venkyhere wrote: ↑02 Sep 2024, 07:59
I patiently read through 10 or so pages in this thread, and the recurring theme is centered around :
- PIA screwed NOR in the first lap, and destroyed McLaren chances of 1-2 finish.
- NOR is so poor with converting pole to P1 in first lap, he needs to sort his opening lap shambles
- McLaren aren't imposing team orders when they should (whether it be for 1st lap or whether swapping them at the end)
This theme is missing the forest for the trees, IMHO. Please hear me out :
- McLaren driver-vs-pitwall judgement call was poor when they pitted from M too early, there was no need to, they could've easily extended their first stint for 5 more laps, even if they lost 0.2/0.3 per lap to people undercutting them. Such was the race pace advantage, on any tyre. That could have easily brought to the fore a clear 1 stop strategy.
- given that McLaren went for the conservative 'lets cover for the undercut by pitting from M to H' , they didn't ask their drivers to restrain their pace on the 2nd stint with the fresh H, even a bit, to bring in the tyres gently. That would have allowed the possibility of a 1 stop even more. They just went, 'everyone is on two stop, let's do so too' and allowed the tyres to burn up needlessly. This responsibility has to be split between the pitwall and the drivers.
In other words, McLaren as a team suffer from :
- defensive minded, conservative approach, not ready to roll the dice, even when they have the strongest car.
- PIA makes up for the talent gap with his teammate, with 'pluck'. He is that do-or-die racer, just like RUS is to the more talented HAM.
- NOR has loads of talent, but isn't ruthless enough. He needs to be able to have the mental capacity to 'disobey' sometimes. That needs to be there, to become WDC - Schumacher, Vettel, Hamilton, Verstappen - so many examples from the modern era itself.
The McLaren team in 2024 have a car like the 2023 Redbull, but are strategising/man-managing like the 2022 Ferrari.
It's unbelievable that Verstappen is still having a 62 point lead with 8 races to go, with a car that was faster for 4 races, DNF-ed in one race, and has been 0.5s/lap (or more, in some races) slower than the McLaren for the remaining 11 races until now. It's staggering. That is the big picture.