Decent race that for the most part, plenty of action, some really poor decisions costing Ferrari and McLaren during the safety car.
11 wins in a row for RBR. Max is always ruining things for everyone haha!
If Verstappen wasn’t here this could be one of the greatest seasons in F1 history. But great drive from him as always. I was seriously impressed by McLaren though, especially after the sc.
I honestly think Verstappen has an effect on Perez’s confidence. Maybe if he wasn’t there, Perez would actually perform better because of lack of pressure to keep up with a generational talent.
The verstappen effect has been a thing for a while now, it affected the careers of ricciardo and albon, and in smaller quantities, kvyat and Vettel as well
All the top drivers have this effect, they make very good drivers look average. Alonso and Hamilton have a habit of crushing their team mates too.
Except that one guy who defeated Lewis Hamilton in the same machinery to become a World’s Driver Champion
He didn’t have the guts to defend it. He knew he got extremely lucky and retired. Was kind of a bitch move, though I understand YouTube was an exciting career change.
That’s part of the joke lol, Rosberg brings up his championship winning season at every opportunity and it has become a meme heh
Don’t forget Gasly
Gasly was just never that good. Imo he is at most Top15 in driving talent. Compared to Max who is at least Top 3 if not 1 right now.
Just like everyone else not among the top guys, he has his great moments and crap moments. He did get a win in AT, while Hulk couldn’t even get a podium during his 50 years in F1.
Funny to say top15 this year when the competition is so fierce and almost everyone has stepped up so much. Last year I thought Yuki is trash, and now look at the guy.
I think Gasly still has it in him too, but unless Alpine steps it up like AM and Mc have shown this year, we won’t see much of it.
Yeah, it could be the same case as with Bottas in Merc but it gets to his head even more. I believe his performance dropped around the time people started talking about him having a chance at winning the championship?
I noticed this with Perez, had a good start to the season, then the second people start talking about a title race, his performance fell of a cliff. Hope he can get out of his own head, otherwise I wouldn’t be surprised is Horner and Marko are interviewing replacements.
Bottas still reached Q3 over 100 times in a row
But Bottas never missed Q3. Him and Perez are in a different league if you talk about ouright speed.
I remember the debate in /r/formula1point5 at the start of this year and last to determine where to draw the cutoff line.
I’ve changed my mind - removing Max alone, and it suddenly becomes very very exciting.
It’s more of a Formula1Point1 at this point.
I’m gutted for Oscar missing out on the podium, just got unlucky with the pitstop/safety car. But that’s Formula 1. Still, getting P4 in your rookie year is a great achievement, I think he’s a real talent. And brilliant for Lando, that was excellent defending to hold off Lewis on much faster tyres.
Red Bull getting 11 in a row is just crazy, I think the count might grow. Uninspiring drive by Perez, did what he had to do and dragged the car up the field, but he should be finishing 2nd every single race in that car. I think he’s badly underperforming.
And Ferrari … lol. 4th and 5th to 9th and 10th. Awful day for them.
I definitely think knowing what they did at the time, pitting Piastri was the right call. I’m sure he realizes that too. I think they’ve had some serious improvement with their upgrades, and I have no doubt he’ll get his chance at a podium
Brundle was talking about Piastri undercutting Norris with his hard tyre pace and then the safety car happened.
I don’t think Oscar drove any worse than Lando today. I can see him regularly beating Norris next year.
yeah his pace was essentially same-ish, wasn’t it? Great drive
Checo kinda got fucked in Qualifying though, sending him out first. We would have made it into Q3 for sure if RB had waited like they did for Verstappen.
You say that, but then Albon was right behind him in the queue, and qualified
I think the mistake was that Checo planned two laps, and the yellow flags broke it, but Albon really makes even that theory moot
As individuals I really like Carlos and Charles, but I absolutely live for Ferrari shitting the bed. High quality entertainment.
You’re either happy, because they’re fast, or you’re entertained, because of what they’re doing. That’s a win-win situation!
With you 100%
only I would say…Albonoooooooooooooooooo. Amazing race. And Norris a fantastic defense, what a change for McLaren, and hope it continues like this
Yes, Albon got a little bit overlooked because of the McLaren resurgence, but finishing ahead of both Ferraris is a mega result for Williams.
And even a tasty little overtake. Loved to see it!
I feel like it’s where the car was supposed to finish. The Ferraris definitely could have finished higher up had they replaced the rest of the strategy team when Binotto went
Indeed, a great race. And Logan 11
What on earth were the Ferrari strategists thinking today? Sure, the car wasn’t that fast today, but the strategy rivalled Hungary 2022…
”We are checking…”
Imo They keep switching team principles when it was always the strategy wall being the issue. Every driver will just need to pull a Michael Schumacher and bring their own support team. Ferrari only support themselves, never their drivers
It’s not just the strategy though. The cars haven’t had decent race pace for years now, they only ever perform well over a single lap. Even if they have a decent start to a season, this is where they always end up… It’s frustrating
Verstappen has gotten boring. He’s a great driver, no doubt, with a great car. It will be interesting to see how many races they can win this year.
The real race excitement is for the other two podium spots. Norris and Piastri both had great races. It would have been nice to see Piastri get that third place finish.
All in all it was an enjoyable race and Verstappen had to work a little for it this time.
I don’t care for McLaren but I’m very happy for Norris and Piastri.
Just so sad that the safety car costed Piastri the podium.
I’m curious if Piastri would’ve been able to hold off Hamilton with the hards. Assuming they delayed the pit stop until the VSC.
Like. It’s weird. I like Zak. I like Lando. But something about McLaren gruffs me. Bearing in mind I joined the sport in 2010 and was a BUT fan during their Vodafone livery days and started watching with ALO at Ferrari … They’ve just been shit to their drivers from the HAM/BUT days onwards. Bad choices in partnerships. Yadda yadda.
At least they got more sponsors on the car since 2016.
They just make me shrug.
They’re fine, but they’re kinda fuckups.
I want to see more privateer teams like them and Williams do well. But I also want 12 teams on the grid and I don’t want to see teams disappear.
Somehow the formula needs to have more chance for competition?
Shrug.
I feel like the Lando/Carlos years was a happy time for them. Ricciardo turning up and getting hammered by Lando has dented them to the point that they took the hit to get rid of him, they are now back on track.
Basically I think from the end of the Ron Dennis era (2017 / Norris) it’s been a different vibe completely
Lmao at Marko wrestling a photographer during Verstappen’s post-race interview.
That was getting extremely spicy before they cut away
I thought that’s what happened. What was he doing in amongst the McLaren crew?
McLaren’s choice of hard tyres for the final stint was a bit odd, but I don’t think it actually cost them any places. Piastri just got unlucky with the safety car.
Ferrari though…
They didn’t have anything else left. They weren’t expecting to do this well in quali and fight for top places.
Reverse situation from Checo, who had 3 sets of softs left.
I honestly don’t think that, with this car, on this track, McLaren’s tire choice made much difference. They were simply quick no matter the rubber.
I’m anxious to see what they can do on a less favorable track.
Such good defense from Lando. Loved to see it.
Looking at how Mercedes fell off, I think they decided to roll the dice on their drivers being able to hold off the initial attack from others on the used softs, and then pull away for a safe margin one the hards were in their working range. A scary bet, but one that paid off for them.
I hope McLaren are back for good.
Sargeant almost made it into the top 10.
Looking food for them really. Austria and Silverstone are very different circuits and they ran well on both.
Hungary is next, a real brutal track. If they do well there, then I think they’ve got a lot to be excited for.
Weekend Warm-up Pundit Prediction Performance
(Late because I had to wait 16 hours before I could watch and spent the entire day avoiding spoilers)
Pundit 1st 2nd 3rd Points James Max Sergio Lewis 4 Jolyon Max Lewis George 3 Laura Max Carlos Lando 3 Lawrence Max Charles Carlos 2 James picks up useful points on debut. Jolyon can’t match the clean-sweep of his only previous appearance this season. Laura the only one to put Lando on the podium gets an extra point for her efforts.
Season so far:
Pundit (appearances) Points Average Laura (8) 21 2.63 Lawrence (8) 19 2.38 Jolyon (3) 13 4.33 Will (6) 9 1.50 Rosanna (2) 8 4.00 James (1) 4 4.00 Alex (1) 4 4.00 Sam (1) 2 2.00 Laura puts another point between herself at the top of the table and Lawrence. If Jolyon makes any more appearances he may have a chance to catch second.#
Great race. Super fun watch.
Excellent result for McLaren, shame they missed out on the double podium, but the car looks genuinely fast, look forward to seeing it at Spa, Suzuka and Monza
Max winning is tiring so I just stop watching him. Lando deserved that podium and really performed well at his home race
Max isn’t even on camera much. Just when he pits or has to overtake a backmarker. TV direction knows the real fight is behind 1st place.
They need the picture in picture for these scenarios, I wanted to carry on watching Alonso and Albon instead of Max crossing the line
I don’t think I can remember seeing a race where noone was lapped at any point before. I’m a relatively new fan, so I’m guessing it has happened, but also that it’s somewhat rare.
A safety car at the right moment will make that happen. Hulk was around 1:20 behind Max when the safety car was deployed this race.