[Other Sport] F1 2022

[Creaky]

Apparently Red Bill are “indefinitely” boycotting Sky because Ted Kravitz said “Lewis was robbed in Abu Dhabi”, which is an odd stance given the FIA have basically already said much the same with their response and actions after the event. Still at least it means we don’t get Horner whinging every few minutes on their coverage.

They also think everyone should apologise to them for saying they cheated, even though they have been found guilty of breaking the rules. To my kind they ought to count themselves lucky they’re competing in the only sport where you can break the rules, be convicted of breaking the rules but be allowed to keep the title you won while breaking the rules.

The same things happens in football - breach the FFP regulations but still get promoted.

 

[Audax]

$7m fine, which is surely loose change to an org like Red Bull and doesn't even come out of their cost cap budget. Plus just a 10% reduction in aero research time. Seems very lenient to me.

A lot to untangle with this one. As much as I've grown to really dislike Red Bull and their "win at all costs by pushing the boundaries to the limits" approach, from what I've read I think they're eating a fine and aero testing penalty that they might have been able to get out of in court.

Now, I'm not saying Red Bull are innocent here. They clearly tried to get inventive with their interpretations in places, and it's (quite rightly) bit them on the backside. Anyway, here's what I've picked up on the whole saga:

1. Red Bull pushed the boundaries on what could be "excluded" from the cost cap, and the FIA disagreed. This related to catering costs for staff at their UK bases. This one is important, because of how the FIA "corrected" the spending: Red Bull attempted to claim *all* catering as excluded, however the FIA rightly pointed out it clearly wasn't. But when they corrected it, the FIA included *all* of Red Bull's catering costs including some that should have been excluded (such as catering costs for Red Bull Power Trains staff, catering costs relating to visiting journalists, costs relating to staff working on non-F1 projects such as their hypercar etc).
2. Red Bull had a number of accounting errors (suspect their finance team will have received a "must do better" note on the desks!), including one where they excluded the same line item twice.
3. Red Bull stuffed up a tax break application and didn't receive a tax break they'd expected to receive. FIA gave them allowance for this when they assessed the penalty (this error meant their overspend was assessed as less than £0.5m despite the headline figure being a lot more than that).
4. Red Bull got stuffed by a late rules clarification that meant some items they thought were able to be excluded weren't.
5. Red Bull tried to exclude the salary of Dan Fallows, who was on gardening leave ahead of moving teams. Problem was that they put him on gardening leave slightly too late and missed the cut off to be allowed to do that.

Ultimately, when you look at where their overspend came from ... it wasn't a deliberate attempt to cheat. Had they done everything correctly (not push the boundaries on catering costs, get that tax break application in properly, sort out Dan Fallows in time) they would not have overspent.

As a result, that 10% aero testing time reduction is actually, IMO, reasonably fair. And have no doubt: it will have an impact on them. I think Horner's "it'll cost us 0.5s per lap" claim is very much inflated, but it will cost them. They were already starting next year with the least amount of time available, and this 10% reduction applies on top of that. If you imagine that the WCC standings actually started at 3rd, then the 10% reduction Red Bull have taken is the equivalent of them being classified 0.5 in the WCC in terms of how much aero testing time they get compared to the rest of the teams.

That was so dull, easy win for Max but I find it strange that Mercedes didn’t try different strategies for Lewis and George. Their strategy was as dull as the race and bring George in just to get fastest lap when he was begging to go long on mediums and then switch to softs. Red Bull not only have the best car, they may now have the best driver and they certainly have the jump on Mercedes on strategy. Time for Mercedes to have a change in personnel at the top? Much much too cautious when they really had nothing to lose.

George wanted the Ricciardo strategy. What might have been had they given it to him will forever be one of those "what if...?" questions.

 

[Official Old Man]

As a result, that 10% aero testing time reduction is actually, IMO, reasonably fair. And have no doubt: it will have an impact on them. I think Horner's "it'll cost us 0.5s per lap" claim is very much inflated, but it will cost them. They were already starting next year with the least amount of time available, and this 10% reduction applies on top of that. If you imagine that the WCC standings actually started at 3rd, then the 10% reduction Red Bull have taken is the equivalent of them being classified 0.5 in the WCC in terms of how much aero testing time they get compared to the rest of the teams.

So I take that as meaning, say they had 1000 hours now it's 900 in the wind tunnel. But who checks? There must be wind tunnels all over the UK that would leave the back door unlocked one night.

 

[Audax]

So I take that as meaning, say they had 1000 hours now it's 900 in the wind tunnel. But who checks? There must be wind tunnels all over the UK that would leave the back door unlocked one night.

There aren't that many F1-standard wind tunnels. And they're mostly owned by other F1 teams or Le Mans teams. Or big businesses who won't want to be associated with cheating. The penalty will stick.

Where it gets a bit debatable is running the wind tunnels / CFD systems (both of those have been cut by 10%) costs money. Red Bull can re-assign that money to other areas that they otherwise couldn't, which means they might be able to claw back some of the lost performance. Hence why I doubt their performance loss will be anywhere near 0.5s.

 

[A1X]

Pole for Haas?

 

[Guinness Boy]

Pole for Haas?

Yep! So chuffed for KMag. Brilliant stuff. Russell bins it and gets third.

 

[indy3050]

Chuffed for all at Haas, an evening that they will never forget!

 

[JJ McClure]

Well done to Haas and K-Mag. All we need now is gorgeous George to wipe out Max at the start and jobs a good’un

 

[Icy Gull]

That Sprint race was up there with the most thrilling racing this season. Mercs are nearly back, Verstappen was hindered by front wing damage but even so it was great to see him overtaken and George and Lewis did really well. Seems Max has matured, raced hard but no kamikaze moves.

Excited for tomorrow’s GP. I expect Max to win but it could be much closer than most races this season.

Bring it on!

Any news of a potential penalty for Hamilton for some start line infringement?

 

[Creaky]

That Sprint race was up there with the most thrilling racing this season. Mercs are nearly back, Verstappen was hindered by front wing damage but even so it was great to see him overtaken and George and Lewis did really well. Seems Max has matured, raced hard but no kamikaze moves.

Excited for tomorrow’s GP. I expect Max to win but it could be much closer than most races this season.

Bring it on!

Any news of a potential penalty for Hamilton for some start line infringement?

Apparently ‘no further action’

”managed to avoid a post-session penalty after an investigation over his starting position on the grid, with the stewards eventually deciding to take no further action.”

F1 sprint - Lewis Hamilton avoids penalty as Verstappen plan backfires

George Russell managed to beat Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz to win the final sprint event of the 2022 season.

www.express.co.uk

 

[A1X]

Best sprint race since they introduced them IMHO, proper competition rather than the front guys coasting round to avoid any dramas for the grid

 

[Audax]

Apparently ‘no further action’

”managed to avoid a post-session penalty after an investigation over his starting position on the grid, with the stewards eventually deciding to take no further action.”

F1 sprint - Lewis Hamilton avoids penalty as Verstappen plan backfires

George Russell managed to beat Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz to win the final sprint event of the 2022 season.

www.express.co.uk

Apparently the Brazil grid boxes were painted smaller than normal. Few drivers looked to be out of position as a result but were deemed OK after checks confirmed the boxes were too narrow.

Also some signs Max might not be favourite tomorrow. Apparently had high degradation on the mediums. Suggests he might struggle with tyre life in the race.

 

[Icy Gull]

Well done George, well done Lewis and Mercedes

Max showing himself up for the classless **** he is.

He also shits himself when racing Lewis, went back to head mental **** when he couldn’t get past at the start. 5 second penalty was nowhere near enough

 

[Scappa]

What a contemptible little prick Verstappen is

 

[Bold Seagull]

He’s already world champion and he can’t let his team mate have a couple of points for a championship team 1-2. Amazing how arrogant he is.

 

[indy3050]

Verstappen is a little ****, showed himself to those who doubted it today. Really looking forward to next season now with George and Lewis hopefully in a competitive car from the start!

 

[banjo]

Karen won’t be happy with that.

 

[A1X]

I’d love to be a fly on the wall of that Red Bull motorhome after that petulant outburst

 

[Scappa]

Karen won’t be happy with that.

Considering Verstappen has been allowed to behave with impunity over the years at Red Bull, this situation is entirely of Karen's own making.

 

[Icy Gull]

He’s already world champion and he can’t let his team mate have a couple of points for a championship team 1-2. Amazing how arrogant he is.

The team mate who had to support him all season. Despicable