2025 Singapore Grand Prix - Marina Bay, Oct 3 - 5

[venkyhere]

Was travelling today and missed both FP3 and Q.
From the results, looks like Russel and Max were clearly ahead of the rest of the leading pack (NOR, PIA, ANT, Ferrari have been a non-factor all year long so in my books they are no longer part of the lead-pack) who all set very similar times and found their glass cieling around 1.29.5. Must have been a brushing the wall lap from Russel, he has the talent and the nothing-to-lose WDC position to be fearless. Quite the opposite for the McLarens - they cannot take the 'brush-the-wall' type attack role on their lap. As regards Max, I'm guessing he made some mistakes apart from some complaints about traffic. As I pointed out on thursday itself from Albert Fabrega pictures, Merc were running the lowest wing of all and that helped the dominance in straights, Let's wait and see how Russel's tyres hold up in the race tomorrow.

[Sieper]

The McLarens did brush the wall though.

[zibby43]

I gathered some data, and hopefully they are as accurate as possible


https://postimg.cc/kDL7xJGb

1. Both Ferrari drivers went for a lower DF setup for the race, or did they run their PU in lower modes until qualy
2. There was a debate about why the SF25 car didn't improve between Q2 and Q3, but it seems to be in line with the progress other teams are making
3. NOR said they struggle with the front tyre grip, and HAM was moaning about his slow lap due to improper timing out on the track and thus losing some 4-5 degrees at the rears, and couldn't bring them up to temperature through the entire lap, LEC saying he had no grip and a poor rear which didn't give him confidence to attack and so on ...
4. On Sky F1 Italy, they showed ANT`s front wing flexing way more than they think it`s allowed now after the Barcelona race, and concluding that the W16's good form and balance here in hot conditions could be due to this trick again ...

Sky F1 Italy is pure trash then. Not that we didn’t already know that.

[Seanspeed]

We have slept over the first third of the season, havent we?

Absolutely not. They were regularly not performing to the car's capabilities from quite early on. It's been a consistent thing most of the year. And last year....

This isn't what happens with 'generational talents'. Come on.

So, since we see Max can win now that means he simply wasnt performing at many races this year....by your logic

Noone denies that Max is practically the best on the grid. But to banter Mclaren drivers 24/7 is just plain stupid. Both of them are easily in top 5. Practically all of the drivers in the top teams are performing much or less equally. Max does stand out. There is no denying in that. On the other hand he is much more prone to throw everything away when things dont go his way. Lando and Oscar will deliver a mediocre result when car is not there, but Max will finish at the low end of points or out of top ten with 20sec penalty, or at the side of the track due to a collision.

No, that's not 'my logic' at all. What an incredibly weird claim to make. I honestly have no idea what even made you come up with such a comment. :/

The Mclaren has been absolutely dominant this year. What Max is doing this year is phenomenal considering.

Also, maybe you've lost context for the discussion, but my contention was with the claim that Norris and Piastri are 'generational talents'. They're simply not. Everybody knows it. Please stop wasting my time and everybody else's arguing it further.

[TimW]

I guess people have different definitions of what 'generational talent' means. Typically it is considered to be the standout talent from a generation. There might be two. But you don't have a generation with a full grid of generational talents.

So we are talking Senna, Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton, Verstappen. Even Vettel has a question mark with 4 titles and a Monza win in the rain for Torro Rosso, standout things that I don't recall from the drivers now being discussed. Maybe they will come.

[chrisc90]

The more I look at the max/nor thing the more it looks like Norris did it on purpose.
Norris engineer giving call-outs to Lando saying exactly where max is
When lando coming along straight after turn 14, he knew max had entered turn 14. Then proceeds to speed up half way along straight, make 16, then slow right down on 17 apex.


Why didn’t he just move over before turn 16 and let max past? Deliberately speeds up to make the final chicane.

[Juzh]

The more I look at the max/nor thing the more it looks like Norris did it on purpose.
Norris engineer giving call-outs to Lando saying exactly where max is
When lando coming along straight after turn 14, he knew max had entered turn 14. Then proceeds to speed up half way along straight, make 16, then slow right down on 17 apex.


Why didn’t he just move over before turn 16 and let max past? Deliberately speeds up to make the final chicane.

Of course he did it deliberately, I said it yesterday already.

[basti313]

I guess people have different definitions of what 'generational talent' means. Typically it is considered to be the standout talent from a generation. There might be two. But you don't have a generation with a full grid of generational talents.

So we are talking Senna, Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton, Verstappen. Even Vettel has a question mark with 4 titles and a Monza win in the rain for Torro Rosso, standout things that I don't recall from the drivers now being discussed. Maybe they will come.

Yep. I was not really sure, why Hamilton was not counted in the first place. And seeing how Ham now struggles, we have a bit of a different perspective on Vettel in my point of view, who dominated the exhaust blown diffusor aera.
And I think there is a clear difference to a Button or a Rosberg, those guys worked/lucked their way to a WDC, while others genuinely dominated at least one style of driving. So I do not get the fuss on the McLaren guys at the moment, but they have time and a new ruleset to come to prove their position in the list.

The Mclaren has been absolutely dominant this year. What Max is doing this year is phenomenal considering.

Dunno...I am struggling with Spain, Austria and Britain. Max would not have lost those points in 2021 or 2022. A Vettel or a Ham would similarly not have lost those points in 2013 or 2014.

Of course he did it deliberately, I said it yesterday already.

Whatever he did, Max thinks he did it deliberately. And this will swing back. Not good for his WDC chances.

[search]

looks pretty wet out there, but should probably dry out over the next 30 minutes. No more rain on the radar either

[PlatinumZealot]

Max Verstappen says the only thing RedBull did to the car to unlock it was have better setups....
So guys.... The Mclaren may not be as dominant over the RedBull as we think it is.. It's more a story of RedBull losing their way after the first quarter of the season...

[Matt2725]

Looks pretty dry already. Should be a dry race.

[renault rs26]

Black and orange flag for Magnussen.

[Sergej]

are McLaren really discussing about swapping cars ? pathetic

[Matt2725]

Piastri not covering himself in glory.

[Matt2725]

McLaren need to understand that trying to fake a pitstop every race, means it stops tricking people.