It's amazing and great to see. Once again we have a spicy grid, do we not? All-Fez second row and they get good starts. Long run to the most perilous first turn on the schedule. It's easy to like Gasly I think and I support him, hope he does well. His radio call after winning here in 2020 is probably my favorite, his primal scream just sends chills down your spine. Now he has a shot to get his second win, on merit. I don't expect it, but won't count him out either. Monza is a fickle mistress.
I expect we will see quite a bit of overtaking, especially if there's some chaos and we get some good tire offsets instead of a straight green one-stopper. Hoping for a messy race ha
To achieve anything in this game you must be prepared to dabble in the boundary of disaster — Stirling Moss
Yeah, that's was superb. George agrees with you and is now saying he's not fighting for the title. This has been a disaster for him, from championship favorite to support car.
Pretty fun race, Monza is good for these cars because they can stick so much closer, and the deployment nonsense suits a track with so much straights.
Disaster for Fez.
At one point I thought Max was going to win
All the optimism at Aston Martin disappeared.
To achieve anything in this game you must be prepared to dabble in the boundary of disaster — Stirling Moss
Madrid this week, and this is officially the Grand Prix I know least about, in like, forever. I have not driven the track, and have barely seen it. Track map yes. Sainz running a straight on a filming day? Check. But that's it. It's a mystery. I should have picked up the 2026 DLC for F1 25. I hope it is a good track for racing.
To achieve anything in this game you must be prepared to dabble in the boundary of disaster — Stirling Moss
I'm thinking it will be both. There's nowhere to overtake and the walls are very close. Could be a last man standing sort of thing. But then again, they all were clean in quali. But I expect a number of safety cars or red flags but we will see. It's another track that looks amazing to drive but does not make a good racing circuit due to the nature of the corners and braking zones. There's a single line around the track really so it's a matter of waiting for the car in front to make a mistake. Like a higher speed Monaco. A jumbled result due to crashing can still make a good F1 race ha
To achieve anything in this game you must be prepared to dabble in the boundary of disaster — Stirling Moss
The drivers kept it mostly clean. A number of cars kissed the walls, but not enough to break the suspension and send the car careening in to the opposite wall or whatever. Too bad ha
Because without that this race was doomed to be a procession right? I've talked about this before, either here or in our sim racing discussions, that when you have consecutive corners that bend the opposite way, overtaking is made near impossible. It's the inherent problem with chicanes, but embiggened to include the entire circuit.
This track looks brilliant to drive, looks to have superb flow and very much like Jeddah which is fantastic to drive around at high speed. But as a racing circuit? Not good enough. As a newly designed track I'd hope to see more thought put in to how the racing will be, purposely designing it to have the characteristics that promote good racing. I understand that street circuits in particular are constrained by local conditions, but I think if we're going to bring new circuits in to F1 they need to be designed with better racing in mind, and that simply means giving the cars opportunities to get past. Wider tracks, braking zones that are not turning, consecutive corners bending in the same direction and so on.
Congrats to Kimi. There will have been six titles on this podium by the end of this season I reckon. He is irrepressible.
To achieve anything in this game you must be prepared to dabble in the boundary of disaster — Stirling Moss
I think he was unfortunate yes, but robbed would seem to imply that the race director intentionally waited for Lando to pass the pit entrance before throwing the VSC.
It's ironic considering what I said recently, that Lando does not manage anything. He simply goes all out when he has the lead. And here that backfired. Because if he had just been maintaining a three or four second gap he would have gotten the VSC in time to pit. I'm not saying that's what he should do, but if he had, he wins the race I think.
To achieve anything in this game you must be prepared to dabble in the boundary of disaster — Stirling Moss
Did anyone catch Max racing 100 amateurs in karts at Silverstone yesterday? What a hoot.
Max started at the back and had 30 laps to overtake them all and only needed 14 to do it. He passed half the field in the first few corners. It was fun and made me smile.
He said afterwards it was his first win of the year so he was happy
I think he was unfortunate yes, but robbed would seem to imply that the race director intentionally waited for Lando to pass the pit entrance before throwing the VSC.
It's ironic considering what I said recently, that Lando does not manage anything. He simply goes all out when he has the lead. And here that backfired. Because if he had just been maintaining a three or four second gap he would have gotten the VSC in time to pit. I'm not saying that's what he should do, but if he had, he wins the race I think.
Above some level of incompetence it's quite legitimate to question a possible motivation, if only to make sure it never happens intentionally. Please remember that Briatore, the most notorious cheater EVER, is still in the paddock.
Max's race was fun to watch, but I also very much doubt he had the exact same kart as the others.
Yeah I enjoyed the live commentary, with Max talking to some of the drivers he overtook while on track.
I certainly hope there wasn't any malice in VSC deployment, but the general incompetence needs to be adressed. There are plenty ways safety could be assured while not changing the race order.
Sadly it's now almost certainly a fight for second place in the championship, but it's never over until it's over. Mercs seems ahead, but everything can happen in Baku with many occasions to hit a wall.
Yes, high safety car probability. These cars will be slowing at the end of the long straight won't they? They can't have enough battery to go full pelt down that straight I wouldn't think.
I think we are watching Ocon's last races in Formula 1, I don't think he will be retained and is looking at a reserve role for next season at best. But you never know.
Because the race is moved up one day I can't watch until hours later, after work so I need to avoid spoilers so I don't know the results too early.
Baku's a pretty good track to drive, honestly, and one of the most interesting tracks on the schedule from a car setup point of view.
Hoping for a lot of chaos, but then I always do.
To achieve anything in this game you must be prepared to dabble in the boundary of disaster — Stirling Moss
