There is no point in coming up with "what if"s and "what might have been"s.
If that's the case, it's also applicable to Mclaren.
For instance, we all clearly know Mclaren started the season with a car that was as fast as RP if not faster. RP got considerably faster only after both the teams started to bring their respective big upgrades. While RP will have the same car in 2021 and their upgrades could go as planned mostly, Mclaren had to revise their upgrade path vastly keeping 2021 in mind, where unlike every other team, they will have a different car. So, you can argue that Mclaren would have maintained the momentum if the original upgrade path could be followed. On the other hand, you can also say Perez's victory was fluke and Stroll's podium at Monza was luck (as they got a free tyre change during the red flag). You can also count the points Sainz lost in the pits a few times. It's all blind guess.
Call it luck or the opponents' bad luck or factors beyond anyone's control, the fact is McLaren won that place, and it's finished. Any argument that comes with guesswork is futile. Besides, even if RP had finished ahead of McLaren, there is no point in celebrating plagiarism.
diffuser wrote: ↑04 Jan 2021, 03:27
diffuser wrote: ↑03 Jan 2021, 18:26
adrianjordan wrote: ↑03 Jan 2021, 13:04
I have seen some YouTubers commenting that McLaren only got third because RP were docked those 15 points. I think that may be what they're responding to.
The "only" part isn't true, but the rest is. They still had the faster car and didn't execute. I mean you can add a bunch of excuses like both their drivers got covid or the Merc PU failed them. At the end of the day the "team" didn't execute. They didn't deliver to the abilities of the car. It had well over 15 more points than McLaren in her. McLaren did.
Their drivers missed 3 races cause of covid. That really means 5 races cause the races they came back, they were both very weak.
So, I think they could have overcome the descrepency just not all three(penality and missed races).