Cs98 wrote: ↑05 Nov 2024, 13:40
avantman wrote: ↑05 Nov 2024, 10:02
To all those questioning why Max was so slow compared with Ocon when it rained the hardest before the red flag, or why Ocon in particular was so fast, Gasly to lesser extent. Yes, let's start with saying Ocon is actually a very good wet weather driver. But more importantly, If you actually look at two cars, red bull and alpine next to each other you’ll see Alpine most certainly carried more downforce and likely extreme wet setup and only because of that they had the advantage in the moments where it rained the hardest and the track was the wettest.
Judging by the size of RB19 rear wing(and front as well) it was also much smaller than also Mclaren, Ferrari and to lesser extent Mercedes(larger wing but seemingly shallower angled).
and after the penultimate SC, when it was still raining and track was super wet, only Max could stay near Ocon and started catching him back just before Sainz' crash. Norris was 11s back to that moment. Yeah, let's now talk about luck. What gap would it be at the end if not for another crash or clumsy Carlos. (who answered again to those questioning why didn't he get the top drive for next year.)
Besides, Alpine were really fast this weekend even in dry. In Sprint quali Max was just 0.012s faster than Gasly in SQ2 on medium. Gasly had a bad lap on soft in SQ3 and couldn't improve his SQ2 time, Max was just 0.4s faster.
It's simple. Alpine had an easier time generating tyre temp and Max had a lot less incentive to take big risks in awful conditions given the WDC.
Renault engine development has historically favoured torque and delivery over outright power peak hero numbers, even through all of the RB supply years. That's always useful in these circumstances.
Both Ocon & Gasly contributed very mature drives here, aggregating their positive attributes, leaving very little mistakes and Ocon "accepting" the Max overtake .... I believe in the outlook of holding the podium position was just worth more than a dispute with Max as happened here before. Probably what's been lacking from him over his career to be honest.
That Alpine chassis has steadily been refined over the last four races, it's not slow, just lacking that very peak power output. Again, much like a Renualt powered RB chassis.
That's to put in context of what MV was doing (it being the RB team thread and all that) with extremely gentle throttle use in traction, but very early initial braking, notice just how far out from apex he was pulling down changes (especially into turn #1) to keep rear traction away from being abrupt as a dry track allows.
Very good driving and team support from all three podium finishers. A nice mix up in my view.