^^^ sweeet! Opposite direction is waaaaay cool!!!

Am watching Felipe Massa, Piquit Jr, Ricardo Zonta, Rubens... etc in the Stock Car Pro Series: Velocity / Brazil. Two races. The track looks amazing!!!

Go Rubens!!!

No season extension to replace Sochi.

An interesting article on what is on the horizon for F1 competitiveness from a financial standpoint. Paul (77T) has always been so gracious on his perspective on the sporting regulations and we're all familiar with the technical regulations.
The future of F1 is most likely to include financial regulations and what would be auditors and forensic accountants. It's a bit long but worth the read.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/r...OZ27G_S2wMVgxs

Budget caps in my mind are stupid. Let people spend whatever they want. It is a business. They are in business to make money. If spending more earns them more then so be it. To bring the bar down to allow everyone to get a participation award and have a “chance” to win is just plain dumb. If the sport is not going to be a business then set it up so all the cars are the exact same and race on but if you are going to make it about a business then the skies the limit. If you can’t pay them move along to a series you can afford.

Yea, I'm torn as F1 has always been the pinnacle of motorsport and innovation that sets it apart from other forms of racing. On the other hand there's many teams that would not be able to make it were it not for the budget cap - and not just independents, but manufacturers like Renault and soon to be Porsche.

Sports like the NFL have made a budget cap work for all teams, where sports like baseball almost always have teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox near the top. The same could be said for major leagues in Europe such as the Premier League, La Liga, Seria A where a handful of teams are nearly always at the top of the brackets.

Conversely, the financial regulations will be yet another area where teams will cheat to gain a competitive advantage.

Yes, you are right about the Premier league, those teams that have billionaire benefactors are at the top for most seasons. One can almost bet one's house, that Newcastle United will be at the top in a couple of seasons because of just that.

77T is awesome, and ok let budget caps happen, BUT start a new 'Unlimited' series. Oh, and please have the cars sound like, you know, race cars.

The Official Formula One Thread!
 

The article does pose questions beyond my headlights. But I’d guess it’s directionally correct - stricter rules could come. It is true the current caps have some exceptions. Over time that will be tightened methinks. If that’s what the author meant, I believe that’s a probability.

FIA & F1 have published an update for 2022 (see link below). But the core objectives are the same. I think it will take time to see if 1.3.(b) is achieved.

On one hand the cap allows less funded teams to participate - yet, on the other hand, the cap guarantees those smaller teams can never be a champion constructor. At least in the short run.

From the financial ruleset:

Objectives
1.2 These Financial Regulations introduce a Cost Cap that limits certain costs that may be incurred by or on behalf of an F1 Team in each Full Year Reporting Period, while leaving that F1 Team free to decide how to allocate resources within that Cost Cap.

1.3 These Financial Regulations are designed to achieve the following objectives (the "Objectives"):
(a) to promote the competitive balance of the Championship;
(b) to promote the sporting fairness of the Championship; and
(c) to ensure the long-term financial stability and sustainability of the F1 Teams, while preserving the unique technology and engineering challenge of Formula 1.

https://www.fia.com/sites/default/fi...2022-02-18.pdf


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The Official Formula One Thread!
 

So Spain should be an interesting test of whether Red Bull’s speed works on a 2-DRS circuit.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6f98b5bb4c.jpg


And on restarts (for the avoidance of doubt) the message has been drawn out in pictures for certain gamesmanship. First time I’ve seen a Race Director use pictures in his race notes to depict bad/good driver behavior - but I like it from the perspective of Stewards knowing at a glance if they must act during the race.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9278130325.png


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Hmm, that last graphic is interesting, as it means the second-place car has to stay fully 'behind' the leader until the leader crosses the line.

The Official Formula One Thread!
 

On a restart the following car can pull out and pass as the cars reach the acceleration line (safety car control line). That’s not the same as the start/finish line. It is well ahead of s/f.

In looking at other rules, there are things like staying within 10 car lengths of the SC, and of the car ahead.

Of course, for VER, that’s never been a problem if he is P2 coming to the restart :chuckle:


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Ahhh ok, thx.

Sometimes being the King of late brakers on the inside line has rewards. I ain't pleading innocence either... but I swear there was an opening when I made the decision to... and our tires were even on track when.... :smokin:

Sturm und Drang in the Stewards Room :chuckle:


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Let the conspiracy theories begin:
Did AM gain access to the RB wing element design drawings (or maybe spy photos) over the Winter and finally perfect it just last week?

It’s soooo similar… :chuckle:
Well, one’s green and the other is blue over red…as STR said in an interview.


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Unless RBR helped AM with the design plans (as Mercedes was accused of doing a few years ago) , I don't see anything wrong with photographing and copying wing and other external structural components.

Clearly the Red Bull is the fastest car on track, AM copies them, saves R&D money in a budget constrained series but the fact remains that they have different power units and as a result, cooling, venting and what's under the "skin" of the car is much different. It's highly improbable that the AM is going to be anywhere close to the RB this weekend or any other weekend in terms of lap times.

I was always under the impression that a lot of teams had 'pet photographers' on the payroll.

The massive, liveried 'tarp's' are sometimes deployed for that very reason.

Do they make a portable 3d laser scanner? Would be easy to scan and go.

There seems to be more to the story than just pictures and copying. RBR is saying that their IP may have been compromised and they're pointing to former RBR personnel that were hired by AM.

You're saying, there's actual industrial espionage going on.... in F1!
No!!.....I'm shocked!!:chuckle:

Whatever next? You'll be telling us that there is spying, and stealing of designs and ideas in the Aircraft Industry.:chuckle::thumbsup:

Are teams allowed to work together to reduce overall costs? In other words, what if Red Bull and AM agreed to share their allotted funds to achieve an overall better aero car. i could see a few teams forming a strategic alliance to better their 'going it alone' competitors.

Constructors must have the exclusive design and fabrication capacity for chassis and some other key parts of their car. This excludes PU’s since only a few manufacturers exist. Some engine builders are not constructors.

I suppose there is a way to form partnerships for design and fabrication - but the new cost caps, accounting rules and exclusive rights clauses would be a Gordian Knot methinks.

Suffice it to say that I thought this brouhaha would come out and the “wing-gate” whippings will begin.

Sky Sports has given everyone a front seat during FP3 in Spain on flexi- vs not flexi- slo-mo over the same kerbs at nearly same speed and the similarities/differences are fairly obvious.

RB may howl - but proving that ex-employees shared IP is fraught with potholes. How does one “unSee” and “unKnow” what they did a few months earlier?


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Honestly the entire thing is probably just Horner whining again. He does that often.

Interesting shake up of the pecking order after everyone brought their upgrades to the start of the European season. As predicted, Aston Martin isn't even in the same area code as Red Bull so perhaps the handwringing will stop. Alpine and AlphaTauri look like they took a step back whilst Mercedes, HAAS and the Alfa in the hands of Bottas move forward. That Mercedes front wing seems to flex quite a bit and undoubtedly giving them an edge. Russell again showing up with a huge P4 for Mercedes. Ferrari still behind both Red Bull and Mercedes on the straights by nearly .3 per lap and susceptible to be passed during the race.

Dear FIA,

Please bring the European Truck Racing Championship to the Miami GP.

Love,

Steven

That was a nice race to watch.
Mercedes is back on track, great performance from LH after initially wanting to quit. :cheers:

Barcelona is typically a boring race but this one seemed to have a little bit of everything. Max was very lucky to have won this race considering his off, his DRS not working, Charles' DNF and team orders.

The Mercedes seems to be back on pace and aside from Ferrari's 1 lap pace, their once mighty lead is no more. I'll still give the edge to LeClerc in Monaco for pole and win however given the tight nature of the track.

Still no credit for the best DRIVER in that race LH? Gets hit for no reason in lap one. Goes from last to 4th with clearly inferior equipment. Third best constructor yet pulls off a fifth. What a drive.

Feel horrible for Leclerc. He owned the entire field. Also feel bad for Perez. He had a better car and should have been allowed to just race.

He wanted to give up after being bumped to the back. ‘Save the engine’ c’mon that was weak

Kevin Magnussen...."Lewis just ramped me!" :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Fun race. Watching George and Max race neck and neck cleanly was awesome. The best part about the whole weekend was Lance Stroll getting grilled in that interview. His eyes were bouncing all over the place hahaha. They are definitely lying and as the announcers mentioned there's no way with the budget cap they could have had both projects going at the same time. All in all, it doesn't even matter when you look at where they ended up. The green redbull cans on horners desk in P1 were funny ah too! Cheers, ready for the parade this week!!!!