2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix - Las Vegas Strip, Nov 21 - 23

[bananapeel23]

some top speeds from the race:

alb 369 kmh -> highest since 2016
pia 367 kmh
sai 366 kmh
per 366 kmh
tsu 365 kmh
alo 365 kmh
ham 364 kmh
col 363 kmh

I wonder how fast the Ferraris could've gone with a monster tow. Leclerc was as fast as Hamilton was down the straight with only a slipstream, while Hamilton had DRS.

Sainz had a pretty big slipstream when he came out in traffic after first stop.

If that's true I have to wonder how insanely fast the Williams was down the straight. Leclerc was doing something like 343 kph without DRS when Hamilton was behind him during the 2nd stint. Hamilton had a 2 kph speed advantage with DRS or something stupid. It almost looked like Monza 2019.

Sainz apparently had even straightline speed due to his fresh engine.

[dialtone]

Simply conclusion Max is world champion while not having the fastest car, he deserved he grabbed it and he is king. Sorry Brits and those idiots from SkyF1, luckily for you Max will retire in a few year so he won't challenging the Schumi record.

Last comment from me.

He won and deserved.

He had the fastest car by a mile for 1/3rd of season which is a lot more than the other brands had. The need to portray Max as winning despite driving a bicycle is baffling.

[bananapeel23]

Simply conclusion Max is world champion while not having the fastest car, he deserved he grabbed it and he is king. Sorry Brits and those idiots from SkyF1, luckily for you Max will retire in a few year so he won't challenging the Schumi record.

Last comment from me.

He won and deserved.

He had the fastest car by a mile for 1/3rd of season which is a lot more than the other brands had. The need to portray Max as winning despite driving a bicycle is baffling.

True.

He was in the drivers seat the entire season due to the gap that he built in the first 6 races, but let's not forget he kept the gap more or less stable while the car was usually only the 3rd best from about the mid-season onwards, and on average only the 2nd fastest after Miami until Silverstone or so.

He wasn't driving a tractor or anything liek some would have you believe, but he really did get everything and then some out of the car. Even the dirty tricks he pulled and got punished for ended up being worth it every time. Despite how well he performed, I still think this title mostly comes down to Lando (and to a lesser extent the McLaren pit wall) failing to capitalize on the chances they were given. I fully believe Verstappen when he says he would've won the title sooner in the McLaren.

Leclerc, Hamilton or maybe even Alonso in that car would have made Verstappen's title bid a whole lot more difficult than it ended up being. I think Leclerc narrowly takes the title in the McLaren 80% of the time, while Hamilton and Alonso are a 50/50 where they either utterly dominate or lose by 30+ points, depending on their consistency in qualifying.

[organic]

Simply conclusion Max is world champion while not having the fastest car, he deserved he grabbed it and he is king. Sorry Brits and those idiots from SkyF1, luckily for you Max will retire in a few year so he won't challenging the Schumi record.

Last comment from me.

He won and deserved.

He had the fastest car by a mile for 1/3rd of season which is a lot more than the other brands had. The need to portray Max as winning despite driving a bicycle is baffling.

He had the fastest car "by a mile" for 4 races at the beginning of the season, which is a far cry from 1/3rd of a 24 race calendar

Besides, McLaren were just as dominant at Hungary, Singapore and Zandvoort as red bull were in the first few races so it evened out.

[chrisc90]

Simply conclusion Max is world champion while not having the fastest car, he deserved he grabbed it and he is king. Sorry Brits and those idiots from SkyF1, luckily for you Max will retire in a few year so he won't challenging the Schumi record.

Last comment from me.

He won and deserved.

He had the fastest car by a mile for 1/3rd of season which is a lot more than the other brands had. The need to portray Max as winning despite driving a bicycle is baffling.

22 rounds in and I think we all agree that the RBR was the quickest car until Mclaren brought their Miami upgrade. Miami was round 6 of the current season and we cant forget that Max has a DNF at Australia so was effectively 5 rounds before the RBR become less competitive. After that it was all about maximising the points and the race. I would say that Max had 20-30% 'head-start' over Lando for the season ("fastest car" before the others seriously caught up/or RBR had a nerf).

I would say that the car wasn't the quickest from Miami onwards. It wasn't the 3rd or 4th fastest either, it was there.....competitive. Max being Max, maximised the results and points scoring - which has ultimately won the WDC for him.

IMHO, that is what is setting Max a step/notch above everyone else at the moment. Max is able to get the best result possible out of the current situation/car and score the most points. Others fail and they don't maximise their scoring potential on a Sunday. That's the difference between a successful WDC fight and just being there showing willing.

As Banana said above - Max would have had the WDC fight sealed a LOT sooner if he was driving the McLaren. Its harsh to say it, but its true in every way. (even Max said it.)

Lando has a LOT to learn. He's had his taste of the first WDC battle with Max this season. To go on and win it, he needs that hunger and desire to produce the results he needs (like Max has). (either that or a car that's 0.5-1second faster than the others and just walk your way to a title). Going slightly Off-topic, but could we imagine Lando swapping positions with Max in 2021. The year that Max had his first real shot at a title challenge. How successful would Lando have been if they were in each others shoes.

I would probably even put Max ahead of Lewis. Without discrediting Lewis, a lot of his WDC's were down to a massively quicker car, being able to walk the field to the tune of a second a lap in the hybrid era. I think if you had a field that was like 2020/2021, then it would have been a lot different over the turbo/hybrid era in terms of WDCs.


IF 2025 ties out lie the end of 2024, then we, as fans, are in for a spectacle (providing Mclaren dont have their advantage still).

[Seanspeed]

Simply conclusion Max is world champion while not having the fastest car, he deserved he grabbed it and he is king. Sorry Brits and those idiots from SkyF1, luckily for you Max will retire in a few year so he won't challenging the Schumi record.

Last comment from me.

He won and deserved.

He had the fastest car by a mile for 1/3rd of season which is a lot more than the other brands had. The need to portray Max as winning despite driving a bicycle is baffling.

Saying he had the fastest car for 1/3rd of the season is a super roundabout way of saying somebody else had a faster car for the larger majority of the season.

It's honestly sad how many people simply cant understand how amazing Max drove this season to maximize his results even when things clearly were against him. You say he deserved it, cool, but you're still trying to downplay what a huge accomplishment it really was. The consistent excellence, all while his teammate, who is not some worthless pay driver, was barely even making it into the top 10 on so many weekends, really shows how much he's just above and beyond.

[ispano6]

Max showed his class in Brazil, he shut everyone up and made Vegas a formality.

Simply lovely.

[TeamKoolGreen]

Leclerc probably left his radio on , on purpose so everyone could hear that. He is pissed

F1 is sure reactionary these days. Tsunoda beats Lawson once and suddenly its Tsunoda to Red Bull again and curtains for Lawson

[GrizzleBoy]

Simply conclusion Max is world champion while not having the fastest car, he deserved he grabbed it and he is king. Sorry Brits and those idiots from SkyF1, luckily for you Max will retire in a few year so he won't challenging the Schumi record.

Last comment from me.

He won and deserved.

He had the fastest car by a mile for 1/3rd of season which is a lot more than the other brands had. The need to portray Max as winning despite driving a bicycle is baffling.

Saying he had the fastest car for 1/3rd of the season is a super roundabout way of saying somebody else had a faster car for the larger majority of the season.

It literally isn't a way of saying that.

Unless you're trying to say that this other person's period of domination for the "larger majority of the season" can include five Ferrari wins, four Mercedes wins

Trying to insinuate that Lando had fastest car for longer in a season with 24 races where (rough numbers) 8 were won by red bull, 5 were won by Ferrari and 4 were won by Mercedes, that leaves how many races left to say McLaren were the fastest?

17 races out of 22 run so far were won by non McLaren cars.

Even if Macca win both the last two, it still doesn't actually mean they were more dominant for a meaningfully longer amount of time.

[Raleigh]

Simply conclusion Max is world champion while not having the fastest car, he deserved he grabbed it and he is king. Sorry Brits and those idiots from SkyF1, luckily for you Max will retire in a few year so he won't challenging the Schumi record.

Last comment from me.

He won and deserved.

He had the fastest car by a mile for 1/3rd of season which is a lot more than the other brands had. The need to portray Max as winning despite driving a bicycle is baffling.

Saying he had the fastest car for 1/3rd of the season is a super roundabout way of saying somebody else had a faster car for the larger majority of the season.

It's honestly sad how many people simply cant understand how amazing Max drove this season to maximize his results even when things clearly were against him. You say he deserved it, cool, but you're still trying to downplay what a huge accomplishment it really was. The consistent excellence, all while his teammate, who is not some worthless pay driver, was barely even making it into the top 10 on so many weekends, really shows how much he's just above and beyond.

Max had the fastest car until at least Canada (9), possibly Spain (10). Up until Austria no one could challenge him on race pace, even Lando in Miami had luck from a safety car or he would not have won.

Then from Austria (11) onwards we had rotating rounds where the fastest car changed almost every race between McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes with no single team managing to stay on top for more than 2 races.

10 races with the strongest car vs 12 races split between 3 teams and 6 drivers.

[Cassius]

Last comment from me.

He won and deserved.

He had the fastest car by a mile for 1/3rd of season which is a lot more than the other brands had. The need to portray Max as winning despite driving a bicycle is baffling.

Saying he had the fastest car for 1/3rd of the season is a super roundabout way of saying somebody else had a faster car for the larger majority of the season.

It's honestly sad how many people simply cant understand how amazing Max drove this season to maximize his results even when things clearly were against him. You say he deserved it, cool, but you're still trying to downplay what a huge accomplishment it really was. The consistent excellence, all while his teammate, who is not some worthless pay driver, was barely even making it into the top 10 on so many weekends, really shows how much he's just above and beyond.

Max had the fastest car until at least Canada (9), possibly Spain (10). Up until Austria no one could challenge him on race pace, even Lando in Miami had luck from a safety car or he would not have won.

Then from Austria (11) onwards we had rotating rounds where the fastest car changed almost every race between McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes with no single team managing to stay on top for more than 2 races.

10 races with the strongest car vs 12 races split between 3 teams and 6 drivers.

You forget Monaco where RB was slower than McL and Ferrari. In Imola, Barca, Canada RB was slower as well. Due to some luck (SC) and/or errors from Mclaren / Norris Max could still win. Austria in stint 2 and 3 Mclaren was faster. Norris could have won it, so RB was not faster on race pace.

Plus, a bit shortsighted to look at number of teams winning. Ferrari and Mercedes were able to win several races due to McLaren or Norris errors (think Baku, Monza, COTA, even Spa can be argued). Also it doesn't matter there were multiple teams winning, in all of these except Brazil and Las Vegas McLaren were faster than RB.

[SharkY]

Let's call it, like a prompt in the race: "the story so far".

[dren]

Damn, something happened to the car in Miami that Perez didn't like.

[Raleigh]

You forget Monaco where RB was slower than McL and Ferrari. In Imola, Barca, Canada RB was slower as well. Due to some luck (SC) and/or errors from Mclaren / Norris Max could still win. Austria in stint 2 and 3 Mclaren was faster. Norris could have won it, so RB was not faster on race pace.

Plus, a bit shortsighted to look at number of teams winning. Ferrari and Mercedes were able to win several races due to McLaren or Norris errors (think Baku, Monza, COTA, even Spa can be argued). Also it doesn't matter there were multiple teams winning, in all of these except Brazil and Las Vegas McLaren were faster than RB.

Monaco was a wash, Lando 4th and Max 6th. Both behind Ferrari.

Max had a 9 race run (10 minus Monaco) of significant race pace advantage over McLaren and won 7 out of 9 with no real competition from Ferrari or Mercedes. Then Lando had 11 races being faster than Max but only had the fastest overall car in maybe 6 races, spent the whole time fighting with both Ferrari, both Mercedes and even Piastri. Consistent wins with Lando 3rd/4th is worth a lot more than 1st-3rd with Max 2nd-4th.

I'm very glad Max had Brazil because otherwise we'd just be talking about how McLaren and Norris fell short. Winning a title based on massive early season advantage and then just grinding out 4th and 5th places would have been very anti-climatic.

[organic]

You forget Monaco where RB was slower than McL and Ferrari. In Imola, Barca, Canada RB was slower as well. Due to some luck (SC) and/or errors from Mclaren / Norris Max could still win. Austria in stint 2 and 3 Mclaren was faster. Norris could have won it, so RB was not faster on race pace.

Plus, a bit shortsighted to look at number of teams winning. Ferrari and Mercedes were able to win several races due to McLaren or Norris errors (think Baku, Monza, COTA, even Spa can be argued). Also it doesn't matter there were multiple teams winning, in all of these except Brazil and Las Vegas McLaren were faster than RB.

Monaco was a wash, Lando 4th and Max 6th. Both behind Ferrari.

Max had a 9 race run (10 minus Monaco) of significant race pace advantage over McLaren and won 7 out of 9 with no real competition from Ferrari or Mercedes.

There is genuinely no way you watched the early part of the season or remember it if you believe this

McLaren were every bit as fast as Ferrari at Monaco. Australia, imola, Canada, spain, Miami these can all be disputed as red bull having a

significant race pace advantage

lol. At Imola and Spain track position won the race for red bull (achieved by a tow in quali and Norris' bad start respectively) and McLaren had the fastest car at Miami - Norris was the fastest on track whenever he had clean air at Miami, setting fastest laps in traffic too. Australia red bull were not faster than Ferrari if we go by the race sims and Ferrari personnel believing they were the fastest, at best red bull were about equal fastest there. Canada things seemed equal between mercedes McLaren and red bull.