The F1 thread

[Snowy]

I'm 36 and, yeah, I'm beginning to notice the effects of age (and yes, yes, I'm sure anyone older than we are is thinking "aww, that's adorable, just you wait" right now), and I'm not a world-class athlete having competed in what can be a very physically demanding job for 15+ years.

We already know that Hamilton has had doubts over continuing in the sport (Toto has said as much), it'd be a real shame for him to leave because his team consider his physical safety less important than their car's performance. It's not as if the porpoising is an unimportant side effect anyway; scraping along the ground constantly has to have a knock-on effect on top speed, surely. Even if it's just a cost thing, that they can't make the changes needed because they can't afford to under the budget cap, they're affecting their most expensive asset.

Aww, that's adorable, just you wait

With back injuries, the only usual option is to spend as much time stretched out flat and not doing much of anything while it recovers, and it takes time. Hamilton's life will simply not allow for that, and continuing to do the things which caused the issue will only exacerbate it. I dread to think what would happen should he prolapse a disc while racing, as the pain is incandescent when it happens.

[Wrathbone]

I can attest to that from when it happened to me a couple of years ago (not while racing in F1, thankfully ). I couldn't sit down for a week. The air would be blue as people hauled him out of the cockpit.

[Raid]

Be careful what you wish for, Mercedes:

https://www.racefans.net/2022/06/16/fia ... y-grounds/

The FIA have stepped in, and told teams to either fix their porpoising or raise their ride height, or they'll be disqualified. This is probably going to be hugely significant for the championship, because Red Bull haven't been suffering from the issue half as much as Ferrari have, so if Ferrari are going to be forced to raise their ride height to compensate (therefore generating less downforce), Red Bull are probably going to run away with things.

Honestly I'm not sure what else the FIA could do in the short term; if drivers are already being injured at the mid point of the season, they had to do *something* to prevent permanent damage if the teams are unwilling to do it themselves. It does at least mean they're recognising the problem, and maybe they'll fix it with less of a stop-gap for next year.

[Raid]

Halo saves another life. That's, what, four or five now? Surely we didn't have this many terrible head injuries before the system was introduced - what's going on?

https://streamable.com/nrf5ij

I did actually notice that sausage kerb in the F1 quali yesterday and thought it looked weirdly tall.

[eny]

...and another.....bloody hell!


Wow! That was outstanding and breathtaking both!

[Raid]

I can't believe that I used to be bored by the British GP.

Outstanding race, one of the most exciting endings I can remember. I'm so, so glad that it wasn't marred by a driver being injured; Zhou's accident was horrifying; I've never seen a roll hoop just fail like that, and then it just ground off the top of the car. I really want to see what that car looks like now. Two halo saves in one day; without it we'd have a driver decapitated and another with a broken neck at best, or a bloody smear across the track at worst. I was all for it at the start, but I'm still surprised at how frequently it's been responsible for saving a life.

[Snowy]

Brilliant race, an absolute spectacle with Verstappen spared being booed on the podium. Superb.

[eny]

So, Lewis, last year disqualified for a 0.2mm deflection in his wing, but Ferrari and Red Bull have been running a 6mm deflection variance in their floors all season with a 2mm stipulation....and they get 2 more races to fix it? Make it make sense...

[Drarok]

Merc bad.

[Wrathbone]

I assume Ferrari made an offer the FIA couldn’t refuse.

What struck me about the last 10 laps was how much better it was without Verstappen up at the front, bashing into everyone who has a look. It was some of the finest racing I’ve ever seen from everyone involved, with risky moves taken fairly and skilfully without having to force an incident. Compare that to Verstappen’s frequent aggression last year where his stubbornness resulted in multiple incidents, simply because of his thuggish, arrogant attitude and sense of entitlement to a position.

He clearly has a lot of skill, but yesterday confirmed for me that he’s a blunt instrument compared to some of his peers at the front.

[Snowy]

What struck me about the last 10 laps was how much better it was without Verstappen up at the front, bashing into everyone who has a look. It was some of the finest racing I’ve ever seen from everyone involved, with risky moves taken fairly and skilfully without having to force an incident. Compare that to Verstappen’s frequent aggression last year where his stubbornness resulted in multiple incidents, simply because of his thuggish, arrogant attitude and sense of entitlement to a position.

This is a really valid point. He absolutely is a hammer racing among scalpels.

[Raid]

I think Max is maybe just a bit hot-headed. He's clearly capable of precision racing without barging through, I think he showed that at the start of the year, and I'll never forget that masterful display in a drenched Interlagos a few years back. I think he gets frustrated easily, leading to him taking chances that someone like Charles wouldn't. I can definitely see echoes of Hamilton in the years between his first and second championships, and I've no doubt that he's the most capable driver on the grid these days.

I personally like to see aggression in drivers. I just hope Max manages to temper his frustration without losing his edge.

[Wrathbone]

I personally like to see aggression in drivers.

I agree, but with Verstappen it often veers into reckless aggression without consideration of other drivers or even rules at times. LeClerc made an astonishingly aggressive move round the outside of another driver yesterday (Hamilton, I think?), but it was done cleanly and shrewdly, and I can’t help but feel that the same attempt by Verstappen would have resulted in a safety car or a penalty.

You’re right about Hamilton being similarly reckless in his early career, but Verstappen is hardly a rookie anymore. He doesn’t seem to have matured his approach to racing.

[Raid]

I can’t help but feel that the same attempt by Verstappen would have resulted in a safety car or a penalty.

Given that it was a near carbon copy of the attempted overtake last year (same corner, both with Lewis on the inside) which sent Max into the barriers at 50G, I suspect you're right.

I'm not arguing whether Max needs to tidy his racing up, he clearly does, I just want it to happen without reducing his drive. Discretion may be the better part of valour, but it's still only part.

[DjchunKfunK]

How can Ferrari continue to be so bad at strategy year after year.

Regarding Verstappan is this the Schumacher incident people are referring to, or did he do something else during the race?