Poll: Official 2025 Qatar Grand Prix Race Thread - Lusail International Circuit - Race 23/24
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Soldato
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Another impressive result from Sainz. I have no idea what they changed in that Williams to suit him and not Albon, but since Azerbaijan he's scored 48pts to Albon's 3.
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No way? This is Max's for the taking. He is the only one out of the three with a Championship mentality. Hopefully Oscar has had enough and starts joining in the racing fun too. Oscar and Max ngaf would make for some hilarious end of season drama.
This season has been proper pants though..It should not be this close at all.
Sainz has been great, bit of a rough start but 2 podiums in a Williams proves they are on the right path. It could be worse, he could be in a Ferrari!
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Soldato
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Season is a runaway win for 1 driver = pants
Season is super close and has 3 drivers in the running at the last race = pants
Season is super close and has 3 drivers in the running at the last race = pants
Comes down to Lando's ability to handle the situation, under pressure even the elite can, and have, made mistakes. The fact he doesn't have to win reduces the pressure considerably but who knows what someone like Lance could do to affect the race. It's been good to have it come down to the last race though.
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'He is the only one out of the three with championship mentality' - Everyone knows Max is stronger mentally but Norris would already be champion if it weren't for the engine DNF and Vegas DQ.
There is this weird attitude that people have developed that seems to think you need to be Max or peak Hamilton level to be a worthy champion in F1, you don't, very few ever get to that level. Button, Rosberg, Villeneuve, Hill... all won championships with mistakes throughout the season. Hamiltons first championship had some big mistakes in as well, he pretty much did the ultimate choke of chokes getting overtaken by Vettel only to luck out with Glock.
Nowadays if you aren't perfect like arguably two of the greatest drivers ever (at their peaks), your title gets dismissed as you not deserving it (I'm not claiming you said that fyi, but i've seen others say it)
It's also annoying because if you gave Norris or Piastri a clear number 2 team mate (like Max, Hamilton, Vettel etc have benefited from over the years) they would have won the WDC ages ago, they'd have had little pressure on them all season and yet they would be deemed as having 'championship mentality'.
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Point of order: it was Lance's team-mate, Fernando, who spun on the track.
If Max wins, it'll be an incredible comeback against a car that easily won the WCC several races ago.
If Norris or Piastri win it, it'll be pretty pants given 1 of them should've won it ages ago. Between their own shortcomings and McLaren's laughable papaya rules and general decision making, I can't think of a more underserving WDC winner in recent history.
He'd also have won it ages ago if he didn't lose position on almost every start, or have some of the worst race craft among the top teams.
Imagine comparing Norris to Rosberg vs peak Lewis, both in one of F1s most dominant car/team. It was almost 10 years ago but you can still remember that battle even though it was a 1 team battle. Button won with Brawn, but was up against really strong teams and drivers, especially in the 2nd half of the season. It's far from the same thing.
Whilst Max is undoubtedly brilliant, Norris (if he loses it) will have lost it due to some rotten luck/McLaren ******* it up.
You can't deny, Max has been gifted with a huge amount of luck over the last few races due to McLaren's **** ups.
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Two races in a row now that they have ****** up both drivers.!
Absolutely ridiculous.
It's pretty much over for Piastri now. Looking at his body language and expressions after the race, he knows it too...He needs Norris to pretty much DNF AND to beat Max by more than 4 points at the same time.
Norris still just needs to get third, and not worry about anything else.
Also, this track should be taken off the calender. It's awful.
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Tbf, Piastri could have done alright but was he beyond the pit entry when the safety car was called? Norris could have been screwed as those behind were a lot closer to him and he may have ended up like Russell.
So all in all best of a bad job perhaps.
If anyone watched the f2 that showed how a safety car can ruin your race. Beganovic was miles in front and pulling away despite being on older tyres than everyone else. Then lost every thing when the safety car came out.
Fornorolli one the race and the title.
Norris got extremely lucky with Antonelli. Get out of jail card. Still plenty of opportunities for it to all go wrong though.
Amazing that Piastri is now behind Verstappen.
He was, but that was a bit of "consolation" luck really, as he'd likely have finished 2nd or 3rd without the safety car/McLaren **** up.
Gives him the same job to do. He just needs to stay out of trouble and finish 3rd. Surely he cant get 3 lots of bad luck on the bounce for all three of the last races of the season..? : /
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This, as the McLaren pits were the first in the queue when the cars were double stacked OP might have got out before the queue of cars entering the pits but doubtful if LN would have done. This I believe is what the McLaren strategists were worried about.
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So Max is winning, Oscar is p3 and Lando is p4 right before the end of the race...
Surely Mclaren swap them in that scenario (a scenario that isn’t even too unlikely)? Oscar would have pretty much no chance of winning the title in that position unless both Max and Lando's cars failed.
Surely Mclaren swap them in that scenario (a scenario that isn’t even too unlikely)? Oscar would have pretty much no chance of winning the title in that position unless both Max and Lando's cars failed.
Pirelli have one job to do and failed. Unacceptable. I suspect they have it written into contracts that this sort of thing is allowed "for safety".
They shouldn't be allowed to mandate limits on the number of laps the tyre does, even if they suspect high deg. It's silly really because any race weekend a team can run a soft for 99% of the grand prix if they want to and risk a blow out at 200mph, but when Pirelli decide a tyre could have high deg they step in completely moving the goal posts and strategy of all teams. I don't like it.
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and ? lots of drivers could have won championships sooner without mistakes. It's hardly a unique trait to Norris.
You keep talking about his mistakes, poor starts etc as a sign of him being weak but you seem to purposely be ignoring the fact that he went on a run of consistently outperforming his team mate at the most clutch point in the season, pulling back a large points gap at a time when he couldn't afford any major screw ups. He went from almost being out of the title race to leading it, and would have won the title earlier without McLarens technical issues. This against a team mate who has been highly rated for a long time, even before F1, a team mate half this forum thought was a future champ at one point (he could still be)... all whilst having social media call you weak or a bottler.
Im not saying Norris has driven some flawless amazing season, max has been the best driver but your outlook on his performances are extremely one sided to the point you will ignore the good run he went on that turned his title bid around and instead focus on small mistakes, mostly at the start of the season.
It seems that because Norris has outperformed Piastri, the view amongst some is that rather than Norris being good, it's actually just Piastri being poor and they are both in-fact mid. It's a view commonly held and sold by Red Bull/Max fans. Im not sure why they feel the need to do it given Max is universally viewed as the best driver by some distance, but i guess dumping on ones rival is a tale as old as time.
Also i think you need to factor in that this is Norris and Piastri's first time in a truly high pressure environment, they are not seasoned veterans of battling for titles. The first title is often the hardest, and it gets even harder when you have arguably the greatest driver ever chasing you down and making no mistakes in a car which on its day is still very competitive. It's like you almost underestimate just how good Max is, you can be a worse driver than him (Norris/Piastri) and still be extremely talented and be deemed to have WDC calibre.
TLDR - You're overly harsh on Norris
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