venkyhere wrote: ↑24 Nov 2024, 19:20
The newest narrative by DTS F1 fans is - "Max won the WDC because he built up a points lead buffer in the first five races, before Miami, before Mclaren became the real 2024 car".
That just pisses me off. That narrative is sweeping the most important aspect under the carpet. As much as I would have liked a close WDC fight, and a new WDC winner, the 'buffer' was never really reduced by Norris, despite having the best car underneath him after Miami. To put things in perspective, that's 17/22 races, having the faster of the two cars, and having 100% success with updates, against a string of terrible backwards band-aid-fix updates by Redbull.
If we take a big picture view of the season so far,
a) within first 5 races, there was one DNF for Max and 4 wins.
b) the races that followed after the 'transformative' 6th Miami race, where McLaren became the faster car and became kinder to tyres - Imola, Canada, Barcelona -- Max won, by the tiniest of margins - strategy skill of the pitwall or driving skill of driver, or both.
c) Redbullring. Austria. The first signs of a 'proper fight' - Max grabbed a P5 with a puncture sacrifice, while Norris suffered terminal damage.
d) Silverstone was a huge opportunity lost with mickey mouse strategy by McLaren. Max had the 3rd/4th fastest car, but still finished P2 (great last stint on H) ahead of Norris.
e) Then came Hungaroring, Spa and Zandvoort - the RB20 was terrible by now compared to the McLaren, and still Max kept picking up P5 P4 and P2
By now, McLaren is the totally dominant machine and Redbull is surely the 3rd/4th fastest car.
f) Now comes Monza and Baku, and Max's car has almost become a midfielder (horrible setup change after FP3 in baku) and yet again Max is squeezing everything out of the car and bagging P6 and P5
g) The big change for Redbull happened in Singapore, for which they ditched their simulators and setup the car using FP1,2,3 data. Though the car was still much inferior to McLaren, it was best of the rest and Max grabbed an important P2, miles behind Norris nevertheless.
h) The RB20 became more predictable and some sort of floor solution was obtained (frankenstein diffuser or not) for COTA, and Max got to the podium in P3. The reason Norris finished behind, despite having a clearly superior car, was because he couldn't pass a much slower Max for almost 10+ laps, being in the DRS. That was a defensive masterclass from Max, and we could see a nervous Norris, afraid to attack.
i) All the fixes from Singapore and COTA didn't prove their worth in the rarefied air of Mexico, and the RB20 was a dud, miles behind the rampaging McLaren. But still Max picked up a patient (or impatient, rather, after the penalties) P6.
j) Brazil - we all know, it had less to do with the car, it was all driver. " #cojones "
k) LasVegas - again, Redbull was the 3rd fastest car and Max grabbed the 'par' P5 finish. However, McLaren ruined their car setup and Norris finished behind, at P6
When they say 'it was all because of the buffer built at the start' , look at all those points picked up by Max, from b) through j), That is the reason he is world champion
(the only exception is Austria, where Norris came worse off a wheel to wheel battle, suffering more damage than Max. Hence can't blame Norris not picking up points there). . And not just because of those 4 wins from the first five races. And for what it's worth, it wasn't as if Norris was finishing outside the points in those first five races, he finished on the podium twice.
So much for the 'it was all from the initial wins' narrative. Max literally drove like a robot (excepting some brain fade moves in Mexico) and consistently grabbed what was possible with the car he had. That's why he won the WDC. Norris, on the other hand, didn't utilize the monster machine he was given by his engineers - whether by volition of his own driving or whether due to mistakes by the pitwall, the 'opportunity with the superior machine' was squandered.
