I can't see McLaren as loser; they improved tremendously recently, have dominated their engine supplier Renault, and they are (at the moment) Best of the Rest. Honda is still far from being a regular force in F1, although they are better than before.
Sorry, wrong. McLaren should have been the first to win with Honda. They gave up and another team found out how to make it work. FAIL
If the rules were applied, yes; no doubt. But the stewards may have been invited to look at the wider picture; like keeping Red Bull and Honda interested in F1. Mateschitz threatened to walk away, and Honda isn't committed beyong 2020, I understand. So, closing the eyes on Max' "tactics" may have benefited F1, in one way. Nothing is black and white in F1 anymore ...
I understand. It’s a Don King “sport” now. That’s why I won’t attend races or spend any money on the F1 brand.
Red Bull has always had a superior car package for Austria and Hungary. That contributes mightily to the win.
cannot agree with you on this point, MV braked late [bold move] ran wide [inevitable] & missed the apex, forced CL wide, opened up steering thus pushing [contact] CL to the outside and OFF the track = gaining an advantage. I am all for hard racing but contact can and is dangerous. Agree with you on other good points you raised, MV would have won, SF were cautious and defended against Bottas who was [clearly] never really ever in the race
Here is what happened. McLaren forced Honda into a package they didn't want to do. Honda then couldn't deliver. McLaren blamed Honda. Alonso blamed Honda. McLaren ripped up the agreement while Honda wanted to keep it going. Honda went to RB. EVERYONE said it was a terrible mistake. RB worked with Honda and accepted it's concerns into its design. Honda reliability and power increased. Honda wins first F1 GP with RB after 20 years. Victory for RB. Victory for Honda. Failure for McLaren still struggling with the 4rd best engine on the grid.
Any more than that and he would have had a penalty. Any less and he wouldn't have made the pass. Evil but genius. CL's move on Max the lap before was even better though, the guy's totally clinical.
Very right on that, but would like to add I'm happy that Mclaren is finally improving. Wonderful performance from Norris yet again. I'm very happy I was wrong about this kid. Part of the future of F1 IMO
McLaren also suffered from a "palace revolution", with its CEO being eliminated from the firm. Dennis was the one who had invited Honda as engine Partner. Brown, the new CEO was enclined to listen to his Nr1 driver who accused Honda for the lack of result. Hence a decision was taken to switch engine supplier, apparently with the board approval. Yes, it was a gamble, but tell me which executive takes on the job of his sacked predecessor to follow the same Policy. McLaren suffers mostly of lack of continuity in its administration (like Ferrari).
Is this Red Bull’s home track? How much of the cars Development was dependent on this track? Anyone know why the car works so well on this track ? The car did make everyone else look like they were in a different league. Jokingly- it wasn’t Max(Lewis) it was the superior car that won the race. Max (Lewis) are midpack Talent’s at best, lucky to be in cars that can’t lose on the tracks in Austria and Hungary (and all those tracks MB won on so far this season). LOL
I think the stewards didn't want to get lynched by taking away a RBR win at their home track with all those rabid Max fans. For the FIA, it was a no win scenario.
It will only be verboten when Ferrari does it. Mark my words. We've already seen the twisting of logic when it comes to incidents involving Ferrari on track the last few years. If Ferrari is ahead, it their fault for not "yielding" to the guy behind (so much for racing I guess). If Ferrari is behind, they are blamed for putting the car "where it doesn't belong!" I find it interesting how we're lectured about the integrity of racing and how hard and aggressive racing is ok, except when Ferrari tries it. Then it becomes "reckless". Just listen to Sky Sports commentary when Vettel literally tries anything "aggressive". He's always wrong. But if Verstappen or Hamilton do it, its a "masterclass" if they succeed and a "good try" if they fail. All of this talk of "other incidents are different!" is ********. Making contact that affects another driver is either ok or it isn't. There is no grey area there. I'm not terribly bent out of shape over this incident as I believe Verstappen would have passed Leclerc anyway, but that wasn't guaranteed. I'm disappointed in the FIA's inconsistency and their seemingly anti-Ferrari bias.
McLaren made Honda look like amateurs when in reality their car likely was not a good match for the engine. I'm no engineer but having read Newey's book "How to build a car" gave me some insights in how important it is to get an engine manufacturer to work with you. You don't just bolt it to the back of your chassis. Newey mentions how they (RB) worked directly with Renault to get the blow-by effect of the engine supporting their aero. I can only imagine how incompetent McLaren has become to make the Honda engine blow up time and again when a year later it delivers a victory. I also truly hope that Honda will get back to its former glory (McLaren days when they were piloted by Senna/Prost) and be a true rival to MB. That's the ticket.
Yes it is their home track, but given the restrictions on testing, that's pretty much meaningless and mostly symbolic. I bet they have more data (like every other team) on tracks like Silverstone and Barca. MB's defeat were the tires. Lets hope that continues (although I'm not holding my breath, I believe this was an anomaly). Regardless, my biggest two take-aways were the refreshing battle of the youngsters and the resurgence of Honda.
Sometimes the engine manufacturer refuses* to work with you when you're in the same team. (See John Barnard and guess who......................Ferrari). *ok, maybe not "refuses", more like passive/aggressive.
Yes, i'm still waiting for someone to show us ... in the rules, not in their imagination ... when it's permitted to push an alongside-driver completely off-track ... WITH CONTACT. What are the circumstances, by the rules, when this is allowed? I'd sure like to know!
I think they would have won with a Renault PU this year. The Red Bull flatters the under-powered Honda as it did the Renault. Neither PU is near Ferrari or Mercedes - not even close.