Since some people only want to see what they want. I mean its clearly on video. Image 1: Maybe 100m off the line, Max and Oscar are side by side. Image 2: Despite people thinking Oscar was well ahead and claimed the corner, they were still literally side by side Image 3: Now well into the braking, Max and Oscar were still side by side. Meaning they braked at roughly the same time. This debunks the claim Max didn't brake. We are now 1-2 car lengths from the apex of the corner. Max actually has a tighter trajectory than Oscar. So this claim Max wasn't trying to make the corner is also false. Image 4: STILL side by side, Max is opening up the steering because Oscar is pushing him out and is carrying more speed because of a wider radius turn. Image 5: Max has no where to go. He is 1/5th of a car length ahead. Image 6: Oscar has used up the full width of the inside curb of T2. He gave zero space despite Max being perfectly along side him the ENTIRE time. This is 100% Oscar pushing Max off the track. I have full confidence Max would have made turn 1. Would he have pushed Oscar off in turn 2? Who knows. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This is exactly how I saw it as well. It's the reason he's so easy to hate, he put a phenomenal qualifying lap in, blew the start and instead of yielding a lost position, he decided to skip the corner, and tried to act like you got forced off.
Then again these screenshots do make it look like he didn't give him any room. I didn't notice this on the broadcast. hmm interesting
It would be interesting to see the data overlay which would show where Max gave up on attempting the corner..
Talk about seeing what you want. Choosing frame exhibits and writing the narrative. It's clearly on video. Believe your eyes.
I recall reading that Aston Martin have reserved all their wind tunnel time for Newey to work his magic on their next season's car, which will be the first under the new regulations. I don't get the impression that they're meaningfully developing this season's car at all. While Alonso is the consummate professional racing driver and self motivated - as you'd expect from a double world champion - Stroll looks like he has lost all enthusiasm for the season. I am looking forward to seeing what Alonso does in the car if Aston Martin are revitalized for next year. Don't really care about Stroll, he looks like an amateur who's had his fun and is now ready to go home. All the best, Andrew.
I would concur that AMR have put their eggs into the 2026 car. It's somewhat understandable. I imagine Sauber is doing the same when they become Audi in 2026. Regardless, Its hard to grasp how AMR went from the 2nd best car in 2023 to as far as 6th best in the same year. Then was 6th best on a good day in 2024 and now are 2nd to worst. We'll ignore their failures when they were Racing Point under the Stroll administration. If I am the best driver in the world, I would not have confidence in that team's ability to solve problems and develop the car to be better. I feel bad for Alonso who is one of the all time greats and yet has spent much of his career in a bottom team. It's an unbelievable story. Sure he has made a few questionable career choices, but it's unthinkable to realize one of the best drivers has spent so much of his career in cars that bottom 5 junkers. It's gotta get frustrating and demoralizing at some point. Especially since he knows his last year is probably 2026.
I stopped reading your narrative at the frame exhibit below. Oscar didn't dive bomb a la Max on the inside and forced another driver off the track. He had the corner the whole way. Max lost it off the line. You can draw all the misleading trajectories you want on indiv. frames. He knew he wasn't going to try to make the corner as soon as he moved to the outside. Gotta respect him for doing everything to win, but 'got screwed', no. Image Unavailable, Please Login
You can't really pretend that you don't know drives take the widest entry possible to straighten out the corner. Max staying tight to Oscar and then moving right to get the best entry to the corner is extremely common. This is why I am confident he could have made the corner It's clear on any video feed that they were side by side right up to the point Max had to go off the track. They both had right to space through the corner, nobody had any obligation to back off. To suggest that Max had to back off would then suggest Hamilton and EVERY driver on the outside should have slowed down and backed off and allowed the entire inside lane to go through. That's insanity right? The expectation is they leave space and go through side by side. Everyone accepts some level of pushing and shoving and cars being pushed and squeeze and going outside track limits in the first tight corner of the race. I don't think Oscar deserved a penalty for pushing Max off, but Max certainly shouldnt have gotten a penalty for being forced off. Again, since you discredit the screenshots I provided, then please provided video of Oscar leaving room. I'm open to being wrong. In fact, I originally thought Max should have gave the place back until I saw the replays and saw Oscar pushed him off the track and he literally had no place to go.
I found the race to be subtle, not flashy, and I enjoyed it. In the end I don't feel the 5 secon panalty changed anything, Piastri and the McLaren were faster than Max and his RB. Charles earned his podium the old fashioned way, be being there at the end and with enough left to hold on. Just seems sad that after five races this season, this is Ferrari's first podium. But Charles and Ferrari didn't show me anything to be cheering about. New cars or not, I don't expect anything special in 2026...just more of the same micro managed racing...1 step forward then 2 or 3 steps backwards.
I see it the same was as @SS454. Had Piastri left him room, I think Max could have made turn two. He'd have been pinched at entry and made a slow exit. But he could have made the corner. This week Piastri is the villain. Often it's Max. But someone elbows another driver off track in practically every race. It's ugly. And it leaves the stewards to sort it out, leading to inconsistent interpretations of vague rules. Which makes it even uglier. This problem started - or at least accelerated - with paved runoff. In the days of grass and kitty litter, there'd be no need for referees to dole out penalties to Max because there's no way he'd have rejoined the track 15 car lengths ahead of Piastri. That would be unfair for Max, but here's the other thing: Oscar probably wouldn't dare shove Max off if there's a gravel trap on the other side of the curb because he'd know Max would stand his ground to avoid getting beached. I don't know what you do about this since a return to gravel traps seems unlikely. But I hope they figure something out. Relying on the stewards isn't working.
Electronic fencing. When outside of the defined track limits, electronically limit the car to 25% throttle. For rejoining, limit them to 75% throttle for 1 second. Now there's a non-race-ending severe penalty for running beyond the defined track limits. If cars run wide on normal laps or qualifying, they'll notice a reduction in power. No further need for deleted laps, the laps outside the limits will be garbage. It also takes the stewards out of the judgement for track limits - same system for everyone. All the best, Andrew.
I don't think Piastri is the villain. He turned in from the inside, he was going to come out of the corner out -- the opposite of Max, and he was slightly behind if not on par. You cannot really say that we was ahead and he didn't make the corner, so in my view he should have given the position, as simple as that.
Hamilton and Verstappen cut the corner in Mexico 2016.....no penalty for both. Hamilton cuts the corner in Abu Dhabi 2021 and no penalty. Hamilton's and Verstappen's cheat on Mexico GP 2016 F1 Lewis Hamilton cut the turn | Turn of the whole championship | Formula 1
I do not mind Baku's self policing at all. Even though it's been tough on Ferrari at times. Of all the street circuits, it's probably my favorite.
2021 Abu Dhabi Lewis in same position as Max, cut the corner by a huge amount and gained a massive advantage wasn't a penalty either. EDIT just seen that @jgonzalesm6 also put this earlier! Yet Max has been in Piastri's situation before and also received a penalty. Consistency is the bare minimum we could ask for, surely.
I'm just thankful we had a 1st corner incident otherwise this post would be dead! In reality is F1 that bad. Good review SS454 totally agree Leclerc was star of the race
A racing series with rules subject to human interpretation is utterly manipulated by design lol. Nothing new at all. 50 years ago the FIA was probably just as involved if not more so. We can only hope for a little consistency overall. The rest is at the whim of those in the seat working with the rules as an event takes place. Hi Masi!
I had mentioned elsewhere that LH didn't get a penalty and the rules are applied inconsistently. Demanding and expecting consistency, yep. But there will always be subtle differences, both in the facts and interpretation of the facts.
Meh, Oscar beat him off the line so he couldn't pinch him on the inside. Draw the trajectories as he's going through the corner and check how much his wheels are turned. He never intended to make the corner. Too clever for that. Oscar made the corner. Max: He made no effort to make the corner. Nice try buddy.
In images 2 and 3, seems to me Max is actually a little bit behind Piastri (if you look at the front of the cars) - but magically in image 4 he's in front in spite of the claim that he did brake to make the turn... that removes some confidence in the fact that "he would have made the turn".
It's so marginal though. I said it as it happened, probably best to give up the place. The thing that bothers me (as it did last year, and the year before and so on), is the inconsistency in the rules and penalties. Lawson somehow got a 10 second penalty for less of a cutting. If we go back to other things last year, Max getting community service for swearing, whereas Leclerc got no penalty for doing the same thing after it. The FIA has ZERO consistency, that's the thing that bothers me. I said it back when Max did it as well, I'm not a fan of the style of racing where you claim the corner because you're a mm ahead at the apex and therefore have the right to run someone off track. But, the idiots at the FIA wrote that rule and seemingly have zero intention of correcting it. Some, including myself, when the FIA wrote this rule questioned it already. Some stewards go by the letter of the law, some go by their instinct as (former) racing drivers, and some others appear to measure with different sticks. Max knows this, so do others. They're effectively going to the casino each time they're under investigation. Some play it safe and give up the position, the others play the game.
