2025 F1 Season

[Westheim]

Of course, two can play that game. Wipe the ones from before.

Fun Fact III: If Lando hadn't brainlessly driven up Ossie's tush in Canada, he'd now lead by 22 and Ossie would already be eliminated.

Fun Fact IV: Alternatively, if no 25 cents part had smoked off in Lando's car in Zandvoort, the championship would be over and I wouldn't have to be crying now.

[Westheim]

(heart brakes in two)

[Jason Moyer]

Fun Fact V: If Max were driving one of the 4 fastest cars on the grid he would have clinched the title 5 races ago.

[low]

Originally Posted by Jason Moyer

Fun Fact V: If Max were driving one of the 4 fastest cars on the grid he would have clinched the title 5 races ago.

I hate it, but this is true.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by low

I hate it, but this is true.

Yes, but...

Because he has 98% of his team behind him and only focused on getting the maximum result for him - 2% are spent on putting tires on Yuki's car and then he's on his own - and on top of that he has Darth Helmut spitting poison at everybody vaguely close to being a threat.

Meanwhile, the orange team is mostly focused on making sure to step on everybody's genitals by an equal amount. It has to be fair!

Unrelated, shut down the internet. Kimi's car had a sudden urge to head for the barriers on the penultimate lap yesterday (it is OBVIOUS from the footage! - even a certain one-eyed guy should see it!!) and he went off the track, which is how Lando slipped through to finish fourth after all. Of course it's all a conspiracy and Benz slowed Kimi down so a Benz engine can win the championship, and Kimi is now the scum of the Earth on social media.

Ugh, I hate everything and everybody and I just want to go back to bed and sleep for seven weeks straight........

[low]

GP should keep his conspiracy related thoughts to himself and not blast them over the radio. If that message wasn't broadcast it wouldn't have become the problem it has.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Jason Moyer

Fun Fact V: If Max were driving one of the 4 fastest cars on the grid he would have clinched the title 5 races ago.

How did Max end up driving such an apparently-inferior pile of tin, anyhow? This may be (yet another) ignorant question, but I wouldn't think that getting the 4x defending champion a decent ride would be as difficult as it seems to have proven.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

How did Max end up driving such an apparently-inferior pile of tin, anyhow? This may be (yet another) ignorant question, but I wouldn't think that getting the 4x defending champion a decent ride would be as difficult as it seems to have proven.

He has a very specific driving style and for the lifetime of these regulations (which finally die after this season finale) Red Bull has aggressively developed the car further and further to suit that particular style - to the noticeable detriment of all his team mates (note how Sergio Perez could still stink up to him until early '23 and then drowned spectacularly). However, they are so deep into that setup that the window where the car works is extremely narrow, and it takes them all weekend of whining to hit the window - if they do at all, which explains why at some races he actually never shows up.

Of course you can have a car working only half the time when your only serious rival keeps fumbling the ball again and again and again and -

[Westheim]

McLaren "prepared to use team orders" to ensure that "Norris or Piastri win the championship".

Not sure how you would use team orders to ensure *Ossie* wins the title, except for, in the case of a late 1-2 run, telling Lando to **** off and crash the car now, please, but okay.

I had a dream last night. It was the season finale and Lando had a narrow lead on Dutch Max and Ossie. And then he qualified badly, and then he crashed, and then it started to rain, and then he was last, and then he crashed again, and then he was yet harder in last place, and Dutch Max won the race and the championship.

And then I woke up, sweating, and cried a little.

I hate my life. -.-

[Jason Moyer]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

How did Max end up driving such an apparently-inferior pile of tin, anyhow? This may be (yet another) ignorant question, but I wouldn't think that getting the 4x defending champion a decent ride would be as difficult as it seems to have proven.

Newey left and other teams figured out what they were doing with their floor to gain performance without bottomg out or porpoising. The car is still quick, but that's just because Max and GP are absolutely insane when it comes to developing a car as the season goes on. If they had unlimited testing like in the old days, he probably would have been contending for wins from day 1, but it's actually quite impressive how much they've figured out about making the car quick from the limited number of laps they get in official sessions.

I understand why people might not be fans of Max, but the guy has been doing things I've never seen before in an F1 car from day 1. Before day 1 actually - remember that save he made in Barcelona testing his rookie year, when the car was at a 45 degree angle and he just caught it like it was nothing? Yeah, no one else can do that and tbh stuff like that or his performance at Brazil in 2016 seemed impossible to me until I saw him do it. I'm not an advocate of GoAT arguments, but he's right there with Fangio/Clark/Stewart/Lauda/Piquet/Prost/Senna/Schumacher/Seb/Lewis when it comes to pure talent and the ability to rally a team around him. Other guys have had the talent (Montoya is the first who comes to mind) but couldn't develop a car like those guys. Max is just so good. So are Lando/Oscar/Charles/George/Kimi imo, but he's still at a level above those guys imo. A part of me selfishly wishes he'd get the title this year, dominate the first 3 years of the next formula, then go dominate sportscar racing and maybe do Indy just to get his name up there with the Hills, Gurneys, and Andrettis. 20 years from now people are going to be telling their kids about him.

[Amazin69]

Both of today's practices saw Lando and Max 1-2. Charles was 3rd in the first round, George 3rd in the second.

Oscar didn't even attempt the first practice and was far back the second time around. Is there something going on?

Somewhat surprised that the race is in the same 11 PM ET, 05:00 CET window that Las Vegas was in, 12 time zones to the west. I wouldn't think they'd be doing the season climax at 8 AM local time.

(Let's hope that Rob Manfred doesn't decide that would a great new way to mangle MLB…)

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Both of today's practices saw Lando and Max 1-2. Charles was 3rd in the first round, George 3rd in the second.

Thankfully Lando only starts to bottle it from Q3 onwards.

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Oscar didn't even attempt the first practice and was far back the second time around. Is there something going on?

Nothing to do with attempts. Per regulations, each car must at least once be handed over to a "development driver" of any description. Lando was left out of practice in Mexico I think (for Pato O'Ward), and McDimwit saved Ossie's car for the finale. Nine cars in total were driven by "who that?" in the first practice, including Sir Lewis' car being given to Charles' little brother Arthur.

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Somewhat surprised that the race is in the same 11 PM ET, 05:00 CET window that Las Vegas was in, 12 time zones to the west. I wouldn't think they'd be doing the season climax at 8 AM local time.

Nah, the race is at 14:00 here (8am ET), something's wrong on your end.

[Amazin69]

Yeah, the F1 site shows the local Abu Dhabi time and "your time", but the format made it unclear which was which. I was able to discern the nine-hour time difference from Hither to Yon, but I missed that we were the 08:00 folks, not them.

(Rather prefer the 11 PM and 11 AM EST starts to this, but they didn't ask me…)

[Jason Moyer]

Welp, Max is here to play. If MCL blinks it's over. My god.

[Westheim]

McDimwit built the car all on downforce, the orange cars always gained big in the last sector in Q. There is NO straight line speed in that car. If they muck up strategy again tomorrow and end up behind an Alpine, they're gonna get Vitaly Petrov'ed like Alonso did in 2012(?).

[Westheim]

McDimwit has reportedly split the team in two, with no data being shared between the two cars this weekend.

You just know that if it gave Dutch Max half a tenth, they'd share Yuki's colon with him.....

[low]

McLarens collide in Turn 1 and Max wins. I would hate it but it would be funny.

[Westheim]

I woke up very early today, and immediately was crushed by a wave of inescapable doom.

Something terrible will happen today.

Or something terribly stupid.

Inescapable doom.

[Jason Moyer]

My expectation is that Max and Oscar will go sailing off into the distance and Lando will cruise home a comfortable third, taking the title. If George or Charles or somebody had managed a top-3 grid spot it would probably be a bit more exciting, but Lando really doesn't have to do anything other than keeping the car on the track. I don't think anyone else is even close enough to the front runners for an MCL mistake with strategy or in the pits to be a big factor.

[Westheim]

I'm convinced Lando goes flying in turn 1. Just don't know by whom.

A) The fiend in the blue car
B) Ossie, Texas style
C) Russell, with hurrah
D) himself, forgetting to break or whatever

The agony.

The agony.