venkyhere wrote: ↑06 Dec 2025, 07:20
Chuckjr wrote: ↑06 Dec 2025, 03:25
There's no doubt Macca have all it takes to reach the podium with Lando. Their S3 is insane. But everyone remember, this race is more pressure than any driver can feel ever in his entire career, and it is even greater if you have not won the title. It never gets bigger than this, and it is one race only.
Max is walking in cool, calm, collected. Been here. Done this. I genuinely feel he is completely calm and feels little pressure. Whereas, Lando has EVERYTHING on his shoulders. The weight of Macca and its glorious history is pushing in on him full send...and he has never won a title. There is ZERO DOUBT no matter what he renders on camera, he is quivering and shaking like a madmad inside (because he genuinely cares and wants it so bad), and that often and likely leads to mistakes. Lando, imo, is not a shark. He is not a killer with a killer instinct ready to kill if need be to win, and shark mentality wins titles. It's all still to play. Nothing is done yet.
No doubt he is nervous, but that's expected for any driver's first WDC. Even if he makes a mistake (missees the start, goes wide in some corner, outbrakes and flatspots his tyre etc) - it's the ideal track with wide runoffs, it's the ideal car with so much performance margin over others - finishing P3 will be a cakewalk for the McL39.
The one and only issue/risk for him is crashing with another car (whomsoever's mistake it is).
And a DNF. I wonder whether we will see some drivetrain/ice related reliability issues. Mostly the engine suppliers have it under control, but still it is the last race with quite some mileage done.
