Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 314. (Read 141853 times)

There is a consensus that Masi was asked to do too much, and was left quite isolated in that role, so everyone understands he was in a difficult position... but at the same time, there already are clear rules that don't leave any room for misinterpretations and personal preferences. The issue isn't that there weren't any clear rules, so Masi decided on what would be the best course of action, rather it was that he specifically broke the clear rules not once but twice. I mean, he really went out of his way to break the rules to achieve his desired outcome. I can't see how the FIA retain any credibility if he remains in his role. There are also the issues of simple incompetence and corruption, I mean, if you want to break the rules to force a single lap winner-takes-all shootout, then anyone with even a basic grasp of F1 knows how to do it, you simply red flag the race, get everyone tidied up and on fresh tyres, and run the restart... anyone should know this. So that's the incomptenence part. But Masi isn't anyone, he's supposed to be an expert who knows what he's doing. The idea that he thinks two drivers side-by-side, one on fresh soft tyres and one on 40-lap old hard tyres is a "race" is just not credible, there's no way he could think that, so that's the corruption part. How can he remain in position without the FIA losing all credibility?

Who wants to go Mate
Supposedly when you don't know about it you should try to find out the truth first, and I had long read the news about Bagnaia's contract extension with Ducati until 2024 a week ago before the pre-season test in Mandalika was held.

"Bagnaia completed his renewal with Ducati until 2024. Pecco Bagnaia and Ducati are finalizing the final details of a new contract for the current world runner-up, which will see him continue to wear the official Borgo Panigale brand team suit for another two years.

Pecco Bagnaia has earned the right to be considered the spearhead of the red motorcycle company project, having won four grands prix last year and amassed a total of 9 podiums."

And for a threat from Ducati, I don't think it's only directed at Yamaha, but it is aimed at all the teams competing this season in MotoGP, especially this season there are 8 Ducati motorcycles in the MotoGP grid.

The whole 8 point thingy is a bit sad to be honest. Not the system itself but dropping it to 8 cars, 10 was good enough, to be fair I would love it if everyone got a point. I would have turned that into 20 point thing where the first would get 20 and last would get 1. This way we would see everyone getting at least some points. It is more about how teams that are usually outside of the top 10 are jumped together. Like aston martin, williams, alfa romeo and haas all got nearly nothing at all.

I mean sure aston has 77 and people do not see them same as haas, but it is still usually nothing and they are usually getting zero, aside from few races. That way it would have been everyone getting some money and it would have been quite profitable for most teams as well, everyone would actually get some points based on where they are outside of 10 and not lumped all together. Dropping it instead of increasing it makes no sense but they probably know what they are doing better than I do.

As in previous years, the Austrian GP will have two races per year, this year a sprint race will be held on Sunday in addition to the normal Grand Prix. It is not 2 weekends as in the past Corona years (would be boring in a normal racing calendar) but 2 races per weekend, a total of 3 tracks have been confirmed by the F1 Commission for the coming season.


https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.formula-1-to-hold-three-sprint-events-in-2022-with-more-points-on-offer.4UXmrMDm6We04ZFlW0Ieo9.html

I'm especially happy for Imola, I just love an old school track.

I read some news the other day that Mercedes and Hamilton are demanding that Masi must be replaced and maybe Hamilton was kinda playing with the rumors that he might not come back to the formula 1 in order to increase the chances to have the decision regarding Masi be made in his and Mercedes way. I also saw an interview with Vettel during the presentation of his new 2022 car and there he said that he wants Masi to stay. I also think that what happened back in Abu Dhabi it is not really Masis fault alone. The FIA needs to introduce clear rules that don't leave any room for misinterpretations and personal preferences.

I think we all expected him to come back, yes. I don't think it's about finishing off a lucrative contract though, he surely has far more money than he'll ever need. I imagine he wants to come back because he wants to fight for the championship again, and get that 8th title.
He's only on 7.5 at the moment. 

And I don't think the retirement talk was for publicity, I think it was an attempt to affect the FIA investigation of what to do after the Abu Dhabi debacle, a way to exert power and to prevent the FIA from trying to brush it all aside and not make changes, a way to say 'you need to make some serious changes to how you're running this thing, or your star attraction leaves'.

So wait...  Qualifying will decide grid placement for the race with and the sprint race but the sprint race will be having no bearing over anything except for getting extra points?  I mean I guess for entertainment value it’s fine but I don’t see the point.



Lol.  I mean really...  What did everybody really expect?  I had no doubt Hamilton will be back and finish off his lucrative contract at Mercedes before calling it quits.  All the retirement talk was all for good publicity I guess.  Keeps everybody talking.

The real question is if he’ll go drive for another team after Mercedes.

Until now there has not been a single driver who praised and commented positively on the Mandalika circuit, all the drivers complained about the Mandalika circuit which was still dirty and dusty, even the world champion motorcycle GP rider complained of neck pain after starting one lap at the Mandalika circuit, homework that must be fast in the fix so that the Mandalika circuit can be on par with other countries' circuits..

The Mandalika Circuit still needs a lot of repairs now, such as the asphalt peeling off at some corners and it must be repaired immediately before the official Race Title held by Dorna on 20 March 2022.
In general, the pre-season test is very necessary and should not be taken lightly because it is the first step for all teams in working this season before their engine is sealed by Dorna.

when talking about Ducati, Is Bagnaia still on the team?, I heard rumors about him wanting to leave. I don't know what the true. I see the Ducati team is enough powerful on Mandalika, they have dominated on the top seven. Ducati is being the biggest threat for Yamaha, especially after they upgraded the machine to be Desmosedici GP22. that means Ducati motor become more powerful and nimble. The competition for next season is certainly not far away from them.

Yeah they knew for a long time it is too late now for replacing him with another driver... we are 1 week away from the start of the tests.

Two years ago the young Yamaha rider was still in the Petronas SRT satellite team with a collection of 6 wins, 3 times each through Morbidelli and 3 more times through Fabio. The Yamaha factory team only won 1 time through Maverick Vinales in 2020 so that Suzuki who appeared consistently to win the 2nd and 3rd podiums managed to collect a lot of points, because Suzuki in 2020 only experienced victory twice through Alex Rins and Joan Mir. So it was only Suzuki's luck in collecting the number of points not in the number of wins, because if you look at the total wins in 2020, Yamaha had 7 wins at that time. And last year was a little different.

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If Ducati is able to combine their speed in the straight with speed in the corners, then not only Yamaha will have to give up, but all manufacturers will also give up if Ducati is able to combine the two things.
But giving up before a match is a very embarrassing thing, and it would be great for Yamaha if they were able to win with weak or little power.

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I agree with what you are saying because from what I have seen during 2013 until now Ducati has never won a MotoGP World Championship except for only winning in a few series, so in general it can be concluded that speed on the straight track must also be balanced with speed. in corners so that the motor becomes very strong on all tracks or circuits.

Even without looking deep into Alpha Tauri car, it looks obvious that's just demo car. If we talk just about livery, previous season it looked better for me. Aston Martin looks closest to car which we will see on track. What I noticed is shape of their front wing, it looks interesting and it's  quite high.
Interesting news about sprint. Seems that sprint racewill have more importance. Also, F1 changed point rules after last year disaster in Spa. Now at least 2 laps of distance is needed to get points. And different amount of points will be given, according to distance, whether it's 25%-50% or 50%-75% of distance. To get full points, at least 75% of distance is needed.
BTW, Look what Mercedes posted on Twitter. I think it leaves no questions
https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/1493228445962321924 

F1 news.

For the following year, we will have 3 sprint races and they will be Imola Austria and Brazil.
We will also have some changes, points will be assigned to the top 8 and not only to the top 3, and who will make the pole position for the statistical purpose will be given on Friday and not to the winner of the sprint race.

Thank you for providing corrections friends and what I mean is that
of course even though this is only a temporary test but this can be used for their reference because indeed with this they definitely know what to do and what is lacking from their motorbike.
But this is a pretty good thing too for those who do have a good time even if this is just a test but they can also at least predict for the strategy they will do later.
There are always complaints at Mandalika Btw even though improvements continue to be made but at least this is better when compared to last season

^  As far as liveries go, I think what you see is what you get.  There’s no more changing how the car looks as far as how the colors and the theme goes.  I think that’s pretty much it.


Looks like Aston Martin could be going for less speed, more down force.  At least that’s how it looks like for me with the wider, less sleek body compared to Haas which is the sleekest.  McLaren is in the middle.  I could be wrong tho, I’m not an engineer or an aero guy.  What do you think coinlocket$?

I really dont like the fron view of the Alpha Tauri AT03. Its so much dark blue. The others views yes i like it, but in the front dont.

I dont know why they didn make the "rim" white like the previous year. But still wait to the real one, this its only digital and for commercial.
And yes the AMR seems so Bulky compared to the MCL and they have the same engine.

It has been the case for the last 2 years that Yamaha start the season very well, but then always drop off again. Fabio probably rides the Yamaha above its potential or gets everything out of the bike like Marc Marquez. Two years ago it didn't work out for Yamaha because in the end Suzuki was ahead, Yamaha got weaker and Suzuki got stronger. Just like last year, Yamaha started very well and Ducati got stronger and stronger towards the end, but I wonder if it will be the same this year, Bagnaia is not new to the factory team either.


For me, Bagnaia is definitely the favourite this year, with Marc and Honda we will see how well Marquez starts and gets on with the bike.

Alpha Tauri is here and again only a render: RBR is hiding their cars.

Source: https://twitter.com/Gianludale27/status/1493180265421852677

it can even be very interesting if we look at benchmark circuits that look different from other countries and with all the local wisdom, I instead focus on adjusting the track and natural conditions which take time to adjust rather than the drivers.
So far, I still rely on F.bagnaia (ducati) as a rider who will be able to emerge as the best racer.