Yes, it looks terrible.

For Max to win the WDC he needs to finish directly behind Lando at every race. I do not think that can or will happen.

 

Max’s struggles seemed to have increased around the same time the FIA banned the ‘Asymmetric braking’ system. Combined that with the McLarens being the best car on the grid and both of their drivers; especially Lando, being ****e hot, and Max is making a few mistakes trying to get that last 0.1-0.2 seconds out of the car; (like today when he said his brand new softs had no grip). I’ve mentioned before that once he isn’t in the dominant car he could well allow his emotions to start to overpower his skillset; we’ll have to see if that’s true.

What are the odds that Perez is under such intense pressure that he takes out Max at the first chicane? lol. If so, Marko and Jos will have Lawson in the car by Monday!

 

Norris needs to get off the line quickly tomorrow when the lights go out or Piastri will pass him going into Turn 1. Norris’ starts haven’t been great lately.

Verstappen faces a monumental challenge to get past both Mercedes and both Ferrari cars to even get into the fight with McLaren. Barring any shenanigans in Turn 1 of the opening lap, I don’t see Verstappen on the podium in Monza.

 

I’m not surprised, practice is practice, and qualifying is qualifying.

 

Jenson has always been one of my favorite drivers, and this year is beginning to remind me of 2009. Max may just hold on at the end like Jenson did. Watched the F2 sprint race. Have to admit I prefer those cars as they’re a little bit smaller and seem more nimble. Man, there is lots of action in that F2 sprint race.

 

Great victory for LeClerc in front of the Tifosi!

 

McLaren with a 1-2 start, was disappointing.

Kevin Mag taking a race penalty and won't be at Baku

 

A very interesting race in a very interesting season.

 

OMG, Ferrari made a strategy call that worked! I guess the Ferrari was kind enough on their tires to pull that off.

Loved the move Piastri made on Lando. I don’t think Lando was expecting that. Too bad it didn’t pay off in a win. You can see he was absolutely gutted about it.

Colapinto did great in his first race. Much better than Sargent. Looks like that was a good move by Williams.

What the hell was Russell doing today? Very sloppy race.

 

Took the words out of my mouth! Also glad to see Williams get 2 points thanks to Alex, and Kevin's penalty.

Even though I'm not a big ZB fan, his congrats to Fred after the race was very classy, and deserved...

 

Honestly, WTF were McLaren thinking. The team was getting the points for 2nd and 3rd, but only one driver, Lando, can potentially challenge Max for the WDC. Why wouldn’t they tell the drivers to switch positions to try and help Lando? Makes zero sense, especially after the debacle earlier in the season when they made the obviously much faster driver, Lando, give up a position to Oscar because the team botched a Tyre change call.

I think it’s highly likely McLaren win the WCC, but the exposure and sponsorship deals made by having one of your drivers win the WDC is a much bigger deal.

 

Great race and congrats to Ferrari.

Guess we'll have to wait until the next race for Verstappen's whining....

 

Agree that it was stupid. I don't care if Piastri was miles up the road he should have gotten a "Lando is quicker than you" radio message.

 

They make us suffer most of the time, but when Ferrari wins, especially in Monza.... well... there's nothing else quite like it. What a sweet, unexpected win today... the church bells will ring again in Maranello..

And that crowd today was next level.. can't remember the last time the noise of the crowd came through the broadcast audio quite like that will 2-3 laps left to go as if willing Chars onto victory! Don't think I've seen that many people on the track post race either... spectacular in every way!

I'd have to agree with Bish as it relates to the McLaren strategy.. once it was clear that PIA was not going to catch LEC, there should have be a radio message to him telling him to slow down on the last lap and have NOR pass him for 2nd place... it's not like he was giving up a race win and what's really the difference personally between a 2nd and 3rd place podium position, very little. Some teething issues with McLaren being at the front now starting to surface it appears.

One of the things I like about Max is that he is straight forward and doesn't sugarcoat anything... post race he said that he didn't think Red Bull could win either championship this year including the driver's title... pretty strong words from Max but if we look at it objectively, they finished 23 seconds behind the winner at Zaanfort, a tight high DF track. They finished 38 seconds behind the winner at Monza, the lowest DF track, both races with no safety car, let alone a yellow flag, so it was green the whole way with straight pace. Red Bull's were the slowest in a straight line of all the runners, including their junior team... they are in BIG TROUBLE.

 

multi21: I had no idea that the RB cars were the slowest on the straights! That is staggering as historically they have been the fastest until very recently.

Methinks you’re correct in that the team is in, or at least could be in, “Big Trouble”. I think the massive in-fighting between Horner; Marko and Jos; (which apparently helped Newey make the decision to leave) is poisoning the cohesiveness within the team, and could well have led to the team loosing its way re: critical updates compared to the other 3 major teams.

Ballsy move on Ferrari’s part in going with a one-stopper, and awesome tyre management from LeClerc. Great to see a red car win at Monza!

BTW: there were a lot of well deserved penalties today, but some of the moves Perez was making trying to hold off Russell bordered on deserving of one.