Best driver: Verstappen

Worst driver: Latifi

Best team: Red Bull

Worst team: Alpha Tauri

Best overtake: Max on Lewis - perfect timing to within a metre of the permitted line

Worst overtake: Hamilton's attempt on Sainz

Best moment: Perez + Vettel v Hamilton

Worst moment: Sainz's unsafe release

Best thing about the race: Great atmosphere

Worst thing about the race: That no one can raise their game enough to challenge Verstappen

 

And the race in a sentence - Something about Dutch Masters or the future being orange.

Edited September 4, 20222 yr by Severin

Ferrari really need to sack some people and hire new ones, they're becoming a joke

Ferrari really need to sack some people and hire new ones, they're becoming a joke

For that to work Ferrari would need to change their entire ethos. One of the great things about them is that they almost exclusively hire from within and are fiercely loyal to their staff. It was one of the Old Man's most important rules and was really only ever broken during the Schumacher period, admittedly this was after his death, and adherence to it means they may not always get the best staff but they do remain true to their spirit.

 

I've said it before but Ferrari are only ever occasionally the best, the Schumacher and Lauda eras are the only times since the 60s that they've been truly great but they're almost always near the sharp end. For the Tifosi, their devotion to remaining themselves is what marks them out as special and it's far preferable to the somewhat faceless machine that Mercedes have become since their return.

 

 

Best driver: Verstappen

Worst driver: Ricciardo

Best team: Mercedes [best raw pace they've shown all year]

Worst team: Alfa Romeo

Best overtake: Schumacher on Vettel [this was brilliant, never seen an overtake round there before]

Worst overtake: Sainz on Ocon

Best moment: The late SC made it a frantic ending

Worst moment: Vettel having zero awareness on pit exit

Best thing about the race: Showed Zandvoort can put on a good show (last year's race was dull as f***)

Worst thing about the race: Merc still didn't quite get that win :(

 

And the race in a sentence: Max makes it ten, he's a king amongst men

I'm a little gutted Merc didn't get the win after looking SO good this weekend but to be honest I actually think they did the right thing splitting tyre strategy at the end there (excellent call from George actually, what a smart driver he's turning into). Had they put both on softs yes they would have banked a 2-3 but by leaving one out at the front there was always a *slight* chance of a Max mistake on having to pull off an overtake. I don't agree that leaving them both out on old mediums was the optimal strategy as that way they'd have both been passed by both Max & Charles and only come away with a 3-4. It's actually a carbon copy of what Ferrari did at Silverstone, leaving the lead car out on used tyres and pitting the second car for new softs (and that lead car ultimately falls to 4th). Huge upturn in pace from Spa all the same!

 

Loving all the conspiracy theories about Tsunoda's retirement too. I don't think ANYTHING would have stopped Max from winning, he's just on a different planet to everyone else right now.

Edited September 5, 20222 yr by Dobbo.

For all those saying Max winning is boring, we've had 5 years of Lewis winning by 30s or more.

 

Just because it's a different team or person, doesn't mean it's any less boring, and it's only gone back to the team who made it boring in some of the seasons before Mercedes domination.

 

However, this seasons title race shouldn't have been like this. The gap to Leclerc should be at least half the size.

Edited September 5, 20222 yr by RabbitFurCoat

Think people forget that not all 4 of Vettels titles were a cakewalk. He had to fight on quite hard against Alonso at times who was also, like Leclerc, fighting Ferrari

Well it was very much 2 and 2, which is why I said some. I just don't feel that comfortably the second most successful team of the last 15 years coming to take over from Mercedes is some kind of brilliant and worthwhile change. There have been some really good races this year, but overall it's been pretty boring, and even the midfield has now settled to the point that both Alpines and Norris are usually always best of the rest. 7 different podium finishers must be close to being a record low? 17 & 18 were had that too, the same three teams at the top every single race was probably when I paid least attention to the sport.

 

 

Edited September 6, 20222 yr by RabbitFurCoat

I think it's certainly true to say that the title fight this year has been pretty much a foregone conclusion for some time and hasn't been exciting, especially following last year. However, the truth is that they rarely are these days.

On the flip side although Vertsappen may well be dominating this year, he's doing in a car that is only marginally better than the Ferrari yet wringing every ounce of pace from it week after week, in a manner that a very capable driver like Perez just can't. Verstappen at Spa in particular was a stunningly impressive drive, and I really can't understand how people can watch an exceptional drive like that and call it boring. Many of the greatest in the sport's history have made their names on such feats (Senna, Schumacher, Clark, Fangio, Lauda and Hamilton spring to mind) and personally it's a privilege to watch a driver establish themselves as an all time great. After all it doesn't happen that often

I think it's certainly true to say that the title fight this year has been pretty much a foregone conclusion for some time and hasn't been exciting, especially following last year. However, the truth is that they rarely are these days.

On the flip side although Vertsappen may well be dominating this year, he's doing in a car that is only marginally better than the Ferrari yet wringing every ounce of pace from it week after week, in a manner that a very capable driver like Perez just can't. Verstappen at Spa in particular was a stunningly impressive drive, and I really can't understand how people can watch an exceptional drive like that and call it boring. Many of the greatest in the sport's history have made their names on such feats (Senna, Schumacher, Clark, Fangio, Lauda and Hamilton spring to mind) and personally it's a privilege to watch a driver establish themselves as an all time great. After all it doesn't happen that often

 

Amen to that

 

Max’s driving this year has been almost flawless. He will become one of the all time greats

Yeah I get the sense that Perez, the two Ferrari's, and the two Mercedes are all capable of beating one another on any particular day (they are all in a tight group in the points standings), but none of them can touch Max. He is just simply dominating, and it's not simply just his equipment puts him in that position.

 

What you're seeing right now is pretty much unpresidented. What's he going to end up with 15?, 16? wins. Unheard of. Enjoy history.

Edited September 6, 20222 yr by DJHazey

Max's Belgium drive may be regarded as one of the best ever, but the fact it was so predictable stops it from being some kind of classic race for me. I didn't watch the full thing as I was only in a pub where it was on, but I absolutely get how people would have found that boring. He started 14th and was favourite for the race, with the conversation being dominated by when will he take the lead, rather than how high he could get. The race was effectively decided once the safety care came out on the third(?) lap, hardly a classic.

Edited September 6, 20222 yr by RabbitFurCoat

What you're seeing right now is pretty much unpresidented. What's he going to end up with 15?, 16? wins. Unheard of. Enjoy history.

If he maintains his 2022 season average Max will win 14 out of 22 races this year, which would be a record number of wins but at 63% would fall some way short of the highest percentage in a season.

 

1952 Ascari 75%

2004 Schumacher 72.22%

1963 Clark 70%

2013 Vettel 68.42%

1954 Fangio 66.67%

2002 Schumacher 64.71%

2020 Hamilton 64.71%

 

However, his win rate in the last five races is 80% which would suggest probably six more wins which would put him on 72.7% and 2nd in the all time list, a fraction ahead of Schumacher.

 

 

It should be noted though that in 1952 Ascari did not enter the first race and the only race he didn't win was the Indy 500. No driver has ever been as dominant as he was that year

Yeah it's only unheard of because there's never been so many races in a season before. If the 2013 season for example was 22 races like this season then Vettel would have won 16 races that season the way he was driving.

What do you think have been the biggest wastes of potential in the history of F1?

What do you think have been the biggest wastes of potential in the history of F1?

 

 

Stirling Moss refusing to drive anything but British cars

 

Also -

 

The following all died before being able to realise their full and huge potential - Jim Clark, Francois Cevert, Gilles Villeneuve, Ronnie Peterson, Elio De Angelis, Stefan Bellof

 

Serious accidents that negated a driver's ability to fully harness their talent - Martin Brundle, Didier Pironi and Johnny Herbert

 

Career's spent plugging away in poor machinery through loyalty - Jean Alesi, Gerhard Berger

 

Career's spent plugging away in poor machinery through bad choices/character - Jacques Villeneuve and Fernando Alonso

 

Cursed by eternal bad luck - Chris Amon (see also Jean Alesi)

I'd also add Kubica to your second category^ without that rally crash I'm sure he'd have been a world champion. IMO he was the best driver in the 2008 season and might have actually won it that year as well had BMW not switched their focus to the season after.

I'd also add Kubica to your second category^ without that rally crash I'm sure he'd have been a world champion. IMO he was the best driver in the 2008 season and might have actually won it that year as well had BMW not switched their focus to the season after.

Yep, totally agree that he should be included. I'm sure there are others I've omitted but I only did those that sprang to mind straight away.

 

Also worth a mention are Emerson Fittipaldi, who won two titles then spent years racing crap cars for his brothers team, effectively throwing away a great career, and Mario Andretti whose decision to race in F1 part time meant his tally of wins and titles could probably be doubled at least.

 

And it's up for debate that Senna could be included, given how close Damon Hill came to winning in 1994 it's not a stretch to claim he'd have won the title that year, and if still at Williams would have probably won in 1996 and 97 (depending on what Schumacher does at Benetton but there's big ifs there)

I'm driver market news:

• Alpine are apparently after Gasly
• AlphaTauri apparently want to snap up Herta from Indycar (which is also dependant on Andretti allowing this)
• FIA are apparently considering whether to allow him to move over, but have reservations due to the number of superlicense points he has

My view is that the superlicense really shouldn't be a thing. If it is, it really needs to be weighted appropriately. There is absolutely zero way that 4th place in Indy should be of less value than fourth in F2... LET ALONE F3 FFS! Super Formula should probably be weighted the same as F2 too.

 

I get that the FIA want to encourage people to make their way through their own series', but who goes in the car should be the teams decision. There should maybe be a safety test, or a requirement to have had a certain number of miles in the last 5 years (in a 2 year old F1 car maybe), but otherwise the decision should be the teams.

 

The 107% rule is there for a reason, and anyone who should be able to at least get a spot on the grid will soon be shown the door (as much as Latifi is meh, he's in no way a Raghunathan or Calderón [as much as I'd love to see a female driver, I don't think she's exactly Jamie Chadwick levels of good 😂])