Official 2024 Italian Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[Piginapoke]

After a great result for Lando, McLaren and the championships we’re in Monza, a classic, fast circuit. All the downforce comes off for this round, so relative car performance may change a bit.

RBR will be hoping to have found some answers after running the two cars in different specifications at Zandvoort. You’d expect McLaren and RBR to be right up there- Mercedes and Ferrari’s form is less predictable.

Will be interesting to see how the new Williams recruit (Colapinto) gets on- the team had a lot of good feedback about him after his Silverstone P1 run. Can’t do any worse than Sergeant, and I guess he’s cheap.

Note, Qualifying is at 3pm UK time, but the race is 2pm. Because Italy.

Poll is for the win.

Date(s): Friday 30 August to Sunday 1 September 2024.

UK Broadcast Timings (and track time)

All sessions are live on Sky F1. Channel 4 is showing live Qualifying and the Race.





2023 Highlights:

https://youtu.be/bd9eALWJRzY?si=uNjB7oF-CIdA-mvB

Tyres:

Soft compounds C3-C5



2023 Result:

Edited by Piginapoke on Tuesday 27th August 18:35

[Piginapoke]

Big Nanas said:

I was a bit confused initially.

It's worth highlighting that Logan Sergeant has been sacked and Colapinto is replacing him for the rest of the season (the graphic doesn't show that, and the OP hasn't been clear).

Good stuff, and I hope he does well!

Yes Sergeant is fired. Drugovich seems a better candidate to me with a lot more F1 experience

[Piginapoke]

TikTak said:

Going to plump for a Piastri win. Feel like he tends to run the car with a bit less wing so might suit him.

It's a hard one to call tbh, you'd expect RBR, Ferrari and Merc to all be better too. The heat/deg/surface looks like it could play a massive factor here.

I’m with you, I expect Piastri to have the edge on Norris this weekend, and win

[Piginapoke]

kambites said:

Diderot said:

Blib said:

Misspelled name.

Very professional.

One job....!

[Piginapoke]

vaud said:

Forester1965 said:

I've watched F1 for about 35 years and the instant relative change in RB performance is about an obvious instance of cheating suddenly stopping as I've seen.

Other than Ferrari fuel flow?

It seems clear that something has changed in-season. I'd love to know what!

[Piginapoke]

Just back from a lovely cycle. Game on!

[Piginapoke]

Diderot said:

entropy said:

cliffords said:

Lando's problem now is his teammate, who is a better driver and more mature.

You forgot about last week.

When Oscar is good he is up there with Lando but there are days when he's miles off Lando and this is what frustrates me and makes me think whether or not Piastri is overrated though I do acknowledge he is still young and in his second season.

I'd happily take Lando's errors at the front than Oscar's inconsistencies, at least you can rely on Lando being competitive at the sharp end of the grid more often than Piastri.

Exactly. Zandvoort was a disaster for Piastri - over 27 seconds behind Lando in equal machinery. Today, Lando was 3.5 secs behind. Other examples include Spain, Piastri was 17 seconds behind; Imola, Piastri was 14 seconds behind; Miami, Piastri was 49 seconds behind; China, Piastri was 43 seconds behind; Japan, Piastri was 18 seconds behind; and Australia, Piastri was 30 seconds behind. A pattern one might suggest?

They are both first rate drivers and both potential WDCs. Oscar makes fewer mistakes and seems to have more spare capacity during a race. Lando is a hair faster over a lap but is more prone to errors (like today).

[Piginapoke]

maz8062 said:

Every man and his dog can see that what OP did yesterday was against the teams best interests and selfish. Will Buxton summed it up, Nico summed it up, it is blatantly obvious to all that long for a close WDC fight between Max and the only driver that has a fast car and the ability to chase him down. So why don’t McLaren care? Why don’t they see what everyone else can see? Because this sport is rigged.

Where has McLaren’s pace come from - how are they much faster than the entire field even Mercedes from whom they buy engines? This is odd in of itself but hey ho. But for the team not to even insist that Oscar and Lando to swap positions at the end yesterday to maximise Lando’s points, added to their incessant cajoling and begging for him to give up a win in Hungary for OP’s benefit when he was faster, all points to a team that is doing its best not to win the WDC, at least with Lando. Why exactly?

I’ll put it out there that they’ve already “agreed” with whomever that they will try and win the WCC and forgo the WDC to Max. This is the only explanation that makes sense as the WDC carries the prestige and cache, like it does for the team with Senna, so why they’re not bothered is weird and inexplicable.

After AD21 anything is possible in this here sport.

Or maybe McLaren is happy to run two #1 drivers and won’t favour one over the other until one can no longer win the championship? Could it be that simple?

[Piginapoke]

Leithen said:

Verstappen ought to be laughing his socks off in the knowledge that he can probably finish fifth for the rest of the season and still be WDC.

He wont be laughing though because he’s a miserable git even when he’s winning.

It has echoes of 1986- Mansell and Piquet fighting each other in the lightening fast FW11, Prost coming through to win the WDC in the MP4/2. A classic season!

[Piginapoke]

This forum 2022 & 2023- Why will RB not let Perez fight Max?

This forum in 2024- Why does McLaren let Oscar fight Lando?

[Piginapoke]

thiscocks said:

Yep. And Mclaren can hardly complain about Lando not closing on Max enough when they ordered him to cede a 6 second lead to Oscar a couple of races ago... It just makes it look like they haven't got a clue what they're doing. Just let them race and stop trying to fking manage everything.

A 6 second gap that the team, not Lando, created

[Piginapoke]

Sandpit Steve said:

These guys simply don’t think like the rest of us do. Piastri will be totally convinced he can be champion this year, until it’s no longer mathematically possible. It’s what he’s been working towards for a decade and a half.

I think Piastri is more focussed on making it clear to the team he’s the #1 driver. My guess is Lando will leave in the next year or two, probably to RBR.