#f1musings

[dizzyduck44]

A week on from Miami 🌴☀️🏎️

Let’s talk about how that may have been the most significant race week in about a year and a half. And no it’s not because I’m a Lando fan.

McLaren’s upgrades

Ok first we heard they won’t be significant, then Lando got given virtually a new car! Then we are told that what Oscar has is worth 2 tenths, what Lando has 4 tenths. Seems pie in the sky until Lando started sprint quali on medium tyres and suddenly it wasn’t bullshit! Lando won the main race and only lost fastest lap to his teammate. That car has pace and the drivers to unlock it. Also consider Lando won his first Grand Prix with a car he wasn’t happy about the setup on. There is more to come from that car. By the end of the weekend McLaren had fighting talk. They expect to be in the Championship mix before 2025 if not before.

Aston said they would, McLaren just knuckled down and did it!

Ferrari seem to be checking the wrong things!

Another weekend, another he pushed me/he gave me no room incident between the scarlet teammates. In the main race by lap 6 there is the usual squabble of let me try and pass (insert driver here) if my teammate can’t. Thing is around lap 10 Lando got a message telling him he was saving his tyres better than Oscar and the two Ferraris. So consumed with the fight to go forward, they forgot to look behind them and left the door open for Lando. Ferrari you have the car, the drivers, the knowledge. Just engage your brains. Right now there is a chance for Red Bulls to have mirrors full of scarlet and papaya. Don’t fuck it up!!

Fingers crossed the Imola upgrade package steps them forward as McLaren has done.

VisaCashapp RB’s, the paint job wasn’t the only thing with impact

Daniel’s first points in the sprint and another solid weekend and points in the main race again for Yuki show that their upgrades work. If Aston continue to flounder this is the team to watch step out of the “also ran” pack. Quietly just getting on with it.

Red Bull lost its vavavoom?

Not even sure where to start with this. Sprint race, no surprises. Quali, more of the same. Race, well. The Red Bull dominance is boring, because we have seen Max gets podiums with half a floor or a hole in his side pod. The RBs are the cockroach of the grid, unkillable. Bleeding every last bit of hope out of the other teams.

So the idea that floor damage meant Max couldn’t keep up with Lando after the safety car and that Checo never really looked in danger of a podium from the first corner is difficult to understand. Max complained about that car ALL weekend. Yes there are upgrades coming but to see the Red Bull not just hit hyper mode and check out was new.

Which leads me to my point why this was so important. This season is far more open than any we have seen for a while. After the 21 from 22 Red Bull show last year, they have already missed out on two wins this season. One due to a brake failure (see earlier cockroach comment) and another to an apparent lack of pace. (Where’d the pace go?)

More importantly two other teams have already taken the top step this year. Two teams that are showing the capability to fight back at last. I fully expect to see at least 7 different race winners this year.

And with Lando now a Grand Prix winner, can we all agree that with a decent midfield car, Yuki is in fact the most underrated driver on the grid and has been for sometime?