2024 Qatar Grand Prix - Lusail, Nov 29 - Dec 01

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Russell made a large mistake at T4, Verstappen got the final corner wrong. Take away both mistakes and they end up about equal

Federico Albano's telemetry

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GdqAa3-WkAA ... =4096x4096

There was no mistake from verstappen, this is just what the car can do. RB20 was crap in final corner in every lap this weekend and it didn't change in qualifying. If you look at Verstappen's best 3 laps you'll see his fastest T16 is on the pole lap:

https://i.imgur.com/5VM2tVj.png

Oh dear

[Wouter]

Verstappen will probably be starting p4 though thanks to the blocking? Or it was on the outlap so might go unpunished idk

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Just 2 cars in front of Russel on an outlap with the same speed. Then Russel came barging through full throttle…
…not smart to keep squealing. Stewards have an iron memory…

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I saw Garry Connely, Max his great "friend" is one of the stewards.

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Lewis' form regularly tanks when his motivation is low (eg after wrapping up titles). Considering he didn't even want to drive for Merc for the final 3 rounds I think it's highly likely that this is exaggerating Russell's good performance. Merc said they'd be quick here and they are.

"at this point I really don’t care"

[Hammerfist]

No way Ocon is 0.9 sec slower as Gasly. This stinks since a few race weekends.

This is what usually happens when one driver departs the team. They cut him off development and his performance suffers. See vettel in his last year at ferrari and Hamilton this year. Sainz seems to be the only one defying this norm.

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No way Ocon is 0.9 sec slower as Gasly. This stinks since a few race weekends.

This is what usually happens when one driver departs the team. They cut him off development and his performance suffers. See vettel in his last year at ferrari and Hamilton this year. Sainz seems to be the only one defying this norm.

Ferrari are in a tight WCC fight so they are incentivised to keep him performing well to the end

[purestpurist]

Does anyone know if it's leaning towards one stop or two? The track really comes alive when there's big tire deltas. Last year's sprint was one of the top three or four races last year.

[AR3-GP]

Watching the laps, there's not any mistake from Verstappen in final corner. Russell's error in T4 is fairly obvious from onboards though.

[AR3-GP]

Lewis' form regularly tanks when his motivation is low (eg after wrapping up titles). Considering he didn't even want to drive for Merc for the final 3 rounds I think it's highly likely that this is exaggerating Russell's good performance. Merc said they'd be quick here and they are.

"at this point I really don’t care"

I think it's worth taking these comments with a grain of salt.

It's been obvious for a while that Hamilton is a bit fatigued by being asked after every single session whether he still "has it" or not. I agree with the sentiment. The media need to come up with new material. I's getting boring asking him if he's slow every 24 hours. He just gives them unserious answers now.

[Farnborough]

No way Ocon is 0.9 sec slower as Gasly. This stinks since a few race weekends.

This is what usually happens when one driver departs the team. They cut him off development and his performance suffers. See vettel in his last year at ferrari and Hamilton this year. Sainz seems to be the only one defying this norm.

Ferrari are in a tight WCC fight so they are incentivised to keep him performing well to the end

What ? The driver that finished 2nd in Brazil. How dare the team do such a nasty thing

There's usually significant bonus for staff based on WCC final positioning, every incentive to get them as high as possible.

Oh, and somebody blew up Gasly's engine last race too

Good job there's always a conspiracy to keep us entertained.

[Vettel165]

Watching the laps, there's not any mistake from Verstappen in final corner. Russell's error in T4 is fairly obvious from onboards though.

Yes absolutely the lap was good. Max did its "max".

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Does anyone know if it's leaning towards one stop or two? The track really comes alive when there's big tire deltas. Last year's sprint was one of the top three or four races last year.

Leaning 1-stop I'd say

[bananapeel23]

Verstappen should drop like a rock. The rest should be extremely close.

If it's leaning 1-stop the undercut will be scary.

[Vanja #66]

Huge, huge step from Red Bull

[TFSA]

Verstappen will probably be starting p4 though thanks to the blocking? Or it was on the outlap so might go unpunished idk

Just 2 cars in front of Russel on an outlap with the same speed. Then Russel came barging through full throttle…
…not smart to keep squealing. Stewards have an iron memory…

Problem here is that Max isn't being investigated for impeding, but for driving unnecessarily slowly. If that hampered another driver at the same time, even if that driver wasn't on a hot lap, then.... Well only the gods will know what they will do.

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Russell starts from Pole - Verstappen got a 1 grid slot penalty somehow