He definitely moves left, noticing that Lando is going to try and get alongside on the outside.
I mean... maybe, but...
In qualifying, Perez lacked 3km/h on the first two straights compared to Verstappen. This is unusual because Perez traditionally always has 1-2km/h extra over Verstappen on straights (I always speculated it was because Verstappen loaded up his front wing, which cost top speed). I don't really know if that is some of the problem, but struggling to beat Hulkenberg is a major crisis.
Why do you think it was degradation? (I'm writing the numbers from memory, but they probably more or less in the ballpark)
It looked like deg to me in the first 2 stints.Paa wrote: ↑30 Jun 2024, 23:43Why do you think it was degradation? (I'm writing the numbers from memory, but they probably more or less in the ballpark)
1st stint Max was comfortably quicker, gradually extending the lead to 5.5s-6.0s or so
2nd stint Max was extending the lead to 8s, then he started complaining about tyre, but Norris didn't seem much quicker either. Final difference before the pitstop was around 7s which is more than how they started the 2nd stint. Norris was visibly sliding towards the end of his stint as well.
3rd stint Norris looked comfortably quicker, but not sure why? Yes, he had new medium vs used, but Max seemed to had a big pace advantage on the mediums earlier.
I'm not sure if Max had any particular problem with the car? They worked on something with Lambiase, trying to fiddle with the settings.
Or is it really just a high fuel vs low fuel thing. McLaren seems much quicker on low fuel.
My point is, Norris didn't really gain on Max toward the end of their stint, I don't think this was degradation related today.
He goes to the left before seeing what Norris is doing, that is how he wanted to approach the corner (it is the racing line after all). Look at his helmet, he suddenly looks left, realizes Norris is there, from that point there is zero steering to the left, he even tries to take avoiding action. I posted this video more in reply to the people who are accusing him of crashing on purpose, which looks to be false.Seanspeed wrote: ↑30 Jun 2024, 23:00He definitely moves left, noticing that Lando is going to try and get alongside on the outside.
Which is usually ok, you're allowed to move over and squeeze the guy on the outside and give yourself a better line for the upcoming corner, so long as you leave room. This is what Max was doing and I'd argue he did leave just enough space, but Max shaved things just a little too close and it was unfortunate for both that such incidental contact caused the damage it did. Was a very borderline thing ultimately.
Given the way Norris was trying to race Verstappen prior to this, I find it very hard to pin any hard blame on anybody here. Both were trying to push things to the limits in terms of racing.