Formula 1 2024 – WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

That wasn’t much of a gamble for Ferrari as they had nothing to lose!

Wonder, come the end of the season, if Lando will be looking elsewhere if he misses the WDC by less than the number of points he’s missed by the team not favouring him when they could have switched cars. That’s 10 now.

Looks like Kevin Magnussen is going to have to sit Baku out. Good news for Bearman!

Wonder, come the end of the season, if Lando will be looking elsewhere if he misses the WDC by less than the number of points he’s missed by the team not favouring him when they could have switched cars. That’s 10 now.

I know, it’s baffling to me that the team isn’t doing more to support his bid for the drivers championship, it makes them look like they’re a less than serious team

There may be something in Piastri’s contract (especially given who his manager is) which states that he will be given equal treatment and given how good he appears to be, they may not want to upset him.

Everyone criticises Max for not having an equal driver in the second RedBull and that it dimmishes his achievements as a WC, if he hasnt beaten another WC in the same car.

If Lando wants to be WC then he needs to beat Piastri first, who was the faster of the 2 drivers today.

Everyone criticises Max for not having an equal driver in the second RedBull and that it dimmishes his achievements as a WC, if he hasnt beaten another WC in the same car.

Honestly, I think that’s more on Red Bull than Max.

Also a solid race debut for Colapinto bringing it home in 12th.

Which puts him 21st in the champiosnhip, one place ahead of Bottas…

Agree it’s madness not swapping Piastri and Norris on the last lap, ten points is huge, even the three from this time could make a difference.

Wonder, come the end of the season, if Lando will be looking elsewhere

And go where? Merc is full, Ferrari is full, Red Bull are struggling. McLaren have always had a policy of letting their drivers compete. If Norris wants to be world champion, he has to beat his teammate.

And go where?

not necessarily for ‘25.

McLaren have always had a policy of letting their drivers compete

By all means start the season like that and see who emerges in top, but at this stage in the season, 2/3rds of the way through, Oscar is not going to catch Max, so it makes sense to put all your energy into Lando, who has much more of a chance to.

Assuming they win the WCC, they’ll look pretty daft doing it P2 and 3, when they could have done it P1 and 4/5, and all the kudos/marketing opportunity that brings…

I think there is a bit of needle starting between LN and OP. I feel Monza was a follow on from Hungary and OP has learned that he needs to assert himself strongly. I suspect Lando wants Oscar to play the diligent number 2 role but Piastri with some justification sees himself as an equal. Lando clearly trying to put Oscar in his place in Hungary certainly took the shine off his maiden win I think that will be remembered.

I agree with @Chew, if Lando can’t defend from his team mate, McLaren are going to look pretty silly shouting ‘multi21’ into the mic at every race.

Looks like Kevin Magnussen is going to have to sit Baku out.

Honestly he seems like a nice enough guy off the track, but an absolute walloper when he gets behind the wheel. I think these are going to be his last F1 races, I can’t imagine any other team will ever employ him.

I agree with @Chew, if Lando can’t defend from his team mate…

They’re all going to look stupid when that defence/attack is too strong, taking them both out of a race because they’ve been allowed to race. ‘Papaya rules’ will go out the window when it gets properly elbows out.

Seems all that ‘think of the rest of the season’ they were pleading with Lando in Hungary should have been ignored.

Seems all that ‘think of the rest of the season’ they were pleading with Lando in Hungary should have been ignored.

Quite

Great race. Bold call by Ferrari

standard result for merc. Hamilton goes forward from qualifying whilst Russel goes backwards

Yawn.

They’re all going to look stupid when that defence/attack is too strong, taking them both out of a race because they’ve been allowed to race. ‘Papaya rules’ will go out the window when it gets properly elbows out.

Seems all that ‘think of the rest of the season’ they were pleading with Lando in Hungary should have been ignored.

I can imagine Zak Brown being very matter of fact about it towards Lando – basically if you can’t win it on your own you don’t deserve the title.

As long as McLaren bring home the constructors title that will be reward enough.

@tomhoward. I know every race Russell finds away to turn a good qualifying position to a bad result and is made to look mediocre by his team leader. I wonder how is going to explain hitting the slalom poles at the first chicane smashing his wing so badly

The good news is we now have a fight for the WDC championship. I’m expecting McLaren will now in the constructors. Fingers crossed Norris can close down the gap to Max

I heard that Piastri had said he’d keep racing Lando while there was still a mathematical chance of him (OP) winning the WDC. Currently he’s 106 points off Max with 200+ points available for the rest of the season. If Oscar can keep out scoring Max then Lando is on his own for a while yet.

I think these are going to be his last F1 races, I can’t imagine any other team will ever employ him

I like Magnussen and Ricciardo and Bottas, they seem like they might actually be fun people to hang out with but they’ve all had a decent shot and none of them are going to be world champion. It would be good for the sport if they were all replaced by young drivers next year. Same with Perez and Hulkenberg.

They’re all going to look stupid when that defence/attack is too strong

Oh I agree 100%. Morally they’ve got two really strong drivers, they should let them race. Logically; pick one for the no1 driver spot and they’ll win both drivers and constructors. It’s what RB/Merc have done, and there’s a reason they’ve been to two best teams recently. That used to be the McLaren way, they need to resolve that sharpish.

Logically; pick one for the no1 driver spot and they’ll win both drivers and constructors. It’s what RB/Merc have done

Merc have never had a number 1 driver. Both drivers have always been free to compete until one is out of contention for the championship.

Piastri is currently 106 points behind Verstappen with eight races to go, so 200 points for regular race wins and 8 points for fastest laps, plus three sprint races, so 24 points for wins. That’s a total of 232 points still available, so too early to ask him to give up title hopes.

Oh I agree 100%. Morally they’ve got two really strong drivers, they should let them race. Logically; pick one for the no1 driver spot and they’ll win both drivers and constructors. It’s what RB/Merc have done, and there’s a reason they’ve been to two best teams recently. That used to be the McLaren way, they need to resolve that sharpish.

Logically yes, but that doesn’t take into account OP’s ego. He’ll not like the idea of being a #2. That needs to be managed carefully

Seems all that ‘think of the rest of the season’ they were pleading with Lando in Hungary should have been ignored.

Yup!

Pretty stupid move by Oscar if you consider the big picture. That move led to having to implement sub-optimal strategy which ultimately cost them them the 1-2 and being 1st in the Constructors. Made them look a bit stupid.

Lando is going to be much more ‘elbows out’ and I foresee a papaya crash in the future with Lando needing to asset himself as not to be messed with ala MV vibes.

Also Lando isn’t going to be minded to support his team mate in future when called on.

Good race that!  Surprised Mclaren didn’t see that coming after GR pulled off the same strategy in Spa.  Great job by Ferrari/Charles, loved seeing the tifosi running down the track to the podium.

Starting to see a bit of a cut-throat side to Piastri now, he’s got a bit of a spring in his step since his win. Lando needs to definitively stamp that out with a couple of dominant performances if he wants the team to back him.  Right now I don’t think he’s doing enough, he really really needs to get on top of his starts.

Pretty stupid move by Oscar if you consider the big picture.

But whose big picture?

It was a stunning pass. Ballsy, precise, ruthlessly effective, and a clear statement to anyone who needed it. He forced Norris to back down and threw him to the Ferraris. It did Piastri’s big picture a world of good.

The “sub-optimal strategy” seemed to be a close call and also seemed to hinge on faith in the tyres, which Piastri and/or the McLaren seemed not to be able to conserve as well as Leclerc and the Ferrari. I would lean slightly more towards Piastri leaning on them too much, given that Norris was catching him (and not for the first time when tyre management has been a factor). He was lucky that Norris is still prone to errors and fluffed it at the Roggia.

Ultimately I think Norris still needs to fix his errors, Piastri still needs to improve his race management, and McLaren still need to have more trust in their numbers.

Great drive by Leclerc, though. He may not be a consistent Sunday driver but when he delivers he delivers.

The “sub-optimal strategy” seemed to be a close call and also seemed to hinge on faith in the tyres, which Piastri and/or the McLaren seemed not to be able to conserve as well as Leclerc and the Ferrari.

Exactly. It was the safe strategy and McLaren were better off sticking with a safe strategy. Ferrari took a risky bet which paid off for Leclerc but not for Sainz. Just because the Ferrari could make the tyres last that long doesn’t mean that the McLaren could. McLaren’s priority is scoring points toward the constructor’s championship and they settled for a conservative strategy that took a decent chunk out of Red Bull. It’s not the strategic disaster that a lot of people seem to believe.

Lando’s little first corner slide. That would’ve been enough for OP to decide that he was having a pop

https://x.com/F1/status/1830679082226327818

Red Bull and Ferrari complaining that Merc and McLaren wings are flexing too much.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-and-red-bull-set-for-fia-talks-amid-fresh-mclaren-mercedes-flexi-wing-intrigue/10650797/

Seems nothing will be done this season though. The FIA are already monitoring front wings in case they need to change regs for next season.

FIA have already said that all front wings comply with their current load tests and are legal.

FIA have already said that all front wings comply with their current load tests and are legal.

The point is that the load tests can be changed if it’s believed that teams are pushing flex too far. Red Bull and Ferrari will be hoping to have stricter load tests introduced this season to force Merc and McLaren to redesign their wings to comply.

They can change them mid-season – but there are only 3 months of the season left. And this has been rumbling on for months.

So forcing teams to redesign the front wings and then everything behind it to cope with the new airflow would take a long time and be massively expensive.

the-muffin-man

And this has been rumbling on for months.

RB in particular have been complaining about this for a while.  The interesting thing for me about this latest update is Ferrari getting on side with RB.

 The interesting thing for me about this latest update is Ferrari getting on side with RB.

All the teams are ruthlessly opportunistic on things like this. If a rival figures out a trick, they’ll do anything they can to have it banned. When they figure out a trick, they’ll swear that it’s all above board. It’s just how it’s done.

 forcing teams to redesign the front wings and then everything behind it to cope with the new airflow would take a long time and be massively expensive.

The result would be that the teams have to make the wings less flexy. If the flex isn’t performance enhancing (which would be illegal), then the airflow downstream wouldn’t change and there would be no need to change anything else. If they have to redesign the whole car because they can’t use a flexy wing then the wing is illegal.

Flex isn’t illegal – they all flex to some extent to enhance performance. And the FIA have already said all cars comply with the rules as written now.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mclaren-f1-front-wing-flexing-mercedes-ferrari-red-bull-fia-stewards/

“The FIA said in July, when this emerged, that the data would be used to enhance its understanding of bodywork flexibility for future regulations – rather than changing anything this season.”

FIA issue flexi-wing statement as several teams chase McLaren and Mercedes clarification

I’m quite certain all the teams run flexi wings and dance around making the just stiff enough to pass the load tests as written. Whether some teams have been able to take it further to better control how the wings flex under various load or cornering angles is anyone’s guess

Flex isn’t illegal – they all flex to some extent to enhance performance.

It’s impossible to make a perfectly rigid structure so they have to flex. However, moveable aerodynamic surfaces are not legal so the teams are not supposed to be deliberately designing them to flex for aerodynamic benefit. Of course, that can’t really be stopped so there are static load tests to check the amount of flex. On top of that, the amount of flex is meant to be linear in relation to load. If you put a 200 kg load on the wing, it should flex twice as much as with a 100 kg load.

What would be illegal would be to engineer a wing that flexed in a non-linear way so that it dumped downforce and drag at high speed but then reverted to a high downforce profile at low speed (which is exactly what these cars need to get balance at both high and low speeds). All the cars have passed the load tests so none of them are illegal but the FIA can change the load tests if they think teams have found some clever way to get around the intent of the rules (which is that moveable aero surfaces are not allowed).

Yes – and they may change the load tests for next season!!! Not this season though.

They can change the load tests mid season if they think teams are doing anything suspicious.