2022 Car Launches and Pre-season Testing (March 10-12, Bahrain)

They jacked up the Mercedes a little bit, but man, it’s still bouncing all over the place. I'm genuinely curious to see where they land with this skipping issue... it feels like they're just chasing their tails at this point.

If any other team had pulled this off, I’d be skeptical. I might wonder if it would even work, or if they were just repeating that mistake Williams made about eight or nine years ago when they trimmed the rear end and it turned out to be a complete disaster.

But when Bear does something like this, you have to take notice. It gives everyone a legitimate reason to worry—even Newey and his crew are probably feeling the tension right about now.

I can’t help but wonder if Newey is feeling a bit of trepidation right about now, 🤣
given that he stands as perhaps the only designer who truly possesses seasoned experience navigating the complexities of designing a car with ground effect...

and, if one looks at the current landscape, isn't it true that the team to beat is currently Ferrari?

We went from doubting whether 2022 would just be a "spec car" era where everyone builds identical machines, to seeing this massive explosion of design philosophy. The sheer variety in constructor ideas is wild. Honestly, it's the most diverse field of cars I've seen in Formula 1.

What a great time to be alive. 🙏🙏🙏

Check this out from the official Mercedes' Twitter:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FNe1iyVX...name=4096x4096

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FNe1lcwX...name=4096x4096

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FNe1lYbW...name=4096x4096

And they're definitely trolling us too:

Raymond Anderson4 said:If any other team pulled this off, I’d probably say, "Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't," before dismissing it entirely—kind of like when Williams tried that radical rear end change 8 or 9 years ago that turned out to be a total disaster.

But when Bear does it? There's a reason for it. It's enough to make Newey and his crew sweat.

Exactly.

In the meantime, one might observe Checo putting in those laps away from the spotlight on the C2...

Nothing beats working at 40% capacity when you can just sit there and watch pre-season testing instead. 🤣

I caught a glimpse of one of Leclerc's laps, and man, that car was shaking like crazy. It looked pretty ridiculous. 🤣

Raymond Anderson4 said:He hit one of Leclerc's laps and you could see the car shaking like crazy. It looks ridiculous. 🤣

Good grief... I mean, didn't Mattia claim they actually had a fix for this?

The only real way out of this mess is to raise the ride height and go with a softer setup.

graniteharbor502 said:Some folks in the paddock are already calling Bear's sidepods illegal. The games are starting...

Just like the DAS system, Mercedes-Benz designed this car with the FIA's blessing. There's no illegality here. Red Bull can try to file a protest, but they'd need 8 out of 10 teams, F1, and the FIA to all agree. Since Williams, AM, and Mercedes-Benz all run the same engine, getting 8 out of 10 teams to align is basically impossible. Horner can just keep singing his battle songs if he wants.

It’s not even about Williams, Aston Martin, Mercedes, or McLaren 🤔

stormybadger8 said:It’s not even about Williams, Aston Martin, Mercedes, or McLaren 🤔

I totally blanked on them 🤣

bluepuma9 said:Much like the DAS system, Mercedes designed this car with full approval from the FIA, so there isn't any illegality to speak of here. If Red Bull wants to file a protest, they have to convince the FIA and about eight out of ten other teams to agree with them. Since Williams, Aston Martin, and Mercedes all rely on the same engine, getting that many teams to align is theoretically impossible, which means Horner can do nothing more than sing a battle song.

Well, it certainly wouldn't be in their best interest if the FIA decided to treat those sidepods the same way they treated DAS, considering DAS was banned the very next season.
This kind of back-and-forth isn't unusual at all, is it? There is always some sort of shadow war happening behind the scenes regarding who can file more complaints against whom.

Today, Alpha Tauri clocked the fastest time at the end of the day, yet it was Red Bull that completed by far the highest number of laps.

Jason Campbell70 said:A lot of it falls on the teams, but apparently the FIA shares some blame too. They supposedly miscalculated the weight of the larger wheels and tires, and word is they completely overlooked the weight of the front fenders.
So, the FIA's weight projections for the upcoming cars were just a bit too optimistic? It seems certain teams won't be able to hit those targets.

Insane preseason. Here is another rumor that looks like it might actually pan out:

According to the Italian media, nothing is officially set in stone in Bahrain yet, but the minimum weight limit could go up by three kilos. Apparently, nine out of ten teams want this increase, which meets the eight-team threshold needed to push the rule change through.

The three-kilogram increase breaks down like this: one kilo because the four new tires are heavier than the initial prototypes used during testing. A second kilo accounts for the wheel covers, which weren't factored into the minimum weight. The final kilo is being allocated to the teams to offset the issues seen in Barcelona with the floor of the cars. These extra kilos should help compensate for that.

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/10581...be-raised.html

bluepuma9 said:Just like the DAS system, Mercedes designed this car with FIA approval. There's no illegality here.

Exactly.

Horner’s already started whining.
Everything changes, but his constant bitching? That's the one thing you can always count on...

The FW44 is going to absolutely tear up both the track and the competition.

graniteharbor502 said:It wouldn't exactly go well for them if the FIA treated those sidepods like they treated DAS, considering DAS was banned the very next season.
This kind of backstabbing isn't anything new. It’s always just a bunch of people fighting behind closed doors over who gets to file more lawsuits.

Today, Alpha Tauri clocked the fastest time at the end of the day, but Red Bull pulled way more laps.

Yeah, it was banned the following year. If they manage to snag a double championship again this season, I guess that's a pretty fair trade-off, right? 😁

bluepuma9 said:Yes, they were banned starting next season. If they manage to pull off another double championship this year, wouldn't you agree that such a move would be a perfectly reasonable compromise? 😁

However, before any such discussions can even take place, they really ought to address the technical hurdles they encountered on the track today. There seemed to be far too much wheel lock-up during braking, which made the car feel quite unsettled, didn't it? But then again, we must remember it was merely their first outing with this latest chassis iteration. We shall certainly have a clearer picture of where they stand in the coming days.

It's probably gonna be a mess if they leave them 'up and down' sections like that—drivers are gonna lose their minds, like they're stuck on a damn roller coaster

Anthony Baker84 said:It seems quite unlikely that they’ll leave this 'bumpy' sensation intact, otherwise, it might just drive the drivers absolutely mad, much like being stuck on a runaway roller coaster at a local amusement park.

If we were to look for a more sophisticated way to describe such erratic behavior, one might call it technical instability.😁

And truly, just how much of a headache this is causing for Mercedes-Benz becomes painfully obvious when you watch this video:

And even Russell is out there fighting his own car today—just constant lockups and massive understeer. Honestly, Mercedes is looking like they’re having a seriously rough time right now.