I hope you’re right, but I suspect Max had more to spare today, just managing tires from the very beginning, speeding up a bit when he realized Lando got close to overtaking.
How often have we seen Max yield a potential fastest lap when he has the car/tires for it? I’d like to think Lando taking the fastest lap was a sign they had more left in the tires, admittedly with more management, than the lead Red Bull.
Max even mentioned in the post race interview that it was really the middle stint that gave him the gap. After that the pace was similar, so I think if McLaren can get their high fuel running deg under control they’ll be competitive.
I think Lando taking the fastest lap was just McLaren acknowledging they can’t keep up with the RB and focusing on getting as many points as possible. I doubt they’re even close to competing with RB as I doubt Max was driving at 100%. Max was putting in the minimal effort necessary to win. When it came close to Lando overtaking Max he just pushed the car and created a more than a second cap in less than a lap and quickly pushed it outside the 2 second split. There’s so much more Max could push out of the RB, he simply doesn’t because he doesn’t need to.
I would love someone giving Max competition but I doubt anyone will for the rest of the season. Maybe next year.
If it’s low deg, Piastri can go toe to toe with Norris. It’s tire management where Norris makes the difference compared to his teammate. Not sure if that would be a positive or negative for McLaren when fighting for a win…
If the goal was to create good racing they probably wouldn’t have picked the streets of Vegas, and with ticket and accommodation prices through the roof it’s not very accessible for most fans, either.
I still see it more as a marketing gig for F1 rather than a race and it certainly looks like it has all the makings of a dud, but I’ll try to withhold my judgment till we’ve had a race there.
It seemed that merc ran the car a little higher to avoid plank wear. That would explain why they struggled even though they bolted a high downforce setup. Anyway it puts to rest the theory that they did not gain anything from running a illegally low setup in Austin.
Not really sure about that. Merc has been really inconsistent in performance, especially on sprint weekend… But this was definitely an abysmal weekend… We shall see how they perform next to confirm if low ride height did aid them…but would not be surprised…if that’s the case as well…
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