F1 2025: Qatar GP - Lusail (Nov 30)

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Internet trolls are behaving utterly disgraceful:

"1000+ abusive messages sent to Antonelli after Marko criticism"
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/1...rko-criticism/

"Red Bull 'sincerely regret' abuse faced by Antonelli after 'clearly incorrect' comments"
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...R6WuTnqIqcYZQq

ANT may be 19 YO but he's in the big boys league now and he has to take the downs and ups just like some of the older drivers have so RB's sorry for HM's supposition doesn't acquit ANT as its easy to stage something and deny at first.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

ANT may be 19 YO but he's in the big boys league now and he has to take the downs and ups just like some of the older drivers have so RB's sorry for HM's supposition doesn't acquit ANT as its easy to stage something and deny at first.

Did you ever encounter a situation where your significant other blamed you for having done something with a specific intention while you perfectly know that that blame is absolutely ill-founded (misinterpreted intentions) ?

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Did you ever encounter a situation where your significant other blamed you for having done something with a specific intention while you perfectly know that that blame is absolutely ill-founded (misinterpreted intentions) ?

Whether I did or not is beside the point, as such you could be asking yourself that and it doesn't really go with this F1 situation.
With the world championship in the balance that 2 points gained by Lando could well make a difference so I'm sure you can see what could be.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Whether I did or not is beside the point, as such you could be asking yourself that and it doesn't really go with this F1 situation.
With the world championship in the balance that 2 points gained by Lando could well make a difference so I'm sure you can see what could be.

As pointed out before: the 2 points lost due to the Norris overtake, would have made Kimi move up a notch in the WDC – more particularly from WDC P7 to WDC P6. No reason to throw that (as well as contractually agreed financial benefits) to the birds.



Brazil: Kimi stood his ground - Max got super close but Kimi was saved by the bell: 0.362s difference (a single eye blink lasts between 0.1 and 0.4 seconds). 1 more lap in Brazil and Max would have gotten P2 (18 points) instead of settling for P3 (15 points). But that's motor racing. 1 more lap in Qatar and Norris (P4 - 12 points) would have reeled in Sainz (P3 - 15 points).

[G30M]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

ANT may be 19 YO but he's in the big boys league now and he has to take the downs and ups just like some of the older drivers have so RB's sorry for HM's supposition doesn't acquit ANT as its easy to stage something and deny at first.

Kimi best friend is Max lol.

Kimi was devastated he let his best friend down.

[G30M]

red bull statement on kimi published

[G30M]

Lewis Hamilton thought Oscar won the race:

"So, Oscar's how far behind?" Hamilton asked upon being told the championship picture. "How's Max 12 behind now?" he said in response.

"Max won? Oh shit, I didn't know, I had no idea!" the seven-time F1 drivers' champion exclaimed.

"Holy shit! Wow! I thought Piastri won... Well, that's exciting! It goes right to the last — to the wire."

[dfox]

Originally Posted by G30M

red bull statement on kimi published

Honestly, Jolyon Palmer, I think it was, brought it up first on the F1 broadcast (maybe more than once?). WAY Before Lando had even caught up to Kimi. Sowing the seeds of doubt in everyone's mind, then GP and Marko doubled and tripled down on it. Thinking Jolyon needs to come out and say something too.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by G30M

Kimi best friend is Max lol.

Kimi was devastated he let his best friend down.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by G30M

McLaren is soooooo baaaad!
Everybody pitted. Everybody.
They were the only ones staying out.
I hope Oscar wins next race and kick out Lando.
McLaren doesn't deserve anything.

Orange is the new Red (!)

[G30M]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

There are lots of examples in F1 where the driver questioned the team strategy and opted for a different strategy.
Basically you have drivers that are awake during the race and there are drivers that just drive and do what the team instructs them (Hammy on the Hungaroring in '21 comes to mind as a similar occurance).

And I think McLaren's Papaya rules also creates this. Zak Brown wants papaya rules to be that they race but race fair. But in reality every move is carefully balanced and written down in a book so that it can come out of that book again 4 races later to be judged by a comittee what's fair and what's not.
That can only have the result that the drivers during that they're on the track and have to make split decisions under duress are not gonna think strategically anymore and stop giving feedback. You also hear that when the question was asked if NOR wanted to come in first of after PIA a few races ago. There was only doubt coming out of the radio.
The drivers are doubting, and in the end that also causes the team to doubt, as the drivers are the ones that read the car and track. Sure engineers have their sensors etc, but that only paints half a picture
And I think this is another result of that. Being the only one not to pit....Same as Hammy in hungary '21. He also always counted on his team to tell him what to do.

listening to team radio, neither Lando nor Oscar used 1 neuron to think about whether to pit. they should have known that lap 7 is when the pit window opens and get a free pitstop. so i do think the drivers are a little at fault. but just a little for not questioning. they were very close to the pit lane when SC was deployed so maybe not much time to think.

HOWEVER. the Hulk crash happened aaaaages ago. did the team even tell the drivers about the crash so they can at least think about pit vs no pit.

the entire team are clowns, from strategists to engineers, team principals to drivers, not one of them thought "wait, Hulk crashed, the pit window is open, maybe we should pit"

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by G30M

listening to team radio, neither Lando nor Oscar used 1 neuron to think about whether to pit. they should have known that lap 7 is when the pit window opens and get a free pitstop. so i do think the drivers are a little at fault. but just a little for not questioning. they were very close to the pit lane when SC was deployed so maybe not much time to think.
HOWEVER. the Hulk crash happened aaaaages ago. did the team even tell the drivers about the crash so they can at least think about pit vs no pit.
the entire team are clowns, from strategists to engineers, team principals to drivers, not one of them thought "wait, Hulk crashed, the pit window is open, maybe we should pit"

As you referenced in an earlier comment, RBR strategists were properly prepared for a lap 7 Safety Car scenario:

Originally Posted by G30M

Hannah on strategy:
Source: Autosport on Instagram/ Motorsport.com
Hannah Schmitz on Red Bull's decision to pit under the safety car:that's
"Pre-race, that was exactly when our safety car and virtual safety car windows opened, and that was the plan,” Schmitz explained to Viaplay.“So, pit both cars if the safety car came out on lap seven. There's such an advantage to pitting under a safety car when you've got to do the two stops that, to us, that was a clear thing we should do. And I guess a lot of the pitlane felt the same."
"But obviously on that in-lap we're hearing ‘Oh, McLaren are staying out’. Everyone's like, ‘Are you sure? Are you sure you want to pit?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I really think so!’
“I thought, definitely that's the right thing to do. And then as soon as I saw everybody else coming in as well, I thought, OK, that's fine. Although it meant you have no flexibility at all when you make the second stop, just the advantage of gaining that much time.”
Asked if McLaren failed to make a decision out of fear of favouring a driver over the other, the Englishwoman said: “Maybe. I think they're in a very difficult situation where they obviously want to treat the drivers fairly. And I guess we're in a position to take advantage of that. So, yeah, I think that will be difficult for them."
“But also they have a fair amount of pace compared to the rest of the field. And maybe they were hoping they could pull out the pitstop gaps and maybe they were also concerned with kind of doing those maximum 25-lap stints. I'm not McLaren, so I don't know, but that's a possibility.”

McLaren didn't live up to their expectation as 2025 WCC #1: the world champion team screwed up big time. All teams bar McLaren pitted under the Safety Car in lap 7. Either McLaren was not properly prepared for this scenario or they had become too cocky thinking that, given the very favorable WDC standings and the excellent performance of their cars during the qualies, the Qatar GP was a WDC title 'slam dunk' for them, no matter what.

Due to their strategic blunder, McLaren got owned by Verstappen. Now, the WDC title champaign had to remain inside their fridge, papaya-colored 2025 WDC title T-shirts could not be unveiled yet and they must whack the "Final Boss" in the final level of the game. To feast, they must kill the beast. We may trust that they'll make it in the end, but at least Verstappen gave them a good run for their money.

BBC Sport:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/a...s/cz6817wyvgzo

"Before the race weekend in Qatar, McLaren Racing chief executive officer Zak Brown had likened Verstappen to the villain in a horror movie who just keeps coming back alive.
Ironically, McLaren had their own horror movie at Lusail.
They handed Verstappen a win that will only increase the pressure on their drivers at a final race weekend which is a mouth-watering prospect for neutrals, and a nerve-wracking one for Norris and McLaren."

Zandvoort GP to Abu Dhabi GP recovery road map: "Here's Max !'

[Artemis]

If Hadjar had simply parked his malfunctioning car (due to detaching/detached parts) on track, the Safety Car would have been deployed (or at least VSC and double yellow flags) in the ultimate laps all the way to the chequered flag. Antonelli would have definitely kept P4 and Norris would have been required to settle for P5 (10 points instead of 12). The gap between Norris and Verstappen would have been reduced to 10 points. If Verstappen would have won the Abu Dhabi GP, Norris would have been required to finish at least P3 (15 points) to clinch the WDC title.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Artemis

If Hadjar had simply parked his malfunctioning car (due to detaching/detached parts) on track, the Safety Car would have been deployed (or at least VSC and double yellow flags) in the ultimate laps all the way to the chequered flag. Antonelli would have definitely kept P4 and Norris would have been required to settle for P5 (10 points instead of 12). The gap between Norris and Verstappen would have been reduced to 10 points. If Verstappen would have won the Abu Dhabi GP, Norris would have been required to finish at least P3 (15 points) to clinch the WDC title.

Yes. It happened in lap 54 of 57. Just 3 laps from the end of the race .
Too bad ..

And Norris would get even more pressure (!)

[Blindside_137]

Originally Posted by G30M

listening to team radio, neither Lando nor Oscar used 1 neuron to think about whether to pit. they should have known that lap 7 is when the pit window opens and get a free pitstop. so i do think the drivers are a little at fault. but just a little for not questioning. they were very close to the pit lane when SC was deployed so maybe not much time to think.

HOWEVER. the Hulk crash happened aaaaages ago. did the team even tell the drivers about the crash so they can at least think about pit vs no pit.

the entire team are clowns, from strategists to engineers, team principals to drivers, not one of them thought "wait, Hulk crashed, the pit window is open, maybe we should pit"

I have absolutely zero doubt that if Sainz was in that McLaren he would have said get the tires ready I am coming in.