[Team] 2022 Car Launch and Testing Thread

[crmalcolm]

Wait - which cars being tested have had vaccinations?

Does the vaccination give you maxi or micro side-pods?

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by JamesH

Nothing, sadly, but it still needs to be either taken to task, or removed completely. It cannot remain and be unchallenged.

agreed and respect to you for saying it!

probably time to move on though.

still blown away by this new Merc concept. it remains to be seen if its quick...although i think it is and they wouldnt be wasting their time, of which they dont have much, with such a radical new approach unless they were certain.

but what surprises me more is that they are putting in the laps with it as well...clearly they have the cooling sorted?

i could be wrong on this, but i was under the impression that other electronic systems were kept in the side pods in part to also keep them cool...repacking them elsewhere in the car must also mean a solution to those systems from overheating as well?

also given how long of a development time they have had (the rules being pushed back a year), how did they manage to keep this new direction a secret?

one of the side effects of the budget cap was that teams like Merc had to shed a ton of staff and i would guess most without the ability or funds/budget to keep them on gardening leave. i dont know what kind of confidentiality clauses their termination slips came with, but i would have thought that with a few hundred staff being let go, someone would be talking to someone else in the F1 world about what they were working on.

multiple teams showed up with double diffusers ostensibly because many of the ex Super Aguri employees immediately went on to other teams.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by JamesH

Nothing, sadly, but it still needs to be either taken to task, or removed completely. It cannot remain and be unchallenged.

This isn't the place to do that.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

This isn't the place to do that.

Of course it is, because the original comment is here. I didn't start this, someone else brought it up. Try having a go at them.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

agreed and respect to you for saying it!

probably time to move on though.

still blown away by this new Merc concept. it remains to be seen if its quick...although i think it is and they wouldnt be wasting their time, of which they dont have much, with such a radical new approach unless they were certain.

but what surprises me more is that they are putting in the laps with it as well...clearly they have the cooling sorted?

i could be wrong on this, but i was under the impression that other electronic systems were kept in the side pods in part to also keep them cool...repacking them elsewhere in the car must also mean a solution to those systems from overheating as well?

also given how long of a development time they have had (the rules being pushed back a year), how did they manage to keep this new direction a secret?

one of the side effects of the budget cap was that teams like Merc had to shed a ton of staff and i would guess most without the ability or funds/budget to keep them on gardening leave. i dont know what kind of confidentiality clauses their termination slips came with, but i would have thought that with a few hundred staff being let go, someone would be talking to someone else in the F1 world about what they were working on.

multiple teams showed up with double diffusers ostensibly because many of the ex Super Aguri employees immediately went on to other teams.

I presume there were quite a few golden handshakes with the appropriate settlement agreements which can I think be grabbed back it you fail to meet the terms of the settlement. But I agree its impressive they have kept this quiet - and I hope it works. How they are getting the cooling I don't know.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by JamesH

Of course it is, because the original comment is here. I didn't start this, someone else brought it up. Try having a go at them.

No it's not.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by JamesH

Of course it is, because the original comment is here. I didn't start this, someone else brought it up. Try having a go at them.

You can't be the internet police and attack every time some one is wrong and anyone who references this forum for medical advice needs help. There's an ignore button, it works well if you can't just move past seeing it

[broadrun96]

Well KMags not waiting around the throw the Haas around. Yeah, softer C4 tire but still topping the running hasn't been Haas option lately. Yes it's just testing and most are running to test rather than straight out speed but still interesting to see.


https://racer.com/2022/03/11/magnuss...des-struggles/

[crmalcolm]

Apparently Horner is now claiming that the Mercedes is fully legal - so expect it to be modified before the first race (why would Mercedes want to run something that Red Bull are happy with?).

[E.B]

OK the Danny Ric illness is question is now solved. Despite previous multiple negative tests Danny will miss final day in Bahrain after a positive COVID test.
He has tested positive for COVID-19 and must isolate before being released in time to compete in the 2022 Formula 1 season opener next week.

[broadrun96]

Well that sucks, hoping he's feeling better and stronger come racetime. He was very quiet last season and even though he's the opposite of Kimi there's something about having guys like them in the field. Feels like Lando could be but a lot is hidden on Twitter and postrace.

F1 needs to learn from Grosjean's comments when he left, the fun drivers and personalities sell racing. Lewis and Max do that for some, a bit abrasive from both for me but we are all interested in different things, that's what makes life interesting.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Apparently Horner is now claiming that the Mercedes is fully legal - so expect it to be modified before the first race (why would Mercedes want to run something that Red Bull are happy with?).

We can all breath a sigh of relief, knowing the Mercedes has met with Horner's approval.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

one of the side effects of the budget cap was that teams like Merc had to shed a ton of staff and i would guess most without the ability or funds/budget to keep them on gardening leave. i dont know what kind of confidentiality clauses their termination slips came with, but i would have thought that with a few hundred staff being let go, someone would be talking to someone else in the F1 world about what they were working on.

I don't actually know, but it is possible. actually it may be probable, that Mercedes being a major automotive manufacturer that they absorbed any staff that had to leave the racing team due to the cap. Apart from anything else, they have always rotated engineers and technicians between the team and other parts of their businesses.

That, after all, was one of the major reasons that they were streets ahead of all the other teams in 2013/14, because they had already had their boffins working on a similar project for their road vehicles divisions. So, Mercedes moved some of those guys to the racing team, and we know what the result of that was.

It is a shame that the other car and truck manufacturer teams have not been able to emulate the success that Mercedes have.

[bathurst77]

oh btw there were 2 lots of 3 day testing

now this thread has been hijacked by the covid vax debate i guess i will be heading over to the covid vax forums to discuss f1 testing then

[broadrun96]

Nah, they'll kick you out for being covert ops from The Man.

[bathurst77]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Nah, they'll kick you out for being covert ops from The Man.

Ok who ratted me out?

[Sodemo]

Just watching the testing feed on Sky, so much understeer on corner entry in these cars, it seems the majority of the cars have this trait.

[ascarracinguk]

Testing in Summary

Red Bull - Look quickest
Ferrari - Nice stable car in the hunt
Mercedes - too stiff, handles like a pig, if they can get that sorted they will be up with Red Bull
Mclaren - Quick but fragile
Alfa Romeo - See above
Aston Martin - Solid mid pack
Alpha Tauri - See above
Alpine - See above
Williams - flashes of speed but who knows
HAAS - see above

At the moment Red Bull certainly look favourites, it’s very much where we were last year with testing troubles for merc….question is can they find that sweet spot in the setup again?

Mercedes main issues seem to stem from the porposing…..to counteract that they’ve stiffened up the car so it can’t sink to the deck and stall out, only problem is while that’s great at high speed corners it makes the car handle like a pig at low speed…..only other option is to increase ride height which will compromise the car all over the lap. I’m sure they will get on top of it, but the question is how soon? If it’s more than 3 races in the championship could be over before it’s started.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by ascarracinguk

Testing in Summary

Red Bull - Look quickest
Ferrari - Nice stable car in the hunt
Mercedes - too stiff, handles like a pig, if they can get that sorted they will be up with Red Bull
Mclaren - Quick but fragile
Alfa Romeo - See above
Aston Martin - Solid mid pack
Alpha Tauri - See above
Alpine - See above
Williams - flashes of speed but who knows
HAAS - see above

At the moment Red Bull certainly look favourites, it’s very much where we were last year with testing troubles for merc….question is can they find that sweet spot in the setup again?

Mercedes main issues seem to stem from the porposing…..to counteract that they’ve stiffened up the car so it can’t sink to the deck and stall out, only problem is while that’s great at high speed corners it makes the car handle like a pig at low speed…..only other option is to increase ride height which will compromise the car all over the lap. I’m sure they will get on top of it, but the question is how soon? If it’s more than 3 races in the championship could be over before it’s started.

I generally agree. While there may be some level of sandbagging going on with multiple teams, I watched some of the onboards and some look more stable than others. Some look stable, but slow. Some look stable but fast. Mercedes looks a bit twitchy and they seem to continue to have porpoising issues. Even if they manage to be quick, I can imagine the porpoising potentially causing reliability issues not to mention really exhausting for the drivers over the full race length.

Richard

[broadrun96]

But is it really sandbagging for F1, it's not like they're pushing for better regs and breaks. Just running your plan is the goal, you aren't getting points until next week. Hiding your potential isn't really a thing when teams get the data and can see where you're actually quick even if the lap time isn't great

[bathurst77]

what advantage would they gain sandbagging on last test day
I think they would care more about finding out just how quick it can be

[bathurst77]

If merc dont get their $h!+ together and that car is as bad as it looked this week, and if williams sort out their few niggles, there is a likelyhood that Gorgeous George, might be beaten in some races by his old team.
That would hurt.

[bathurst77]

Also if the merc is a bad car all year, how long would merc stay in watching their car running in low midfield. They are used to being "the best", Same for Lewis, how motivated would he be hoping just to pick up points here and there?

Still we have seen merc have poor preseason tests before and come race week, the magic fix was found

[P38 in workshop]

I see that Christian Horner has been muttering about the need for a review of the budget cap https://www.pitpass.com/71948/Horner...get-cap-review .I notice that no other team principal has joined the chorus,even among those who lost some Russian funding.Which rather makes me think that the Red Bull development budget may not have enough slack to construct cars with Mercedes type baby sidepods.For all I know,they may even have to produce a different chassis to cope with the different load distribution of the very alternative intrusion structure location.The early signs are that it may not be a massive benefit in any case,or perhaps its just a case of preparing for the possibility.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

Still we have seen merc have poor preseason tests before and come race week, the magic fix was found

Exactly.

Verstappen sums it up quite nicely in my opinion:

Originally Posted by Autosport

Verstappen also had his doubts that Mercedes was truly on the back foot, agreeing with Sainz that it was “always like this”.

"If someone is doing well or a team that everyone expects to do well, then it’s: 'Oh no, we're definitely not the favourite’,” Verstappen said in Bahrain on Saturday.

“And then a week later, when things do go well, all of a sudden it's: 'Oh no, but we turned it around completely within a week. Not normal, unbelievable work. Thanks to all people in the factory!’”

Verstappen pointed out that Mercedes was also worried about its performance after testing in Bahrain last year: “And they were still very strong during the first race weekend.”

Source: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ve...-this/8952985/