Lando Norris

[Wills2]

Wheelspinning said:

Wills2 said:

I don't think it's Zak's decision alone to make, their owners have poured incredible amounts of money into them and control them outright now and the Bahrainis will certainly have an opinion in terms of how they want the team to race.

I think that until recently, Mclaren was a very expensive shiny toy for the Bahrainis, but now there is a real chance to turn their faith and cash into a success, and will have them telling Zak that he can file the Papaya Rules into the cabinet in the storage room in the janitor department regardless of the plans for OP.

Last week was great as racing fans, but an owner will look at what happened on turn 2 with disgust; that was going to be a clear 1-2 race.

Instead of commanding the race, you had 2 drivers causing premature wear to their tyres and letting Ferrari make them look like amateurs, which is good going by Ferrari with their self harm acts of late.

My money is on them being behind the let them race strategy rather than being against it, although as the WCC is "the" prize to have from a £ perspective I think they will have to start giving team orders that maximise their chances of winning it.

[Muzzer79]

DOCG said:

Wheelspinning said:

Webber was never quick enough or ruthless enough to ever be WDC.

Then how did he very nearly win the title in 2010?

He "very nearly" won because he wasn't quick or ruthless enough to "win".

[Siao]

Muzzer79 said:

DOCG said:

Wheelspinning said:

Webber was never quick enough or ruthless enough to ever be WDC.

Then how did he very nearly win the title in 2010?

He "very nearly" won because he wasn't quick or ruthless enough to "win".

In the 4 years that Vettel won it with RB, Webber was never the runner-up.

[Some Gump]

Jesus Christ.

Do you lot actually believe the tripe you post?

[DOCG]

HardtopManual said:

DOCG said:

Then how did he very nearly win the title in 2010?

5 drivers almost won the title in 2010.

Webber is the only driver of those 5 never to win a WDC.

Exactly, that showed he could compete with the best in equal machinery. He probably would have won the title if RB didn't put favour Vettel over him.

[732NM]

DOCG said:

Exactly, that showed he could compete with the best in equal machinery. He probably would have won the title if RB didn't put favour Vettel over him.

He did himself in on his bike, without that he likely would have won a championship.

[Jayho]

DOCG said:

HardtopManual said:

DOCG said:

Then how did he very nearly win the title in 2010?

5 drivers almost won the title in 2010.

Webber is the only driver of those 5 never to win a WDC.

Exactly, that showed he could compete with the best in equal machinery. He probably would have won the title if RB didn't put favour Vettel over him.

I thought the owners always told the team "Let them race". Multi 21 was probably the only time where it seemed to favour Vettel a bit more as the ramifications of disobeying team orders wasn't significant. But that year, I'm pretty sure Webber wasn't all that close to Vettel in the WDC.

I like Webber, I thought he was a great driver and had a great feel for grip. Seemed to manage to pick lines / braking points which other drivers weren't able.

[Castellet]

There are elements of Webber in Piastri.

[HTP99]

Castellet said:

There are elements of Webber in Piastri.

Would that be the Australian element?

[Castellet]

….. and the management. Webber is a shrewd player.

[MustangGT]

DOCG said:

HardtopManual said:

DOCG said:

Then how did he very nearly win the title in 2010?

5 drivers almost won the title in 2010.

Webber is the only driver of those 5 never to win a WDC.

Exactly, that showed he could compete with the best in equal machinery. He probably would have won the title if RB didn't put favour Vettel over him.

Exactly. I think it no coincidence that Vettel was an RB academy driver, while Webber was not.

[Siao]

DOCG said:

HardtopManual said:

DOCG said:

Then how did he very nearly win the title in 2010?

5 drivers almost won the title in 2010.

Webber is the only driver of those 5 never to win a WDC.

Exactly, that showed he could compete with the best in equal machinery. He probably would have won the title if RB didn't put favour Vettel over him.

Even if RB issued orders against Vettel in Brazil, he would still have finished behind Alonso in AD and miss on the WDC. Unless you mean something else?

Both him and Alonso were unfortunate enough to be stuck behind the flying Renault in AD. At some point even Hamilton had problems passing Kubica on 40 laps-old tyres before he had to pit. I am not sure RB cost Webber anything in those races.

And are we going to pretend that Korea didn't happen?

[entropy]

732NM said:

DOCG said:

Exactly, that showed he could compete with the best in equal machinery. He probably would have won the title if RB didn't put favour Vettel over him.

He did himself in on his bike, without that he likely would have won a championship.

He span off in the wet Korean GP. Webber was still leading the 2010 WDC heading into the race.

Webber peaked in 2010. Thereafter he was a number 2 driver, generally better when the RB cars were in early stages of development. Vettel was so much better than Webber with all that rear downforce trickery. Webber went on a downward slope to the point in 2013 his results were as bad as Checo is now.

[Chamon_Lee]

Some Gump said:

Jesus Christ.

Do you lot actually believe the tripe you post?

felt the exact same reading the page....

[asfault]

Ironically it would have been better for anyone other than Oscar to have been number 2 grid at Monza as Lando could have forced them out/over more than the rule of dont hit your team mate.

[Siao]

asfault said:

Ironically it would have been better for anyone other than Oscar to have been number 2 grid at Monza as Lando could have forced them out/over more than the rule of dont hit your team mate.

They are not allowed to force anyone out of track really...

[Blue62]

Well it will be interesting to see how things go between Oscar and Lando this weekend, I’ve a feeling it could be a defining moment in the season. One point that keeps being overlooked in the debate, is that we suddenly have some decent racing and a high degree of jeopardy, long may it continue.

[DOCG]

Siao said:

DOCG said:

HardtopManual said:

DOCG said:

Then how did he very nearly win the title in 2010?

5 drivers almost won the title in 2010.

Webber is the only driver of those 5 never to win a WDC.

Exactly, that showed he could compete with the best in equal machinery. He probably would have won the title if RB didn't put favour Vettel over him.

Even if RB issued orders against Vettel in Brazil, he would still have finished behind Alonso in AD and miss on the WDC. Unless you mean something else?

Both him and Alonso were unfortunate enough to be stuck behind the flying Renault in AD. At some point even Hamilton had problems passing Kubica on 40 laps-old tyres before he had to pit. I am not sure RB cost Webber anything in those races.

And are we going to pretend that Korea didn't happen?

I meant for example taking the updated front wing off of Webber's car and putting on Vettel's (because he damaged his own in practice). If something as blatant as that happened there are clearly going to be many more instances of subtly favouring Vettel in ways that were never made public.

[Siao]

DOCG said:

Siao said:

DOCG said:

HardtopManual said:

DOCG said:

Then how did he very nearly win the title in 2010?

5 drivers almost won the title in 2010.

Webber is the only driver of those 5 never to win a WDC.

Exactly, that showed he could compete with the best in equal machinery. He probably would have won the title if RB didn't put favour Vettel over him.

Even if RB issued orders against Vettel in Brazil, he would still have finished behind Alonso in AD and miss on the WDC. Unless you mean something else?

Both him and Alonso were unfortunate enough to be stuck behind the flying Renault in AD. At some point even Hamilton had problems passing Kubica on 40 laps-old tyres before he had to pit. I am not sure RB cost Webber anything in those races.

And are we going to pretend that Korea didn't happen?

I meant for example taking the updated front wing off of Webber's car and putting on Vettel's (because he damaged his own in practice). If something as blatant as that happened there are clearly going to be many more instances of subtly favouring Vettel in ways that were never made public.

The wing failed on Vettel's car, he didn't damage it. RB decided to give it to the driver that showed more interest in it and was ahead in points at the time. Webber himself admitted that it wasn't properly communicated to him. Plus, there was no real difference in time when they tried them that weekend. Their decision is not so far fetched in my view, taking all this into account.

I agree that it would probably feel a bit bizarre to Webber, feel like there was a Vettel preference. So it is very possible that Webber was setting some boundaries with his behaviour afterwards. Similar to the Multi 2-1 basically.

[Gazzab]

Blue62 said:

Well it will be interesting to see how things go between Oscar and Lando this weekend, I’ve a feeling it could be a defining moment in the season. One point that keeps being overlooked in the debate, is that we suddenly have some decent racing and a high degree of jeopardy, long may it continue.

Overlooked by who?