Poll: Official 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix Race Thread - Las Vegas Strip Circuit - Race 22/24

[I_M_Weasel]

I think you've misunderstood what I meant to say. Lewis was the faster driver this weekend. He was faster in Q1 and Q2 and then he borked it up completely whereas didn't stuff up and then drove a flawless race so he deserves the win. When I say "should" I mean Lewis had the pace and he blew it in Q3. That's got to frustrate him, for all that he was able to mount a brilliant recovery from P10 to P2 in the race.

He must be gutted that even an 'ok' Q3 would have given him a great chance of the win. Well deserved win by George though and I guess he had some performance in reserve.

 

[I_M_Weasel]

I thought Perez was pretty ordinary. Sure, he had places to make up, but in that car he should have picked up more than 10th, and he was still half a lap off Max at the end. Yuki surely making a good case to be his replacement for next year, finishing a second ahead in a slower car.

Why would Sainz and Ferrari have a penalty? What did I miss?

Went into the solid white pit entry lane and then crossed the line to not pit.

Is Max great in that car or is Perez Rubbish - bit of both I guess. Hard to justify keeping him unless you just never want your No1 to be challenged in anyway.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Hopefully we get a different WDC next year, looks possible.

 

[Scam]

Same with Zak Brown

I know Trump visited their garage and that was obviously a massive error, but I’ve not seen any evidence that he actually supports Trump He was born and raised in LA, seems unlikely. But if he does, he’s not spouting off about it like Danica did.

 

[Mr Jack]

Went into the solid white pit entry lane and then crossed the line to not pit.

That's not a penalty unless the Race Director's Notes for the event indicate it as such - and they rarely do. Without such an indication, the rule is only that drivers entering the pits must stay inside the pit entry/exit lines; so drivers who are not entering the pits can cross them without penalty. Here the notes only indicate which lines are considered to be the pit entry lane lines (which is necessary here since it's a street circuit with other lines about, but they often do anyway) so what Sainz did is not an infringement of the rules.

 

[booyaka]

Good drive from Lewis for 2nd. That's up there with the comfiest win of George's career - never challenged.

Well done Max for the title...

Not a classic by any means but a decent race

 

[Mesai]

Went into the solid white pit entry lane and then crossed the line to not pit.

Is Max great in that car or is Perez Rubbish - bit of both I guess. Hard to justify keeping him unless you just never want your No1 to be challenged in anyway.

With the Perez sponsorship money it’s like winning the WCC but they get more aero and CAD time.

At some point they’ll want to win it again, at which point they’ll probably drop Perez, but for now it works especially with Newey leaving and new regs.

 

[I_M_Weasel]

That's not a penalty unless the Race Director's Notes for the event indicate it as such - and they rarely do. Without such an indication, the rule is only that drivers entering the pits must stay inside the pit entry/exit lines; so drivers who are not entering the pits can cross them without penalty. Here the notes only indicate which lines are considered to be the pit entry lane lines (which is necessary here since it's a street circuit with other lines about, but they often do anyway) so what Sainz did is not an infringement of the rules.

I don't disagree - just saying that is why there is talk of a penalty.

 

[I_M_Weasel]

With the Perez sponsorship money it’s like winning the WCC but they get more aero and CAD time.

At some point they’ll want to win it again, at which point they’ll probably drop Perez, but for now it works especially with Newey leaving and new regs.

I said much the same earlier in the thread - they've got away with not having a solid number 2 this year, but if the gap stays this close next year they will need to do better.

 

[Finners]

With the Perez sponsorship money it’s like winning the WCC but they get more aero and CAD time.

At some point they’ll want to win it again, at which point they’ll probably drop Perez, but for now it works especially with Newey leaving and new regs.

If it's a conscious decision to get more development allowance, I hope they do the decent thing and pay their employees a bonus like when they win the WCC. Imagine designing and building a car good enough for the title but management actively underachieve, I'd be fuming not to get my bonus worth thousands.

 

[Slogan]

Is Max great in that car or is Perez Rubbish - bit of both I guess. Hard to justify keeping him unless you just never want your No1 to be challenged in anyway.

Definitely a bit of both and as such, really hard to define how the car relates to the others in terms of the season as a whole. Nice double overtake today but his highlights reel for this year would not be a long one.

 

[MrKnifey]

Enjoyed that one!

 

[Feek]

Oh well. So is it worth watching a rerun of the race, or highlights? Or neither?

Yes, worthwhile watching. Despite getting up at 04:30, I didn’t nod off. Considering I generally drop off for most races, that’s a positive.

 

[CSMonkeh]

Well, I suppose it was inevitable….

Now, do they push on for 2025 or chuck the budget to the new regs in 2026…

Be interesting to see what the top 3/4 do

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Went into the solid white pit entry lane and then crossed the line to not pit.

Is Max great in that car or is Perez Rubbish - bit of both I guess. Hard to justify keeping him unless you just never want your No1 to be challenged in anyway.

Max is excellent, Perez is crap and they’ve put most of their limited budget into Max’s car.

 

[Mr Jack]

Now, do they push on for 2025 or chuck the budget to the new regs in 2026…

They're not allowed to start work on the 2026 car until the start of next year, so any budget and wind tunnel/CFD time they have left from this year can't be used to develop it.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Demon drive by Hamilton.

Perfect race by Russell.

Just enough drive by Verstappen.

Not giving a monkey’s drive by Sainz.

 

[Scam]

Max is excellent, Perez is crap and they’ve put most of their limited budget into Max’s car.

See this is the problem. I'd love to see someone demonstrably fast come into RB and show Max up, but he's so well protected by the three horseman of the apocalypse that it'll never happen. All the recent stuff coming to light about when Sainz was there, they've proven themselves to undermine his teammate whenever possible. Such a shame, maybe they get what they deserve with Perez. That whole approach should change rather quickly if Max is not winning races next season though. You can win a WCC with two consistent drivers even if they don't scrape the WDC. If you're not winning the WDC and you have one useless driver ala Perez, you'll never win the WCC.

 

[cuke2u]

Simply lovely, well done Max and fully deserved.
Amazing race pace from Lewis..

 

[Mesai]

See this is the problem. I'd love to see someone demonstrably fast come into RB and show Max up, but he's so well protected by the three horseman of the apocalypse that it'll never happen. All the recent stuff coming to light about when Sainz was there, they've proven themselves to undermine his teammate whenever possible. Such a shame, maybe they get what they deserve with Perez. That whole approach should change rather quickly if Max is not winning races next season though. You can win a WCC with two consistent drivers even if they don't scrape the WDC. If you're not winning the WDC and you have one useless driver ala Perez, you'll never win the WCC.

Team culture aside (and the fact that you just hate RB), he is the better driver.

Norris was pretty highly rated, but just shows that you need more than the fastest car to be a Champion. You aren't going to find many drivers who could actually compete with Max in the same car. Maybe Alonso or Lewis when they're in the right mental state; maybe Charles - that's about it for the current grid.