Perhaps a stop/go penalty to be served within 5 laps could be an idea. Clearly Max had an advantage with clear air knowing he had a fair chance to gain over 5 seconds making a mockery of the rules
Oh, and I loved his hypocrisy at the end singing viva Las Vegas and saying how great is was following his previous comments. Maybe he was leant on by Horner and F1
Hadnât LeClerc already overtaken him by the time he pitted?
I think itâs two different things. The racing turned out to be good, and he was happy to have won after an (unexpectedly) eventful race. To the extent Iâm aware his criticism was mostly of all the stuff around the racing.
From Sky website. You would think that Ferrari should have more points than Merc looking at these stats.
Mercedes vs Ferrari in F1 2023
| Mercedes | Ferrari | |
|---|---|---|
| Points | 392 | 388 |
| Wins | 0 | 1 |
| Podiums | 7 | 8 |
| Poles | 1 | 7 |
| Two-car points finishes | 14 | 13 |
| Laps led | 19 | 117 |
What a load of b⌠He got the penalty anyone would have got. And had a car and skills that could drive from way back with a damaged front wing and won. What scuppered Le Clerc was the safety car.
I found this really interesting. Particularly the bit about Porpoising.
Stirring the pot.
âHorner reveals Hamilton Red Bull enquiry earlier this yearâ
âLewis Hamiltonâs representatives contacted Red Bull earlier this year about the seven-time world champion driving alongside Max Verstappen, Christian Horner has claimed.â SKY.
I am sure that come contract renewal time Hamiltonâs representatives contact all the top teams as a matter of course. If for no other reason than due diligence rather than actual intent for a move. I expect this is normal practice for all the representatives of drivers and Horner as normal is just making statements to cause a stir and hoping for media coverage. Sky as always jumps on anything that acts as clickbait.
I would think come contract time, all (top) drivers will be contacting all the top teams. In the end they want the best car and/or best chance to win, I think all of them pretend thereâs more loyalty than there really is. Hamilton left McLaren, Verstappen was thinking of leaving RB during the Renault era, Vettel left for Ferrari and thereâs a ton more examples.
In this case we have the added factor of Hamilton not having another decade for a project to mature to claim his eight title. He needs to be in the team that he thinks will offer him the best chance (and has a seat available).
I know one F1 agent with high profile drivers in his portfolio. It is a constant contact with all teams and all drivers and managers. Full time job.
Lol.
More Lol.
Itâs all just clickbait stuff to get more views. I think that Max and Lewis have great fun and are drinking mocktails together at the moment whilst watching a fashion show (on request by Lewis).
Not sure. Egos at stake.
Heading into the winter is a great time to try and break the morale of the workers at your opponentâs factory
An outbreak of common sense??
I am sure F1 will find a way to take appropriate actions that prevent common sense from becoming endemic.
Benson, as usual, is late to the party. There was a lengthy article in Autosport about the sprint races a week or so ago e.g. analysing why the drivers are often reticent to attempt overtaking, and also the formatting of the weekend with the qualifying for both Sprint & the GP. All I can think is that in trying to ape other motor racing formats (esp the 'bikes), theyâve overlooked just how the latter can recover relatively quickly from crashes and incidents, whereas F1 cars are so fragile & costly, itâs easy to see why there is so much reticence to race, especially in a class where overtaking is so challenging to start with.
It strikes me the F1 set-up is so focused on the cars et al, it really struggles to understand the racing element of the offering, notwithstanding Ross Brawnâs statements about the aim of the ânew regâsâ, which have generated such an inequality in performance with the RB. Go figure.
I feel very satisfied with this season. Excellent