Very bizzare to damage what has been a productive relationship with Perez just to avoid giving up P6. Anyway it was a great race. George was lucky in the beginning, but proved his worth after the last safety car. 99.9% confirmed to join Button and Rosberg as teammates to outscore Hamilton as well. Next season should be great with the pace Mercedes are showing now. Maybe even a three way fight if Ferrari can sort out whatever has hobbled them since the TD in Hungary.
Good signs for Mercedes car design- they said yesterday there are flaws in it that can only be fixed with a new car, so to have found todays pace despite the inherent issues is promising for them indeed. I still think there might be an engine deficit, but Abu Dhabi at a more normal altitude will reveal more about any gaps in performance.
The thing I don't get, the whole episode is entirely futile. Why even chose this hill to die on? It's of absolutely no value or strategic importance. He's made himself look like a proper dick, especially when Checo is pretty much universally loved. I find it all strange. It going to be interesting to see how Horner deals with this. I'm pretty sure he's not going to be happy with Max thinking he calls the shots in that team. Also, Max has just made an enemy of half of that garage. Totally stupid.
There is talk of Max reasoning going back to Monaco ? All I know is that his refusal to help Checo out leaves Checo and Charles on level points , but Charles is second due to more race wins . IMHO. Nothing will change .Horner is Gutless .
It has been said, Max has not done himself any favours, I hope Checo doesn't do any to help Max from this point on. A leopard never changes its spots. Based on the Mercedes performance it is likely Max will have more of a fight next year, I hope so. On another note, disappointing to see posts in this forum use poor language even though letters are replaced with asterisks. Really is unnecessary.
Yeah the rumour mill is that Perez Crashed intentionally. Normally I would dismiss that as crazy dutch fan nonsense. After all why pull a Rosberg when you're not even on pole, and why risk damaging the car? But i am at a loss to explain why Perez has a sudden spike to 100% throttle in his telemetry...
If Mercedes do show this pace next season it could get interesting between George and Lewis. Like shades of 2016 with Nico versus Lewis. George would love to get his first just as much as Lewis to get number eight.All niceness gone, the gloves would be off.
Thanks for posting that . Main question I have is that he clearly hit the barrier , he could have really damaged the car .
Oh yeah it makes no sense at all from a risk/reward perspective. But who knows, sometimes people do irrational things. I can't wrap my head around an experienced driver stamping on the throttle like that mid corner, it's always going to spin
Interesting video that. Might explain a little why Jos Verstappen was so vocal that weekend too. Either way, let’s remember Sergio has done everything asked of him and Max doesn’t need any more enemies.
Related to this, surely the FIA now have to come out and announce an investigation into Monaco? The rumour appears to be that Perez deliberately crashed in qualifying, and that Horner and Marko (and apparently Verstappen) knew about this and said nothing until now. The FIA should be determining whether there's any truth to that, and if there is, shouldn't the race result be changed because it was manipulated by a Red Bull driver and covered up by their staff? It's not at the same level as Crashgate, because clearly the team didn't ask Checo to crash, but covering it up isn't exactly great?
What's that berk on the left taking a photo of? Lewis Hamilton's standing in front of him and he seems to be taking a picture of the car park.
FIA have all the telemetry, so not sure how the team could cover this up - either this is nonsense, or it’s unprovable, I’d think
They have a tendency to brush stuff under the carpet these days, but I suspected it's just Max being a jerk.
I'm not sure. Having Max thinking he can call the shots may see Horner challenge him. I get the feeling that Horner isn't going to be thrilled by that. He wants that 1-2 and wants to be top dog.... But he did help create this, so....
Telemetry may be inconclusive, Telemetry+Confession? That should be significant enough to warrant at least an investigation. Whether anyone meaningful would repeat the confession/accusation to the FIA, I'm not sure, but the FIA should be at least asking the questions.