Poll: Official 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Race Thread - Autódromo José Carlos Pace - Race 21/24

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I'm not a fan of Max at all, infact I strongly dislike him, his attitude in the car when something remotely isn't quite right , and the way he defensively drives and I'll support almost anyone on the grid over him, however credit where credit is due that was a very impressive drive.

I did find it interesting that earlier in the race he got stuck behind Leclerc for a good number of laps despite being massively faster catching him up. The same happened to Norris and others at various points. There was of course no DRS (rightly so at the time) but it should have been enabled in the last 15 laps as it was more than dry enough and offline was then ok too. The way he built the gap to 19 seconds by the end.. was nuts.

As well as Verstappen did, what happened to McLaren's pace from Quali and from the sprint race? Piastri was nowhere and Lando go stuck behind Russell for ages and couldn't get pass Leclerc or the Alpines. Apparently they made some changes to the rear wing due to the weather, was that the main reason and that screwed their race?

Red flag and pit stop was entirely predictable that Max was going to stay out and somehow get lucky, I literally said it the second Russell and Norris pitted. It is luck... and it's also not fair. But then again the same is probably true of the red flag in quali. As Brundle likes to say, things probably even out over a season.


Other things:

Once again shows Stroll shouldn't be anywhere near an F1 seat.
Bearman had a very tough race, but had never driven an F1 car in the wet before so you have to forget that one.
Rain makes for a more interesting race.
 
redeye said:
I'm not a fan of Max at all, infact I strongly dislike him, his attitude in the car when something remotely isn't quite right , and the way he defensively drives and I'll support almost anyone on the grid over him, however credit where credit is due that was a very impressive drive.

I did find it interesting that earlier in the race he got stuck behind Leclerc for a good number of laps despite being massively faster catching him up. The same happened to Norris and others at various points. There was of course no DRS (rightly so at the time) but it should have been enabled in the last 15 laps as it was more than dry enough and offline was then ok too. The way he built the gap to 19 seconds by the end.. was nuts.

As well as Verstappen did, what happened to McLaren's pace from Quali and from the sprint race? Piastri was nowhere and Lando go stuck behind Russell for ages and couldn't get pass Leclerc or the Alpines. Apparently they made some changes to the rear wing due to the weather, was that the main reason and that screwed their race?

Red flag and pit stop was entirely predictable that Max was going to stay out and somehow get lucky, I literally said it the second Russell and Norris pitted. It is luck... and it's also not fair. But then again the same is probably true of the red flag in quali. As Brundle likes to say, things probably even out over a season.


Other things:

Once again shows Stroll shouldn't be anywhere near an F1 seat.
Bearman had a very tough race, but had never driven an F1 car in the wet before so you have to forget that one.
Rain makes for a more interesting race.
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To think people thought Bernie was mad [ well yeh he was a bit ] when he suggested tracks should have sprinklers.
 
What did Lewis mean with his radio message "To all the guys that are p***ed off, if this is the last time that I get to perform, it's a shame, It wasn't great, but great for you".
 
cuke2u said:
What did Lewis mean with his radio message "To all the guys that are p***ed off, if this is the last time that I get to perform, it's a shame, It wasn't great, but great for you".
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He didn't say '****** off' I don't think, the video circulating sounds to me like "all the guys at the pit stop"

Seen it quoted elsewhere as:
That was a disaster of a weekend guys. That is the worst the car has ever been. But thank you for continuing to try. Great job from all the guys at the pitstop.

If this is the last time that I get to perform, it's a shame it wasn't great, but I'm grateful for you.
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Still cryptic nonetheless - maybe he was told (or agreed?) that if he wasn't putting in top tier competitive results then Antonelli would get the last few drives to try and bed him in better for next season?
 
jaybee said:
Piastri also makes mistakes but I think could be the possibility as he's a cool customer mentally.
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Can't remember any actual mistakes he's made but my memory is shocking. He just seems to have given up for this season, right when he could have helped Norris a little bit he's been nowhere. Before the last few races I would have reckoned him and Lewis are the most likely to take on Max next year. But it's all car dependant, obviously.
I_M_Weasel said:
I wonder if Lando and Mclaren were remembering back to when he threw away a potential win in Russia by staying out too long.
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I'm sure that had a part in the decision making, consciously or not.
cuke2u said:
What did Lewis mean with his radio message "To all the guys that are p***ed off, if this is the last time that I get to perform, it's a shame, It wasn't great, but great for you".
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Maybe something to do with the fact they've come out and said they'll just be using the remainder of the season to test bits/tuning on the car? If that's the focus then it doesn't bode well for getting a good result anywhere.
Kenai said:
maybe he was told (or agreed?) that if he wasn't putting in top tier competitive results then Antonelli would get the last few drives to try and bed him in better for next season?
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You mean sit him out for the last few races? That would be insanely stupid, talk about a **** send off!
 
Piastri literally screwed up in qualifying.

It’s a silly comparison anyway, Piastri has no pressure on him relative to Norris.

It’s much easier to be the ice man when you’ve never experienced squeaky bum time in a title fight or had to battle someone like Max regularly.
 
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Kenai said:
He didn't say '****** off' I don't think, the video circulating sounds to me like "all the guys at the pit stop"
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It was played at the end of the race, wasn't it? I'm sure I heard it then. Yeah, I think that transcript is more accurate than the one @cuke2u posted, but I'm still not convinced: there's a long pause between "if this is the last time" and "that I get to perform". I saw speculation elsewhere that Merc are changing the pit crew out for the last few races, maybe he says "...the last time I get the guys for" which seems to make more sense overall: "Great job from all the guys at the pitstop. If this is the last time that I get the guys for, it's a shame it wasn't great, but I'm grateful for you." at least seems coherent?

I dunno, comes across kind of cryptic so, naturally, the internet is losing its marbles :D
 
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Mr Jack said:
It was played at the end of the race, wasn't it? I'm sure I heard it then. Yeah, I think that transcript is more accurate than the one @cuke2u posted, but I'm still not convinced: there's a long pause between "if this is the last time" and "that I get to perform". I saw speculation elsewhere that Merc are changing the pit crew out for the last few races, maybe he says "...the last time I get the guys for" which seems to make more sense overall: "Great job from all the guys at the pitstop. If this is the last time that I get the guys for, it's a shame it wasn't great, but I'm grateful for you." at least seems coherent?

I dunno, comes across kind of cryptic so, naturally, the internet is losing its marbles :D
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Apologies if the transcript was wrong, I just copied and pasted it from the interweb. https://www.planetf1.com/news/unhea...io-message-reveals-tough-opinion-mercedes-w15
You could be right if that is the last race for that particular pitcrew but he does seem rather fed up.
 
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Apparently Lewis wanted to revert to the old setup that George has before the start of the weekend but they wouldn't let him because they need more data to improve the car. I didn't believe the sabotage rumors but it does make you wonder, it would be in Merc's interests to improve George's reputation for the sponsors. I think Lewis is just getting fed up of being used as a guinea pig with dodgy setups and might want to voluntarily sit out the last few races.
 
Scam said:
To be honest I don't think Lando has done either of those two things, either :)
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He has had VASTLY more expectation and pressure on him than Piastri since McLaren got the best car in Miami. Look at all the grief he gets in comments on social media about choking etc then compare to Piastri who has been mostly outperformed by Norris this season yet gets called a future WDC by some based on him having a cool head in seemingly low pressure circumstances whilst getting outperformed more often than not by the supposed choker Norris. Bizarre stuff

Look at Max, last season cool as a cucumber because no competition, this season he gets in a mini title battle and the dodgy driving rears its head as do a few mistakes.

Being in a title fight (even if it’s a long shot) adds a level of pressure that Piastri (and most drivers to be fair) haven't experienced yet. It's why I have doubts about Leclerc reaching his full potential, if you make big errors when you're not even in a title fight then how are you going to hold up when you're finally in one and it gets to squeeky bum time ? hopefully we find out next season.
 
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imtoooldforthis said:
He has had VASTLY more expectation and pressure on him than Piastri since McLaren got the best car in Miami. (Snip)
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Oh I totally agree, the British media is the worst at building someone up then knocking them down.

I was being slightly facetious though, I don’t think the title race ever got to “squeaky bum time” and really if you think about it Lando and Max really haven’t raced wheel to wheel that much this season. The fight has been to score points when the other guy doesn’t.

I still like Lando, but as you said about Charles I’m not sure if they’ve really got the mettle. You just can’t make mistakes at this stage, you just don’t stand a chance if it does get to a real title fight.
 
Scam said:
Oh I totally agree, the British media is the worst at building someone up then knocking them down.

I was being slightly facetious though, I don’t think the title race ever got to “squeaky bum time” and really if you think about it Lando and Max really haven’t raced wheel to wheel that much this season. The fight has been to score points when the other guy doesn’t.

I still like Lando, but as you said about Charles I’m not sure if they’ve really got the mettle. You just can’t make mistakes at this stage, you just don’t stand a chance if it does get to a real title fight.
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I agree it never got to proper squeaky bum time but it got far enough that Sketchy Max had to make his first appearance since 2021 and far enough that you have people in this thread saying 'Lando threw away the title', which is a mental take but one that I see repeated on social media by lots of people.
 
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imtoooldforthis said:
I agree it never got to proper squeaky bum time but it got far enough that Sketchy Max had to make his first appearance since 2021 and far enough that you have people in this thread saying 'Lando threw away the title', which is a mental take but one that I see repeated on social media by lots of people.
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Between Norris and McLaren, they’ve lost a bucket-load of points through errors of their own making.

Not sure how you can think that they’ve maximised their points haul at every race.
 
Mesai said:
Between Norris and McLaren, they’ve lost a bucket-load of points through errors of their own making.

Not sure how you can think that they’ve maximised their points haul at every race.
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I don't think they've maximised their points haul at every race, far from it but I don't understand how anyone can reasonably claim Norris has thrown away the title. It's such an advantage to have a big lead, you are not the one who has to finish ahead of your rival every race, you can afford mistakes whereas the guy behind you in the points can't.

Norris could indeed be closer if he had had better starts or McLaren had better strategy but it was clear after Hungary that it was going to be a very big ask for Norris to catch Verstappen. I'm not sure how the narrative got spun so much that people came to the conclusion that he should catch Verstappen. To win it he would have needed to go on some beast mode run like Hamilton did in 2021 and to go on that beast mode run Hamilton required a dominant car, something that McLaren had for a while but then lost somewhat once Ferraris upgrades arrived and they were able to win the last two races prior to this weekend. I don't think anyone on the grid other than Verstappen (and Hamilton and Alonso based on history rather than current performance levels) is probably capable of going on the kind of run that would have been required for Norris to win this year. What do they all have in common, years of experience of fighting at the front.

This is the first time McLaren have been in any sort of title fight since 2012 and this season is the first experience Norris has ever had of having a frontrunning/race winning car, let alone fighting for a title (albeit an unlikely one). Meanwhile, they are going up against a driver and team who have dominated F1 in recent times.

Norris did not throw away a title, Verstappen won it. You can't throw away something that was never really in reach.
 
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