Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 294. (Read 141786 times)

^  Yeah...  Come to think about it Red Bull could always find a fix since they have an excellent team and rebound from last weekend's terrible showing.  But getting absolutely zero points is a huge loss imho.  It's like cutting off a limb almost esp if Ferrari is consistent for the whole season.

From a betting perspective, I'd take Verstappen for the rebound but would I bet it?  Nope.  Lol.  Not until the reliability issues are fixed... 

Anyway FP1 in 30 mins guys.

I'm still not sure which is the better car, RB or Ferrari, but they're obviously close. It's quite difficult to evaluate. I'd say Leclerc and Verstappen are pretty evenly matched as to who is the better driver, with Sainz behind them, and Perez behind Sainz... which is how it was playing out in the race.

If it stays that way, it could come down to which team has better in-season development, for which I'd maybe favour RB over Ferrari.

Not sure how much of an issue the first race retirement will be over a 23 race season, but yeah it's certainly not a help.

It would be a shame if Marc Marquez could not perform at the COTA Austin circuit in Texas, because at this circuit Marc is very strong, he has experienced six wins in a row from 2013 to 2018 and even last year 2021 when Marc's performance was still under his best performance because of the injury he was still able to win the Race at the COTA circuit.

Marquez's participation in Argentina and Austin later is unfortunately threatened. The reason is, the eight-time world champion had a terrible accident in the Mandalika MotoGP warm-up session on Sunday (20/3/2022) morning. He suffered a concussion, and his diplopia, aka double vision, recurred.

Bradl said he would be ready if called upon to replace him, and left all decisions to Honda. "I was wondering about this in Lombok once I saw Marc fly in the air due to a highside in the warm-up session. But Honda will give an official statement about this opportunity at some point," he said.
^{Source: Bola.net & gpnews.ig}

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Given that there are two races that will take place in America and are very close and there is no long pause after the Race in Argentina on April 3 and then continued with the Austin Race in Texas on April 10, it is possible that Marquez will absent in order to cure his concussion and diplopia injury.

Seems like it won't be needed. It was just one part of the engine that had a problem and they fixed it, or that is what is said right now. If they once again face such a big problem then they would have to fix it and get it better of course, but that doesn't mean that we should be expecting them to change the whole engine for the time being. For now, they will start normally, with the hopes that the problem is fixed, and they will fight to win the race.

We all know that they are great at street races and Ferrari seems to be the ones to beat this year (has been long enough) and I believe that they will probably have a great race against each other. I am hopeful about HAAS as well, that will be interesting to watch.

The Jeddah circuit entered the calendar last year. This circuit attracted attention with its high-speed design. But it was said by the race drivers that there were problems with visibility and safety. Changes have been made to the racetrack this year. On the second and third circuit the left-hand barriers were retracted. Likewise the circuit fourteen and twenty-first barriers have been withdrawn. At the exit of circuit twenty-seven the circuit width was twelve meters. I hope the SA GP will be exciting and high-speed.

At these levels 50 million is not a bad number but also not really impossible to get neither. This is the latest champion of the world right now, and if he wants to use that in another team he could have. Imagine a scenario where Ferrari got Max AND Charles on the same team, very young racers that could achieve so many championships for Ferrari for so many years.

Of course he wouldn't leave right after a championship, I get that, but the idea that 50 million is unique to RBR is a bit of a wrong statement. This guy could have been paid 50 million even by Haas, because he would bring in that much money and would be profitable for the team anyway.

Jakarta - BMKG opened its voice regarding rain handler Rara Istiani Wulandari who was in the spotlight at the Mandalika MotoGP event. BMKG said that the rain handler is a local wisdom that is difficult to prove scientifically.

"Actually, if you look at the rain handler, it is a local wisdom owned by the community. Scientifically it is difficult to explain," BMKG Deputy for Meteorology Guswanto told reporters at the parliament complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday (21/3/2022).

Guswanto said BMKG has its own predictions regarding weather forecasts. Previously, the BMKG had predicted that there would be light to heavy rain in Mandalika on March 17-20, 2022.

"But the BMKG itself actually has (forecasts) of its own. If we look at the phenomenon yesterday since 3 days ago on 17, 18, 19, the BMKG has predicted that in Mandalika it will rain with light to heavy intensity. Then on the 20th it is estimated also heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms, why do you think that? Because at that time there was a tropical cyclone 93F whose impact gave the potential for the growth of rain clouds in Mandalika," he said.

Although there was a moment when the rain stopped while the rain handler was working, Guwanto said it was a coincidence. He said the rain had stopped because of the duration of the rain that had already ended.

"And the proof is that from the start the handler has been working, but it hasn't stopped either. This means that actually yesterday the time it stopped was not because of the rain handler, because the time duration had already ended. At around 16.15 it was finished, all that remains is to do a race if you look at the national forecasts for the impact analysis that we have from BMKG," he said.

^{Source: detik news & gpzone.id}

In the two races that have been held this season, I was also impressed with the Suzuki factory even though I didn't get to the podium and won, but the two Suzuki factory riders managed to collect the same number of points and this is really amazing.
And this season, Suzuki also has to be careful because at certain circuits it can steal everyone's attention by winning the race.

TBH they could probably take enough engine change penalties to start at the back of the grid, then during the race overtake everyone else to end up P3 and P4 behind the Ferraris... such is the RB and Ferrari pace advantage at the moment. But I'm hoping the gap will close over time, as it's often biggest at the start of new regs, I remember the ludicrous Merc advantage at the start of the last era, that was then slowly reduced.

Personally, I will not immediately blame Ban or Michelin in this case because Pol Espargaro, who is also Marquez's tandem, did not experience the same thing at Mandalika last week even though he fought hard to finish during the race.

Now for the Race which will take place in Argentina it will be very exciting and interesting to look forward to because there is often fierce competition during the Race and on a record, Marquez himself is quite good even though he also often falls there when there is Dani Pedrosa as his tandem in repsol Honda, but for this year it looks like it will be difficult to guess who will win again there because there are many good riders on the MotoGP grid for this year, although Marquez still has the potential to win if there are no physical problems.

The Malaysian Grand Prix will continue to be held at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) for the next three seasons, following the renewal of the agreement with Dorna Sports. Source

After being plagued by pandemic problems for the last two years in Malaysia, now they are starting to come back again by making a new deal for the world Grand Prix event.
And this is really great because the Sepang circuit is a very good circuit in Asia and very often offers exciting competition on the track.

According to

https://www.formulapassion.it/motorsport/formula-1/f1-team/doppio-ritiro-red-bull-marko-ha-la-spiegazione-f1-verstappen-perez-609942.html

The problem for RedBull was something related to the "vacuum in the injection of the fuel" there should not be any damage on the engine or batteries.


(Big good news if it is true since they can only use 3 of them, each)

Did he still use the same type of tire during the fall 3 times? It seems different isn't it, but is this just a tire factor? I am waiting for an explanation from Honda. Michelin in local news has said that it refused as a major factor marquez fell.
Next we will go to Argentina for the next race. Two weeks apart, the last race of 2019 Marquez became champion he also has a record of 5 pole positions in Argentina. Of course, the hope is that Marquez can return to the race in the Argentine series.
Who do you think will win in Argentina?

It's true that the car plays a part, but it's also true that the best drivers tend to end up at the best teams. This is how Max got a Red Bull drive, for example, and it's why Mercedes ditched Bottas but kept Hamilton. A good driver will usually end up at a good team. A bad driver in a good team will get replaced.

Oh I'm pretty sure he's going to be very happy about the money but I'm talking about what if..  just what if Verstappen doesn't win the driver's championship for the next three seasons and we see Ferrari dominating F1.  What then?  It could be so frustrating for the guy to be stuck in a team he's starting to have doubts on.  It's not all about the money imho.  I'm pretty sure Verstappen didn't sign the contract just for the money.  He wants to win titles.  He's that kind of competitor.  He's no Hulkenberg or some other guy.

Last year as we saw in the last couple of races of that year luck played a very important role which first made look like Verstappen was going to lose the Championship in Jeddah but then suddenly in Abu Dhabi things turned around and it was only luck with that late Safety Car that netted Verstappen the Championship.In a sport like F1 luck is a major factor as you can't predict who is going to crash and when or if a problem with the engine happens and when the Safety Car will enter the track changing everything.

After waiting more than two years, Jorge Lorenzo will be officially inducted as a MotoGP Legend and inducted into the Hall of Fame for the 2022 season.

Lorenzo's long wait will end. MotoGP has announced that it will hold a X-Fuera coronation ceremony as a Legend at the Spanish Grand Prix at the Jerez Circuit this year.

^{Source📷 : @jorgelorenzo99 and gpzone.id}

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I also wonder why it's only now been crowned as a MotoGP Legend for Jorge Lorenzo, even though it's been more than two years for Jorge Lorenzo to retire from MotoGP.

Through GPOne, Tuesday (22/3/2022), Taramasso admitted that he was surprised to hear Puig's words, which he said was not even present at the pre-season test at Mandalika so he did not understand the elements that were the reason his side brought different tires. Taramasso admitted that he had tried to explain the situation thoroughly.

"I was surprised. I tried to give Alberto all the elements that he might not know about. The technical staff of all the teams and the majority of the riders understood him, and no one else complained. So I'm surprised he's the only person who doesn't understand the motivation of changing tires among the crowd. test and race week," he said.

Taramasso said the entire team and rider agreed that the tires provided at Mandalika should prioritize safety over performance, considering that some of the tracks had just been re-paved. They understand the components of the tires used in the tests will not last the race distance. In fact, the race was shortened from 27 to 20 laps only.

"The only technical solution is the casing, which we used in 2017 and 2018, combined with the components from the tests. This case lowers the tire temperature by 15-20 degrees, because the asphalt temperature (Mandalika) reaches 60 degrees and we have never seen such a high temperature. it's in Sepang. Everyone is aware of this, so it's strange that someone doesn't understand or doesn't want to understand," complained Taramasso.

"I was shocked. Some riders (referring to Pol Espargaro) even said that 'tyres from 2018' meant being stored in a warehouse for four years. It takes a lot of imagination to say that, even though these tires were produced after tests. We have also analyzed accident data ( Marquez) and I can rule out the possibility that it was the tires."

^{Source:📰 Bola.net & gpnews.ig}

That's a good point, but it's also true that many drivers out there - Max surely amongst them - would prefer to drive for the winning team rather than the highest paying team. If Red Bull are paying $50m a year and Ferrari are paying say $20m, but the Ferrari is capable of winning titles and the RB is not, then I'm confident that Max would prefer to take the pay cut in order to fight for titles. Same for Hamilton if a faster car paid less than Merc. Same for quite a few drivers I'd imagine.

So a multi-year contract can net you $$$ but lumber you with a slow car. That being said, it looks like a hypothetical scenario at the moment as the RB is clearly up there with Ferrari as the fastest car at the start of 2022.