2022 United States Grand Prix - COTA, Oct 21 - 23

[chrisc90]

@organic - thanks. Guess Perez was lucky it come off on lap 6 then as probably would have got a flag when he come round.

@ code tower. I believe it’s only right to apply a loose bodywork rule to all cars IMHO.

I was shocked they never changed checos front wing when he boxed

[Sieper]

@organic - thanks. Guess Perez was lucky it come off on lap 6 then as probably would have got a flag when he come round.

@ code tower. I believe it’s only right to apply a loose bodywork rule to all cars IMHO.

I was shocked they never changed checos front wing when he boxed

Because these FW are strong. That endplate serves minimal purpose. They did increase the flap angle slightly when he was in.

[Sieper]

So if I understand, Haas challenged not only Alonzo’s mirror, but because on MULTIPLE occasions this year alone, they’ve been flagged and called in for the very same wing issue Perez had. Yet the FIA simply brush aside Perez’ and harshly penalize Alonzo? Man, between this and the quick penalty to Gasly for the 10 car safety car length (when Perez gets a warning a few races back), the bias is becoming too obvious.

And we really think anything more than a slap on the wrist for the cost cap is coming?

Is there ANY reason you did not mention George Russell’s wing, it had the same problem.

I didn’t mention any others, including Verstappen‘s left front eyebrow. The reason was because I don’t believe Haas listed those in their protest. The FIA was only looking at those two.

Yes, but it wasn’t bias. Apparently they HAD to punish Alonso (whoever unfair it feels after the reason how he sustained the damage) as you can’t ride without a functioning mirror. The tried to let it slide but Haas wasn’t having it. Which is their right. The wingendplate would have likely been meatballed in the coming lap if the analysis above is correct.

[organic]

@organic - thanks. Guess Perez was lucky it come off on lap 6 then as probably would have got a flag when he come round.

@ code tower. I believe it’s only right to apply a loose bodywork rule to all cars IMHO.

I was shocked they never changed checos front wing when he boxed

Same as leclerc in silverstone. these fw endplates dont give much performance

[organic]

A mitigating factor in the meatballgate is that Perez's wing seemed to deteriorate as he drove with it. At lap 2 Brundle couldn't even tell if the endplate was damaged and at that point the endplate is still completely vertical. At lap 4 the endplate was still almost vertical - nowhere near how Kmag's was at Spore/Montreal/Hungary. Only got to the precarious 45 degree angle at lap 5. How damaged the endplate is is first mentioned by the sky feed less than 1 minute before it removes itself from the RB18. Not really a huge amount of time between "this could be enough damage" and damage worthy of a black and orange flag. Not as cut and dry

Really Haas need to work on producing endplates that are either on or off, to avoid the flapping around situations which is when the stewards show the black and orange flag.

[dxpetrov]

Wasn't it that Hamilton drove the whole race in Singapore with broken endplate and yet not one team complained afterwards, especially the rabid LH team supporters on this forum? We should also talk about these double standards as well!

[littlebigcat]

Wasn't it that Hamilton drove the whole race in Singapore with broken endplate and yet not one team complained afterwards, especially the rabid LH team supporters on this forum? We should also talk about these double standards as well!

I believe Mercedes are still in discussion with the FIA over whether the end plate actually was broken

[AeroDynamic]

Russell did make a mistake though and out braked himself. Given its Lap 1 and I don't think all the fault was with Russell, I think the penalty was sort of balanced. Maybe 10 seconds would have been balanced decision too.

I'm still not really sure he caused the spun. He would have hit Sainz anyway (and therefor caused the damage, justifying the penalty), but from Hamilton's onboard, to me it looks like he was the one who turned Sainz around



(didn't find a better video, unfortunately)

Nice catch, but if it was Hamilton I think he would have the damaged front wing. I believe Russell had a damaged fw.

[organic]

Russell did make a mistake though and out braked himself. Given its Lap 1 and I don't think all the fault was with Russell, I think the penalty was sort of balanced. Maybe 10 seconds would have been balanced decision too.

I'm still not really sure he caused the spun. He would have hit Sainz anyway (and therefor caused the damage, justifying the penalty), but from Hamilton's onboard, to me it looks like he was the one who turned Sainz around



(didn't find a better video, unfortunately)

Nice catch, but if it was Hamilton I think he would have the damaged front wing. I believe Russell had a damaged fw.

Yes from norris onboard you can see clearly that Hamilton and Sainz do not touch at all. There is always daylight between them

[graham.reeds]

A wing mirror isn't something that can be replaced quickly (like the front wing) so if you lose a mirror through no fault of your own that means retirement?!

[search]

A wing mirror isn't something that can be replaced quickly (like the front wing) so if you lose a mirror through no fault of your own that means retirement?!

it actually sounds like that in the decision document, yeah. "Mr Bauer submitted that a flapping mirror was dangerous and it could come loose and hit another driver causing injury. Therefore this was unsafe. Mr Bauer further stated that a car needs to have two mirrors and that in his opinion, which the Stewards accept as expert opinion, the car was unsafe to be driven with a mirror missing."

"Article 3.2 of the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations is clear – a car must be in a safe condition throughout a race, and in this case, Car 14 was not."

So normally every car lacking a mirror should be deemed "unsafe" in future now.

[mendis]

Russell did make a mistake though and out braked himself. Given its Lap 1 and I don't think all the fault was with Russell, I think the penalty was sort of balanced. Maybe 10 seconds would have been balanced decision too.

I'm still not really sure he caused the spun. He would have hit Sainz anyway (and therefor caused the damage, justifying the penalty), but from Hamilton's onboard, to me it looks like he was the one who turned Sainz around



(didn't find a better video, unfortunately)

Nice catch, but if it was Hamilton I think he would have the damaged front wing. I believe Russell had a damaged fw.

Mercedes builds the strongest front wings! That was one elegant touch by Lewis that started the sequence. Cars have never oversteered in that corner.

[MadMax]

I have never felt so vulnerable as a HAM supporter before.... The RedBull top speed was a given, but I knew it was over once Max's medium tyres were holding on.

in the end, Mercedes kept the wrong kind of tyres for the race. On mediums, I think Hamilton would have been able to win.

The Red Bull in Max's hands is too fast for Hamilton in that Mercedes to have won, even on the medium tyre. It might have taken a lap or two longer for Max, but he'd have still taken Hamilton before the end. Good recovery drive from Max after his pitstop problem (having won the title, one might have forgiven him a "sod it, that'll do" attitude but he went for the win), great drive by Hamilton to hold on as long as he did. But as Hamilton himself said, without others having problems, they'd have been off the podium. I was mostly surprised by Leclerc's performance at the end - expected him to be able to catch and pass Hamilton but it didn't happen.

[Sieper]

Ferrari is really hurting on the tire life. Also for that it was a shame Sainz had to retire so early. Then we would have had 2 benchmarks and Ferrari more data.

[search]

I have never felt so vulnerable as a HAM supporter before.... The RedBull top speed was a given, but I knew it was over once Max's medium tyres were holding on.

in the end, Mercedes kept the wrong kind of tyres for the race. On mediums, I think Hamilton would have been able to win.

The Red Bull in Max's hands is too fast for Hamilton in that Mercedes to have won, even on the medium tyre. It might have taken a lap or two longer for Max, but he'd have still taken Hamilton before the end. Good recovery drive from Max after his pitstop problem (having won the title, one might have forgiven him a "sod it, that'll do" attitude but he went for the win), great drive by Hamilton to hold on as long as he did. But as Hamilton himself said, without others having problems, they'd have been off the podium. I was mostly surprised by Leclerc's performance at the end - expected him to be able to catch and pass Hamilton but it didn't happen.

possible, yeah, but the medium looked considerably quicker to me, and he was in front for 14 laps, mainly in clean air. I think it's reasonable to believe that Hamilton would have been 5s further ahead at least