Official 2024 Miami Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[ajprice]

paulguitar said:

Teatowell said:

Pleased for Lando. Sounds like Max had floor damage which maybe explains the genuine pace difference. Hopefully can continue to challenge him on merit though.

I didn't know about the floor damage, was that from wen he made the mistake hitting the bollard?

Maybe from the kerb but the bollard went over the top of the car, not underneath.

[Sandpit Steve]

ajprice said:

Max in the cooldown room seeing the replay of Perez almost yeeting him into next week...

https://youtu.be/vQjcy_WBIYM?si=tTKviI9kGExAXvHP

F1 video content so it won't let me preview link it.

That was very reminiscent of “Bottas Bowling” from a couple of years ago in the Hungarian rain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DuTjXo67ac

How they all missed each other yesterday was impressive. Sainz managed to swerve just enough left, and Max didn’t realise until looking at the replay afterwards just how close they’d all come to carnage. It’s amazing that we don’t see more “bowling”, and that the vast majority of the time all 20 of them find something close to the correct braking point.

[thegreenhell]

gotoPzero said:

Pleased for Lando, he deserves a win but its taken him way too long.
He is a talented driver and has a good attitude (IMO) but he should have left McLaren years ago.

He is "doing a Button" IMO and unless some similar miracle happens to Lando that happened to Button he is probably not going to see many more wins tbh.

Now is a certain designer was to find his way to the orange team....

Just my 2ps worth.

Where do you think he should have gone?

[g4ry13]

gotoPzero said:

Pleased for Lando, he deserves a win but its taken him way too long.
He is a talented driver and has a good attitude (IMO) but he should have left McLaren years ago.

He is "doing a Button" IMO and unless some similar miracle happens to Lando that happened to Button he is probably not going to see many more wins tbh.

Now is a certain designer was to find his way to the orange team....

Just my 2ps worth.

It has taken a long time for Lando to get his win and he now faces a problem that his teammate looks equally as good (and better at times).

If you want to pick up a championship then a few teams are going to realistically deliver that. Unless Lando goes for one of the new teams which can miraculously end up fighting for wins then he's probably best staying put. Mercedes have a seat to fill - although he'll be fighting George and currently the McLaren looks to be the better car. If Max moves on from Red Bull (unlikely) then a seat could be there.

As for the certain designer: while he's definitely had successful designs, I think too much weighting is put behind him. He was at McLaren for 8 years and they won 2 championships. Red Bull for 18 years and they're going to win 8 of those.

With reg changes, you wouldn't say no to having him on the designing team. But I don't think by any means it's make or break.

[isaldiri]

g4ry13 said:

It has taken a long time for Lando to get his win and he now faces a problem that his teammate looks equally as good (and better at times).

No his team mate doesn't look as good. He might in time but certainly not yet and definitely not consistently at the moment. This race apart with parts difference possibly making that difference, in most races, Norris is a lot faster than piastri.

[Sandpit Steve]

g4ry13 said:

gotoPzero said:

Pleased for Lando, he deserves a win but its taken him way too long.
He is a talented driver and has a good attitude (IMO) but he should have left McLaren years ago.

He is "doing a Button" IMO and unless some similar miracle happens to Lando that happened to Button he is probably not going to see many more wins tbh.

Now is a certain designer was to find his way to the orange team....

Just my 2ps worth.

It has taken a long time for Lando to get his win and he now faces a problem that his teammate looks equally as good (and better at times).

If you want to pick up a championship then a few teams are going to realistically deliver that. Unless Lando goes for one of the new teams which can miraculously end up fighting for wins then he's probably best staying put. Mercedes have a seat to fill - although he'll be fighting George and currently the McLaren looks to be the better car. If Max moves on from Red Bull (unlikely) then a seat could be there.

As for the certain designer: while he's definitely had successful designs, I think too much weighting is put behind him. He was at McLaren for 8 years and they won 2 championships. Red Bull for 18 years and they're going to win 8 of those.

With reg changes, you wouldn't say no to having him on the designing team. But I don't think by any means it's make or break.

The problem is a combination of perhaps the most highly skilled field of drivers we’ve even seen, alongside relatively few cars able to challenge for regular wins and therefore titles. More than ever, being in the right place at the right time is the biggest determinant of the number of career titles someone wins. It’s always been true to some extent, see how Alonso was never in the right team for example, but now there’s a clear pecking order of cars even if the field spread is historically low.

Lando’s in a car that can win races now, so he’s probably best staying put unless he can swap wiith Max.

[SmoothCriminal]

Not sure if I missed it in-between all the triggered posts and tears about a democratically elected former president visiting a garage in his home state.

But

Sainz 5 second penalty for his red mist overtake damaging Piastri's car and ruining his race.

Kmag is now on 10 penalty points after his crash into Sargent.

[Castellet]

g4ry13 said:

It has taken a long time for Lando to get his win and he now faces a problem that his teammate looks equally as good (and better at times).

Hard to say, I think Piastri still has a lot to learn and show.
But, Norris is clearly the No.1 driver, getting priority, more experienced, and the win will have lifted a ‘ceiling’.

[Diderot]

isaldiri said:

g4ry13 said:

It has taken a long time for Lando to get his win and he now faces a problem that his teammate looks equally as good (and better at times).

No his team mate doesn't look as good. He might in time but certainly not yet and definitely not consistently at the moment. This race apart with parts difference possibly making that difference, in most races, Norris is a lot faster than piastri.

Exactly. Piastri is much slower than Lando.

[honda_exige]

A simple way to make races more interesting is just have the starting grid less staggered, in most cases 1st and 2nd enter the first corner in the same order which is for a large part replicated down the grid - for the top 10 anyway.

Just having each row be less staggered will mean more cars out of position relative to Qually pace and more overtakes, pit strategy etc.

[thegreenhell]

Diderot said:

isaldiri said:

g4ry13 said:

It has taken a long time for Lando to get his win and he now faces a problem that his teammate looks equally as good (and better at times).

No his team mate doesn't look as good. He might in time but certainly not yet and definitely not consistently at the moment. This race apart with parts difference possibly making that difference, in most races, Norris is a lot faster than piastri.

Exactly. Piastri is much slower than Lando.

I think they're quite closely matched on qualifying pace, but Lando is currently streets ahead on race pace. Lando often goes forwards in a race, whereas Oscar goes backwards. Hopefully this is something he can learn to improve, but Lando easily has the measure of him at the moment.

[g4ry13]

Diderot said:

isaldiri said:

g4ry13 said:

It has taken a long time for Lando to get his win and he now faces a problem that his teammate looks equally as good (and better at times).

No his team mate doesn't look as good. He might in time but certainly not yet and definitely not consistently at the moment. This race apart with parts difference possibly making that difference, in most races, Norris is a lot faster than piastri.

Exactly. Piastri is much slower than Lando.

Really not convinced that there's such a huge differential.

Also impossible to make that statement when one driver is getting all the upgrades to run and the other is running older parts.

[PhilAsia]

I have always rated Lando. Just has had lesser equipment at the wrong time.

Lewis was very complimentary of his driving prowess after following him for a large number of laps (Sochi IIRC?).

[paulguitar]

g4ry13 said:

Really not convinced that there's such a huge differential.

Also impossible to make that statement when one driver is getting all the upgrades to run and the other is running older parts.

That's a good point. They are not driving equal cars.

[HighwayStar]

g4ry13 said:

Diderot said:

isaldiri said:

g4ry13 said:

It has taken a long time for Lando to get his win and he now faces a problem that his teammate looks equally as good (and better at times).

No his team mate doesn't look as good. He might in time but certainly not yet and definitely not consistently at the moment. This race apart with parts difference possibly making that difference, in most races, Norris is a lot faster than piastri.

Exactly. Piastri is much slower than Lando.

Really not convinced that there's such a huge differential.

Also impossible to make that statement when one driver is getting all the upgrades to run and the other is running older parts.

Lando had all 10 upgrades Mclaren brought to Miami.
Piastri had half the upgrade package…

[heebeegeetee]

PlywoodPascal said:

Apparently none of the teams wanted to host him and in the end it came down to whose livery matched best.

Post of the thread.

Edited by heebeegeetee on Monday 6th May 13:29

[thegreenhell]

HighwayStar said:

g4ry13 said:

Diderot said:

isaldiri said:

g4ry13 said:

It has taken a long time for Lando to get his win and he now faces a problem that his teammate looks equally as good (and better at times).

No his team mate doesn't look as good. He might in time but certainly not yet and definitely not consistently at the moment. This race apart with parts difference possibly making that difference, in most races, Norris is a lot faster than piastri.

Exactly. Piastri is much slower than Lando.

Really not convinced that there's such a huge differential.

Also impossible to make that statement when one driver is getting all the upgrades to run and the other is running older parts.

Lando had all 10 upgrades Mclaren brought to Miami.
Piastri had half the upgrade package…

That was one race, but what about all the others where they've had equal cars? Lando has finished ahead of Oscar in all but one race so far this year, and that's not all car inequality. And he gets those upgrades first when there is only one set because he'll make better use of them.

[Common Porpoise]

Fantastic result for Nando. i had to look it up... it's now ten years since i first saw him race in Ginetta juniors.

I am however extremely disappointed he didn't take the opportunity to grab Trump by the P#ssy, or give him a good hard kick in the sponge.

Fingers crossed for a continued McLaren resurgence.

[spikyone]

thegreenhell said:

Diderot said:

isaldiri said:

g4ry13 said:

It has taken a long time for Lando to get his win and he now faces a problem that his teammate looks equally as good (and better at times).

No his team mate doesn't look as good. He might in time but certainly not yet and definitely not consistently at the moment. This race apart with parts difference possibly making that difference, in most races, Norris is a lot faster than piastri.

Exactly. Piastri is much slower than Lando.

I think they're quite closely matched on qualifying pace, but Lando is currently streets ahead on race pace. Lando often goes forwards in a race, whereas Oscar goes backwards. Hopefully this is something he can learn to improve, but Lando easily has the measure of him at the moment.

It's race craft and tyre management that are holding Piastri back in the races, IMO. He's slower than Norris, but not by much, in quali. Lando now has a Hamilton-like ability to go very quickly whilst still managing his tyres - see his lines through the first few corners in China. Norris was helped by the VSC yesterday but after Perez pitted, Lando on well-used mediums was the fastest thing on track, whilst Oscar had already toasted his tyres.

As I said a few posts back, Oscar needing an earlier stop cost him a shot at the win. Had they both been ahead of the SC when it came out, Lando might've been on the wrong end of another Monza 21. Given that the team were telling Oscar not to take risks as he fought through the field, you can be certain that they'd have told Norris to hold position in a 1-2.

I think Piastri can sometimes be a bit naïve in wheel to wheel racing too. He has close calls and minor bumps when the risks of a move should be obvious. But it's easy to forget this is only his second season - he's doing a very good job and his potential is pretty obvious.

[808 Estate]

Proper result for Lando and McLaren. Well done chaps.