Official F1 Topic

[Nico]

Max and clean racing are absolute opposites. He hates having to fight for a win and it shows.

 

The end of a friendship with Lando. It was a boring race until Red Bull botched up Max's stop. I'm woefully convinced he's still being babied penalty-wise, didn't get his deserved penalty until his car was being shredded. Should have gotten one for his unsafe release earlier on. Kept moving under braking and getting no attention while Norris kept getting warnings over track limits (???) as if the new gravel traps didn't exist. Perez still getting behind Max even when Max has tons of trouble. Legendary race for HAAS lol. And race to forget for Leclerc, lost an endplate to Piastri at turn 1 and then did a gazillion stops hoping to snatch a point.

[Jason]

First EU race I couldn't watch in a while and I miss a spicy one, ffs.

 

Sounds like Lando learned the hard way what happens when Max has to fight for wins. It's not outrageous to say that the FIA/race control could handle it better, but I'm assuming they want the spice for entertainment, after 2 years of nothing at the top.

 

And yea, I hope Perez is bringing in obsene money for RB because while I wouldn't say he's not in the group of candidates for worst driver on the grid (Stroll, Sargent), he's definitely in the category just above that one. He's gonna ruin any chance of WCC for RB in the coming seasons you'd think, on top of potentially (and hopefully, for entertainments sake), making Max's job at the front much harder by not having a team mate up there.

[smokeless6]

Hey gang, turning out to be a good season, no?

 

I stopped posting in this thread mainly because I think the commentary was far too reactionary, a chorus of F1 sucks,  Red Bull would run away with it, season's already over. F1 is ruined! I was maybe the lone voice saying, no wait a second. This sh!t is tight. The gaps from first to last are the closest it has been in F1's history. As a matter of fact, the interval from first to last in Austria Q1 set a record for being the tightest ever. Posts seem about feelings here, rather than an effort to rationally assess the state of the sport.

 

Quotes like this, and I leave out the name to save embarrassment

 

[quote]I mean RB can literally focus on 2025 after or even before the summer break if it continues like that which means they'll have an even bigger advantage over the rest of the field. [/quote]

 

Literally?

 

How did this turn out? So yeah, with everyone here resigned to lamenting the death of Formula 1 I didn't feel like I had much to add, so stopped posting. No one would listen anyway.

 

Back before the season started, I predicted in this thread that four teams would win a race this season, and guess what? Four teams have won. That cannot happen in the Formula 1 that gets discussed in this thread. 

[Jason]

It's gotten spicy but I wouldn't say an overall good season yet, as Max has won 7 out of the 11, but it's certainly starting to get spicy and every raceweek seems to grow in potential in terms of possibilities, which is a fantastic change from earlier in the season. I'm still hoping for a few more non-Max wins to really spice things up in terms of the WDC. Though I'm not sure Lando would be able to close the gap on Max now, but if he could pick up a few more wins then you never know, there's still a good amount of races left.

 

But it is setup for a really good second half of the season and if it keeps going like this next season could be a whopper, especially with the driver changes.

[Margot Robbed Me]

HAM

[Nico]

I suffered through the entirety of Mercedes' domination years.

 

But today I'm so happy.

 

GET IN THERE LEWIS!!!!!

[Jason]

Silverstone delivering an epic once again.

 

What might go down quietly is how badly McLaren f*cked it, not double stacking for the pit and not putting Lando on the mediums, there was a one-two on the cards for them and poor decision making cost them. RB on the other hand absolutely nailed that call for the hards and we saw Max at his very best flying at the end, he just didn't have enough laps.

 

But instead we got what was probably the dream result for the British GP this year. It was lovely to watch, and the reaction from Lewis, Merc and the fans says it all.

[Eutyphro]

Yeah, was a great race. I think the British commentator saying Lando should 'return the favor of the Austria GP' is extremely embarrassing. The cheerleading and the Max hate is really pathetic cause I otherwise almost universally prefer British commentary to Dutch sports commentary. But all in all nice for Lewis to get this win at his home GP and Max expanded his lead and got good points as well, and a very interesting race to watch for everyone. Max lack of pace is concerning, but today he managed to make the right calls every time on strategy which got him second.

[Jason]

Yea Crofty and Ted get very, very bias and sh*t when it's British drivers, especially when it's against Max at the moment, Crofty was making comments about Max's driving even while he was outside the car at the end. Crofty's just a meh commentator in general, he's got good moments in him but waffles and makes a lot of mistakes. Brundle thankfully is fantastic and fair overall I think.

 

Also lol @ Lewis making Lando feel even worse by saying he should have went on the mediums. Poor Lando, he knows that probably cost him the race.

 

Great race overall though, lot of switching about at the top, teams at the front had to make a lot of decisions, drivers had to manage tyres, had it all. Once again this is why I don't like street tracks or the push for more street tracks, we need actual race tracks with wide tracks that encourage overtaking, cause that's how you get races like this.

[Emmi]

GET IN THERE LEWIS.

 

My gosh I think not just for Lewis but for myself and all of his fans this was an importent puzzle piece for the healing process post Abu Dhabi 21.

 

I can't deny that I started questioning (just like Lewis himself) if he still has it in him for some time now but yesterdays drive was absolutely phenomenal. Next to Brazil 21 one of his best and certainly his most emotional imo.

 

I was jumping up and down and was almost passing out over the last stint because I saw Max closing in on Norris and then Lewis at a worrysome pace ... 1 more lap and Max would have fought for the lead. I'm glad it's not come to that because at that moment it would have felt like Abu Dhabi 21 all over again and I doubt Lewis would have ever recovered from it - if Max would have won yesterdays race on the last lap. Not twice and we all know that he is still in the healing process of Abu Dhabi 21.

 

I am so happy for him and the entire team that his time at Mercedes ends in the best possible way. His first win after 945 days and at home, Silverstone ... it's like a fable!

 

Whatever else comes this season ... nothing will top this moment and race for me. 

 

And yes, it was the right decision from Lewis to go to Ferrari ... he achieved everything he could at Mercedes (yesterdays win was the last missing piece if you will) and if he wins the 8th title at Ferrari, it'll make him immortal.

Edited July 8, 2024 by Emmi

[Testarossa]

that race is an instant classic. god i love silverstone so much.

[Emmi]

Yep, Silverstone is my favorite race track from the entire F1 calendar.

[Jason]

They see races like Silverstone and yet they want to remove actual race circuits from the calendar and replace them with more street/hybrid tracks. It's maddening to me.

[Emmi]

Hm, first time I've read about this ... but it appears like it's okay again (hopefully).

 

Edited July 11, 2024 by Emmi

[Margot Robbed Me]

Verstappen going for that video game inside rush cut move. 

[Eutyphro]

I think Max struggled with that car. Had too much understeer. He likes a car with slight oversteer actually. Max was not able to pull off his overtakes due to this I think.

[Jason]

Max well and truly lost his head that race. Divebombing is in his arsenal, but he f*cked that right up.

 

McLaren also just got a crash course in why having two top drivers in a top car is a recipe for potential disaster. Hope they're able to manage it better in future, but I do sympathise with Lando, he probably had the last few races on his mind too and how he should've won those.

 

Perez and Russell did as much as they could as well, fair play to them. Merc in general are taking pretty good advantage of other teams and drivers f*ck ups at the moment.

 

Overall not much drama on track, but definitely some spicy team drama at McLaren and Red Bull with Max. Enjoyable to watch - felt like literally every 30 seconds McLaren radio calls to Lando were coming up. 

[Stahli]

I'm curious to see what Max thinks tomorrow about the things he screwed up. I still have his onboard channel on. What he said on the radio was somehow shameful.

[Nico]

To me, it seems like McLaren are really inflexible with their strategies. They started the year thinking it would be impossible to win races, and now they are a bit lost with the very real fact they have the best car right now. I sure hope this doesn't cause an internal strife between Lando and Oscar. I could understand benefitting Lando if they had REAL chances of catching up to Max in the WDC. I sure hope they are able to catch up, though. Max today was awful. He's lucky he didn't get a puncture from his shunt with Hamilton.

[Jason]

Think what we're seeing at RB is the early signs of talent bleed, internal disagreements (the Horner situation probably started a lot of this), and their #1 driver finally having a dip in form and no longer being able to deliver a 10/10 performance every week and take an under performing car to 1st.  It was inevitable this would happen really, Max can do only do so much.

 

Radio stuff was spicy and childish but it always is, these lads are driving round at 200mph in the soaring heat, they're gonna be tetchy and moody trying to talk while doing that, so that stuff was more entertainment than anything else. But yea, it aint good vibes at Red Bull at the moment.

 

If McLaren can nail strategy like today they're in for the WCC and if Lando can clear his head and focus up and not be doom and gloom about what if's, the WDC isn't impossible, especially if RB continue to implode.

[Eutyphro]

I don't think there is any likely scenario where Max doesn't win the championship, no matter how much some people would like to see it, but I definitely see him leaving Red Bull for Mercedes.

[Jason]

I think we'd need to see at least two or three Max DNF's for him to lose the title. I don't forsee that happening, but one can hope we'll at least see a bit of excitement one way or another in the second half of the season for the WDC. If Lando had one or two more wins after today I think it'd be more realistic, which is probably why he's really down about today. He should be a good 20 points or so closer to Max right now.

 

As for Max leaving... I'd say Toto would be licking his lips right now and feeling more confident than ever. Red Bull seems to be completely imploding.

[Nico]

As "fair" as it might have seen to give Oscar the win today, after the sheanigans of the McLaren team... them throwing precious points away in the fight for the WDC could come back to bite them later. Red Bull is a very different outfit now compared to six months ago. IMHO the possibility of Max losing the title, although slim, isn't exactly zero. And he's supposedly going to reach a point he'll start to get penalties for changing key components of the car. The WCC seems lost already unless Perez gets his sh*t together or they bring someone else in his place. Today Checo sort of quietly did a recovery drive without major issues in race, but he should ideally be always within reach of Max if he ever wants to be "Minister of Defense" again. Impossible to win a WCC with one car.

[Jason]

Russell with his best performance to date. Great call on strategy, which felt a little YOLO when he floated the idea of a one stop, but then to keep of a quicker Hamilton at the end as well. Mega drive from him. Merc looked very, very good today overall.

 

Poor race from Perez, wouldn't be surprised if he's not on the grid after the summer break, though RB's pace wasn't anything like what was feared over the weekend.

 

edit: Scratch that. Feel for George, best race of his career and he gets DQ'd on a technical rule. Unlucky, never nice to see one of these rules have to be enforced cause it spoils the post-race celebrations for everyone involved.

 

...also seen some comments from RB regarding Perez. I think he's gone.

[Emmi]

Lewis won. Holy sh*t. 105th win. GET IN THERE LEWIS!

[Stahli]

Poor Russell, now he had finally won with the strategy that came from his head and now disqualified.

[Nico]

Yikes, no wonder Toto was so frigid during the celebrations. He didn't even went to see the podium, was on a videocall with someone. Poor George.

 

AMAZING Piastri, this kid has a higher ceiling than Norris IMHO. Just needs experience and a bit more of speed, which Lando has lots of. But Lando needs to polish his horrible starts. He should have ended above Max today. Most teams geared up for a rainy race and it showed.

[Dostoyevskiy]

4 hours ago, Jason said:

Russell with his best performance to date. Great call on strategy, which felt a little YOLO when he floated the idea of a one stop, but then to keep of a quicker Hamilton at the end as well. Mega drive from him. Merc looked very, very good today overall.

 

Poor race from Perez, wouldn't be surprised if he's not on the grid after the summer break, though RB's pace wasn't anything like what was feared over the weekend.

 

edit: Scratch that. Feel for George, best race of his career and he gets DQ'd on a technical rule. Unlucky, never nice to see one of these rules have to be enforced cause it spoils the post-race celebrations for everyone involved.

 

...also seen some comments from RB regarding Perez. I think he's gone.

Well, it isn't exactly unlucky from Russell. These 1.5kg could be the reason why Hamilton couldn't get him on much fresher rubber. And at the end it was the price he had to pay for one stopper. He used too much of his tyres and without post-race lap he wasn't able to get rubber on them. Two stopper was the way to go today and the fastest driver on this strategy was Hamilton and it's just sad to see people ignore the fact, that he was the best out there today. He couldn't do more and Russell was nowhere near him.

What's interesting tho is the fact that Oscar is in simply words better than Norris. Wonder if it will be like that for a longer period of time? And ofc. Redbull team is in big trouble, tbh I can't say when they will win their next race. Mercedes are favourites for Zandvoort, Monza, USA, Brazil and Qatar for me. Then it's McLaren for Azerbaijan, Vegas and Abu Dhabi. It leaves Mexico for the debate, but seriously, I can't see Max winning any of these races in that car. It's quite interesting. Improving won't be easy, because you can't just add downforce forever with this simplistic suspension regs, as Mercedes learned at Spa after FP1 and Ferrari in Spain aswell..

[Emmi]

Ye, Lewis absolutely was the quickest driver out there today and fully deserves the win ... if it wasn't for Russell's lighter car he would have overtaken him at the end either way. Mercedes winning three out of the last four races is something I didn't expect honestly and Red Bull's downfall is huge which I didn't see coming either ... it may be a coincidence but if I remember correctly it all started with the departure of Newey. lol

If I was Max I'd hurry to get that Mercedes seat for next season and beyond because if he stays at RB he'll be in nowhere land for the next couple of years. Lewis suddenly is the best driver of the pack again ... what a win can change. He's a changed man ever since Silverstone and please, Norris ... the f*ck is he doing? This season Max will not win the WDC trophy because he's the best overall, no, it's because Norris is unable to beat Max on track even if he has the faster car and he always makes stupid mistakes, either on track, at the start or by strategy. At this point I'd rather switch the focus to Piastri because I think he's the more capable driver honestly. Next season will be very exciting I reckon ... could be one for the ages again if Ferrari gets their sh*t together and realizes that you need to update the car over the season and if Max drives for Mercedes and if RB gets Sainz.

[Jason]

37 minutes ago, Dostoyevskiy said:

Well, it isn't exactly unlucky from Russell. These 1.5kg could be the reason why Hamilton couldn't get him on much fresher rubber. And at the end it was the price he had to pay for one stopper. He used too much of his tyres and without post-race lap he wasn't able to get rubber on them. 

 

If it the low weight did indeed come from tyres (and talk is that that's Merc's thinking) that's a f*ck up from the team, not George. I'd still say it's unlucky for George, he drove great.

 

Also while Hamilton was the fastest person out there today it seems to have been harder to overtake today than people expected, and what ifs and maybes could be applied to other drivers, like Norris and his bad start or Piastri and his bad pit stop. On the topic of McLaren, I do think Norris is the better driver currently, and the standings reflect that, but for one his starts are poor but also he's still rash at times where as Piastri is ridiculously level headed. We saw it again today w/ Norris being rash, when he went off trying to get past Max, it's happened multiple times now in the past few races.

 

In any case, the season looked ominous at the start but it's developed into a really enjoyable season. WDC is probably still tied up, but WCC might be open for debate, depending on what RB do with Perez.