So you suggest everyone to run underweight for the show or what?
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Cars have to be weighed without fuel, that’s what counts.
I wonder what wasn’t on George’s car that was on Lewis’?
Lewis was complaining he had something rattling around in his cockpit early in the race, I wonder if it was a bit of George’s car?!
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Cara are always under-fueled for a race in anticipation of a safety car as more fuel = more weight = slower lap times. With no safety car periods in today’s race they would have had to lift and coast to avoid running out of fuel. Maybe George didn’t do enough of that if he was pushing hard on old tyres. Still a rotten way to lose the race though.
Probably the extra 20 laps of rubber from their different final stint lengths. Merc wouldn’t have calculated for such a long final stint on the hard tyre.
Sorry to say the Lando lost it all again in T1. He really needs to work on his starts and first corner hustle. Forced wide by Piastri again and looking like Piastri is the one with the killer instinct in the McLaren team.
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Oh gosh! I watched the grand prix and interviewa with the top three; switched off tv and went out into the garden thinking what a stroke of luck George had just enjoyed and what a heavy cloud was left hanging over Hamilton who must have thought a few laps from the end that he had it in the bag.
That was the best race I’ve seen for a while with all sorts of unexpected outcomes. George chanced his arm and very nearly got away with it. Shame he ran fowl of the weight limits and forgot about cool down lap procedures in the heat of the moment.
Peter
A great race. A real shame for George and Merc, but rules are rules and they got it wrong. Reading the-race dot com, Toto puts it down to a team mistake and not allowing for rubber loss on the tyre with a one-stop race. Still, they got a one-two on the road against their expectations so they do have positives to take away from the race. Lando and Max managed not to be on the same bit of tarmac at the same time, which was a possibility. Ferrari did OK too.
Oscar drove a good race to come home third. Perez was middling at best but I suspect the sponsorship money he brings to the team could protect his drive.
Looking forward to the second half of the season, we could have 4 teams regularly fighting for wins.
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They didn’t forget about rubber loss at all. They also ‘forgot’ to completely empty the fuel before weighing in. When reminded they suddenly remembered to empty the rest out and reweigh.
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If there hadn’t been the tyre wear issue, the car would have been OK fully drained of fuel. Tyre wear not accounted for in the pre-race calculations about finishing weight at the end of the race was the primary issue.
Yes, but they knew that. They had calculated the loss and hoped to get away with it.
Apparently Carlos is off to Williams in 2025 after all.
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Rubber.
Yes, that may have contributed, but there might also be something else they missed.
I agree that it’s a bad way to lose a race. But I also sympathize with Hamilton when he said that his race engineer should have told him much earlier that there was a good chance Russell wasn’t going to pit. Lewis was maintaining a gap to those behind him for much of the back half, rather than chasing George (whom he expected to pit). It’s unconscionable that people at home knew more about GR’s strategy than did Lewis.
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Not if he’s costing RB a Constructor’s Championship.
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Carlos has signed to join Williams from next year on a multi-year deal. A strong lineup for the team and if they can get the 26 car working well, they could be towards the top of the midfield.
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Edit: I’ve seen a view that LH was perhaps having to conserve fuel, and that a catch and pass may not have been on in any case. But he sure seemed upset by the lack of information he was given. And I don’t blame him.
Probably the wrong term but I thought that unless Hamilton felt he had the speed to make a very clean overtake on Russell, he may hold back. My reasoning is that I get the impression that Russell, if not quite panic, can become slightly desperate to defend his position. Especially towards the end of the race. With the potential to take out both cars. He was able to reel Russell in very quickly lap after lap so I would have doubts as to fuel levels being the main problem. Just me guessing from a very poor knowledge base!
Peter
My impression was that all the cars in clean air had a good speed advantage compared to dirty air.
I suspect that was at least some of Hamilton’s problem making the pass on Russell.
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