When George got his hole shot, I settled in thinking it was going to be good. But, when the Red Bull went past a lap later I knew it was the same old thing. The Red Bull is still the quickest on the grid.
I’m not sure it’s that cut & dry. I think Max & Redbull just edged out Mclaren today, but it was close, Max didn’t totally run away like I also thought he might after he took the lead. Still dominant, but it’s getting the closest it’s been in a long time, the front drivers & teams all have to be on top form to have a chance, & the slightest mistake by any of them could effect the podium. We might actually have a fairly interesting season (for once!), even if it seems like Max will likely still win this year with the lead he already has. Come on Lando, keep that pressure up…
It's closer than it has been, I'll grant that. But, Max just walked away after regaining the lead. It takes a lot of development work to get those extra tenths out of those cars. I don't anticipate things changing much through the year.
What do you mean. Lando was only 2 seconds behind him. One slightly slower stop (2.9 seconds instead of the 1.9 second stop that he had at the 1st stop) and Lando would have been on him at the end. I understand that people are traumatized by Verstappen's dominance but he did not walk away from anybody. Infact like in 2021, it could argued that both Red Bull and McLaren are so close now that the faster car varies from stint to stint
If 2 seconds is a long time, then what is the 20+ second Verstappen was winning by earlier¿? 2 seconds over 66 laps is just 0.03 seconds a lap - a difference so small that wind, dirty air or track temp will have a larger effect.
The gap that red Bull had was so marginal that I don't think Verstappen could have overtaken Norris if he had been behind Lando after lap 1
If that was true, Verstappen would have taken the fastest lap like he did last year. He was clearly pushing hard and couldn't do that this year because he didn't have the car under him
He didn't have to have fastest lap. He was winning the race. He was saving tires and running at a consistent pace.
The entirety of this was true last year as well. Hell last year he also had a black and white flag shown for track limit violations which would have meant that any further track limit violation would result in a penalty and yet he went for a fastest lap and got it by beating a time set by Perez on new tyres with DRS. Verstappen no longer has the kind of car advantage (or even any discernible advantage based on the last 5 races) that he had last year. If you aren't able to realise that, I can't help you.
He doesn't have as much of an advantage. But, he still has one. As the other cars get quicker so will Red Bull. So will he keep that advantage? Time will tell, but he's running up the points meanwhile.