Formula 1

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, WS_Jack_III said:

Was brilliant. Poor Lando is absolutely gutted as I guess George will be too.

I think Oscar Piastri has a right to be thoroughly annoyed too given he was really screwed over by the decision to pit him a lap later than Lando when the rain came.

 

But that was the beauty of the race. Any one of the top 4 plus Russell could've won it, and it's a genuinely long time since I've watched a race that open. We've had some really good races this year - Montreal, Austria, Miami - but this was something else.

[Crazyfool01]

What an absolute belter of a race … best one ever ? Not sure I can think of a better one but then I’m forgetful . Fair play to Lewis 

[charlierc]

Nothing sums up Crowdstrike's day quite like the F1 team they sponsor (Mercedes) having a whole pit-wall of computers with the blue screen of death during Hungary's FP1 earlier today.

[charlierc]

What a strange race. Probably easier to count the drivers who didn't find something to be cross about in the Hungarian sunshine ngl.

 

McLaren definitely tied themselves up in knots, Verstappen seemed grumpy for the whole thing, and anyone who made an early pit-stop seemed to destroy all hopes they had of points.

[Crazyfool01]

adds interest to the season though , so nice to see a non max walkover , wonder if theres a distant hope he doesnt win it , given the grumblings with the team 

[charlierc]

54 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

adds interest to the season though , so nice to see a non max walkover , wonder if theres a distant hope he doesnt win it , given the grumblings with the team 

It's been clear for a while tbf that Max is no longer able to demolish the competition. Miami was a bit of a gift to McLaren due to the timing of a safety car, but Red Bull could've lost Imola and Canada while Verstappen was nowhere in Monaco, took himself out of contention to win in Austria, didn't have pace at Silverstone until too late and now this.

 

Something is definitely wrong within Red Bull of late though.

Edited July 21 by charlierc

[WS_Jack_III]

What a delight that was to watch the Max meltdown 😂

[charlierc]

On 7/22/2024 at 1:09 AM, WS_Jack_III said:

What a delight that was to watch the Max meltdown 😂

I mean, it was like Max to the power of 100. We know he doesn't like losing races, or that he and his race engineer can bicker a lot on radio, or that he can make ludicrous moves, but it all got quite snipey.

 

It's probably not going to help people with the belief something is amiss at Red Bull. Newey jumping ship, Jos and Horner falling out and the sense that McLaren are up on their level with the team maybe even only third fastest on bumpy tracks as their car philosophy isn't keen on those. Which means the 1-2-3 of Baku, Singapore and Austin after the summer break could be very uncomfortable for them given those are three really bumpy tracks.

 

It's also quite something that it lets McLaren off the hook for their awful race management with having to essentially beg Norris to move over and let Piastri win. And there's even arguments on whether that was the right thing to do given a couple of wins for Norris really sees him eat into Verstappen's lead.

[charlierc]

Well well - Mercedes winning a 3rd race in 4. Russell did well to make the tyres last long enough to resist Hamilton at the end, and boy did Lewis look annoyed about not winning. Even if it could've been worse given Piastri was gaining rapidly on the pair of them.

 

Makes for an interesting dynamic tbf given Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari are all looking very close, not least given Leclerc was barely ahead of Verstappen & Norris right at the end.

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, charlierc said:

Well well - Mercedes winning a 3rd race in 4. Russell did well to make the tyres last long enough to resist Hamilton at the end, and boy did Lewis look annoyed about not winning. Even if it could've been worse given Piastri was gaining rapidly on the pair of them.

 

Makes for an interesting dynamic tbf given Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari are all looking very close, not least given Leclerc was barely ahead of Verstappen & Norris right at the end.

And 2 hours later Russell is disqualified. Ouch.

[DareToDibble]

On 7/28/2024 at 4:30 PM, charlierc said:

Well well - Mercedes winning a 3rd race in 4. Russell did well to make the tyres last long enough to resist Hamilton at the end, and boy did Lewis look annoyed about not winning. Even if it could've been worse given Piastri was gaining rapidly on the pair of them.

 

Makes for an interesting dynamic tbf given Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari are all looking very close, not least given Leclerc was barely ahead of Verstappen & Norris right at the end.

 

 

Mercedes have definitely caught up. It's a shame it's only 1 full season before the new regulations. 
Very unlikely but can you imagine if Lewis/Mercedes dominated the second half of the season and this was the year Lewis got his 8th title? 

As a long time McLaren fan I'm really enjoying their resurgence. And all of a sudden Piastri seems the more assured driver vs Lando.

 

 

Most surprising decision is Red Bull sticking with Checo. Not even saying it as a Ricciardo fan, Checo has been so poor lately they could have promoted Yuki?

[charlierc]

15 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

Mercedes have definitely caught up. It's a shame it's only 1 full season before the new regulations. 
Very unlikely but can you imagine if Lewis/Mercedes dominated the second half of the season and this was the year Lewis got his 8th title? 

As a long time McLaren fan I'm really enjoying their resurgence. And all of a sudden Piastri seems the more assured driver vs Lando.

 

 

Most surprising decision is Red Bull sticking with Checo. Not even saying it as a Ricciardo fan, Checo has been so poor lately they could have promoted Yuki?

2025 has potential to be a great season tbf. 2024 has already given a lot more than expected with 7 unique winners - most in a single season since 2012 - and even with overtaking being more difficult than the last few years, there's still been a lot of tension and late runs to the flag that have been suitably entertaining.

 

McLaren's pivot is fascinating. It's easy to have recency bias given Piastri got the better results at three of the last four rounds but Norris has been letting a lot of points on the table of late, allowing Verstappen to get away in the title fight. That strength however is pivoting in the opposite way as Red Bull look vulnerable in the Constructor's Championship fight, and keeping Perez is a surprise call given how awful his form has been in the last 3 months or so.

[charlierc]

Oooo title fight on maybe? It needs McLaren to go on a roll but Norris crushing Verstappen to win by over 22 seconds despite a bad start is a hell of a way to return from the summer break.

 

Constructors is already on given the team with the fastest car is the one 30 points behind but has been gaining fast since Spain. I think Max will have enough to win the drivers but the margin is looking more vulnerable, even moreso if Max has another DNF.

[Crazyfool01]

cat among the pigeons a bit now still think it needs a few more dropped points from Verstappen though fingers crossed for a DNF or two as max will likely start becoming more edgy and risk taking as it gets closer .... much better season though with some competition 

[charlierc]

Having been rumoured for a few months, we now have official confirmation that Mercedes will be replacing Lewis Hamilton with the 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who Toto sees as a "new Verstappen", for 2025.

 

Will be fascinating to see how that works out next year. Hopefully goes smoother than binning it in FP1 yesterday in a pretty high speed high G-force impact. But if he can get ahead of or at least be competitive with Russell - who tbf is a very capable racing driver - that's a sign he's really a superstar in the making and was right to get fast-tracked.

[charlierc]

Anyone got thoughts on Monza?

 

Quite a lot to ponder. Ferrari managing to finesse an unexpected win, McLaren closing in on Red Bull while tripping over themselves again, Red Bull being really off the pace and thinking they won't be any closer for a few rounds, Magnussen being the first driver to get a race ban in 12 years, a decent debut by Colapinto after Williams sacked Logan... actually quite a few decent stories.

 

If McLaren don't win the Constructors now I think they'll be very disappointed. Max is catchable in the Driver's but Norris has to stop having terrible starts.

[Crazyfool01]

13 hours ago, charlierc said:

Anyone got thoughts on Monza?

 

Quite a lot to ponder. Ferrari managing to finesse an unexpected win, McLaren closing in on Red Bull while tripping over themselves again, Red Bull being really off the pace and thinking they won't be any closer for a few rounds, Magnussen being the first driver to get a race ban in 12 years, a decent debut by Colapinto after Williams sacked Logan... actually quite a few decent stories.

 

If McLaren don't win the Constructors now I think they'll be very disappointed. Max is catchable in the Driver's but Norris has to stop having terrible starts.

I think McLaren need to  employ some team orders or Max will end up winning it by default .... I love how this season is going though .... 100 X better than max storming off into the sunset , even if he ends up winning in the end ... I dont know if theres a way of measuring the audiences but surely this sort of season is one that attracts people back to watching F1 

[PDAD]

Yep Constructors is now realistically McLaren's to throw away. Ferrari only 39 points off Red Bull too... they could very well slip to 3rd, barring any other upgrades. 

 

I still think 62 points is a bit too much for Lando to make up - one DNF / poor result and it's almost done. Mercedes / Ferrari / Piastri are all going to take points off of him in different races as well. But Baku and Singapore are certainly not tracks that favour the Red Bulls... will be interesting to see what the gap is after the next 2...

[charlierc]

8 hours ago, Crazyfool01 said:

I think McLaren need to  employ some team orders or Max will end up winning it by default .... I love how this season is going though .... 100 X better than max storming off into the sunset , even if he ends up winning in the end ... I dont know if theres a way of measuring the audiences but surely this sort of season is one that attracts people back to watching F1 

It's turned unexpectedly into a really good season. After the first 4 races, with 3 comfortable Red Bull wins except for one where a tech issue saw Max retire early, I thought it was just going to be a placeholder and that 2025 might at least have the entertainment of Lewis at Ferrari.

 

But yeah, it's turning into an unexpectedly compelling season. I think McLaren should win Constructor's but making Norris world champion is becoming difficult. A 62 point lead (basically 2 wins and a third) isn't insurmountable but it would seem much more on if McLaren hadn't made a litany of mis-steps like misjudging the safety car in Canada, misjudging the rain in Silverstone and Norris' habit of bad starts from pole.

5 hours ago, PDAD said:

Yep Constructors is now realistically McLaren's to throw away. Ferrari only 39 points off Red Bull too... they could very well slip to 3rd, barring any other upgrades. 

 

I still think 62 points is a bit too much for Lando to make up - one DNF / poor result and it's almost done. Mercedes / Ferrari / Piastri are all going to take points off of him in different races as well. But Baku and Singapore are certainly not tracks that favour the Red Bulls... will be interesting to see what the gap is after the next 2...

Baku and Singapore will certainly be fascinating. Particularly as Red Bull think a fix might not be there until the US Grand Prix in October at the earliest.

[DareToDibble]

17 hours ago, Crazyfool01 said:

I think McLaren need to  employ some team orders or Max will end up winning it by default .... I love how this season is going though .... 100 X better than max storming off into the sunset , even if he ends up winning in the end ... I dont know if theres a way of measuring the audiences but surely this sort of season is one that attracts people back to watching F1 

 

Absolutely right about this season, has been really exciting recently. I've always been a McLaren fan so would love them to win the constructors but think it's 50/50 with McLaren and Red Bull.

 

 

13 hours ago, PDAD said:

Yep Constructors is now realistically McLaren's to throw away. Ferrari only 39 points off Red Bull too... they could very well slip to 3rd, barring any other upgrades. 

 

I still think 62 points is a bit too much for Lando to make up - one DNF / poor result and it's almost done. Mercedes / Ferrari / Piastri are all going to take points off of him in different races as well. But Baku and Singapore are certainly not tracks that favour the Red Bulls... will be interesting to see what the gap is after the next 2...

 

Have you seen the chat on F1TV with Will Buxton? He laid into McLaren massively. I actually think he's been bang on with everything he's said though.

[charlierc]

5 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

Have you seen the chat on F1TV with Will Buxton? He laid into McLaren massively. I actually think he's been bang on with everything he's said though.

I haven't but I'm aware of what he said and that he was very critical of how they're handling it. 

 

I guess they're in a bind with it to a degree. In the race on Sunday, Piastri was the faster driver while Norris seemed to have a few flustered moments after he was ambushed on turn one. The team is being open in saying it might have to now use Piastri as a number two to try to help Lando pick up more points, which sucks for Oscar as he's had some great episodes this year but given Max is just over 2 wins clear of Lando in a car that has gone backwards and is vulnerable, tough decisions are probably gonna need to at least be considered.

[PDAD]

Yeah, I think now is the time to start putting the eggs into Lando's basket. Oscar isn't going to win the DWC this year; Lando has a small but real chance. 

 

I suppose Mclaren's number 1 priority is the Constructors. In Monza, Oscar was the driver who could have nabbed the win from Charles - it wasn't until very late it was clear that wasn't going to happen. At what point do they ask him to concede position? Final lap a la Austria 02? 

 

They definitely are going to need to be smarter about it now though, Baku and Singapore are races the RBs could very well be 4th fastest again. Big opportunities, where they need Lando to maximise everything he can. He needs to uphold his side of the bargain too, mind.