, but it would end the race effectively, so...

[Magicsenna_41]

So expected a VSC for last lap but I think show was more important than safety.
Put this into perspective that safety was topic of the whole weekend...

And for the mods think before deleting comments.

If there was time to clear things that's 100% a VSC, but it would end the race effectively, so...

Safety from begining to the end should taken seriously.

I bet redbull was begging for VSC unlike Abu Dhabi.
So its in favor of Verstappen what I said.
anyways both decisions were consistent... for the show

[Spoutnik]

Honestly VSC is very boring and interfer in a bizarre way in the race.

I think Ferrari might be concerned by RB, if this car is that fast while being "so" heavy