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

[Spoutnik]

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.

Sainz did a better job before him.
Some rumors argue about Alonso as a replacement idk how fast he still is.
If I was Seidl-Brown I would go for Bottas/Vettel

[Evo2racer]

To gain one point, Leclerc/Ferrari threw away seven, smh

Once again the entire Ferrari team are cracking under pressure !

One reason more why they won’t win any titles this year…

What a race by the RB team and Max damn they were unbeatable today!

[Artur Craft]

Really nice race, they might as well just scrap DRS altogether imho. Let's see them really work for those overtakes.

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.

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.

What a relief to read those posts after so many ones complaining about the lack of DRS

This track has always been horrible for overtaking. Still, the cars can clearly follow closely(less turbulent air) but the slipstreaming is still strong once you get close enough as you could see on Russell overtake over Magnussen, for instance, which was without DRS.

The race was entertaining, we had some very nice genuine battles. If your idea of a good race is to have phony, pointless, meaningless passing all the time, then that´s exactly my idea of a dull one

[Magicsenna_41]

To gain one point, Leclerc/Ferrari threw away seven, smh

Once again the entire Ferrari team are cracking under pressure !

One reason more why they won’t win any titles this year…

What a race by the RB team and Max damn they were unbeatable today!

Yeah good boy Max is only cracking under a Merc pressure. Seen last year

[zeph]

To gain one point, Leclerc/Ferrari threw away seven, smh

No, it was to gain 3 points(potentially 4). Almost worked too. If he had a decent pitstop P2 was in the cards. They knew Perez would react to him pitting to undercut as well.

Maybe, but I think P2 was a stretch, they just didn’t have RBR’s pace today, for whatever reason.

Playing the armchair expert here, but I think they should have recognized today was about damage limitation and just collecting safe points rather than fireworks, especially with Sainz’ lap one exit.

I understand that is hard though, especially at Imola with all the tifosi there expecting a continuation of their excellent start of the season.

[maxxer]

Really nice race, they might as well just scrap DRS altogether imho. Let's see them really work for those overtakes.

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.

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.

What a relief to read those posts after so many ones complaining about the lack of DRS

This track has always been horrible for overtaking. Still, the cars can clearly follow closely(less turbulent air) but the slipstreaming is still strong once you get close enough as you could see on Russell overtake over Magnussen, for instance, which was without DRS.

The race was entertaining, we had some very nice genuine battles. If your idea of a good race is to have phony, pointless, meaningless passing all the time, then that´s exactly my idea of a dull one

On sky they kept nagging about drs not being available , but welcome to F1 i rather see proper overtaking then this DRS back and forward

[Zynerji]

Good race. I think we may be a bit spoiled by the sheer amount of excitement from the first 3 races, however.

And I think it is time to make DRS a rear-limited choice for the drivers.

IE: Time to make it unlimited.

[JPower]

Maybe, but I think P2 was a stretch, they just didn’t have RBR’s pace today, for whatever reason.

Playing the armchair expert here, but I think they should have recognized today was about damage limitation and just collecting safe points rather than fireworks, especially with Sainz’ lap one exit.

I understand that is hard though, especially at Imola with all the tifosi there expecting a continuation of their excellent start of the season.

They had enough pace to undercut Perez. Holding him off was a different story. I don't fault them for going for it at all. Charles just dropped the ball.

The damage limitation argument is pure conjecture. If Charles had finished in P3 close to Perez, people would ask why Ferrari didn't try a more radical strategy. If the pit stop was 2.5s and he ended up holding off Perez for P2, the strategist looks like a genius. You rely on the team and driver to execute and neither did.

[fritticaldi]

DRS was denied for the 1st time in 4GPs on the race Ferrari was starting behind. The officials didnt want Ferrari to take a big lead in the two championships.

[PlatinumZealot]

Max so far not a foot wrong all season?

[dialtone]

Max so far not a foot wrong all season?

Did he not try 3 times to pass Leclerc in the same spot in Bahrain instead of trying on the 2nd straight?

[silver]

DRS was denied for the 1st time in 4GPs on the race Ferrari was starting behind. The officials didnt want Ferrari to take a big lead in the two championships.

You didn't hear what Sainz said when asked about it. He said, FIA has to manage the risk vs reward and last year there was a massive crash when the track was wet and considering that, they played it safe. He also said, while the track was drying, the white line was still wet.

[lh13]

Max so far not a foot wrong all season?

Did he not try 3 times to pass Leclerc in the same spot in Bahrain instead of trying on the 2nd straight?

Failing to overtake someone is your definition of 'foot wrong'? Laughable if that's the case.

[Mogster]

Really nice race, they might as well just scrap DRS altogether imho. Let's see them really work for those overtakes.

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.

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.

What a relief to read those posts after so many ones complaining about the lack of DRS

This track has always been horrible for overtaking. Still, the cars can clearly follow closely(less turbulent air) but the slipstreaming is still strong once you get close enough as you could see on Russell overtake over Magnussen, for instance, which was without DRS.

The race was entertaining, we had some very nice genuine battles. If your idea of a good race is to have phony, pointless, meaningless passing all the time, then that´s exactly my idea of a dull one

The early overtakes without DRS were on a wet/damp track. If anything this event emphasized why DRS is still needed.

[Spoutnik]

Max so far not a foot wrong all season?

Bottled the qualy at Jeddah but apart from that he's maximizing the potential of the car contrary to the Ferrari boys