Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 271. (Read 131107 times)

It will come up what Hamilton and Mercedes are doing, plus Raikönen already has a new job. He is now team manager of a Kawasaki MXGP team, but I can't estimate how much time the new job will take. But now it depends on what Hamilton does.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/kimi-raikkonen-kawasaki-mxgp-project/

That is really great news as F1 is in much need of fierce competition.I predict also Ferrari to be competitive during the 2022 season as they have been preparing since late 2020.Hopefully McLaren will be a bit stronger too to give us what we have not seen from quite some years now in F1,fierce competition not against just two teams.The more the merrier here takes a special meaning,also the 2022 will have new regulations so everything will be new to the teams so let's hope for even a better season that the last one of 2021 which was a great one. 

 It wasn't sad that Honda would stop, but it was sad to learn that Red Bull would have to learn how to build their own engines which we all know would be terribly difficult to do. Of course I would love to see Honda building engines forever if they can, but my priority was that someone has to challange Mercedes. We all know that Mercedes has the best car, and by a big mile compared to most of the field, the only close ones were Red Bull and maybe ferrari+mclaren were near, even if not near enough. This would have meant that Red Bull would have an engine they built while learning and that would make them a tad bit slower, while Mercedes probably got faster. With Honda staying, the gap won't be too big once again.

It is really good news. Because I was really sad to hear that Honda was about to end building engines for Red Bull by the 2022 season. The Honda - Red Bull relationship in F1 is going on very well as Honda has built a great engine for Red Bull for the last season and Verstappen became even the champion thanks to a really fast car. This deal must go on as long as possible for Red Bull to continue to be strong. As long as the engine is strong, they will always be one of the biggest candidates for winning a title.

A little surprise, Honda is now building the engines for RedBull until 2025 and not only until 2022 as planned. I think this is very good news for RedBull and they can now concentrate fully on the next season and defending the title.

https://www.motorsport-total.com/formel-1/news/neuer-motorenplan-bei-red-bull-honda-uebernimmt-noch-bis-2025-22012801

Everyone along with me wants that the rumors of Hamilton retiring are false but from what it seems from the Teasers Mercedes has been posting recently, it seems quite inevitable that his retirement is closer than we might expect.

But I think Vettel would be a better replacement compared to Kimi as I think Kimi is somewhat of washed away and Vettel has the potential to be a very good option for Mercedes.

I think that there is no way Kimi Raikkonen replacing Lewis Hamilton for the Mercedes seat. This must be some kind of a joke for sure. Raikkonen must have already forgotten about F1.    He was looking forward to retire and he got what he wanted. Maybe we could see him in rally but not F1 surely. Rather than Raikkonen, there have been some rumours like that Vettel might replace Hamilton. This is another far possibility for me. I don't even think that Hamilton will retire already now. But let's say he is retired, then maybe Mercedes would think of bringing Vettel seriously.

Although he strongly recognizes the power of Ducati motorcycles in MotoGP, Joan Mir as a Suzuki Ecstar racer, feels it is unfair that the Italian manufacturer will field eight riders at once in 2022. He stated this to Speedweek on Thursday (27/1/2022), ahead of the test. try pre-season in Sepang, Malaysia, 5-6 February.

"When you look at the potential of their bikes, as a racer, I don't think it's fair. Eight bikes are not half of the grid, but almost half of the front row. In a championship that has six manufacturers, this is definitely odd, said Mir.

The Spaniard also stated that the large number of Ducati riders would be very difficult for other manufacturers, especially Suzuki. The reason is, Suzuki is known to be weak in single laps, so their qualifying results are not ideal. Moreover, their engine power and top speed are still not as high as Ducati.

"Qualification will be an increasingly critical session for us. Not only will it be more difficult to win, but it will also be more difficult to go through Qualifying 2 (Q2). Overtaking has also been the worst part of last year. When overtaking Ducati, my front tire got too hot. Our bike looks bad from a result point of view," said Mir.

However, this is also an opportunity for Mir to encourage Suzuki to improve the performance of the GSX-RR. "Ducati's potential is amazing. But it will be very difficult for us if we don't improve. I am also worried about this. Moreover, Aprilia has also made great progress," he concluded.

_{Source : Bola.net
Source : https://www.instagram.com/gpindonesia.id/}

Nope and who would wish that on anybody?  I’m just make a point and saying did you guys notice Raikonnen’s driving last season?  His reflexes aren’t what they used to.  He’s making a lot of mistakes out there in the race, making him a danger to himself and all the other drivers.  It’s prolly age related dunno.  But if you were watching, you kinda knew he was done in F1.

And what do you mean by ‘surprise’?  It’s not gonna happen imho.  The season starts in less than a couple of months from now.

I have heard some news like that Michael Masi might have got sacked now. There were already some rumours about that Lewis Hamilton would return to F1 on the condition that Michael Masi gets sacked. Because he was really disappointed about the result as it was not fair. They didn't even examine the situation in a detailed way after the incident and this must be too much for Lewis. He hasn't been talking to many people for a long time and this is the main reason obviously. If this news is true, then things can get really interesting in F1.

In fact this is very strange, as much as some say these private events are normal, but everyone is eager to see what we will have in the 2022 cars, at least a live broadcast could take place.
Anyway... Catalonia will have closed doors and a great mystery, whereas in Bahrain, open doors and everyone can see it up close... it's really very strange.
Anyway... F1 and its crazy rules.

No clue and to be honest this is BS.

The hype is bigger than in other years with the revolution of the cars.
They always talk to want to bring the F1 closer to fans and this was a great opportunity.

Not only fans will not be allowed on the track, probably due to covid too but fans cannot watch the new cars on TV.

What is wrong with them, I have no words.

Is there a reason for it? I mean it is not like we have 500+ races a year, it is not like football, we have so few f1 races anyway, and to not be televised for the test run would be a bit of disappointment for sure. I know that is not a race, it is test run, and that is why it is not as important but that usually gives us a chance to look at which teams look good or not. Mercedes had a horrible test run last season and yet they still managed to win the constructors last season so test runs are not even that important.

However... it is just fun to watch you know? I hope they backtrack it, or there would be some illegal streams somewhere that we could watch but if it is not televised then how could it be illegally streamed neither (hoping maybe it was given to some Bahrain tv rights thing). In any case, I can't wait for the off-season to be over.

"Call us biased if you like, but we think these just might be the best looking bikes in the #MotoGP paddock"

_{Source: https://www.instagram.com/ktmfactoryracing/}

KTM says itself is the best in the MotoGP Paddock, what do you think about KTM this season ? because considering that KTM has launched their Livery motorbike for this season and it looks scary even though there are not many changes to the motorbike when compared to last season.

According to rumors, the tests in Bahrain (the second session of the test) will not be TV-covered!

Don't know if it s a final decision but it will be a shame if it will be in this way.


The 1st session in Barcelona should be under F1 TV.

I agree, I mean it doesn't look like he will retire, but after two such pictures, it looks like there could be some retirement now. I mean one of them is black and white showing him leaving, and another is with kimi who retired this season looking like "both retired drivers of the season" type of picture.

I am not saying he retired or anything like that, maybe he is not coming back at all, or maybe those are pictures that we mistook completely. Like the first could be black and white because he lost last season, so a sad picture, and the last one would be "goodbye kimi" from Lewis type of picture, who knows why they are there?

That sounds a bit harsh, but of course you wouldn't wish that on anyone.
Perhaps we will also experience a surprise. You can never know it before...

Personally, I'm looking forward to it and I'm excited.

Raikonnen will prolly end up crashing and dying in that Mercedes.  Lol.  The guy is losing his reflexes as shown in the last season.  I think it’s just for show to get something going with the journos and the fans before the start of the season.  But then again I could be wrong.  So we’ll see.

One thing the sports betting sites should do is open a market if Hamilton retires or not before the start of the season.  Would anybody take a bet on Hamilton retiring?  

I would be very sad if what you are saying comes out to be true. Not only me, but I think thousands of other F1 fans would also be sad if this is true.

Hamilton still has at least 2 years left in him still racing on peak form. But from what it seems from the teasers and statement of Wolff, I think that his retirement is knocking at the door. I didn't want him to retire this early. I think it's highly unlikely, but I hope he changes his mind.


This has to be one of the saddest news for every F1 fan. Hamilton is the greatest racer of all time and there's no denying that. But him retiring this early came as a shock to me I have to say.
But Kimi could be a good replacement for him if he comes to Merc and maybe he along with Russell would do really well as a duo as I think both of them might have the same mentality.


The feeling is mutual my friend. This guy just ages like fine wine- only getting better over time. But I don't get it if he had already retired, the official announcement would have been already here but it's not. From what I've heard from the rumors is that Kimi might be replacing him if he actually retires. I don't know what to say as I have become blank at this news of him retiring.

To be honest i also never thought that there were any substance at all to those rumors regarding the retirement of Lewis Hamilton. Just because he is angry and disappointed does not automatically mean that he will never race again. Also i think it is completely normal that someone does not post on social Media during honidays or a break.
The recent statements of officials though have changed my opinion a bit because so far we have no clear contradiction of the rumors by an official team member. We will see.