2022 Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

LeSunTzu said:

The effect of DRS at Imola is excessive. They acknowledged it after the Bottas-Russell crash and they forgot about it immediately because they just want a show.

With 23 GP, sprint races are totally unnecessary, except for getting more and more cash.

Btw Charles' name is Leclerc, not Le Clerc or LeClerc.

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While we're on the topic of names, a message to all western media: Its Danny Rich-ardo, not Danny Ricardo. That's a totally different name rather than just pronouncing his name wrong. I understand Danny probably got tired of correcting people during his life but you're in the big leagues now, set them straight.

Richard Wilks said:

Ah yes Coulthard, that terrible driver... Who just happened to win the Masters F3, The Macau grand prix, and came 3rd in the international F3000 championship. Yes, i am sure the likes of Stroll, Latiffi, Mazepin, Tsunoda, Bottas, K. Magnussen, Perez, just to name a few, are so so much better than him...
Not to mention grids were larger back then, and the sport less professional at a lower level, because most of the grid wasn't the property of just 3 or 4 teams with very deep pockets, like it is today, with de facto B and even C teams of the front runners, to where the "talent" structures can stick their drivers, like Russell at Williams, or Mick Shumacher at Haas...

Honestly, this whole "F1 is so much better today" gets tiresome. Its like fans of F1 have some sort of inferiority complex that gets triggered when someone says they prefer the sport before.

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If F1 was better today they wouldn't need artificial overtaking and tracks like Las Vegas to draw in the need for speed and Grid crowd. I detest DRS.


Also lol at people making out Leclerc suddenly not being top level because of one mistake and Max being a perfect driver who doesnt make mistakes because he is so calm. Must have been watching a different Max all these years.

While I have admired Hamilton's skills as a driver, this weekend was pretty cringeworthy. The way he is constantly placing the blame for his poor performances on everything but himself is so incredibly unsportsmanlike. It's always the track conditions, or the tires, or the "dirty air," or strategy, or the car, or the setup, or "bad luck." And the height of the cringeworthiness was listening to Toto apologize to him for the car when Russell finished 9 places ahead in the exact same car.

(Imagine for a moment if the roles had been reversed. Would Toto have apologized to Russell if George had finished 13th and Hamilton 4th? No way. All we'd be hearing about is how brilliant Hamilton was to finish 4th in a poor car. And headlines screaming about how Mercedes was regretting their choice to drop Bottas for Russell.)

As the saying goes, "It's a poor craftsman who blames his tools." Hamilton needs to man up and admit that he's not at his best, that he's not used to driving a flawed car, and that he needs to step it up, but it's a challenge he welcomes. If he really is the GOAT, he needs to start acting like it. A real champion acts like a champion whether they win or lose.

On a related note, it's sure refreshing to see the camaraderie among the other drivers after the race - something we never see when Hamilton is on the podiums. His toxicity is painfully obvious right now.

Pippo10 said:

While we're on the topic of names, a message to all western media: Its Danny Rich-ardo, not Danny Ricardo. That's a totally different name rather than just pronouncing his name wrong. I understand Danny probably got tired of correcting people during his life but you're in the big leagues now, set them straight.

If F1 was better today they wouldn't need artificial overtaking and tracks like Las Vegas to draw in the need for speed and Grid crowd. I detest DRS.


Also lol at people making out Leclerc suddenly not being top level because of one mistake and Max being a perfect driver who doesnt make mistakes because he is so calm. Must have been watching a different Max all these years.

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Perhaps many of those mistakes by Max was due to having to overdrive vs the Merc. Now that his car is at least on Par with the Ferrari, the pressure to take risks is gone. Just like Leclerc drove faultlessly at Aussieland but then had to take risks just to keep up with Perez.

davehenrie said:

Perhaps many of those mistakes by Max was due to having to overdrive vs the Merc. Now that his car is at least on Par with the Ferrari, the pressure to take risks is gone. Just like Leclerc drove faultlessly at Aussieland but then had to take risks just to keep up with Perez.

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Absolutely. The 2021 Merc was superior to every other car on the grid, so Max had to drive aggressively - sometimes to a fault - to compete. Russell is doing the same this year - he's really pushing his car, and driving much more aggressively than he did in the Williams.

Richard Wilks said:

Whats with this talk about LH should retire, he has nothing to prove?

I disagree, he has ALL to prove now. And it's his own and the british media fault. We were led to believe this guy was up there with Schumacher and the likes, and if we remember, Schumacher had many defects, but in 2005 proved to be a supreme team player, endured the coming of Massa in 2006 to crush him anyways, and was there for ferrari to bounce back and fight for the 2006 championship. And he was 37 years old too! Those seasons , together with pre 2001, was what made schumacher be among the greats, not the 2002 or 2004 walkovers.

So no, don't want him to retire, i want to see what he is really made of now, it's easy to rack up wins and titles with a superior car, and against a total number 2, let's see now what he does against a new strong teammate and with a car that forces him to fight for it.

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A great point, and I would like to add something on top of this.

The truly great drivers, those that you count with the fingers of maybe one hand in the whole history of Grand Prix Racing, are both of extraordinaire ability on and off the car. They bond together with their team, they trust the team, they support the team, they lean on the team and makes the team lean on them.

A big part of this is keeping your head up as the balance of perfomance against your rivals ebbs and flows. When there is a tight title race going on, there will be weekends, maybe a streak of them, where the opposing rival will have the upper hand. So what do you do? You maximize results, pick up as many points as possible, you don't throw your team under the bus publicly, and you push behind the scenes to do as much work as possible to turn the tide, because you trust that the guys behind you will find solutions to put you back at the front.

For a guy who preaches unceasingly about how much he loves racing, there was a quite lukewarm trying from Hamilton to get past Gasly. There are more tools available to a driver who knows how to race, and specially a multiple world champion, to force a rival into a mistake and create a gap to get by. Something that other drivers were actively trying to do, and that his own teamie, Russell, managed to do on the same car and against faster rivals.

I don't think that Hamilton has lost it. I think that yesterday the guy was not trying to do his best, he has way more skill inside of him than what we saw yesterday. Maybe because he's a diva and feels entitled to win, or maybe because he is playing politics on forcing Mercedes to look worse in public than what they actually are, but GOATs don't go less than 100% on track. The politics and mind games are played out of the racecar, but once you have your helmet on, I expect nothing less than full commitment, and I repeat: even more from a multiple champion who is constantly preaching about hard work and love for the sport.

Senna and Schumacher had their flaws, and their incident register cannot put either as totally clean and respectful, but they never, ever gave less than 100% of their best on their track any given day. Did they fail sometimes? Yes, but never for not wanting to try in purpose.

Lewis Hamilton is an amazing race driver, but days like yesterday, plus his stupid cocky remarks "My team does not make mistakes", "If you thought I was amazing last year, wait until you see this year" are the stuff that can never make him stand in the same rung of GOATs where Fangio, Clark, Prost, Senna and Schumacher are. So far, no one of the active drivers on the grid can, for one or another reason.

I want to see a better Hamilton than the one that "raced" at Imola yesterday, and I know there is a better one available right now. But it will always hurt his GOAT aspiring bids if he must have a GP winning machine to actually go for it.

Pippo10 said:

While we're on the topic of names, a message to all western media: Its Danny Rich-ardo, not Danny Ricardo. That's a totally different name rather than just pronouncing his name wrong. I understand Danny probably got tired of correcting people during his life but you're in the big leagues now, set them straight.

If F1 was better today they wouldn't need artificial overtaking and tracks like Las Vegas to draw in the need for speed and Grid crowd. I detest DRS.


Also lol at people making out Leclerc suddenly not being top level because of one mistake and Max being a perfect driver who doesnt make mistakes because he is so calm. Must have been watching a different Max all these years.

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I think Max's mistakes aren't too bad and he's stronger/more mature..as davehenrie says..Max always had to compete against a Merc who was one and a half seconds faster. Everyone makes mistakes but you can't ignore Max when it comes to talent

pai said:

I want to see a better Hamilton than the one that "raced" at Imola yesterday, and I know there is a better one available right now.

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You are right.
And he is called Russell

Richard Wilks said:

Whats with this talk about LH should retire, he has nothing to prove?

I disagree, he has ALL to prove now. And it's his own and the british media fault. We were led to believe this guy was up there with Schumacher and the likes, and if we remember, Schumacher had many defects, but in 2005 proved to be a supreme team player, endured the coming of Massa in 2006 to crush him anyways, and was there for ferrari to bounce back and fight for the 2006 championship. And he was 37 years old too! Those seasons , together with pre 2001, was what made schumacher be among the greats, not the 2002 or 2004 walkovers.

So no, don't want him to retire, i want to see what he is really made of now, it's easy to rack up wins and titles with a superior car, and against a total number 2, let's see now what he does against a new strong teammate and with a car that forces him to fight for it.

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Not forget the 97 and 98 championship, second and third year at Ferrari he was up battling for the championship. For me there is no comparison, Hamilton entered F1 in McLaren when Fernando was last 2 times crown champion, and so he never had a bad team to start and never got to work hard to get into a better team, he was already in the most competitive team of the season with a shot for the championship. I can't remember any other skilled driver with such an opportunity. McLaren that year would have won the constructor championship, Alonso and Hamilton scored the same amount of points and Hamilton received quite a special treatment, sometimes better than his two times Champion teammate even when he was the rookie.
That doesn't mean he is a bad driver, not at all, quite the contrary he is really talented, fast and consistent, but in my opinion he does not have the character of those great World Champions, the ones that even in the most unfavorable of the conditions you know that put up the fight.

Legend has it that Lewis is still trying to overtake Gasly.

Slapped said:

Why would that pain you to see? It's obvious to me that he's far far happier with his role in Aston Martin than he ever was in Ferrari.

He's got his 4 championships under his belt, knows his job is now helping Aston to move forward, and has effectively become F1 dad to the F1 youngsters - especially Mick Schumacher.

He's moved on to realise that perhaps his championship winning days are over, but that there's still a lot of very positive and rewarding work he can do in F1.

I'm actually very happy for him.

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Because it is a long time since he is not a real challenger anymore for F1 driver's title.

I'm not a X-Men, so no mind reading ability... that is why this kind of speculation about "how happy he is" means sht. I care only about what a driver can accomplish as a sportsman... and he is AWOL for a long time... the man that once was The Synonymous of winning in F1... and he was considerably young when stopped to matter.

PS: But, yeah... he still on the party. I believe that would be very cool to be an F1 driver and earn as one. Much better than my live lol

Jugulador said:

Because it is a long time since he is not a real challenger anymore for F1 driver's title.

I'm not a X-Men, so no mind reading ability... that is why this kind of speculation about "how happy he is" means sht. I care only about what a driver can accomplish as a sportsman... and he is AWOL for a long time... the man that once was The Synonymous of winning in F1... and he was considerably young when stopped to matter.

PS: But, yeah... he still on the party. I believe that would be very cool to be an F1 driver and earn as one. Much better than my live lol

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I have the theory that having kids, aligned with his mentor and hero having a life threatening accident almost at the same time, has hurted him on the back of his mind, and has not come close to the level he had in 2013. Human mind can be seriously fickle.

Meanwhile the US is preparing the next "great" track for the viewers... is it monaco? No its a movieset...

pai said:

I have the theory that having kids, aligned with his mentor and hero having a life threatening accident almost at the same time, has hurted him on the back of his mind, and has not come close to the level he had in 2013. Human mind can be seriously fickle.

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Or, maybe, he is just a kind of "Super Jenson Button", that had that "very pragmatic driving stile, with zero risks" that happened to be on a predominant team and make it happen four times, but can't push a "not predominant" car to the top just because he take no risks.

That is the opposite of guys like Senna (that take too much risks and could have win even more championships if not because of it... maybe even stayed alive) and Hamilton, that changed his stile when got on a predominant team (smart and intelligent, that is his real super power), but when on McLaren, used to take a lot of risks (and was hardly criticized by it, at the time, as "infantile") and got rewarded on his first season, against all the odds.

Vettel, simply can't change his stile just because he isn't as intelligent and smart as Lewis. This is crystal clear to me. Not he demerit because be so pragmatic as he is gave him four titles, that is a huge feat. Just pains me that he never had access to a top-tier car after his fourth title. Would be huge if Mercedes had he and Lewis on the same team for 2014 and on.

Jugulador said:

Or, maybe, he is just a kind of "Super Jenson Button", that had that "very pragmatic driving stile, with zero risks" that happened to be on a predominant team and make it happen four times, but can't push a "not predominant" car to the top just because he take no risks.

That is the opposite of guys like Senna (that take too much risks and could have win even more championships if not because of it... maybe even stayed alive) and Hamilton, that changed his stile when got on a predominant team (smart and intelligent, that is his real super power), but when on McLaren, used to take a lot of risks (and was hardly criticized by it, at the time, as "infantile") and got rewarded on his first season, against all the odds.

Vettel, simply can't change his stile just because he isn't as intelligent and smart as Lewis. This is crystal clear to me. Not he demerit because be so pragmatic as he is gave him four titles, that is a huge feat. Just pains me that he never had access to a top-tier car after his fourth title. Would be huge if Mercedes had he and Lewis on the same team for 2014 and on.

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Lewis smarter superpower? What?
I guess when you're talking about McLaren first season, you mean he was specially treated, not only in the team but in F1 in general. I do recall some time when his car was moved by track officials, when in the rules it was prohibited.
And not forget that with the spy gate scandal and both drivers behind clearly in infringement as they did know about the Ferrari data and used to interchange message and tested in pre-season testing with them. Even with that scandal, they allowed him and Alonso to fight for the championship and lost it on just one point.
He is not smarter than almost any other drivers, he is only more mature with more experience and that is not smart but just the regular thing a regular guy could catch up with. Normal progression in life.
What I see, and I did comment before, is that he never got to fight for a good car, as all other great champions had to do. Many other recognized champions started in lower teams, teams that winning or being in the podium would mean to make almost the impossible. He never got to do that, and he is used to having, if not the best package, one of the best and as he did almost all his career that way, he doesn't have the personality as other great champions had where they put themselves up to the task, he just complains, throw excuses but do not point on himself.
And a bit of humility is the best that could happen to him, and I hope he finds it this year.

LMGiorni said:

Lewis smarter superpower? What?
I guess when you're talking about McLaren first season, you mean he was specially treated, not only in the team but in F1 in general. I do recall some time when his car was moved by track officials, when in the rules it was prohibited.
And not forget that with the spy gate scandal and both drivers behind clearly in infringement as they did know about the Ferrari data and used to interchange message and tested in pre-season testing with them. Even with that scandal, they allowed him and Alonso to fight for the championship and lost it on just one point.
He is not smarter than almost any other drivers, he is only more mature with more experience and that is not smart but just the regular thing a regular guy could catch up with. Normal progression in life.
What I see, and I did comment before, is that he never got to fight for a good car, as all other great champions had to do. Many other recognized champions started in lower teams, teams that winning or being in the podium would mean to make almost the impossible. He never got to do that, and he is used to having, if not the best package, one of the best and as he did almost all his career that way, he doesn't have the personality as other great champions had where they put themselves up to the task, he just complains, throw excuses but do not point on himself.
And a bit of humility is the best that could happen to him, and I hope he finds it this year.

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Are you implying that Mr. Hamilton is a "forged champion"?

Jugulador said:

Are you implying that Mr. Hamilton is a "forged champion"?

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Did I say that, or did you arrive to that conclusion after the facts I pointed out?
In my previous post I said he is a talented driver, fast and consistent but, he never in F1 struggled to get to the top Teams, he was in the best team in his rookie year.
So, In my opinion, and this is something you can or not agree with, he is not as remarkable champion as any other Champion previous to him who started in weaker teams.
I can't recall anybody with the same treatment in the history of F1, but maybe you do.

And for sure not forged, but F1 is British and British media tend to empathize whatever a British Team or driver do much over other drivers. Not only that, it was clear in Schumacher's time you could argue that many of the bad media exposure Schumacher had were because Hill and Williams were the ones favorite to win the championship, also later with McLaren era vs Ferrari.
I know you may not agree, but even last year was clear how media turned out on Verstappen in many more cases like the stupid incident in Monza where clearly was a racing incident and never condemned but promoted the victory of Hamilton in Britain GP after throwing to the wall and alter to the hospital to Max.

F1 speaks of diversity, but it's more British than golf.

LMGiorni said:

Did I say that, or did you arrive to that conclusion after the facts I pointed out?
In my previous post I said he is a talented driver, fast and consistent but, he never in F1 struggled to get to the top Teams, he was in the best team in his rookie year.
So, In my opinion, and this is something you can or not agree with, he is not as remarkable champion as any other Champion previous to him who started in weaker teams.
I can't recall anybody with the same treatment in the history of F1, but maybe you do.

And for sure not forged, but F1 is British and British media tend to empathize whatever a British Team or driver do much over other drivers. Not only that, it was clear in Schumacher's time you could argue that many of the bad media exposure Schumacher had were because Hill and Williams were the ones favorite to win the championship, also later with McLaren era vs Ferrari.
I know you may not agree, but even last year was clear how media turned out on Verstappen in many more cases like the stupid incident in Monza where clearly was a racing incident and never condemned but promoted the victory of Hamilton in Britain GP after throwing to the wall and alter to the hospital to Max.

F1 speaks of diversity, but it's more British than golf.

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I see no point in argue about "justice" in F1, because the category was never about it.

He hadn't the best car (or team) in 2008.

I believe that he EVER has a lot of "positive action" around him since kart days.

I feel like his six championships with Mercedes were just a fast and focused driver with the be-all-end-all-car.

I fell like the F1 organization patronizes him a lot.

BUUUUUUTTTTT... if we use the same metrics with all past champions (even with Verstappen) none of them will be worth. Maybe John Surtees, Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi or any other that have proved himself on a very different motorsport top tier category (and JUST because of that).

Don't know, man... IMHO, I like F1 as it is. BUUUUUUUTTTT if you want to discuss wokeness inside new F1 and how it can influence Mr. Hamilton career, it would be my pleasure... but taking as a fact that this forum (specially moderation/administration) have a lot of progressist/woke tendencies, I prefer to not do it HERE.

Jugulador said:

I see no point in argue about "justice" in F1, because the category was never about it.

He hadn't the best car (or team) in 2008.

I believe that he EVER has a lot of "positive action" around him since kart days.

I feel like his six championships with Mercedes were just a fast and focused driver with the be-all-end-all-car.

I fell like the F1 organization patronizes him a lot.

BUUUUUUTTTTT... if we use the same metrics with all past champions (even with Verstappen) none of them will be worth. Maybe John Surtees, Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi or any other that have proved himself on a very different motorsport top tier category (and JUST because of that).

Don't know, man... IMHO, I like F1 as it is. BUUUUUUUTTTT if you want to discuss wokeness inside new F1 and how it can influence Mr. Hamilton career, it would be my pleasure... but taking as a fact that this forum (specially moderation/administration) have a lot of progressist/woke tendencies, I prefer to not do it HERE.

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No, no about wokeness, that is another thing that is politics in sport and is all around.

I'm talking about Senna, Schumacher, Alonso, Hakkinen (although Hakkinen started in McLaren he did not get special treatment against Nigel Mansell) that are the closest champions we can recall they started in not the best team, the title contender of the year nor the year before. And they got the right of first driver by merit and struggle through the seasons. Not as Hamilton that in his first year as rookie was in the most competitive team (the one that if not disqualified would have won easily the championship) and had a special treatment even against the first drive a two times world champion.
That is privilege and is what I saw from the start of his path, and even if he struggles with a bad car a season or two never got into a not top 2, 3 cars. Even if McLaren was bad at that stage was one of the teams that had a really big budget.
For me, that is one of the things that clearly makes a separation in the character and personality of a Champion.
That's all it is for me, so in my opinion even if he got 12 championships would worth not much compared to others.

LMGiorni said:

No, no about wokeness, that is another thing that is politics in sport and is all around.

I'm talking about Senna, Schumacher, Alonso, Hakkinen (although Hakkinen started in McLaren he did not get special treatment against Nigel Mansell) that are the closest champions we can recall they started in not the best team, the title contender of the year nor the year before. And they got the right of first driver by merit and struggle through the seasons. Not as Hamilton that in his first year as rookie was in the most competitive team (the one that if not disqualified would have won easily the championship) and had a special treatment even against the first drive a two times world champion.
That is privilege and is what I saw from the start of his path, and even if he struggles with a bad car a season or two never got into a not top 2, 3 cars. Even if McLaren was bad at that stage was one of the teams that had a really big budget.
For me, that is one of the things that clearly makes a separation in the character and personality of a Champion.
That's all it is for me, so in my opinion even if he got 12 championships would worth not much compared to others.

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Hakkinen actually started at Lotus, before getting a test driver role at Mclaren. So he started in a small team too.

Richard Wilks said:

Hakkinen actually started at Lotus, before getting a test driver role at Mclaren. So he started in a small team too.

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Exactly, you are right.