2024 British Grand Prix - [POST RACE] discussion thread 🏁
FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS BRITISH GRAND PRIX 2024
Holy shit, best race in the last 3 years. Wildly tricky conditions, clean overtakes up and down the field, it really had it all.
Yeah really enjoyed the action moving to the front - no shade on mercedes but the mclaren threat is shaking things up. Having Perez seemingly unavailable when the other teams are able to get both drivers in play is another neg for Redbull. Lando man - why the softs.. esp after Piastri making the med call earlier. Lewis' comment - leave me to it mate, and Max's charge really made it feel like the drivers skills were going to win the race.
Couldn’t agree more. Best race in years. Goosebumps hearing the cooldown lap radio
McLaren completely botched what would've been their win.
Hulk with a mega P6.
Sargeant drove well for a respectable P11.
Perez drops to 6th in the drivers' championship, didn't drop to 7th because of Russell DNF.
Leclerc 💀
So McLaren are now the fastest car on average (averaging over conditions and corner types), have an amazing driver pairing but operationally are the weakest. Red Bull are no longer the fastest but are operationally the best and by quite a margin. They also have the best driver but he is fighting alone. Merc are pretty well balanced - the car is fast but not the fastest, strategy and operations are good but not perfect and the driver line up is amazing.
All three teams are evenly matched. The double header will be fascinating.
Haas scoring 20 points in two races. Didn't expect that to happen. Also didn't really notice them during the race, maybe should watch different commentators.
Phenomenal race, as is usual for a dry-wet-dry mixed conditions race with multiple crossovers between slicks and inters.
Huge blunders by McLaren and you have to sort of question their operational department at this point. They've built a great car (probably the fastest over a race distance right now) and have two amazing drivers. They need to overhaul their strategy to keep up. Why are they still letting Lando make so many decisions himself when the pitwall has the data and should be making the calls? The fresh medium they had available at the end was obviously the right call and would have had Norris win, most likely. They also should have double stacked, which (all other things being equal) probably would have given Piastri the win. I guess I'm extra mad because Norris cutting Max's points lead by any amount would help me pretend there is potential excitement for the championship for longer.
Still, super happy for Hamilton. Almost fairytale-esque that he gets his long awaited win at Silverstone of all races. Great drive from him, especially keeping those softs alive long enough at the end to hold off Max's charge.
Haas was quietly impressive again and their upgrades actually not just worked but were a homerun it seems. Not used to saying that.
Aston got some good points but the elephant in the room is Fernando. I love him so it pains me to see him flounder week after week. No clue what happened since he actually started the season driving just as well as last year, but after China his performances have just dropped like off a cliff. Has father time finally caught up? He did get a hand injury right after China but surely that has healed by now.
Lastly, the less said about Perez the better. Probably used him as a guinea pig for going on the inters early? I guess they might as well, I never expect anything from Checo in the wet these days either.
All very well said. McLaren is not acting like a front running team at the moment, despite the car that is absolutely a front running (I would argue the best) car out there. Their aerodynamic grip looks phenomenal (just check the first few laps in the damp when they both walked away from the Mercs), tire life is excellent (always striking back late in a race), and it seems the best over one lap these days.
But mix that with letting the driver be the strategist, Lando's lesser experience racing for wins than the likes of Max and Lewis, some very late calls on strategy, and you're left with many opportunities that feel squandered.
Of course, losing out to both Max and Lewis is not a bad place to be, but they had a win on the table here, as we've said before this season
Haas and Williams got points.
I'm impressed that despite tricky conditions we had nor SC nor VSC.
I'm just happy for Lewis. Really nice to hear how happy he was, and see the emotion. He earned this one.
Finally, the season is getting interesting!
I think it's been interesting for awhile personally. This was fantastic though. When the racing is this close I'm happy for anyone to win, but Lewis getting this one has some added weight.
The season could have been an absolute all-timer with just a few marginal outcomes falling differently. The racing has been fantastic lately, and the development race has been insanely fascinating with constant dynamic shifts - remember Merc being slower than Aston at the start and Ferrari looking like the challenger?
A couple of different outcomes for Norris (safety car luck in Montreal, Max DNFing and Norris not last week, pitting for mediums at the end today etc) and we could have also possibly have had actual tension in the championship table. Imagine a second half of the season where McLaren is clearly faster and Max tries hanging on for dear life.
It's a shame Red Bulls head start from the first races combined with always maximising their results thanks to their incredible operational competency has given Max enough of a cushion to be fairly safe.
Gutted for George. A brilliant race all the way. I think Lando will have a tough time with this one, but not as bad as Sochi.
That was a great race. Especially because of the rain and the high reliance on tire strategy. Which McLaren shit the bed at 😑
But good for Lewis for taking it home, at home. Would've preferred a Max win, but I'm happy for Lewis. That was much deserved.
Would've preferred a Max win
I know. When will the poor lad start winning some races?
Sorry for having a driver and team I prefer I guess 🙄