The F1 thread

roundthebend

That's almost an action replay, or rather yesterday's was of that.
However, Ocon was a lap behind so I think should be less aggressive in the circumstances.

Whatever, it's not very important. 

stickyfiddle

roundthebend said:

That's almost an action replay, or rather yesterday's was of that.
However, Ocon was a lap behind so I think should be less aggressive in the circumstances.

Whatever, it's not very important. 

Of course you could equally argue Max had no reason to be aggressive against Ocon as it wasn't for position. Either way Max doesn't get to be the good guy in both incidents. 

roundthebend

I just wouldn't argue, cos I don't think it's that important. I can see it both ways in both cases. We live in a world where everything, and I mean everything, has to be black or white. You're either with me or against me. I don't like that and try not to get bogged down. Max has done enough to show me that he's a bit ruthless and not really into the fair competition. At the end of the day I'm just a spectator - I've got no skin in the game and I don't even place bets or play Fantasy F1 Manager. So, it doesn't matter. I enjoy the sport, these moments are fun to talk about.

VAR is ruining football, in my opinion, in the same way that these discussions can. It's good to have an opinion, but we don't need to get to an unanimous conclusion.

I thought it was a good race weekend. Plenty of action and great to see George Russell with his first GP.

euan

At least Verstappen has matured, he didn’t try and punch Hamilton. 

Cols

roundthebend said:

That's almost an action replay, or rather yesterday's was of that.
However, Ocon was a lap behind so I think should be less aggressive in the circumstances.

Whatever, it's not very important. 

Ocon got a harsher penalty - 10 second stop/go compared to 5s for Verstappen.

As I recall, he was on new tyres and unlapping himself (which he's entitled to do), but Verstappen chose to defend the corner.  The stewards judged that Ocon was entitled to unlap himself cleanly, but he was not entitled to fight the race leader for track position.

roundthebend

Certainly sounds like the Ocon/Max incident was unnecessary from both parties. 

skullfunkerry

I went on Twitter for the first time in ages today, and there’s an absolute shitstorm happening on there:

• Max’s comments after the race are being taken as basically “I knew he was going to hit me, I didn’t care and it ruined his race, hahaha”
• Apparently Perez has admitted to the Red Bull management that he deliberately crashed in Monaco qualifying last year to ensure that Max wouldn’t get a chance to beat him time (this is unverified though and seems to have only come from someone at Red Bull)
• Max Verstappen’s mum has been saying on Instagram that Checo has been cheating on his wife (her account has since been suspended)
• Loads of people saying “I used to be a Max/RBR fan but not any more”. If I was Red Bull’s publicist I think I’d be switching my phone and internet off about now
  

Someone has tweeted a video of the Max/Ocon incident, with a reminder than Max assaulted Ocon afterwards.

Whether or not any of the Checo stuff is true*, or however you interpret Max’s comments, the whole thing is very unpleasant. It’s like a textbook example of how not to behave with class.

*and if the deliberate crash thing is found to be true, surely the FIA will have to make some very big decisions?

boogieman

Has anyone seen Max’s explanation for “his reasons” for not letting Checo pass him, as per team instructions? Or was he just being an asshole? 

Cols

boogieman said:

Has anyone seen Max’s explanation for “his reasons” for not letting Checo pass him, as per team instructions? Or was he just being an asshole? 

Basically what @skullfunkerry said.

skullfunkerry said:

• Apparently Perez has admitted to the Red Bull management that he deliberately crashed in Monaco qualifying last year to ensure that Max wouldn’t get a chance to beat him time (this is unverified though and seems to have only come from someone at Red Bull).

Verstappen has indirectly admitted that's it's to do with Perez crashing out in Monaco Q3, blocking the track and cementing the grid positions.  Asked specifically if his refusal to let Perez past had to do with Monaco, he said: “You have to decide that for yourself.”  

I'm sure it'll look great on Drive To Survive next year.  

Ultimately it’s a dick move by Verstappen; Perez is no threat to Max’s number 1 status, and there’s no need to stamp authority on him.  Maybe Max feels that he no longer needs Perez to run interference in order to win titles, and therefore there’s no point being gracious towards him.  It’s a shortsighted attitude which will rebound on him; Red Bull are unlikely to have such an easy run to the title next year.

sinbaadi

How can anyone like RBR or Max Verstappen?

They don't seem to be doing any of this for the love of the sport, and definitely not the good of the sport.

I find the way the FIA and the hierarchy have protected them to be so off putting.  

Boromedic

I don't like cheats and Red Bull and Verstappen are great bedfellows in that regard. Shame on the FIA for actively encouraging their high level shit housery.

Cols

sinbaadi said:

How can anyone like RBR or Max Verstappen?

They don't seem to be doing any of this for the love of the sport, and definitely not the good of the sport.

I find the way the FIA and the hierarchy have protected them to be so off putting.  

Apparently his bluntness and zero-bullshit attitude makes him utterly adorable to the Dutch mindset.  On top of that, I’ve heard that when he’s speaking in his native tongue he’s got an excellent sense of humour that doesn’t come across in English.

Personally, I think he’s a childish, entitled cock.

Hoof

Cols said:

sinbaadi said:

How can anyone like RBR or Max Verstappen?

They don't seem to be doing any of this for the love of the sport, and definitely not the good of the sport.

I find the way the FIA and the hierarchy have protected them to be so off putting.  

Apparently his bluntness and zero-bullshit attitude makes him utterly adorable to the Dutch mindset.  On top of that, I’ve heard that when he’s speaking in his native tongue he’s got an excellent sense of humour that doesn’t come across in English.

Personally, I think he’s a childish, entitled cock.

I had started to warm to him purely for his ability, but his actions this weekend have tainted my view of him.

He's like the spoilt little boy who has no friends because he won't share his toys.

Cols

Hoof said:

I had started to warm to him purely for his ability, but his actions this weekend have tainted my view of him.

Certainly his racing has cleaned up remarkably in 2022; there’s been almost none of the signature “Out of the way, Max coming through” overtaking moves or the “drive like the other guy isn’t there” defensive driving.

But rather than this heralding a new mature approach, I suspect that this was just a confidence born of the Red Bull’s technical superiority, and the knowledge that he didn’t need to get his elbows out so much to win races this year.

Scratch the surface, and the bad old Max is still there lurking.

skullfunkerry

Cols said:

Hoof said:

I had started to warm to him purely for his ability, but his actions this weekend have tainted my view of him.

Certainly his racing has cleaned up remarkably in 2022; there’s been almost none of the signature “Out of the way, Max coming through” overtaking moves or the “drive like the other guy isn’t there” defensive driving.

But rather than this heralding a new mature approach, I suspect that this was just a confidence born of the Red Bull’s technical superiority, and the knowledge that he didn’t need to get his elbows out so much to win races this year.

Scratch the surface, and the bad old Max is still there lurking.

I felt like that until the move on Lewis yesterday, which seemed a lot less clean than nearly all his other moves this year. I wonder if he has a deep-seated desire to put one over on Lewis at all costs, to show everyone that he’s the best, or something?

sinbaadi

He's not had to get so rough this year as they've typically had a good performance advantage.

euan

The RB18 has had so much speed on the straights he hasn’t had to do his trademark overspeed into a corner and force opponent into the choice of crashing or getting out of the way. 

Boromedic

All the times Checo helped Max last season, Max is a cunt:

TimmyO

Maybe Max is just banking on being able to do a Vettel style Multi-21 -> Good-guy-Seb transformation later in his career.

Nah, he’s just a crappy human. 

stickyfiddle

Mick out, Hulk in at Haas. 

I'm really glad for Hulk, but sad for Mick. He's not gonna be at the Charles/George/Lewis level but he's not bad and still improving. 

I'm not sure what it says about Haas' ambitions as Hulk is never going to be a champion either. I guess a couple of development years with solid drivers who will bring the car home so they can maximise spending on new parts and not replacement ones.