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F1 2022

Come on, Vroomsters. Gird yer loins. Loin yer girds. There's racing afoot.

We're off to that vast, tractless land of ice and maple syrup, the USA's oversized party hat.

Here are the times for UK viewers:

Fri 17 Jun
FP1 - 19:00
FP2 - 22:00

Sat 18 Jun
FP3 - 18:00
Qual - 21:00

Sun 19 Jun
Race - 19:00

This week's race blessing:

May the tolerance, humility and modesty of Jos Verstappen be with you all. Et cum spiritu tuo.
 

F1 boss in South Africa for talks on 2023 race​

Formula One boss Stefano Domenicali arrived in South Africa on Monday for talks about holding a race in the country as early as next year, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Domenicali is expected to meet with representatives of the Kyalami circuit near Johannesburg with the aim of reaching a deal for a South African race to be added to the 2023 schedule. No final agreement has yet been reached, the person said, but the plan was to have a South African Grand Prix next year. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of Domenicali's trip have not been publicly announced. Domenicali traveled to South Africa after Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the person said.

South Africa last hosted an F1 race in 1993. Africa is the only continent apart from Antarctica not to have a race on the current schedule. If South Africa is added, it would be the second new race for 2023, with Las Vegas already set to join next year. The South African Grand Prix was held for 25 years from 1960-85 — mostly at Kyalami — before F1 left South Africa because of the apartheid regime. It returned for two races at Kyalami in 1992 and 1993 after Nelson Mandela was released from prison. A return to South Africa has been on F1's radar for some time, and a South African consortium tried to bring a street race to Cape Town 10 years ago. Kyalami is seen as a much safer bet for F1 because of its history of hosting the South African GP.
 

Aston Martin make senior personnel change​

Aston Martin have strengthened their strategy unit by promoting a former Red Bull simulation developer as their head of race strategy. After leaving Alfa Romeo as a strategy engineer for the Swiss team, Peter Hall joined the Aston Martin team in August of 2020 just after that season had gotten underway amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Hall had previously been with Aston Martin in an engineering placement in 2011, and spent two months working with the Silverstone-based team under one of their previous guises as Force India. The Briton spent three years at Red Bull in their simulation department before his switch to the Sauber Group in 2017. Having gone full circle by returning to the team with whom he gained his first F1 experience, Hall is delighted to be promoted to the role at Aston Martin. “Absolute dream come true to be able to say I am taking up the position of Head of Strategy at Aston Martin,” he said. “Looking forward to helping the team continue their journey towards the front of the grid. Thanks for their continued faith in me. The future is looking exciting!”

Aston Martin had a mixed weekend in Baku, with Lance Stroll retiring from the race having twice crashed in qualifying, while Sebastian Vettel out-qualified the Canadian for the fifth time this season as he started in the top 10. After jumping Sir Lewis Hamilton in the pit stops, the German tried to make a move stick on the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, but went straight on at Turn Three, giving the position back to the seven-time champion as Yuki Tsunoda also got back ahead. Vettel would go on to finish the race sixth, but it might have been a little more had it not been for his earlier mistake. “I don’t know, I think Lewis in fairness, with race pace, they were faster,” he told Sky Sports when asked if fourth was on the table. “So, in the beginning he was sort of stuck, we managed to pip them in the pit stop which was really good for us. Maybe if I had jumped Esteban the first go, because then I would have been able to pull the gap because Lewis had worst straight-line speed than us and the Alpine was faster. He took so long to get by, so maybe but I think more fifth, the fight with Pierre probably is more realistic but I think it’s still a decent amount of points so really happy.” Vettel’s eight points in Azerbaijan moves him up to 14th in the Drivers’ Championship.
 

Drivers back idea of qualifying flag penalties​

Some of the drivers are in favour of seeing punishments handed out for bringing out yellow or red flags in qualifying. Some of the drivers have voiced their support for the idea of introducing a punishment for bringing out yellow or red flags in qualifying, given the fact bringing out such flags often impacts other drivers. An example is last weekend in Azerbaijan, when Alex Albon was left fuming with Fernando Alonso after the Spaniard made an unforced error into Turn 15 and triggered the yellow flags Albon had no choice but to back off and had no chance of improving on his final Q1 run. Max Verstappen also missed out on his final qualifying run in Monaco due to a red flag as Carlos Sainz collided with the already-crashed Sergio Perez – the second successive year the Dutch driver has missed out on a final lap due to a flag being thrown.

Murmurings of a change to the ruleset have been in the background for some time, with some of the drivers now voicing their opinion that F1 could follow suit with introducing a change such as IndyCar’s approach to the problem. In the American series, drivers who bring out flags have their times deleted and, if they do it twice in one qualifying, are removed from the session. Alonso is one driver to air support for the idea, although also suggested punishments could encompass the races as well. “Yeah, I think so,” he told reporters “There’s going to be always difficulties, like now in the [Baku] race, if you crash in one corner or if you park there was one Haas [Kevin Magnussen] parked in Turn 15. If you park there or you park 10 metres after that, maybe you have a Safety Car deployment depending [on] if you take a good position or not. And then we will penalise the Haas driver because he chose the wrong thing? So we need to be careful on how we enter and how we do those things. But yeah, I agree. Especially qualifying it should be different. We are dealing with problems of slow laps, minimum time to respect, traffic in the last corner, tows, no tows. So I think we should be clever and think in another format in qualifying.”

Lando Norris suggested changes could be made, and said those complaining about it are the ones who simply haven’t made errors in qualifying. “I think there’s a difference between people doing it by accident, and people doing it to get out of the way of people by not causing blue flags and whatever when you’re in qualifying, versus people who quite obviously do it on purpose. Especially when you’re one and a half seconds down on a push lap!” he said. “You always say it until you’re the one that does something wrong. And then you’re like ‘Oh, I wish that rule wasn’t introduced’, because you’ve just made a simple mistake, like when I spun in Imola. I guess I say I wish there’s no rule but obviously when someone else does it you say you wish there was a rule. It always bites someone at some point. Of course. the people who are more vocal about it are the ones who just haven’t made a mistake just yet.”


Norris’ McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo spoke about Alonso’s incident with Albon, insinuating that the Spaniard knew exactly what he was doing when he locked up into Turn 15. “His conviction is impressive!” he laughed. “I mean that’s the experience. That’s why I love him. But I mean, obviously Alex spoke it about yesterday. We all know, we’re all kind of playing tricks, and I know Lewis [Hamilton] tried to not give us the DRS I think, with Lando. I mean, that’s a bit of just tactics and strategy. But then there’s kind of the other way of obviously what Fernando did. Maybe deleted laps could be the way forward, we’ll see.”
 

Leclerc to take on new engine components after ICE and turbo ‘completely destroyed’​

Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari ICE and turbo unit used in Baku are completely destroyed and cannot be used again this season, according to reports from Italy. Leclerc started the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on pole position, but lost the lead to Red Bull’s Sergio Perez off the start. The first of Ferrari’s issues occurred nine laps into the race when Carlos Sainz came to a stop due to a hydraulic failure, and this brought out the Virtual Safety Car. The silver lining for the Scuderia was that Leclerc came into the pits under the caution to fit on a fresh set of tyres, and the subsequent undercut for him back ahead of the Mexican. However, while Leclerc was leading the race from Max Verstappen after the Dutchman cleared his Red Bull team-mate, he too suffered a failure as his engine blew out in the final sector.

The power unit was brought back to Maranello on Monday morning, and Motorsport Italy report that there is not much left of it that Ferrari can use again, so they will have the switch Leclerc onto the third and final allocated engine this weekend in Canada. Furthermore, they found that the part that eventually failed in the back of the F1-75 was not one that has caused them a lot of issues in the past, so they were not anticipating any failures on it. There will be natural concern among the Prancing Horses as a result of that, but there is some promise in the fact that they can still utilise the supercharging system in the first power unit of the season. Given that Leclerc has suffered two reliability-related retirements in the last three races, however, concern will grow as to the longevity of that part as well.

Ferrari found that a pump that controls the hydraulics broke on Sainz’s car, meaning that he was in danger of losing the “brake-by-wire” system – not a good thing to happen when the walls are so close. While the Spaniard’s issue is easier to solve, Ferrari between the works teams and their customers Haas and Alfa Romeo have endured 10 failures in the last three races weekends, so they will be looking for answers quickly before it becomes an epidemic.
 

Australian Grand Prix to stay in F1 calendar until 2035​

Formula One will remain in Australia's Melbourne for the next 13 years, organizers said early Thursday. "The Australian Grand Prix will be on the F1 race calendar until at least 2035 in Melbourne!" Formula One said on Twitter. "I am delighted to confirm that Melbourne and the Albert Park circuit will continue to be on the Formula 1 calendar until 2035. The race has always been a favourite for the fans, drivers and the teams and Melbourne is an incredible and vibrant international city that is a perfect match for our sport," Formula 1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali said.

Melbourne's Albert Park has hosted the Australian Grand Prix since 1996. The race was held in Australia's Adelaide before. The 2020 and 2021 Australian Grands Prix were previously canceled for the coronavirus pandemic. The 2022 Australian Grand Prix was run in April as Ferrari's Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc won it.
 

FIA’s porpoising response could ‘completely change the pecking order’ in F1​

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says the FIA’s attempt to reduce porpoising in Formula 1 cars could drastically change the competitive order in the championship. The sport’s governing body confirmed today it has issued a technical directive to teams outlining its plans to combat the severe porpoising and bouncing which have prompted complaints from a growing number of drivers in recent weeks. Teams have been told their cars’ floors will be subjected to closer inspections at this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix. The FIA also plans to impose a limit on the severity of vertical movement drivers are subjected to. Steiner admitted the problem needs to be tackled but insisted the affected teams could improve the ride quality of their cars by not running them as low to the ground as they have done. “We need to measure what it is,” he said. “And I think some of the cars are pretty bad. But then there is a solution, just raise the ride height. But then you go slow. Who wants to go slow?”

Mid-season changes to technical rules and standard equipment have proved controversial in the past, he pointed out. “It’s like, I don’t know how many years ago, when in the middle of the season we had the change of tyres,” said Steiner “Yes, it’s a safety factor, but that could be approached as well. If it is too dangerous, just raise your ride height. I think the measurement of this is to find a way where, if it is dangerous, without changing the regulations, to find a limit of something and saying if you are above this threshold [you get a penalty]. I don’t know what penalty you could give, I have no idea yet, I didn’t look into it as well and it’s pretty fresh all these things.”

Mercedes have found it especially difficult to control the porpoising on their car and their drivers have been particularly vocal about the discomfort they have experienced. However Steiner does not believe the team has successfully lobbied the FIA to introduce a rules change they have already prepared for. “You know how malicious we are, we always think there’s something behind it. And then the next one could say, ‘oh, they’ve got already a solution for a solution’, if the FIA comes up with a change and then Mercedes has developed something in that direction already, and then they come out of the gate already running. But I think that is going a little bit too far. Something like this, you change something fundamentally, you could change the pecking order again completely. Is that really fair?”

The FIA should restrict the severity of bouncing which is permitted, Steiner believes, rather than forcing teams to change their designs.
 

Technical directive to reduce porpoising​

The FIA has announced it is introducing a technical directive with the intention of reducing porpoising “in the interests of safety.”


The ‘bouncing’ sensation certain cars have been suffering has had a negative impact on the drivers, with Lewis Hamilton in visible pain when struggling to get out of his Mercedes in Azerbaijan last weekend and Daniel Ricciardo adding that he was “not exaggerating”, given the pain he went through himself on the bumpy Baku circuit. Pierre Gasly has also recently spoken out against the health concerns of porpoising, while the likes of Lando Norris said it is up to the teams to sort out the problem themselves, and that it is “not anything to complain about”, given the teams have the option to increase the ride height of their cars, at a cost to overall performance.


But the governing body has now intervened to address this issue, after conversations with doctors about how the drivers are being impacted by the cars bottoming out at high speed and a technical meeting with the teams is due to take place in Canada about how the restrictions will be implemented. The teams themselves will have to make any necessary changes in order to comply with the directive, rather than the FIA offering their own technical solution to the issue. These measures have been introduced to help protect the “immediate physical impact on the health of the drivers, a number of whom have reported back pain following recent events”, acting on the ever-increasing calls to help the drivers escape the worst effects while racing.

A statement from the FIA read: “A Technical Directive has been issued to give guidance to the teams about the measures the FIA intends to take to tackle the problem. These include:

“1. Closer scrutiny of the planks and skids, both in terms of their design and the observed wear.

“2. The definition of a metric, based on the car’s vertical acceleration, that will give a quantitative limit for acceptable level of vertical oscillations. The exact mathematical formula for this metric is still being analysed by the FIA, and the Formula 1 teams have been invited to contribute to this process.

“In addition to these short-term measures, the FIA will convene a technical meeting with the Teams in order to define measures that will reduce the propensity of cars to exhibit such phenomena in the medium term.”


This change is likely to affect Mercedes in particular, with the reigning Constructors’ champions arguably the team suffering the most with porpoising on the grid. With a limit in place about how much the cars are able to vertically oscillate, this means it any team exceeding it will have to raise their ride height in order to comply, which is likely to slow their cars down unless they find their own solution to porpoising. 'Porpoising’ returned to the Formula 1 lexicon after the introduction of ground effect aerodynamics with the sport’s new regulations, which sees the cars now generate their downforce from underneath the front wing, in order to try and generate closer racing. But that downforce generation comes by effectively ‘pulling’ the cars closer to the ground at high speed, which then causes the floor of the car to bottom out at high speed, before ‘jumping’ back up, and then the effect repeats itself.

The FIA statement added: “In a sport where the competitors are routinely driving at speeds in excess of 300km/h, it is considered that all of a driver’s concentration needs to be focused on that task and that excessive fatigue or pain experienced by a driver could have significant consequences should it result in a loss of concentration.”
 

Leclerc to be awarded penalty in Canada​

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will be given a 10-place grid penalty at this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix after his engine failure last weekend in Baku, according to reports. Having already had a reliability failure that put him out of the Spanish Grand Prix while comfortably leading, Leclerc was at the head of the pack in Azerbaijan last time out, but another failure sent him out in a plume of smoke. The engine used in Baku is damaged beyond repair, so the Monegasque will have to move on to his third power unit of the season in Montreal, along with his fourth turbo.

Installing those new parts will incur a 10-place grid job for Leclerc, so his highest starting position on Sunday will be 11th. The issue for the 24-year-old in Baku arrived amid nine others for Ferrari in the last three rounds between the works team and their customers Haas and Alfa Romeo. Leclerc was joined by Zhou Guanyu on the retirement list in Spain, before Mick Schumacher, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas all encountered problems in Monaco.

Edit It seems that Leclerc hasn't taken a new turbo so may well not get a penalty
 
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Hamilton and Russell to face disqualification from Canadian GP​

The FIA have brought in a new directive at this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix to ensure that the cars are as stable as possible in a bid to look out for driver welfare. Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz have been outspoken about the long-term health affects “porpoising’ and bouncing can have on drivers, and the Silver Arrows have been losing around a second per lap down the straights as well. Both Russell and Sir Lewis Hamilton were left feeling bruised after their backs took a beating last weekend in Baku because of bottoming, to the FIA have taken action to protect the drivers. To limit the movement, the governing body have introduced an aerodynamic oscillation metric (AOM) which will be measured for all of the teams during Friday practice.

This will be used to calculate a threshold for oscillating movement by final practice on Saturday and, if any of the teams go over that, they could be banned from the event. They can also be asked to raise the ride height of the car by a minimum of 10 millimetres to ensure that the floor is not hitting the ground too hard. This will provide an intriguing prospect, because it could well be that Ferrari, who themselves have had to deal with the phenomenon this year, are forced to raise their ride height, which would put them into the clutches of Mercedes behind. Because this directive has been brought in at such short notice, there will be some exceptions.

For example, while there is currently only one floor stay allowed on either side of the cars, there will now be two, but the view in the long run is to get the teams to design a car that is safe for the drivers to race in. Article 10.2 of the FIA International Sporting Code [ISC] dictates that the stewards can disqualify a team at their discretion if they feel that the car is unsafe. Russell sees this change as a good step forward for the sport. “I think this is something that everybody thinks Mercedes were sort of pushing for,” he told Sky Sports. “But from a pure performance side of things, we don’t really want change because if there’s change, you never know if it’s going to go in our favour or against you. I think it’s something that we as drivers have spoken about globally because we want change moving forward because what we went through last weekend just wasn’t sustainable. It doesn’t matter what boat you’re in, you’re either ‘porpoising’ and you’re hitting the ground, or you have no ‘porpoising’ so you’re running the car very close to the ground and you’re bottoming. So, either way you look at it, it’s not great. I think it’s promising to see that they’ve made action on this straight away and it’s not taken them weeks and months and political decisions to change something like this. And when it comes to safety, things need to be resolved ASAP so not surprised to see it come in so quick but I think it’s good for everyone.”

Russell managed to get a third-placed finish out of the misbehaving Mercedes last weekend in Baku to secure his third podium of the year as Hamilton came home fourth.

edit

FIA’s new F1 bouncing limit now won’t apply at Canadian GP​

 
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F1 2022 results: Canadian GP – First Practice session​

Max Verstappen picked up where he left off in Baku by topping the opening practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix. A 1:15.1 from Verstappen on the C5 soft tyre put him atop the pile come the opening hour of practice at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Formula 1 returning to Montreal after a two-season absence. Ferrari have work to do as Carlos Sainz trailed the Dutchman by 0.25s despite a P2 finish, while Fernando Alonso was a surprise entrant into the top three on the medium compound tyre. It was only P5 for Charles Leclerc, but crucially he has not taken a new turbo for the weekend, meaning he is set to avoid a grid penalty.


After heavy rainfall had greeted the teams and drivers on Thursday, dry conditions reigned as on-track action returned to Montreal for the first time since 2019. Rain is never far away though here, so with a black cloud in the vicinity, there was no time to waste in heading out onto the track. A 1:19:7 from Sainz on the medium C4 tyre proved the early benchmark, but Verstappen soon took us into the 1:15s on that same compound, all while George Russell reported that it was a very windy day in Montreal. Alex Albon was first to be caught out at that dreaded final chicane, misjudging Turn 12 and wisely bailing out of the second part, knowing that it is never wise to head towards the ‘Wall of Champions’ out of shape.


As the session approached the 15-minute mark, Sergio Perez decided he wanted to be the Red Bull in P1, Esteban Ocon meanwhile slowed with his front-right brake smoking. “Failure, failure, failure, it’s the front right, lots of smoke,” the Frenchman reported as Alpine called him into the pits. Of all things, it looked like a piece of kitchen roll or something of the likes had become lodged in that brake duct. There were some glum faces in the Mercedes garage too as Lewis Hamilton struggled to crack the top 10 within the opening 20 minutes. He would break into it by the halfway point, but complained of the W13 having a lack of rear end. Chief technical officer James Allison was pictured in rare attendance on a weekend where a new technical directive was released relating to the bouncing that some of these 2022 challengers are suffering, the Mercedes W13 certainly included.


News filtered through that Leclerc had taken a new Internal Combustion Engine, MGU-H and MGU-K after his Ferrari PU let go as he led in Baku, but crucially no new turbo, thus avoiding a 10-place grid penalty, for now. Yuki Tsunoda though will start the Canadian Grand Prix from the back as his new power unit took him over the season limit. As Leclerc popped up to P2 on the soft rubber, Sainz taking over P1 with a 1:15.4, Verstappen noticed that the inside wheel of his RB18 was in the air, Red Bull boxing him to assess what was going on there. Perez continued the Red Bull charge meanwhile, splitting the Ferrari’s on his first soft-tyre run.


It was not long though before Verstappen was back out on the track, straight into P1 he went on that C5 tyre, clocking a 1:15.158. Sainz at the head of the chasing pack had three-tenths to find. Hamilton, armed with the soft tyres and a new floor featuring a marked cutout halfway down, set about improving his fortunes. A handy 1:15.8 lifted him to P6 as he nestled between the high-flying Aston Martins, Lance Stroll P5 in the opening session at his home race, though Russell would demote him a place as the session ticked under 20 minutes remaining.


Also looking strong was Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard popping up to P3 on the medium rubber. Valtteri Bottas meanwhile was left far from pleased after encountering an AlphaTauri roadblock, manned by Pierre Gasly. It looked like we were going to go an entire session without the traditional groundhog appearance, but it would indeed appear with 10 minutes to go, forcing the Alpines and Sainz into evasive action. Out front it was still not quite smooth sailing for Verstappen, the Dutchman now “clipping like crazy” down the straights, following up by calling it a “joke”. Nonetheless, it was a solid start to his race weekend as Verstappen goes in search of a fifth win in six races.

Results: First Practice (FP1) – 2022 Canadian GP
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:15.158
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 0.246s
3 Fernando Alonso Alpine 0.373s
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull 0.461s
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 0.508s
6 George Russell Mercedes 0.664s
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 0.719s
8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 0.719s
9 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 0.883s
10 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 0.925s
11 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1.007s
12 Lando Norris McLaren 1.053s
13 Alex Albon Williams 1.150s
14 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1.164s
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1.263s
16 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1.268s
17 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo Racing 1.994s
18 Mick Schumacher Haas 2.065s
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams 2.083s
20 Kevin Magnussen Haas 2.397s
 

Penalised Tsunoda to start Canadian GP from back of the grid​

Yuki Tsunoda has become the first driver within the Red Bull Powertrains camp to use a fourth power unit in 2022, meaning that he will start the Canadian Grand Prix from the back of the grid. The AlphaTauri driver has had all parts of his engine replaced and, having now exceeded the allotted amount per campaign, has to line up at the rear of the field for Sunday's race in Montreal.

Tsunoda is not the only driver to change some engine components in Montreal, though. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has also had several parts – including the combustion engine – changed after an engine failure at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. However, this is still within the permitted number of three components, meaning that the man currently third in the World Championship standings will not receive a grid penalty. Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Nicholas Latifi have also had some engine-related parts changed, but will not receive penalties.

​

 
asking Horner "why is one car a second slower than the other?"

because one of them is max is the real answer
 
i'd have more time for Horner if he would admit that all the whining about the Merc rear wing last year

was just playing the game

*shrugs
 

Domenicali reveals 'amazing' French GP project in Nice​

F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali has revealed that the city of Nice on the French Riviera has put together an "amazing project" to host the French Grand Prix. Speaking to a reporter for French daily L'Equipe, Domenicali alluded to the future of France's F1 event which currently resides at the Circuit Paul Ricard. However, the historical home of the French GP has struggled in recent years to hold its own on the calendar as a popular destination for competitors and fans alike.

"Historically, France has been an important nation in motorsport," said Domenicali. "You might not know this, but there is an amazing project with Nice, who wants a Grand Prix. It's great, as it proves that other destinations in your country are interested in F1. We are going to look at the applications and study them carefully. Other things could come very soon. All I can tell you is, by late July, you will know more about the future of your Grand Prix." The city of Nice, located at a stone's throw from Monaco, would either offer its streets to a second race along the shores of the Mediterranean or perhaps replace the Principality on F1's calendar as the Automobile de Monaco has yet to secure its race's future beyond this season.

Domenicali, fresh from a trip to South Africa to discuss Kyalami's potential return as an F1 venue, perhaps as early as next year, says Formula 1 is hard at work building next year's calendar. F1 has added Las Vegas to its 2023 schedule as a third race in America along with Austin and Miami, but three races – Monaco, France and Spa-Francorchamps – have yet to contract with F1 beyond this year. The Italian also alluded once again to a principle of rotation being applied to F1's agenda from next season as the sport expands it territoriality.

"The calendar for next year is being prepared," he told L’Equipe. "Having 30 GPs wouldn't be reasonable. Our preferred option would be to keep 23 or 24 races. And to achieve this, based on the demand, we're going to work with the principle of rotation – not only for Europe but for other countries too. I'm back from South Africa, but we are a World Championship and Africa doesn't have a place [on the calendar] at the moment. It needs to change. Discussions are making progress and I think we'll have an answer soon. Having a race there while Lewis Hamilton is still racing would be formidable."
 
nice little bit from Croft just them


so is your argument about changing the rules about porpoising,

not the same arguement against raising the cost cap:D
 
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FP2 Canada​

Max Verstappen completed the clean sweep in Montreal on Friday, topping FP2 to follow on from his FP1 success. Verstappen’s 1:14.1 proved to be the benchmark which the chasing pack could not answer to, but Ferrari remain very much in the mix, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc within a tenth of the Red Bull driver’s time.


Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso meanwhile teased a strong weekend ahead with their performances, both former winners here looking for further success. After a busy FP1 in anticipation of rain, the track remained bone dry as the light went green for FP2. Extensive work continued still though down at the Mercedes garage, with “lots of changes” being made to the W13s. Valtteri Bottas was also going nowhere in a hurry, an electronic issue seemingly hampering his Alfa Romeo.


Vettel was quickly noted for an unsafe release as he was waved out into the path of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, the Dane calling that incident “absolutely crazy”, with a post-session investigation quickly confirmed. Verstappen picked up where he left off, a 1:15.6 on the medium tyre taking him into P1 early on, the Red Bull driver quickly taking half-a-second off that time before moving into the 1:14s with 10 minutes gone in the session.


Charles Leclerc meanwhile had his focus on performing burnouts in the pit lane, Ferrari asking for two, but the F1-75 was not in the mood to allow him to complete even one. In the other Ferrari, Carlos Sainz was reporting that the “bottoming and bouncing is worse than FP1, bouncing is very bad guys”. He was not alone. “Massive hopping through Turn 9,” Mercedes’ George Russell reported.


An FP1 standout on the medium rubber, Alpine’s Alonso continued to look competitive as he switched to the C5 soft tyre, his opening run bettering the two Ferraris by a tenth-and-a-half before Sainz struck back on the medium C4. Leclerc was soon into the 1:14s and up to P2 as his soft-tyre run began to deliver the goods.


Sebastian Vettel had a slide which saw him miss Turn 1, but a potentially more costly one for Gasly followed as he failed to follow the bollard when returning to the track after skipping the final chicane. Gasly’s AlphaTauri team had already picked up a 300 Euros fine after he was caught speeding in the pit lane in FP1, now a fresh investigation was announced to follow the conclusion of FP2 to look at that infringement.


With 20 minutes of the one-hour session gone, Bottas ventured out onto the track but quickly returned to the garage, the issue with his Alfa Romeo not solved, while the Virtual Safety Car was briefly deployed to allow a marshal to retrieve a stray tin can. Verstappen was now onto the soft rubber, finding four-tenths as Leclerc emerged from the Ferrari garage in search of a response. Sergio Perez was the first to take a shot at team-mate Verstappen, but fell a second short.


Alonso’s effort could not topple Verstappen, but it was enough to pip Perez. Russell meanwhile put his rebuilt W13 to use to go P3. Lewis Hamilton was some six positions behind. While Leclerc was bringing the action out on the track, he coming the closest of all in that flurry of laps to usurping Verstappen, falling less than a tenth short, Sainz and Lando Norris were entertaining in the pit lane, Sainz released into Norris’ path.


Vettel caught the attention of the stewards again, noted for allegedly driving unnecessarily slowly. Jumping up to P4, he continued to show that the pace was there in the Aston Martin, while Norris and his McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo moved into the top 10. Vettel was soon back into the pits though, reporting that “something is loose”, while on the circuit Sainz improved to P3, two-tenths down on Verstappen but reaffirming that Ferrari are in the fight.


18 minutes remained in the session and heavy rain was on its way, but in 30 minutes’ time according to Red Bull, though they had not quite ruled it a non-factor for the remainder of the session as there was a chance of light drops in the closing stages. That then triggered a swift switch to race simulations for the drivers, not including Bottas, who remained stranded in the garage as Alfa Romeo struggled to figure out a way to fix the anti-stall system.


Offs at the final chicane for Leclerc and Nicholas Latifi were unwelcome hiccups in their respective runs. Russell and Alonso were looking fairly evenly matched on race pace, even troubling Leclerc’s lap times on a few occasions. Russell was also managing to keep close to the back of his former team-mate Latifi, overtaking into the Turn 12/13 chicane in a positive sign for the racing action come Sunday.


It was not so positive on the other side of the Mercedes garage, Hamilton saying that “this car is now undriveable”, suggesting that another set-up shift awaits. Back to the garage it was then for Hamilton as the clock hit zero, Verstappen completing a clean sweep of Friday practice.

FP2 standings:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:14.127 33
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 0.081s 32
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 0.225s 32
4 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 0.315s 35
5 Fernando Alonso Alpine 0.416s 24
6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 0.752s 34
7 George Russell Mercedes 0.844s 31
8 Lando Norris McLaren 0.860s 30
9 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 0.906s 31
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine 0.992s 32
11 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1.040s 29
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1.269s 34
13 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1.294s 25
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1.372s 34
15 Mick Schumacher Haas 1.389s 35
16 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo Racing 1.399s 31
17 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1.440s 37
18 Alex Albon Williams 2.044s 30
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams 2.382s 27
20 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo Racing 3
 
I'll bet there's a lot of excitement in the Alpine garage. Looks like they're on for a good race.
 

Rivals question Mercedes’ speedy reaction with second stay​

With a second stay attached to the floor of their W13 in practice in Canada, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren have reportedly questioned how Mercedes were able to react so quickly to the FIA’s new-for-Canada rule. The FIA issued technical directive TD039 on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix, motorsport’s governing body stating that not only will they be checking the floors of the cars from Montreal onwards but they’ll also lay out a “quantitative limit for acceptable level of vertical oscillations”. Each car will be individually checked, their numbers set out after second practice, and any car that doesn’t meet the FIA’s “safe” numbers will have to raise the ride height by a reported 10 millimetres.

It is a TD that is likely to affect Mercedes more than most as the Brackley squad’s W13 suffers with severe porpoising. As part of it the FIA also cleared the way for the teams to reinforce their floors with an extra stiffening stay, mounted ahead of the one they are already permitted to run. Mercedes already had one in place in Friday’s practice, and their rivals have questions about that. According to AMuS’s Michael Schmidt, ‘Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren are not only upset that the FIA is changing the rules in the middle of the season and allowing for an second underbody support, they also openly question how Mercedes had such a stay and attachments to the chassis and floor on hand in just one day.’

The stay, though, didn’t work as hoped. A Mercedes team member responded, saying: “We had people who flew late to Montreal and took the material with them. Because of our problems with the ground, we were prepared for anything in terms of the stays.” He added: “The second one didn’t work as expected anyway.” Lewis Hamilton said after practice that it was a “disaster” and that the car was “getting worse”.

The FIA has subsequently confirmed that, while technical directive TD039 is being tested this weekend, it won’t be used as a rule before the British Grand Prix. “The technical directive does not specifically state that the metric would be applied for this race,” an FIA spokesperson told reporters. “It is felt that the complexity of establishing that metric from all the data from the different cars is not going to be an overnight job. There will be a careful and full analysis of the data gathered this weekend and any application of it will be appropriate to whatever arises from the analysis.”

The teams still have a lot of questions about the TD, the biggest one being what will be considered an acceptable level of vertical oscillation. “Who dares to say that 7g or 8g is the limit?” an unnamed team boss told AMuS. “There is no expertise whatsoever as to what is still acceptable and what isn’t.” Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has joined Christian Horner in saying the FIA should stay out of it and the teams should fix their own problems. “There is no need for action,” said the 79-year-old. “If you have a problem, you should put your car higher.”
 
Its looking more and more likely that Charles Leclerc will take a 10 place grid penalty, it seems he will have to take a new turbo or electronics control units for the race on Sunday.
 
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