I mean, I wouldn’t quite call him my hero (he said enviously), but respec’: https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/64882794
He was still wearing sandals on Friday because of the toe.
He was still wearing sandals on Friday because of the toe.
Formula 1 - 2023 Season
- Thread starter Tahir2
- Start date
Well, Australia just signed up for ten more years of that madness. Interesting race because of all the wackiness (including the return of the standing restart—Masi was at the track both in spirit and in person). I was as gobsmacked as Spa last year when Max pulled a 2.8s gap in less than a lap after passing Lewis, but apparently Lewis backed off a bit as Max only outpaced 3rd place Alonso by 0.8s. It sounds crazy, but I guess Seb was pulling 20s gaps in his RB years.
The five second penalty on Sainz for the second restart was harsh for essentially a first-lap incident (in which several cars took themselves out of the race).
Spectacular mistake by Kevin and own goal by the Alpines. This race was one of extended DRS-assisted passes and vehicular carnage. Still strange to see a Merc finish not only on the podium but above Alonso. Hulkenberg almost finished fourth! In a Haas!
The five second penalty on Sainz for the second restart was harsh for essentially a first-lap incident (in which several cars took themselves out of the race).
Spectacular mistake by Kevin and own goal by the Alpines. This race was one of extended DRS-assisted passes and vehicular carnage. Still strange to see a Merc finish not only on the podium but above Alonso. Hulkenberg almost finished fourth! In a Haas!
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I feel that was on Gasly and a lack of awareness (despite this year’s bigger mirrors). Ocon backing off could have invited someone to rear end him.
But my general impression of Ocon’s racecraft is better than, say, KMag’s or Max’s (tho Max did choose wisely on lap 1 T1 knowing he has by far the best car).
But my general impression of Ocon’s racecraft is better than, say, KMag’s or Max’s (tho Max did choose wisely on lap 1 T1 knowing he has by far the best car).
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
lol
How many times has he made contact with team mates before? And that is not even counting the other times he got unnecessary involved in incidents.
True. It’s all a bit hazy now, but I put a lot of his contact w Perez on Perez. (I remember when Perez was with McLaren and dive-bombing people at the Nouvelle Chicane in Monaco and Kimi accepting the collision rather than avoiding the BS move. Perez always drove like he had something to prove despite his sponsorship backing.) I don’t think Ocon tangled with Ricciardo and I honestly can’t remember when Alonso and he collided (Brazil? Saudi Arabia?). Maybe I have a blind spot
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
He collided with three different teammates and managed to crash into the race leader while being lapped.
I just don't see how you could possibly say Ocon's race craft is better than Vertappen's. How many amazing races or over takes come to mind when talking about Ocon? Don't forget he's only been in f1 one year less than Verstappen.
I just don't see how you could possibly say Ocon's race craft is better than Vertappen's. How many amazing races or over takes come to mind when talking about Ocon? Don't forget he's only been in f1 one year less than Verstappen.
Max crashed into Ocon. Just my perspective. Was that because his engineer didn’t warn him that Ocon was unlapping himself or because Max assumed the corner was his (see Silverstone)? I don’t know. My view of Max’s racecraft is colored by impatient attacking (Vettel in China) and late/poor defending (Ricciardo in Baku, Hamilton in Brazil). He has improved, probably (see T1 just yesterday), but that may be situational (i.e., he can afford to not win every corner with a monster car vs. having to scrap for positions with a merely competitive car). I admit he can analyze race situations faster than I can, he knows way more about corner positioning than I do, and he may just be playing his hand optimally (taking “risks” establishing a crash-or-yield persona knowing that rules are soft and racing is pushing the limits).
I’m not saying other drivers are perfect, and I’m probably glossing over Max vs. Charles fights last year in terms of whether Max has improved his wheel-to-wheel racing.
Like I said, maybe I’m finding excuses for Ocon. When I say his race craft is better than Max it doesn’t mean it’s good, more like it’s less bad. He gets crashy but, like Perez, it seems he’s crashing partly because he doesn’t want to yield (especially to a teammate) because he thinks he’s fighting for his F1 career. Part of the reason he may not be that upset at yesterday’s Gasly crash is because otherwise Gasly beat him over the weekend.
I’m not saying other drivers are perfect, and I’m probably glossing over Max vs. Charles fights last year in terms of whether Max has improved his wheel-to-wheel racing.
Like I said, maybe I’m finding excuses for Ocon. When I say his race craft is better than Max it doesn’t mean it’s good, more like it’s less bad. He gets crashy but, like Perez, it seems he’s crashing partly because he doesn’t want to yield (especially to a teammate) because he thinks he’s fighting for his F1 career. Part of the reason he may not be that upset at yesterday’s Gasly crash is because otherwise Gasly beat him over the weekend.
D
Deleted member 2197
Guest
Allison returns as Mercedes technical director
James Allison returns as Mercedes technical director in a major reorganisation after the team's disappointing start to the season.
www.bbc.com
Stay classy, Max. I thought Vettel was the king of in-car adrenaline-fueled emotional outbursts, but Max's continue outside the car--even now, after two championships, driving the clearly fastest car and competing against a routinely slower teammate in a semi-meaningless sprint race.
Baku was an interesting choice of testing the new sprint race format. While I kind of like a sprint race (it's more interesting than a quali session and spices up the real race by reducing time to prep for the race), a second quali session isn't super exciting. There seemed to be much less obstructing as everyone came out at the same time on the same tires. I thought there was a minimum (technically, maximum) lap time they had to do while in quali to avoid dangerously high speed deltas, but I believe the penultimate lap of the last session of sprint quali had people doing 3+ minute laps to cool their overheated softs on a <2 minute track.
Also weird that new tires were required to participate in each sprint quali session, so Lando couldn't even go out in SQ3. Strange condition / oversight.
Edit: Per the BBC:
I don't understand the obliviousness, but it's maybe unfair to expect a reasoned argument immediately after jumping out of the car.
Baku was an interesting choice of testing the new sprint race format. While I kind of like a sprint race (it's more interesting than a quali session and spices up the real race by reducing time to prep for the race), a second quali session isn't super exciting. There seemed to be much less obstructing as everyone came out at the same time on the same tires. I thought there was a minimum (technically, maximum) lap time they had to do while in quali to avoid dangerously high speed deltas, but I believe the penultimate lap of the last session of sprint quali had people doing 3+ minute laps to cool their overheated softs on a <2 minute track.
Also weird that new tires were required to participate in each sprint quali session, so Lando couldn't even go out in SQ3. Strange condition / oversight.
Edit: Per the BBC:
<mindblown.png>
I don't understand the obliviousness, but it's maybe unfair to expect a reasoned argument immediately after jumping out of the car.
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Would it be unfair to say that the most exciting part of the race was Russell passing Stroll in the pits?
Edit: To be fair, I missed the potential calamity when Ocon boxed on the last lap, but we’re still talking pit action rather than track action.
Edit: To be fair, I missed the potential calamity when Ocon boxed on the last lap, but we’re still talking pit action rather than track action.
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v scary
Typically excellent article on the race by Mark Hughes: https://the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hughes-the-real-reasons-verstappen-was-second-best-in-baku/
