They seem to have nailed the car and the engine. Early days but I can't see anyone else winning the championships. HAAS looking excellent, fingers crossed it carries over to Quali and the race, would be nice for MSC to get a hawl of points.
F1 2022 Season
- Thread starter pauldyson1uk
- Start date
Were Mercedes this far ahead during their domination?
timing are a bit off with the wet I would say, Lewis only ran on full wets.
HAAS and Ferrari made the most of the conditions.
Qualifying should be interesting if it stays wet, teams will have to push more, could be a red flag or 2.
Were Mercedes this far ahead , I am not sure to be honest.
They certainly won races by huge margins, would have to do some research on it.
HAAS and Ferrari made the most of the conditions.
Qualifying should be interesting if it stays wet, teams will have to push more, could be a red flag or 2.
Were Mercedes this far ahead , I am not sure to be honest.
They certainly won races by huge margins, would have to do some research on it.
No they were further ahead.
Even last season, which was obviously far from their most dominant, they were 1 second a lap faster than the Ferrari on average across the season. The Ferrari so far has had about 1 second per lap in race pace over the Mercedes this season.
Though qualifying in the first wet conditions of the new era will probably favor Ferrari really heavily given how well balanced their car is and how much more confident they can be with it. If Lewis was struggling to get the car around Jeddah in qualifying you can only imagine how horrible it'll feel in wet conditions.
Did you watch FP1? everybody was pushing hard, that is pure Copium.
Hamilton was struggling all session and couldn't get heat into the tyres. If it remains that wet and cold they'll struggle for top 10 again.
watched about half of it, in work.
Saw Lewis struggling , thought it was just because he was still on wets and the rest on inters.
I had Sky on, the impression I got from their commentary was teams were not pushing too hard, happy to be corrected.
Huh? In what world were Mercedes 1 second ahead of anyone else last year
The poster didn’t ask for the gap to Ferrari.In this world...? Don't know what you're struggling with.Huh? In what world were Mercedes 1 second ahead of anyone else last year
I gave their average gap to Ferrari last season since we're talking about Ferrari. Showing why 1 second a lap advantage over the third fastest team isn't anything new.
One weekend we’ll get a weekend without latifi going off the track or into a wall. 
They'd need to design a track on an airfield with 300 yard run off areas.One weekend we’ll get a weekend without latifi going off the track or into a wall.
Huge gamble by RB putting new exhaust system on both RBs with only one FP of running for any track testing.
They must see something in it as they've done both AT cars as well.
Mercedes appears to be nowhere near solving the chronic porpoising issues impacting its W13, with the bouncing phenomenon so severe in FP1 at Imola that it led to a floor stay rupture on George Russell's car.
Russell concluded Friday's single practice session which took place on a wet track P10, a massive 4.860s off the pace from the leading Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, while teammate Lewis Hamilton was a lowly P17.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said that porpoising issues coupled with tyre warm-up problems undermined the reigning world champion team's practice session at Imola.
"We had George bouncing so much that he actually broke the stay on the floor," Wolff revealed. "You can’t drive – you have to lift on the straight.
"They are trained – I have never experienced bouncing like this in my life. But it’s clearly not drivable."
Mercedes as been working hard to try and mitigate its bouncing complications, but so far with very little success.
While the Brackley squad isn't the only team suffering from the ground effect issue, it hasn't succeeded in reducing its troubles without compromising its car's performance.
Ferrari on the other hand has been able to live with its porpoising predicament as it hasn't hindered the overall performance of its F1-75 car.
"Their porpoising looks a little bit different to ours," Wolff said. "Our frequency looks higher and the main difference is that when they hit the brakes, their car stabilizes – ours not."
Wolff suggested that the massive pace deficit in FP1 between Mercedes and Ferrari was rooted in tyre temperatures in the precarious track conditions and therefore grip.
"The Ferraris seemed to unlock that, everybody else is pretty much all over the place," commented the Austrian.
"Feedback that we are getting from Lewis and George is that there’s literally zero grip and that these gaps point to the tyres.
"When you are able to unlock that issue, you will do a jump and where that will end, I don’t know.
"I think there will be quite some discrepancies in performance and you could see a team [really behind in qualifying later on Friday].
"We were five seconds off the pace – it’s not the car and not the driver."
Russell concluded Friday's single practice session which took place on a wet track P10, a massive 4.860s off the pace from the leading Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, while teammate Lewis Hamilton was a lowly P17.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said that porpoising issues coupled with tyre warm-up problems undermined the reigning world champion team's practice session at Imola.
"We had George bouncing so much that he actually broke the stay on the floor," Wolff revealed. "You can’t drive – you have to lift on the straight.
"They are trained – I have never experienced bouncing like this in my life. But it’s clearly not drivable."
Mercedes as been working hard to try and mitigate its bouncing complications, but so far with very little success.
While the Brackley squad isn't the only team suffering from the ground effect issue, it hasn't succeeded in reducing its troubles without compromising its car's performance.
Ferrari on the other hand has been able to live with its porpoising predicament as it hasn't hindered the overall performance of its F1-75 car.
"Their porpoising looks a little bit different to ours," Wolff said. "Our frequency looks higher and the main difference is that when they hit the brakes, their car stabilizes – ours not."
Wolff suggested that the massive pace deficit in FP1 between Mercedes and Ferrari was rooted in tyre temperatures in the precarious track conditions and therefore grip.
"The Ferraris seemed to unlock that, everybody else is pretty much all over the place," commented the Austrian.
"Feedback that we are getting from Lewis and George is that there’s literally zero grip and that these gaps point to the tyres.
"When you are able to unlock that issue, you will do a jump and where that will end, I don’t know.
"I think there will be quite some discrepancies in performance and you could see a team [really behind in qualifying later on Friday].
"We were five seconds off the pace – it’s not the car and not the driver."
Brundle has a cracking contract with Sky. I know we are only a few races in but I swear he attends fewer races each year
Italy Emilia Romagna GP Qualifying
stopped raining, track has a dry line.
Sky saying cars will be on slicks.
Sky saying cars will be on slicks.
Mercedes are on intermediates (for now atleast)
Lewis already saying there is a dry line, you cam clearly see it, I would say slicks are in order.
WOW the porpoising on Lewis car is horrendous
That Merc looks absolutely terrible.
Carlos straight out on slicks
Doesn't it just. I can see both struggling to get out of Q2 maybe even Q1
Albon brakes are on fire
RED FLAG
RED FLAG
Well that’s something I don’t think I’ve seen until this season
In before Latifi crashes in Q1
Anyone else’s commentator’s audio slightly ahead of the video? Might be normal and I’ve only just noticed it but it’s bugging me now.
dont think I have ever seen a brake explode like that
I am watching on Sky Go , seems OK
Same for me
Maybe just me then. They seemed to react half a second before the brake blew up and then again to something in a replay. Not really an issue but I’m looking out for it now
the Aston looks very stable, no noticeable porpoising.
Fingers crossed this is a continuation of McLaren improving.
both Merc's in real danger. what a dog of a car
Latifi
track temp under 15 degrees 
Merc aren’t making it into Q3, look terrible here, might as well save the engine.
AT have been really poor so far this season. Hamilton and Merc maybe slightly lucky Albons brakes caused him to miss qualifying.
Hamilton and Russell scrape through Q1, AlphaTauris out
Woah, that was close for the Mercedes!
Both Mercedes were in the drop zone before small improvements in the dying embers of Q1. Russell finishes 12th, and Hamilton in 15th!
Hamilton through to Q2 by 0.004s ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, with both AlphaTauris surprisingly eliminated. 17th is a big surprise for Pierre Gasly.
Woah, that was close for the Mercedes!
Both Mercedes were in the drop zone before small improvements in the dying embers of Q1. Russell finishes 12th, and Hamilton in 15th!
Hamilton through to Q2 by 0.004s ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, with both AlphaTauris surprisingly eliminated. 17th is a big surprise for Pierre Gasly.
watching Lewis is like watching United this season, fecking dreadful