2023 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps, July 28 - 30

[TFSA]

Piastri divebombs Sainz, destroys his and Sainz’s race! No penalty for the next race or penalty points! Sounds interesting…

Yep. No surprise though

Because he didn't divebomb him. Piastri was squeezed so hard that he not only went off the track, but also made contact with the wall. You can't get squeezed into the wall if you divebomb someone. That's not how divebombing works

Piastri was far enough along to be entitled to space, and ignoring the fact that Sainz locked up, he could have given him more space.


To be fair, i consider it a racing incident. It was Lap 1, and Sainz, despite the margin and the lockup, was focusing on avoiding Hamilton on the outside. But definitely not Piastris fault.

[Just_a_fan]

Piastri divebombs Sainz, destroys his and Sainz’s race! No penalty for the next race or penalty points! Sounds interesting…

Yep. No surprise though

Can you dive bomb a dive bomb?

Piastri before the corner was very reasonable imho. And then Sainz came in towards him with his frontwheels locked up and smoking. Piastri at that point did indeed decide to try and hang on, and that was wrong, he should have evacuated the corner and let Sainz who misjudged it badly through, but that really was a split-second decision forced upon him.

So, a good learning moment that I think he will learn from. Sainz will not change anymore.

Agreed - the contact between Sainz and Piastri was on Sainz. Sainz went in too hot and then had no choice but cut inside and hope. Unfortunately, Piastri was left with nowhere to go.

[Juzh]

Whoever has f1tv go and watch albon's first couple of laps, i promise you will not be upset (you can skip sector 2 footage). I think williams in this race was the most overpowered car on straights I've ever seen. Not even the sf90 comes close. He's making russell and norris with same engine look silly in comparison. What's going on with that williams is just absurd. I know they're slow in corners, but this kind of advantage is unreal
Albon catching big snaps trough blanchimont at 330+ is also a frightening sight.

[organic]

[zibby43]

Highlight of the race for me.

[Spoutnik]

Whoever has f1tv go and watch albon's first couple of laps, i promise you will not be upset (you can skip sector 2 footage). I think williams in this race was the most overpowered car on straights I've ever seen. Not even the sf90 comes close. He's making russell and norris with same engine look silly in comparison. What's going on with that williams is just absurd. I know they're slow in corners, but this kind of advantage is unreal
Albon catching big snaps trough blanchimont at 330+ is also a frightening sight.

I agree. It was impressive.
Like the SF90 at Monza when Hamilton with DRS couldn't get close to Leclerc. Gasly, with the Alpine which isn't slow on the straight, couldn't go faster with the DRS + tow than Albon... Thats why he overtook him around the outside at Les Fagnes.

[Big Tea]

It might just be downplaying your pace.
As Perez said to Leclerc in the cool down room, they were just managing.

If they finish each race with +45 sec on the rest of the field by starting 2nd and 6th, and win every race, at some point the FIA will do smth to slow them down

Realistically though...how do you slow them down? This doesnt seem a era where you can chop a piece of rear floor out like we seen in 2020/21.

Unless the FIA know RB's advantage, and exactly where it comes from, it might not be easy to just tweak some body work. (which technically they did between 22/23 with the raised throat heights/ floor etc.)

No need to slow them down, just leave the rules alone for a couple of years so everyone can get on the same page.
Any change now will almost certainly have unintended consequences and may even make things worse.
the closer to perfect one car is the less it has to improve, and vice versa, poor cars have lots to find more easily until they meet

[Sieper]

So, there is still an enormous amount of performance to unlock from this aero-formula. Rejoice.

[Oleo]

Yep. No surprise though

Can you dive bomb a dive bomb?

Piastri before the corner was very reasonable imho. And then Sainz came in towards him with his frontwheels locked up and smoking. Piastri at that point did indeed decide to try and hang on, and that was wrong, he should have evacuated the corner and let Sainz who misjudged it badly through, but that really was a split-second decision forced upon him.

So, a good learning moment that I think he will learn from. Sainz will not change anymore.

those 2 can't tell a 1st lap racing incident from putting too much faith in front tyres while trying to carry too much speed through a corner and think they are clever with their silly kindergarten level passive aggressive posts

I think that there was even an official statement about how such things are handled in starts and restarts, basically - a bit more aggressiveness is fine, to an extent

Sainz cut across with no regard that someone might be there, and Piastri made a very opportunistic move, race ruined for both, good thing they didn't take anyone with them

Hamiltons role in this should not be ignored. Not saying he does anything wrong, he can do what he did.
But he is on the outside line, there is gonna be 1 car on the inside, there could be two, if someone had a better start. He leaves less than 1 carwidth from the white line, while being the outside car in that corner, thats potential for problems. All other cars on the outside line leave way more space.
Sort of ironic after comments from yesterday about supposed squeezing from Perez, Hamilton shows what squeezing looks like.

[Hoffman900]

Whoever has f1tv go and watch albon's first couple of laps, i promise you will not be upset (you can skip sector 2 footage). I think williams in this race was the most overpowered car on straights I've ever seen. Not even the sf90 comes close. He's making russell and norris with same engine look silly in comparison. What's going on with that williams is just absurd. I know they're slow in corners, but this kind of advantage is unreal
Albon catching big snaps trough blanchimont at 330+ is also a frightening sight.

I mean, it makes complete sense.

Downforce, for the most part equals drag.

These cars make more power so they can make more downforce. This is why trap speeds have been relatively the same peak for 40 years, except cars now are faster because they’re going faster everywhere else (braking, corners, etc).

You can convert drag to horsepower. It’s not hard to “gain” 40-60hp in less drag, but it always comes at the expense of downforce, and since we’re road racing, with corners, and not land speed racing, there is a tradeoff.

[Just_a_fan]

Can you dive bomb a dive bomb?

Piastri before the corner was very reasonable imho. And then Sainz came in towards him with his frontwheels locked up and smoking. Piastri at that point did indeed decide to try and hang on, and that was wrong, he should have evacuated the corner and let Sainz who misjudged it badly through, but that really was a split-second decision forced upon him.

So, a good learning moment that I think he will learn from. Sainz will not change anymore.

those 2 can't tell a 1st lap racing incident from putting too much faith in front tyres while trying to carry too much speed through a corner and think they are clever with their silly kindergarten level passive aggressive posts

I think that there was even an official statement about how such things are handled in starts and restarts, basically - a bit more aggressiveness is fine, to an extent

Sainz cut across with no regard that someone might be there, and Piastri made a very opportunistic move, race ruined for both, good thing they didn't take anyone with them

Hamiltons role in this should not be ignored. Not saying he does anything wrong, he can do what he did.
But he is on the outside line, there is gonna be 1 car on the inside, there could be two, if someone had a better start. He leaves less than 1 carwidth from the white line, while being the outside car in that corner, thats potential for problems. All other cars on the outside line leave way more space.
Sort of ironic after comments from yesterday about supposed squeezing from Perez, Hamilton shows what squeezing looks like.

How is it Hamilton's fault? Sainz went for a dive bomb move - his inside tyre was locked and smoking - and cut across Piastri who had nowhere to go.

[Sieper]

https://i.imgur.com/yHikbe5.jpeg

This is quite telling. Max even after having a big moment up eau rouge still sets the fastest times in those hairy laps. He also said that it was quite hard to tell from the car how hard it was raining.

That nobody crashed in those laps was quite impressive imho.

[chrisc90]

Was it COTA a few years back sainz got a penalty on turn 1 for causing a bump? Seem to remember it might have involved Russel?

[AMG.Tzan]

I think that there was even an official statement about how such things are handled in starts and restarts, basically - a bit more aggressiveness is fine, to an extent

Sainz cut across with no regard that someone might be there, and Piastri made a very opportunistic move, race ruined for both, good thing they didn't take anyone with them

More aggressiveness truly is allowed on the first lap as you say! Silly maneuvers with no chance of succeeding aren’t allowed though! Piastri was driving into a disappearing gap and he knew it! There was no reason to release the brakes and find himself there…! I remember Max and Kimi (or Vettel) having a similar accident back in 2016-2017 I think…

[napoleon1981]

Its the typical la source incident.

Initially it appears you can go in 3 wide, then it pinches and collisions happen.

I feel like Sainz was expecting Hamilton to turn in more than he did. Sainz steered in expecting to be pinched, and Piastri was there with the typical nose in, which is real dangerous. I feel Sainz in the end caused it, but in that 3 wide situation happening so fast on cold tires could not be penalized for it. Its almost impossible to keep track of the outside and inside of the car at the same time and perfectly position it. This is the typical first lap, first corner incident, hence another good call from the stewards, they got the critical calls right this weekend.