2024 Spanish Grand Prix - Barcelona-Catalunya, June 21 - 23

[Bill]

The fastest car finished first........... could have, would have, should have doesnt matter. one car passed GR with easy, the other spent lap after lap after lap after lap looking at the rear wing of GR because he didnt have the pace to get past...... Simple facts

this easy overtake (and the related radio message by lambiase) together with usual Q3 performance increase by verstappen in my opinion has not been focused enough. It reminds me of an engine performance trick used with big caution by RB.
Just to avoud flames, by no means I'm impling something illegal. The "hidden" use could be related to reliability issue or simply they want to keep it unnoticed as long as possible to avoid copying

I do not think it is unnoticed. It is quite clear, that the different engines have different strengths. Or in more technical terms I would say they have differently sized turbos with accordingly different profiles on the deployment.
The superpower of Honda is, that they can deploy a lot on one straight, a turbo boost for DRS overtakes. On the other hand the Merc for example is more efficient in regenerating the energy, they can do more subsequent laps with high power.
Of course this is magnified by a good car. Same as the Merc could glance after 2014 and sometimes got flying over several laps, now the Bull can simply save energy and stay in DRS range without using the battery too much. Then use the battery for a strong boost...and past.

i wouldnt be sure about merc efficient regeneration ,lewis is always complaining about merc clipping on straight.ever since f1 moved to biofuels merc and fallen behind both Honda and ferrari on pu side.

[Francis Bacon]

With respect to McLaren, what this race, and to some exstent Canada revealed is this:

In addition to being generally fast in a straight line, balanced, and good in a variety of corners, the MCL36 is also phenomonal on its tires, especially within the end of life phase of a given stint.

I think what we're seeing is the teams' strategists discovering that they can explore different race plans that leverage this advantage. This ability, and the corresponding possibilties now available to them, are new. So they're making mistakes here and there as they try things.

What I think : as they learn more, expect to less of what we saw yesterday in Catalunya, and more victories.

[AR3-GP]

If a VSC or safety car came out after Lando stayed out, Mclaren would have looked like heroes. I don't see anything especially wrong with the strategy that they chose. The performance of Norris/MCL38 allows them to use either end of the spectrum (undercut or overcut). A slightly better start or some slightly better pit stops and they could have won.

[Seanspeed]

Would love to know what the RBR ‘tools’ are.
Even down to individual corner or laps RB can use the ‘tools’ to benefit them.

Clinical

I mean, all they'd really need in this case is just knowing the state of the tires and simulations of what they expected of tire life/performance in an optimal situation, judged against what Lando was doing.

I think there’s more to it than that.

Of course they have more data available to them than that to help, just saying this is all they'd realistically need to have made the judgement they did. Doesn't have to be more complicated than that.

[basti313]

this easy overtake (and the related radio message by lambiase) together with usual Q3 performance increase by verstappen in my opinion has not been focused enough. It reminds me of an engine performance trick used with big caution by RB.
Just to avoud flames, by no means I'm impling something illegal. The "hidden" use could be related to reliability issue or simply they want to keep it unnoticed as long as possible to avoid copying

I do not think it is unnoticed. It is quite clear, that the different engines have different strengths. Or in more technical terms I would say they have differently sized turbos with accordingly different profiles on the deployment.
The superpower of Honda is, that they can deploy a lot on one straight, a turbo boost for DRS overtakes. On the other hand the Merc for example is more efficient in regenerating the energy, they can do more subsequent laps with high power.
Of course this is magnified by a good car. Same as the Merc could glance after 2014 and sometimes got flying over several laps, now the Bull can simply save energy and stay in DRS range without using the battery too much. Then use the battery for a strong boost...and past.

i wouldnt be sure about merc efficient regeneration ,lewis is always complaining about merc clipping on straight.ever since f1 moved to biofuels merc and fallen behind both Honda and ferrari on pu side.

Well, the efficient regen already made it to Sky...one of the tech stuff they rarely enough get right.
Clipping does not contradict this. Both the RedBull boost and the Merc regen boost need to be supported by extra fuel consumption over the lap. So a normal mapping may have clipping, while in Q or these boost modes they can use more power.

[ringo]

To be fair to mclaren, Lando was the one wanting the offset strategy.

As for the car debate. It's not black and white.
Mclaren is the "fastest" over a stint but it's not the "quickest" over a race distance.
The redbull still averages out better on:
Heavy fuel, cold tyres, acceleration, followning in dirty air, top speed, and tyre deg.
Max simply managed that race to the end. He was not driving the nuts off of the rb20.
He had no need to.
I will accept MCL38 as overall fastest when Max has to push at 100% begging the team for deltas and more engine power, and where can he find time in the corners.
He simply was not pushing on the last stint to suggest it was all the rb20 could give.
So i gotta go with the car that finished the race first in a race with no interuptions.

Dialrone usually posts track data. A lap chart would be good to look at now.

[venkyhere]

Max simply managed that race to the end. He was not driving the nuts off of the rb20.
He had no need to.
I will accept MCL38 as overall fastest when Max has to push at 100% begging the team for deltas and more engine power, and where can he find time in the corners.
He simply was not pushing on the last stint to suggest it was all the rb20 could give.

"strat 10"
"what ? can't hear you, strat 2 or 10"
"one-zero, one-zero"
This is when a 9s lead dropped to 4s in a handful of laps. Then it stabilized around 4, and around the last two laps, fell to 2.xx.

So Redbull did all this, purely for TV entertainment, when they had pace in hand. Right ?
Yeah, right.

[TFSA]

this easy overtake (and the related radio message by lambiase) together with usual Q3 performance increase by verstappen in my opinion has not been focused enough. It reminds me of an engine performance trick used with big caution by RB.
Just to avoud flames, by no means I'm impling something illegal. The "hidden" use could be related to reliability issue or simply they want to keep it unnoticed as long as possible to avoid copying

It's a tire thing. Max talked to Hamilton & Lando about this in the cooldown room. He said something along the lines of "It's was just that one lap where you have the chance, otherwise your tires just overheat, and you get stuck."

So GP and Max probably knew that if they were to get it done, it would have to be soon. So Max probably deployed every ounce of energy for that overtake.

EDIT: Said George in the Cooldown room by accident. He of course wasn't there, since he wasn't in the top 3. Also fixed the quote.

[PlatinumZealot]

When Max is pressured he will behave and race like he did in 2021. These "little boys" are not a threat to Max yet. This Max is not the old desperate, white knuckle, dive bombing, hard line Max that we know...

[Nickel]

When Max is pressured he will behave and race like he did in 2021. These "little boys" are not a threat to Max yet. This Max is not the old desperate, white knuckle, dive bombing, hard line Max that we know...

Your premise is based on the assumption that Max has not evolved as a person and as a driver in the 3 intervening years. Time will tell if your assumption is flawed.

[PlatinumZealot]

When Max is pressured he will behave and race like he did in 2021. These "little boys" are not a threat to Max yet. This Max is not the old desperate, white knuckle, dive bombing, hard line Max that we know...

Your premise is based on the assumption that Max has not evolved as a person and as a driver in the 3 intervening years. Time will tell if your assumption is flawed.

The innate, primal character of a driver doesn't change. Not one of them.

[CHT]

When Max is pressured he will behave and race like he did in 2021. These "little boys" are not a threat to Max yet. This Max is not the old desperate, white knuckle, dive bombing, hard line Max that we know...

Your premise is based on the assumption that Max has not evolved as a person and as a driver in the 3 intervening years. Time will tell if your assumption is flawed.

The innate, primal character of a driver doesn't change. Not one of them.

the only constant in this world is change,

After winning 2021 WDC and record breaking 2023 season with RB19, Max really has nothing much to left to prove other than being Max and winning races. In 2023, he was more ruthless and determined to win every race and poles and maximum points etc for the record, but today, he is less upset if he doesn't because he is still leading the championship.

[SirBastianVettel]

No race thread for Austria?

[bluechris]

Your premise is based on the assumption that Max has not evolved as a person and as a driver in the 3 intervening years. Time will tell if your assumption is flawed.

The innate, primal character of a driver doesn't change. Not one of them.

the only constant in this world is change,

After winning 2021 WDC and record breaking 2023 season with RB19, Max really has nothing much to left to prove other than being Max and winning races. In 2023, he was more ruthless and determined to win every race and poles and maximum points etc for the record, but today, he is less upset if he doesn't because he is still leading the championship.

Max is a hard core racer that loves to race and fighting. If during the season the others push him and come really close like MCLaren seems is doing atm and the championshop is at stake, then we will see the other side of Max that is in sleep mode atm.

[CHT]

The innate, primal character of a driver doesn't change. Not one of them.

the only constant in this world is change,

After winning 2021 WDC and record breaking 2023 season with RB19, Max really has nothing much to left to prove other than being Max and winning races. In 2023, he was more ruthless and determined to win every race and poles and maximum points etc for the record, but today, he is less upset if he doesn't because he is still leading the championship.

Max is a hard core racer that loves to race and fighting. If during the season the others push him and come really close like MCLaren seems is doing atm and the championshop is at stake, then we will see the other side of Max that is in sleep mode atm.

He is a very talented and committed driver when it comes to racing, and that is what make him very unique.
If we use Barcelona result to predict the pecking order for remaining season, then this year championship will be between Lando and Max, Mclaren and RB.

Unfortunately for Mclaren and lando, they had a very slow start for 2024, so they will need some luck such as DNF for Max and RB in order for them to have a real chance this year.