[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by Omkar

Any idea what happened to the Norris aborted start incident? It was supposed to be investigated after the race.

Originally Posted by volkman10

Having judged both to be accountable for other drivers' actions, the stewards assigned Norris and Russell a reprimand and a €5000 fine.

Being a British Driver and a British Team this action was expected. Had it been Max or Charles there would have been a 10 sec penalty.

[suhaas307]

The stars had aligned for Lando this weekend.

Max’s 5 place grid penalty for Sunday’s race

+

VSC infringement saw Max being demoted to 4th in the Sprint

+

An ill-timed red flag during Q2 knocking Max out of the top-10.

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Oscar displaying cooperation after handing Lando the Sprint win

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Lando nearly getting knocked out of Q1, barely scraping through, and eventually registering pole in Q3.

And yet, he bottled the start AGAIN, and the restart as well, essentially bottling it twice, handing the place to George Russel. He was handed Oscar’s place on team orders.

Lando Norris just doesn’t have it in him to win the WDC yet. He just does not have the ruthlessness of drivers like Max, Lewis or Alonso, or any of the greats from the bygone era.

Lewis in Lando’s seat would have had a lead in the WDC by now.

Not to take away anything from the superlative drive by Max, though. In changeable conditions, with no DRS throughout. He was sublime. Arguably his best drive ever. And he remained calm and executed clean manoeuvers throughout the weekend. So he is capable of clean driving. I hope the demons of Mexico are behind him after this race.

[VW2010]

Alpine has to finish 6th to enjoy that 50M benefit which I think will not be possible considering Haas is -3 and RB is -5 which they will easily pick over the next few races.

I will say it out loud and not hold back. Looks like FIA is trying hard in as many ways as possible to help one team and it is becoming more evident than just a conspiracy theory.

I guess the rain gods made it impossible for the FIA to do anything during the race but once they announced a fine verdict for the infringement by Norris and a few others, I am at least convinced that there is a planned attempt to help one team in 1 or many ways. There i said it.

[Rajeevraj]

I have never liked Max much and have been a supporter of Lewis. Having said that, it is impossible to not acknowledge how good Max is. While this drive was a masterclass, even the previous 10 races, where he has not had the fastest car, he has always managed to get the best out of it. If you give Max a class leading car, he can do what he did in 2023. Even if it a good car and not the fastest, he easily manages to be in touch like he has done this year.

I don't think Lando, Charles and Oscar are anywhere near the consistency of Max. Great drivers, but definitely not championship winning drivers yet and am not sure if they will get there.

In my view, in 2025 as long as the Red Bull is just about there with Maclaren and Ferrari, Max should be the favorite to take his 5th title. Unless of course, Lewis and Ferrari together come up with some magic.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

I don't think Lando, Charles and Oscar are anywhere near the consistency of Max. Great drivers, but definitely not championship winning drivers yet and am not sure if they will get there.

+1

I hate for what Max stands - the absolute ruthlessness with which Max & Red Bull dominated 2023 made it an extremely boring year. I remember having similar feelings back at the peak of Hamilton but he didn't have it as easy as Max did; primarily because his top competitor was his team-mate who gave it back to him 100% (as compared to the poor fight put by #2 Red Bull drivers).

But this year and especially this race, Max just outshined the competition. He was pissed off in the morning after qualification but he used that anger to full purpose and it was a stellar drive moving from 15th position to 6th position. Even if the red flag situation hadn't happened, he probably would have reached 3rd position easily and made it pretty close to the top 2 for sure.

The drivers' championship is a done deal. And clearly the best driver on the grid is winning it. Lando and Leclarc are great drivers but this year they haven't reached the level and consistency of Max at all.

In my view, in 2025 as long as the Red Bull is just about there with Maclaren and Ferrari, Max should be the favorite to take his 5th title. Unless of course, Lewis and Ferrari together come up with some magic.

I hold a different view. The Red Bull garage isn't as strong as it was till last year (beyond Newey, other star performers have moved). The Ferrari and Mclaren cars are moving from strength to strength and becoming more consistent in their performance across different types of race tracks. It is going to be a hard fought championship next year with Mercedes being the underdog team along with the top 3.

[VW2010]

I remember having similar feelings back at the peak of Hamilton but he didn't have it as easy as Max did; primarily because his top competitor was his team-mate who gave it back to him 100% (as compared to the poor fight put by #2 Red Bull drivers).

Looking at it neutrally, Hamilton had the easiest career when no other car or driver was competitive. One driver who pushed him around was Nico, and the team took sides at various points to help Hamilton. He is one of the best drivers in F1, but I also believe he was the luckiest of all drivers to be at the right place at the right time.

Given the current Ferrari car, Hamilton would be second in the championship, not Lando. That is the quality of his driving skills.

I hold a different view. The Red Bull garage isn't as strong as it was till last year (beyond Newey, other star performers have moved).

My Alternate theory is that they knew their car was super strong and that, they would not need to spend time developing the 2024 car as much as others. They may have been working on the 2025 car and may sprint a surprise in 2025 to still be the top car to beat. Or they are looking even further to the 2026 rule change as well as introducing their engine.

[bmw_lover]

Right so these are my comments on the race.

Lance stroll is a complete idiot. He is just making fun of himself. Don't know why he or his father can't see it. Why doesn't he just enjoy his dad's money some other way?

Norris does not deserve championship yet. This was beginning to show since quite some time. Lots of rough edges that need to be rounded off. Conceded a position 3 times in 3 race starts. Or may be McLaren could be better off with a championship wining driver. Because they do have the machine. Think Hamilton in that Mc LAren

Max made me his fan on Sunday. I admired his skill always but yesterday was something else. Boss level driving and also absolutely clean moves. why the hell does he resort to questionable tactics.

Feel sorry for Hamilton. Can't wait to see him in Ferrari. Is Mercedes deliberately trying to punish him. A world champion is resorted to be a back marker. They dont realise any champion driver will not come to them seeing this.

Perez. I think he himself should think of changing his drive. With Max in the same team, Perez will never be perceived as a good driver. People will be forced to compare him with Max even if they don't want to.

[Centauri]

Great driving skills shown by Max by coming from back of the grid at the start to winning this race comfortably. The effortless way by which he went past the others to win the race in challenging wet conditions, reminds us why he is a multiple time champion, and seems likely now he will win this year as well, unless he fails to finish any of the remaining races. Look forward to enjoying a great finish to the racing season over the next few weeks.

[StarrySky]

Amazing drive from Max in the race. He did benefit from the red flag, but he was in a position to benefit because of his drive from 17th to 2nd. After overtaking Ocon, he was just gone. I thought he would hold the gap at 8-10s, to be safe from losing positions even if he made a small mistake. But he kept going.

Great result for Alpine. I expected some fireworks with Ocon and Gasly running 2nd and 3rd. But either Ocon was too fast or they were told to hold positions, not sure which. Wouldn't blame the team for enforcing any team orders, given the millions at stake.

Apart from the top 3, I don't think anyone distinguished themselves yesterday, except Lance Stroll in a negative way. An issue with the brakes seems to have caused his initial off, but why did he run straight into the gravel thereafter? It looked like an absent-minded error.

The "red hot" youngsters seemed to have had a bad day at the office. Especially Bearman and Colapinto, and to a lesser extent, Lawson. Bearman may have done better without his penalty for touching Colapinto. It did not seem to damage Colapinto's car and he didn't go off track or lost positions. Bearman spun, lost 3 positions and got a 10s penalty!

Lando is in a position where he has to outscore Max by 20+ points in each of the next 3 race weekends. It could happen, but chances are slim. Leclerc is within touching distance of Lando, so even P2 is not certain for Lando.

This year, Max/RB were almost untouchable until Miami and Max built his lead in that phase. After that, it is his consistency that has kept Max ahead. He has benefitted from there being no single challenger (unlike in 2021), and his rivals have taken points off each other. With his big lead he could afford to be a bit aggressive with Lando as we saw in Austin and Mexico. If they both crashed, it was advantage Max as the points gap would've remained the same with one less race available to Lando to close it.

If the cars are closely matched (including Ferrari and Merc) at the start of the season, we could be in for a tight WDC race in 2025.

[volkman10]

Max Verstappen rightfully MOCKING British Media for not showing up in the Press Conference Brazil GP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4X4aD4VLP8

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Max Verstappen rightfully MOCKING British Media for not showing up in the Press Conference Brazil GP:

Saw this, it indeed was Max being Savage Max. On top of that Lando making such funny statements, I mean maybe luck part is OK but calling out a driver on talent who just made up almost 14 places on the grid without any help from DRS is plain stupid.

[VW2010]

Perez. I think he himself should think of changing his drive. With Max in the same team, Perez will never be perceived as a good driver. People will be forced to compare him with Max even if they don't want to.

The long rope is just a respect to Perez for what he did to make Max a world champion in the first place. He deserves it as he played the best teammate to give Max his first title.

Having said that, it is impossible to fight at the front with two cars when your teammate is fighting with the bottom 10.

This is probably his final year of racing in F1 and with just 2 races to go, I want RB to allow him to finish the year and call it quits. Great guy in a bad car. Max is like Marquez who can drive any car and test the limits and make their team mate look like a rookie.


On Lando Norris calling the win as luck and not talent, I am surprised he is not considering what happened in qualifying or delayed safety, car till he overtook Russel or we can keep adding more such instances of luck, in other words called, favorable FIA. I have lost respect for Norris after calling this win a bit of luck as he himself had such luck helping him in his career. Do not even bring up Johny Herbert.

Another thing to notice was how the coverage completely ignored Max once he took the lead. Till the last corner, they did not cover Max and only for the chequered flag did the coverage go back to Max. He did around 15 fast laps with zero coverage and instead they were covering Hamilton fighting for 10th.

[StarrySky]

I think Lando meant that he was down in 6th due to being unlucky (with the red flag), and not due to lack of talent on his part. Whether we agree with it completely or not is a different matter. But I am not sure he was suggesting that Max is not talented.

[VW2010]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

I think Lando meant that he was down in 6th due to being unlucky (with the red flag), and not due to lack of talent on his part. Whether we agree with it completely or not is a different matter. But I am not sure he was suggesting that Max is not talented.

Blinded by something mate. I understand we chose to interpret the way we want but this was the exact statement made by Norris.

"Norris told Sky F1: “They [Red Bull] got lucky. A rule [changing tyres during red flag] no one agrees with, they agree with it today, but every driver disagreed with it in the past.

“He [Max] drove well, he got a bit lucky!”

When asked about the red flag scenario, Norris later added to F1 TV: “It’s unfortunate, sometimes it just goes your way. Nothing we did wrong. Staying out was not the right thing to do, it shouldn’t have been red-flagged, it was the crash in the end which caused the red [flag].

“That’s life sometimes, You take a gamble, it’s paid off for them. It’s not talent, it’s just luck. Just a bit unlucky this week.”"

[Fx14]

Lando probably forgot that he got "LUCKY" in the Miami GP with the safety car intervention.