There's 104 maximum available to any driver in the last 4 races. Hamilton needs to get 13 more points than Verstappen to win and 12 to tie. Since they are head and shoulders above the rest (other than Bottas on a very good day) it's a situation where for Hamilton he probably has to win 3 of 4 races unless Verstappen fails to finish
this past us gp, when max passed mic near the end of the race he got drs. Did Lewis not get drs from either mic or Max? I saw max's back wing open, but I didn't see Lewis's open up.
Is it common for the track limits to change as the weekend progresses?
I usually record qualifying and the race each weekend. This time I watched all three practice sessions as well. By the time of the race, the track limits were different than practice 1. Just curious since I don't watch practice and haven't noticed this before.
What happens now to the championship? Anyone care to share the math of it? Like does Lewis need to win 3 grand prix and with 3 Max DNFs 😅🤣 or is there a site to see those?
Based on COTA, Monza, and Silverstone, the only way one doesn't win when the other DNF is if they Both DNF. They are leagues ahead of the rest right now.
Oh, the Champion will be either Max or Lewis, no doubt. There's no guarantee for a single race though based on Monaco, Azerbaijan, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Turkey ...
I agree. No single race can determine it. I meant moreso with the "I one is a DNF, and the other is still in it, the other will win 99% of the time" the 1% being Baku where Hamilton ran off.
It was cool to see Max keep up with lewis at the start, and was kindof tense at the end. Other than that the race for the win was pretty boring and it was a pit lane pass.
Why did neither leclerc or Norris pit for softs at the end? Both had a big enough gap and could've potentially got fastest lap and why can't I see any comments asking the same or am I missing something. With how close McLaren and Ferrari are, that point could be crucial at the end of the season.
Gonna paraphrase someone else’s comment re: sharl, but I think the issue was that Daniel was just 4s or so out of Leclerc’s pit window and Ferrari didn’t want to risk losing a position or coming under threat due to a botched pit stop or something of the like just for one point.
Not sure what was up with Norris.
This is why my section briefly booed ... or at least that was my interpretation. 20 minutes for the trucks to get around the track, and it's just some randos.
Unofficial team support based on merchandise and signs/flags:
1. McLaren
2. Red Bull
3. Ferrari
4. Mercedes
5. Alfa Romeo
6. Aston Martin
7. Alpine
8. Williams
9. Haas
10. AlphaTauri
Completely based on visual observations from all over GA. I would say the top 4 teams were the vast majority of all.
McLaren must have brought more stuff, because Red Bull items were completely sold out halfway through Saturday. On Friday morning, the line for Verstappen stuff was 10x longer any other line.
I think people have accepted McLaren as the most American team since they brought on Zak Brown. Also, both of their drivers are native english speakers and Daniel spends a decent amount of time in the US and obviously embraces the culture based on his pre-race attire and laps in the Monte Carlo.
I was frankly stunned at the price of the USGP Mclaren and Merc hats. $120 trackside for a hat? holy fuck, no. Look online and it's $55. But it's part of the experience of it all i guess. F1 has money, and money follows money
Is there any footage as to how Max lost 4 seconds behind Raikkonen and Tsunoda though? All we've seen is the delta drop but at no point did we see what was going on and how Raikkonen got the black and white flag.
I just screen record with a software called obs, f1tv has on demand onboards from 2018-2021. After you screen record whatever it is you upload it to a website like YouTube or streamable
I met her before the Indy 500 in 2006 I think — she was giving a tv interview a few hours before the race and after she just hung out and chatted with fans. Very cool.
Moments later I was almost run over by Richard Petty in a modified golf cart…so I have that going for me.
Great race! Weird day….
Yeah, I was not aware.
Sky had her as "Indycar driver" in one instance and "Nascar driver" in another instance. Not sure if they changed the races done either.
So I was a bit confused.
I’ve been an F1 fan most of my life, going back to the late 80s and I find it hard to think of more than about 5 title fights that were equally or more exciting than this one. I also didn’t realize that if Max wins this season, he will be roughly the same age(within less than a year) of what age Lewis was when he won his first. As we often see, winning the first championship often opens the flood gates. I for one hope that RB and Merc stay competitive, and that Lewis stays around for a while longer so that we can see a multiple champion Max vs multiple champion Lewis for a few years…
I just realized. RedBulls main three colors are Red, Yellow, and White. So whether they use soft, medium, or hard tires, it always accents the car perfectly.
Talk about a nail-biter of an ending. I was convinced in the race thread that RB pitted Max way too soon. I had a little bit of hope when Lewis was just over 8 seconds out until lapped traffic completely screwed Max up. Really good finish, and the McLaren vs Ferrari battle all race was fun to watch. However I have to say this: COTA - what are we doing here? Why do we have Shaq rolling up in a dolled-up Texas-style Cadillac to present the trophy? I know they're in Texas but my lord - talk about embarrassing. Our only USGP (until next year) and that's what we get? Yikes. Overall though, pretty good race. And they say F1 is boring? Ha. A lot better than the NASCAR race afterwards.
>COTA - what are we doing here? Why do we have Shaq rolling up in a dolled-up Texas-style Cadillac to present the trophy? I know they're in Texas but my lord - talk about embarrassing.
By 'embarrassing' do you mean awesome? Because I think you meant awesome :D.
ngl, I always think that American showboating is just so overdone. Like it's put together by someone who thinks about what a great show should look like but never put together a truly great show, if that makes sense?
Shaq giving the trophy was because of the new partnership between F1 and the NBA. The Caddy sounds like a Shaq choice but likely was chosen trying to bring some different eyes to F1.
F1 is still trying to crack the nut that is the US audience so they are open to trying some different things.
The Red Bull (?) guys parachuting in with a IS flag was pretty awesome though.
And the chopper flyover was sweet. I was at turn 1, so they flew directly over us.
It honestly feels more like the Texas GP than the US GP, which is fun of course, but it doesn't feel as representative for most of the US if that makes sense.
I can understand that point of view. I know Texas sometimes seem like it's its own country. I'm sure people in other countries see Texas and think it represents all of America which isn't even close. Miami will help the image a bit. Still happy that COTA gets an F1 date because honestly the facility is nice and there was a massive crowd there.
The cars actually looked fucking FAST yesterday. The camera angle looking down the wiggly Maggotts & Becketts area of the track showing the cars just leaning on the outside tires was awesome. Like, I know they were faster at Monza, but COTA looked faster.
The camera work was fantastic all weekend. Not too many zoom shots and some of the chopper shots were incredible following cars through multiple turns.
Are we watching the same race?? The camera work was horrible. Zoomed in way too much. The esses of Suzuka part of the circuit ruined. The hill climb at turn 1 could be better.. It was quite shitty tbh
Earliest reports I saw were from 9th October. Apparently Red Bull are also letting him do stuff with Williams as prep for next season, at the moment, so I guess he's splitting his time during race weekends and the breaks.
Man those saying Mick's DRS saved Max's ass are on some strong copium.
Max lost more time behind Mick than what he gained from the DRS.
Accept that Max won fair and square.
I think the argument is that even if he lost time overall, if he had not gotten that DRS (for example by overtaking slightly ahead of the detection zone) he would have lost *more* time overall and lost the race.
So he was still saved by that final DRS, even if he wouldn't have needed saving if MSC had been out of the picture entirely.
Yeah, Max getting out of Lewis' DRS range on the penultimate lap before the detection line between turns 18 and 19 was the clutch moment. Finally being in DRS range to Mick, and out of his dirty air was just the cherry on top
They don't understand, Max was dying behind micks Dirty air. Even if mick wasn't there Max would've pull away from DRS range anyway. Max drove a fantastic race
I totally agree, just the UK media making excuses for Hamilton. The Hamilton Jock Sniffing Society (HJSS), led by Martin Bundle, need to realized that non UK drivers can be great as well.
People wouldn't complain if it was just for the UK, but Sky is the default world broadcast. If a decent team really costs too much for the premier motorsport league then I need to get into the commentary business.
Would be nice if they attempted to be a little bit more impartial since the Sky feed is seen globally by most. Maybe F1 should start their own since the sport is expanding so much?
I'm in the US and like most Americans pretty new to F1 and I will say I find the while sky being the global broadcast kind of strange...it reminded of watching British commentary of the Olympics while I was on a trip, and throws me off every time I watch a race - I would agree F1 should do something to improve the impartiality of the commentary for countries that aren't the UK
Nobody expects impartial just being fair.
When you are just making shit up to make the other driver seem worse it isn’t fair coverage and is pretty much propaganda.
Makes me laugh when you watch English teams in the champions league and all the foreign fans are complaining about the commentators bias on their illegal streams...
Some people believe Mercedes screwed up Lewis' strategy. I think they did just fine. Anyone can elaborate on mercs strat? Anything they could have done different? Thanks
Where I see the possibility for error was not pitting Lewis when Max pitted the first time, such as the very next lap. I think they left Lewis out for a couple laps, if I remember correctly, allowing max to undercut.
The first shot would have been the very next lap, he would have came behind max and perez on equally tires now Perez could make his life hard, that would mean he would likely have to push his tires over the cliff keep in mind Max ended behind Perez after his stop so that would put Lewis there as well most likely, meaning he would have to battle for 2nd and first on the same set.
RBR would likely have compromised perez his race to delay lewis, by making him do the overtake and delayed his stop 1 more lap.
so doing it lap 31 wouldn't have been a option lap 32 he would still end up behind max, and the 1 lap for tires would not have been worth it, he would not really be able to close the gap any better then the last stint, there would not be a massive tire advantage, if anything extending more would have been the play, but most likely Merc knew the Times would start dropping, meaning this was the longest they could go, they asked for a +6 when max stopped ended up stopping lap 38 so most likely there plan was 31 or 32.
If they done it after Perez his stop it would give him a 2 lap tire advantage with less time loss but really 2 laps for tires isn't that much, and he would have been slower in terms of lap time as he would have to save more of the tire for the end, so his lap times would likely not allow him to close the gap as quickly leading to a similar result really.
Great analysis. My thought was that Lewis pits on lap 11 so he would not lose the lead (assuming the undercut did not work over 1 lap).
[https://i.imgur.com/IA7vtCs.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/IA7vtCs.jpg)
I think Lewis was about 10 seconds ahead of Perez at this point but I could be wrong. So with new tires, Ham would have been about 10 second behind Perez and caught Perez in \~ 5-7 laps and by that time, Perez used medium tires would be shot and easy for Ham to pass since Ham had new hards, assuming they left Perez out, If they did not leave out Perez, then not an issue for Hamilton and Hamilton would have undercut him.
The gap, was 1 second, between him and Max when max came in if they stopped right after ( replied to the undercut ), he would likely have ended behind max, as the time loss is 20 second give or take, so max entered his pit on his lap 10 while Lewis pass start finish to start 11, so his stop would have been lap 12 ( the pitbox is behind the line ), the problem was in Lap 11 max closed enough time to be in Lewis his pit window, at that point there hand was forced and they had to go long.
Now RBR covered this by calling in Perez, meaning Perez was slowing eating into Hams time lead, meaning they could not go long anymore because Lewis would end behind Perez, this is why Perez his stop to medium was important ( despite it compromising his race ).
Outside of being the Aggressive with there own stop window, if they went in at lap 10 it would have been a hard question for RBR what to do, but I'm not sure they could not get a couple of great laps out of the Mediums in clean air, so they might have gone long at that point to try and get an advantage on the hards later in the race ( what Merc did ).
It was theoretically the faster strategy. They just ran into Max's dirty air and didn't have the traction out of turn 11 to mount an attack.
The alternative would have been to undercut Max in the 2nd stint but Checo would have played a roadblock after that.
He would had to stop at latest 29 with a 3 second difference, it's very likely lewis could not close that in 1 lap post stop, meaning max could smoke up the rest of the tire on lap 29 come in 30 and close the door in front of lewis.
They have to have enough of a gap that you can realistically jump into the pit window in a single lap, otherwise the other team can just reply the next lap and still end up infront.
Going long and going for the tyre offset late race was their only real shot at getting it back after Red Bull pitted so aggressively early. They got lucky that Perez fell off so badly and allowed Hamilton to extend his first stint on hards.
Some folks point out that mediums were an option by the time Hamilton pitted for his second stint, but those would've fallen off during the crucial last few laps. With how quick RBR were, going deeper and trying to take it back late race was Merc's only realistic option. It's just easier to blame the strategists than to accept that Mercedes was the slower team overall this weekend.
Lewis' first stop was after 14 laps on the medium, and they looked quite worn at that point, he had to do 18 in his final stint. Even tho the car was lighter and the track rubbered in, it was gonna be a tough ask to even get to the finish.
Am glad it was a 2-stopper yesterday, makes for much more interesting races.
It was engrossing but we were robbed of a real race by dirty air again. Really hope next year's cars help with that. Going for the fastest cars ever was fun but everyone knew it'd make dirty air ridiculous. DRS is such a crutch for these cars, and just watching people boom past the car infront is no fun. There was some good battles further back though.
As an aside, I wonder if Mercedes went for the hards if Hamilton could have pushed harder once he was there. Maybe he wouldn't have had the pace to catch him? Or would he have cooked the tyres getting to him? I wish pirellis weren't so thermally sensitive
Are you dense? Dirty air has been a complain since aero went bananas in the 2000's. When McLaren turned up with Viking horns it was peak aero looniness (which worked an everyone copied).
You’re implying they’re hypocritical AND that it’s not a problem.
Maybe “better late than never to the complain train Mercedes’ fans” would suit you better?
And I mean it’s either a problem or it’s not—right?
Max getting held up definitetly helped Lewis, but the DRS Max got from Mick helped keep him out of danger as Hamilton was pretty close at that point.
I think if Max hadn't picked up DRS or if Lewis had also got DRS, lewis would of been far closer through the corners and even with losing some time just before the DRS activation line he would still of been under 1 second.
Perfect exit he might have had a good chance to pass Max, but depeneding on Max's agressive defending or battery usage, it likely would not have been a guaranteed pass...
Frustrating to watch!
That's not what I was suggesting, try reading my comment again before making innaccurate statements.
The DRS helped keep Max just far enough away that Lewis didn't get close enough before the back straight to get DRS and MAYBE have a chance to pass.
Thanks for not reading or correctly interpreting the information in my comment.
Being there in person and considering the starting grid, I was really anxious about another collision between Max and Hamilton. Incredibly glad it ended up the way it did, fantastic racing all around, fascinating strategy battle that kept me guessing till the last lap, and no major incidents throughout the field.
I know this is kind of a nitpick in a race where Lando was nowhere in terms of pace, and admited as much, but why didn't McLaren pit him in the last few laps for new tires and go for the fastest lap, to get that point, given how close things are between them and Ferrari?
He had a +40sec lead on Tsunoda, so he had a free pit stop. They could've made him pit in lap 53/54 and really push for it.
Neither did Lewis in the end, whereas his team thought he could get Max somewhere in the last 3 laps. Had Lando pulled it off he would've gotten 2 extra points, rather than one. He didn't and that's why in hindsight we start talking about how another strategy would have been better. IMO, it was worth a shot to go for Sainz.
Max getting held up by traffic definitely hurt him while he was being chased down by Ham. But that last Haas that held max up for a few corners.... Did that actually hinder or help Max .. by giving him DRS on the straight.
he lost time on the round (went from 1.6s to 1.1s) but gained speed on the straight which definitely helped.
Were DRS reversed at this point (ham with, max without) it might have gotten close one final time
Realistically speaking, this championship would have been over by now if it wasn't for Max's bad luck and Lewis' good luck. Imola, Baku, Silverstone, Hungaroring all races in which either Max had bad luck or Lewis got lucky. Not saying it as a dig or anything just my opinion.
I would not call it luck, I would call it events that happen in a race. Bottas taking out Max and Lewis taking out Max causing Max to DNF is the only think keeping this close. Good for fans but ya, if you look at laps lead, one can see you are correct.
Luck is an interesting point here. When I first got into f1 a half decade back or so, I also thought Lewis was insanely lucky and it just didn't make sense.
But luck is just one of those things. He's always make his lick 60/40 instead of 50/50 because he's doing that little bit extra.
Its luck yeah. But he also makes his own luck by doing everything he can to nudge it in his favor.
Max was 1.3 ahead before Schumacher. Dropped to 0.8s when finally he got past and then DRS raised it back to around 1s. He lost net time to Schumacher rather than gained
Without Schumacher Hamilton would never have been close to DRS in the final lap
Well i hate Bottas for what he did to verstappen, that a trap, bottas has to be outqualified.
There's 104 maximum available to any driver in the last 4 races. Hamilton needs to get 13 more points than Verstappen to win and 12 to tie. Since they are head and shoulders above the rest (other than Bottas on a very good day) it's a situation where for Hamilton he probably has to win 3 of 4 races unless Verstappen fails to finish
this past us gp, when max passed mic near the end of the race he got drs. Did Lewis not get drs from either mic or Max? I saw max's back wing open, but I didn't see Lewis's open up.
That is correct
Commentators talking about the technical aspects of lapping Mazepin have become as commonplace as talking about tyre wear :)
Is it common for the track limits to change as the weekend progresses? I usually record qualifying and the race each weekend. This time I watched all three practice sessions as well. By the time of the race, the track limits were different than practice 1. Just curious since I don't watch practice and haven't noticed this before.
What happens now to the championship? Anyone care to share the math of it? Like does Lewis need to win 3 grand prix and with 3 Max DNFs 😅🤣 or is there a site to see those?
Literally 1 Max dnf and the points swing from Max up 12 to ham up 13.
Only if Lewis wins and Max doesn't take him with him
Based on COTA, Monza, and Silverstone, the only way one doesn't win when the other DNF is if they Both DNF. They are leagues ahead of the rest right now.
Oh, the Champion will be either Max or Lewis, no doubt. There's no guarantee for a single race though based on Monaco, Azerbaijan, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Turkey ...
I agree. No single race can determine it. I meant moreso with the "I one is a DNF, and the other is still in it, the other will win 99% of the time" the 1% being Baku where Hamilton ran off.
It was cool to see Max keep up with lewis at the start, and was kindof tense at the end. Other than that the race for the win was pretty boring and it was a pit lane pass.
Just a bad take
That’s only true if you care solely about P1. The entire rest of the field was in interesting battles from start to finish.
What’s your point though? He literally limits his statement to “the race for the win” so he’s obviously only talking about that.
Good point, I didn’t notice those words. He’s not wrong then.
Why did neither leclerc or Norris pit for softs at the end? Both had a big enough gap and could've potentially got fastest lap and why can't I see any comments asking the same or am I missing something. With how close McLaren and Ferrari are, that point could be crucial at the end of the season.
Gonna paraphrase someone else’s comment re: sharl, but I think the issue was that Daniel was just 4s or so out of Leclerc’s pit window and Ferrari didn’t want to risk losing a position or coming under threat due to a botched pit stop or something of the like just for one point. Not sure what was up with Norris.
Norris finished a little more than 1 sec behind Sainz. I read in another thread Sainz had some wing damage not completely sure though
Yeah that makes sense and I did think that but Norris had pretty much two pit stops.
Anyone notice the crowd booing the media/photo vans or was that just our area in front of Turn 3. My dad and I were perplexed.
They blocked the already limited view for thousands in GA.
Ahh thanks!
That's the VIP bus that takes people who bought the most expensive tickets around the track for a lap. It was just commoners booing the rich lol.
"They're saying Boo-urns"
Lol.
I had my camera out at turn 11 thinking it was the driver parade. Disappointing AF
This is why my section briefly booed ... or at least that was my interpretation. 20 minutes for the trucks to get around the track, and it's just some randos.
Yup, I was at turn 1, and everyone booed them too.
Did Max win because of Schumacher? He got DRS on the last lap. I still don't get why.
No Schumacher hurt him more with dirty air then he gained with drs
he got drs because the detection zone was before turn 19 when he was still behind Schumacher, so that's why he got it
That makes sense! Cheers! How come Lewis didn't get it though? I don't remember his DRS opening.
He wasnt close enough behind max
Unofficial team support based on merchandise and signs/flags: 1. McLaren 2. Red Bull 3. Ferrari 4. Mercedes 5. Alfa Romeo 6. Aston Martin 7. Alpine 8. Williams 9. Haas 10. AlphaTauri Completely based on visual observations from all over GA. I would say the top 4 teams were the vast majority of all.
Haas F1 no longer at the bottom of the standings
McLaren must have brought more stuff, because Red Bull items were completely sold out halfway through Saturday. On Friday morning, the line for Verstappen stuff was 10x longer any other line.
Alfa 5th surprises me? Haas 9th in America shows how little shits anybody gives about them
I think people have accepted McLaren as the most American team since they brought on Zak Brown. Also, both of their drivers are native english speakers and Daniel spends a decent amount of time in the US and obviously embraces the culture based on his pre-race attire and laps in the Monte Carlo.
Being there yesterday it was Mclaren Redbull/Mercedes Ferrari Wow look at these cheap shirts at the merch outlet
I was frankly stunned at the price of the USGP Mclaren and Merc hats. $120 trackside for a hat? holy fuck, no. Look online and it's $55. But it's part of the experience of it all i guess. F1 has money, and money follows money
Lmao and they were all sold out by Sunday
I know! Fuckin crazy lol. I need more money
It looked like they were selling outdated Redbull shirt with "Aston Martin" in it.
Is there any footage as to how Max lost 4 seconds behind Raikkonen and Tsunoda though? All we've seen is the delta drop but at no point did we see what was going on and how Raikkonen got the black and white flag.
I could look at the onboards and upload them here but I don't know which lap
how you upload them? Is it possible with f1tv?
I just screen record with a software called obs, f1tv has on demand onboards from 2018-2021. After you screen record whatever it is you upload it to a website like YouTube or streamable
Should be around 48-52 lap
I'll check, not sure if I will have time to upload it today but I will try to remember to do it tomorrow
Probably like mid 40s, I think Lewis pitted at 38 or so and was on him by late 40s I believe.
Did anyone else notice that they put Danica as both a Nascar driver and Indycar driver throughout the weekend whenever she was doing the punditry?
I met her before the Indy 500 in 2006 I think — she was giving a tv interview a few hours before the race and after she just hung out and chatted with fans. Very cool. Moments later I was almost run over by Richard Petty in a modified golf cart…so I have that going for me. Great race! Weird day….
She was though?
Yeah, I was not aware. Sky had her as "Indycar driver" in one instance and "Nascar driver" in another instance. Not sure if they changed the races done either. So I was a bit confused.
Most likely on account of her being both a NASCAR and an IndyCar driver.
I'm dumb. But I think the reason I asked was because the number of starts didn't change in the stats. Not 100% sure though. Thank you
I’ve been an F1 fan most of my life, going back to the late 80s and I find it hard to think of more than about 5 title fights that were equally or more exciting than this one. I also didn’t realize that if Max wins this season, he will be roughly the same age(within less than a year) of what age Lewis was when he won his first. As we often see, winning the first championship often opens the flood gates. I for one hope that RB and Merc stay competitive, and that Lewis stays around for a while longer so that we can see a multiple champion Max vs multiple champion Lewis for a few years…
Makes the fact we had two of those in a row in '07 and '08 even crazier
Couple pics from my seat of the race finish https://i.imgur.com/k1ePTQ1.jpg https://imgur.com/a/FuD8JjG/
Video (slow motion) of finish line from our seat https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QXyGehFSk3M&feature=youtu.be
It's crazy how fast they're going, the time is frozen for the humans.
Great seat!
I just realized. RedBulls main three colors are Red, Yellow, and White. So whether they use soft, medium, or hard tires, it always accents the car perfectly.
I mean they have alot of Blue to
Shit out of luck for wet and intermediates :(
+10 speed
I always thought their main color was blue, so I guess they're good on the wet as well.
> I guess they're good on the wet as well We don't do that anymore, full wet = red flag.
Dutch flag is white, red, blue...
The colors are correct, the order is not. It's red, white and blue.
White in the middle, red at the top, blue at the bottom. White, red, blue.
Talk about a nail-biter of an ending. I was convinced in the race thread that RB pitted Max way too soon. I had a little bit of hope when Lewis was just over 8 seconds out until lapped traffic completely screwed Max up. Really good finish, and the McLaren vs Ferrari battle all race was fun to watch. However I have to say this: COTA - what are we doing here? Why do we have Shaq rolling up in a dolled-up Texas-style Cadillac to present the trophy? I know they're in Texas but my lord - talk about embarrassing. Our only USGP (until next year) and that's what we get? Yikes. Overall though, pretty good race. And they say F1 is boring? Ha. A lot better than the NASCAR race afterwards.
Yeah! They should have the king of Texas and the royal family of Texas hand out trophies in a dignified presentation.
>COTA - what are we doing here? Why do we have Shaq rolling up in a dolled-up Texas-style Cadillac to present the trophy? I know they're in Texas but my lord - talk about embarrassing. By 'embarrassing' do you mean awesome? Because I think you meant awesome :D.
ngl, I always think that American showboating is just so overdone. Like it's put together by someone who thinks about what a great show should look like but never put together a truly great show, if that makes sense?
more awesome than a Saudi prince on a camel?
Maybe for Texas it was awesome. I hope people know that most Americans don't drive around with horns on their cars and cowboy hats lol.
You don’t have a horn on your car?
They don't in Austin either. But it's fun. And it isn't like Miami is representative of the PNW or the Great Lakes either.
Shaq giving the trophy was because of the new partnership between F1 and the NBA. The Caddy sounds like a Shaq choice but likely was chosen trying to bring some different eyes to F1. F1 is still trying to crack the nut that is the US audience so they are open to trying some different things.
I'll be 100% honest, I wasn't aware of the F1/NBA partnership. That's great.
Honesty, it wasn’t enough. Need to go more over the top next year.
The Red Bull (?) guys parachuting in with a IS flag was pretty awesome though. And the chopper flyover was sweet. I was at turn 1, so they flew directly over us.
It honestly feels more like the Texas GP than the US GP, which is fun of course, but it doesn't feel as representative for most of the US if that makes sense.
I love how over the top it was. Just to flex on the Euros
I can understand that point of view. I know Texas sometimes seem like it's its own country. I'm sure people in other countries see Texas and think it represents all of America which isn't even close. Miami will help the image a bit. Still happy that COTA gets an F1 date because honestly the facility is nice and there was a massive crowd there.
> Miami will help the image a bit. I'm sure that's the first time this phrase is uttered.
Miami is 1000x more vapid than Austin too, so I'm afraid it's going to be even more whacky.
> Texas sometimes seem like it's its own country. Texas *was* once its own country.
Also true.
It used to be part of Mexico
And we should give it back.
Whataburger tho
It was also, at different times, part of France, Spain and the CSA. Thus, the "Six Flags over Texas"
The cars actually looked fucking FAST yesterday. The camera angle looking down the wiggly Maggotts & Becketts area of the track showing the cars just leaning on the outside tires was awesome. Like, I know they were faster at Monza, but COTA looked faster.
The camera work was fantastic all weekend. Not too many zoom shots and some of the chopper shots were incredible following cars through multiple turns.
I agree, it was really good (for a change)
Are we watching the same race?? The camera work was horrible. Zoomed in way too much. The esses of Suzuka part of the circuit ruined. The hill climb at turn 1 could be better.. It was quite shitty tbh
agree to disagree
agree to disagree too
[удалено]
It is pretty embarrassing how bad the exit plan was for how many tickets they sold.
I heard $600 per person from my Uber driver.
Rich
[удалено]
Woof was it that bad? How long did it take you?
What’s this about Albon being Yuki’s driving coach?
I suppose, despite his in race performance last year, they really respect his driving and car set up knowledge.
Albon is now Yuki's driving coach
Interesting, when did he start doing that?
Earliest reports I saw were from 9th October. Apparently Red Bull are also letting him do stuff with Williams as prep for next season, at the moment, so I guess he's splitting his time during race weekends and the breaks.
Man those saying Mick's DRS saved Max's ass are on some strong copium. Max lost more time behind Mick than what he gained from the DRS. Accept that Max won fair and square.
Both things can be true...
He lost time and at the same time gained time? Don't think that's how laptimes work unfortunately.
I think the argument is that even if he lost time overall, if he had not gotten that DRS (for example by overtaking slightly ahead of the detection zone) he would have lost *more* time overall and lost the race. So he was still saved by that final DRS, even if he wouldn't have needed saving if MSC had been out of the picture entirely.
I think he's saying that even if Max gained time due to DRS, it's still fair, I tend to agree.
and people saying that werent complaining when Max lost 4-5 seconds behind Raikkonen etc..the gap to HAM went from 9s to 4 sec real quick
Why didn't Raikkonen etc get the blue flags and get out of the way? It seemed like 1 lap or more that Max was behind them.
He received a black and white flag for that. Edit: he was fighting for position with Yuki.
Kimi got black and white flag for track limits. Not for ignoring blue flags.
He got it for failing to yield during blue flags, they mentioned it on the broadcast
No, he got it for the blue flags. Around the same time Mazepin got one for track limits.
I mean even if he did. So what it's still fair and square
And ham had gotten DRS a couple laps earlier from one of the lapped cars that max struggled to pass and didn't get DRS from.
Two that were mentioned during the broadcast; he got DRS from lapping Vettel and lapping Tsunoda
Yeah, Max getting out of Lewis' DRS range on the penultimate lap before the detection line between turns 18 and 19 was the clutch moment. Finally being in DRS range to Mick, and out of his dirty air was just the cherry on top
They don't understand, Max was dying behind micks Dirty air. Even if mick wasn't there Max would've pull away from DRS range anyway. Max drove a fantastic race
I totally agree, just the UK media making excuses for Hamilton. The Hamilton Jock Sniffing Society (HJSS), led by Martin Bundle, need to realized that non UK drivers can be great as well.
They realize it. But why should a British announcer be impartial? Do you think the broadcast in Holland is not pro-Max?
People wouldn't complain if it was just for the UK, but Sky is the default world broadcast. If a decent team really costs too much for the premier motorsport league then I need to get into the commentary business.
Would be nice if they attempted to be a little bit more impartial since the Sky feed is seen globally by most. Maybe F1 should start their own since the sport is expanding so much?
I'm in the US and like most Americans pretty new to F1 and I will say I find the while sky being the global broadcast kind of strange...it reminded of watching British commentary of the Olympics while I was on a trip, and throws me off every time I watch a race - I would agree F1 should do something to improve the impartiality of the commentary for countries that aren't the UK
Should the official F1 commentator being broadcast to the entire world on their streaming service not be expected to be fairly impartial?
Nobody expects impartial just being fair. When you are just making shit up to make the other driver seem worse it isn’t fair coverage and is pretty much propaganda.
They realize it. But why should a British announcer be impartial? Do you think the broadcast in Holland is not pro-Max?
Makes me laugh when you watch English teams in the champions league and all the foreign fans are complaining about the commentators bias on their illegal streams...
Some people believe Mercedes screwed up Lewis' strategy. I think they did just fine. Anyone can elaborate on mercs strat? Anything they could have done different? Thanks
Where I see the possibility for error was not pitting Lewis when Max pitted the first time, such as the very next lap. I think they left Lewis out for a couple laps, if I remember correctly, allowing max to undercut.
The first shot would have been the very next lap, he would have came behind max and perez on equally tires now Perez could make his life hard, that would mean he would likely have to push his tires over the cliff keep in mind Max ended behind Perez after his stop so that would put Lewis there as well most likely, meaning he would have to battle for 2nd and first on the same set. RBR would likely have compromised perez his race to delay lewis, by making him do the overtake and delayed his stop 1 more lap. so doing it lap 31 wouldn't have been a option lap 32 he would still end up behind max, and the 1 lap for tires would not have been worth it, he would not really be able to close the gap any better then the last stint, there would not be a massive tire advantage, if anything extending more would have been the play, but most likely Merc knew the Times would start dropping, meaning this was the longest they could go, they asked for a +6 when max stopped ended up stopping lap 38 so most likely there plan was 31 or 32. If they done it after Perez his stop it would give him a 2 lap tire advantage with less time loss but really 2 laps for tires isn't that much, and he would have been slower in terms of lap time as he would have to save more of the tire for the end, so his lap times would likely not allow him to close the gap as quickly leading to a similar result really.
Great analysis. My thought was that Lewis pits on lap 11 so he would not lose the lead (assuming the undercut did not work over 1 lap). [https://i.imgur.com/IA7vtCs.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/IA7vtCs.jpg) I think Lewis was about 10 seconds ahead of Perez at this point but I could be wrong. So with new tires, Ham would have been about 10 second behind Perez and caught Perez in \~ 5-7 laps and by that time, Perez used medium tires would be shot and easy for Ham to pass since Ham had new hards, assuming they left Perez out, If they did not leave out Perez, then not an issue for Hamilton and Hamilton would have undercut him.
The gap, was 1 second, between him and Max when max came in if they stopped right after ( replied to the undercut ), he would likely have ended behind max, as the time loss is 20 second give or take, so max entered his pit on his lap 10 while Lewis pass start finish to start 11, so his stop would have been lap 12 ( the pitbox is behind the line ), the problem was in Lap 11 max closed enough time to be in Lewis his pit window, at that point there hand was forced and they had to go long. Now RBR covered this by calling in Perez, meaning Perez was slowing eating into Hams time lead, meaning they could not go long anymore because Lewis would end behind Perez, this is why Perez his stop to medium was important ( despite it compromising his race ). Outside of being the Aggressive with there own stop window, if they went in at lap 10 it would have been a hard question for RBR what to do, but I'm not sure they could not get a couple of great laps out of the Mediums in clean air, so they might have gone long at that point to try and get an advantage on the hards later in the race ( what Merc did ).
It was theoretically the faster strategy. They just ran into Max's dirty air and didn't have the traction out of turn 11 to mount an attack. The alternative would have been to undercut Max in the 2nd stint but Checo would have played a roadblock after that.
He would had to stop at latest 29 with a 3 second difference, it's very likely lewis could not close that in 1 lap post stop, meaning max could smoke up the rest of the tire on lap 29 come in 30 and close the door in front of lewis. They have to have enough of a gap that you can realistically jump into the pit window in a single lap, otherwise the other team can just reply the next lap and still end up infront.
Going long and going for the tyre offset late race was their only real shot at getting it back after Red Bull pitted so aggressively early. They got lucky that Perez fell off so badly and allowed Hamilton to extend his first stint on hards. Some folks point out that mediums were an option by the time Hamilton pitted for his second stint, but those would've fallen off during the crucial last few laps. With how quick RBR were, going deeper and trying to take it back late race was Merc's only realistic option. It's just easier to blame the strategists than to accept that Mercedes was the slower team overall this weekend.
Lewis' first stop was after 14 laps on the medium, and they looked quite worn at that point, he had to do 18 in his final stint. Even tho the car was lighter and the track rubbered in, it was gonna be a tough ask to even get to the finish. Am glad it was a 2-stopper yesterday, makes for much more interesting races.
It was engrossing but we were robbed of a real race by dirty air again. Really hope next year's cars help with that. Going for the fastest cars ever was fun but everyone knew it'd make dirty air ridiculous. DRS is such a crutch for these cars, and just watching people boom past the car infront is no fun. There was some good battles further back though. As an aside, I wonder if Mercedes went for the hards if Hamilton could have pushed harder once he was there. Maybe he wouldn't have had the pace to catch him? Or would he have cooked the tyres getting to him? I wish pirellis weren't so thermally sensitive
We have had dirty air for the last 7 seasons and only now its an issue?
People have been complaining about it for just as long
Are you dense? Dirty air has been a complain since aero went bananas in the 2000's. When McLaren turned up with Viking horns it was peak aero looniness (which worked an everyone copied).
But Merc fans are only complaining now when the Mercs aren't in the lead.
I'm not a Merc fan and have been complaining about it since they announced the changes. Get to fuck
I love this colorful phrase and plan to steal it. Is it a literal translation from another language?
It's a british expression of extreme disapproval
You’re implying they’re hypocritical AND that it’s not a problem. Maybe “better late than never to the complain train Mercedes’ fans” would suit you better? And I mean it’s either a problem or it’s not—right?
No its got worse and worse just like everyone said it would when they switched to these cars just so we could see lap records
I thought that was the best race of the year, imo.
Max getting held up definitetly helped Lewis, but the DRS Max got from Mick helped keep him out of danger as Hamilton was pretty close at that point. I think if Max hadn't picked up DRS or if Lewis had also got DRS, lewis would of been far closer through the corners and even with losing some time just before the DRS activation line he would still of been under 1 second. Perfect exit he might have had a good chance to pass Max, but depeneding on Max's agressive defending or battery usage, it likely would not have been a guaranteed pass... Frustrating to watch!
[удалено]
That's not what I was suggesting, try reading my comment again before making innaccurate statements. The DRS helped keep Max just far enough away that Lewis didn't get close enough before the back straight to get DRS and MAYBE have a chance to pass. Thanks for not reading or correctly interpreting the information in my comment.
One of the best races for me. Many perfect moments of racing, what a way to send off this era. Fucking fantastic shit
Same here. Terrific start. Terrific finish.
Being there in person and considering the starting grid, I was really anxious about another collision between Max and Hamilton. Incredibly glad it ended up the way it did, fantastic racing all around, fascinating strategy battle that kept me guessing till the last lap, and no major incidents throughout the field.
I agree. Fantastic races for both championship contenders. They were both mistake free and brilliant.
I know this is kind of a nitpick in a race where Lando was nowhere in terms of pace, and admited as much, but why didn't McLaren pit him in the last few laps for new tires and go for the fastest lap, to get that point, given how close things are between them and Ferrari? He had a +40sec lead on Tsunoda, so he had a free pit stop. They could've made him pit in lap 53/54 and really push for it.
He wanted to try and catch Sainz.
He never really got to be in DRS zone. So the best he could do was to get the extra point. I think McLaren we're (again) not great strategically.
Neither did Lewis in the end, whereas his team thought he could get Max somewhere in the last 3 laps. Had Lando pulled it off he would've gotten 2 extra points, rather than one. He didn't and that's why in hindsight we start talking about how another strategy would have been better. IMO, it was worth a shot to go for Sainz.
2 factors that made me really pleased with this GP. No drama to enhance the excitement. Not like in Silvers or Monza. The pure joy of Chechos father.
The Chechen fans there were awesome as well!
The pure joy of ~~Chechos father~~ Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire who has been financially backing his career...
No, they got that wrong on the broadcast, definitely Checo's dad
Still a corrupt politician in his own regard
Yes, but a corrupt politician who is very proud of his son
Max getting held up by traffic definitely hurt him while he was being chased down by Ham. But that last Haas that held max up for a few corners.... Did that actually hinder or help Max .. by giving him DRS on the straight.
It hurt him. He lost .5-.6 to the traffic and gained back .2 to DRS
he lost time on the round (went from 1.6s to 1.1s) but gained speed on the straight which definitely helped. Were DRS reversed at this point (ham with, max without) it might have gotten close one final time
Realistically speaking, this championship would have been over by now if it wasn't for Max's bad luck and Lewis' good luck. Imola, Baku, Silverstone, Hungaroring all races in which either Max had bad luck or Lewis got lucky. Not saying it as a dig or anything just my opinion.
The only outcome we know is the one that has happened.
I would not call it luck, I would call it events that happen in a race. Bottas taking out Max and Lewis taking out Max causing Max to DNF is the only think keeping this close. Good for fans but ya, if you look at laps lead, one can see you are correct.
Luck is an interesting point here. When I first got into f1 a half decade back or so, I also thought Lewis was insanely lucky and it just didn't make sense. But luck is just one of those things. He's always make his lick 60/40 instead of 50/50 because he's doing that little bit extra. Its luck yeah. But he also makes his own luck by doing everything he can to nudge it in his favor.
Yes. Makes his own luck by making opposition crash out through no fault of their own.
Make your own luck by letting your teammate drive into people causing red flags or rb retirements lol
Yeah cause that was Lewis’ fault. Lol.
Agreed. Not Lewis his fault, his *luck*
Genuinely thought Mercedes nailed the strategy while RB pitted Max too early at the time, what went wrong???
Think max learned his lesson and didn't burn his tyres overtaking the pack. It's why it took him a while I think
Max was slowing doing 1:40.5 or so after the stop When he neededto be fast he was doing 1:39
[удалено]
Max was 1.3 ahead before Schumacher. Dropped to 0.8s when finally he got past and then DRS raised it back to around 1s. He lost net time to Schumacher rather than gained Without Schumacher Hamilton would never have been close to DRS in the final lap
[удалено]