norris just didn't quite have the tyre performance. made a mistake extending and trying 1 stop. solid 3rd that could have been more. verstappen gambled imo and it paid off.
Taken in isolation it was a great race. Three possible winners, lots of strategic intrigue, some decent battling. In the context of Max winning almost every other race this season, a very frustrating missed opportunity
it was tactical, perhaps disrupted by the sprint, the tyre choices were interesting but so was the pole pressure on red bull here.
What was the difference between this and the sprint race? Max won the sprint without breaking sweat yet, even though he won today, he struggled in comparison
temperature. fuel load managing the distance 19 laps where verstappen only needed to break the tow to control the pace on one set of tyres verses 6th on full fuel load and a strint where he controlled the tyre wear then unleashed everything he had left to pass norris (he was not pushing too hard there for a while) red bull committed to 2 stops while the other teams were flirting with 1 stop then decided it was not possible. if there had been no stint and the teams got a normal p1, p2, p3 they would have known this wasn't happening. red bull were very much one the right strategy but not looking the absolute fastest car here. just the right tyres for enough of the race.
I wonder how many times Ferrari have to screw up CLCs races before he tells them to do one. Trouble is, I think he's too nice.
Looks like it's about to get worse for Leclerc and Hamilton... DSQ incoming https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/h...ds-for-potential-plank-rules-breach/10536595/
So the stewards checked the planks of 4 cars (Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton, Leclerc) and disqualified half of them. You have to question the legitimacy of the results from 3rd down. Sainz has just been given a podium, but he surely would have been disqualified as well if they'd have checked his car
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have both been disqualified from the United States Grand Prix. Could be deserved but if the excessive wear was because of the tarmac being too bumpy they should check EVERY CAR!..
Well ****. I had to work today, just got home and I was looking forward to watching this one. Kinda wondering if it's worth it since a lot up front is now redundant.
Good job he didn't, because that would sting a bit now. Hamilton and Charlie both getting a DSQ kinda kills the race for me. Dems the rules tho. Bleh.
I think we ought to be thinking about the rest of season now and not this minor little inconvenience. Mexico - the gasping GP. Merc engines have historically struggled here but last year they were 2nd. Brazil- the one big straight GP. DRS all the way. Vegas the hookers and blow GP thats going to be a travesty (anyone who's ever been to vegas knows the place is a total ****hole with one street and that half of it is derelict anyway. Abu Dhabi - the boring and dull race. 4 chances for someone to win a race others then verstappen. IMO a) Perez will not take 2nd place. he's that bad that I think if the car is not a second down the road he will be 6th to 10th. b) Hamilton might just get another chance to win a final race. c) we will be bored senseless by the final two races.
I think Mercedes have let Perez off the hook. Without the DSQ and the crash in Qatar Lewis would already be ahead of Perez, but instead he's got 39 points to make up in 4 races. The DQ also means Sainz is very likely to beat Leclerc again. Which is further proof that Charles has been cursed The last thing to watch in the standings now is whether Lando can get P4
Personally I expect the final 4 races to be quite interesting. It’s apparent that the other teams can at least be competitive with RedBull now, such that any errors are punished and neither Brazil or Mexico particularly plays to their remaining strengths. I’d expect them to win Abu Dhabi, Las Vegas is an unknown.
What the dominance of Max encourages is a focus on the rest of the particpants. Lewis dominance did the same for those not entranced by the Lewis years. Max was taken aback at the booing yesterday, I thought that spectator reaction was uncalled for. Lewis rubbed it in with a step forward to cheers. That though will only make Max more determined. He will go all out to make his point in Mexico.
"in general" The regulations are preventing engine development so in theory (I still don't know) there are 3 even matched engines on display. In the absence of large power differences and tyre differences the teams then differ by Aero and by gearboxes/traction and by efficiency. It should be the case that over time they converge and become more and more competitive. There's no way one team can hold a large dominance based on things everyone else can see an replicate. What do we see now: a) merc front suspension. look at how similar the height of it is b) floor copying c) beam wing copying. d) ferrari stubbornly refusing to copy. We have seen aston step forward massively over winter then fall back into the pack due to not being able to keep up the pace of change We have seen McLaren jump from being a brick of a car to being good on aero We have seen mercs improve in second half after abandoning the no pod dead end. This is an evolution not revolution phase of F1 now. the teams are making the racing worse by making it harder to stay close but are also converging such that red bull have less space to innovate into. Whats next? a red bull blowing everyone away day 1 in first test? Or some teams being genuinely close?
**** him. I mean literally he can go do one. Verstappen isn't popular for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is how he's treated his team mate. Just wait for mexico brat
I am not a fan of Max, he is devoid of many human and decent traits. But still, we don't have steep to his level.
