The 2022 season

[Chrill]

https://www.racefans.net/2022/05/18/f1-scraps-plan-to-replace-cancelled-russian-grand-prix/

That is a relief, frankly. Instead of double triple-headers, we will have one triple header followed by two weeks off before a more regular double header.

[Chrill]

Vips will fulfil one of Red Bull's two mandated junior FP1 outings this year, as will De Vries for Williams. Kubica will also drive for Alfa Romeo, but this does not count toward their 2 junior outings since, well, he's a former Grand Prix driver.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.red-bull-to-run-junior-driver-vips-in-fp1-in-barcelona.6BT8YpZUWa9svXlPJLr1vV.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.williams-to-run-mercedes-reserve-de-vries-in-fp1-in-spain.6FVH4YyDPpbd0XjpkcdKdM.html

[Chrill]

Being a Ferrari fan is really really painful.

[Penfold]

Nobody does shooting themself in the foot quite like Ferrari....

[Chrill]

Nobody does shooting themself in the foot quite like Ferrari....

It's the national sport of Italy, coupled with electing playboys to high office.

[Penfold]

Both can be entertaining for the detached spectator

[Chrill]

Who knew actually caring about the championship battle was painful? Ferrari can't finish races, suddenly Red Bull is the reliable one.

[Penfold]

Could be worse, could be a life-long McLaren fan!  But yeah, after the first few races didn't expect the red cars to be leading the retirement charge - engine penalties already stacking up

[Chrill]

Verstappen has more wins from Leclerc poles than Leclerc has from Leclerc poles. sooo.

[Chrill]

Well, how do we sum that race up?

- I'm happy Zhou and Albon are fine. The Alfa Romeo crash was nasty, and it took really long to let us know he was fine. Videos emerging later showed marshals and nearby fans shouting "he's fine" within seconds, that should be communicated to us as soon as it can be verified (and verifying that shouldn't take 20 minutes)
- The roll hoop collapsing was scary, thank you halo for the second life spared in one day. Roy Nissany needed his halo too, or would have been decapitated in F2
- Those morons entering the track to protest... I'm extremely pro-"humans are causing it" point of view, I definitely believe we're causing global warming and climate change. But sitting down on a live F1 track is not only dangerous to yourself (I don't care for those idiots) but it endangers drivers, marshals and fans. Unacceptable.
- How could a broken Leclerc be faster than Sainz many times over, yet be shifted to the worse strategy and not allowed to win? Ferrari are actively trying to lose this championship
- Yay, Schumacher scored good points and perhaps should have finished ahead of Verstappen too!
- Really exciting to see 3 teams battling it out for the win at the end. The final SC definitely spiced up the race in a great way.

[Penfold]

Grid penalties begin in earnest:

Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris, Ocon, Bottas, and Schumacher all with at least a 15 place grid drop for Spa

[Chrill]

The Ferrari powered found a loophole. If you get a grid penalty of over 15 places, you're automatically on the back of the grid. So Ferrari simply got one 10-place demotion, followed by a separate 15-place demotion. This was done by replacing half the engine prior to P1, and the other half prior to P2. Essentially, they are moved down 25 places but not "back of the grid". Leclerc, Bottas, and Schumacher will all start ahead of Verstappen, Norris, Ocon (and now Zhou).

Funny, yes, but not funny "haha", funny "thats wrong".

[Chrill]

De Vries will drive for Williams this weekend in place of Albon who has been hospitalized due to pain. Albon is getting his appendix removed apparently.

[Penfold]

Great performance by de Vries, the race director not so much....

[Chrill]

Can't believe they had SIX laps to restart, but used 3 of them just finding Verstappen on track. The safety car was almost 75% of a lap ahead of the leader which obviously prevented marshals from removing Ricciardo's car. We could easily have had at least 2 full laps of racing at the end even following correct restart procedure. Absurd.