2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - Imola, April 22 - 24

[Spoutnik]

As for Ferrari in general, just not a good day. Red Bull in comparison was spot on almost all weekend. Dominant performance from Max.

Sainz was very unlucky and Leclerc got greedy, which tends to happen for him occasionally. Can't accuse either of not giving it 100% though.

Given Miami's high speed layout, might not be too much different in terms of relative speed vs Red Bull next race so I expect RB to move into the constructor's lead in 2 weeks.

Good to see Yuki with a good race, same for Bottas and Lando.

One day we'll need to have a real discussion about Ricciardo...

We can have it now...

[fritticaldi]

Race Control was pro-Red Bull once again by delaying DRS when Leclerc was close to Perez.

[JPower]

We can have it now...

Where do we start?

I don't think anyone could've helped Lando's career and reputation more.

[GrizzleBoy]

Race Control was pro-Red Bull once again by delaying DRS when Leclerc was close to Perez.

If you want to be even more of a synic you could say that it was enabled just in time for Verstappen to start lapping other cars.

But only if you wanted to be even more of a synic.

[NL_Fer]

Riccardo was solid with Torro Rosso, Redbull and Renault. Maybe he is just a bad match for the McLaren car?

[Spoutnik]

We can have it now...

Where do we start?

I don't think anyone could've helped Lando's career and reputation more.

Idk, his departure from Red Bull, and then the Renault days
After that, I can't understand his level of performance really

[fritticaldi]

The way Ricciardo punted out Sainz had it been Hamilton or Verstappen there would have been heavy sanctions.

[organic]

Race Control was pro-Red Bull once again by delaying DRS when Leclerc was close to Perez.

If you want to be even more of a synic you could say that it was enabled just in time for Verstappen to start lapping other cars.

But only if you wanted to be even more of a synic.

Just FYI it's cynic

And frankly it was just chance that it favoured RB. It's not just one person making decisions anymore so it'd have to be a conspiracy

[Gillian]

Riccardo was solid with Torro Rosso, Redbull and Renault. Maybe he is just a bad match for the McLaren car?

But that would be a bad match with 2 different McLaren's then though.

Maybe Norris just found another gear last year with Riciardo joining (and he already was pretty fast) and the closed up pack makes the gap between the two look worse.

Verstappen had a lot more race pace than Riciardo when they drove together. So if Norris right now has similiar speed as Verstappen had back then (or better) then the gap between Norris and Riciardo makes sense.

In any case he needs to improve because otherwise he's not staying at McLaren.

[fritticaldi]

A Red Bull vending machine was found inside Race Control lol. Ricciardo is ready for Indycars.

[basti313]

DRS was on for probably 1/2 to 2/3 of the race. Yet there was still only a handful of overtakes. Cant blame DRS not being active for ruining the race. Maybe drivers should actually have to fight to overtake and not rely on DRS. I think we probably saw more overtakes without it than with it.

By your calculations the cars were using DRS while they were still on inters and I think we all know the reality there.

And if you want drivers fighting for positions without DRS they need cars that can actually do so reliably. The lack of natural slipstreaming ability of the new regs cars means that just like before you aren't passing without a large speed delta to the car ahead.

Lap 34 DRS so little over half the race done. Might have been a few laps out

I think the race was better without DRS. There were more "attempts". With DRS we either had fly by moves or the DRS train.

[chrisc90]

By your calculations the cars were using DRS while they were still on inters and I think we all know the reality there.

And if you want drivers fighting for positions without DRS they need cars that can actually do so reliably. The lack of natural slipstreaming ability of the new regs cars means that just like before you aren't passing without a large speed delta to the car ahead.

Lap 34 DRS so little over half the race done. Might have been a few laps out

I think the race was better without DRS. There were more "attempts". With DRS we either had fly by moves or the DRS train.

Absolutely. I dont think we need DRS in all honesty. The cars can follow well enough with the new regs without having to use DRS to pass.

Even with DRS, there was very little overtakes in the mid field.

[GrizzleBoy]

I think it will be interesting to see once these new regs mature a little towards the end of this year if things don't just end up settling into the same pattern as before.

As in, once the teams figure out their cars and the pecking order becomes settled due to less variables like unreliability, experimentation, lack of setup understanding etc, I wonder if the only difference will be cars stuck in position but closer together.

For example, if this race was not a sprint weekend and the teams had more time tobsetup their cars properly, isn't it likely we would have seen far less overtaking than the already minimal amount that we saw.

[Evo2racer]

What can be said about Hamilton. Another poor weekend. That is 2 in 4 races. Had this been 2014-2021 he would have finished 2nd at worst, but now. Even those Brazil like overtakes are gone.

I think he is not doing too bad but in the midfield a single tenth can make the difference. Three crap races in a row. Not the setup he wanted but he will adapt in due time.

I don't know.

Certainly it is not looking good. If Russell also finished say 9th/10th or lower, you could just say bad car. It is not a magic car for sure but he should not be finishing 14th fighting AT, AM, Williams.

Remember this same race last year people asked what Bottas was doing fighting a Williams yet today Ham was beaten by one in conditions generally in which he is considered one of the best.

You make some great points Sir!
Very hard to disagree against that!

A very dissapointing performance by Sir LH even if Mr. Toto Wolff is s trying to defend him.

Very sad day for any LH fan!

[Hammerfist]

Riccardo was solid with Torro Rosso, Redbull and Renault. Maybe he is just a bad match for the McLaren car?

But that would be a bad match with 2 different McLaren's then though.

Maybe Norris just found another gear last year with Riciardo joining (and he already was pretty fast) and the closed up pack makes the gap between the two look worse.

Verstappen had a lot more race pace than Riciardo when they drove together. So if Norris right now has similiar speed as Verstappen had back then (or better) then the gap between Norris and Riciardo makes sense.

In any case he needs to improve because otherwise he's not staying at McLaren.

If you ditch ricciardo who do you bring in that will do a better job?
Norris seems to be a tier 1 driver so its not going to be easy to find someone to match him. Maybe give Piastri a shot? I would love if they did that.