FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2024 - Melbourne....Race.... ▄▀▄▀▄▀ SPOILERS ▄▀▄▀▄▀

Sainz is better than he's being given credit for. I do believe Leclerc is the better driver, but he's not complete and after all this time, I don't think he'll ever be complete. Will he win a championship? I think that entirely depends on the car. Unfortunately I'm of the opinion that Leclerc needs a signficantly better car to win a title, because of his own mistakes, Ferrari's mistakes and the inevitable reliability issues.

Sainz on his day can easily match Leclerc in the race. But those days aren't as frequent. He also has those days where he beats Leclerc on merit. This weekend, in a weakened state, was very promising.

Sainz is very technically minded as well and his ability of reading the race is supreme.

The Lewis swap makes even less sense after today. A relatively clueless narcissist that seems to lose interest if he's not in a car that he can win in. Job 1 is beating your teammate. For someone being paid what he's about to be, that looks to be the worst deal in sporting history.

 

Well I get your point but we are eliminating two variables it seems since Vasseur is leading the team.
Reliability has improved massively and strategy mistakes by the team are close to zero.
This will make a huge difference in the end.
Charles just needs a competitive car to deliver.
I was too harsh with him last year.
Car was absolutely unstable and unpredictable.

 

Agreed - they should have kept Sainz and dumped LeC!

semi-kidding

 

I agree that he of course didn’t intend and never thought for a moment that Boy George would crash out over it. It’s not Alonso’s fault at all and the penalty is completely in-valid. I’m not an Alonso fan. Head games are a part of racing. Alonso was trying to startle George and George wasn’t paying attention and got caught out. The only reason Alonso was penalized was because he cost a top team lots of money and Toto was properly irked by this.

 

Perez sucked again. I predict Red Bull dumping him and locking in Sainz as soon as they can.

 

The only personal comparison I can make to this is in kart racing - if I'm chasing someone flat out and they try to "startle" me with unexpected, unnecessary braking in a high speed section I'm not going to be very happy about it.
It's one thing to hold up a trailing car in slow corners, that's done all the time either to try getting a bigger gap coming out or to help a teamates in front build his own gap. But in a high speed corner that's just asking for a (big) crash.

 

No appendix
No contract
No problem

 

Verstappen being overtaken by Sainz (who isn't 100%). That was hilarious!

 

Yeah that appendix was certainly weighing him down. Lewis needs to get his one removed as well before the start of next season.

 

So ... what was the reason for LeClerc to have been in that position at the time of those orders? Ferrari giving preference to a driver they've just fired over the driver they're keeping?

 

Perez is a midfield driver and that’s what we should expect. Everyone knows he got the RB drive because of the Slim dollars he brought.

 

I want to congratulate Alpine on their double overtake of Verstappen, Hamilton, and Russell. Truly a weekend to remember for that team.

 

That’s a bit harsh on Checo…. He is a solid driver, he’s definitely not Max though.

 

Harsh ..

 

Midfield, solid, mid tier, good, not great. He is past his own peak performance and I’m sorry it does sound harsh however this is true.

 

Sainz had a better quali. But I guess qualis don't count.

I think LeClerc has higher potential than Sainz. But I keep waiting for LeClerc to maximize his potential consistently.

And, like many here, I think kicking Sainz out AND replacing him with LH was a baffling decision. Other than getting Max into Ferrari (which was never going to happen), I would have left things as they were. I think Ferrari has the best team of two drivers right now.

 

The best thing about Team Alpine is Gasly's girlfriend.

 

Gotta lock in that 1-2 instead of risking duel-DNFs, or at the very least wearing both sets of tires out prematurely.

 

Haas both in the points as well. Good all around for Ferrari.

 

I want to congratulate Gasly on his yummy girlfriend.

 

I don’t think this happens because Sainz is more experienced and I consider him to be an underrated driver. He’s not a mid-field talent, nor is he a Verstappen.

 

I admire Carlos' heart: "I won't lie" when asked if he was 100% before Q - but had to be asked, unlike Ham who would have whined it out first. His demeanor is pure gentleman and first class, a fine sportsman and model for our children.