European and USA fans complain about the awful race time starts,meanwhile the Asian and Australian Fans finally enjoying a Sunday afternoon race (we only get Suzuka and Melbourne before Vegas race)
US fans don't complain, at least not that I've seen(doesn't mean it doesn't happen). What I do see a lot of is US fans giving Euro fans a lot of 💩 when the Euro fans complain about the few races they have bad start times for. 😅
Issue with "give position back", there is a huge difference when that is said straight away or when they are already seconds ahead. That means that the penalty is not based on the severity, but on the tardiness of the stewards' response.
💫TIMESTAMPS💫 1:48 meet up (5 star reviews) 3:04 did Las Vegas deliver? 6:15 did people change their minds on Las Vegas? 8:08 what were the factors of the race that made it good? 11:48 Matt’s most memorable moment (battle for the lead specifically Charles Leclerc) 12:13 question about overtakes during last lap 16:49 would Charles get a win with another safety car? 20:34 Tommy’s most memorable moment (turn 1 chaos) 22:23 are penalty’s good enough? (Diverts into talking about Max) 27:28 Russell’s penalty 30:04 question about Alpines pace 31:54 Lando Norris Crash 33:27 biggest winner 35:36 biggest loser 36:26 Wednesday predictions 43:18 final thoughts
Meteorologist here with a good reason why the slipstream was strong here and the racing was great. At night with clear skies and little wind, the air near the ground becomes very stable. Punching a hole through that means little of the disturbed air moves up and the air turbulence created by the car remains near the ground. On a hot day with some wind, a lot of that wake gets taken upwards away from the following car. Was enjoyable race to watch here at 11 pm!
What a fantastic reasoning for the positive effects of the strong slipstream effect yesterday! Thank you! By te way, are you perhaps also Dutch? Because you have a brilliant name for a meteorologist as ‘herfst’ is Dutch for Autumn…
@@TheJeroenie yes, indeed. Born in Amsterdam 47, moved to 🇨🇦west coast in 57. My friends occasionally call me Fred fall. I enjoyed learning about wind both in my job, and as an avid sailor. Air stability has a large effect on pollution dispersion for example. In stable air, a smoke plume or aircraft takeoff vortex can carry far down wind. On the long straight down the main drag, the buildings help to contain the cold air over the track. Made it a fascinating race, it must be said😁
To be fair though, the colder air is more dense, which would give the lead car more drag while also helping the engines to run cooler and have higher air flow, increasing RPM with added speed for the following car. Fellow meteorologist here.
Regarding the "can we just let people push others wide and take track position and pull away with more than 5 seconds and win". Isn't this literally something we EVERYBODY talked about with Lewis in his days. His advantage had days where it was so big that he had penalties flying his way and it just didn't matter. How many races can we look back at and see hamilton flipping out over a penalty > take it > win the race. I know that these discussions always come up when the situation presents itself yet again. And it is logical that it usually will only be about the front runners. And lets just take Max's word for it. He went deep and didn't have grip anymore. If we all are going to MAKE this a big issue, then it shows how much the controversies are just fan made. Even the drivers talked about it without really bad feelings and agreed even that the 5seconds were served and its good now.
Exactly. It is too often made to be a much larger issue than it really is and definitely is targeted towards the front runners in general. As long as the penalty is justified and served correctly there really isn't anything left to say
I agree that this isn't something that can really be solved. But what cheesed me off is the gloating about it over the radio. It's like those anecdotes where a billionaire is told it's illegal to do something and he says, "no it's not, I just have to pay $1000, which is pocket change".
Stroll has actually outscored Alonso over the last 8 races. If you look back slightly further, over 11 races, Alonso has only outscored him by only 2 points. That's pretty good for a guy who, "shouldn't be in F1" compared to a team mate who is, "one of the greatest of all time".
@@t-mar9275 Not really fair to compare them this way. The only reason that the points are close over the last few races is because the car has been bad and they're picking up only a few points here and there. This means Strolls OK performances in the last two races with the better car heavily skew the stats. When you actually look at the details of these races you'll see Alonso has massively outperformed Lance in quali and in the races apart from this last race.
@@t-mar9275 You're misunderstanding what I'm saying. Simply looking at the points is not a good way to judge a driver's performance. If it was then you could easily say that last year Ocon was better than Alonso because he had more points but I doubt many people would agree with such a statement. The particular point I was trying to make was that Stroll has put in two reasonable performances (one good one average) relative to Alonso and this also just happens to coincide with when the car was at its best relative to the rest of the field giving Stroll the larger points boost. But he has been terrible over the rest of the races and has been terrible in quali everywhere bar Brazil and Spain. When you actually look at the performances over the races in detail; you'll see Alonso has been better in every weekend bar Las Vegas and it hasn't even been close. Outperforming your teammate in only one weekend over a season hardly screams "should be in F1".
A lot of people are just giving the redbull car all the credit but max has overcome almost every difficult situation all year and still converted it to a win. Lots of drivers would have slipped up. The penalty and damage today, ran at monaco, spa and neatherlands. There were plenty of situations where just one mistake would have cost him. Hes been close to flawless.
And look at his history.... He learnt tracks using "A COMPUTER GAME" prior to F1. He is use to pressing buttons on the wheel to change brake distribution, diff distribution, power mapping etc +++ on the fly for each corner! {from a PlayStation) - acknowledging all drivers have full simulators now,, but he grew up on this. All drivers could do this if they have the ability, but they just don't or can't. And his aggression is Schumacher esque... And reaction times second to none.
Oh no your praising Max why ?!?!?!? Every driver on the grid can have wing damage a 5sec penalty and still win the race at ease after his team asked him to slow down!!!! I mean his not close to Lewis we all new Lewis had the slowest car on the grid from 2014 to 2021 it was all Lewis not the car !!!!!
@@Switll72 This could be taken at 100% face value by some people, who than would fully agree with it. It is hard to read sarcasm in comments, but you did a good job sir.
I agree completely with you. I love that they are able to experience these things in person, but for some of these races I wish I was able to watch their reaction.
Glad the race had some spice to it. I hope there's things organizers have learned to make it an easier event to set up in the coming years, because it could be a classic with such low temps, "intermediate wet race in the dry" I think Brundle called it.
Having long straights alone isn't enough to make it a classic; and I think they'll advance the start-time just to be sure next year either way, since it can be pretty unsafe - as shown.
I actually dont think that the temps were that big of a problem...i mean we had what...18 degrees Celsius on Sunday? Or was it 14? To me it looked more like the circuit itself was just so green with the added difficulty of no support races and the tarmac being mostly new. I think the race will be different next year because these are regular streets and they will see a lot of use til then.
@@teufox842 You could argue 'we got lucky' with the temps; but advancing the time a few hours would reduce the risk of lower temps. Secondly, the streets seeing regular use doesn't do anything for the track; if anything it will get a new top-layer every year (not too uncommon) anyways, and it might also make it even less smooth than it already was (many drivers & teams were complaining about it already, but it was hardly given any attention since it didn't fit the official narrative, which is not just insincere but also works counterproductive in ensuring the race is 'even' better next year).
Thank you guys for pumping out the great content this weekend, even when your bout ready to collapse and just wanna go the sleep. You guys are troopers.
I think this is the first race in the new format that has flattered the new format! Staying close worked, DRS trains could be overcome, it was hard to lead. There was racing, passing and passing back!
There were plenty of good races where it was easier to follow, but then Mercedes threw their tantrum last year about porpoising (IIRC) and the minimum floor height was raised, and a lot of the ideas about reducing the dirty air was centred around the floors.
17:38 I think it was clever of RBR to make sure to have 2 new hards and 2 new Mediums for Verstappen. The unknown of how the tyre would respond in the two stopper gave them room to alter strategy. Leclerc didn't and therefore had to stick it out on the hards.
Weird that as a Checo fan I feel so disappointed he got P3 and loses out again in the last lap but just taking a step back, I’m surprised he even ended 3rd and was in contention for a win after the 1st lap contact.
@@FuZZbaLLbee he crashed out of 40% of the races He didn’t make q1 for months How do people forget about his bs??? Dude had the worst season ever. A monkey could have taken second in that car and Checo barely made it
@@LJRacing233Nah that actually helped him get to the front. Not only Checo but all cars that were in that chaos at the start and therefore pitted immedietly got washed to the front with the safetycar.
On the Turn 1 "inchident" between Max and Charles (seriously, why is it always these two?), I'm surprised that there isn't any mention of the fact that Max was on the side of the track where oil had spilled during prior to the driver's track parade. I'm not arguing that Max took advantage of a technicality in the rules, but running Charles off the track was not at all intentional on Max's part. The combined factors of a green track, low tire temps, some residual oil from the earlier spill, and general turn 1 chaos all contributed to Max not having a lot of grip to work with. Therefore he had little control of how far he went towards Charles, and definitely didn't intentionally run him off the track. And Charles himself even mentioned this in his post-race interviews, that he is aware that Max didn't intend to run him off the track and was satisfied with the penalty given to Max. I have to say, I generally love this podcast, but it's moments like this where the bias against Max kinda saddens me. While I agree that Max is an aggressive driver who will do whatever it takes to win, he's not this immoral, unsportsmanlike driver that doesn't care at all about the rules and the other drivers. He deserves more credit for being one of the best drivers of this generation.
Max is quite literally known for this kind of behavior, if you dont think so that I dont think you've watched a single race in the past 5 years. If anything Matt and Tommy were way too nice to Max, completely excusing his shit driving behavior as "just who he is". This shit is a joke and having the #1 act like this REGULARLY on track is so embarassing
Indeed. And that, meanwhile, the rest of the grid was utter carnage. Alonso doing a pirouette says enough about how the track basically was an ice skating rink, especially on that first lap. He still deserved the penalty of course.
@@remconoordermeer7015 and yet max dive bombs and pushes everybody he races off the track and Alonso rarely spins, perhaps you stupid mfs could just accept he's a dirty driver instead of coping so goddamn hard everytime he goes into a corner not even remotely planning to make it
@@jakob_b I've been following Max's career since he started in 2015. Is he faultless? No, and I never said that he is. He's definitely had more than his fair share of questionable moments. But it should be said that he has matured a lot since he first started in F1. And all the drivers on the grid are looking to get in front and to get ahead, and have done way worse things, so I don't know where you're getting this "shit driving behavior" thing from. Funny as well how you're completely ignoring the fact that this was more a racing incident than an intentional move from Max. Even Charles agreed and was satisfied with the penalty.
Stayed up for the race beginning at 1255 am EST, and boy, was it worth it! For all the reasons named. Good for Charles. Deserved Driver of the Day. At least Checo got his P2 in the Drivers. All in a days work for Max. Unbelievable.
@@lobosallesu dense? He said that sarcastically cuz he thought it was an unfair penalty. On watch back max said it was a fair penalty but at that time he was full of adrenaline. So many people misinterpreting his words and tone says how little they all know him.
i hate the useless hype that this race has received.. as it was nothing of sort of spectacular as ppl tend to make out of it. It was just an average race, nothing more, nothing less, nothing exciting.
@@eugenuxBesides Zandvoort and Singapore what races had more? What is your gripe about the actual race, not the lead up, but what didn’t you like about the race?
Carlos' 10 place grid penalty I don't think has gotten enough attention. Matt, you were saying you don't know how Charles didn't win. That's because the FIA removed his backup due to their own mistake
Just get lucky with the SC while driving a hell of Rocketship to be honest... And sometimes he can't even handle the Rocketship, like Singapore this season 😂
Wait Brits making a problem when Max takes advantage of a 5 sec penalty illigal overtake, but not a word was spoken by them when Brittish Russel did that exact same thing in Monza. Shocking!!!
I mean, didn't Hamilton absolutely ruin Piastri's race (DNF) a few races ago and got away with a 5 second penalty as well? It's shocking to see people lose their sh*t NOW when there wasn't even contact, and when the 5 second penalty was worse than just giving the position back.
5 second penalty is worse than 1 place drop only in certain condition. Australia : Sainz 5 second penalty is worse than 1 place drop. Monza : Russel 5 second penalty is not worse than 1 place drop.
@@swordsman1137 RedBull wasn't faster than Ferrari the same way Mercedes was faster than Alpine (I believe it was an Alpine) so it's an unreasonable comparison. Verstappen wasn't 5 seconds ahead of Leclerc not even once.
Problem is that giving back the position is only a realistic penalty when it is decided immediately. If the Stewards need 3 laps to review, then it is very likely that it is not an realistic option because the situation has evolved.
@@pascalnieuwland Indeed, Giving the place back is a terrible penalty. What if sainz was 3rd and Leclerc lets him by. Does max have to drop to 3rd? Penalties that involve another car can never be consistent.
I just finished watching the race, it was amazing! I's so bummed that Norris crashed especially as I JUST bought a new McLaren hoodie! Still, this was a great race to watch
Penalties have changed a lot over the years. In 2008 Lewis outbraked Kimi but then ran wide, so he gave back the place but still had enough pace to outbrake him again into the next corner. The stewards gave him a 25 second penalty for not giving back the place for long enough. Now you only get 5s, or nothing, even for crashing into people or pushing them off track.
The time penalties were reconsidered in the years after 2008 mainly because the complete outrage which flooded the F1 community after Spa '08. Thank god there was no social media at the time.
What you describe is fucking different in the first place, and that's why Verstappen and RBR doesn't want to give it back, and just wait for the penalty.
Over-dramatising the first corner. Hamilton yeeted Verstappen off the road and got a 5-second penalty. Hamilton punted Piastri off the track in Monza. 5 second penalty. Russell went round someone off the track in the other US GP and also straight-lined a corner, gaining several places. Guess what. 5-second penalty. Don't get all excited about Max doing it now.
@@Panfilo2 I was more thinking along the lines of short memories but sure... And yes, the 5 second penalty has been somewhat ridiculous in many cases. But as so many times stated by race directors and stewards... it is the offence that is looked at, not the imlpicationns/results of said offence.
Hard disagree actually. The post-processing of their voices is way too heavy. The noise-removal algorithm dramatically reduces the fidelity and occasionally breaks down completely, making everything a robotic-sounding mess. Good content otherwise from Matt and Tommy, as always.
This weekend was identical to the NASCAR weekend in Chicago. So many inside and out of the industry wanted to see it fail. Beginning of the weekend was handled terribly and tons of fans were sent home. Track layout was criticized, everyone said it was only there for entertainment and spectacle. Race ended up being the best of the year.
@@Thund3rstormno! And I honestly only found that out this year myself haha😂 They race on all types of tracks actually, the only reason it feels like all of them are ovals is bc those are the only massively marketed races
I think the biggest factor that made the race so good was the 5 sec penalty for Verstappen. If he never got that penalty, he would be dominating the would race.
It's astounding how people forget to take mitigating circumstances into account. If they pull this race back to the middle of the calendar or even alter the time at which the race is held they won't have these cold temps to make the race interesting.
@@d.katzroy3313: I agree, there is an argument in there to race on ice between concrete wall. That will also give a lot of spectacle. Add in the shows, and you really have the F1 hunger games. And, what has that to do with F1 racing? Just because it is done with F1 cars and F1 drivers? Also, agreed that when they would have had the race at higher temperatures, most people would have called it boring.
He got overtaken before he got the Penalty so no 😂😂. He only won because he got to change tyres under SC and saved time so he had fresher tyres to push at the end. How the hell did Perez not win while doing the same and after pitting he was second is beyond me. He is washed up probaply Ricciardo is coming boys.
@@mexicanopdb It's pretty naive to think a Driver like Leclerc wouldn't be looking for an opportunity, he has his fair share of mistakes but he's still a quick driver with good racecraft.
@@davidaugustofc2574 "last I heard he was 0.7 seconds behind", perez did not expect a dive from 7 tenths away, but leclerc sure as hell did it so props to him
It could’ve gone either way, let’s not forget Leclerc had just gone off so Checo didn’t expect him to risk it for both of them. It could’ve gone so wrong but it didn’t. Good job to both. Checo also came from last and had really good pace. He was also carrying a different rear wing.
I might be one of the crazy ones, but the section which includes 14,15,16 down to turn one looked super quick on TV. Not sure of it was just the angle or not, but either way it was awesome. Really loved seeing the cars fly through
Not just Max. Russell purposefully and admittedly weighs the 5 sec pen and has stated he’ll keep doing it until the FIA do something about it. All the drivers are cognizant of it.
Surprising that Max got penalized for a turn one incident when others have been abusing the leniency given so far. I'm sure he didn't try too hard to turn in more, but it was the coldest start of the year
lets not pretend he didn't do this purposefully, Max is literally know for this kind of behavior... he does it all the fucking time. "You back out or I crash us both out" is literally is tagline
I think the 5 sec pen was more severe than giving up the position to Leclerc. He would have passed him within 2 laps of getting DRS as Leclerc had no one giving him DRS. Being stuck in a DRS train is hard there but being the front of that train with a slightly faster car behind you you're a sitting duck.
The track is not a problem. The problem is Las Vegas in general. As someone who lives in America, I was embarrassed about how everyone was treated including the drivers, the fans, the spectators, the workers, etc....I cannot afford to go to Las Vegas GP but if I could I would choose Austin every time.
Let's Not get carried away. I personally think Dutch grand prix was the best race so far Singapore 2nd Las Vegas 3rd at best (same category as of Brazil Monza Silverstone Bahrain)
I think if the weather was different, there's a likelihood we could've seen a normal race where RB would've had a better advantage. No guarantees Vegas will be a good race every year. Even if they swapped the positions, like we've seen quite often the teams & drivers do it so strategically they often retake the positions.
Could have the Baku effect yet We all thought Baku was the greatest race of all time, but it was just circumstance that made it good, and the most recent races have been poor But you still have to take in mind that most track are like this, with some exceptions
17:01 I think Charles was slower at the beginning of both of his stints because he was trying to protect the tires from overheating the surface that would've caused graining. Max had graining on the mediums, Alex had graining on the hards, etc.
I though Vegas was crazy exciting. Pit strategy was huge and who knew Hards would be as decent as they actually were. What a mix of how it unfolded, it wasn't like any other gp.
I had pretty high doubts at the beginning of the weekend leading up to the race. From FP1 only lasting 9 minutes, I was worried about how the track would perform, considering the track wasn’t 100% ready. Then when the race started and all the chaos ensued, I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. From the constant battles to the somewhat strategy calls, I’d give it a 8/10. Can’t wait for next year.
I am surprised that everybody is talking about the turn 1 incident between Max and Charles, but Alonso, Sainz and Lewis did exactly the same and no penalties were given, nor is there any anoyment form the viewers, are we biased?
The guy shouting at him was the UFC's fight announcer Bruce buffer, and had checo been a fight fan and new what was about to happen we could've had a great moment 😁
On the Verstappen/Leclerc thing it is simple. 1 Give the position back (But this must be communicated within 2 laps fulfilled no later than 1 lap after that). 2 If the team does not the sanction is drive through. They will always comply with point 1.
Las Vegas became the F1 equivalent of a NASCAR Super Speedway race, or Indianapolis oval. The slip stream was paramount to overtake, much like a NASCAR race at Talladega or Daytona. I know you guys are F1 guys, but I’d love to see you both experience the Daytona 500 or the Indianapolis 500. I think American fans enjoyed this race because we are familiar with “drafting” as we call it.
It was easy to get swept up in the drama and i do think there is room to criticize "the show", but after watching qualifying and the race there is no question that Las Vegas delivered. Granted, there are fans in attendance that got the shaft and they need to be made whole, but this was really fun to watch, lots of action.
Great to see Lance Stroll take P5 in the last two races, ahead of both Mercedes drivers, in both races. Thats:- *LANCE STROLL...P5....AHEAD OF BOTH MERCEDES DRIVERS, FOR THE LAST 2 RACES* ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️
Man I was so sad I missed the meet and greet. I watched the pre race show at like 3pm and saw y'all were doing it at 1 😭 Thank you both for being the best F1 RU-vid channel with no clickbait!!!
C'mon now, don't be so hard on Max. He was forced down to a shallow angle on the first corner by Charles. He just had no grip to make the turn. If you look closely, Fernando tries the exact same line a few cars behind Max and spins. Go back and watch for yourself. I'm not saying Max is an angel, but I think this time it really was just trying to keep from sliding off the track.
Yea they were on cold tires on a cold track, they were running a heavy fuel load, and the inside lane of the grid was incredibly dirty. He just lost traction. It wasn't intentional.
Lewis has driven people off the road first lap a few times this year and not even copped a penalty, it's been blown off as first lap incident. That said verstappens was pretty bloody blatant!
@@d.katzroy3313 yeah exactly and why do you think he had no grip? Possibly went in to the corner quicker than he should have you think and forced charles wide? That's called a mistake for which you cop a penalty
What a lot of people arent realizing is that the cold air had A LOT to do with the tow and DRS effectiveness. If they move the race time up next year so its warmer, it wont be the same race. Cold air is significantly more dense than warm air. The dense cold air is slowing the car in front and providing a bigger hole for the car behind.
Look, the turn 1 incident between Verstappen and LeClerc was unavoidable. Upon closer look you can see Verstappen’s rear get slightly loose going into the turn due to being on the dirty and slick side of the track. Plus he was taking that turn much tighter than LeClerc who closed in on him into the turn. View the replay frame by frame and it’s obvious.
It WAS avoidable. Max opted to not take the conditions into account. He's a brilliant driver and knew the car would be unsettled going into the braking zone. He decided to go for it anyway. You want to avoid an incident like that? You are more careful on the brakes and settle for being in second after the first corner. Given the car advantage RB has, that would have been a better option.
16:48 Charles said in the post race interview, that he had trouble switching on the hards. Additionally the safety car came out where his tires went cold again, and to get them warm again was the most troublesome
People flip flop about whether a 5 second penalty is too harsh or not is hilarious, when in fact it's the lowest kind of penalty given. Maybe the FIA should really start giving 1-4s penalties? lmao
Matt in Red Bull hospitality cheering for LeClerc, Shaq down on the grid taking pictures with Horner and Red Bull, shouting Lewis Hamilton at Brundle, fantastic stuff....
It was an excellent race, ppl are still trying to hate on it because of all the crap surrounding it. But it had a ton of overtaking, lead changes and a lot of strategy! Plus there were a lot of other teams in the points! Maybe next year it can come earlier in the calendar (after Austin/Mexico), they needed extra time to finish construction.
I very much dislike the grandstanding of Vegas, I think it could do with a massive tone down But I'm glad the racing was actually good, at least it was worth something. Hopefully it delivers every year
Nice recovery from the ground effects ripping that water valve cover housing out of the street (they still need to address that Sainz penalty crap. Definitely requires some kind of rule amendment going forward).
Maybe I was just too sleepy during the race, but it never felt like it was as great a race as everyone keeps saying. I'll need to go rewatch it I guess!
terrible practice and criticisms from Max over the ‘circus’ - we all expect a terrible race. Actual race is ok, so the gap between expectation and reality makes people think it was great. It’ll calm down with time I think
The problem with a "give the position back" penalty for illegal overtakes would be that in F1 the stewards act much too slow for that. The penalty should be handed out at most a lap after the incident, and now it often takes much longer. By then, other passes may have been made.
Sorry Matt and Tommy, I disagree with entire race weekend, I bought a package for my husband and after 9 minutes being kicked out before FP2 and not being comensated for it was disgusting. Everyone was kicked out because security didn't want to work overtime. Not to mention Formula 1 was only offering 1 day ticket holders a whopping $200 merch certificate and nothing for multi day ticket holders. Formula 1 has more than enough money to pay for real security. I have already secured legal representation and am going after Formula 1. The t.v. presentation was just as bad for this race as it has been all season. I am over Formula 1 even though my favorite driver came back mid-season. As much as I love Danny Ric I can't stand the lack of t.v. coverage of other drivers. This is the last season I will ever watch of Formula 1 racing. Formula is all about how much money they can back and doesn't really care about the fans that have been fans for many, many years. Disapointing weekend all around. I also am not impressed with "night" racing. Flood lights make it look like it's day time racing so Vegas and Singapore are a waste of time for "night" racing. I could go on and on about all my complaints of Vegas & F1 in general but I think I have made my point.
While I don't agree with most of your criticisms, I very much hope you win the class action lawsuit. An organization with any conscience or care about their image whatsoever would have given one-day ticket holders a full refund or at least a ticket for next year.
While I agree with most of your statement, the part about night racing is hilarious. You know that f1 cars don't have lights on them right? Also you expect them to race in pitch black going 340+ km/h while trying to pass others.
The 5sec penalty for Max is the same thing Russell has been doing occasionally all year with slower cars that he cannot pass. He illegally passes them gets 5 seconds but he can then easily gap the slower car by 5 sec bc in the curves he is much faster but lacks straight-line speed.
I think if there were no sc we would have had perez attempting a 49 lap stint on those hards, there was very little tire deg this race, he was keeping pace with leclerc when he got into p2, would he have made it? idk, but I would have loved to see him try
I think a major teason this felt like a really good race was because most of us had close to zero expectations for it. If there where the same expectations for this as there has been for every other race this season, it'd probably feel more average. Best race of the season is still Zandvoort for me
I get what you said about max overtake situation - however I wonder if you are missing part of the equation altogether. The stewards probably asked the team to give the position back or get a 5 second penalty, as that is the rule, but they wanted the penalty of course.
It gives me great visceral pleasure to see all the people who were praying for it to be bad be proven wrong. That was an amazing race vegas, good stuff 👍
I'm probably on my own when I say I wasn't excited about the race at all despite all the action, most likely because of the track. It felt like it was just drag racing and had more to do with DRS and slipstream than putting in crazy laps due to breaking, racing lines, corners, sectors etc... I prefer the more technical aspect and the hunt due to skillset and putting in great laps that leads to getting within DRS not just benefitting from slip stream and DRS even from way back because the straights are so long. I guess having one track like this isn't so bad though.
It's a three year deal with a 7 year option. It's not 10 years. And yes, I don't understand why some have had negative attitudes, especially @maxverstappen. Don't people realise that it costs enormous money to pay for each car with the 1000's of team employees ++++. I'm glad there is an entertainment event that can reach a larger global audience. I'm hoping it will mean more tech and more amazing capabilities.
The spectacle pulls in people who never took it seriously and there will still be people who don't, but SOME people show up who DO begin to take it seriously because they're exposed to it. The serious fanbase grows with greater exposure. That's a good thing overall. And there will also be casual fans who are happy to spend money and shout for the coolest looking car and so what. That's still engagement and it helps finance the sport and it's all good. Some people getting drunk in no way stops you and I from enjoying the more technical details. So yeah... It's all fine and the prices will come down and we'll have a bigger fan base and this is all good stuff.
He actually announced this sale in April, 99% of people just don't pay attention. This was announced months ago. Lawrence still owns plenty of Aston Martin and the F1 team, and isn't selling the team. He's just cashing in on the huge boost the value has had lately.
The race was great, I have to admit that. My problem with this event (as well as those sandbox races in Qatar for instance) is that they are just for the money and average fans can hardly afford to go there. And beside that, they very easily get a 10 year deal like Vegas before we even had a single race there, whereas the organizers of some of the classic tracks (like Spa) kinda get tortured by F1. They tell them to invest massively and then only give them like 1 or 2 year contracts and constantly threaten them in public that they might disappear. It's like one of those parents who favors 1 child over another so obviously that it's cringe worthy and automatically makes you dislike the favored child and feel for the unliked one. I think that money above anything/golddigger vibe from FOM (and Domenicali) is rubbing many fans the wrong way more than anything and contributes to wanting to see those events fail where it's just the rich and wannabe-famous rubbing elbows and clambering over each other to get seen. I know I am one of those older fans (been following since '84) that is gatekeeping and I have to resist that urge sometimes. But we also have to accept that not every fan (or driver) is a fan of that ever more ridiculous circus show around the races.
