Max Verstappen removed all doubt that he is on his path to win this year's championship. Blowing away everyone he came back from 16th to first by lap 12 and stayed there until the end. Sergio Perez completed Red Bull's party as Carlos Sainz finished third for Ferrari.
So all the humdrum about the floors turned out to be much ado about nothing. Insane performance by Max, would've loved to see another push lap. No idea what the grid is going to look like but it should be a fun race.
Mercs said they would set up for race, not quali, so there should be more pace through tire preservation, but will they have the pace to be on the podium? Alonso's defense may be a DRS train. The action of course will be Sainz vs Perez and Max vs Charles. Charles's pace was pretty good when he actually hooked up a good lap, but the car looks unstable and on edge. Verstappen seemed cool and relaxed and looked at one with the car. It's hard to say how much pace difference is from Max vs Honda's PU upgrades and RedBull's car updates, but Perez does appear to have the same bodywork but not the same floor, and of course doesn't have the PU upgrades. Charles and Max both need a clean race and need to steer clear of the mayhem of the midpack. It will all depend on how Sainz, Perez, Alonso, and Russell get out of turn 1.
They haven’t checked the floor legality and plank wear yet, so who knows.
Ferrari and Red Bull are too much in sync, with pace, pit and tire strategy, taking drivetrain changes, they appear they just want stay far from Mercedes, just do the opposite of whatever they do.
Good on them but the sport is too polarized. Coverage only makes it worse. The sport clearly is apprehensive about Audi and Porsche joining and won’t even let Andretti have a shot. It’s a crap show right now.
Supercharged Ford Taurus SHO 5spd. Sold.
BMW 335i, N54 6spd tuned with tunerPro
a bit of a clumsy move be Ferrari there, but didn't change anything at all for Leclerc. If at all, he is even in a better position than he would have been with a new tyre run, as he now has the same sets available for tomorrow as Verstappen
a bit of a clumsy move be Ferrari there, but didn't change anything at all for Leclerc. If at all, he is even in a better position than he would have been with a new tyre run, as he now has the same sets available for tomorrow as Verstappen
But did he get a used set? I thought I saw a new set, might that have been his last, or an extra set they wanted for the race?