Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 285. (Read 141766 times)

Red Bull reliability issue is still going on and there is really a big problem about it for sure. I mean imagine a scenario where both Merecedes drivers are still higher up than Max right now, I get that Ferrari is higher because they are the best this year but it is 100% clear that Mercedes is worse this year and yet even with that in mind they are both higher because Max lost out on 2 races and got zero points.

The difference is 46 points right now, and even if Max ends up winning the next 4 races, if Leclerc is second in those games, then we will end up not getting Max to the top with that. This shows that finishing the race is more important than being first sometimes, Hamilton had like one podium total right? Or whatever he has done so far, not great, and yet even with that he is still higher only because he managed to finish those races.

Congratulations to Leclerc.

Verstappen dropped to 6th place because of a technical problem with his car on lap 39, so it wasn't entirely his fault, even though last season he won this Australian circuit.

But what's disappointing is Hamilton's performance, he didn't even finish in the top 3.

It is not to be salty.
Was fine if Hamilton lost the title in fair conditions.

Doing what they did, putting Verstappen with fresh tires behind Hamilton without any reason is like robbing the title to Hamilton.

You are still salty because of the last grand prix of the 2021 season i guess. I don't really think that this as Red Bull's fault though as the decision were made by someone else, but i understand that  you are still angry about that if you are a Hamilton and/or a Mercedes fan. Regarding this season so far: Despite Mercedes being so far away in terms of performance level of the cars in comparison to Red Bull and Ferrari i think that especially Hamilton collected a good amount of points so far for the driver championship. Looking at the standings after 3 races he even is 3 points ahead of Verstappen at the moment, which is more than Mercedes deserves at the moment.

So happy to see Max out of the race. Not for him personally but mostly for RedBull team who deserve nothing after last year of F1 and I hope they won't fix the car issue and they will keep DNF , just to give the real F1 a taste of justice.

Also , Horner doesn't know he has 2 drivers for his team ? Today he barely mentioned Perez who took 2nd place and also when he spoke on the radio , he got no information back. This disrespect alongside redbull drivers cannot be accepted. At this rate , F1 fans will start to hate Max even more and it's not his fault but Redbull's.

Yes this track was like it was fitted to Ferrari perfectly this time,Leclerc completely deserved this win and sure it was total dominance as I think out from the first three races this one ended with a gap of more than 20 seconds between P1 and P2 positions,congrats to Perez for a great race also and that P2,surely Redbull and him could not do more here.If things don't change for other teams most other tracks are intermediary at speed and corners so most likely Ferrari is going to win this Championship in both drivers and constructors.

Suzuki's Alex Rins has criticized his fellow MotoGP riders for deliberately slowing down to get slipstream, in qualifying for the US Grand Prix.

Due to failing to record the best time due to the yellow flag situation in FP3, Rins was forced to fight from the first qualifying round. This is his first experience of the 2022 season.

Thanks to the steadily improving speed of the GSX-RR, the Spaniard managed to step into Q2 and take seventh place. Inch time 0.655 seconds adrift of Jorge Martin, the leader of the qualifiers.

The choice of tires is said to be the key to success in approaching the Ducati group, which dominates the top five.

“We put in a good performance, but it was like a roller coaster. I can't go straight to Q2 because of the yellow flag. In the end, it's good I was able to finish P7. This is not the result we were waiting for but we have a good pace for tomorrow."

On the other hand, Rins expressed his frustration with the behavior of several MotoGP riders who did towing. Although detrimental, but this step does not bear punishment.

"It's hard for the drivers to slow down. What is seen in qualifying and FP3 is hard to accept. People waiting. Moto3 riders don't even wait that much," he revealed.

"I don't think the MotoGP riders will be penalized because we are the oldest. I do not know.

“We are the oldest, we should set an example. There are some drivers who brake suddenly. They have to do something with it. I don't know whether to give orders, keep five minutes away from us and violators can be punished clearly." ^{(Source: Motorsport.com / gpzone.id)}

LeClerc won and domintated the whole GP.
It was not even close for Verstappen who got even problems later and retired.

Sad result for Sainz too.

It's a great weekend for cyclists as World SBK is taking place today

Toprak Razgatlioglu is in pole position for this afternoon's Race 1, with Alvaro Bautista & Jonathan Rea completing the front row. ^{Source: crashnet_motogp}

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The reigning champions will start the race on the front grid with great enthusiasm and are also very confident of continuing to win big this season again in order to retain their title.
How about this season's World SBK, my friends? will there be even more fierce competition from some of the new racers?

I wasn't surprised when I saw that there were five Ducati bikes at the forefront of the grid even though in the past Ducati had never had good results at the circuit of the Americas.
But for this year I think several Ducati motorcycles with different riders will be able to provide many surprises and also compete in front for the championship because this Circuit Of The Americas is already Marquez's favorite circuit, who has collected 7 victories since the circuit was registered in the MotoGP calendar.
But during qualifying yesterday I saw that there were three Ducati riders who were able to break Marquez's lap record that was set in 2015, and all three of them will start the race on the front grid.

It would be the best possible scenario - the new champion dethrones the old one in a direct fight. It seems that Ferrari are ready this season to regain the championship. As for Mercedes, so far they have not improved anything and will gradually lag behind the leaders. It will be very interesting to see how Hamilton will behave in such an unusual situation for him 

I think that's being a bit harsh on them. For some drivers, sure, it probably is mostly about the money. But there are plenty of F1 drivers who get paid a lot, and who I think would happily take a pay cut to drive a faster car. Lewis and Max for two, and I'm sure there are plenty of others for whom even a few million $ here or there doesn't mean anywhere near as much as being able to win races.

Yep, I think by the time F1 goes to Europe, prolly as early as Spain, we could see Ferrari start getting consistent 1 - 2's more and more.  Watch out for that.  It's gonna be a hard fought battle but I think Leclerc could be F1 driver's champion this year and Ferrari  constructor's champion.  Remember, Red Bull had absolutely no points for the first race.  That's huge if both teams come neck and neck for the rest of the season.

2022 F1 Australian GP Qualifying Results

1   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m18.881s   1m18.606s   1m17.868s
2   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m18.580s   1m18.611s   1m18.164s
3   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Bull Racing   1m18.834s   1m18.340s   1m18.240s
4   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m19.280s   1m19.066s   1m18.703s
5   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m19.401s   1m19.106s   1m18.825s
6   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m19.405s   1m19.076s   1m18.933s
7   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m19.665s   1m19.130s   1m19.032s
8   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m19.605s   1m19.136s   1m19.061s
9   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m18.983s   1m18.469s   1m19.408s
10   Fernando Alonso   ESP   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m19.192s   1m18.815s   No Time Set
11   Pierre Gasly   FRA   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m19.580s   1m19.226s   
12   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m19.251s   1m19.410s   
13   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m19.742s   1m19.424s   
14   Guanyu Zhou   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m19.910s   1m20.155s   
15   Mick Schumacher   GER   Haas F1 Team   1m20.104s   1m20.465s   
16   Alexander Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m20.135s       
17   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   Haas F1 Team   1m20.254s       
18   Sebastian Vettel   GER   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m21.149s       
19   Nicholas Latifi   CAN   Williams Racing   1m21.372s       
20   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   No Time Set   

Pole position LECLERC!!!

Sainz got unlucky on his 1st attempt, red flag when he was on the start line, probably under half-second before he could end his lap.

On his second attempt, he did a mistake otherwise he could fight Charles.

Will the record that has been more than five years be broken today? because after finishing FP1 and FP2 yesterday, I saw that the lap times of all the riders were still worse than the time that Marquez had in 2015 at the Of The Americas circuit.
And today there will be FP3 and FP4 and qualifying for all drivers, so let's see who can break the record that has been in the past today.

1   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m19.117s
2   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m19.249s
3   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Bull Racing   1m19.265s
4   Fernando Alonso   ESP   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m19.275s
5   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m19.419s
6   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m19.693s
7   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m19.809s
8   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m19.896s
9   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m20.008s
10   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m20.071s
11   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m20.096s
12   Pierre Gasly   FRA   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m20.133s
13   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m20.205s
14   Mick Schumacher   GER   Haas F1 Team   1m20.692s
15   Guanyu Zhou   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m20.836s
16   Alexander Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m20.958s
17   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   Haas F1 Team   1m21.025s
18   Nicholas Latifi   CAN   Williams Racing   1m21.050s
19   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m21.636s
20   Sebastian Vettel   GER   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   No Time Set

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1000448/1/f1-2022-australian-grand-prix-free-practice-results-3

FP3, Ferrari did not pushed but Incedible time for Norris

Fabio Quartararo's manager, Eric Mahe, confirmed he was in talks with other manufacturers outside of Yamaha. The admission reinforces speculation about the future of the MotoGP champion.

The French rider's contract with Yamaha Factory Racing expires at the end of this season. So far, there has been no sign of negotiations.
Quartararo has often disappointed the YZR-M1's performance this season. Speed and lack of power are the issues it highlights.
To motogp.com, Mahe only leaked the photos and had spoken to other manufacturers but their identities were still hidden.

"We checked all the parameters. We just have to know where Fabio can achieve the best possible result at this stage."
"We are in talks. This is not a question of bidding. We try to do our best for Fabio.
"Obviously, we have a lot of respect for Yamaha. But, for some reason, I can't say we have to bring him in."

^{Source: Motorsport.com / gpzone.id}

Vettel didn't stay just for the money, he hoped for a better team to eventually get him back. Dude deserves to be in a better car but the alternative to a bad car is no car at all. Would you rather do what you love as a business, or would you rather do nothing at all?

I mean if you didn't earn much that would change of course, so yes the money plays a big role, it is 15 million for what you love to do versus basically nothing, and that means money is a big part of it but not all of it, he does deserve to be paid that much, he could have gotten 5-10 from has as well for example, and that is poorest team. So, it is also about the fact that he is not bad enough to retire yet, no need for that, his car is the worst this season, but it wasn't like that so far.

Mercedes did a lot of new things for this race and apparently, they have not solved their problem yet (or they are hiding).
Ferrari also did some improvements to the car.

Let's see who will do the pole but I think SO FAR in tracks with high traction there is no competition and Ferrari is way better than the others.

We will see in 8 hours.

Apparently after the race, Mercedes will be displaced from second place in the constructors' championship and will not return there. The plot of the championship is approximately clear and it remains to be hoped that the dominance of Ferrari will not be total. Sainz said that falling behind Leclerc is a matter of self-confidence and he will achieve it. I hope Red Bull don't let this happen