2022 Spanish Grand Prix - Catalunya, May 20 - 22

[fritticaldi]

Daniel Ricciardo is another driver struggling mightily. Norris is destroying him. I think the Aussie driver should not return next year.

[Shrieker]

ham was 53s behind VER on lap 3 and he was 40s behind before late engine troubles, but verstappen had his own adventures lets not forget. In a normal race I'd say hamilton's pace was probably somewhere close to max or pretty much equal, but wouldn't have enough for leclerc today.

Yes, fair enough.

Also worth mentioning tho, he instantly lost a set of fresh mediums it was i think, compromising his strategy a lot on a track that had an appetite for tires. Leclerc still may have been a bridge too far tho.

I hope merc can get into the mix proper and make it a 3 way fight. Guess we won't have to wait long to find out.

[lh13]

Alonso, Riciardo, Vettel, these guys are getting smashed. Hamilton at least has the pace.
He is doing well at his age to even be as quick as he is and having the race stamina.

Alonso is 90% of the time way faster than Ocon. (ignoring misfortunes) Vettel is not outpaced by Stroll often, either

Meanwhile, LH was Latifi like on Jeddah and Imola

And you talk like you are the reasonable member patronizing all the "dumb" LH haters like me, let´s say

It’s probably because Mercedes’ are trying extreme settings on their cars to understand it. One car running closer to the sims while the other goes extreme the other way, but you wouldn’t understand it…..one car running extra sensor while the other is not. Not exactly smashed either.

Doesn't matter. You don't know what other drivers are doing or what they aren't doing. If you drag other drivers through mud and call them getting 'smashed', don't expect anything different for Hamilton. His post about Alonso, Vettel and Riccardo is sh***y and needless.

[langedweil]

You know what i mean. Gasly was driving well at Torro Roso after he was sent back. Drivers mature at different rates. Gasly has been top notch since 2020. He has done enough to be in redbull.
This season has shown how good other young drivers can race against Max and make him look very mediocre. George manhandled him today with very great defense. And we have seen Charles outmaneuvre Max. It's very likely Gasly would have upset Max were he to return to redbull after gaining a better understand of F1 in Alpha Tauri and getting a race win.

The point of the matter is the team formerly known as Jaguar is now Team Max with Redbull Energy drinks as title sponsor.

Your beef keeps on giving, isn't it ?
"Mediocre", "Manhandled" ...

Anyway, as to your point of the matter; the team formerly known as Brawn GP, known formerly as Honda Racing, has been team Lewis for years on with a german car manufacturer as title sponsor.
What's so inherently odd there !?
When I'll be taking a dump, just out of curiosity, I will look back to your posts from back when Gasly was ousted. See if it's any coherent.

As for today:

• Sorry for Lec, --- indeed does happen (Max knows). Weirdly enough, with one DNF less he's no longer in the lead for WDC.

• RB maximized perfectly in a race that maybe wasn't even theirs.

• Usually racepace-wise Per doesn't really stand any chance against Max, so imho there was nothing wrong with the swap because of strategy off-set

• I think it's supercool we might really see a 3 way fight start emerging; that will mean at least way more complex strategy choices.

• Very mature drive from Rus, as well as Lewis; weird call to retire after just a handful laps, but somewhat understandable with the experience of the first 5 rounds .. nevertheless, didn't fit in the never-give-up dogma.

• Sai just remains invisible or hits bad luck right between the eyes a little too often.

• Macca's didn't shine, nor did the AMs.

• Bottas drive very mature and consistent; didn't understand why he didn't make an extra stop.

[langedweil]

What was also nice, NO VSC or SC today, so no one got screwed by bad luck.
Errors and reliability were the only to variables.

Gusts of wind, DRS issues, being crashed into, and engine failures are also bad luck.

[bagajohny]

I thought this place was better than formula1 subreddit but some of the replies here are proving me wrong. Such toxic and ignorant replies. Some people seem to think if a driver doesn't perform in a single race he should be fired and replaced by a rookie. By their logic we will have different grid every weekend. People should educate themselves before commenting such nonsense. As much as DtS has helped F1 gain popularity it has also brought fans who don't know a thing about history of the sport & the worst part is they don't even want to learn. Just follow some drivers like a cult and start a hate train on internet. Not everything is shown on the TV feed and not everything is discussed in the commentary. This is true for every race. So you should try to find answers in post race interviews/articles before asking for someone's head.
I see that they have already been reported. I hope Mods take action against such accounts.

[langedweil]

Are we going to have a six way fight in every race from now on?
Does one even dare to wish so much?!
/drooling off/

One can only hope.. 7 way fight with bottas in the mix at monaco?

Well, why not ?
He's no slouch here and he does have the Fer traction monster. That AR is a pretty neat car ..

[search]

I’m a little surprised to see Tsunoda ahead of Gasly in the standings. I haven’t been following that, how did that happen?

haven't had a closer look at yesterday's performance yet. but it has actually happened more often than not over the past weeks. Gasly doesn't deliver his normal qualifying speed anymore atm, and last time he has beaten Tsunoda in a race was in Melbourne. He seems to be struggling quite badly with the new cars

[Wouter]

Just an observation.

This racing season the atmosphere in the racing thread is a lot better than last season. From the start everything was mostly about Leclerc, Sainz, Checo and Max. Their supporters wrote the most messages. The Mercedes fans were practically absent.

This weekend Mercedes has improved the car a lot and Russell and Lewis are back in the front.
Immediately the atmosphere is very unpleasant again. Too bad, because the atmosphere between the Ferrari fans and the RBR fans is good and respectful. The fans of drivers/teams other than Mercedes also contributed to the great atmosphere here.

A small example: "I liked when Max lost the car on his own, was being served by George in wheel to wheel racing and when he was gifted the win by his team. Astounding effort, well done."

I have not come across a single message from a Max/Checo fan who thought it was nice that Leclerc dropped out and Sainz drove slowly through his gravel pit incident with considerable damage and was enjoying it.

[JordanMugen]

I’m a little surprised to see Tsunoda ahead of Gasly in the standings. I haven’t been following that, how did that happen?

Tsunoda is driving very well. Definitely making a case to be a suitable AlphaTauri lead driver once Gasly moves on.

[chrisc90]

Just an observation.

This racing season the atmosphere in the racing thread is a lot better than last season. From the start everything was mostly about Leclerc, Sainz, Checo and Max. Their supporters wrote the most messages. The Mercedes fans were practically absent.

This weekend Mercedes has improved the car a lot and Russell and Lewis are back in the front.
Immediately the atmosphere is very unpleasant again. Too bad, because the atmosphere between the Ferrari fans and the RBR fans is good and respectful. The fans of drivers/teams other than Mercedes also contributed to the great atmosphere here.

A small example: "I liked when Max lost the car on his own, was being served by George in wheel to wheel racing and when he was gifted the win by his team. Astounding effort, well done."

I have not come across a single message from a Max/Checo fan who thought it was nice that Leclerc dropped out and was enjoying it.

Careful, they’ll send out a witch hunt to come find you. Lol

[Quantum]

Just an observation.

This racing season the atmosphere in the racing thread is a lot better than last season. From the start everything was mostly about Leclerc, Sainz, Checo and Max. Their supporters wrote the most messages. The Mercedes fans were practically absent.

This weekend Mercedes has improved the car a lot and Russell and Lewis are back in the front.
Immediately the atmosphere is very unpleasant again. Too bad, because the atmosphere between the Ferrari fans and the RBR fans is good and respectful. The fans of drivers/teams other than Mercedes also contributed to the great atmosphere here.

A small example: "I liked when Max lost the car on his own, was being served by George in wheel to wheel racing and when he was gifted the win by his team. Astounding effort, well done."

I have not come across a single message from a Max/Checo fan who thought it was nice that Leclerc dropped out and was enjoying it.

I dont see how you stereotyping one group of fans is a generally constructive observation. If it upsets you, perhaps mute the word Mercedes and carry on your day without need for taking offence when really, you're finding things to be upset about.

[Drift4794]

Just an observation.

This racing season the atmosphere in the racing thread is a lot better than last season. From the start everything was mostly about Leclerc, Sainz, Checo and Max. Their supporters wrote the most messages. The Mercedes fans were practically absent.

This weekend Mercedes has improved the car a lot and Russell and Lewis are back in the front.
Immediately the atmosphere is very unpleasant again. Too bad, because the atmosphere between the Ferrari fans and the RBR fans is good and respectful. The fans of drivers/teams other than Mercedes also contributed to the great atmosphere here.

A small example: "I liked when Max lost the car on his own, was being served by George in wheel to wheel racing and when he was gifted the win by his team. Astounding effort, well done."

I have not come across a single message from a Max/Checo fan who thought it was nice that Leclerc dropped out and was enjoying it.

I could observe the very same things and draw a different conclusion: Whenever anything concerns Merc (and particularly Lewis), some people here behave like vultures, when they wouldn't otherwise with any other team/driver. Whether that's due to the domination last 7 years of the team/driver or any other reason I don't know but it's a trend I've seen for a few years now.

I joined the forum to escape the immaturity and needless toxicity that's present on other F1 social media but clearly there's people like you (and others here) who love to instigate and fan the flames to provoke reactions out of people, all bordering on childlike behavior. Grow up. Learn to treat people with respect and give them the benefit of doubt the same way you'd like it to be given to you.

The incredible gall to feign moral superiority of your tribe while you engage in such behavior is hilarious.

[Mr5in1]

Sticking to reviewing the race I thought it was not bad as far as Spanish Grand Prix's around Catalunya go, no safety car or red flags either!

I was always interested to see how the new cars would fair overtaking here I thought not much better and maybe overtaking a bit more down to drivers out of position or tyre deg i.e. 2 stop vs 3 stop.

As a Mercedes fan I was also keen to see how their upgrades would work to cure their bouncing, it looks 90% solved and their race pace was solid, hopefully they can chip away at the gap to the teams in-front, think it is down from maybe .9 to .3/.4s / lap (track dependent).

Good RBR strategy to pit Max with the DRS issues he had, George did excellent in holding him up with or without DRS very good race craft. Perez might be disappointed in not having a go at the win but always to be the case he is their no.2. In clean air the Red Bull is looking mighty especially in Max's hands.

Leclerc had this in the bag up until his engine failure which is ashame I think the Ferrari will be the strongest car in Monaco, should suit them more.

Kudos to Alonso and Hamilton for making up a lot of places from where they started / after 1 lap not bad for some old dogs, also kudos to Bottas, he is driving very well in the Alfa.

[Wouter]

Sticking to reviewing the race I thought it was not bad as far as Spanish Grand Prix's around Catalunya go, no safety car or red flags either!

I was always interested to see how the new cars would fair overtaking here I thought not much better and maybe overtaking a bit more down to drivers out of position or tyre deg i.e. 2 stop vs 3 stop.

As a Mercedes fan I was also keen to see how their upgrades would work to cure their bouncing, it looks 90% solved and their race pace was solid, hopefully they can chip away at the gap to the teams in-front, think it is down from maybe .9 to .3/.4s / lap (track dependent).

Good RBR strategy to pit Max with the DRS issues he had, George did excellent in holding him up with or without DRS very good race craft. Perez might be disappointed in not having a go at the win but always to be the case he is their no.2. In clean air the Red Bull is looking mighty especially in Max's hands.

Leclerc had this in the bag up until his engine failure which is ashame I think the Ferrari will be the strongest car in Monaco, should suit them more.

Kudos to Alonso and Hamilton for making up a lot of places from where they started / after 1 lap not bad for some old dogs, also kudos to Bottas, he is driving very well in the Alfa.