F1 2022

[Ax^]

surprised Austin are not pointing to the the bib wing about the t tray and asked redbull were they got that idea from

 

[1%er]

Spanish Grand Prix Free Practice 1​

Formula One leader Charles Leclerc and Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz set the fastest times in the first practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday. Leclerc posted a session-leading lap of 1 minute, 19.828 seconds. Defending world champion Max Verstappen had the third best time at 0.336 seconds off Leclerc´s pace in his Red Bull. Mercedes´ George Russell was fourth, followed by Alpine´s Fernando Alonso in fifth and Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes in sixth. Leclerc leads Verstappen by 19 points after five races, but Verstappen has been closing the gap after back-to-back wins in Italy and Miami. Teams often roll out major upgrades at the Spanish GP with a handful of races already in the bag and this well-known circuit, where teams also test in winter, is perfect for gauging progress.

Ferrari is hoping that upgrades it has brought to Spain can help it match the race speed that Red Bull has enjoyed in the last two races, when Verstappen beat Leclerc. Verstappen said his team is planning to reduce the weight of the car. "Our car is a bit fat so we need to slim it down," Verstappen said before getting behind the wheel on Friday. It appears that focusing on the car´s reliability is the top priority for Red Bull, after car failures kept Verstappen from finishing in Bahrain and Australia, where Leclerc won earlier this season. "(Ferrari) are coming with a few upgrades so it will be interesting to see what that gives them at the end of the day," Verstappen said. "We just need to focus on our package. We want a clean weekend."

Before practice, Hamilton and Russell both said that they are expecting Mercedes to make some gains this weekend, even if they can´t fight for a race trophy that Hamilton has claimed for the past five years. "I do believe there is the potential there to be at the front, we just can´t unlock it right now," Hamilton said. "I´m keeping my hopes up, pure faith and trusting the team that we´ll get there." The best result this season for Hamilton, a 103-time race winner, is a third-place finish at the season opener in Bahrain. Russell has so far surprisingly outperformed the seven-time world champion in his first year with Mercedes, finishing higher than his new teammate in four of five races.

The practice session featured the F1 weekend debuts of two drivers in testing roles. Juri Vips filled in for Red Bull´s Sergio Pérez, while Nyck de Vries drove Alex Albon´s Williams. Vips finished at the bottom of the table, with Vries two spots above. Veteran Robert Kubica also got a turn for Alfa Romeo in place of Zhou Guanyu. Race officials expect more than 110,000 fans to turn out for each of the event's three days after two years of racing without the public due to the pandemic. The face mask that Hamilton wore in the pre-practice news conference was one of the few seen at the track. Spanish fans are eager to see Sainz and Alonso, the last Spaniard to win the Spanish GP back in 2013. Hot, sunny and dry conditions are forecast. The second practice session is later Friday. Qualifying will be on Saturday following a third practice session. The 66-lap race is on Sunday.

20221 Spanish Grand Prix - Free Practice 1 results

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:19.828s		27
2	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:19.907s	+ 0.079s	27
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:20.164s	+ 0.336s	28
4	George Russell	Mercedes	1:20.590s	+ 0.762s	28
5	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	1:20.768s	+ 0.940s	24
6	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:20.811s	+ 0.983s	27
7	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:21.279s	+ 1.451s	24
8	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	1:21.422s	+ 1.594s	23
9	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	1:21.737s	+ 1.909s	23
10	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	1:21.814s	+ 1.986s	28
11	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:21.891s	+ 2.063s	26
12	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:21.920s	+ 2.092s	23
13	Robert Kubica	Alfa Romeo	1:21.975s	+ 2.147s	20
14	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:22.089s	+ 2.261s	16
15	Mick Schumacher	Haas	1:22.146s	+ 2.318s	21
16	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	1:22.164s	+ 2.336s	20
17	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	1:22.614s	+ 2.786s	25
18	Nyck de Vries	Williams	1:22.920s	+ 3.092s	28
19	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	1:23.011s	+ 3.183s	27
20	Jüri Vips	Red Bull	1:24.138s	+ 4.310s	23

 

[1%er]

Fernando Alonso accuses FIA race stewards in Miami of incompetence​

Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso slammed the FIA on Friday at his home grand prix, accusing race stewards of incompetence and saying one of the directors lacks the professionalism for the role.

The Spaniard was infuriated two weeks ago at the Miami Grand Prix after he was penalized late in the race while running in contention to score points. Alonso claimed Friday at the Spanish Grand Prix that his Alpine team submitted evidence to have his penalty overturned, but the stewards had already made their decision and were done working for the day.

"We believe that it was very unfair and it was just incompetence from the stewards — they were not very professional," Alonso said. "We arrived after the race with all the proof ... and they were just packing up. They were not even in the room. We showed them all the data, they said, 'Give us five minutes,' and then they found themselves with their hands tied, probably because they issued already the penalty and they didn't know how to get back from that document.

"It is something that should not happen in Formula One, with professionalism and standards Formula One has right now."

Alonso was twice penalized in Miami, but Alpine protested the late punishment he was handed for leaving the track and gaining position. The team insists he gave back the time gained and had data to prove its claim.

Alonso's criticism comes amid tension between race management done by FIA, the governing body for F1, and teams that stems from last season's finale in Abu Dhabi. The championship was controversially won by Max Verstappen following a sequence of events set in motion by then-race director Michael Masi.

Masi broke from protocol following a late caution and made rulings that allowed Verstappen to beat Lewis Hamilton for the championship by winning a race Hamilton had dominated until Masi's decisions. The FIA conducted an offseason review of the sequence and Masi was removed from the role ahead of this season.

Masi has been replaced by Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas, as well as a new remote system that provides additional in-race support to the stewards.

Alonso on Friday said "for sure not" when asked if race control has improved with the changes. He also took aim at Wittich, who has been race director at every event this season. Freitas is making his debut as an F1 race director in Barcelona this weekend.

"You need to have some knowledge about racing before being a race director or trying to monitor a race," Alonso said. "And I don't think that knowledge is in place at the moment. I know there is a new race director here. I think Freitas has a lot more experience with WEC and with other categories at the top level. And I think that will already improve things."

Alonso was later seen in the paddock at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit sitting down to speak with FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem, who was elected the week after last year's Abu Dhabi race.

Wittich has race director experience in DTM, Formula 2 and Formula 3. He's had supporting roles at F1 races ahead of his promotion this season. Freitas has been the World Endurance Championship's race director and officiated GT and touring car racing.

The drivers have been at odds with Wittich for more than a month after the race director issued a ban on wearing jewellery and non-compliant underwear while in the car. Hamilton has been given a two-race waiver to compete with piercings the seven-time champion says can only be surgically removed and he protested the ban in Miami by arriving at the track wearing as much jewellery as he could fit; Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, wore a pair of underwear over his firesuit as he walked through the paddock in his own protest.

 

[1%er]

It looks like Mercedes have got a handle on their porpoising issues, while 1 free practice doesn't mean they will start winning races, it looks like they are on the right track. I feel I may get 1 or 2 free meals later in the season ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

According to the data the Mercedes is the best performing car on the straights during FP2

 

[1%er]

FP2 Spain

The Ferrari driver and pre-event championship leader picked up his form from FP1 by also running to the top in the second of the hour-long Friday practice sessions at Barcelona. Leclerc ran clear on his soft Pirelli C3 tyre qualifying run to 1m19.670s. That found 0.16s over his benchmark effort from FP1, plus closed to within 0.6s of Hamilton's pre-season test-topping time at the venue in late February set on the fastest C5 compound rubber. That moved Leclerc 0.117s clear of Russell, the Mercedes driver having set the pace during FP2 last time out for the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.

Hamilton was a late adopter of the soft tyre and ran particularly well in the final part of the second sector to land the third-fastest effort - albeit a further 0.09s shy of his teammate. Meanwhile, ahead of his home race, Carlos Sainz guided the second Ferrari F1-75 to fourth ahead of defending champion Max Verstappen. Alexander Albon, Mick Schumacher, both Aston Martins and Esteban Ocon were the first drivers to hit the track in FP2 as the field stuck initially to the medium and hard compound tyre. Sergio Perez and Albon also had their first run of the weekend after missing FP1 as Formula 2 race winner Juri Vips (Red Bull) and Formula E champion Nyck de Vries (Williams) conducted their first GP weekend practice sessions.

Similarly, Zhou Guanyu returned to the cockpit of the Alfa Romeo having made way for Robert Kubica in first practice. Verstappen had been the first driver to set a fairly representative lap time on medium rubber as he and Sainz dropped below the 1m21s threshold ahead of Leclerc and the Mercedes. But after only 11 minutes the session was interrupted by a virtual safety car. That intervention was required when the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas, running sixth at the time, expired on the home straight after the Finn had completed only three laps. A puff of smoke from the rear was matched by the engine seeming to die promptly as Bottas pulled up on the edge of the track at the exit of Turn 1.

After the three minutes of the VSC, the other notable incidences hit Albon and Lando Norris as both ran wide out of the high-speed Turn 9 right-hander. That left them to glance over the outside kerb, kick up gravel and let sparks fly. Both drivers anticipated damage to the floor of their ground-effect machines but while Albon continued in the session, Norris was forced back into the McLaren garage for the remainder of FP2 having completed only six laps.Albon and Sainz also remain under investigation by the stewards after a close call between the pair at Turn 2.

After 21 minutes, the switch to soft tyres and the halo qualifying runs arrived with Vettel moving to first in the heavily updated and controversial Aston Martin AMR22. His 1m20.703 then quickest by 0.23s was soon dislodged by Perez, despite the Red Bull driver shedding some pace due to traffic in Turn 10. Verstappen then buzzed the timing line with his 1m20.006s, finding a huge 0.7s margin at the time. He would remain the fastest driver through the first and final sectors but fell back during the middle part of the lap. Then Sainz, the Mercedes and Leclerc set the ultimate times to lead FP2. It was less rosy for Leclerc on his late medium-tyre race run, however, as he dropped several tenths per lap to Verstappen as he complained about tyre behaviour and degradation.

Fernando Alonso guided his Alpine to sixth in front of his home crowd, while Perez and Vettel slid to seventh and eighth ahead of Esteban Ocon and Mick Schumacher. Pierre Gasly was the first driver to miss out on the top 10, the AlphaTauri pipping the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll. Yuki Tsunoda was 14th ahead of Daniel Ricciardo to complete a trying afternoon for McLaren, while Bottas' very early bath left him in 16th ahead of stablemate Zhou. Norris rounded out the times behind the two Williams, Albon pipping Nicholas Latifi.

2022 Spanish Grand Prix - Free Practice 2 results

1. Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari -1:19.670
2. George Russell Mercedes +0.117
3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.204
4. Carlos Sainz Scuderia Ferrari +0.320
5. Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.336
6. Fernando Alonso Alpine +0.533
7. Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +0.962
8. Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +1.033
9. Esteban Ocon Alpine +1.075
10. Mick Schumacher Haas +1.087
11. Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +1.247
12. Kevin Magnussen Haas +1.343
13. Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.579
14. Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +1.615
15. Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +1.715
16. Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +2.158
17. Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +2.196
18. Alexander Albon Williams Racing +2.649
19. Nicholas Latifi Williams Racing +3.527
20. Lando Norris McLaren +3.718

 

[1%er]

Red Bull respond with a statement after the FIA clear Aston Martin​

​

Red Bull have issued a response to the FIA after F1's governing body cleared Aston Martin of any wrongdoing with their latest upgrade package. Aston Martin have added a host of new parts to the AMR22 for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, including a new floor body, fences and edges, and changes to the engine cover, cooling louvres, rear wing, sidepod inlets and Halo. The modifications, particularly in terms of the sidepods and engine cover, have drawn comparisons to the front-running Red Bull RB18. As the on-track action began in Barcelona, the FIA released a statement confirming that they had investigated Aston Martin's new features - which "resembled those of another competitor" - to ensure the changes did not breach any regulations.

Red Bull respond with their own statement
With the FIA ultimately clearing Aston Martin, Red Bull swiftly responded to express their concerns over the matter in an official statement. It follows on from team boss Christian Horner describing Aston Martin's new design as "a very close-looking clone of our car". "Oracle Red Bull Racing have noted the FIA's statement with interest," read Red Bull's statement. "While imitation is the greatest form of flattery, any replication of design would obviously need to comply with the FIA's rules around 'Reverse Engineering. However, should any transfer of IP have taken place, that would clearly be a breach of regulations and would be a serious concern."

​

 

[1%er]

F1 offered new Grand Prix venue by New York mayor as Bernie Ecclestone's old plan revived​

F1 chief Greg Maffei has revealed that Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, has offered Randalls and Wards Island as a potential venue for a Grand Prix. The sport has grown rapidly in the country following the emergence of Netflix's Drive to Survive Series. Maffei is the CEO of Liberty Media, which bought F1 in a bumper $4.6 billion (£3.44 billion) deal back in 2017. Since taking over, Liberty have looked to stage more races in America. The American Grand Prix has been held in Texas since 2012, but the Miami Grand Prix was added this year and the Las Vegas Grand Prix will be part of the schedule next season. And Maffei has revealed there have been talks over a New York City Grand Prix.

Speaking at an event in New York earlier this week, Maffei revealed that Adams, who took office earlier this year, proposed Randalls and Wards Islands as a potential venue for a New York City Grand Prix. "The Eric Adams administration has reached out asking for one," Maffei said. "I think that's very difficult. Their proposal, Randalls Island, is probably not our perfect venue. You know, a lot of time and money was spent here 15-20 years ago [sic], including by Leo Hindery, one of my predecessors, trying to build one out over in Hoboken. I think the reality is street races in a place like New York are just very, very, very hard. Las Vegas is one of the few places in the United States you could probably get a street race done, it has a different mentality. New York is a wonderful venue, but it's hard to see that they're going to shut Central Park for us!"

 

[1%er]

Evidence that data has been downloaded​

As Christian Horner revealed an internal investigation at Red Bull after Aston Martin unveiled a ‘green Red Bull’, Helmut Marko says there is “evidence data has been downloaded”. Ahead of Friday’s first practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, Aston Martin revealed their much-anticipated half a new car. The design draws heavily on the Red Bull RB18. So much so that the FIA got involved and carried out an investigation. Aston Martin told reporter's they were given the all-clear. “We have shared details of our update with the FIA technical people,” said a team spokesperson. “Having analysed the data and the processes used to create the update, the FIA has now confirmed in writing that our update was generated as a result of legitimate independent work in accordance with the Technical Regulations.”

Red Bull, though, still have questions, with team boss Horner saying it is “no coincidence” Aston Martin’s updates are similar to Red Bull’s design given the Silverstone-based team signed several Red Bull personnel. But while he was quick to point out they cannot stop them using the knowledge “they take in their head”, he added: “What isn’t fair and what is totally unacceptable, which we wouldn’t accept, is if there has been any transfer of IP at all.” And that, Marko fears, is what has happened. Speaking to Sky Germany, Marko said: “Now you have to clarify how this incredible copy came about. As things stand, it’s okay. Copying isn’t forbidden. But, you also have to take into account seven people were poached from us and our chief aerodynamicist was brought to Aston Martin for a disproportionate amount of money. There are also some facts we are investigating. We will investigate this in great detail. It’s not just Dan Fallows.”

The Red Bull motorsport advisor then rather damningly said: “There is evidence that data has been downloaded. It’s just the question: copying is probably not prohibited to begin with, but can you copy without documents in such a way you can get such a detailed copy of our car?” Back in 2020, Aston Martin courted controversy when they unveiled a ‘pink Mercedes’, the car based on the 2019 championship-winning Mercedes F1 car. That led to the FIA banning teams from reverse engineering rivals’ cars, with Aston Martin penalised that season for using Mercedes’ IP for the brake ducts.

[The hypocrisy of Red Bull is just astounding, they have poached loads of Mercedes staff offering them loads of money to move to Red Bull, then you get Red Bull saying this "But, you also have to take into account seven people were poached from us and our chief aerodynamicist was brought to Aston Martin for a disproportionate amount of money". This story could have legs if Red Bull can prove that information was stolen, but claiming that poaching staff is doggie is just plan bullshit after what they did at the end of last season].

 

[1%er]

"We're on our way," says Hamilton​

The smile is back on seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton's face as Barcelona upgrades appear to pay-off for Mercedes. "Front Wing endplate, Floor, Rear Brake Winglets," read the official release from the FIA in terms of Mercedes updates for the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, but for Lewis Hamilton it meant the difference between battling in the midfield or chasing that elusive eighth title. Though nobody is saying that the updates have solved the W13's issues, the car appeared far more stable in practice allowing Hamilton and teammate George Russell to out-pace the Red Bulls.

"Positive, super happy with the progress," beamed Hamilton at the end of the second session in which he finished just 0.204s off Charles Leclerc's pace, "so a big, big, big thank you to everyone back at the factory for not giving up and for continuing to push. We're not the quickest yet, but we're on our way," he continued. "This is the first time that we've driven down the straight without bouncing. We still have some bouncing," he admitted, "but it's way better and we're starting to eke out a bit of the potential in the car. It's still tough out there with the car," he added, "but it's much nicer than it's been before. So yeah, really grateful for those upgrades, we now need to just fine-tune them into the next session tonight. There's lots of data to go over to try and position the car, I think we can get it into a better place for tomorrow so that we can tackle the heels of the guys up ahead."

However, teammate Russell wasn't quite as convinced at the effectiveness of the upgrades. "I don't know, to be honest," he said. "In Miami we were quickest on Friday and obviously here we are second, so let's see. The car is definitely acting differently," he added. "We've got different limitations this time. We definitely don't have the porpoising in the straights, which is good, but we are still experiencing a bit here and there in the corners, which ultimately you need to dial out in the corners, and I think the Red Bulls still look very, very strong. They look the team to be reckoned with at the moment and yes, we need to go through the data."

 

[1%er]

FP3 Spain
Charles Leclerc completed a clean sweep of the Formula 1 practice sessions at the Spanish Grand Prix as Mercedes maintained its frontrunning pace.

Key moments:

Leclerc 0.072s faster than Verstappen
Mercedes third and fourth fastest
Trouble for Gasly and Schumacher

Friday pacesetter Leclerc wasn’t able to beat his FP2 benchmark but his 1m19.772s was enough to top the final practice session before qualifying later today. The 2022 championship leader was 0.072s faster than his title rival Max Verstappen who complained to his Red Bull team that “the car just doesn’t turn in a low-speed, Turn 5 it’s terrible, last chicane as well”. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton continued Mercedes’ promising recovery with the third- and fourth-fastest times. Russell was only 0.148s shy of Leclerc’s session-topping time, with Hamilton a further tenth adrift.

Home hero Carlos Sainz was fifth-fastest in the second Ferrari with Sergio Perez also struggling to match his Red Bull team-mate in sixth place. Lando Norris was seventh in the upgraded McLaren, enjoying a much smoother session after a scrappy Friday. The Haas of Kevin Magnussen was eighth-fastest ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, who missed a chunk of running on Friday with an engine problem, and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was 11th-fastest ahead of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel in the controversial redesigned AMR22.

Pierre Gasly’s session ended after only a few minutes as smoke billowed out of the back of his AlphaTauri while he was stationary in the pits. Mick Schumacher’s FP3 also came to a fiery end as his rear brakes caught fire just a few minutes later. His Haas team was unable to repair it in time for him to properly partake in the session.

Practice 3 Results​

Pos	Name	Car	Best Time	Gap Leader
1	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1m19.772s
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1m19.844s	+0.072s
3	George Russell	Mercedes	1m19.92s	+0.148s
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m20.002s	+0.23s
5	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1m20.129s	+0.357s
6	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	1m20.26s	+0.488s
7	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1m20.403s	+0.631s
8	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1m20.646s	+0.874s
9	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1m20.781s	+1.009s
10	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1m20.882s	+1.11s
11	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1m20.91s	+1.138s
12	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1m20.944s	+1.172s
13	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1m20.981s	+1.209s
14	Guanyu Zhou	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1m21.201s	+1.429s
15	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	1m21.449s	+1.677s
16	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1m21.52s	+1.748s
17	Alex Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1m21.572s	+1.8s
18	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1m22.419s	+2.647s
19	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1m25.467s	+5.695s

 

[Limejuice]

Good result for Mercedes that, splitting the Ferraris and Red Bulls.

 

[Ax^]

setting up a tasty qualy

half a second across the top 6 happy days

and Carlos has not binned it yet

 

[MrCurry]

Good result for Mercedes that, splitting the Ferraris and Red Bulls.

Very good.

What a treat to have such a balanced and unpredictable championship fight this year.

 

[MrCurry]

I’m looking forward to seeing how Russell and Hamilton measure up to each other this weekend.

So far George has been outperforming his senior team mate and we’ve put it down to his greater recent experience of hustling a lap time out of a difficult car, but what if they now have a better mannered car and he still beats Lewis? Would raise a few eyebrows, don’t you think?

 

[Ax^]

i did hear a radio message during FP3 Lewis "Whos sector times are you giving me? Russell? I only want the fastest Sector times"



guess lewis is feeling it a little

 

[Ax^]

all the agro for Austin martin and daddy boy could be knocked out in q3

 

[1%er]

Chadwick takes third 2022 W Series victory out of three in Barcelona​

Jamie Chadwick has taken her third win of this season and fifth consecutive in the W Series in a lights-to-flag Barcelona victory. Chadwick had started from a dominant pole, ahead of Alice Powell and with Abbi Pulling and Beitske Visser on the second row. Sarah Moore and Jessica Hawkins had looked quick during the early phases of qualifying but been ultimately relegated to eighth and ninth by track evolution while the pair of home racers, Belen Garcia and Marta Garcia placed sixth and seventh. Chadwick kept the lead off the line, holding first into turn one while Pulling drew alongside and then ahead of Powell through the corner. Emma Kimilainen, starting fifth, took fourth from Visser through turn two.

W Series rookie Chloe Chambers, who had shown strong form in Miami, started fifteenth and gained places off the line only to run slightly wide while fighting with Bruna Tomaselli for thirteenth at turn five, dipping a wheel in the gravel that saw her slip down the order to sixteenth. Fighting back a few laps later, Chambers pushed Bianca Bustamante into a nearly identical off while overtaking her. After ten minutes of race time, Powell was on the back of her protégé Pulling, considering a move into turn one. Without DRS in W Series, however, the corner seemed far less productive for overtaking than for those series that run the device. Sarah Moore was similarly hunting down Jessica Hawkins for tenth, both having slipped backwards from the start. Hawkins defended for the whole of lap six but Moore showed DRS was unnecessary for an overtake into turn one at the start of lap seven, braking late and taking the place despite Hawkins fighting back through turn two.

Pulling initially never allowed Chadwick to draw out a major lead, staying within just over half a second despite her battle with Powell. With ten minutes to go, however, it looked as though Pulling was saving tyres either by necessity or strategy, the gap extending to closer to a second-and-a-half for much of the lap. With W Series drivers only allocated two dry sets of tyres for practice, qualifying and the race, there was visible damage to several drivers’ tyres by the final seven minutes. Visser, in particular, was struggling enough to have started a train to Marta Garcia and Belen Garcia just behind her, Visser holding onto fifth but losing touch with Kimilainen ahead in the three-way battle.

Chadwick’s tyres, in the lead, also looked ragged with the front right visibly streaked with marbling and Pulling closed in to less than a second behind. The train behind Visser, who was lapping a second behind the leaders by the final three minutes, was joined by Nerea Marti but Visser somehow managed to cling on ahead to keep fifth place. By the final lap of the race, Pulling had closed back onto Chadwick to just over half a second adrift and was hunting down the race leader. Pulling was too far back on the main straight to make an attempt at turn one and Chadwick stayed error free around the lap, taking the chequered flag for her ninth W Series win and a clean sweep of this season so far.

 

[Ax^]

lando out

 

[MrCurry]

lando out

That sucks.

I have no idea who will take pole. This is ace

 

[Ax^]

aye most fun qualifying of the season so far

 

[Ax^]

got to say i'd not want to be Alonso if he wander by Lewis during the weekend " Welcome to My World Ehh"


saying could be worse have Carlos complain that the porposing and bumps could be bad for his health long term
quite sure his dad is going to call him a "whining baby" when he sees him

 

[Ax^]

la'Clonk

 

[Ax^]

Well that was fun

 

[1%er]

I’m looking forward to seeing how Russell and Hamilton measure up to each other this weekend.

So far George has been outperforming his senior team mate and we’ve put it down to his greater recent experience of hustling a lap time out of a difficult car, but what if they now have a better mannered car and he still beats Lewis? Would raise a few eyebrows, don’t you think?

It will be interesting to watch this over the next few races

 

[Limejuice]

Why couldn't Max have a power loss in Q1 rather than Q3!



I blame these new-fangled underwear rules.

 

[1%er]

Alonso set for back of the grid start in home race after engine change​

Fernando Alonso is set to start at the back of the grid for his home Grand Prix after having a new Renault power unit put into his Alpine A522. Alonso qualified 17th but incoming engine penalties will relegate him to the rear of the field for the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix. The Alpine driver has taken a fourth internal combustion engine, turbo, MGU-H, MGU-K, plus a third energy store, control electronics (and his fourth of eight allowed exhausts). As he will accrue more than 15 places worth of grid penalties, Alonso will start his home Grand Prix at the back for the first time. The penalty means Lance Stroll, Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi are effectively promoted one place apiece on the grid.

 

[1%er]

 

[1%er]

Good morning all, just had breakfast and been to the supermarket, so ready for the race. Hope over expectation for me so "Get in there lewis"!!!!!

 

[Ax^]

Morning 1%er

think this track could be a real test for the new regs, track everyone knows and car that follow each other well

hoping redbull don't check out in the front and we could have an excellent battle between 3 teams

*fingers crossed


well that or the bulls gremlins kick in again

 

[1%er]

Revised starting grid for the 2022 F1 Spanish Grand Prix​

Position​	Driver​	Team​
1.​	Charles Leclerc​	Ferrari​
2.​	Max Verstappen​	Red Bull​
3.​	Carlos Sainz​	Ferrari​
4.​	George Russell​	Mercedes​
5.​	Sergio Perez​	Red Bull​
6.​	Lewis Hamilton​	Mercedes​
7.​	Valtteri Bottas​	Alfa Romeo​
8.​	Kevin Magnussen​	Haas​
9.​	Daniel Ricciardo​	McLaren​
10.​	Mick Schumacher​	Haas​
11.​	Lando Norris​	McLaren​
12.​	Esteban Ocon​	Alpine​
13.​	Yuki Tsunoda​	AlphaTauri​
14.​	Pierre Gasly​	AlphaTauri​
15.​	Zhou Guanyu​	Alfa Romeo​
16.​	Sebastian Vettel​	Aston Martin​
17.​	Lance Stroll​	Aston Martin​
18.​	Alex Albon​	Williams​
19.​	Nicholas Latifi​	Williams​
20.​	Fernando Alonso*​	Alpine​