bluechris wrote: ↑14 Jul 2024, 18:16
venkyhere wrote: ↑14 Jul 2024, 16:46
Dominated by slow corners, softest tyre set allocation AND hot track temps.
If this isn't a slam dunk 1-2 for McLaren, I dont know where else it would be.
My prediction : P1-NOR, P2-PIA, P3-VER. Mercedes will be fast, but will chew tyres.
You forget Ferrari because speeds are low here.
oops !
Just_a_fan wrote: ↑16 Jul 2024, 10:47
Not forgetting that, but Max + the car are good enough to podium every race on merit.
Max+car good enough for podium ? I don't think so. Until McLaren and Mercedes finally came to the fore, the RB20 was hiding behind it's inherent foibles (which I think got worse with the Suzuka package).
As we have seen, every single Mclaren upgrade is giving them significant gains. Mercedes have finally 'unlocked' their car and are now going to go on a spree of 'actual upgrades'. Both those teams haven't hit the 'diminishing returns' zone of their concepts , which has finally exposed the issues with RB20.
RedBull are already asymptote-ing with performance - it's not because RedBull don't have the downforce from the floor or are struggling with aero-efficiency (in fact, quite the opposite, they have the best floor of all) , it's because their aero-mapping has changed from RB19-->RB20 which necessitated a change in suspension-mapping, which in turn has brought them into a narrow tyre-usage window. I think they have been having an 'oops' moment with their decision making to make the RB20 so different w.r.t RB19, and are now beating around the bush with band-aid jobs in their 'parc ferme setup', to 'somehow' make the car stay amongst the leading pack. That they have a driver who can 'adapt' really well and drive the car to whatever optimum possible,
despite it's deficiencies, has been saving their face.
Of course, none of this would have been an issue if Pirelli stopped making their tyres with cheese instead of rubber ; but that is vide the deal b/w FoM and Pirelli, where the strategy to make the races exciting has always been to "have less durable tyres". It's the same for every team, so this isn't any excuse.
Just_a_fan wrote: ↑16 Jul 2024, 10:47
The other teams have to balance their driver politics and positions on the day to maximise team results. Look at Silverstone - McLaren could have had 2 drivers on the podium but left Oscar to the wolves (and messed up the final tyre call anyway). Red Bull can focus all of their strategy energy on Max (assuming Sergio is now a spent force and won't factor in to any of the races going forward).
So Max should be able to get prime strategy calls at each race where the other teams are always going to be favouring one or other driver.
Redbull was on the podium in Silverstone only because Russel DNF-ed and McLaren were not proactive with their strategy and always were in reaction-mode (allowing being undercut), not because Redbull did anything spectacular. The 1 car v/s 2 car strategy advantage is a bit overstated, IMHO.