I still don't get the commentary. Why would McLaren give Norris a team order when he could tighten the championship points from Verstappen? :huh:

Edited July 21, 20241 yr by CowTzy

Oh Max...

 

Hats off to Norris for giving up 7 precious points that might affect his championship this year.

Edited July 21, 20241 yr by CowTzy

Feels very McLaren to FINALLY deliver on the car's potential and get a 1-2, and the narrative of the race is still what an absolute mess they've made of it.

As always Landó finds a way to not win. This time crumbling to the emotional blackmail of his naive team. Imagine Max beats him to the championship by 6 points. Insane decision by all involved. No way Max or Lewis is giving that win up

Edited July 21, 20241 yr by Liam sota

I was watching at a hotel lobby in Switzerland in French and didnt understand half of it

but why McLaren wanted Piastri to win and Lando to give up his position? undercuts happen all the time, Nando's undercut was fair and square

 

but lol at Max, going back to throwing tantrums like a 3 year old, shame shame shame on him

 

some of these engineers should get double pay as psychologist lol

 

It was quite clear today that McLaren had organised a pre-race agreement that whoever was ahead at a given point, (whether it was end of turn 1, lap 1 or first pitstop) was to be the one to finish ahead in a 1-2 situation.

Of all the teams, McLaren know more than any other (maybe Ferrari when they remember Villeneuve/Pironi), how a team dynamic can be destroyed by two drivers falling out over finishing positions.

 

Norris was probably good enough to win on merit today, although Pisatri may have been driving to a delta time and Lando pushing when told not to, making him appear much faster but ultimately he made the right call for the team by giving way. Would Max, Lewis or Fernando have done it? Probably not, and there's a reason why they are all champions. It'll be interesting to see if Lando is willing to do it again.

 

For McLaren it's pretty obvious they think they can overhaul Red Bull for the Constructors title and that's the one that matters to them. And given the McLaren's pace, Lando can probably still mount a genuine title challenge this year, but he'll need Oscar's help at some point, and this win will keep him onside.

I was watching at a hotel lobby in Switzerland in French and didnt understand half of it

but why McLaren wanted Piastri to win and Lando to give up his position? undercuts happen all the time, Nando's undercut was fair and square

 

but lol at Max, going back to throwing tantrums like a 3 year old, shame shame shame on him

 

some of these engineers should get double pay as psychologist lol

 

 

Not sure if you picked up on it but Norris was given first pitstop to protect against the challenge from behind when tradition would give it to Piastri. Had Pisatri gone first he'd have been much further ahead of Lando by the time they'c ompleted the stops. The trade off was by prioritising the 1-2, Lando would need to pay back the position later.

Yeah isn't it usual in the teams that the car in front gets to choose the lap/time to pit before the one behind? If they changed that to protect Norris' second place and it resulted in him passing Piastri then I can understand why they would want to switch the order back, especially if it was going to deny him his first win

Piastri got ahead, stayed ahead, and the main factor in that changing was McLaren's decision. He absolutely deserved to win the race and it was the right order to finish, but they really messed that up, and absolutely understandable why Norris wouldn't want to give it up.

I am in two minds about the result.

 

Mclaren should have pitted Piastri first as he was in the lead, but based on the last phase there is a chance Norris had the speed to catch and pass Piastri for the win.

 

Norris will win more races and at this stage he is still better than his team mate (this was closer than usual). It must still hurt that Danny Ric got a race win against him, despite Norris dominating the team during that period

but for what I understand the different speeds was not real

Piastri was driving at the speed dictated by the team, while Norris was going at max ignoring the dictated speed

but for what I understand the different speeds was not real

Piastri was driving at the speed dictated by the team, while Norris was going at max ignoring the dictated speed

 

Ah ok, fair enough!

The whole situation was completely avoidable, there was absolutely zero chance of Norris being undercut by Hamilton as he was way behind and even in the remote chance he was (e.g. due to a slow pit stop) McLaren were comfortably the fastest car so would have had no troubles getting back past. I was very surprised when Norris slowed down, it wasn't quite Barrichello 2002 but you could tell he proved his point. I feel had he not had that first win in Miami he would not have done that.

 

Meanwhile who was it that said in Austria that you can't divebomb people like that? Max should have heeded that advice :lol:

Following Lando's unlikeable behaviour toward Sir Lewis in the cooling room, social media really wants to pin Lando as the villain, huh?

If you have one guy who can win a championship and one who almost certainly can’t then you prioritise that guy. It’s obvious. Piastri is a young driver he would have many opportunities to win in the future. Trying to keep people happy is not what winning teams have ever done. They messed up the week or so before too they gave Landó the options on what tyres and he chose the wrong ones to fight off Lewis and Max ended up overtaking him easy. The team knew what the better tyre was and still gave him the choice. It’s like a very unsure team trying to make everybody happy but no real authority. They have the fastest car and two great drivers but they need a leader to make it properly successful in my opinion. They technically should have won the last 6 races but have just one win or maybe two I can’t remember. Anyway F1 is finally exciting again so that’s good

McLaren won't prioritise Norris over Piastri at the expense of the Constructors title. A deal was agreed pre-race that whichever driver was ahead at a certain point would win if a 1-2 was on the cards. It was clearly Piastri ahead at the crucial point. Norris knew that and honoured the deal. Failure to do so risks upsetting the team dynamic and harmony. McLaren ran a similar agreement back in the Hakkinen-Coulthard era and it worked really well. McLaren let it get out of control in 2007 and it cost them both titles and a lot of money.

 

They learned their lesson and have taken the long term view.

 

Piastri has every reason now to back Norris in the title fight, knowing he'll get a fair deal, rather than take points away from him and McLaren can eye the Constructors title knowing that with Perez failing to deliver, it's a 2 against 1 fight for the points.

 

McLaren made the smart move and so did Lando in the end.

in the end but took a loooot of convincing and controlling norris and his ego

The F1 comission has unanimously voted against extending the point scoring positions in a race down to 12th. It will remain that only the first 10 finishers will score points.

 

They have also agreed to increase the minimum weight limit from 798Kg to 800Kg for 2025. This will allow the driver weight allowance to be raise from 80Kg to 82Kg - the first time this has been raised in 5 years.

 

A further extension to the amount of testing allowed has been agreed - from 3 days this year to 9 days from 2026, mainly due to the new regulations.

 

The decisions will not be official until approved by the World Motor Sport Council.

Max taking his third new engine this next race and will start with a 10 grid penalty at minimum

Well he won from 14th on the grid 2 years ago but I feel that will be somewhat harder to replicate this time around!