F1 2024: Italian GP - Imola (May 19)

[HeelToeShift]

Originally Posted by Fillip

He won the Imola GP but not without a bit of scare at the end from Lando. That was a great late surge by the McLaren driver.

True, but he was driving probably only the 3rd fastest car this weekend.

[HeelToeShift]

Originally Posted by G30M

Lando handicapped himself by having 2 lap older tires.

if he had a better 1st stint and came in at least 2 laps later his tires will be the same age as Max and then we should have a better understanding of which driver/car is better.

but maybe i don't know the whole story, didn't watch the race

That was precisely the problem, Nor had awful tire deg on the M tire and Max had good tire deg but once they went to the H tire Max had awful tire deg and Nor had good tire deg. I think the last laps told us the story - Max's car still had a bad setup, tires gone, and Nor not only had the faster car but was much better on those hard tires (depite being 2 laps older).
I say this all the time but Max is the shortest corner driver on the grid whereas Nor is a very geometrical apex driver and the former will always be quicker because you end up actually driving less distance per lap.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

At least MAX can have a good sleep now just like me

Lando Norris overtakes MAX for the lead ! =>https://www.reddit.com/r/formuladank...appen_for_the/

[NickyC]

Sort of a boring race until the last five laps, really nice to see a hair of competition at the top for a change.

These last few races have me wondering, is Perez really that bad or is Max just that damned good? Week after week Perez gets blown away by seemingly inferior cars, yet Max keeps on winning. The gap between the two is just so massive, is the RB car really that great or it mostly Max?

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Lando Norris overtakes MAX for the lead ! =>https://www.reddit.com/r/formuladank...appen_for_the/

too much back draft from MAX cooked his tires aww never mind Lando

[M5Rick]

...Ron Mexico there said that they could have raced for 100 more laps and he wouldn't have overtaken him

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by NickyC

These last few races have me wondering, is Perez really that bad or is Max just that damned good? Week after week Perez gets blown away by seemingly inferior cars, yet Max keeps on winning. The gap between the two is just so massive, is the RB car really that great or it mostly Max?

It's different. It's about the personal driving style and car set-ups. Each driver has his own driving style. In a perfect world a driver and his team manage to spec and fine-tune a car in a way that perfectly suits the driver's personal driving style, allowing on track to squeeze the best out of the available package. Also, track layout, weather conditions, etc. so many parameters.

A couple of months ago, Verstappen's former team mate Alex Albon basically explained that it's hard to keep up with Verstappen's evolution during a season - he operates on a different level with increasingly fine-tuned set-ups.

"The first thing is, a lot of people say that car is built around him [Max Verstappen], he’s kind of like the Michael Schumacher of Ferrari, he’s created this team around him. Truthfully, the car is what it is, he is very quick, so what ends up happening is… He has quite a unique driving style, it’s not that easy to get along with.
Everyone has a driving style, I would say my driving style [Alex Albon] is a bit more on the smooth side, but I like a car that has a good front-end, so quite sharp, quite direct. Max does too, but his level of sharp and direct is a whole different level – it’s eye-wateringly sharp.
To give people kind of maybe an explanation of what that might feel like, if you bump up the sensitivity [on a computer mouse] completely to the max and you move that mouse and it’s just darting across the screen everywhere, that’s kind of how it feels. It becomes so sharp that it makes you a little bit tense.
What ended up happening was, especially during my year, you start off being a little bit behind, but not by much, and then as the season goes on, Max wants this front-end in the car, he wants his car to be sharper, sharper. As it goes sharper and sharper, he goes quicker and quicker, and for you to catch up you have to start taking a little bit more risk. You might be a couple of tenths behind one session, just try a little bit more, ‘OK, I’ve gone off, I’ve had a crash’, and you’ve got to restart. Then you’ve lost a little bit of confidence, it takes a little bit more time, that gap is growing a little bit, and the next time you try and go out and do another job, [it’s] another spin or another whatever – it just starts to snowball. Every time the car becomes sharper and sharper, you start to become more tense.
It’s like any sport, if you start to not be in that flow state, and you’re having to really think about it, and every time you go into a corner, you don’t know how it’s going to react, you don’t have that kind of… It’s purely the confidence in the car, the flow. It doesn’t work, it never works."

[Marcoose]

Nice race. And that's how racing goes. Different tracks, different strategies.

It was a bit surprising Ferrari didn't sacrifice Sainz to give Leclerc better track position. When Leclerc was P1 and Sainz P2, I immediately thought of making Sainz hold the pack to give Leclerc a 5-10 second lead. (After all, it's a difficult track to overtake.) Then pit Leclerc, which would've returned right behind Norris, perhaps even behind Verstappen. But Ferrari are still relearning the art of winning.

And Perez holding Piastri possibly saved the win for Red Bull. If both McLarens were closer upfront, they too could've worked strategies to give Norris better track position.

Nice race.

[///M Power-Belgium]

[HeelToeShift]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Verstappen & Norris team radio last 10 laps | 2024 Imola

Very interesting contrast of exchanges. Seems like Nor mostly had to be coached, push here, early throttle here, whereas other than modes Max just know where and when to push. Then again it doesnt surprise me that much. Nor is lucky he didnt end up in the wall or trapped in the gravel too, because he was really making a good bit of mistakes as the pressure mounted whereas Max, even knowing he couldnt go over even 1 more time was so precise and methodical about it.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Max The Machine...

Sat May 18 - Sun May 19

• 12:30pm-1:30pm: 1h F1 Free Practice 3 at Imola - P6
• 4pm-5pm: 1h F1 Qualies Q1-Q2-Q3 at Imola - P1
• afterwards: F1 press interviews at Imola
• 8:40pm-11:35pm: almost 3h sim GT3 evening stint at Nürburgring 24h (hours of darkness) - P1
• after midnight: watches Usyk-Fury world heavyweight title fight
• 9:15pm-10:15pm: 1h sim GT3 morning stint at Nürburgring 24h (daylight) - P1
• afterwards: joined the Discord channel - Twitch - Team Redline teammates
• 2:50pm: sim Team Redline wins Nürburgring 24h (GT3)
• 3pm-4:30pm: F1 race at Imola - P1
• afterwards: F1 press interviews at Imola

"Verstappen indicated Imola's bumpy track had caused him more trouble in the end.
"I'm just broken from the bumps, to be honest. My back, everything is hurting. It's not so much from the physical side of things, but just it was so bumpy out there. Already after like 20 laps, I could really feel my back," he said.
"So I'm just looking forward to laying in bed. Maybe take some painkillers. And a massage."
https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/4...-one-day-imola

As Verstappen's sim rig didn't fit inside an F2 trailer, it was transported to Imola with a flower vendor truck...

"Verstappen manages two wins in one day thanks to iRacing N24
By Morgan Raynal | May 19, 2024 4:46 PM ET
Max Verstappen is known to participate in sim racing events during downtime from his busy F1 schedule. Impressively, this weekend the three-time world champion won both the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix and the Nürburgring 24-hour on iRacing.
On Friday, Team Redline announced that Verstappen would be driving the No. 20 BMW GT3, and naturally his fans wondered how he would participate during the F1 race weekend.
The Dutchman had a special racing simulator made that would be small enough to fit in his motorhome close to the Imola circuit.
“We were supposed to ship it in a Formula 2 trailer with MP Motorsport, but the sim was just a tiny bit too big, so it didn’t fit, but they helped us out greatly,” said Atze Kerkhof, Director of Team Redline.
MP Motorsport came up with a solution and sent the sim rig with a flower vendor who was headed to Imola anyway.
“The sim got shipped in a bus or in a trailer with flowers to Imola… He had everything pre-connected, so basically it was almost plug-and-play,” Kerkof said.
Verstappen took pole position in Imola qualifying, which ended at 5:00 p.m. CEST. Meanwhile, his Redline teammate Diogo Pinto was starting the 24-hour race. By 8:45 p.m. Verstappen was driving his first two-and-a-half hour night stint at the Nürburgring.
After some sleep and solid stints by Pinto, Chris Lulham, and Florian Lebigre, Verstappen returned for another two hours at “the Ring” before doing 63 laps around Imola in his Red Bull.
At the end of his second and final stint, he joined the Discord channel with Twitch stream commentator Luke Crane and Team Redline teammates.
“Right, mate, that was lovely,” said Verstappen. Crane congratulated him on a nice final stint and Verstappen replied, “Yeah, extended the gap a bit, very lovely… I have to go.”
Chris Lulham drove the final stint for the No. 20 and secured the win for Team Redline after 24 hours. Fifteen minutes later, Verstappen took the green flag at Imola.
The Dutchman dominated the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix; McLaren driver Lando Norris was a close second and Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari."

Attachment 3461426

Well...Check this out !

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by Marcoose

Nice race. And that's how racing goes. Different tracks, different strategies.
(...) If both McLarens were closer upfront, they too could've worked strategies to give Norris better track position.

That almost had materialized if Piastri hadn't been demoted from P2 to P5 after the qualies because of 'unnecessary impeding' Magnussen resulting from the unfortunate coincidence of lack of sufficient warning by his team.

Both Piastri (P2) and Norris (P3) stood a decent chance to remain ahead of Leclerc and Sainz from the get-go. Who knows, maybe an interesting Verstappen (P1) - Piastri (P2) race start and first lap ? The McLarens and the Ferraris seemed to have comparable race pace for many laps, as demonstrated by their little 'DRS train' that kept on chugging around the circuit for quite some time. If the McLarens couldn't have shaken off the Ferraris that were trailing them, McLaren could have decided to sacrifice Piastri with the team orders (1) to invert P2-P3 track positions with Norris (if Norris would still be P3 by then) and (2) to hold/bunch up both Leclerc and Sainz (in the smart way as Perez defended fairly well his track position with worn hard tires against cars featuring faster fresh rubber) to facilitate Norris building a more comfortable gap in P2 (and eventually catching up with Verstappen in P1).

Of course, as the grid penalty was imposed, we will never know how the dynamics of the race would have panned out.

Prior to Piastri's grid penalty:



Piastri's grid penalty:

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Well...Check this out !

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by HeelToeShift

Very interesting contrast of exchanges. Seems like Nor mostly had to be coached, push here, early throttle here, whereas other than modes Max just know where and when to push. Then again it doesnt surprise me that much. Nor is lucky he didnt end up in the wall or trapped in the gravel too, because he was really making a good bit of mistakes as the pressure mounted whereas Max, even knowing he couldnt go over even 1 more time was so precise and methodical about it.

Yeah . Just look where Checo ended up , with his adventure in the gravel trap.

I mean , currently the RB20 setup is a big issue . It's so damn hard to find the sweetspot .
The RB20 was at some moments undriveable with the hards !
As I said : The MAX-Factor won this race .

Hopefully , at Monaco they're right on top of it .In the FP's already .

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Artemis

ZOLDER TRACK !

[Marcoose]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Of course, as the grid penalty was imposed, we will never know how the dynamics of the race would have panned out.

I'd like to hope McLaren have that level of malice to win even if it means to sacrifice one driver. Ferrari don't seem to have it yet. Mercedes always lacked that. Even Williams do. I wonder if Aston do, because after all Lance Stroll is the owner's son. But word is Lawrence Stroll is no boy scout. (I've never met him.)

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Yeah . Just look where Checo ended up , with his adventure in the gravel trap.

I mean , currently the RB20 setup is a big issue . It's so damn hard to find the sweetspot .
The RB20 was at some moments undriveable with the hards !
As I said : The MAX-Factor won this race .

Hopefully , at Monaco they're right on top of it .In the FP's already .

MAX should blitz it at the Municipality, C3-4-5 softs will be the order of the day for the low grip track if the rain stays mainly on the plain

[NYG]

Max is a monster. Imagine if he made ONE small mistake in those last laps. His consistency is incredible, especially after sim racing the night before.

I do love seeing that there's finally competition in the top 3.

Mercedes really shit the bed hard with these regs.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

MAX should blitz it at the Municipality, C3-4-5 softs will be the order of the day for the low grip track if the rain stays mainly on the plain

Unlike Perez, Verstappen isn't quite fond of street circuits.

So I expect Checo to give Max a run for his money in Monaco, i.e. very competitive.

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Unlike Perez, Verstappen isn't quite fond of street circuits.

So I expect Checo to give Max a run for his money in Monaco, i.e. very competitive.

I expect the opposite for exactly what your post about Albon's comments. I think we have hit that point again like last season where the driving conditions/situations are hitting a tougher stretch and the pressure of the point standings is starting to really kick in. And with RBR struggling a bit with setups right now that only compounds everything. I think we see a mistake by PER in either qualy or the race that takes him out of contention. I do hope that I am wrong though.

[CMW33]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Sort of a boring race until the last five laps, really nice to see a hair of competition at the top for a change.

These last few races have me wondering, is Perez really that bad or is Max just that damned good? Week after week Perez gets blown away by seemingly inferior cars, yet Max keeps on winning. The gap between the two is just so massive, is the RB car really that great or it mostly Max?

Some of everything, really. Max is transcendent, the RB is the best car, McLaren/Ferrari have made strides, but Checo is clearly the weakest driver out of the 6 on the top three teams.

That said, it's hard to believe but Perez has had 4 podiums out of 7 races this year and mostly 1-2 finishes. That's fine for a number 2 driver--especially one you never have to worry will trip over your number 1 (let's ignore Miami, turn 1). He's faded a bit over the last couple of races but not so much that the Constructor's is in any doubt. His seat is safe.

[Killed by Death]

***