Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 269. (Read 141756 times)

As everyone expected, pole for Leclerc, but he cut it fine by ruining his first lap... nice final lap when the pressure was on.
As everyone expected, Verstappen second. More reliability questions for RB, too. Could be interesting.
As everyone (probably) expected, Mercedes still some way off the pace, at least in qualifying - let's see what they're like in the race.

Verstappen losing power in his last fast lap at Q3 is concering.  Not finishing the race could happen again.  They're prolly pushing that engine way over its limit.

2022 F1 Spanish GP Qualifying Results

1   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m19.861s   1m19.969s   1m18.750s
2   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m20.091s   1m19.219s   1m19.073s
3   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m19.892s   1m19.453s   1m19.166s
4   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m20.218s   1m19.470s   1m19.393s
5   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Bull Racing   1m20.447s   1m19.830s   1m19.420s
6   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m20.252s   1m19.794s   1m19.512s
7   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m20.355s   1m20.053s   1m19.608s
8   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   Haas F1 Team   1m20.227s   1m19.810s   1m19.682s
9   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m20.549s   1m20.287s   1m20.297s
10   Mick Schumacher   GER   Haas F1 Team   1m20.683s   1m20.436s   1m20.368s
11   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m20.838s   1m20.471s   
12   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m20.880s   1m20.638s   
13   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m20.707s   1m20.639s   
14   Pierre Gasly   FRA   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m20.719s   1m20.861s   
15   Guanyu Zhou   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m20.476s   1m21.094s   
16   Sebastian Vettel   GER   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m20.954s       
17   Fernando Alonso   ESP   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m21.043s       
18   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m21.418s       
19   Alexander Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m21.645s       
20   Nicholas Latifi   CAN   Williams Racing   1m21.915s   

Edit:  It wasn't a power issue, the DRS didn't open.   

Ferrari should be faster in qualifying but RBR should be faster in the race.

At least according to the telemetry so far this weekend.

Yes, Ferrari have the edge in qualifying, but can't match RB in race pace. Same again.

And I'm starting to be convinced that Merc are on the right path now, and could soon be up there. Having three teams fighting for wins sounds too good to be true... just hope it is true.

If it's just Leclerc and Max, and one messes up, you still know they'll finish second and not lose much... If this means a mistake can drop you down to fourth behind both Mercs, it gets a lot more interesting.

I feel like it's going to be just like the last race.  Leclerc has the edge at qualifying but come race day, Verstappen has the race pace and steals the show once again.

And I guess questions have been answered regarding the Mercedes cars.  Results show that they've been having huge improvements in fixing the bouncing issue.  I think by the middle of the season they'd be fighting for their spot at the top too...  It could be another great season ahead guys.

Here are the results.

2022 F1 Spanish GP FP3 Results

1   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m19.772s
2   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m19.844s
3   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m19.920s
4   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m20.002s
5   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m20.129s
6   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m20.260s
7   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m20.403s
8   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   Haas F1 Team   1m20.646s
9   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m20.781s
10   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m20.882s
11   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m20.910s
12   Sebastian Vettel   GER   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m20.944s
13   Fernando Alonso   ESP   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m20.981s
14   Guanyu Zhou   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m21.201s
15   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m21.449s
16   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m21.520s
17   Alexander Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m21.572s
18   Nicholas Latifi   CAN   Williams Racing   1m22.419s
19   Mick Schumacher   GER   Haas F1 Team   1m25.467s
20   Pierre Gasly   FRA   Scuderia AlphaTauri   No Time Set

Ferrari is fastest over one lap. Red Bull still looks comfortably the fastest on full race simulation. Expect Leclerc to challenge for pole, and Verstappen to blast past him in the race.

Yes, the issue with Merc has been the porpoising, and them having no choice but to raise the ride height in order to reduce the effect, which reduces the speed. Their challenge all season has been to find a way to eliminate (or reduce) the porpoising so that they can lower the car and gain some speed. I think the general consensus is that Merc have a fast car, enough to challenge RB and Ferrari, if they can just optimise the set-up. FP2 suggests they just may have found an improvement. I'm not yet fully convinced it's enough to challenge the leaders, but they seem to have found something at least... we'll see.

---

It's a great post, full of helpful and informative content, and it really adds to the discussion, but for me it's not quite enough, sorry.

as the commercial rights holder of MotoGP officially announced that the Losail Circuit will not be the opening series in the 2023 season. Because the paddock area will undergo renovation and remodeling. This was announced on Sunday (15/5/2022).

Losail has joined the MotoGP racing calendar since 2004, and has always been the opening series since 2007. Since 2008, the races there have always been held at night.
The circuit which is known to be friendly with Ducati has been confirmed to continue to be on the MotoGP calendar until at least 2031, but next season will not be the opening series as usual.

Work on changing the shape of the Losail Circuit paddock will begin this year, and different areas will be redeveloped to create a better experience for participants and spectators alike. Dorna Sports stated that Qatar will host a MotoGP race in 2023 towards the end of the season. Even so, it is not yet known which circuit will be the opener for next season. _{Source: Bola.com/gpmaniac.id}

The red car is still faster, but the evolution of Mercedes in this last practice is remarkable.
Mercedes has brought to the Spanish GP a radical package of changes in its cars, ranging from its front wing, the floor whose edge has been redesigned and the rear spoiler that technically should have the function of considerably softening the car's jumps (the porpoising effect) was that what helped to gain a better position?
I really hope to see more competition between Ferrari and Mercedes at the next GPs.

Yeah, but we don't know how hard Ferrari and RBR pushed.

On this track, they did the tests before the start of the season in February and got faster timers than Today.

Different condition for sure but they were at 1.18 something.

Pole position will be 1.17 closer to 1.16 IMHO

Please give me merit

The first practice session wasn't good for Mercedes drivers at all. One of them was the 4th and the other was the 6th. But things changed in the second practice session actually. We saw Russell and Hamilton as the 2nd and 3rd respectively. Russell was only 0.1 seconds away from the leader Leclerc. Of course I know that this is only a practice session. It doesn't show the complete reality. But I've started to be hopeful about the qualifying for Mercedes drivers. I hope that both of them can capture strong positions before the race.

I do not get how you can say that Mercedes is doing better, I mean look at the results, we have 2 Ferraris at the top, and Max is right behind them, we have VIPs not doing great obviously but he wasn't given that order, he just did some testing and that's all. This should be something that shows you that we are talking about Mercedes still being third team in the race right now. Sure, VIPs could have been low, but Hamilton was 6th in the tests as well.

We also need to remember that this was a test run, it is a practice and it means nothing. Even qualifying is not that important anymore, the fastest team last race was Ferrari and they lost very quickly.

Okay, second practice builds more of a case for Merc. But I'm still not convinced; I don't think I'll start to believe it until they do the same in qualifying, and then fully believe it when they do the same in the race itself. And even then I'd suspect that maybe it was a one-track-wonder specific to Barcelona. If they are improving, is it coincidence that it happens at the same track where pre-season testing took place?

One thing I like though is the fact that Alonso is so close. Would love to see him at the front again!

Still Leclerc and no excuses for Verstappen for not being the leader this time.  And you know what, as coinlocket$ said, Mercedes now really looks like they have solved their porpoising issue and are ready to challenge the leaders.  Can't wait for FP3.  I feel like Merc was sand bagging FP1 and not showing their real pace.  FP2 kinda showed where they're at and tomorrow would be the confirmation.

If Mercedes really did improve, it just made life harder for Verstappen to gain some championship points.


2022 F1 Spanish GP FP2 Results

1   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m19.670s
2   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m19.787s
3   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m19.874s
4   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m19.990s
5   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m20.006s
6   Fernando Alonso   ESP   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m20.203s
7   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m20.632s
8   Sebastian Vettel   GER   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m20.703s
9   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m20.745s
10   Mick Schumacher   GER   Haas F1 Team   1m20.757s
11   Pierre Gasly   FRA   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m20.917s
12   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   Haas F1 Team   1m21.013s
13   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m21.249s
14   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m21.285s
15   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m21.385s
16   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m21.828s
17   Guanyu Zhou   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m21.866s
18   Alexander Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m22.319s
19   Nicholas Latifi   CAN   Williams Racing   1m23.197s
20   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m23.388s

I remain skeptical. It looked like they'd made a huge step forward in Miami, but that proved to be a false dawn and when it was time for qualifying and the race itself, they looked just as ordinary as usual.
Perhaps they will fix it during this season, but it seems to be a fundamental issue with the structure of the car, and I'm not convinced it's something that can quickly be engineered out (or cheaply, given the cost cap).

But maybe I'm wrong, who knows? I hope I'm wrong - it would be incredible to see three teams genuinely in with a chance of winning races.

Be Aware of Mercedes, they did a big step imho.

Can the fight for victories? Or is a false positive.

Rossi had already hung up his helmet at the end of the 2021 MotoGP. However, the record for the number of races in the premier class (MotoGP/500cc) that is held seems difficult to break.

Among the 10 riders with the most number of races in MotoGP, only Dovi and Aleix Espargaro are still actively participating.
Even so, considering the number of races that were inscribed by the two drivers, it seems difficult for Dovi and Aleix Espargaro to surpass Rossi's record. Here are the 10 racers with the most number of races in the MotoGP/500cc class:

1. Valentino Rossi (372 races)
Win : 89
Podium : 199
Pole Position : 55

2. Alex Barros (245 races)
Win : 7
Podium : 32
Pole Position : 5

3. Andrea Dovizioso (241 races)
Win: 15
Podium : 62
Pole Position : 7

4. Nicky Hayden (219 races)
Win : 3
Podium : 28
Pole Position : 5

5. Dani Pedrosa (218 races)
Win : 31
Podium : 112
Pole Position : 31

6. Loris Capirossi (217 races)
Win : 9
Podium : 42
Pole Position : 13

7. Aleix Espargaro (204 races)
Win : 1
Podium : 6
Pole Position : 3

8. Jorge Lorenzo (203 races)
Win : 47
Podium : 114
Pole Position : 43

9. Colin Edwards (196 races)
Win : 0
Podium : 12
Pole Position : 3

10. Carlos Checa (194 races)
Win : 2
Podium : 24
Pole Position : 3
_{Source: gpnews.ig}

I also think that the car of Red Bull is slightly faster than the one of Ferrari at the moment. In the qualifying it seems like Ferrari is still ahead by a very small margin but in the race the Red Bull is just a little bit faster it seems. The reason for that is probably that Ferrari is creating more downforce than the Red Bull which means that Ferrar can get the tyres on the right temperature faster which is great for the qualifying but of course this also menas that in the race the tyres of the Ferrari also get hot earlier which is a bad thing in the race of course. For this reason, Verstappen could always catch up in the course of the race and then finally also overtake LeClerc.

The first practice session was uneventful for the most part.  No crashes or near crashes.  Just cars going about their business.  And Verstappen could've been the fastest if not for the traffic at sector three during his fastest run of the session.  Overall, everything looked ok and it looks like Mercedes has finally solved their bouncing issue...  We'll see at FP2 later.  We'll prolly see Mercedes start pushing a lot more.

Here are the results.

2022 F1 Spanish GP FP1 Results

1   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m19.828s
2   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m19.907s
3   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m20.164s
4   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1n20.590s
5   Fernando Alonso   ESP   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m20.768s
6   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m20.811s
7   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m21.279s
8   Pierre Gasly   FRA   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m21.422s
9   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m21.737s
10   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m21.814s
11   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m21.891s
12   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m21.920s
13   Robert Kubica   POL   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m21.975s
14   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   Haas F1 Team   1m22.089s
15   Mick Schumacher   GER   Haas F1 Team   1m22.146s
16   Sebastian Vettel   GER   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m22.164s
17   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m22.614s
18   Nyck de Vries   NED   Williams Racing   1m22.920s
19   Nicholas Latifi   CAN   Williams Racing   1m23.011s
20   Juri Vips   EST   Oracle Bull Racing   1m24.138s

I think we will get our answers even before Sunday,during today free practices,I don't think the drivers will save a lot or hide a lot from their car potential,I know in Friday practices drivers just want to find the perfect setup and balance for the car but they also keep pushing to the max trying to find that.

I am also curious about the Mercedes upgrades as I remember Totto Wolf saying to Hamilton in preseason that we would fight for winning races near the start of the second half of the Championship,I hope these upgrades can be brought before as it is thought now.That big straight surely favors Redbull for now but let's see what the ugprades of both Ferrari and Mercedes bring to the table.