The F1 thread

Cols

Well, that was a very unpleasant race to watch.

SPOILER ALERT







Verstappen - clearly running off the track at the start in order to get a bit of a sneaky boost.  Didn’t work.  And later tried steaming down the inside for his patented “out of the way, Max coming through” overtaking move.  Which, thankfully, also did not pay dividends.

Up at the sharp end: I was Oscar - who’s an excellent driver - I’d be embarrassed to win my first race in such circumstances.  Norris (after increasingly desperate orders from the team) virtually pulled over and laid out the red carpet for Piastri.

Aside from that - was there any reason for Ricciardo stopping twice in quick succession for hard tyres?  Did he get a puncture?

Haych

Max’ move on Lewis was desperate. He had the faster car and still couldn’t put together a decent overtake. 

When he planted that red bull down the inside of Lewis he was never going to make the turn whatever happened next. 

stickyfiddle

Great PR from Lewis - “I don’t feel like there should be any hostility but there always his from his side”  

https://x.com/sim3744/status/1815074514709225890

Cols

Haych said:

Max’ move on Lewis was desperate. He had the faster car and still couldn’t put together a decent overtake. 

When he planted that red bull down the inside of Lewis he was never going to make the turn whatever happened next. 

Rosberg’s comment was killer - something along the lines of “Somebody should tell Max there’s a corner there, and you do need to turn the wheel at some point...”

TimmyO

Cols said:

Haych said:

Max’ move on Lewis was desperate. He had the faster car and still couldn’t put together a decent overtake. 

When he planted that red bull down the inside of Lewis he was never going to make the turn whatever happened next. 

Rosberg’s comment was killer - something along the lines of “Somebody should tell Max there’s a corner there, and you do need to turn the wheel at some point...”

Well quite

fretmeister

thumpingrug

It is interesting to see how rattled Verstappen has become now that he is no longer in the fastest car.  His radio messages to the team, blaming everyone but him, show utter disrespect for everyone around him.  Perhaps Red Bull is right to hold onto Perez as their long-term driver and should bring in DR in place of Max the child. - that would put him on a naughty step.

The move on Lewis was amateur-hour stuff - utterly pathetic.  

Got to feel for Lando but most teams have a rule about who pits in which order and therefore gains from the undercut - Maclaren had reason not to follow that and it gave Lando more of an advantage than expected.   Should they have required the drivers to swap - I dunno - but it made for a great last few laps.

After a couple of years of Red Bull domination and a bit of a bore fest - the second part of this season is looking good.

skullfunkerry

thumpingrug said:

It is interesting to see how rattled Verstappen has become now that he is no longer in the fastest car.  His radio messages to the team, blaming everyone but him, show utter disrespect for everyone around him.  Perhaps Red Bull is right to hold onto Perez as their long-term driver and should bring in DR in place of Max the child. - that would put him on a naughty step.

The move on Lewis was amateur-hour stuff - utterly pathetic.  

Got to feel for Lando but most teams have a rule about who pits in which order and therefore gains from the undercut - Maclaren had reason not to follow that and it gave Lando more of an advantage than expected.   Should they have required the drivers to swap - I dunno - but it made for a great last few laps.

After a couple of years of Red Bull domination and a bit of a bore fest - the second part of this season is looking good.

Even when he was dominating, a few people had commented on how rude Max is on the radio. Yesterday we had "I thought you were supposed to leave a car's width", "so we're just allowed to drive people off the road now are we" and "he moved under braking". Irony meter explodes.

sinbaadi

He's incredibly frustrating to listen to. 

Lewis did squeeze across.  Max would have been in too deep if he hadn't been squeezed, and Lewis would have gone back underneath him, but the contact wasn't entirely Max's fault.

McLaren are baffling.  How to ruin a 1-2.
Had it been the other way around I would have felt it was a bit unfair, but at least giving Lando the win would have made sense.  If they go on a run of dominant form they could rue this decision.

stickyfiddle

skullfunkerry said:

thumpingrug said:

It is interesting to see how rattled Verstappen has become now that he is no longer in the fastest car.  His radio messages to the team, blaming everyone but him, show utter disrespect for everyone around him.  Perhaps Red Bull is right to hold onto Perez as their long-term driver and should bring in DR in place of Max the child. - that would put him on a naughty step.

The move on Lewis was amateur-hour stuff - utterly pathetic.  

Got to feel for Lando but most teams have a rule about who pits in which order and therefore gains from the undercut - Maclaren had reason not to follow that and it gave Lando more of an advantage than expected.   Should they have required the drivers to swap - I dunno - but it made for a great last few laps.

After a couple of years of Red Bull domination and a bit of a bore fest - the second part of this season is looking good.

Even when he was dominating, a few people had commented on how rude Max is on the radio. Yesterday we had "I thought you were supposed to leave a car's width", "so we're just allowed to drive people off the road now are we" and "he moved under braking". Irony meter explodes.

He's also never accepted even partial responsibility for a crash or near-miss, has he? In 9.5 seasons, and even after the fact?

I certainly don't remember any, and I feel like they'd stick out as being unusual! 

Penn

Max needs a race ban to teach him a lesson. Yesterday wasn’t on. I think Lewis just thought there was no point saying it was all down to Max because he finished ahead anyway. 

Max is just an utter arsehole. I’m no super fan of Lewis but when the team aren’t doing well Lewis doesn’t publicly call them crap and swear at them on the radio. Max has no class. 

Penn

Oh and say what you like about Perez but he’s not on the radio blaming the team or the car when he’s struggling is he?

steer

sinbaadi said:

He's incredibly frustrating to listen to. 

Lewis did squeeze across.  Max would have been in too deep if he hadn't been squeezed, and Lewis would have gone back underneath him, but the contact wasn't entirely Max's fault.

McLaren are baffling.  How to ruin a 1-2.
Had it been the other way around I would have felt it was a bit unfair, but at least giving Lando the win would have made sense.  If they go on a run of dominant form they could rue this decision.

Hamilton took the same racing line that he always took and was actually trying to turn the corner (radical as it seems)  Max was the one with all his wheels locked up and his car heading towards downtown Budapest in an uncontrolled manner. I assume that the stewards thought that Verstappen hurt himself more than anything else and hence no penalty. But if the collision wrecked Hamilton's suspension then I would have expected a penalty for Mad Max to add to his toddler temper tantrum. 

dhaywood67

Penn said:

Oh and say what you like about Perez but he’s not on the radio blaming the team or the car when he’s struggling is he?

Probably too busy apologising and then reminding them the cheques in the post!

fretmeister

stickyfiddle said:

For a guy who qualified 9th he's certainly grinning like the cheshire cat...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqWA3psu6yA

He looks happy there, but I don't see anything that leads me to think he's in the RB soon.
He might have just had a particularly good post Quali kebab.

sinbaadi

Well he's much further to the right much earlier than on a lap where he isn't defending despite starting out wide.

Cols

steer said:

sinbaadi said:

He's incredibly frustrating to listen to. 

Lewis did squeeze across.  Max would have been in too deep if he hadn't been squeezed, and Lewis would have gone back underneath him, but the contact wasn't entirely Max's fault.

McLaren are baffling.  How to ruin a 1-2.
Had it been the other way around I would have felt it was a bit unfair, but at least giving Lando the win would have made sense.  If they go on a run of dominant form they could rue this decision.

Hamilton took the same racing line that he always took and was actually trying to turn the corner (radical as it seems)  Max was the one with all his wheels locked up and his car heading towards downtown Budapest in an uncontrolled manner. I assume that the stewards thought that Verstappen hurt himself more than anything else and hence no penalty. But if the collision wrecked Hamilton's suspension then I would have expected a penalty for Mad Max to add to his toddler temper tantrum. 

The stewards indeed found that Max went steaming in with both fronts locked up and completely missed his turn-in point for a proper overtaking manoeuvre.

On Hamilton’s side, they found that he “could have done more to avoid the collision”, which I assume is why they didn’t slap Max with a penalty.  I suppose that’s true; Lewis could have avoided the collision by moving over, backing off and letting Max sail through triumphantly.

Emiel

Apart from the furious radio ranting, I can understand Verstappens frustration. It seems like his team is truly falling apart and McLaren is now beating them fair and square in both pace and strategy. Red Bulls major update package didn't deliver and it in fact made the car worse to drive (too much understeer, hence Perez doing better during the race).

I'm really curious to see when Verstappen has had enough and switches to Mercedes in 2026 or even next year. Toto is definitely waiting desperately, especially now Antonelli is doing well now in F2.

TimmyO

Emiel said:

Apart from the furious radio ranting, I can understand Verstappens frustration. It seems like his team is truly falling apart and McLaren is now beating them fair and square in both pace and strategy. Red Bulls major update package didn't deliver and it in fact made the car worse to drive (too much understeer, hence Perez doing better during the race).

I'm really curious to see when Verstappen has had enough and switches to Mercedes in 2026 or even next year. Toto is definitely waiting desperately, especially now Antonelli is doing well now in F2.

He'd have beat Lewis on tyre offset if he'd brought the tyres in property and been less red mist about it. The team did their part to optimise his result based on where the cars were at on the day.

He was already too mad to think straight because the car wasn't handling how he wants it. 

That's not a team 'falling apart' imo 

TimmyO

TimmyO said:

Emiel said:

Apart from the furious radio ranting, I can understand Verstappens frustration. It seems like his team is truly falling apart and McLaren is now beating them fair and square in both pace and strategy. Red Bulls major update package didn't deliver and it in fact made the car worse to drive (too much understeer, hence Perez doing better during the race).

I'm really curious to see when Verstappen has had enough and switches to Mercedes in 2026 or even next year. Toto is definitely waiting desperately, especially now Antonelli is doing well now in F2.

He'd have beat Lewis on tyre offset if he'd brought the tyres in property and been less red mist about it. The team did their part to optimise his result based on where the cars were at on the day.

He was already too mad to think straight because the car wasn't handling how he wants it. 

That's not a team 'falling apart' imo 

Although I do also acknowledge that I say all this sat eating a sandwich in Swindon. There's not one of us here who has even an inkling of what it's like to be someone who can do what they do, and to have had to do what they've done to get there. They are ALL outliers and we sit and judge and comment from our poorly informed comfort. (Me as guilty as anyone)