2022 Mexican Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Oct 28 - 30

[atanatizante]

Some stats:

Austin 2021 race results: 1. VER and 2. HAM, then 2022 results: 1. VER and 2. HAM
Mexico2021 race results: 1. VER and 2. HAM, then 2022 results: 1. VER and 2. HAM
Brasil 2021 race results: 1. VER and 2. HAM, maybe 2022 results:1.HAM and 2.VER ... wishful thinking or not?

[AR3-GP]

That was Lewis pushing by him out wasn’t it over the kerb which allowed Checo to go on the inside.


Did anyone see Russell’s interview with sky about how he would have pushed any other driver off the track?

Tbh, George talks a lot of nonsense now. I haven’t seen that interview, but if he admits he would of pushed another driver off the track, he would of been probably penalised with a 5/10 sec pen.

Not smart

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMFAmb1k4/

Apologies for the tiktok link.

It was a terrible thing to say, expect better from him and the team on that perspective.

Head of the GPDA as well.

[Sieper]

Some stats:

Austin 2021 race results: 1. VER and 2. HAM, then 2022 results: 1. VER and 2. HAM
Mexico2021 race results: 1. VER and 2. HAM, then 2022 results: 1. VER and 2. HAM
Brasil 2021 race results: 1. VER and 2. HAM, maybe 2022 results:1.HAM and 2.VER ... wishful thinking or not?

Ham won Brazil last year. By a landslide. The sprint Max won.

[Sieper]

Tbh, George talks a lot of nonsense now. I haven’t seen that interview, but if he admits he would of pushed another driver off the track, he would of been probably penalised with a 5/10 sec pen.

Not smart

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMFAmb1k4/

Apologies for the tiktok link.

It was a terrible thing to say, expect better from him and the team on that perspective.

Head of the GPDA as well.

I think he should not be the head of the GPDA. It needs to be a seasoned driver that does not have a top seat. Grosjean was perfect, Vettel would have been, maybe now Alonso?

[organic]

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMFAmb1k4/

Apologies for the tiktok link.

It was a terrible thing to say, expect better from him and the team on that perspective.

Head of the GPDA as well.

I think he should not be the head of the GPDA. It needs to be a seasoned driver that does not have a top seat. Grosjean was perfect, Vettel would have been, maybe now Alonso?

I don't think Alonso is responsible enough

[AR3-GP]

Some stats:

Austin 2021 race results: 1. VER and 2. HAM, then 2022 results: 1. VER and 2. HAM
Mexico2021 race results: 1. VER and 2. HAM, then 2022 results: 1. VER and 2. HAM
Brasil 2021 race results: 1. VER and 2. HAM, maybe 2022 results:1.HAM and 2.VER ... wishful thinking or not?

Ham won Brazil last year. By a landslide. The sprint Max won.

Bottas won the Brazil Sprint race in 2021.

[Sieper]

Some stats:

Austin 2021 race results: 1. VER and 2. HAM, then 2022 results: 1. VER and 2. HAM
Mexico2021 race results: 1. VER and 2. HAM, then 2022 results: 1. VER and 2. HAM
Brasil 2021 race results: 1. VER and 2. HAM, maybe 2022 results:1.HAM and 2.VER ... wishful thinking or not?

Ham won Brazil last year. By a landslide. The sprint Max won.

Bottas won the Brazil Sprint race in 2021.

Haha, so far for my correction!

[chrisc90]

Yeah, Russell should be dropped IMHO. It’s one of those where those comments will probably come back to haunt him. He knows what he’s doing in scenarios like that and I’m half inclined to say it’s a Mercedes way of driver coaching, with being ‘alongside’ and having rights to a corner.

Imagine what he would be saying if the shoe was on the other foot and he gets pushed out wide. Probably the only reason he didn’t complain was because it was his team mate who did it.

[MadMax]

Thinking RB is sandbagging and doing a better job hiding it than Merc did. They are performing nearly flawlessly aside from some recent pit errors. They have not been truly pushed since the first few races. I bet Max had tons of time in hand. Onto next season. Will we eventually see more parity with the tiered wind tunnel time plus the cost cap penalty? This is just boring.

Max's lap times were so consistent that it was obvious he was driving just fast enough to control Hamilton. The car had pace to spare. It's a shame for Sergio that the car has been developed in line with Max's preferences, but that's the problem you face when you are Rubens to Max's Michael.

Doesn't mean they're sandbagging. They had a choice:
A) control pace and tyre deg to make a 1-stop on S/M work out.
B) running a higher pace to increase the gap over Ham, but taking an extra stop.

If the car had pace to spare, that doesn't mean they were artificially keeping the gap small - it was perhaps a matter of strategic requirement, and using the extra pace may in the end have reduced the gap if they required an extra stop.

I didn't say they were sandbagging. They were driving to a controlled pace because that suited them. But it also means the car had pace to spare rather than having to be driven hard to maintain the gaps.

Whatever term you prefer to use to describe it, the RB18 had pace to spare in Mexico during the race.

[aMessageToCharlie]

Certain Mercedes drivers have been pushing competitors out wide since the beginning of time, how is this news now? Not the smartest comment, but not like Russell spilled any secrets here either. Go watch some ROS/HAM highlights to freshen up the memories.

brb "entitled to the corner"
brb "already commited, sorry"
brb "racing line"
brb "shouldnt go for an overtake on the outside anyways"

[DChemTech]

I didn't say they were sandbagging. They were driving to a controlled pace because that suited them. But it also means the car had pace to spare rather than having to be driven hard to maintain the gaps.

Whatever term you prefer to use to describe it, the RB18 had pace to spare in Mexico during the race.

I guess that depends on what is meant by 'pace to spare'. In a race, I personally would not use it to imply they could drive faster over a lap (in that case, most cars have pace to spare) - I would use it to indicate that they could have won by a sizably larger gap had they wanted to but chose not to do so because they did not need to.
And that, I dispute. If they pushed more, odds are they needed to stop again. I'm not at all sure that they could have opted to push more and win with a 25s margin instead of 15s had they wanted to - and if in that sense they had pace to spare.

[MadMax]

George did a good job of taking mediums that long and deserved a different strategy to Lewis. But it seems the only objective of Mercedes is to please Lewis. Very poor work.

It isn't about a specific driver - Mercedes have pretty consistently taken the line that the driver ahead on track gets to play the ball first (to mix sporting metaphors). They rarely do things that go against that - although they have this season to George's benefit. If George had wanted to go properly long - as he was suggesting on the radio - then he should have just stayed out and gone long, thus forcing the team to switch strategy. Ultimately, the driver is the one that drives in to the pits and there's nothing the team can do to force him to do so at a particular moment. Do, in effect, what Hamilton did in Silverstone 2019 (Hamilton stayed out and then benefitted from a safety car). George could have stayed out but followed the team's call.

[El_KaPpa]

Russel: “I knew I wouldn't have been able to overtake Max on the outside, but having Lewis on the inside I didn't want to be too aggressive. And ultimately that that cost me and caused me to lose two positions. So ultimately if I had managed to maintain position, I probably would have finished second today.”

It's unbelievable how many excuses and scenarios this guy has been coming up with for some time now. Probably with a little more imagination he would have won this championship up to this moment.

[AR3-GP]

Russel: “I knew I wouldn't have been able to overtake Max on the outside, but having Lewis on the inside I didn't want to be too aggressive. And ultimately that that cost me and caused me to lose two positions. So ultimately if I had managed to maintain position, I probably would have finished second today.”

It's unbelievable how many excuses and scenarios this guy has been coming up with for some time now. This new descendant of Thales and Pythagoras making some theorem-level statements as allways. Probably with a little more imagination he would have won this championship up to this moment.

Russell and Sainz are two peas in a pod

[Spoutnik]