Formula 1 2024 – WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

Surely “I didn’t move the steering” meant “I’d already applied the ammount of steering input I needed to apply to make the corner” before Max lost control and dive bombed him?

You can see on the video (includes slow-mo) that Hamilton’s left hand rises above the bodywork while Max is alongside.

It seems like he’s trying to judge the turn-in so that he just misses the back of Max’s car as he slides past, but misjudges. I dunno. It’d be a bit daft to deliberately collide given the risk of losing his front right suspension. But whatever the intention, it’s clearly not just one steering input for the corner. Which is why at the time I raised an eyebrow at “I didn’t move the steering”.

Lewis wasn’t taking about his steering into the corner

How do you know that? Seems a bit unlikely to me, but I’m willing to be corrected.

I’m sure Lewis’s opinion was that if Max wanted to divebomb and risk a collision, he wasnt going to prevent it.

Lewis had nothing to lose

Max should have done a Lauda/Prost and took the points which were on offer at Hungary.

You can see on the video (includes slow-mo) that Hamilton’s left hand rises above the bodywork while Max is alongside.

The stewards said that they looked at the telemetry and Hamilton took his usual line (i.e. didn’t change line to steer into Max). Obviously, he didn’t change line to avoid a collision, but Lewis is pretty good at getting his elbows out when he needs to. In this case, Max just needed to score points towards the championship, he had more to lose than Hamilton and Hamilton knew that. My guess is that Hamilton was trying to make a point to Max that he’s not afraid to pull the same aggressive defense that Max pulls on others. We’ll see whether Max learns from this or not, but my money is that he doesn’t.

The other thing to bear in mind is that as Hamilton is turning in, Verstappen is locking up – had he not locked up, he would have made the corner and come out ahead of Hamilton without contact, but he is starting to go straight on at almost the same time as when Hamilton is beginning to turn in.

the 10 place penalty for max could prove a headache for perez. If he can’t get anywhere near max despite the penalty, I imagine he’s done.

FP1 at Spa and it looks like Max  and RB have this one sown up. He’s 1/2 second up on the rest of the field on the hard tyre and when everyone put on soft tyres his hard tyre time was still good enough to see him tenth. That he has a 10 place grid penalty doesn’t really look like it’ll do anything to stop him winning this race

I wouldn’t see it being a foregone conclusion just yet.

The RedBull will work well around Spa, but Max is going to have to work through a lot of (fast) traffic to get to the front and hopefully Lando can stretch out enough of a gap to hold him off.

FP1 at Spa and it looks like Max  and RB have this one sown up.

Points are awarded for Sunday, not Friday. Different teams run different engine modes and fuel loads in practice, Friday is just used to gather data. Planting the seeds that will provide for the harvest on Sunday.

nickcFull Member
FP1 at Spa and it looks like Max  and RB have this one sown up. He’s 1/2 second up on the rest of the field on the hard tyre and when everyone put on soft tyres his hard tyre time was still good enough to see him tenth. That he has a 10 place grid penalty doesn’t really look like it’ll do anything to stop him winning this race

The interesting thing will be whether or not he beats Perez despite the 10 place drop…

Mclaren looked quick in FP2 BTW. It looked like some teams were sandbagging though.

It’s also possible that other teams will take engine penalties depending on grid positions, including Perez for Red Bull. Verstappen might start higher than 10th and Perez might start behind him. But the constructor’s championship is still open so I expect the drivers ahead of Verstappen to defend pretty hard to fight for the constructor’s crown.

I’d admire the optimism, last year Max won from 6th and the year before that from 14th.

I’d admire the optimism, last year Max won from 6th and the year before that from 14th.

Difference being the other teams are closer.

The interesting thing will be whether or not he beats Perez despite the 10 place drop…

Does the Pope shit in the woods? If Perez started on pole and Max from the pit lane I’d still put money on Max finishing ahead.

Perez woke up!!

Perez woke up!!

Was only 0.003 from not making Q3 but he was probably due a bit of a break.

Edi flight to Dusseldorf no delay, drive to Maastricht for the hotel at 11.30pm , back up at 4.30am to get to the park and ride near Spa but the forecast is looking good ☀️ and the pack is all bunched up, should be a great race but I’m guessing there will be so many fans cheering on Max being so close to Holland

Sainz has allegedly signed a one year deal with Williams, but with a get-out clause that allows him to not even race for Williams if Merc or Red bull come calling before the start of the season.

Absolutely awesome race

Brilliant job by the Merc boys

Brilliant drive by George, Lewis looks a bit miffed!

George under investigation for being under weight – possible DSQ coming…

That’s pretty much a guaranteed disqualification isn’t it?

Yep. What a shame. Ran a perfect race, and this is entirely out of his control. Seems brutal. Also proved entirely wrong about Red Bull, Perez made to look entirely pedestrian, and Verstappen unable to shake off Norris. They won’t go into the holiday break a happy team I;d have though

That’s pretty much a guaranteed disqualification isn’t it?

Yep…1.5kg under.

DQ confirmed.

Seems Lewis didn’t even hang around for the team photo he was so pissed off with the team.

Confirmed that Russel has been DQd

Real shame as he did a really good job at managing the one stop race

**** sake lmao

I wonder if Mercedes deliberately didn’t drain all the fuel out, in the hope that the FIA wouldn’t notice?

Great day today, yesterday was a little wet but today was glorious. My son had great time.

Gutted for George, but I was hoping Lewis would get him. Got on the track at the end and saw the presentations.

Cracking day out but it was getting hot in the sun, can’t believe how hilly the circuit is and so tidy with no litter. So organised that it made Silverstone look amateurish 2 years ago

There seemed to be so many ordinary folk there to watch motor racing compared to the many rich folk arriving in helicopters all day long at the British GP

So many folk dressed in orange near the bus stop end of the circuit but many German fans cheering for the mercs at the opposite end of the circuit. Are the Germans and Dutch maybe like Scotland and England ?

Usually the drivers weave around on the victory lap to pick up extra rubber from the track but for some reason there wasnt a victory lap at this GP?

Are the Germans and Dutch maybe like Scotland and England ?

Having spent some time in Holland in the late 80’s/early ‘90’s unless things have changed, the Dutch I met didn’t in general like the Germans much.

There’s never a cool down lap at Spa – they’ve always gone up the pit lane the wrong way after the chequered flag. No idea why, seems mad, but it’s not new!

Would they pick up 1.5kg of marbles?

They seem to think that because he did a one-stop, his tyres lost more weight than expected.

That is a real shame for George. Brilliant drive and the best GP I’ve seen in ages. Spa doesn’t fail.

It’s not a shame – he ran an underweight car and was disqualified. That’s how it works.

Er, OK. I meant it’s a shame for him. The driver.

They have a standard set of wheels to weigh the cars as far as I understand it.

No idea why

Cus tootling round a 7km lap at cool down speed takes ages.