[G30M]

Originally Posted by Marcoose

But it’s hard to strategise from the cockpit.

Norris is not half bad, just not ruthless.

He was told to swap positions.

He said "well tell him to get closer then".

Pit told him "Oscar can't close the gap"

That's when the F1 champions would say

"Well then I'm faster and would have obviously overtaken him anyway. Let's talk about this in the debrief."

in the debrief: well if I can't win the WDC and I'm leading I'll repay the win but right now you screwed up and it's on you, not me. I need the points"

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Davil

What a tremendously entertaining race. I just knew Oscar would take the lead straight away and Max would do something crazy.

The McLaren radio silence from each driver that just kept building.

Max having temper tantrums I haven’t seen since my kids were 2.

Lewis defending like a champion.

So much drama and entertainment.

Also. I just love Nico. He has no filter.

Someone should tell ROS there are rear view mirrors on all the cars and the gap was there

[fs1977]

All the drama! That was exciting.

Little voice in my head tells me Max is slowly trying to cause a breach. Wouldn't be suprised if he drives for Mercedes next year. Too much going at the RBR team right now. Untill now, they more or less managed to not let that influence the race weekend, but it seems that ship has sailed now.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by lens

I think whatever RBR has developed for 2025 is scrapped now.

Spa should be a good race think, I'm still not convinced Max will win there with how dominant Mclaren has been.

MAX will 'NOT win Spa-Francorchamps.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

MAX will 'NOT win Spa-Francorchamps.

I wouldn't be too sure about that, Spa is a long fast track and completely different from the 'Arc de Triomph roundabout' Hungary. When MAX drives angry he drives even quicker and he'll probably have new PU with extra horses

* Remember my friend that there are FIA flexi wing measurements there, front and rear in place at Spa to catch the cheats out which should even things out.

[Car-Addicted]

Originally Posted by G30M

they are using Ferrari strategy guide book

Sad that Ferrari has become synonymous with poor pit strategy. I'm really looking forward to the Lewis Hamilton in car dialogue and post race tweets next year.

[Car-Addicted]

Originally Posted by G30M

the entire McLaren look like a team with no direction or leader from principal to driver. and definitely they need to hire a strategist.

Smart money is that Zak Brown will be a SPA. He's about as subtle as a bull in a china shop. Andreas Seidl is a gentleman and not a hooligan.

[ptack]

For a race on a track which simply too small it was very interesting. Verstappen had a 90 minute temper tantrum and McLaren revealed that they don't have a handle on what they are doing, despite having the best car and 2 good drivers. Norris ostensibly should have won the race, but he had a poor start and could not catch his teammate. The team then undercut their lead driver and proceeded to make a bigger mess by giving a ridiculous number of radio messages about managing tires corner by corner. Norris ignored those messages which Piastri tended to obey. This just made it all the harder to undue the undercut mistake. They should have just ordered Norris to swap immediately and then just let them race. Both drivers would have greatly preferred that, though there would have been a chance of them taking each other out.
Verstappen on the other hand really damaged his reputation, coming across as spoiled child who can easily be rattled now that he no longer has a superior car. As much as there may be problems with Horner and the team, he needs them to finish the season and enable him to win another championship. I get it when a driver feels that a team just can't provide a winning effort, but that's not the case at this point for Red Bull. The car is no longer the best on out there, but Max had a large enough lead that he can definitely still win the championship if he just drives the car to the best of it's capabilities. Just screaming on the radio that he doesn't like it anymore makes him sound like a fool.

[Marcoose]

Originally Posted by fs1977

Wouldn't be suprised if he drives for Mercedes next year. Too much going at the RBR team right now.

But do Wolff, Mercedes etal want a volatile, immature, hot-headed driver ? Winning is important, but this type of personality is difficult to manage. And it comes with Jos attached. I’ve met him. He is a pill !

Until about Miami, it made sense to hire Verstappen. Now not really. Sainz is easier to work with. And Bearman is in the wings.

[dfox]

McLaren's mistake is on Andrea Stella, 100%. Instead of stepping up as the leader of the team and doing something, he forced his engineers to drive a rift between drivers. The car is obviously doing well, but these issues scream of a lack of leadership and accountability. Time for a change in team principal. Zak seems pretty ruthless, I wouldn't be surprised if he makes a change for next year if they keep making these mistakes.

Also, it was interesting to see Max whine so damn much. Made Hamilton look like an amateur.

[M5Rick]

Any current world champ would mouth off a bit if the goods AND the strat were not up to scratch and even more so with McLaren's sudden out of the ordinary boost BUT in 4 days there are flexi wing cam image dot measurements in place so will the performance of a certain team or two suddenly drop off I wonder

[dfox]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Any current world champ would mouth off a bit if the goods AND the strat were not up to scratch and even more so with McLaren's sudden out of the ordinary boost BUT in 4 days there are flexi wing cam image dot measurements in place so will the performance of a certain team or two suddenly drop off I wonder

Seemed a bit more than "mouthing off a bit". He made Yuki's usual outbursts look like child's play. The frustration is clear and understandable, but man, if he's like this over a public radio channel, I can't imagine what he was like in the debrief after the race.

Contrast that with what happened to Lando. He literally had a win stolen from him by his team and zero curse words spoken over the radio.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by dfox

Seemed a bit more than "mouthing off a bit". He made Yuki's usual outbursts look like child's play. The frustration is clear and understandable, but man, if he's like this over a public radio channel, I can't imagine what he was like in the debrief after the race.

Contrast that with what happened to Lando. He literally had a win stolen from him by his team and zero curse words spoken over the radio.

Everyone mouths off under extreme but I wouldn't like to meet Jos and Max passing by in a dark alley and tell them to mind their p's and q's

[HeelToeShift]

Originally Posted by fs1977

All the drama! That was exciting.

Little voice in my head tells me Max is slowly trying to cause a breach. Wouldn't be suprised if he drives for Mercedes next year. Too much going at the RBR team right now. Untill now, they more or less managed to not let that influence the race weekend, but it seems that ship has sailed now.

Yes, it did seem over the top today...

[G30M]

Originally Posted by Car-Addicted

I'm really looking forward to the Lewis Hamilton in car dialogue and post race tweets next year.

no need to wait 1 year, you have Max and GP this year right now

[G30M]

Originally Posted by ptack

Verstappen on the other hand really damaged his reputation, coming across as spoiled child who can easily be rattled now that he no longer has a superior car. As much as there may be problems with Horner and the team, he needs them to finish the season and enable him to win another championship. I get it when a driver feels that a team just can't provide a winning effort, but that's not the case at this point for Red Bull. The car is no longer the best on out there, but Max had a large enough lead that he can definitely still win the championship if he just drives the car to the best of it's capabilities. Just screaming on the radio that he doesn't like it anymore makes him sound like a fool.

Sounds familiar ... umm .. I think Lewis Hamilton in 2022 (?2023)

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by HeelToeShift

Yes, it did seem over the top today...

This one for a good reason, FIA concluded in the investigation that HAM could have given MAX more room.

[minn19]

Originally Posted by Marcoose

But do Wolff, Mercedes etal want a volatile, immature, hot-headed driver ? Winning is important, but this type of personality is difficult to manage. And it comes with Jos attached. I’ve met him. He is a pill !

Until about Miami, it made sense to hire Verstappen. Now not really. Sainz is easier to work with. And Bearman is in the wings.

I get what you are saying, but in the end it is all about winning. So I say yes, of course you get him if you can.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

I wouldn't be too sure about that, Spa is a long fast track and completely different from the 'Arc de Triomph roundabout' Hungary. When MAX drives angry he drives even quicker and he'll probably have new PU with extra horses

* Remember my friend that there are FIA flexi wing measurements, front and rear in place at Spa to catch the cheats out which should even things out.

Hopefully my friend . But in the last 5 races we've seen that the McLaren is bullet fast and on any track...
In OF and race pace (!)

A new HONDA PU for MAX ?
Well . That's a 10 P grid penalty for MAX my friend (!)

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

This one for a good reason, FIA concluded in the investigation that HAM could have given MAX more room.

LEW's move makes me think about his Silverstone-Copse dirty trick ..
But this time he moved to the right side ...

There was enough space for MAX's overtaking attempt with DRS ..
But LEW decided to make that space too small for MAX.

#ElbowsWideOpen (!)

Some say : It was LEW's defence or a tactical maneuver ...

The $Million Dollar question is ...How far can you go ?

According to the stewards : It was a racing incident (!)

[MontyB1]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Hopefully my friend . But in the last 5 races we've seen that the McLaren is bullet fast and on any track...
In OF and race pace (!)

A new HONDA PU for MAX ?
Well . That's a 10 P grid penalty for MAX my friend (!)

If they change the PU it’s almost an admittance that the car isn’t going to do well so change it now and sacrifice the race. A lot of jeopardy for the first lap at spa it rarely goes without incident.

Maybe they have another update planned for post the summer shut ‘ahem’ down. If they don’t it will be interesting to see if they wait until next season to fix the bigger issues in the car. Not long now before Newey leaves either, rumours are they have asked him back to help with the car before he goes having removed him from more. Meetings recently.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Hopefully my friend . But in the last 5 races we've seen that the McLaren is bullet fast and on any track...
In OF and race pace (!)

A new HONDA PU for MAX ?
Well . That's a 10 P grid penalty for MAX my friend (!)

He's lost that PU that went to Japan for investigation which could not be repaired , the ones before are too used and are probably used for practice so if his present one is down on power then he has no choice, his mate GP will decide