Poll: Japanese Grand Prix 2022, Suzuka Circuit - Race 18

[chrismscotland]

Honestly time Mick Schumacher leaves Haas - was sitting in 10th when the race started, screwed by getting left out on wets and now +14 seconds from Zhou in plum last.
Wonder how Steiner will manage to blame him this time

 

[chrismscotland]

Starting out have him a chance of getting points. Right choice, even if it didn't pan out.

It 100% wasn't the right choice once everyone else had pitted.
He was already in 10th with a great chance of points if he had pitted onto inters at the same time as everyone else

That said - he's made up 12 seconds on Zhou so showing good pace, but zero chance of a result now

 

[chrismscotland]

Can we agree to get rid of this nonsense 2/3hr rule. Waste of a potentially good race.

Agree, I said earlier in situations like this it should be up to the race director to make the call on when is "too late" due to light, etc

 

[chrismscotland]

Did I just hear full points were awarded?

 

[chrismscotland]

Full race points. Eh?

Sky said something about as the race was restarted after a red flag they could award full points, no idea though

 

[chrismscotland]

Autosport Reporting:

So according to the rules, the points distribution for shorter race distances applies if the race didn't resume. It seems it did, so we've got full points...so Max Verstappen appears to be a two-time world champion! This confusion sums the day up, doesn't it?

 

[chrismscotland]

Ah well Toto picked a good weekend to stay at home

 

[chrismscotland]

limits the amount a team can spend on its cars over the course of a given calendar year

RB over spent on their last year

Red Bull "might" have over-spent last year

 

[chrismscotland]

Article 6.5 of the 2022 F1 Sporting Regulations:

 

[chrismscotland]

Yes sorry my bad, i forgot it was all speculation

It is all speculation currently until the FIA actually rule

 

[chrismscotland]

Only in Japan would you see the winning driver having to make a plaster cast of their hands!

 

[chrismscotland]

You didn't miss much but i think it possibly could have started 30/45mins earlier

The conditions didn't seem much different

Agreed tbh, I was pretty surprised the SC went in as quick as it did, didn't seem any wetter than earlier

 

[chrismscotland]

I don't see why they removed the "laps run" percentage - seems silly.

I mean what happens in a situation where they delay and delay that start of the race, I assume that the "3 hour" window doesn't start at that point?
Could easily end up with a very very short race and full points would get awarded where it gets too dark for example?

 

[chrismscotland]

The quality of race directing has been absolutely awful for a long time now.

I'd argue it was better when the host broadcasters did it and supplied the feed to F1, there were some dire ones but at least there were also some good ones!
The current direction is poor

 

[chrismscotland]

Max has just turned 25. You guys know your stuff, so how many F1 champs do you see him ending his career on? More than MS/LH?

Depends on the car/team (much like LH/MS tbh) but its clear that Red Bull seem to have the advantage in the current rules so have to be favourites going into next year.
Given his age, etc and the current lack of much competition I can see him challenging LH/MS in the overall title stakes.

Personally I think only Hamilton of the current crop can challenge him and he's only going to be around for a few more years, its not clear yet where the competition is going to come from, Leclerc seems a little inconsistent (and Ferrari dire), Russell has been consistent but yet to see him look like a real contender and beyond that Norris is stuck in a middling McLaren.

There was a thread on r/Formula1 that suggested Merc know what their issue was this season and will be able to fix it for next year, so with any luck we will see them back fighting for wins next season, and hopefully Ferrari can get their act together as well.

i'd love to see a 3 way (or more) fight next year but won't get too excited about Merc until we see Race 1 next season, they've said a few times this year they've been confident they've understood and or fixed their issue and then been disappointed.

Guess who wrote the silly points rule that gave Max the title today? The person at the top of Max's Xmas list forever, Masi.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/63192820

To be fair it was ratified by the FIA World Motorsport council so does it matter? It was badly handled but tbh I think the fault sits with the broadcasters who clearly hadn't read or understood the new rules. I'm surprised because the teams, etc are usually so on top of them.

 

[chrismscotland]

They’ve also said it won’t be a quick fix- which I take to mean they are working heavily on next years car. Honestly, for a team that was languishing in the midfield at the beginning of the year tk challenging for podiums or p4 consistently recently, that’s pretty good going.

As for drivers, Leclerc has shown himself up a little bit this year. He had made mistakes but at the same time Ferrari have royally screwed him as well. As I keep saying about Hamilton, it’s the consistency that’s key. I’m not sure Leclerc has it to win a championship - and I’m not sure RB and Max have it to start challenging records.

I still get the feeling if Norris had a go in a RB then he’d show Max up.

The thing with Lando Norris is that so far he's never been challenged really to prove that he is a top, top tier driver.
Sainz is consistent but just that little bit off the top (more like a Bottas or Barrichello) and Ricciardo has just looked totally out of sorts alongside Norris, hopefully Piastri will be a better challenge for him but its going to take time.

 

[chrismscotland]

Yeah, interested to see how people felt about this "race"

I think we need a mod to add it?

 

[chrismscotland]

*clears throat*

FEEEEK!!!

@Feek

I think he's on holiday!

True. But I think with the way that people bang on about Max's raw speed.. well personally I think Lando probably has that too, he's had some amazing drives in that Mclaren.

True, time will tell, if McLaren don't get to the front of the grid in the next couple of years Lando will be off to one of the big 3 anyway to test his mettle properly.

 

[chrismscotland]

I am. It’s added now.

I’d like to remind people about the name calling. Do it again and you’ll get a thread ban for the next race thread. The opening post of this (and the last two races) has been quite clear.

Thanks for adding the poll @Feek

 

[chrismscotland]

It was better than Spa last year, which it could have easily become.

I do think the full wet tyres need fixing for next season. There is no way an intermediate tyre should be faster than a full wet, when it's fully wet.

Yeah they were talking to Isola (the Pirelli Director) who was basically explaining that the wet is a "survival tyre" with no real pace, and moaned that teams didn't want to help with wet weather tyre testing hence the lack of any development, hard to argue with the teams when we seem like we're not allowed to run in the rain much anymore.