Watching the Austira highlights a few days after the race, got to say I was expecting this incident to have been far worse than it was considering all the talk about it. oh... was that it?!" was my main thought.

 

 

Yeah it was a lot of fuss over nothing.

 

If it had of been Sainz and Russell nobody would be talking about it at all

Also great that Bearman has been confirmed as expected at Haas. They've really surprised me this season and look to be under a good trajectory under Komatsu so hopefully he'll have half decent machinery to show his stuff.

 

Now we just need Lawson and Pourchaire in the mix.

well there was no crash but they both had a puncture then Lando retired and Max lost the race

although he ended up 5th after the mild penalty

The issue with Max was he already broke the rules four times and Norris was complaining a lot and the 5th time it ended up in a collision. It wasn’t a major problem but he clearly caused it and you could see it coming and to make it worse he got a 10 second penalty which changed nothing since the car behind him was 15+ seconds while it ruined Norris whole race

Apparently Ricciardo is talking to Williams over a seat for next year....

The issue with Max was he already broke the rules four times and Norris was complaining a lot and the 5th time it ended up in a collision. It wasn’t a major problem but he clearly caused it and you could see it coming and to make it worse he got a 10 second penalty which changed nothing since the car behind him was 15+ seconds while it ruined Norris whole race

 

 

The first sentence isn't strictly true. I'm going to assume you're referring to 'moving under braking', it is a myth that there is a rule against it - there isn't. Only a vague concensus between the drivers, which can be interpreted differently, and Verstappen's onbaords show he was was correct when he claimed he only applied the brakes after he stopped moving the wheel. I'm also not sure how you get 5 incidents when the best I can factor in is 3 with contact on the 3rd and final possible infraction.

 

That rule on moving under braking was discarded years ago and replaced by the following -

 

33.4 At no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which

could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person.

 

 

As you can see this leaves it open very much to interpretation which the stewards present clearly felt was within the allowed framework, and they have all the data we don't see. You can argue about inconsistencies and that's a fair comment but that is inevitable when you have a rotating panel of stewards. Whether that is correct is another discussion.

 

And whilst several former drivers have suggested Verstappen went beyond the spirit of the rules a number of his contemporaries have said it wasn't that bad -

 

https://www.racefans.net/2024/07/04/norris-...portion-rivals/

 

Norris himself has said he overreacted too -

 

https://www.racefans.net/2024/07/04/norris-...limits-penalty/

 

The 10 second penalty was the harshest allowed under the circumstances according to Johnny Herbert who was the steward representing a former driver, as it was classified as 'Forcing a driver off the circuit or causing an incident'. It's worth noting that Herbert has consistently been highly critical of Verstappen for years and among the harsher stewards for penalties, so I'm inclined to believe him here. I also agree with Norris that Max should probably have been penalised for going off track to stay ahead. I thought Lando's move was fair and solid.

 

Lastly, there was no need for Norris to retire the car given the damage he had sustained in the incident. It was his own pace on returning to the pits that destroyed the car and the actual contact with Verstappen was merely a puncture that could have been solved easily, allowing him to score points - potentially more than Verstappen.

 

So the reality is that it's up to the stewards on whether he broke the rules, and they decided it was once - causing a collision - and that his driving was not sufficiently dangerous (whatever Andrea Stella might think, it's not up to him). Norris complaining doesn't make him right no matter how much he does it

 

Personally my interpretation was yes to causing a collision - that was clearly predominantly his fault - and I'd have given him a second penalty for leaving the track and retaining the lead. The rest was borderline but not overly dangerous, especially given it was in a slow corner like turn three.

Edited July 4, 2024Jul 4 by Severin

Not expecting Sir Lewis to win today. Well done!

I'm not surprised Lando was so downbeat. 3.5s up at one stage, in the lead, with the best of the tyres available for when he was to stop.... and the end result was a third place

Why didn't you go on medium?"

 

I'm sure Lando is asking the same question

Norris again had the win him his hands and found a way to lose it

McLaren i really the best car at the moment but week in week out they f**k up the strategy or something. I get the impression that Verstappen with the McLaren would be miles ahead of everybody.

and disaster number 4523678923497823 for Perez, how far did he finish behind Max? 2 laps? 3? I don't think this is admissible anymore. Guess he brings a lot of c$$ to the team? in a way he's another Stroll at the moment.

GET IN THERE LEWIS! The barren run is finally over and of course, he wasn't gonna do it anywhere else was he?

 

Amazing race anyway, really couldn't call it right the way through. Shame for George not to be up there too but I can't be too greedy at back to back wins for the Silver Arrows.

 

It's kinda a shame Max had such a great start to the season cos without that what we've got now is the closest I can remember to the 2010 season where 5 or 6 drivers have a legitimate chance of winning any given race. Although even despite that it seems to be a different rival doing well one week whereas Max is just so consistent with scoring podium after podium.

Norris again had the win him his hands and found a way to lose it

 

This was more on the team. Although in wet/dry conditions it's always the lead car which has the disadvantage as 2nd can just do the opposite when it comes to the switchover. Although it did amuse me that this was literally the opposite of Russia 2021 instead of Lewis pitting a lap earlier for wets he now does it for dries.

 

McLaren i really the best car at the moment but week in week out they f**k up the strategy or something. I get the impression that Verstappen with the McLaren would be miles ahead of everybody.

 

I don't think they're that far clear but it's they're definitely suffering from the same thing as Ferrari where it's been so long since they've been contending for wins that the strategy team isn't making the right calls under pressure.

 

 

and disaster number 4523678923497823 for Perez, how far did he finish behind Max? 2 laps? 3? I don't think this is admissible anymore. Guess he brings a lot of c$$ to the team? in a way he's another Stroll at the moment.

 

Perez had a shocker weekend no doubt but the fact he was that far behind was cos he was shafted by the team pitting for inters like 10 laps early, same with Leclerc.

Such an awesome result for Lewis. The emotion afterwards was life-affirming!

 

Have to feel a bit for George but it’s mad to me how much he dropped in performance once the rain came down. He needs to work on that.

 

Shame to see McLaren lose it with strategy, although a great drive from Max to pick up the pieces.

 

And yet another race where Hulkenberg demolished his team mate/finished best of the rest. That guy will forever deserve a better team….

 

Perez / Leclerc were unfortunate but Perez would still have been way behind his team mate without that.

 

Question for people - do you think Alonso has hit that point where his peak performance starts to drop?

Yeah not sure what's going on with Alonso this season. Sure the car is awful but he's being beaten by Stroll now and then whereas last season that never happened.

I think it's the car not Alonso himself. every now and then Stroll gets lucky and that's why sometimes he gets 1 position higher but it's just luck

It seems from rumours Perez can be fired by the summer break if he isn't performing. That's only two races away - the double header of Hungary and Belgium is weekend after next.

^hahaha I read Ricciardo was the one starting the rumours :D

That would be in line with Red Bull’s way of working. I don’t understand how they can justify him being in the seat. He could actually cost them the Constructors title this year (similar to the way Stroll cost Aston Martin positions in previous years)