[TN20CQ5187]

Being a fan of LH44, I think Mercedes spent most of their time last year trying to win the championship than developing the new car **Pun intended**. Charles & Max, the respect that they have for each other is so pleasant to watch. And is it only me or has anyone observed this, RB and Max don't throw their cars in the front in any of the corners. they are very much measured this season.

[jpcoolguy]

Another great race and it's already matched the excitement of last season. Both Max and Charles were having a wheel to wheel battle yet kept it clean.

Max learnt his mistake in his previous overtaking attempt and executed the final overtake move very well, but even then Charles was well within his DRS zone when the last 2 laps were impeded by those 2 stricken cars.

I enjoyed the battle between Alonso and Ocon even more than Max and Charles. I felt Ocon was over aggressive at some point when he almost put Alonso on the wall and that has turned Alonso more aggressive, lucky that their battle didn't end up in a crash. And Bottas capitalized and passed Icon, but what a shame that both Alonso and Bottas retired when they could have got some handsome points.

Looking forward for the next race in Australia and Mercedes has 2 weeks to turn around their fortune and hope they do it for the sake of close racing battles.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by autotranny

I feel making up 2 seconds seem unfair under restricted driving speeds.

It was more like ~ 0.75 to 1.1 second. Max was 2 seconds behind when VSC began. He was 1.1 seconds when VSC ended

Originally Posted by TN20CQ5187

Charles & Max, the respect that they have for each other is so pleasant to watch. And is it only me or has anyone observed this, RB and Max don't throw their cars in the front in any of the corners. they are very much measured this season.

We still have 20 races this season. A lot can happen over it.

All these high risk moves happen only after summer at the business end of the season

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by TN20CQ5187

Being a fan of LH44, I think Mercedes spent most of their time last year trying to win the championship than developing the new car **Pun intended**. Charles & Max, the respect that they have for each other is so pleasant to watch. And is it only me or has anyone observed this, RB and Max don't throw their cars in the front in any of the corners. they are very much measured this season.

They were quite measured throughout until Silverstone and then Monza. Let's look at each and every race briefly and objectively:

Bahrain: Max overtook Lewis with few laps remaining, but ran wide and gained a lasting advantage while overtaking, and hence was forced to concede the position. There was no wheel banging or shoving. Lots of space between the cars. Clean racing and immediate hand over of position to Lewis by Max.

Imola: Max ran away with it and Lewis skidded off the road while trying to overtake a Williams. He was a lap down, but because Bottas and Russel crashed he was able to limp to the pits and repair his car, change tyres, etc. and was allowed to un-lap himself for the restart. Lewis found himself on the podium - P2. Clean racing with no incident between Max and Lewis.

Portugal: Lewis overtook Max from P3 to P2. Bottas who lead the race couldn't keep the lead for too long. Lewis and Merc were just too good for Max and RB on the day. Clean racing and overtaking from both drivers..

Spain: Max P2 took the lead from Lewis P1 on the first lap with a smart overtake. Mercedes trumped RB using better pit-stop strategy. Lap 60 Lewis overtook Max. Clean racing. It was Hungary 2019 all over again.

Monaco: Lewis qualified poorly and Charles binned it after a good Q3 session. max inherited P1 and won the race.

Azerbaijan: Max and RB were too good for Merc. Both overtook Charles and Max eventually overtook Lewis cleanly and was running away with it until his tyre had failed. Lewis failed to finish in the points after locking up at the restart.

France: Merc were on course to win, but RB's 2-stop strategy helped Max take the lead with a few laps to go. The racing was clean.

Austria: Max ran away with it. The racing was hard but eventually Lewis had some trouble with the car and conceded his position to Bottas.

British: Max took the lead and won the Sprint race on Saturday. Sunday, both cars started similarly jostling for position. Lewis tried to do something different from what he tried during the Sprint Race, and at Corpse instead of going round the outside, he took the inside line. The car understeered because the tyres were not quite switched on yet and the car was heavy with fuel. Could have been avoided by Lewis.

Silverstone was the point where the rivalry became sour.

Hungary: Bottas went bowling and took out both Red Bulls. Carnage at turn 1. Lewis was the only one at the restart whereas everyone else went into the pit after the formation lap. Ocon won the race thanks to Alonso's heroics.

Spa: Complete washout. Lewis was outqualified by Max and George in the Williams.

Dutch: Max ran away with it, no contest.

Monza: The rivalry between Lewis and Max got worse in Monza when Lewis left the door open and Max being the hot head that he is, went for the gap and Lewis then closed the door mid corner. Verstappen was too far into the move and went onto the sausage kerb throwing him up into the air eventually landing on top of Hamilton's car. Max should have stayed back. An incident that could have been avoided by Max.

Brazil: Lewis walked it from P10 and Max was a bystander at P1. Max's defense was poor, trying to run Lewis wide when Lewis was overtaking him. Not a good move at all.

Saudi: Too many incidents, but yes Max did throw himself in front while defending around Turn 1. Restart happened and he ran wide, gaining a lasting advantage. Negotiations between race director and RB took place, leaving Verstappen to start from P3 at the 2nd restart. Lewis got squeezed while Max steered clear from both drivers. However, he was later directed to hand over the place back to him and to do it strategically. He braked to let him go, but Lewis did not want to be ahead of Max at the DRS zone. the confusion caused Lewis to rear-end Max. Lewis eventually won the race because he was just quicker.

Abu Dhabi: Max took the lead under braking but Lewis cut the corner and gained a lasting advantage. Lewis ran away with it after that and despite some heroics from Perez, Lewis continued to build the lead till Latifi crashed into the wall, and the rest of it we all know.

Originally Posted by narayans80

We still have 20 races this season. A lot can happen over it.

All these high risk moves happen only after summer at the business end of the season

Yes, we still have 20 races to go. I am certain both drivers will keep it clean. Max would have learned from his mistakes last year, and Charles is generally a clean driver anyway. Definitely cleaner than Verstappen.

It is possible that things will sour between RB and Ferrari as the 2022 season progresses. But Charles and Max have indulged in more wheel-to-wheel battles with each other in these two races than Lewis and Max had in the entire first half of 2021, if not the whole season, so I doubt things will go sour unless one of them punts the other off in desperation during a wheel-to-wheel battle.

On a dangerous circuit like the one in Saudi, they kept it quite clean and tidy and had in fact allowed the other to overtake so they could benefit from DRS after the next corner.

[cule1899_bhp]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

It is possible that things will sour between RB and Ferrari as the 2022 season progresses. But Charles and Max have indulged in more wheel-to-wheel battles with each other in these two races than Lewis and Max had in the entire first half of 2021, if not the whole season, so I doubt things will go sour unless one of them punts the other off in desperation during a wheel-to-wheel battle.

On a dangerous circuit like the one in Saudi, they kept it quite clean and tidy and had in fact allowed the other to overtake so they could benefit from DRS after the next corner.

Agree with your points. I'd like to add one; maybe since the cars in the previous regulation were hard to follow due to them being quite sensitive to the dirty air and the tyre temps being affected quite a lot leading to massive degradation made their moves desperate. I mean they wanted to make it stick when one or the other opportunity arose without affecting their race management. Since they aren't much of an issue anymore we might see better exchanges of positions by proper racing without much desperation. But I hope they keep it clean while pushing to the limit and we have great spectacles ahead. Personally I can't wait for Monza, Spa and Suzuka already. Following closely through Eau Rouge and Radillon while attempting moves would be something to behold during the course of the race rather than just the opening lap. I just hope that the coverage would be up to it and the telecast directors don't switch it to the crowd or random car going over kerbs.

[iamahunter]

Rivalry between Charles and Max is very different than between Max and Lewis.

Honestly it cannot be compared Apple to Apple as Max and Charles have been racing together since a very young age and happen to know each others strategies well (this can be easily understood by the last 10 laps of the Jeddah Circuit). Which is not the case with Hamilton and Max.

On the other hand, Max is a hothead and goes for every gap where as Lewis has had very few wheel to wheel racing in the past years. The Mercedes is so fast that very few could actually compete with it. Since the Hybrid era, the only car which could defeat a Mercedes was a Mercedes! And when it came to 2 equally competent drivers we know what happened between Lewis and Nico. Bottas was always told to hold back and he did as well, so Lewis in fact had very less competition.

Many times even when Lewis is coming from behind, he's actually given the way as most driver seem to be not interested in indulging in a battle with him. Brazil 2021 was one such race, his car was so fast and no one gave him a fight, he could easily make it to the podium as Max's RB was no match for that Mercedes rocket-ship. Yes, Max was way out of the track trying to defend his position, which wasn't a clean move. A cleaner move would have been something like Silverstone, followed by a script which said "that was some very dangerous driving man!"

Anyways, coming to current season, the RB and Ferrari's have equally competent drivers and cars to match.
Hope that the respect between them doesn't turn sour and the mutual respect stays unlike last years rivals.

[gauravkaushik]

First thing first, Jeddah is a dangerous circuit & doesn’t deserve to host a formula 1 race, but finally it gives an impression that despite being even such a cash rich sport, F1 still needs Saudi money. (Pun intended)

Checo got a great start and was extremely unlucky with the VSC timing and ultimately couldn’t recover.

The highlight was the intense wheel to wheel racing between Charles & Max. Look like old buddies enjoying their karting days. Love the changes that have brought such close races. However the DRS detection point need to be rethought to make rationale. Hope to see many more close races at the top with multiple winners unlike the turbo hybrid era till now. Superb win for Max and runner up for Charles, they were truly class apart in this race.

Now, for a change Sir Lewis Hamilton wasn’t lucky with VSC to finish at P10. George drove a much better race and truly outclassed his teammate. The Alpine duo racing was also nice, but unfortunately Alonso couldn’t finish. Good to see hard racing between drivers lower down the order.

Hope to see similar races in the season.