Driver change again in 2022?
It was unleashed on Sunday evening when the usually well-informed Spanish colleague Albert Fabrega from ‘DAZN’ also spoke in a video about a “driver swap” in the near future.
“The market is already on the move,” he said, speaking of a “driver swap between two teams” – without naming names, of course. This has sparked the wildest speculation on the internet.
It is possible that Fabrega only meant Williams’ voice with her statement. But many interpret her words in such a way that it should still be a trade this season.
“I’m not surprised who leaves, but who comes”, says Fabrega only on the subject. We can only say one thing for sure: the “Silly Season” is already picking up speed!
Berger: Hamilton “sees his skins swim away”
Hamilton has yet to share the world record title with Michael Schumacher. And he’ll probably stay that way for the time being. Gerhard Berger believes this is currently “physiologically the biggest problem for Lewis”.
To ‘ServusTV’ he explains: “He is super motivated to win this eighth world title this year – and now he’s going wrong.” Because at the moment it doesn’t look like Mercedes will be fighting for the title in 2022.
“He sees his skins swimming away,” Berger believes and explains, “I understand him pretty well. That must have been his first goal, and it’s the biggest disappointment for him right now, I think.”
Hamilton’s current Mercedes contract expires in 2023. This could therefore be his last chance at title number eight. By the start of the 2024 season he would have already turned 39.
Berger: Did Abu Dhabi break Hamilton in 2021?
Gerhard Berger and former Mercedes engineer Philipp Brändle, who worked closely with Hamilton, analyze his crisis. More Formula 1 videos
tire test
We had already announced it yesterday in the ticker: today there will be another test of Pirelli tires. After Alfa Romeo, AlphaTauri and Alpine took to the track at Imola yesterday, Ferrari is also involved today.
Leclerc is currently driving, Sainz will take the lead in F1-75 in the afternoon. There is usually little information from these tests. But of course we still keep an eye on it. The new tires for 2023 are being tested.
With this argument …
… this series of photos immediately comes to mind! And yes, the Virgin VR-01 is of course included …
Photo Gallery: The 10 worst Formula 1 cars of the millennium
Is the Mercedes really “undriveable”?
Toto Wolff has the word after the difficult weekend for Lewis Hamilton himself on Sunday. But what exactly does it mean when a car is “undrivable”? Former Formula 1 driver Timo Glock lights us up on ‘Sky’.
“Undrivable simply means the car does things the driver doesn’t expect. Sometimes you steer and the rear axle is stable and suddenly in the middle of the curve the rear axle breaks down,” says Glock.
This behavior can be “different from turn to turn and from turn to turn”. “And that always puts a driver in the position of not being able to get the most out of the car,” says Glock.
And he needs to know. Glock once said about his years in Formula 1 at Virgin: “At first glance, I’m glad I came out relatively unscathed. […] Sometimes it was at the limit. “
Is it that bad at Mercedes this year?
Aston Martin isn’t canceling 2022 yet
For the team led by Sebastian Vettel, the 2022 season really only started in Imola after three useless races. And you don’t want to cancel the year after the messed up start, either, points out team manager Mike Krack.
“We want to bring updates to every race,” he reveals, explaining, “It’s important that development continues and doesn’t stop. Obviously there comes a point where you stop and focus on next year’s car.”
“But at the moment we are still very far from that”, clarifies the team boss. Will Vettel and Co. still be able to change things in 2022?
Latifi has no faith in the car
While Williams’ new signing Albon currently looks pretty happy, that’s not the case with his teammate at all. Latifi explains that he doesn’t trust FW44 “everywhere”.
“From Saudi Arabia[-Arabien] I simply didn’t have a good feeling with the car anymore “, he shrugs. Let’s remember: in Jeddah, the Canadian crashed first in qualifying and then in the race.
“As soon as you stop going full throttle on the straights, he starts”, describes his problems and admits: “Alex clearly felt more comfortable in the car.” At the moment he is just doing a “better job”.
“I have to get to that level too,” says Latifi. Otherwise, her cockpit could be in danger …?
Good mood at McLaren
Norris gave the traditional team his first podium of the year at Imola over the weekend. This was of course appropriately celebrated again yesterday at the Woking factory during the debrief.
By the way, to get back to our big topic today: some Formula 1 fans suspect in this context that McLaren would like to get rid of Ricciardo.
Explanation: The Aussie makes a lot of money, but is still only number 2 behind Norris in terms of performance. At McLaren themselves, on the other hand, they repeatedly stress that they are satisfied with Ricciardo.
And don’t forget: Ricciardo was the one who took his first McLaren win since 2012 last year. Norris, on the other hand, has not yet won a Formula 1 race.
Licensed drivers
This series of photos shows that in Formula 1, in case of doubt, even an existing contract does not protect against dismissal …
Photo gallery: 15 Formula 1 drivers who have been sacked during the current season
contracts
Here is an overview of the contract terms of the current 20 Formula 1 drivers. Theoretically, at least eight contracts will expire in the next year, which obviously leaves a lot of room for speculation.
But if it really is an exchange between two teams, then the contract period would still be irrelevant and could really mean everyone …
Will Williams Grab Oscar Piastri?
The “Stupid Season” kicked off last weekend in Imola, where Sky colleague Ted Kravitz explained that Williams should seek the services of Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri for the 2023 season.
It would make sense, because there doesn’t seem to be a place for the junior Alpine in their team. Ocon has a contract until 2024 and Alonso’s is expiring, but the Spaniard has recently stressed several times that he wants to continue.
Furthermore, Laurent Rossi confirmed a few days ago that the scenario of lending Piastri to another team is possible. But the question would still be whether he would replace Latifi or Albon.
“Silly season”
Hello and welcome to a new edition of our Formula 1 live ticker. The premier class has a weekend break, but there are some interesting topics off the track. For example, the “Silly Season” is already picking up speed! But we’ll talk about it in a moment and in the next few hours.
Ruben Zimmermann accompanies you here throughout the day. If you have any questions, suggestions or complaints, you can use our contact form. You can also find us on Facebook this year, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and if you have any questions, you can also use our Twitter hashtag #FragMST. Here we are!
Here you can read our Tuesday live ticker again!
