F1 2022 season - Michael Masi sacked

First topic message reminder :

Rumours suggesting Fernando Alonso's deal with Aston Martin could be up to 4 years long. 2 years guaranteed. Third year is driver side option and fourth year is team side option.
Alonso might never retire at this rate LOL

Jeff Navarro wrote:Alpine are in talks with Red Bull to buy out Pierre Gasly's contract.
Red Bull are talking to Colton Herta to replace the Frenchman

Bit painful for the current RB juniors if they'd rather bring in someone McLaren didn't think was good enough for a seat. Would make for an intriguing mid-field battle though.

Lowlandbrit wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Alpine are in talks with Red Bull to buy out Pierre Gasly's contract.
Red Bull are talking to Colton Herta to replace the Frenchman

Bit painful for the current RB juniors if they'd rather bring in someone McLaren didn't think was good enough for a seat. Would make for an intriguing mid-field battle though.

I think Herta boosts the commercial value of AlphaTauri ahead of a potential sale of the team to Honda in 2026.
But it’s also true that their junior system is lacking at present. Vips was the one they thought was the next big thing but he turned out to be a douche.

Pit lane start for Yuki

Gotta love the quirks of F1. Not a single car starts where it qualified

Both AlphaTauri start in the pits…

Hamilton crashes into Alonso

Hamilton out

Verstappen up to 8th

Lafiti crashes into Bottas

Safety car

Tyre failure for LeClerc. Fortunately under the SC

Ugh!

Hamilton out - collides with Alonso. Rear wheel contact that lifted his car up in the air. Team told Lewis to stop soon after. Bit too aggressive from Lewis there.

Latifi spins and Bottas beaches himself in the gravel trying to avoid him. Safety Car out.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Tyre failure for LeClerc. Fortunately under the SC

Tear off in the brakes. Ffs

Verstappen up to 6th already

Verstappen is in a different race here…5th and 6 seconds off the lead

Verstappen 4th

Good to see Lewis walk away, looked a scary impact. Just not sure where he thought Alonso could go there, left no room.

Max looks in the mood.

Verstappen is 3rd and 3.3 off the lead

"Checo, Max is faster than you"

Verstappen leads

Could be a split strategy here from Red Bull.
Verstappen 2 stop
Perez maybe goes straight to hards

Perez survives LeClerc attack after pit stop.

LeClerc might need 3 stops at this rate

Ultimately it's Sainz Vs Perez for p2. Max is just way too fast for strategy to matter this weekend

Better hope is this is track dependent or this could be a Vettel in 2013 type of run. Incredible offset to the rest of the grid

Plan Z from Ferrari seems to be just asking Charles to make up the strategy

RB18 is a bit decent as well

RB 1-2 as the Sainz undercut was a bit of a failure

Red Bull 30kph faster when DRS is active. Insane.

Looking like a comfortable 1-2 now. Ferrari need another SC for LeClerc or it will be p5

Russell is gonna get Sainz here

Sainz on the hards is bold

Double stack pit stop by the Scuderia

GSC wrote:Sainz on the hards is bold

Manufacturing a swap between Sainz and LeClerc

Red Bull covering off Sainz with Perez. Should be the 1-2 without a SC

Russell puts back to 4th but on fresher hards than Sainz. See what the degradation is

Verstappen fresh mediums

Vettel rolling back the years in p6 on a one stop right now

Gonna be a scrap between Sainz and Russell for the last podium spot

Aston Martin’s key mistake is having Stroll in the second car.
Vettel and Alonso in 2023 would’ve been insane.

Don't think Alonso is big enough to accept that driver pairing

DRS is overpowered here. You’ve got no chance to defend.

GSC wrote:Don't think Alonso is big enough to accept that driver pairing

He’s my boy but I agree.

The pace Verstappen has shown here is remarkable. He’s 50 seconds ahead of LeClerc and they started next to each

Russell's charge has stalled out a bit, holding around 2 seconds. Needs a big push.

LeClerc pits for fastest lap

And gets overtaken by Alonso

Verstappen starts the summer break winning from P10. Ends it by winning from P14. Probably could've started from the pit lane for all the difference it would've made.

It's all looking a bit ominous

Max Verstappen crushes them in the country of his birth to close in on the championship. He moves 96pts ahead of LeClerc.
Perez a distance second.
Sainz even further back in third.
Russell creditable fourth.
LeClerc fifth
El Plan a brilliant 6th


Turns out the flexi floor was Ferrari’s

Verstappen could break the record for most wins in a season.

Zandvoort will be fever pitch never weekend.

LeClerc speeding in the pitlane will drop him behind Alonso. Another banner day for the Ferrari pitwall