[Other Sport] F1 2024

[mikeyjh]

Yep, another undeserved title in the bag

Quite - He's going to end his career with a few asterisk next to his achievements.

 

[Triggaaar]

You can say many things, saying this title is underserved is not one of them.

Look at his performances compared to Perez this season, he's absolutely driven the wheels off that car.

To be fair I didn't realise they'd were now giving Perez wheels

 

[JackB247]

Max finally got his comeuppance from the Stewards (about three years late) and it was wonderful to see.

Thought it was a good race overall and overtaking seemed to be easier this year which helped.

Another race done before Lewis gets out of that tractor - I was excited by the results pre Summer break but the Merc season is petering out badly now. Still, at least Lewis should have a good shot at winning the Championship next year.

 

[mrjon1976]

Disclaimer - I am a Max fan....

The penalty for the turn 7(?) was spot on - it was a petulant move on Norris that was also dangerous - fan or not, I cannot defend that one. The 10 seconds for Turn 4 - feels like the stewards making an example of him, especially given similar incidents with Perez / Lawson & Perez / Stroll went unpunished. 5 seconds, maybe, but 10 for that seemed excessive.

I think the issue here is consistency - and it was the same last week as well. Having been a follower of the sport since the days of Mansell, I find it amazing that there isn't a situation where you have the same stewards at every event - I guess the Masi / Abu Dhabi 2021 farce changed the landscape of it all.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

There he goes again, easing off the brakes to force another driver off the road

He really is a piece of shit

Actually dangerous, clearly can’t compete on a level playing field

 

[AstroSloth]

Quite - He's going to end his career with a few asterisk next to his achievements.

What's the asterisk going to be this year?

*Teammate finished 8th

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Yep, another undeserved title in the bag

I don't think it will be undeserved(despite his occasional/frequent)dickwad actions.

He's got the absolute maximum out of his car week in week out. When the red bull was the best car he won race after race(7 out of the first ten I think). Then when he had the second or third best car he has consistently got the absolute best result the car could manage, sometimes even bettering what it should be able to get. I genuinely think this will be his most deserved title.

Norris and McClaren on the other hand have fluffed their lines too many times.

Max hasn't. Which makes his shitty behaviour and antics really frustrating. He hasn't needed to resort to them, it just appears to be his default character. Which is a shame.

 

[A1X]

Disclaimer - I am a Max fan....

The penalty for the turn 7(?) was spot on - it was a petulant move on Norris that was also dangerous - fan or not, I cannot defend that one. The 10 seconds for Turn 4 - feels like the stewards making an example of him, especially given similar incidents with Perez / Lawson & Perez / Stroll went unpunished. 5 seconds, maybe, but 10 for that seemed excessive.

I think the issue here is consistency - and it was the same last week as well. Having been a follower of the sport since the days of Mansell, I find it amazing that there isn't a situation where you have the same stewards at every event - I guess the Masi / Abu Dhabi 2021 farce changed the landscape of it all.

Martin Brundle made the point that F1 is just about the only global sport without an elite, professional team of rule-enforcers. I think he’s right, the whole stewards / race control setup needs properly professionalising.

 

[Audax]

Disclaimer - I am a Max fan....

The penalty for the turn 7(?) was spot on - it was a petulant move on Norris that was also dangerous - fan or not, I cannot defend that one. The 10 seconds for Turn 4 - feels like the stewards making an example of him, especially given similar incidents with Perez / Lawson & Perez / Stroll went unpunished. 5 seconds, maybe, but 10 for that seemed excessive.

10s became the standard penalty this season after drivers and teams spent much of last season moaning about how teams and drivers were now tactically choosing to accept the 5s penalty and it wasn't a deterrent for dirty overtakes anymore. Norris only got 5s at Austin because the stewards recognised that Verstappen had left him no choice, so they used discretion to reduce it. Magnussen, for example, got a pair of 10s penalties earlier this season, as have other drivers.

Having said that ... I agree that stewarding in F1 is no where near consistent enough.

---

In other news ... Perez will race in Brazil. I'm quite stunned personally that he's still choosing to brazen it out and didn't opt to announce his retirement post-Mexico. Had he done so, he might have protected his seat until the end of the season. As it stands now, though, Horner has openly put his head on the chopping block if Brazil is another Perez disaster-class.


Also of interest to anyone who still cares about my pre-season predictions (I'll dig them out and update my scorecard after Brazil) ... rumours are emerging in the US that a very hush-hush deal has been done to admit the Andretti Global team from 2026. If true, it would suggest that FOM / Liberty have been forced to cave in to pressure from US (where the Department of Justice have launched an investigation and are rumoured to have clear evidence of collusion between FOM and the teams to exclude Andretti that could be used as the basis for criminal proceedings) and more recently the EU (where two MEPs have now called for an investigation).

If true, Andretti himself will not be involved after he exited his leadership position recently. But that is supposedly part of the deal - that if they are admitted, Andretti will not be seen in the paddock (at least initially).

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Found this an interesting watch. The onboard from Sainz shows how much Max was really taking the piss especially the second one.

NEW ANGLES of Max Verstappen forcing Lando Norris off track twice in Mexico!

Take a look at these new angles of Max Verstappen forcing Lando Norris off track twice during the Mexico City GP.

www.skysports.com

 

[Iggle Piggle]

I don't think it will be undeserved(despite his occasional/frequent)dickwad actions.

He's got the absolute maximum out of his car week in week out. When the red bull was the best car he won race after race(7 out of the first ten I think). Then when he had the second or third best car he has consistently got the absolute best result the car could manage, sometimes even bettering what it should be able to get. I genuinely think this will be his most deserved title.

Norris and McClaren on the other hand have fluffed their lines too many times.

Max hasn't. Which makes his shitty behaviour and antics really frustrating. He hasn't needed to resort to them, it just appears to be his default character. Which is a shame.

I also agree with this.

Norris could do with the points McLaren have pissed up the wall especially in Monza but also in Hungary. Neither Norris or McLaren have been ruthless enough this year.

Whilst Max doesn't strike me as someone i'd happily have a pint with, he's driven the wheels off that car at times this year. He's a deserved winner as well as a petulant bell end. He'd be Bruno Fernandez if he was a footballer.

 

[Audax]

Brazil this weekend, and it's a Sprint race weekend. So it'll be a good one for Norris to maximise.

Practice 1 has just finished. And while practice sessions aren't great for predicting the weekend, they do tend to be more accurate for Sprint weekends. So where do they stand ahead of Sprint qually?

1. Magnussen isn't taking part due to illness. Bearman is in the car today and for the Sprint race, and finished P1 with the 3rd fastest time...
2. Mercedes look quick, but their car is bouncing around too much and appears to be too low on ride height. Will they still be quick once they raise the ride height?
3. Norris was quickest, with a new front wing, but Verstappen didn't set a representative time (but the lap he aborted didn't have purple sectors, so...)
4. Verstappen has a new ICE this weekend. He'll take a 5 place grid penalty for Sunday as a result, but with a fresh engine he'll have better performance than he has in recent weekends.
5. Perez has switched to a different chassis, trying to understand why his pace has been so poor lately. He was 19th...
6. Albon was 5th. Qually later might be interesting...
7. The Ferrari's appear to be a little off the pace compared to recent weekends.

 

[kojak]

Alonso & Hamilton are over the hill

Bearman should be in the Ferrari next year

 

[Flounce]

Alonso & Hamilton are over the hill

Bearman should be in the Ferrari next year

Let’s see how he does at Ferrari, Hamilton has been shite in qualifying all season but better than Russell during the races. I am a conspiracy theory believer that Merc are hampering his car to make Russell look better

Bearman looks like a real talent though, I agree.

 

[A1X]

Staggered Haas didn’t tell him to back off for another go, it was pretty obvious he had broken track limits

 

[AstroSloth]

Interesting calls from race control in the sprint.

A Haas a couple of metres off the track with the driver outside of the car and only yellows for two laps, but as soon as McLaren switch it's a VSC *

*I don't believe it was done intentionally but was an awful call and the timing will result in these theories.

 

[kojak]

Damon is very humble
absolutely pissing down
but still not mentioned his fantastic drive in such conditions at Sao Paulo in 96

 

[Creaky]

Interesting calls from race control in the sprint.

A Haas a couple of metres off the track with the driver outside of the car and only yellows for two laps, but as soon as McLaren switch it's a VSC *

*I don't believe it was done intentionally but was an awful call and the timing will result in these theories.

Imagine the conspiracy claims had it been Perez and Verstappen.

 

[AstroSloth]

Imagine the conspiracy claims had it been Perez and Verstappen.

That would require Perez to be ahead of Verstappen so not likely!

 

[A1X]

Qualifying postponed, fair play for trying but that seemed inevitable from a long time before it was called