F1 2022 Season Spoiler Filled Race Talk

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*** As with last season's thread, we'll be talking freely about races without spoiler tags, so please beware if you watch races on a delay! ***


How to watch in the US:

- ESPN carries races live both on their various broadcast channels, but also on their various apps as long as you’ve got a TV provider login with the appropriate access to ESPN.

- F1TV is an official streaming service that offers two tiers. The “Pro” tier lets you stream races live for about $80 a year, but you can get on demand streams of all races for a much more reasonable $26 a year if you don’t fancy waking up at 5 AM or something for like 2/3rds of the races. There are also month to month subscriptions available, and there might be promos available as we approach the start of the season.

- The official F1 YouTube channel doesn't offer full replays, but they do have great highlights packages for every practice, qualifying, and race session throughout the year, as well as great interview an analysis coverage throughout race weekends, and a variety of other miscellaneous interesting video clips in between.


Can I get a concise overview of where the sport stands at the start of the season?

I'll update with a video as soon as I see one pop up.


When and where are the races?

I mean, who could really say?

For now, this is what the tentative schedule looks like -- as with the last two years though, don't be surprised if things change as the season progresses and the world continues to fail to properly handle the ongoing pandemic.

Winter testing:

February 23 - 25: Barcelona
March 10 - 12: Bahrain

UPDATE 1:

The Russian GP has been cancelled because they invaded Ukraine. I'll update the graphic here whenever it becomes clear what replacement (if any) is found.

IMAGE(https://www.formula1.com/content/dam/fom-website/manual/Misc/2021manual/2022Calendar/NEW-F1-2022-Calendar-16x9.jpg.transform/9col/image.jpg)


Who are the teams?

Car launches are complete, so here's (mostly) what the grid will look like this year:
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/fwHc0y2.jpg)

I say mostly because Haas won't be using that livery. In response to Russia invading Ukraine, they dropped Uralkali as a title and livery sponsor, and the car looks like this:

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Once I find an updated graphic, I'll replace the current one to reflect this change.

As for drivers, here's a quick infographic showing how drivers changed from last season.

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Worth noting: In addition to Haas likely needing a new livery, they also dropped Nikita Mazepin, whose seat was only secured by the Uralkali sponsorship. Also, he's the sh*tty fail son of the company's owner, who is one of the oligarchs in Putin's inner circle. Indeed, a few weeks into Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine both he and his father were added as individual targets of economic sanctions, so there's no world in which it would have been tenable for him to remain as a driver in any international racing series.


Other Useful Links:

GWJ F1 Fantasy League: https://fantasy.formula1.com/league/...
The invite code to join is: bc10216117

Official Site
Drive to Survive, Netflix's excellent documentary series about the sport, an great way to introduced yourself to the sport. You'll learn all about the sport in general, meet the current drivers, and get an abridged recap of the 2018 through 2021 seasons of the sport.

Shift-F1, a podcast about F1 hosted by video game media personalities Drew Scanlon (Cloth Map, formerly of Giant Bomb), Danny O’Dwyer (No Clip), and Rob Zacny (Waypoint).
Fantasy Formula 1

F1 Reddits: Formula 1 , Formula 1.5 , Formula 1 Posters, Inspector Seb

Good youtube fan channels:
Chain Bear
The F1 Word

Haas showing off tomorrow. I'm curious if it'll be the full car or just the livery.

Most will probably be just the livery on a barely modified from stock demo body (and/or just computer renders).

Looks like Haas went with renderings, and pretty much the same livery as last year:

IMAGE(https://www.formula1.com/content/dam/fom-website/manual/Misc/2022manual/WinterFebruary/HaasVF22Launch/MAZ%20Front.jpg.transform/6col-retina/image.jpg)
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Still not sure how DRS works on those wings. Also I really wish they wouldn't let them use the blatant Russian flag. But it is hilarious to me considering that it's an American team, after all the Russia bullsh*t that has happened in recent years.

NSMike wrote:

Still not sure how DRS works on those wings.

See starting at 6:10 in this video.

This is a render, not the actual car, and just like their show car, it doesn't have the DRS system. I hope they can get rid of it, but I'm not optimistic.

NSMike wrote:

Still not sure how DRS works on those wings. Also I really wish they wouldn't let them use the blatant Russian flag. But it is hilarious to me considering that it's an American team, after all the Russia bullsh*t that has happened in recent years.

No kidding.

It's such a garbage team in so many ways, it's absurd. About the only thing they have going for them is that aside from the russian flag issue, they have a reasonably appealing visual design to their livery.

Schumacher needs to get the hell away from there as soon as possible.

Red Bull day.

Apparently Haas' renders were actually of their design work, just from a few months ago. Red Bull has opted to just show their livery on the stock F1 demo car for the new regulations. And since it's basically just the standard Reb Bull livery, not really all that much to see here I suppose, other than confirmation that they haven't decided to do something fun or new.

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I suppose it is mildly interesting that apparently Max will be using his right to be car #1.

I know that it's mostly a Hamilton thing to turn that benefit down, but still, with how much personal branding the drivers build around their chosen numbers these days I somewhat assumed he'd stick with his established car #33.

If it was anything else, probably, but if you're gonna switch to any number, #1 is pretty good.

Aston Martin day. Like Haas, looks like they're showing a real(ish?) car. No more BWT sponsorship means the pink has been returned to the neon lime yellow highlight you'd find on their road cars. It also looks like they have tweaked the green a bit in the hopes that it stands up better in various lighting conditions, and doesn't just read as a muddy black so often.

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The grills on the sidepods are interesting. I wonder if those sidepod intakes are interchangeable somehow. Also, the car looks so much less aerodynamically complex without the barge boards.

NSMike wrote:

The grills on the sidepods are interesting. I wonder if those sidepod intakes are interchangeable somehow.

Yeah, I'm very curious about that too, and interested to see if that makes it to the first race (or very far into the season). If it does, it's really cool to have a practical design element that references the wings from the company's logo.

So Aston were the first to actually do a shakedown run of their car as well. Here's a like for like comparison shot of their old car and the new, to really drive home the changes in the car design. Also, even though the lighting scenarios aren't exactly matched, you can really see how much better the green pops. That is a VERY attractive looking car.

IMAGE(https://preview.redd.it/yyful7je87h81.jpg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=71cd20aaef6483f1fce8f8901e189d68d2d028a2)
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I wonder if they'll just have a season of farting around, since they'll have to wait before they can copy the Mercedes design again.

NSMike wrote:

I wonder if they'll just have a season of farting around, since they'll have to wait before they can copy the Mercedes design again.

Ha! We shall see.

Taking the thought more seriously, though, I have seen a couple relevant pieces of gossip floating around from F1 associated journalists.

The first definitely isn't surprising at all: Aston was likely among the earliest to abandon efforts developing last year's car, and they see this as a critical moment in their ongoing "resource up to be one of the big boys" project. Their new factory and wind tunnel are still a year out, but this is still seen as a test of whether the small scrappy team that could over perform their resources can turn into a larger team that can get top tier results with resources.

The second is a bit of a bummer: rumors that Aston (and Williams) are already not confident with where they see their first versions of their concepts landing, and that they both anticipate needing to make huge changes resulting in nearly unrecognizable new car concepts by the midseason.

Who knows what truth there is in any of that, but I certainly hope it's going better for both of those teams than the rumors are saying -- I'd love to see both move up the order at least a bit this season.

McLaren day. Looks like another mostly real car, I guess?

Not a bad livery, but maybe not as good looking as the last few. Maybe it will be a grower?

Most people will likely just be annoyed that they didn't go with a permanent Gulf livery.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/sSQkp6N.jpeg)
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Also, some nice comparisons of the three (somewhat real) car concepts so far:

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It's interesting how different the side pods look from each other. The Aston looks a lot less skinny or slim than the other two.

I was trying to figure out whether the shark fin is gone because of design or regulation and I found an interesting bit in this article that relates to the grill on the Aston's side pods:

And keep your eyes peeled for the return of cooling exit louvres on the bodywork, which were banned post-2008, but are permitted again for 2022 and will be a key area of freedom for the teams to exploit.

Yeah, it's cool to see how much variation there is already, even with only four (well, sort of three?) designs (somewhat) revealed.

And, add a new one today: Alpha Tauri day.

Just renders, but it looks more like some stage of a legitimate car design than what Red Bull showed. Not radically different in design theme, but still a third new design in three years, and as with all of the cars since the name change, I think it looks great.

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Williams day. Just a livery reveal on the stock show car, but man, what a sweet looking livery.

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I wasn't sold on the warehouse shots, but I like this look quite a lot.

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Yeah, I had that experience with their livery last year -- I thought it was terrible at the reveal, but very quickly found myself loving it on track. I think a big part of it for last year and this is that the designers put a lot of effort into making it have striking, iconic looks at all the angles where the car naturally looks best (such as that gorgeous three quarters frontal view). So this year I sort of knew where to look to begin with, and skipped right to liking it.

Well, that all seems mostly appropriate. Masi himself didn't need to go, but the job was too big and too nebulous for a single person, so hopefully once things get fully hashed out the final emphasis will be more on this part:

while extra help will be provided to officials.

than on the part where two other people are going to take turns in the position.

Also, this part seems like the biggest no brainer ever -- why was it even possible before?

In addition, as part of a wider restructure of race control aimed at providing a calmer environment, direct radio communications between the teams and the race director will no longer be allowed.

In other news, Ferrari day. Predictably, a fairly boring (but reasonably attractive) livery on a VERY interesting car design.
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I mean, look at this:

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Oh, also no more "Mission Winnow" -- which I think means that the BAT sponsorship of McLaren (currently being displayed as their vape brand "Velo") is now the one remaining major sponsorship from the tobacco industry?

So, almost done with one comprehensively evil sponsor category, just in time for crypto companies to come in and fully replace it!

Also, congratulations to Williams for winning the race to be the 2022 "Spoiler Warning" show car, and to Ferrari's wild sidepod design for being the first hero image of the thread.

Williams sidepod is also pretty wild - they're the size of a Sarlacc pit and then I imagine the weird Ferrari-style air sculpting is happening inside, instead of out where you can see it.

If you look at the Williams sidepod front on from well-lit shots you can see it's divided top and bottom, so I think the bottom is cooling and then the top is... witchcraft.

They had the most air tunnel time of any team since the restrictions came in, so it sure would be nice if they've found some trick that'll vault them back up the pack. I can't see them flying to the front the way H̶o̶n̶d̶a̶ Brawn did in '09, but it'd make my century if they did.

Got, that would be great. I really can't explain why, but I'm an extremely huge fan of Albon and I'd be thrilled if his comeback story included dropping back into what turns out to be a spectacular car.

Mercedes day.

Merc showed some renders that are cleanly lit to show off the livery, but they seem to have been a much older design than what they actually had in their live stream and then took out on track. First the renders, and then the real car, starting with a head on shot that gives a clear comparison point.

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Dollars to donuts, what shows up for testing and then to the first race will be very different still. But, aside from the obvious variations in front wing shape, the mini wings on top of the side pods are very interesting indeed.

As for the livery, I would have preferred another year of the blackout livery, but it's a very strong return to the silver arrows look, making good clean use of the aqua green and red accent colors. The subtle places they tucked away the red under the tire shades and rear wing are particularly sharp, although maybe one more little splash of it somewhere in the lower sideview would also have been nice -- somewhere hidden in the floor, for example.

Team wise, I haven't had a chance to listen to the full interviews yet, but it from the quotes journalists have extracted it sounds like Lewis is doing as good a job as you could hope at being measured and magnanimous about how last year ended, which is great to hear. For example,

This has nothing to do with Max. Max did everything a driver would do given the opportunity he was given. And he's a great competitor. But no issues with him. I don't hold any grudges with anybody.

Head down, car forward, and move on to the next win.

This has nothing to do with Max. Max did everything a driver would do given the opportunity he was given. And he's a great competitor. But no issues with him. I don't hold any grudges with anybody.

I appreciate Lewis for saying this, and yet I feel 100% sure that if he had his druthers, he could strangle Masi do death with his bare hands, and is going to try and annihilate Max next year.

Alpine day, and we get (sort of) two liveries for the price of one. Here's what their primary livery will be:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FMIRLSvX0AQWLnh?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FMIRLSwXsAUBvk1?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)
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But, apparently BWT is shelling out enough that for the first two races they are going to swap the color theme, and run like this:

IMAGE(https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/racefansdotnet-21-02-21-18-04-48-3.jpg)

Sponsored by Yahoo! might be the weirdest thing I've seen in any of the reveals so far.

Day 1 of testing in Barcelona is nearly over, and here's what the times look like, for whatever they are worth:

IMAGE(https://i.redd.it/y6tceg146mj81.png)

Obviously putting in hot laps is not the goal for anyone here, and it's impossible to know how much each team are sandbagging, but there are still some interesting bits to talk about. First off, folks seem pretty sure that Ferrari genuinely looks like they've got a strong car. Norris topped the timesheet, but before he switched to the softer tires he was running in between the Ferraris and the Mercedes, which does seem to indicate McLaren are starting from a good place as well.

Meanwhile Merc was already swapping significant things (ie, suspension) around in their setup throughout the day, but also looked generally in good shape. The biggest question mark, however, is Red Bull. Chances are good they're just running a program less intended to produce top times than the rest, because they showed up with a VERY interesting looking car. Like, check this wild side pod thing they've got going on:

IMAGE(https://preview.redd.it/5vinbck4sjj81.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=1b4ccc0e9377bd689a98addff7780b579df7edac)

Anyway, I expect that they're probably the part of the timesheet that's the farthest from representative, if anything is representative at all. To whit, there is also already a lot of the expected talk and rumor that even what we see at the second week of testing will already be very, very different for most of the cars.

There is one other interesting thing folks are talking about, which is that some of the teams are seeing unexpected behavior when pushing to top speeds where they end up bouncing a bit as their new ground effect aerodynamics gain and lose adhesion to the ground. The word was that Williams, Aston, and Alpine were seeing this issue the most, with Red Bull experiencing it only as they approach breaking zones. Meanwhile Ferrari, Mercedes, and Alpha Tauri didn't seem to be having the issue at all.

As for the one thing we CAN actually adjudicate already, it's still very tough to say which car looks best. Alfa Romeo of course still hasn't revealed their final livery they usually produce quite a looker, but man, this has to be one of the best looking fields in a long time. These tiled shots maybe aren't the best quality (in particular, they aren't doing any favors to the colors on the McLaren compared to other shots and video I've seen), but I'm too lazy to go hunt down better ones:

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For now, I'm going to have to give the early lead to the Aston though. I mean, look at that beauty!

IMAGE(https://preview.redd.it/9jf58e5yzkj81.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=8a0afef707b95dffc8a342ca1854cac53be1778e)
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That said, the McLaren is also quite good -- I'm just still not quite sure I'm sold on the shade of blue. Need to see it in motion and in different lighting conditions, I think.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FMScqEWXwAMC40-?format=jpg&name=large)

And you've really got to give credit to Alpine for making that BWT color sponsorship work.

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