A perfect plan of execution and a quick rectification of falling behind Russell at the start were key to Max Verstappen's victory at the Spanish Grand Prix. Lando Norris eventually came close but finished second ahead of Lewis Hamilton who confirmed the resurgence of Mercedes.
Certain teams are pushing the floors harder again, smelling blood. But they're probably getting a little too overconfident, outside of Mclaren who now seem to have the best car on the grid.AR3-GP wrote: ↑22 Jun 2024, 21:27Interesting observation from qualifying. Bouncing in T9 for some and not others.
Verstappen has no bouncing, car is on rails
Norris bounces but the car is on rails.
Russell bounces but the car is on rails.
Hamilton, Leclerc, and Sainz were bouncing to the point that each driver was making corrections/countersteer in the middle of T9 to catch the rear. Leclerc/Hamilton looked sketchier than Sainz. It's a really subtle thing, but when you look at the steering wheel of Norris/Ver/Russell through the corner, then it's very obvious what the difference is compared to the others.
He is stopping "un desirables" taking the other seatXyz22 wrote: ↑22 Jun 2024, 21:13I still can't believe how badly Perez is driving. He is really done with F1 mentally. He just signed a huge contract, he knows he can't beat Max and he doesn't really care. Probably only "used" by RB to test a few aero configs in order to help Max as well.
Sad to see his downfall. At least he was decentish in 2022.
Tyre deg tomorrow will prove nothing about the car of the year. This is race 10 of 24 with the first 9 being almost entirely RB20 as "top dog".venkyhere wrote: ↑22 Jun 2024, 19:53Let me fill in the portion of the sentence that you have cleverly left out when quoting :Just_a_fan wrote: ↑22 Jun 2024, 19:45It's a 24 race season. Of the 9 races completed, the RB20 took 7 poles in a row and won 6 of the races.
That doesn't make any other car the "car of the year" at this stage of the season. Unless one is preparing a particular narrative, of course.
The only remaining doubt is how the tyre deg of MCL38 (in normal summer temp conditions) is going to be, w.r.t the RB20. If that too proves better tomorrow, we can safely say the Mclaren is THE CAR of 2024, usurping the crown from RB20.
Yes it is. But we won't know the car of the year until the year is finished.Sieper wrote: ↑22 Jun 2024, 20:33At this moment, and since Miami really, the McLaren is very good.Just_a_fan wrote: ↑22 Jun 2024, 19:45It's a 24 race season. Of the 9 races completed, the RB20 took 7 poles in a row and won 6 of the races.
That doesn't make any other car the "car of the year" at this stage of the season. Unless one is preparing a particular narrative, of course.
The Mcl has not surpased the RB20. RB20 still the better car. Lando is just doing his thing. Just by the mere fact some corners are full throttle for Max is enough evidence the RB20 is still in a different league. It maybe just needed less setbacks on Friday to extract more. If you have the best high speed cornering and better corner exits and braking like Rb20, then it's difficult to be beaten over the race. There is more margin to manage the race. My opinion, but I see Lando needing to push more to keep ahead. We have had close Qually all year and redbull still in a different league in the races. But who knows!venkyhere wrote: ↑22 Jun 2024, 19:13Was looking at the final quali lap telemtry traces of NOR and VER, courtesy F1-tempo
- T5 and T7 is where Norris is gaining a cumulative 0.2
- T10 (and T13-14 is where VER is clawing back this same 0.2
- inherent driving style difference means VER is braking earlier and entering corners earlier, inorder to get onto throttle slightly earlier at exit (the 'more straightning of corners' driving style I was referring to last week). NOR is however, much smoother (like Button) with his brake and throttle inputs and carries higher minimal speeds through corners, helped possibly by the MCL38 being superior to RB20 in their current setups, when it comes to slow/medium corners. The Mclaren is able to rotate better than the more understeery RB20, I think. High-speed corners, RB20 is the undisputed king. The only exception to this is T10 where both cars/drivers are behaving almost exactly same.
It's almost confirmed in my mind, that the MCL38 has matched (possibly even surpassed) the RB20 in terms of ability. The Mclaren is, I believe, a much wider-window car than the RB20 as of today. The way they are going about the weekend, is with clockwork efficiency and precision like what RB19 used to do in 2023 - no setup drama, no driver complaints, right on the money from FP1 itself. The only remaining doubt is how the tyre deg of MCL38 (in normal summer temp conditions) is going to be, w.r.t the RB20. If that too proves better tomorrow, we can safely say the Mclaren is THE CAR of 2024, usurping the crown from RB20.
