2022 pecking order speculation

[PlatinumZealot]

https://twitter.com/FiftyBucksVT/status ... 86mRSu6mQw

This echoes what I have been hearing from other sources too. Mercedes and Ferrari attacking the slow speed like slot cars!

[F1Krof]

Apparently Russel's saying they're behind Ferrari and McLaren.

[Just_a_fan]

RedBull are going to ace this season. Max will take the title with races to spare.

They are quietly going about their work, putting in lots of laps on a grade harder tyre, and apparently observers think they're running heavy too.

Once they get to the end of the Bahrain test, expect them to throw in a laptime half a second or more quicker than anyone and make it look easy in the process.

[AMG.Tzan]

RedBull are going to ace this season. Max will take the title with races to spare.

They are quietly going about their work, putting in lots of laps on a grade harder tyre, and apparently observers think they're running heavy too.

Once they get to the end of the Bahrain test, expect them to throw in a laptime half a second or more quicker than anyone and make it look easy in the process.

I expect the same too...

They look too confident to me!

[bauc]

Apparently Russel's saying they're behind Ferrari and McLaren.

Same BS from Mercedes every preseason

[Jambier]

Apparently Russel's saying they're behind Ferrari and McLaren.

Same BS from Mercedes every preseason

Agree.
But I think - and this is the hope - that Mercedes will not be champion again. Nothing against them, but each formula 1 change had also the goal to stop a domination.

For now what can we see ? Ferrari strong, McLaren good as well, Red Bull will be fast, and Mercedes maybe a little less.
This for me is the TOP 4 of this year (I don't know who first and who fourth), but I think those are the teams that will have wins and podiums

Behind that but not far, Aston Martin / Alpha Tauri and Alpine (which is very bad for a works team focusing on 2022 since ever)

[DiogoBrand]

Pecking order will be like
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
McLaren
Aston Martin
Alpine
Alpha Tauri
Williams
Alfa Romeo
Haas

My suspicious that maybe the new regulations would throw a spanner in the works is probably not gonna happen and we'll likely not see much change from the last few years.

[AeroDynamic]

[basti313]

Pecking order will be like
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
McLaren
Aston Martin
Alpine
Alpha Tauri
Williams
Alfa Romeo
Haas

My suspicious that maybe the new regulations would throw a spanner in the works is probably not gonna happen and we'll likely not see much change from the last few years.

But this is the speculation thread. Saying the packing order will be like last year is the analytical/realistic approach.

[Cuky]

Agree.
But I think - and this is the hope - that Mercedes will not be champion again. Nothing against them, but each formula 1 change had also the goal to stop a domination.

I wouldn't even mind if Mercedes and/or Hamilton would win again this year if they had to fight for it to the bitter end. If there was like 4-way battle all season and say Mercedes, McLaren, RB and Ferrari all went into last race with things being so close that it is basically like "winner takes the championship" championship then rules did what they were meant to do: make racing and championship interesting.

But if Mercedes goes to dominate again and have no realistic opposition in constructors championship than it would just be more of the same.

[AeroDynamic]

regulation changes that stop dominances should not and does not mean singling out a team to 'lose' – that is not sport.

it should be to introduce opportunity to even things out or reset.

like Cuky says, if it means all competitors can fight very closely to a title win, that's a good outcome. I don't think how this was done last season was the right way although it achieved (on the surface) a desirable outcome of performance being more on-par and balanced relative to 2020 and 2019.

[SiLo]

Agree.
But I think - and this is the hope - that Mercedes will not be champion again. Nothing against them, but each formula 1 change had also the goal to stop a domination.

I wouldn't even mind if Mercedes and/or Hamilton would win again this year if they had to fight for it to the bitter end. If there was like 4-way battle all season and say Mercedes, McLaren, RB and Ferrari all went into last race with things being so close that it is basically like "winner takes the championship" championship then rules did what they were meant to do: make racing and championship interesting.

But if Mercedes goes to dominate again and have no realistic opposition in constructors championship than it would just be more of the same.

It would be more of the same if ANY team dominates. I think everyone just wants to see close racing between AT LEAST 2 teams. We also don't want what we had last year which was 2 guys in Formula 1, and then everyone else in Formula 1.5+.

[Aesop]

I thought Mercedes main focus was the repackaging of the powerunit, less so performance enhancement.

[jumpingfish]

I would only trust to results in Q3 and during the races, it's early to make any conclusion yet
Also.. Can spies watch with a stopwatch for the duration of the refueling procedure? To predict the level of fuel loading

I totally agree. Mercedes seem hell bent on trying to paint Ferrari as the favourites it's annoying, Hamilton saying Ferrari are 2 months ahead, Russell saying Ferrari look better than them and then this from Wolff, to me it actually shows a lack of respect from Mercedes

Binotto said he doesn't think Ferrari are the strongest team here

Not a single word from Mercedes should be trusted, they often expose themselves as outsiders during tests.

[DChemTech]

I would only trust to results in Q3 and during the races, it's early to make any conclusion yet
Also.. Can spies watch with a stopwatch for the duration of the refueling procedure? To predict the level of fuel loading

I totally agree. Mercedes seem hell bent on trying to paint Ferrari as the favourites it's annoying, Hamilton saying Ferrari are 2 months ahead, Russell saying Ferrari look better than them and then this from Wolff, to me it actually shows a lack of respect from Mercedes

Binotto said he doesn't think Ferrari are the strongest team here

Not a single word from Mercedes should be trusted, they often expose themselves as outsiders during tests.

During the whole year, even when dominating..