2022 Formula One Spanish Grand Prix

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen.jpg
F1 returns to action this week for the Spanish Grand Prix, with Red Bull and Ferrari fighting a tightly contested battle and multiple teams bringing significant upgrade packages.

A modified Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is the site of the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix for Formula 1. The title battle for both drivers and constructors is still a close fight, with Ferrari narrowly holding onto a lead in the constructor's championship, and Max Verstappen inching ever closer to Charles Leclerc in the drivers standings.

Much of the buzz surrounding this week's race concerns upgrades from mid-pack teams. Aston Martin arrived to Catalunya with a car that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Red Bull. Mercedes is also turning heads, as their upgraded cars look to be more on pace with Ferrari and Red Bull than we've seen so far this year.

The action this weekend will be the first time for most fans to see the track's newest form. The difficult and slow La Caixa corner at turn 10 has been rounded, which will allow the cars to carry a little more speed while still retaining the intent of the circuit overall.

Leclerc's 19-point advantage over Verstappen could be considered a safe lead in some circumstances, but given the inconsistency of the Red Bull in the first few races and coming off of two consecutive Verstappen wins at Imola and Miami, that lead seems far from safe.

Ferrari's lead in the constructor's championship has likewise been threatened, as a tough outing for Ferrari at Imola saw Leclerc and Sainz manage to finish only 6th and 20th, respectively. However, the pair claimed two of the three podium positions in Miami to help retain the championship lead.

What are your predictions for this weekend? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter @RaceDepartment!
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Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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L
Copef1 said:
Schumacher's first year he was teammates with Martin Brundle, a journeyman driver, but hardly one of F1's greatest drivers. Lewis came in with Fernando Alonso as a teammate, and immediately impressed. When Lewis started in F1, Alonso was already a superstar, and a twice world champion. In my opinion a way tougher task. Your disdain for Lewis is apparent in everything you write. I am not even a big Hamilton fan, and I can easily see your bias. Just because you repeat the same opinion over and over and over doesn't make it a fact.
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Remember how Alonso was treated in comparison with Hamilton? Do you think that kind of treatment would have been given between Senna and Hill or even Senna and Hakkinen? It did not happen that way.
But Hamilton was treated as an equal driver from the start.
Even if you do put Martin Brundle as not worthy of a champion pedigree, I agree on that, Schumacher made quite an impression with just only a qualifying achievement. And he got a seat in F1 by achieving that. What would have happened with Schumacher in the McLaren or Williams in his debut year.
Do you think he would be treated the same as the other drivers like Mansell, Prost or Senna? Off course not, and would not be expected to be that way if you are a rookie in a big team.

Imagine if Senna instead of starting in Toleman he started in McLaren or Williams, don't you think that would allow him to maybe get a championship in his first or second year in F1 as Hamilton did?
Every other driver got to drive in an average to low performance car before catching the attention to get into a bigger team, a title contender. Hamilton got the advantage to get in the best possible team of the moment and with a special treatment, same treatment as his 2 times world champion teammate. Same treatment as a rookie is quite a special.

And if you don't see a difference between how he entered in F1 compared to any other driver, doesn't mean it did not happen that way.
 
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Taj Johal
Premium
LMGiorni said:
Hamilton got the advantage to get in the best possible team of the moment and with a special treatment, same treatment as his 2 times world champion teammate. Same treatment as a rookie is quite a special.
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So McLaren treated Lewis the same as Alonso.

Maybe, just maybe, McLaren thought he worthy of being treated the same as a two time champion. i.e., he's rather good, maybe even special.

They already knew him from their young driver programme (the first of it's kind I think??) They knew he was good and maybe special, they decided he had earned his seat and chance. It was not given out of charity.

And what did he did when given this opportunity? he won races and world championships.

Of course, all those clever people at McLaren could all be entirely wrong and instead a keyboard warrior has it entirely correct :roflmao:
 
Taj Johal
Premium
PS, Schumacher was also well known, it was only a matter of time before he joined F1. But in those day the big teams were risk averse when it came to young drivers. Lewis and Kimi later started to change that thought process at the big teams.
 
Copef1
LMGiorni said:
Remember how Alonso was treated in comparison with Hamilton? Do you think that kind of treatment would have been given between Senna and Hill or even Senna and Hakkinen? It did not happen that way.
But Hamilton was treated as an equal driver from the start.
Even if you do put Martin Brundle as not worthy of a champion pedigree, I agree on that, Schumacher made quite an impression with just only a qualifying achievement. And he got a seat in F1 by achieving that. What would have happened with Schumacher in the McLaren or Williams in his debut year.
Do you think he would be treated the same as the other drivers like Mansell, Prost or Senna? Off course not, and would not be expected to be that way if you are a rookie in a big team.

Imagine if Senna instead of starting in Toleman he started in McLaren or Williams, don't you think that would allow him to maybe get a championship in his first or second year in F1 as Hamilton did?
Every other driver got to drive in an average to low performance car before catching the attention to get into a bigger team, a title contender. Hamilton got the advantage to get in the best possible team of the moment and with a special treatment, same treatment as his 2 times world champion teammate. Same treatment as a rookie is quite a special.

And if you don't see a difference between how he entered in F1 compared to any other driver, doesn't mean it did not happen that way.
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Alonso missed the WDC by 1 point, so I don't think he was treated that bad. Hamilton came in and was as fast as Alonso and was winning races by his 6th race. Thats pretty impressive by anyone's standard. He was doing this with a 2 time WDC winner as a teammate. How many people have come to F1 only to fall on their face when teamed with a World Champion? You can hate him all you want, but by any objective standard what he did was pretty amazing.
 
muzikant
Taj Johal said:
PS, Schumacher was also well known, it was only a matter of time before he joined F1. But in those day the big teams were risk averse when it came to young drivers. Lewis and Kimi later started to change that thought process at the big teams.
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i disagree with that

the manager of Schumacher had to lie a bit to do that ride on spa for Jordan, Schumacher came out of the sportcars and was definitely not known at the time
 
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muzikant
Lewis and Schumacher are both great drivers! Although I think if Senna hadn't died that Schumacher wouldn't have had 7 world titles and actually that goes for Lewis too, his car was ridiculously long too big advantage six years!!!!! without any competition
 
L
Taj Johal said:
So McLaren treated Lewis the same as Alonso.

Maybe, just maybe, McLaren thought he worthy of being treated the same as a two time champion. i.e., he's rather good, maybe even special.

They already knew him from their young driver programme (the first of it's kind I think??) They knew he was good and maybe special, they decided he had earned his seat and chance. It was not given out of charity.

And what did he did when given this opportunity? he won races and world championships.

Of course, all those clever people at McLaren could all be entirely wrong and instead a keyboard warrior has it entirely correct :roflmao:
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;) All you said did not contradict what I stated. You are just explaining to me why, and I do not care why to point that it did happen, and it was quite different as any other driver that got champion pedigree before him.

And not having to fight to get to the top teams do forge character in a different way, and with him is quite clear.
 
zwiss
BrunoBæ said:
Complete bullocs.
Neither you or me can see that on that picture.
Thats the reason any intelligent person would suggest that the telemetry data should be analysed.
Just as I say in my post above.:roflmao:
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Don't blame me for thinking the FIA and stewards might be more intelligent than your average F1 forum knowitall. They might even have access to telemetry data ;)
Have a nice day!
 
D
pai said:
Cars have been 5 metres long since 2010.
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Just saw this picture on the Twitter referring to the length of cars and why they can't race well at Monaco any more. This cements your correct assessment. I bow to your expertise.
1653587621766.png
 
P
davehenrie said:
Just saw this picture on the Twitter referring to the length of cars and why they can't race well at Monaco any more. This cements your correct assessment. I bow to your expertise.
View attachment 569683
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Unless my sarcasm detector is malfunctioning, you are clearly exaggerating LOL.

The image above was done in Assetto Corsa. If you have it, load as many different F1 cars as you want in the showroom. Put side by side F1 cars from 2009, 2013 and 2015, together with any car from 2017 to 2021.
 
D
pai said:
Unless my sarcasm detector is malfunctioning, you are clearly exaggerating LOL.

The image above was done in Assetto Corsa. If you have it, load as many different F1 cars as you want in the showroom. Put side by side F1 cars from 2009, 2013 and 2015, together with any car from 2017 to 2021.
Click to expand...
wasn't trying to be sarcastic, wasn't trying to be inaccurate. Just saw the image and thought: 'Holy crap I haven't paid that much attention have I?'
 
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Damage Inc
Taj Johal said:
So McLaren treated Lewis the same as Alonso.

Maybe, just maybe, McLaren thought he worthy of being treated the same as a two time champion. i.e., he's rather good, maybe even special.

They already knew him from their young driver programme (the first of it's kind I think??) They knew he was good and maybe special, they decided he had earned his seat and chance. It was not given out of charity.

And what did he did when given this opportunity? he won races and world championships.

Of course, all those clever people at McLaren could all be entirely wrong and instead a keyboard warrior has it entirely correct :roflmao:
Click to expand...
I think what you are missing is the common premise that LH fans use to "prove" he's so mnuch better than any other driver is that he's done well from the very start of his career compared to other top/legendary drivers. I believe what LMGiorni (and many others) is trying to say is that it's because Lewis went straight into the best team on the grid, unlike almost every other top/legendary driver. If the same opportunity had happened for the likes of Prost/Senna/Schumacher, then they would have probably vied for the WDC their first years.

i.e. Lewis' first year is NOT an indication of how good he is compared to other greats/legends. His karting/lower formula record is also used, but it's the same as ANY top/legendary driver. Lewis isn't special (compared to the other greats/legends), he's been largly lucky to have the opportunity to accumulate the stats he's got compared to the other greats/legends. Case in point, LH fans slag off Max quite mercilessly, yet if you compare their first 7 years in F1 their records are almost identical down to a "lucky" singular WDC.

Without the 2014 hybrid era regulation changes we'd be looking at a completely different story regarding Lewis' stats, but his driving skills wouldn't be the difference.

edit for clarity, I am NOT saying Lewis isn't a great/legend...he most certainly is. I'm only discussing how he's elevated above the other greats/legends.
 
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