Monaco was not missed when cancelled for COVID. Not even spoken of. Its a joke of a race in a great place. It should be charity event for F1. Put the overpaid driver minions in some spec series sportscars/coupes and let them run a short race etc.

Losing SPA is hard to accept if the F1 leaders think that is a good idea............

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ha...money/9890055/


Haas rejects Uralkali request to repay F1 sponsorship money
The Haas Formula 1 team has rejected a claim from former title sponsor Uralkali to refund $13 million already paid, and demanded a further $8.6m compensation for ‘loss of profits’.
Jonathan Noble
By:
Jonathan Noble
Apr 14, 2022, 4:34 AM

In the immediate aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in March, the Haas team unilaterally terminated its Uralkali sponsorship deal because of the links the company’s owner Dmitry Mazepin had with the country’s president Vladimir Putin.

It also ended the deal it had with race driver Nikita Mazepin, who has since been replaced by Kevin Magnussen.

At the time, Uralkali said it was considering legal action over the matter as it sought repayment of sponsorship money it had paid in advance of the season.

In a statement issued last month, the company said: “As most of the sponsorship funding for the 2022 season has already been transferred to Haas and given that the team terminated the sponsorship agreement before the first race of the 2022 season, Haas has thus failed to perform its obligations to Uralkali for this year's season.

“Uralkali shall request the immediate reimbursement of the amounts received by Haas.”

Uralkali subsequently wrote to Haas to dispute the team’s rights to terminate the contract, as well as request a refund of €12 million ($13m) that had been paid in advance.

It has emerged, however, that Haas has now formally responded to the Uralkali letter and wholly rejected the company’s claims.

In the letter from the Haas team to the Russian company, a copy of which has been seen by Autosport, the American-owned team insists it had a right to end the deal because of a clause in the sponsorship agreement which stated that Uralkali does not ‘injure, bring into dispute, ridicule, or lessen the public reputation, goodwill of favourable image of Haas’.

Haas claims that the Mazepin ties to the Kremlin, allied to sanctions imposed by the European Union, triggered the disrepute clause. However, no sanctions had been imposed by the European Union or any other parties when the contract was terminated.

In the letter, Haas puts forward its argument as to why it believes the Uralkali sponsorship should not be repaid.

“According to unanimous legal scholars and case law, the party which terminates the agreement for breach of the other party is under no obligation to return to such party what it has already received under the agreement,” it states.

“The claim of Uralkali to obtain the re-payment of the down paid amount of EUR 12,000,000 is therefore ungrounded and rejected.”

Haas adds that beyond the money already paid, the team is also entitled to compensation for the loss of profits it believes would have been made if the Uralkali deal had continued.

It has subsequently demanded a payment of €8m in lieu of this, which it wants transferred in a matter of days.

Haas has also made clear that it will not fulfil a clause in its original contract for Uralkali to be given one of Mazepin's 2021 F1 cars until it has received the €8m payment.

The letter adds: “Unless and until the aforesaid amount will have been paid to Haas no obligation exists on Haas’ side to deliver and no delivery of the F1 car will occur.”

According to a source with good knowledge of the situation, Haas has also refused to pay Mazepin his salary for the time worked this season before his contract was cancelled.
Nikita Mazepin, Haas F1 Team

Nikita Mazepin, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Haas’s stance is understood to have left Uralkali astonished, with sources saying they are in "disbelief" about the withholding of the money, the 2021 car and the demand for an extra payment.

One source said: “Everyone understands the world is in a difficult situation, but it is patently ridiculous to argue that Haas is entitled to keep money paid from a contract it exited unilaterally, without rendering any of the agreed upon services.

“They seem to be fine with spending Russian money - and even are asking for more - but don’t want to have any Russians around.

“It's a truly shocking treatment toward a title sponsor who stepped up last season when the team badly needed resources and who had offered to go above and beyond the contracted amounts to provide additional bonuses to team staff to achieve better results for all involved.”
Read Also:


Representatives of Uralkali and Nikita Mazepin declined to comment on the matter and instead referred to a previous statement that had been issued on the company website.

The Haas F1 team was approached for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.

The matter now almost certainly looks to be heading to court, unless there is a last-minute change of approach from Haas in relation to the money

I wonder who that last source is. Million dollar litigation will not be quick.

Mazepin is sanctioned and Italy seized over 100 mil$ of his assets. He can beeetch about this all he likes. HAAS should never pay that idiot or his son 1 cent. Ever. Corrupt coward in the inner circle of Putin.

Haas should put the money in trust for a charity to rebuild an independent Ukraine!

:happydance:

Williams strategy with Albon was genius. Hard compound until the last lap, pit him and he crossed the finish line in the pits.. As for Monaco…… it is the most boring race to watch on tv. Almost 0 overtaking and where you start is where to finish, mostly. Only about 2 places to pass, turn 1 and the chicane after the tunnel. These modern F1 hybrid cars are too fat for those roads.

Ferrari: Too early for Leclerc/Sainz F1 team orders
Ferrari says it is still too early in the 2022 campaign to consider team orders between its Formula 1 drivers, despite Charles Leclerc’s current advantage over Carlos Sainz Jr.

Red Bull downplays talk of big F1 upgrade package for Imola

Red Bull Formula 1 chief Christian Horner downplayed the suggestion the team has a big upgrade package planned for its RB18 car at Imola, saying any developments are an “evolution”.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ho...006606/?nrt=54

Why Ferrari has stayed in front despite its no upgrades approach
The Ferrari F1-75 looked fast from the first day of 2022 Formula 1 testing at Barcelona in February, and that pace has remained through the first three race weekends.
Adam Cooper
By:
Adam Cooper
Apr 18, 2022, 5:00 AM

Indeed, in Australia the car had a clear edge on the Red Bull RB18, after the two frontrunning machines proved to be evenly matched in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

One of the more intriguing aspects of Ferrari's season so far is that, in contrast to its main rivals, the team has done very little to the car since that first test, and there has been no package of upgrades.

There are several aspects to the Ferrari strategy. Firstly, the car was quick from the off and had no obvious vices. Like others, it suffers from porpoising, but the team seems to have found a way to live with it, without compromising performance as much as some rivals have been obliged to.

Crucially, by not changing the package every week, the team has been able to take a deep dive into fully understanding the car, allowing the engineers to start each race weekend with a good base set-up.

That in turn has the added bonus of allowing the drivers to fully come to terms with the car and know what it requires from them, although it's taken Carlos Sainz a little longer to adapt than Charles Leclerc.

The bigger picture is that by not having to throw new parts on at short notice in order to find performance, Ferrari has been able to pace itself in terms of R&D. The team can focus on honing new items that it knows will work when they come to the track, rather than fast-track through stuff that hasn't been fully proven as a fire-fighting exercise.


In an era where the budget cap puts a limit on what how much you can do over the course of a full season, that's a crucial advantage.

"Luckily the car is good since the beginning," says chassis operations manager Claudio Albertini. "So it's something that is good news for us, because then we can focus on good development.

"With these new regulations it's a different approach compared to the past, because with the budget cap, actually we have to be very careful, because every development that is not working, is also a waste of money, in addition to not giving performance to the car.

"The conditions are different from the past. We have to work in a different way. But for sure in our line there are future developments. Also, because this philosophy of car is very new there are many things that we are still investigating, and want to prove."

In essence, Ferrari has been able to hold back on new parts because the car was good from the off, with sufficient pace to win races.

"Luckily we met the expectations," says Albertini. "So in a way you see that the car has a potential. And so as I said, we could spot since the beginning of the project the parts of the car that were more performing, and focus on them.

"We now understand that our first idea was good, because the important parts are in good shape, and we are going in that direction. So we are still following the base plan that we had since last year."

Ferrari did bring a different floor to Melbourne, but as was planned it was run by Leclerc only on Friday, before he reverted to the normal spec for the rest of the weekend.

It was purely a data gathering exercise that will feed into more permanent changes later in the season, and was a good example of the team making efficient use of a Friday practice session.

"We had a packer in the diffuser," says Albertini. "Actually, it's a part that changed the shape of the floor. It was a test item. We knew since the beginning that it would not be in the car for the qualifying and race. And it's normal nowadays, with less real testing of the car, that you use Friday for this development.

"It was something related, obviously, to the aerodynamics of the car. And we aim to understand better the airflow, especially on the floor, and the bottom part of the car.

"These special components have the aim of gathering information. So actually, we run that component, we have sensors in the car, we do all the measurements, then we bring all the information at home.

"And then they can correlate with our calculations, with wind tunnel data. It's a way we can match the real car and the calculated car, and we have a better picture. For the later development in season of the car, this is the first step.

"It was not something that was supposed to be better or worse. It was something useful for us to have a different amount of data to consider at home.

"The floor is obviously the most important part of the car. And this philosophy of car is very new. So we are still understanding new things. Time is going, and so we are focusing on different parts of the floor, trying to improve it overall."

Running that kind of test before going ahead and manufacturing sufficient sets of new floors to get the team through a race weekend is another example of how restricted funds are having an effect on how and when teams introduce updates.

"For sure, as I said, the budget cap has an impact on how we operate this season," says Albertini. "It is extremely important when there is a development that the new component is good, otherwise there is a waste of money and a waste of time.

"Understanding at the beginning led us to a process of improvement rather than bringing new parts and having the old ones not used anymore. So not useful, also from the budget cap perspective.

"Sometimes it's a bit of a bet. You bring the part, and if you bring earlier and it's okay, then you are more relaxed, and you do development. But if you bet and you arrive to the second test with the new component, but then it's not working, it is even worse."

While aerodynamic parts are obviously the main development focus with the new cars like all teams, Ferrari is also pursuing a weight-saving programme.

"At the moment it is in parallel," says Albertini. "Because weight is very important, because these cars are heavier. For sure, weight reduction is a big focus on our development.

"We have aero development, mechanical development, weight development, so we are going in parallel with different programmes, and we pick up where we can see there is the most need. It's something that goes together at the moment."

Saving weight costs money, but as Albertini notes, so does everything else.

"Even a light part like the floor in a way is extremely expensive. For sure [to have a] light car means we have to rebuild the metallic parts, doing it in different materials. So in a way it's a big cost. But I can tell you that also aero development, even if the part is not weight-related, is very, very expensive!"

As noted a stable car package helps the drivers to get the maximum out of it each weekend, as they become more familiar with its quirks. Is it more a question of the drivers adapting, or the set-up being honed to suit their styles?

"As usual it's a bit of both sides," says Albertini. "This car was new for the drivers, and it was new for us. We had to understand a bit, because they had to change the way in which they have to drive, because this car has such an aerodynamic load and a different mechanical configuration compared to last year.

"It has to be driven differently. So as a team, we have to understand what is the best way for the driver's skill? And the driver in a way has to adapt. It's a bit of both again, and we have to meet together."

The new tyres are a key element that team and drivers have had to understand, and again a stable package has helped that process.

Ferrari has found that typically two preparation laps on the soft tyre are optimal for qualifying, for example.

"It's very circuit dependent I think," says Albertini. "It's a bit of a match, tyre and asphalt and ambient conditions. For sure, it is part also of the tests that we do on Friday. It's not that you arrive and you know since the beginning maybe we need the prep lap, maybe not.

"It's something that also you have to test. And also you see some teams are doing this, and some not."

With Maranello just down the road and an obvious desire to please the home crowd, Ferrari could be tempted to bring a major update package to the Emilia Romagna GP.

However, Imola is a sprint weekend, and with just one session before Friday qualifying, it makes no sense to disrupt the winning package.

"I think it will be a difficult weekend in the respect of bringing updates and try to evaluate them on the Friday practice," team boss Mattia Binotto noted in Australia.

"Because you need obviously to focus yourself on the quali of the afternoon. If we will look at ourselves, there will not be much in Imola because again, we believe it will not be the right place.

"We try to mitigate the let me say the issues we got still so far, I'm thinking of the porpoising and the bouncing that has affected our performance over the weekend. So we again try to work on that specific point.

"But for the upgrades and more, let me say significant ones, it will be for later on in the season."

The big question now is how much development potential can be found in the F1-75 compared to the RB18? We'll only know the answer as the weeks and months unfold.

If you're more than 1/4 second ahead of the next closest car in qualifying on a tiny lap like Albert Park, I'd say you're doing the right thing!

Lets talk Miami GP real quick....... think anything will come of the noise issues the neighbors are already complaining about, or you think F1 doesn't care since they already have big money invested in the venue?

Gawd, I hope so... BRING BACK THE V-12s!!!!
:rofl2:

Yeah, money trumps a bunch of old curmudgeons who won't even notice if they take their hearing aids out!

Traffic will be the bigger issue anyway.

F1 championship leader Leclerc robbed of $320,000 watch
Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc has escaped unharmed after being robbed of a $320,000 Richard Mille watch in Italy on Monday night.

Pickpockets and thieves in cities like Rome are part of the culture. I got pickpocketed in Rome and the cops were like stupid American. My brother spotted 12 year old kid was eyeing watch and following him. He had larger of beer in his hand and he stopped and stared down the kid after crossing a street. The kid got the message!

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I never have issues in Italy. I simply dont take anything like a notable watch etc. Zero issues and plan ahead on places to go etc. No worse than most countries overall. If you have flash items you might not be happy later. Not worth the risk.

Barcelona is quite aggravating as well.

They didn't get much from me! Maybe 50 euros. It was mostly the aggravation of canceling credit cards and such. I am one and done with Rome. It was fun from a history and dinning experience. There were enough people there who were rude enough to spoil the experience. I do want to experience other places in Italy.

I also heard that Barcelona was a lot worse. It still is on my bucket list. Many old cultures have a bit of survival of the fittest mentality. If you get taken or swindled, it is on you for not being smart enough to deal with or avoid the situation.

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USA TV schedule - SPRINT Qualy this weekend!

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Practice 1 - Friday, April 22 - 7.25AM - ESPN2
Qualifying - Friday, April 22 - 10.55AM - ESPN2

Practice 2 - Saturday, April 23 - 6.25AM - ESPN2
Sprint Qualifying - Satruday, April 23 - 12.25PM - ESPN

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - Sunday, April 24 - 8.55AM - ESPN

Post-race show - Sunday, April 24 - 11AM - ESPN3

Race (re-air) - Sunday, April 24 - 2PM - ESPNEWS
Race (re-air) - Sunday, April 24 - 10PM - ESPNEWS

Full Race weekend schedule times are London zone. Much to see and it can be watched on Cricfree and other streaming services. Lots to see in an F1 weekend actually - not just the F1 specific events!

Live Emilia Romagna GP schedule on Sky Sports F1

Friday, April 22
9am: F3 Practice*
10.05am: F2 Practice*
11am: Drivers' Press Conference*
12pm: Emilia Romagna GP Practice One (session starts 12.30pm)*
1.50pm: F3 Qualifying*
2.45pm: F2 Qualifying*
3.25pm: Emilia Romagna GP Qualifying Build-up*
4pm: Emilia Romagna GP Qualifying*
5:45pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook*

Saturday, April 23
9.30am: F3 Sprint Race
11am: Emilia Romagna GP Practice Two (session starts 11.30am)
2.30pm: Emilia Romagna GP Sprint Build-up*
3.30pm: EMILIA Sunday, April 24ROMAGNA GP: THE SPRINT*
4.50pm: F2 Sprint Race
5.45pm: Ted's Sprint Notebook

Sunday April 24 RACE DAY
7.45am: F3 Feature Race
9.15am: F2 Feature Race*
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Emilia Romagna
2pm: THE EMILIA ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Emilia Romagna
5pm: Ted's Notebook
6pm: Emilia Romagna GP Highlights

Both cities are grand and beautiful. A touch of planning and awareness is needed unless you are in Singapore or others as nice/clean/safe lol.

Both have lots of tourists Rome and Barca. Orlando Florida suffers the same. Tourists are targets.

LOL, both things can be true. You can prepare and still become victim! Most fun place of my European travels is Budapest!

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My wife's home city. If you go tell me. We have good things to pass on where to eat etc. Her family is all there of course. We give you good data they have. I wish to live there but she is not ready. Most likely we retire in Spain. Sun lol :)

Right on! We had a great time and the food was awesome. The people were amazing! I will definitely hit you up. Spain and Portugal are two of the cheapest places to retire. We have to visit Portugal as my wife is part Portuguese!

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Sprint rules data for this year--

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/im...cars/10085429/

Imola kerbs could pose headache for F1 2022 cars
Formula 1 teams and drivers could face a headache with the kerbs at this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix thanks to the characteristics of the 2022 cars.

By: Jonathan Noble
Apr 21, 2022, 5:12 AM

The start of the European season takes place at the old-school Imola circuit, which features much more aggressive kerbs than have been present at the modern venues that have hosted races so far this season.

In the past, drivers have found that they have needed to ride the Imola kerbs a lot to deliver the fastest possible laptime, with the chicanes in particular offering good gains if they are straight-lined.

But a new more cautious approach may be needed from this weekend because of the arrival of ground effect cars.

With so much of the car performance coming from the airflow under the car, teams are having to run their machines much closer to the ground than they have in the past.

And that reduction in ground clearance opens the risk for drivers to damage their floors if they run across the kerbs as aggressively as they have in the past.

One senior engineer told Autosport: "If you look at the start of last year's race, when Lewis Hamilton had to run across the kerbs at Turn 1 to avoid colliding with Max Verstappen, that would have badly crunched his floor if it happened with a 2022 car."

Max: "memo to self - make opposing car run wide here...." LOL

if you get a chance watch qualifying, was interesting and long, lots of red flags, rain dry, rain....

Only hint at what happen KevinM is 4th....

Well if it wasn't for DRS, don't think there would have been any passing, kind a suck in watching the sprint race.... And the DRS made it so easy...

I like how it seemingly came down to strategy, with Max being able to save his tires a bit more than LeClerc. Both of them knew better than to actually risk a DNF today.

Sainz and Perez did work.

HAAS cars in the top 10 on Mediums!

Mediums are the tires tomorrow overall. Hard to say but passing ls not easy at Imola. Start soft and move to mediums and grind it out.

Deeper look at what Mercedes face with this new car that is now a ZERO. Tough days ahead. They admit it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/61202423 -

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes 'not fighting for championship'

LeClerc lost sight of the long game there.

Russell with another fortunate finish.

Hamilton literally non-existent, getting lapped and all.

Positive for me this weekend is people's champ K-Mag.

Was hoping to see a Bottas pass on Russell. The rest was a mess lol.

No DRS shows us how sad this current formulae is. Its not enough to be close and stay there. The engine parity reduces closure and you NEED DRS to pass. This was a big example of how ADDICTED F1 is to DRS.

Mercedes will need a new floor to even get a grip on porpoise issue. Russell now is complaining of chest and back pain due to the porpoising of the chassis. Uh......thats not good and in some industries they would have to fix this issue immediately etc. As an employee he would have leverage legally. I was worried about that watching the amount they are suffering. You cant build and race a car that will destroy your drivers health just 'driving' it around. Nuts.

Russell battling back and chest pains thanks to porpoising
George Russell says he is starting to struggle with back and chest pains as a result of the extreme porpoising the current generation of Formula 1 cars are experiencing.
Jonathan Noble
By:
Jonathan Noble
Co-author:
Adam Cooper
Apr 24, 2022, 1:45 PM


The bouncing phenomenon has returned to F1 as a consequence of the new ground effect cars that have been designed to try to help improve the racing.

While some teams have managed to get a better handle on the matter, Mercedes is one of the teams that has suffered the most from it.

And beyond the competitive compromises that the porpoising has forced upon Mercedes, Russell has confessed to now having to battle the pain barrier.

Speaking about how his W13 feels from the cockpit, Russell said: "When the car is in the right window and the tyres are in the right window, the car - except for the bouncing - feels really good to drive.

"But the bouncing: it really takes your breath away. It's the most extreme I've ever felt it.

"I really hope we find a solution and I hope every team struggling with the bouncing finds a solution, because it's not sustainable for the drivers to continue.

"This is the first weekend I've truly been struggling with my back, and almost like chest pains from the severity of the bouncing. It's just what we have to do to go and do the fastest laps."

Haven't looked too hard into it but was watching clips on YT and someone mentioned that Russell's floor was legitimately damaged. That had me wondering how much an F1 driver's health was at risk, although I imagine it's in varying degrees if the front runners seem to be able to focus entirely the racing itself with no complaints.

Some of that was specific to this track with only one fairly short DRS zone, and an easy defence to block a pass near the end of the zone. Although we'll see more just like it through the season. We may have "parity" in engines (not sure that we do, but be that as it may). I'd say that seeing Bottas trying and failing repeatedly to get by Russel even with the DRS and being all over the back of the Mercedes suggests that DRS isn't always sufficient. Russel didn't even have his front wing adjusted properly with the change to slicks!

When Gasly couldn't get by Albon (even WITH DRS), you know there remain some fundamental problems with many of the cars, and they're still coming to grips with setup.

Would it had been different if it was dry? Getting to the end of DRS zone, still a bit damp and no one really tried. Just made for a bit of a boring race... Red Bull got this one right

Good point on the wet.
Basically, I think the zone was too short for most cars to get the job done early enough, and by the time they got to the end of the straight there was an easy defence for the car in front - just hog the only dry line. Cars that tried to pass on the inside here were quickly re-taken because they couldn't carry speed through the following sequence of corners.

One DRS zone is not enough on that track. Another reason I like push to pass. You make your own DRS zone and when its gone it's gone!

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Formula 1: Have the new rules worked?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/61228976

Like all issues/changes it a bit of yes and no. Worth your time to read.

It is mixed bag of worms. The expense cap and handicapping the front runners with things like wind tunnel time and what not comes into play. Nothing has really changed other than Mercedes not performing well. People are loving Lewis not being able to perform and George placing above him even though most George's fortune has been due to yellow flags and timely pit stops. Regardless the MB car is off pace. I wonder when the tied turns for Max and people start saying the only reason he wins is because he has the fastest car! :)

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Max was fast and dirty last year. You forgot 'dirty' LOL :) :happydance::happydance: