Official 2024 Spanish Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[Zolvaro]

isaldiri said:

Zolvaro said:

I've been noticing the opposite with Lando recently, he tends to fallback a little with new tyres and but then closes at the end of stints. He seems to really have this generation of tyres worked out.

Take a look again at the laptimes - everyone goes at it like the clappers on the first lap out of the pits to maximise the undercut. Norris did it for 3 further laps actually on his last stint while most of the other drivers (Hamilton/Verstappen) just did a very quick outlap then paced themselves after.

That final stint is an anomaly he just went for it the whole way, I'm also talking about more in the early stages of the race with higher fuel loads, he is looking after the tyres really well and then closing on people towards the end of stints of being able to extend his window.

Look at first stint in Canada, mixed conditions yes, but the difference in tyre life between him and rest was also very clear.

[Piginapoke]

HighwayStar said:

Blib said:

Byker28i said:

Russel put in fastest lap straight after putting on hards. The thought is he took too much out of them straight away

He doesn't seem to be amongst the very best at tyre preservation.

Russell is a very good driver but he doesn’t have any real in race strategy/management. Early in the race, after Max has passed him, Russell was asked about his pace… he basically said he was maximum attack. The Merc doesn’t have RedBull pace. He knows that but ruined his tyres chasing Max and and screwed his own race.

I think Russell said he was having to push harder than the others to keep the pace, rather than pushing 100%?

[Stan the Bat]

Piginapoke said:

HighwayStar said:

Blib said:

Byker28i said:

Russel put in fastest lap straight after putting on hards. The thought is he took too much out of them straight away

He doesn't seem to be amongst the very best at tyre preservation.

Russell is a very good driver but he doesn’t have any real in race strategy/management. Early in the race, after Max has passed him, Russell was asked about his pace… he basically said he was maximum attack. The Merc doesn’t have RedBull pace. He knows that but ruined his tyres chasing Max and and screwed his own race.

I think Russell said he was having to push harder than the others to keep the pace, rather than pushing 100%?

He did say that, but how would he know how hard the others were pushing ?

[Piginapoke]

Stan the Bat said:

He did say that, but how would he know how hard the others were pushing ?

That is a very good question !

[Derek Smith]

Blib said:

Byker28i said:

Russel put in fastest lap straight after putting on hards. The thought is he took too much out of them straight away

He doesn't seem to be amongst the very best at tyre preservation.

He was sliding a bit at times.

[Blib]

Zolvaro said:

That final stint is an anomaly he just went for it the whole way, I'm also talking about more in the early stages of the race with higher fuel loads, he is looking after the tyres really well and then closing on people towards the end of stints of being able to extend his window.

Look at first stint in Canada, mixed conditions yes, but the difference in tyre life between him and rest was also very clear.

I definitely agree with this. Lando quite often seems to let a gap open early on, only to reel those ahead in later in the stint.

[isaldiri]

Zolvaro said:

That final stint is an anomaly he just went for it the whole way, I'm also talking about more in the early stages of the race with higher fuel loads, he is looking after the tyres really well and then closing on people towards the end of stints of being able to extend his window.

Look at first stint in Canada, mixed conditions yes, but the difference in tyre life between him and rest was also very clear.

Canada is a bit variable given the weather conditions but in consistent conditions at Imola and Barcelona for example, both Verstappen and him came out of the pitstops and absolutely caned it on the outlap. Norris then was able to maintain a very good pace after to the end although perhaps Verstappen was just managing the gap knowing he was in front anyway. My point was directed at the above implied criticism of Russell going hard at it after the pitstops and 'taking too much out of them' - everyone comes out of their outlaps like the clappers, Norris included.

[Zolvaro]

isaldiri said:

Zolvaro said:

That final stint is an anomaly he just went for it the whole way, I'm also talking about more in the early stages of the race with higher fuel loads, he is looking after the tyres really well and then closing on people towards the end of stints of being able to extend his window.

Look at first stint in Canada, mixed conditions yes, but the difference in tyre life between him and rest was also very clear.

Canada is a bit variable given the weather conditions but in consistent conditions at Imola and Barcelona for example, both Verstappen and him came out of the pitstops and absolutely caned it on the outlap. Norris then was able to maintain a very good pace after to the end although perhaps Verstappen was just managing the gap knowing he was in front anyway. My point was directed at the above implied criticism of Russell going hard at it after the pitstops and 'taking too much out of them' - everyone comes out of their outlaps like the clappers, Norris included.

Do they or do some save a bit more than the others. Norris produced 10 out of 22 1.17's in the race. I think looking at that stint he measured it out perfectly.

[honda_exige]

Zolvaro said:

Do they or do some save a bit more than the others. Norris produced 10 out of 22 1.17's in the race. I think looking at that stint he measured it out perfectly.

Might be of interest.

Max is incredibly consistent.

[Zolvaro]

honda_exige said:

Zolvaro said:

Do they or do some save a bit more than the others. Norris produced 10 out of 22 1.17's in the race. I think looking at that stint he measured it out perfectly.

Might be of interest.

Max is incredibly consistent.

He certainly is, leading from lap 2 helps though

[PhilAsia]

Zolvaro said:

honda_exige said:

Zolvaro said:

Do they or do some save a bit more than the others. Norris produced 10 out of 22 1.17's in the race. I think looking at that stint he measured it out perfectly.

Might be of interest.

Max is incredibly consistent.

He certainly is, leading from lap 2 helps though

As is perhaps having to not push as much. He can be particularly impressively metronomic if he is pushing as hard though. Which, in turn, prompts the thought that makes the favelas incidents etc, all the more irritating and unnecessary.

[paulguitar]

The consistency of these guys is mindblowing really. I think back to my comedy efforts at Castle Combe in a Caterham, with huge changes in lap times depending on whether or not I managed to get through the chicane or ignore it completely.


I also span that car at Silverstone at Stowe. On an out lap.

[isaldiri]

honda_exige said:

Might be of interest.

Max is incredibly consistent.

Interesting that. Ferrari's pace seems to be (much) stronger than the way their race looked to have panned out, Leclerc should really have been right in with Hamilton from that graphic rather than flailing around carping about Sainz tbh....

[jasonrobertson86]

Surely perez has to go...

[PlywoodPascal]

Piginapoke said:

Stan the Bat said:

He did say that, but how would he know how hard the others were pushing ?

That is a very good question !

you can tell from watching the body language of the car. the biggest giveaway is normally how close they go to the edge of the track on turn in and on corner exit. it'd be even easier to tell from another car following them, because you could see any sliding/the slip angle more easily than we can, too.

[TheDeuce]

jasonrobertson86 said:

Surely perez has to go...

I agree that he's crap in that seat.

But I always think it's a bit naive to assume that means he should go.

The mechanics of F1 are not that simple. It's perfectly obvious why he's the perfect driver for the seat.

[jasonrobertson86]

TheDeuce said:

I agree that he's crap in that seat.

But I always think it's a bit naive to assume that means he should go.

The mechanics of F1 are not that simple. It's perfectly obvious why he's the perfect driver for the seat.

I don't think it is, there should be a second driver scoring a bit higher than the distance apart they are, no?

[NRS]

honda_exige said:

732NM said:

MrBogSmith said:

lus Max said, "We definitely weren't the quickest out there today..."

From 07:25: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojUQLuSqV4s&ab...

Whilst walking away at such a pace he was never challenged.

He was cruising.

Anytime Lando was in free air the gap closed, RBR likely still have some advantage with the DRS flap open which is why Max could pass George at the start but Lando couldn't.

So the McLaren is the faster car in clean air, but the RB is faster behind others to pass them due to the way the aero works? Interesting that is then down to Max?

[isaldiri]

NRS said:

So the McLaren is the faster car in clean air, but the RB is faster behind others to pass them due to the way the aero works? Interesting that is then down to Max?

Making the pass was down to Verstappen imo just being bloody minded about forcing the issue early on. Norris tends to be relatively quick later in the stints Vs others (whether down to his driving style or due to the characteristics of the Mclaren) so wasn't able to force the issue in the same way at that point and so had to sit behind for most of the first stint.

[nordboy]

jasonrobertson86 said:

Surely perez has to go...

I think the approx $55m he brings each year helps a bit. He should be gone though, in fact, there's quite a few drivers who should be elsewhere at the moment. Perez, Stroll, Riccardo, Zhou, Bottas and undoubtedly Sargeant to name a few. Bring in the new drivers, they can't do much worse, the last 3 in my list haven't scored any points. Even I could manage that.