F1 2022

[bobmac]

With the start of the new season looming, there's still no word from Lewis.
Will he return or not?
And will Red Bull be able to afford Max's new wage demands?

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-...-Max-Verstappen-contract-Helmut-Marko-F1-news

An interesting time ahead with testing only a few weeks away.

 

[Beedee]

At least there won't be a Djokovic moment for F1 this year. A spokesman for F1 said: "F1 (FOM) will require all travelling personnel to be fully vaxxed and will not request exemptions."

 

[theoneandonly]

SLH will be back im sure. New cars start to be released in the coming couple of weeks. We won't really know what it all means untill the first race but I'm looking forward to it. So much so me and my eldest are driving over to Spa for the Belgian GP.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

It wouldn’t surprise me if LH walked away, and who can blame him.
Red Bull and JV are a perfect match, childish and petulant.

 

[Swango1980]

I'll be intrigued how all the teams do in relation to their performances last year. And how Russel will get on at Mercedes.

I'd love to see 3 or 4 drivers having the cars to compete against Max, and see how Max does under that pressure, and how many of them he sends into the wall (and how often he'll score an own goal by going into the wall himself).

 

[Foxholer]

It wouldn’t surprise me if LH walked away, and who can blame him.
Red Bull and JV are a perfect match, childish and petulant.

Also the way I'd describe some of LH's actions, on and off the track, in the past.
I think LH will stay - this year. While I wouldn't be surprised if he did walk away, I believe the challenge JV provides will be too much for him - and his ego - to resist.

 

[Beedee]

More than anytime in the last 8 years, this year is about the car. The new rule changes are such so fundamental that I really don't see a two manufacturer fight. One team will have found the special loophole and the others will take at least half a season to catch up / FIA to change the rules to help RB.

Lewis v George could be interesting. Lando v Danny would be a good fight. I think if it's any of the other teams, one of the team will be far too dominant to be challenged by their team mate.

 

[Robster59]

I have a feeling that Lewis will stay on. He may decide to go for another world title and then hang up his boots as World Champion.

 

[Swango1980]

Maybe Lewis will decide whether he stays on AFTER he gauges how the Mercedes will perform. If it looks to be a fantastic car and likely to dominate, he may well stay on. If it looks dodgy, and that other cars look better, he may decide to step down and use the finale of last season as an excuse, rather than the fact he just does not think he'll be competitive.

 

[SaintHacker]

Merc have already published few pics from the factory showing LH so I think he is a dead cert to be on the grid this year, particularly as this will likely be his last chance to win that 8th title.
The interesting thing will be who his main challenger is, i have a strong suspicion it will be his own team mate rather than anyone from red bull/ferrari

 

[cliveb]

One of the main factors that made it difficult for Lewis last year was the woeful support from Bottas left him to fend entirely for himself.
There were lots of races where Bottas had just one job to do to make Max's life difficult, and he routinely failed to do so.
I think Russell should be much better able to mix it with Red Bull.
But if George decides to try and directly compete with Lewis, any on track squabble between them will leave the door wide open for Max.

I have a sneaking feeling that Lewis might pull George aside and tell him something like this:
"You are the future for this team. But if you try and mix it with me straight off the bat, it will get messy, it will be bad for the team, and chances are you will come off worse.
But... If you agree to be my support wingman this year and help me beat Max, I will spend my final year (2023) doing the same for you".

(This is all based on the assumption that Merc and Red Bull stay as the dominant teams, and despite the new regulations coming in, I can't see why that wouldn't be the case).

 

[Deleted member 29109]

I am 99% certain Lewis will be on the grid next season. He is playing games with F1. His SM following is nearly as big as the rest of F1 combined, so him not posting will be hurting the brand more than him. His silence as they say, speaks loudly.

What it is also doing is taking column inches away from Max and Redbull. They and the FIA were desperately pushing Max into the media, now the F1 media is only speculating about Lewis. The new young gun and current world champ has all but been forgotten for the time being.

As much as the new regs are intended to bring the teams closer together, a change in regs rarely does. I was hoping this to be the case before last season. Now, I hope Mercedes come out and drive off into the sunset.

 

[Cherry13]

I think LH will stay, as others have stated it’s just a bit of a power play to put a squeeze on Liberty and FIA (although fia should rise above it and not care that they could cause the biggest star to walk away. They will be petrified of taking the blame if he does) hence the talk of structural changes and such things, although this is long overdue.

I am hoping for a midfield team to break the pack and do a brawn, but that’s looking less and less likely. I initially thought it might be Aston, but they seem to have some internal wranglings at the moment that aren’t looking good. Maybe mclaren can close the gap or Renault.

Interesting to see both red bull and merc failed safety tests. Apparantly Mercedes’ went pretty left field but they failed a pretty standard test so have reverted back to a more conventional design. Wonder if we’ll ever find out what it was they did with the side pods.

Red bulls is slightly more worrying as it’s the front wing, and will require a redesign, so they obviously assumed it would pass first time. Although they’ve stated should be done ready in time.

Here’s hoping for a good season ahead with plenty of drama…. Just a bit less involvement from the stewards please.

 

[Oddsocks]

Surely the legal implications of LH not turning up are huge. Morally I agree with this if he chose to do it but merc would sue him for huge numbers.

 

[Swango1980]

Surely the legal implications of LH not turning up are huge. Morally I agree with this if he chose to do it but merc would sue him for huge numbers.

I doubt it. As far as I can tell, they are in good terms, and Mercedes were equally upset by how last season finished. If LH stepped away, I am sure they would spin it as the correct thing to do based on the injustice of last season. If they were to Sue LH, that would be extremely damaging PR to Mercedes. Plenty on non-Hamilton fans dislike Mercedes anyway (a lot of people also don't like to see the same winning team every year, unless they are supporters). If Mercedes then sued Hamilton, I'd imagine they'd lose a lot of support from Hamilton fans as well.

And, suing the driver that won you multiple world championships will stink to many F1 fans.

 

[Deleted member 29109]

Surely the legal implications of LH not turning up are huge. Morally I agree with this if he chose to do it but merc would sue him for huge numbers.

Like they did with Nico?

 

[bobmac]

Maybe Lewis will decide whether he stays on AFTER he gauges how the Mercedes will perform. If it looks to be a fantastic car and likely to dominate, he may well stay on. If it looks dodgy, and that other cars look better, he may decide to step down and use the finale of last season as an excuse, rather than the fact he just does not think he'll be competitive.

It must be terrible when you think you have a fast car and then Red Bull or Ferrari come out with something faster.
I'd love to see this appear at Bahrain next month...does anyone want a go?

 

[Smiffy]

He'll be there. 100% guarantee.
He's at his most dangerous when things are stacked against him, and he's going to want to put right what happened last season.

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Although the change to the rules might make for better racing long-term, the likely outcome this season, as noted above by Beedee, is one team finds something that works much better than what the others have and they win it easily.

You’d think the power train advantage that Merc have would put them in a good place to be up there, assuming they don’t make an error with their aero package.

 

[cliveb]

Although the change to the rules might make for better racing long-term, the likely outcome this season, as noted above by Beedee, is one team finds something that works much better than what the others have and they win it easily.

Problem is that for a team to come out of nowhere and surprise us all with something radical requires that they are allowed to think outside the box. The FIA technical regulations are now so prescriptive that nobody really has any scope for thinking outside the box - all they can do is tinker around the edges. It's a crying shame that we'll never see the likes of another Colin Chapman allowed to apply their genius.