Poll: Official 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Thread - Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Sao Paulo - Round 21
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Soldato
Imo that was one of the best sprints we've had. Shame Danny Ric lost the place to Piastri. I reckon he'd get both Sainz and Lewis at the end if he hasn't lost those those few laps getting past Piastri.
Should be good race tomorrow.
Should be good race tomorrow.
Maybe but I also think that's part of the point, less setup time means more likely that teams gamble on setups, etc and make the racing a bit more unpredictable
He didn't when Russell passed him for 2nd either
Literally a non existent defence. How disappointing. Reversed Max would have ran someone into the wall until they yielded or crashed.
McLaren need the points if they want any chance of staying ahead of Aston Martin in the constructors. Actually finishing is more important. They may also have some designs on catching Ferrari if they can.
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Soldato
Yeah let's defend against a car that is eventually going to breeze past you with DRS wide open no matter what, take life out of your tyres and make yourself vulnerable to other cars behind you on a track that's good for overtaking. Sounds like a great strategy.
And there in is the problem
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Horrible for Merc. Hamilton especially just completely dropped off the pace very early which is unusual. He's normally been better at keeping the tyres going than George.
I think they are going to have a horrible race tomorrow, and Lewis' chance at p2 will evaporate.
The car they've built really does seem so inconsistent/a bit of a diva. It just seems so difficult to get it in the right window in terms of setup and tyre temp etc.
The closing speed of Perez with DRS on the two Mercs down the main straight was absolutely insane.
I think they are going to have a horrible race tomorrow, and Lewis' chance at p2 will evaporate.
The car they've built really does seem so inconsistent/a bit of a diva. It just seems so difficult to get it in the right window in terms of setup and tyre temp etc.
The closing speed of Perez with DRS on the two Mercs down the main straight was absolutely insane.
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George was saying before FP that he expected more penalties for plank wear, I’m not sure he specified this track though. But maybe Merc felt they had to play it safe, given the lack of practice time?
Besides RB, most of these ground effect cars seem very inconsistent. I’ve said it all season and it’s super frustrating to watch. And the tyres are just ridiculous, what was Toto saying after qualifying that the track temp dropped a few degrees therefore everyone’s times were +0.5secs? I mean jeez I enjoy the technical aspect but this is getting silly..
Commissario
Exactly. Drivers used to race anyone. I’m getting a little fed up with the “it’s not his race” comments we’ve been hearing a lot of recently. If someone is trying to overtake, if you’re not being blue flagged then it IS your race.
I have to say I think DRS may well be to blame for a lot of it.
We all know that most days the Red Bull is the fastest car (in Max's hands anyway) and that it seems to vary between McLaren, Ferrari and Merc for 2,3,4 but drivers (Maybe Alonso aside) do seem to just not bother defending against a car they see as "superior" anymore and in fairness a quicker car + DRS makes it pointless to waste time defending.
I remember the old days where you had folks races totally ruined by drivers out of position in a very fast car who just couldn't get past an Arrows, Sauber or Lotus.
That said at this stage of the season I can't blame Norris for wanting to have a clean race and avoid contact at the start, why fight at the start risking contact when he can re-pass in a few laps more cleanly with DRS?
My thoughts exactly
Soldato
Then you don't understand Formula 1.
Did you hear how lacklustre he was on his sprint p1?
Kind of concerning.
Hope he's OK. Even though I'm not fond of him at all, sometimes the self Criticism etc makes me wonder.
Great race track but I wasn't really interested. I think my f1 love is dwindling as this was a great track/race but I just can't connect anymore.
A lot of that is supporting alpine. A team with no soul now. And 2 mediocre drivers. In a mediocre car.
This has been by far the most disconnected year for me.
Nonsense. Lando legitimately got pole position for the sprint, he was faster than Max. If he's going to look at the stats afterwards and say "Oh well Max is going to get past me eventually, I may as well not fight him" then he might as well jog on and give the seat to someone who will. You never know what might happen.. If he managed to stay within DRS for a few laps and force Max to defend even for a lap or two it might have wrecked Max's tyres a little more and left him vulnerable towards the end. You just don't know. If you can do a lap that puts you on pole then you're completely entitled to race for the win. Why on earth wouldnt you. Lando is fast going down in my estimations. He needs to crawl out of Max's rear and and grow a pair of bog boy balls. Otherwise Piastri is going to well and truly embarrass him.
I agree. I've said it a million times but it's why we have boring "drive past on the motorway" passes all the time. Why bother doing a hard overtake round the outside, or diving up the inside at the last minute when you can sit in the DRS zone until the start/finish straight and breeze past like you're eating your sandwiches in the backseat of a Ford Fiesta on your way to Great Yarmouth. Yawn.
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Its the double benefit of being max.
He's so good in such a good car there really is no point. Makes total sense. If its inevitable, just let him go.
F1 would be a lot better to watch without max. That's not to take anything away from him, but it really would.
Soldato
there was a bit of audio before he was told he had P1 where he was saying 'why am I so **** at qualifying', he'd had a horrible first couple of corners and was a few tenths down after sector 2 but with the fresh softs had an amazing sector 3. Then he was told it was P1. So he genuinely thought it was a bad lap as it kinda was.
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Soldato
No driver is going to fight and waste time fighting the likes of Max when they're on different strategies or out of position, they're not there to give you a little extra entertainment but to finish as high as possible. It's very sensible and their own race engineers often tell them to do just that. Just using one example from yesterday is not very helpful when people are making sweeping statements in general about drivers not fighting certain overtakes. Drs is also a big factor.
You can call it nonsense all you want but it's the most effective strategy just like managing tyres etc. It's a part of the sport. Get used to it.
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