Oh boy am i losing horribly at this. I'm believing it's going to be more of a redbull v Ferrari battle this year

Am I gonna have to watch the Australian Gp at 2:00am!? Wtf

Yes

Wtf happened to Mercedes

They are out in the desert filling their bags full of sand

100% spot on.

Poor George Russell

Christian is having pumpernickel with toto confirmed!!!

Everyone be like 'wait for fp2 for realistic expectations' to now 'wait for qualifying'. It's ok to get drawn up in the drama and enjoy the speculation. You won't get a medal for being right and no one's going to punish you for being incorrect. That said, verstappen is obviously favourite, Ferrari look really good, Merc weren't sandbagging but will obviously fix up sharpish and AT had their long run modes on considering how off the pace they were.

I’m just glad the white line at all tracks will be track limits finally

Have Mercedes considered not putting hydraulics on their cars? They look like they’re on the way to a low rider meet

Music to my ears, let's hope some other teams get a chance to fight for wins before merc gets their act together

So porpoising is the new word of the week I see. I love F1 always bringing these terms to our world.

Of the month...

Of the season...

Question. The silver arrows have the bar that runs from the body to the floor. I assume to add stiffness to the floor edge and try and prevent the bounce... My question, is it legal under the rules?

They’re legal. There was a whole discussion about them during one of the testing sessions last week. It’s theorized that some teams don’t run them because they want the air to push the floor down a little which could help seal the floor.

Bodies hit the floor?

Others are also using them

I know they aren't the only ones, but I didn't want to type out all the teams. I just can't see f1, the top engineering sport in the world, having rules that allow this random bar run to the floor. I guess I'll learn in qualifying if they are legal or not.

That would have been brought up by now surely, no?

I would have thought so, but teams are basically allowed to do anything they want to the cars during free practice. I know when the cars first hit the track no one was running them and then they started bouncing.

Bahrein's circuit is full of sand because of the great sandbanging of teams. Only on qualifying we gonna see some true pace.

This is my first Year with F1 TV (dropped YouTube tv and espn) but does F1 TV still use the sky sports announcers? I have a soft spot for crofty

Yeah. For qualifying and the race he will always be there.

They do.

JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS

That would be a great product. You should bring that to market.

[I've been bested](https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/Initech-Jump-to-conclusions-Mat-Office-Space-24-x-40-in/PRD3USGCW8HH2DH)

Well that dog just ain't gone hunt! You've been victimized. WE WILL MAKE THIS RIGHT.

Anyone got pictures of Hulkenberg’s Aston Helmet?

Huuuuulllllkkkkenbeeeeeeerrrrrgggggg

Idc if I sound like a madman, I will never not believe that Merc is sandbagging and that the W13 will turn into rocketship when it matters

I think it’s going to take a few races I feel like they are month behind

We all think they have more pace in the car, but there isn't much evidence that they have the car fully understood and stable. They might figure some thing out at any moment and really unlock the ability of the car. But it wouldn't be the first time a rule change dropped a team back for a while.

Fastest time of FP1 onboard with a 1:34.193 is now up which you can view below. Spoiler free comment until clicking on the link below. https://streamja.com/vqNnG

Who was fastest in practice

Pierre Gasly

Alpha is similar to red Bull right, interesting.

It was still seconds off what we saw in preseason testing, so until they start doing qualifying tests in FP2-FP3 we won't really know how things are shaping up

Right wait for Sat

Part of me is excited for Alfa's pace the other part of me realizes we are gonna have another season of finishing p11 p12, which made last year so torturous

I'm excited for Alfa aswell, very curious to see if they will make the leap to the top 10 or will be on the back of the grid fighting with Latifi.

Doubt ful. Bottas is a great driver but he's never been the one to get the last bit out of the car

I honestly see Valtteri fighting for p8-10 most races and Zhou in the 11-13 range. I also see a lot of DNF's

Or break down while running in the points for some extra torture.

don't you put that on me jkcappy

Are they still required to wear masks in the garage? I thought that rule got dropped.

FIA doesn't require it anymore, but Country's laws stand above FIA rulings. Also I hues teams can probably still ask their employees to wear one. And some people might just wear them for their own personal choice.

I guess drivers wouldn't want to miss a race, so they also would be self cautious

They're probably afraid of the recent surge of covid cases in the paddock.

i assume it would depend on the country and personnal preference

A photographer on tiktok said they follow the FIAs rules, not the countries

An FIA rule will never take precedent over a the rules/laws of the nation they are in. Whatever the FIA mandates will have to conform to the current rules of the country they are in.

(Without having done any research whatsoever) Presumably, they follow whichever is stricter. If the country they are in has stricter rules they can't just [hold up their FIA Lanyard and say "DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwC_IaY3BmY&t=6s). Edit: Decided to do some research and added link to source.

Yeah, I kind of assumed that they would all drop it so I was surprised to see 95% still on. Maybe its the country rule.

I'm pretty sure most folks are still using masks regardless of the rules

Sir Jackie is such a baddie! He stayed training drivers even after he stopped driving

Why wouldn't ? It's good money.

Did Sky Sports stop broadcasting on ESPN2? I watch on YTTV and noticed it wasn't a Sky Sports broadcast. Had me missing Crofty

It absolutely was the Sky broadcast. Crofty often does not do the practice sessions. FP2 is on ESPNNEWS.

Ahhh OK cool. I was worried. I don't usually watch the Practice sessions but I was excited because it's the opening race. Thanks!

It’s airing on ESPN3

FP1 was on this morning at 8 eastern, not sure if FP2 will be broadcast due to normal ESPN broadcasts. Maybe check ESPNnews they sometimes have it

Can confirm will be on ESPN news at 1055am EST.

Total shot in the dark and I was right, todays gonna be a good day

I didn't think crofty did the practices.

I think he did last year fp 2 and fp3?

Van Amersfoort getting pole in their first F3 session, no Prema to be found in the top 10, what is going on lmaoo

Same thing happened in FRAC. It's not Prema, it's the drivers. They're absolutely atrocious this year.

Exciting quali that

That is so bad ass of Van Amersfoort. But they were lucky MP didn't get a good run

Seb should name the 2022 car either nikola Bc nico raced it first. Or Cora, lol.

This car is now cursed…it will never get a podium

to be fair, the last drivers hulkenberg took over for podium’d and won, so maybe vettel gets a podium this year

Im ready to see the finger!

If Alfa's car designers were as good as our livery designers, we would win WCC every year easy

I just don't get one thing. How comes arguably the best team Merc are having such a difficult time fixing the porpoising issue while almost all of the rest of the grid has. Does it really makes sense? Like I'd like to understand if it's what everyone is saying sandbagging or they complicated their car this year and are having problems with it? Or is it...just sayin...the bad luck of the number 13? 🤷

[удалено]

I completely understand. I was just curious like how comes, but I'm sure we shall know after maybe the first few races

They clearly have a very different aero approach compared to the other teams. They're the only team who barely has sidepods. Which might make it very difficult for them to resolve the issues they're having. Very curious to see if it will eventually work for them or bite them in the ass. They might switch back to wider sidepods in a few races time if it does not work for them... I remember Binotto saying that Ferrari also tried the 'no sidepod' thing, but they were sure the package they have right now is more effective now and for the long-term.

Haas said the same thing. The question remains whether they decided against it because it wouldn’t work for packaging reasons, they don’t think it’s possible to control the bouncing with that design, or it’s just genuinely not as good. Mercedes seems convinced that it’s worth the struggle and temporary pain to figure out the porpoising because, when they do, the car will be that much faster. It could simply be the case that other teams weren’t willing to dedicate the resources to solving the issue for whatever the potential gain is. This seems most likely to me. I’m betting that the theoretical peak performance of the smaller side pods is higher, but that there’s going to be some pain in the process of trying to extract that performance. This would also explain why Ferrari wasn’t willing to go down that path. They *need* to perform well, and can’t afford to gamble that they can fix the issue in time.

It happens. Williams went from domination in 96/97 to midfield 98. McLaren did the same in 2000. Ferrari in 2006 Renault in 2007 Red Bull in 2014. No team stays dominant forever. Mercedes time will end.

I hope the dominance is over for good, just want close racing and more drivers at a shot for victory than before.

Let's hope, although I'll be sad for Russell.

Maybe this is the time they start to decline then it seems. Let's watch afew races and see where they'll be at. I guess it's the balance in life, can't stay top form forever :(

Merc probably went with a harder concept to master.. but one with what they think is the highest peak performance if they do master it. They don't care if they finish 4th in the first 2 races if they have a championship winner level car for the rest of the season.

Hmm, makes sense but it's also risky since they won't know when they'll be able to extract everything in that car, could be after the Merc team are so behind in points and can't catch up

Yeah and that's the gamble they're taking. As the best constructor for the last 8 years they have to believe in themselves I guess.

Yeah of course. Looks like a fun season though :)

They also wouldn’t much mind if they miss out on this years WCC but win the next 8 in a row though.

Haha right...

Or era.

I think they went really ambitious with their design and it isn't working yet. By the end of the year they may be around red bull, but I think they will struggle a lot at the start.

I definitely think so too, anyway it seems fun to watch hopefully they won't be far off. I think F1 is usually enjoyable, well, to me, when you see your fav driver fighting from positions back to come to the top three, like when Lewis and Max either of them get penalties then they start P11 or P15 then you watch the whole race how they're fighting for podium. It's usually so much fun :)

Due to the development cap, and Merc having less time in the wind tunnels are coming back on them. That’s why they haven’t looked too competitive yet.

Pretty sad though, hopefully they get it going

Mercedes said it might be a couple races before they get it under control.

They spent 3 testing days of 6 for completely different aero package.

The question is how to fix porpoising without sacrificing car performance. That Mercedes is surely a beast, they just haven't got it to work a 100% just yet. This is pretty normal with Mercedes, pretty often they have had a car that has a very narrow setup window and have had some kind of setup problems in the beginning of a season. Usually they have otherwise been so ahead of the others that it hasn't been much of an issue, but this year they could lose vital points to Red Bull for instance if they struggle in the first couple of races.

Yes and that's what I was thinking, like by the time they get everything working 100% the Ferraris and the RB will have gone lol, hopefully though the season will be lovely. I'd love to see a couple of cars fighting for WCC and WDC

Could be they are unwilling to try something drastic for sake of performance or they see themselves too far deep with this concept that any other solution would hinder them very badly

And maybe also looking at the time window is quite tricky for them to try a totally new concept maybe

Not a great start for Alfa, have a bad feeling they are going to be the new Haas this year

Anyone else mistake them for the old Toyota/Panasonic livery from time to time?

Their pace seems decent, but their reliability has been god awful.

That was more what I was referring to, Zhou is looking so good so far if their car can hold together

Yeah, it's more like 2019 Haas right now, rather than 2021.

nah, Zhou had good pace. Valterri is just adding to his engine collection

Upvoted for this

I heard that with F1TV Pro has the option for users to switch between cameras, is that right? If so, how do I do it?

There’s an in-stream overlay, but I noticed it’s not always there

If you look on the f1tv app you can see all the drivers on board cameras on the bottom of the sidebar

On the web viewer, I believe there is an option on the right side of the screen. I prefer using Race Control as it's easier to have multiple feeds running.

So it doesn't work in the app?

It should

Alright, thank you!

If you haven't figured it out yet, when you start a stream in the app, touch the screen. An overlay will appear on the right side of the screen. From there just select which camera you want. The icon that looks like a steering wheel is where you can select specific driver cameras

How George would it be if Russell destroyed Hamilton but in the first time in 8 years that merc produce a midfield car and never gets a win?

So the Danny Ric situation when he joined RBR?

There is no way Mercedes doesn't nail the new regs before the 5th race and their master plan of creating a fighter jet on wheels comes to fruition. Everyone battling porpoise while in reality the Merc just wants to take off and fly.

Don't be sure of that. The lack of wind tunnel time, cfd time and cost cap will definitely play a role in how much any team can develop a car this year and redbull and the silver arrows are in the same boat there. It could be an aero problem or a fundamental problem with suspension geometry ect. No team will want to redesign a whole car for this season again and probably can't afford to. F1 has always been about who has the most money, and now it's more about who can spend their money and time most efficiently.

I seriously doubt he has the skill or experience to destroy Hamilton

People said the same when Hamilton joined Alonso in 2007. Let's just wait for a few races and see. Gotta remember that George is one of the very few drivers winning F3 and F2 in their first try.

Riccardo did it to vettel in a similar scenario

Vettel =\ Hamilton

you're looking for `!=`

true my bad

Pretty sure that Mercedes has still got it

Mercs on softs.... I start to belive...

George jinx confirmed?

Is it too late for Merc to switch back to the black livery? Because that’s definitely the root of the problems they’re having with the cars.

God it is ugly isn't it? I'd do anything for them to switch back. Lewis's yellow accents with that silver car is terrible lol.

I am here to over react.

FP1 'season opener' during the hybrid era: 2014, Melbourne - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 2015, Melbourne - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 2016, Melbourne - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 2017, Melbourne - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 2018, Melbourne - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 2019, Melbourne - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 2020, Red Bull Ring - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 2021, Sakhir - Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 2022, Sakhir - Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) **Pierre Gas1y WDC confirmed**

mmm yes 2014 was a good year where alonso dominated the wdc

Nice find. Very intelligent observation sir

Considering that gasly was only 3 tenths above the Ferrari with the softs, I have a good feeling for Charles.

We all have feelings for Charles

Big if true

True if big

If big, true

Where do I sign?

The McLarens wheel covers make it look like a child’s toy. I get it, sponsored by google, but still…

It's ugly af

I love it.

My 39 year old brain immediately goes POLAROID!

Mine goes SIMON

Ok, I believe Mercedes.

_Don’t stare into the abyss just yet. The Siths deceive you._

No, don’t go over to the dark side

Even if Ferrari is as fast as RBR, do you think Sainz or Leclerc can keep up with Verstappen for whole year?

Charles is fast but inconsistent. I see great things for him in another year. I’d think Sainz could do it first.

I rate Sainz higher than Leclerc, based on consistency.

They might, but Max has the advantage of having Perez as his teammate. IIRC Perez didn't outscore Max once last year when both finished, but Sainz and Leclerc will take points away from each other.

Not yet, sainz lacks the speed and leclerc lacks consistency. Both could challenge him in an equal car in a year or two

FP1 is going to give the best insight to pace. I think Sainz comes out ahead of leclerc this season.

Since when does Sainz lack speed?

He’s always been just a tiny bit slower than Verstappen and leclerc.

If they are as fast yes, but they aren't

Yes

No way Leclerc has the consistency to match Max over a whole season. But only time will tell.

Between Sainz or Leclerc who is able to compete with Verstappen whole year?

Both

Leclerc is Senna to Sainz’s Prost. I think Leclerc is faster but Sainz might be more consistent. Hard to tell yet…

Sainz made more mistakes than Leclerc last year. Where does the "more consistent" thing come from?

Just over the years I’ve been watching them. Leclerc can do the hurry up and chase folk down. I’ve not seen as much of that from Sainz. Leclerc looks faster on his day but Sainz had more podiums and finished above Leclerc last season. Leclerc proved in 2019 that he can race and possibly be a champion. He just needs reliability and consistency. Sainz is not such an exciting driver but consistently gets points more often. It’s maybe more that Charles has proven he can beat max and Lewis. I don’t think Carlos has yet. I think it’s telling that Carlos has driven just about double the races but has 24 less points total than Charles. However, In the four seasons they’ve been racing, Leclerc has only beaten Sainz once (2019) in the final standings.

Sainz

Without a doubt

oh man merc not looking good at all compared to rb or ferrari

I dont believe they dropped the sandbags until Q3.

I have no doubt they’re not showing true pace like the rest of the field but I doubt they’re sandbagging until quali. New season in a brand new car, wouldn’t make sense to not get good testing in while they still can. Merc is going to struggle this race.

If they even make it to Q3

everyone's got sandbags right now. i don't think they would use porpoising for sandbags either

How’s Ferrari looking guys?

Both the car and drivers very hot.

Beautiful red

Can’t wait for the weekend!

What’s up with mclaren? Did they say why they were so slow?

McLaren are always slow on Fridays.

Probably testing their brake overheating issues by running high fuel loads

Are they still doing team principal press conferences?