fatbillybob

Is this defect seen as a role model in the amateurs? This year more than ever “waving double yellow flags”, official flag of SCCA…

ParadiseGT3

Red Bull's loss of race pace is most interesting to me. I've thought that even if the competition draws close to level over one lap this year or next, it's Max's race pace that won't be bridgeable. Now it seems Max can put in a ridiculous lap as in Austria quali (8-9 tenths to Checo…), but then the McLaren has the race pace advantage. Same story in Imola, Spain, possibly Miami.

Oscar's moves around the outside of Sainz and someone else through T6 & T7 in Austria showed just how much confidence he has in the car. Believe McLaren is the best all-around car on the grid right now.

Woking needs to find a way to give them another 5 kph on the straights, to be clear of maximus before the brake zones.

I saw Max's fade left into Lando as a definitive error. My fanboy son saw it the same. Worth a mention, though, Lando wasn't always in control during that battle either. Twice Lando invited a collision with late moves up the inside, lock ups and lack of control, with Max taking evasive action.

ProCoach

Absolutely.

When you have the Director of Club Racing doing webinars and writing articles about "Keeping it Green," it's clear the standard of behavior has changed.

Carlo_Carrera

Neither driver squeezed the other off track. They left each other space.

500

As is typical with these types of incidents, you get camps on both sides. After looking at all the various replays and particularly reading the takes of some of the longer-term journalists such as Peter Windsor, I think they both contributed pretty significantly. Lando was making some high-risk dive bombs and could have moved further left prior to the collision. Max was throwing aggressive blocks in other parts and seemingly moved under braking, although he insists he was not braking at the time.

Although I would have loved for the collision to have been avoided and seen a few more laps of that amazing scrap, it was also nice to see George capitalize on an opportunity, which may go some way to shaking off the ghosts of having made some late-race errors in the period since Singapore last year.

I read this morning that Lando now states that he probably could have salvaged some points, presumably if he took it a little more carefully getting back to the pits. It is unclear to me exactly how it played out between him and the team, but if he says now, he could have gotten points, I am sure he knows.

Imagine if the season were to play out so that the McLaren continued to improve, and Max had a retirement and an engine penalty (or something) and we got to the end with these two neck and neck and Max ends up eking out the championship by a handful of points…

multi21

I don't think it's the Red Bull that have necessarily lost pace as much as the others have caught up. I see a pattern similar to the end of the Mercedes run in 2021 when Red Bull caught up to the Mercedes by the end of that particular formula era.

Based on the last few races you mentioned, it appears the McLaren gets materially faster the more fuel it burns off. It couldn't believe how Lando was shaving time off VER's lead in Imola and perhaps needed 1 more lap to pass him for the lead. Again in Austria, despite the slow pit stop by RB, Lando was still eating into Max's lead.

Lando wasn't close to being in control during that battle. I'm on record as saying Max deserved the penalty and 10 seconds was appropriate, but let's not forget that prior to that Lando sent it so fast up the inside that he went off track twice, so that also needs to be considered when discussing his reluctance to take a wider line into T3 for track limits.

multi21

Oliver Bearman has been confirmed to have signed a multi year deal to drive for HAAS starting in 2025.

multi21

Jenson Button on Max-Lando incident in Austria:

"There's a lot of talk about Max and him moving in the braking zone and should he have had a bigger penalty than he had. Might be controversial but I don't think he should have. I think that when he braked, he slightly went to the left. Sometimes that happens, you'll be looking to the right, and you might move to the left a little bit. I think he moved to the left because Lando was there, which is the issue and that's why he got a 10-second penalty. Lando also could have moved to the left, there was a lot more circuit to go and avoided the contact. Something very similar happened in 2023, last year in Austria, exactly the same corner and it was Carlos Sainz on the inside and Max was stepping on the outside. Carlos moves to the left exactly like Max does and Max moves a little bit with him, follows him to the left, runs on the curb and they don't make contact. So, it's hard racing. Yeah, sometimes it goes wrong, and we talk about it for a long time after. But it's great that we're talking about it because these two are going to be fighting for years to come I think."

"I think Max in the past has been a bit overaggressive especially against Lewis. I don't feel it's that same way with Lando at the moment. Obviously if they went a step further it would be but yeah, i mean drivers never used to come on the radio and go, 'oh he pushed off, oh he cut me off here, oh he did this' but they do it because they know it's a reaction that the stewards will hear and hopefully do something about it because they have done in the past. Same with Andreas, it's because he knows it could get a reaction and it could change the result."

LuigiVampa

I hate that crap. F1 is turning into soccer with drivers "flopping" and complaining in the hopes another driver will get a penalty.

Just drive!

thebishman

‘Imagine if the season were to play out so that the McLaren continued to improve, and Max had a retirement and an engine penalty (or something) and we got to the end with these two neck and neck and Max ends up eking out the championship by a handful of points…”

I’m pretty certain that RB have used their full complement of powertrains for the year, and any replacement from now on imposes a 10 spot grid penalty.

Interesting times ahead hopefully!!

ProCoach

I think this is a much better, much more complete and historical examination and analysis of what led up to the incident, as well as the incident itself, from Anthony Davidson: https://www.planetf1.com/news/mclare...box=1719988501

Be sure to watch the linked video for all the good stuff.

multi21

I watched the piece and sorry Peter, both you and Antony Davidson are 100% wrong. There is no longer what is termed a "Verstappen rule" it was removed in early 2017 by the late great Charlie Whiting to include a) a more broad interpretation of moving whist on track, b), gives stewards the discretion as to what to investigate, therefore under the current sporting regulations, the review and application of the events on track in Austria were in line with said rules.

Unfortunately, our English speaking broadcasts come from SKY Sports, which inherently carry a British bias. As a fan of racing as well as football/soccer, I always take what the Brits say and do with a huge grain of salt and also get my information from other European sources for a more balanced interpretation as well as do my own research of what is really going on. MELBOURNE, Australia -- Race director Charlie Whiting has confirmed that the FIA's ruling on moving under braking while defending position -- colloquially known as "the Verstappen rule" -- is no longer in the regulations.

Over the winter the FIA simplified the section of the sporting regulations that relates to wheel-to-wheel racing between drivers with a catch-all article that says no penalty will be issued unless a driver is "wholly or predominantly to blame for an incident".

At least two driver briefings last year were almost solely dedicated to the subject of moving under braking, specifically the actions of Max Verstappen at previous races. The Dutch teenager's tendency to block another driver at the last minute saw the FIA, in consultation with the drivers, issue a ruling in the U.S. Grand Prix race notes to outlaw such driving.

However, the new, simplified regulations are aimed at giving the stewards greater flexibility to decide what incidents to investigate and more freedom to apply common sense. Whiting admits some incidents last year, such as Sebastian Vettel's clash with Daniel Ricciardo in Mexico, would have resulted in some different rulings under the new way of stewarding.

"I think there would be a small change in some of the incidents that we've seen last year -- they'd be handled quite differently simply because the so-called "Verstappen rule" is gone to the effect that before we said any move under braking will be investigated," he explained. "Now, we have a simple rule that says effectively that if a driver moves erratically or goes unnecessarily slow or behaves in a manner that could endanger another driver, then he will be investigated. So there's a very broad rule now.

multi21

Lando Norris just about an hour ago in his own words at Silverstone:
Now, though, Norris has walked some of his opinions on the incident back.

"I don't think [Verstappen] needed to apologize," Norris said on Thursday. "I think some of the things I said in the pen after the race were just more because I was frustrated at [the] time, a lot of adrenaline, a lot of just emotions. And I probably said some things I didn't necessarily believe in, especially later on in the week."

"It wasn't like a hit, it wasn't like an obvious bit of contact, it was probably one of the smallest bits of contact you could have, but with a pretty terrible consequence for both of us."

winders

Like I said previously, a bunch of people blowing something up and overreacting massively. Anthony Davidson included...

Also, I trail brake into most corners where significant braking occurs. By definition, I am moving in the braking zone. Is trial braking now illegal in F1 when you are fighting for position?

Speed2k

Here's a comparison of