Wynters wrote: ↑05 Aug 2019, 01:46
ringo wrote: ↑05 Aug 2019, 01:34
By the way, Sainz beating Gasley must the nail in his coffin. kyvaat to redbull for the second half.
Sainz was the clear driver of the day. Many people say the car is all that matters, but I don't see many (any?) saying that the McLaren is faster than the Red Bull. It was an outrageous drive that should make it pretty clear that the driver is a key component on any package and can make a significant difference.
It's been evident for the entirety of this year (if you ignore the front three manufacturers). The midfield battle is so close that individual driver performances often dictate whether their car is out in Q1 or scrapes into Q3. McLaren are beginning to put some air between themselves and the rest but, up until very, very recently, it's been absolutely nip and tuck (and very exciting as a result).
There's a reasonable shout to be made for Geroge Russel as driver of the day too. He beat a Racing Point on pace. In a Williams. A Williams! In 2019!
Sainz's drive is being really over rated. Gasly has failed to finish ahead of Renault's, Mclaren's, maybe a Sauber as well. Gasly is terrible on corner exit, with his issue apparently being really bad throttle application and he's not at all brave under heavy braking so the two things you want for making passes make him basically crap.
Before he was stuck behind Sainz he was stuck behind Sainz, he was stuck behind Kimi until Lando and Kimi pitted. He came out behind Sainz and couldn't pass him either.
If the sole reason Sainz's drive was amazing was keeping Gasly behind him, then Kimi was as good or better as he's in a worse car and did the same.
Realistically Lando was within a couple of seconds up to the pitstop, the team messed up the stop only by a short amount but it was enough to come out behind Gasly and for Kimi to pit a lap later and also be able to come out ahead. Sainz kept basically the same gap through the second stint to Sainz as well so Sainz, while it was a solid drive was never really under any pressure from Lando or Gasly. It wasn't amazing defensive driving, just hard to pass and Gasly had the car but not the ability, Lando had the ability but not the car (ie even with ability you need a faster car, he had the same one).
Lando in fact after pitting had to pass Ricciardo and Magnussen and even kept Bottas behind him from lap 29 to lap 62 before Bottas used the extra stop to catch back up and pass with monumentally newer tires. Even then Lando passed two cars with older tires that were slower and keeping Bottas behind him was roughly as impressive as keeping Gasly behind Sainz... Bottas and Gasly were absolutely horrific in this race.
