Posts by Raymond Anderson4

Looks like Russell lost 2.4 seconds to Norris over just two laps. Could be a driving error?

Quick update, the gap is up to 3.4 now. Those tires are completely falling off...

Leclerc is slowly closing the gap on Perez.

Ever since his return to Formula 1, Alonso seems to have had nothing but bad luck.
The numbers just don't lie; he’s either dealing with a mechanical failure or someone simply bumps him off the track.

I’ve got a bad feeling we might see a red flag or a long parade behind the SC today.

Looking at how those cars handled during qualifying yesterday, I wouldn't be surprised if we deal with a string of crashes and red flags, even if the track conditions aren't looking too bad.

cosmicmoose2 said:If you aren't a fan, your race analysis is surprisingly weak for someone who’s followed NASCAR for this long.
Charles Leclerc had the position in yesterday's sprint, but he wasn't controlling the race. If you look at his wins in 2022—specifically in the United Arab Emirates and Australia—he was driving just enough to keep Max out of NASCAR range. He actually had the luxury of managing his tires there.
On the flip side, if he had been more careful with his rubber yesterday, Max would have caught him in NASCAR and made the pass.
Because of the inferior race pace—which is strictly down to the car itself—Leclerc couldn't control the tempo. He just had to push hard and pray the tires lasted until the checkered flag.

Comparing this to the United Arab Emirates and Australia makes sense because we didn't have any wild variables like rain to mess up the comparison.

I don't understand why you're struggling to admit that Max drove a patient, smart race by capitalizing on his car's advantage over Ferrari.
Why does Max always have to be some kind of underdog in your mind? I’ve never seen you credit his talent, even though you constantly give that credit to other drivers.

He did a great job in Australia, but the poor setup of the Red Bull Racing car, which chewed through its tires, helped him out there too. It wasn't just Charles; he wasn't pushing hard enough to stress the tires, which also aided his management.

Yesterday, Max had such a massive advantage with his tire life that it changed the math entirely. I noticed him drifting coming out of the corners more than usual—which, in today’s NASCAR world, is a huge gamble since sliding those tires is usually a cardinal sin. You only take that kind of risk when you're either feeling completely desperate or when you know you have enough of a cushion in your rubber to afford the mistake.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/zh...rash/10156186/

Zhou is going to have to start from the pit lane.

Thomas Lopez51 said:Sainz is just managing damage now. It looks like Leclerc’s tires are completely shot in these final laps. Red Bull seems to have the faster car on this track.

Maybe the softer compounds just held up better given today's conditions. Hard to say what we'll see tomorrow.

An epic showdown between Aston and Vettel 🙏

Vettel managed to pull ahead of Lewis during the sprint, and honestly, he made that overtake look incredibly smooth. 👍

Skywalker fans claim the crowd was roaring during the first round because of Charles, but the top brass is just layering in fake crowd noise. 🤣
It’s pathetic. Someone should just turn that off, otherwise, you've got fans of the driver and the American version of The Bachelor all falling for it.

How many times is Max going to blame the gear sync? It seems like that's his go-to excuse every single time.

A Safety Car during the sprint 🤦—it’s just a few laps of racing before the SC comes out and steals all your momentum.

Max pulled a faster first lap, there’s no denying that. But Charles Leclerc was looking incredibly quick throughout the entire sprint qualifying session. Honestly, if it hadn't been for that red flag, I really believe the battle for P1 would have come down to the wire. If you had asked me earlier, I actually would have bet on Leclerc taking the pole over Max.

I just hope the rain stays away this weekend. Today was honestly a slog to watch. I was counting down the minutes until it ended; I truly didn't care who took the top spot, even if it had been KMag.

Timothy Castillo6 said:Red Bull Racing is bringing some updates.

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/10881...countants.html

Helmut Marko and Christian Horner aren't seeing eye to eye. 😁

The real question is how long we have to wait before they finally fix turns 17 and 18. They’re seriously messing with the flow of the racing. 🙄

stormybadger8 said:It’s tough to drive a race when you mess up qualifying. You end up pushing the car way beyond its actual limits just to catch up, and you run the risk of mechanical failures...
And then, lo and behold, Max had to retire because of technical issues. It makes me wonder how that even happens...

When you qualify two, three, or five spots behind where the car actually belongs, you spend the whole race glued to the bumper of the guy in front of you. Then, suddenly, the entire car overheats, and before you know it, the engine gives up because it just couldn't handle the heat...

Red Bull—specifically under Adrian Newey's direction—has always followed this philosophy: build the lightest, leanest car possible that can snatch a pole position. They excel in clean air, but the cooling systems are often pushed right to the edge. As soon as they get stuck in traffic, all those little problems start piling up...

How exactly was Max pushing the car beyond its limits?
In Bahrain, he was 2.9 seconds behind Leclerc when the failure happened, and Leclerc was running 0.5 seconds faster per lap.
In Australia, he definitely wasn't pushing that hard. He accepted that the win was gone and just managed his delta to secure second place. The fact that he set the fastest lap right before his retirement doesn't mean much. Even if he did go faster than usual, why blame the driver for putting in one quick lap? By that logic, we should blame every single driver on the grid for driving fast.
I honestly don't think that specific lap was even his absolute limit, considering Leclerc's fastest lap was 1.4 seconds quicker.

I feel like you're taking this to an extreme. Even if he had been right on Leclerc's tail, fighting for the win, your logic would suggest Max should have just given up in South Africa to save the engine instead of chasing the lead.

stormybadger8 said:That’s the second pair of shoes...
The race car clearly isn't reliable enough, but the real issue is that Max isn't starting from the position this car is actually capable of achieving.
Because of that, he ends up having to push the car way harder than he should have to if he were starting from pole position, which this car can easily grab.
Then, once he starts from 2nd, 3rd, or 5th and has to fight through the field, the car becomes much more vulnerable and prone to issues than it would be if he just started from the pole position it deserves...

He might have messed up qualifying, but he drove a solid race. If it weren't for the mechanical failures, he would've finished 2-1-2. He drove well in Australia too, even holding his own considering the team mentioned their setup was eating up the tires.

ruggedhawk20 said:What are you even talking about?

Out of three races, his car broke down in two.

In the one single race where the car actually held together, he won.

The issue isn't how Max handles the car; it's how the car handles its own reliability.

But before the DNF, he was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't match Charles's (Ferrari's) rhythm at all.

Sure, he had grip issues, but even if he didn't, that doesn't change the fact they lack Ferrari's race pace.

For some reason, they had decent race pace on the hard compound in Saudi Arabia. They just couldn't keep up during that first stint.

stormybadger8 said:If we're talking about pure pace, Max has been bad this season—and I mean really bad. I don't think I've ever seen him struggle like this.
I don't mean he's making stupid mistakes like hitting walls or taking out other drivers, which used to happen. He's just slow.
I have no idea why, but it isn't Red Bull being slower than Ferrari; it's Max himself who seems to be lagging behind.

My God, just look at what Perez is doing with that car in qualifying. Here is Perez, a guy who was never, ever good at qualifying and almost always got outclassed by his teammates.
And on those rare occasions he actually beat them, it was usually because he was being incredibly gentle with his tires...

So, either Max is slow and struggling in qualifying, or Perez is on something, because suddenly he’s fast enough to outpace Max, even though qualifying has always been Max's specialty...

Max just can't get the car to connect with him. Tire management isn't typically an issue for him, but to excel there, he needs a solid setup. It's obvious he can't find the right balance, whether it's for the race or qualifying.