“Lando’s season has been a failure. It’s mean to say that, but it’s significantly meaner to refuse to hold him to an actual standard because you think he’s not actually good enough to be held to one.”
I wrote this after the Vegas Grand Prix, as part of a riff about the fact that Lando Norris has been coddled by much of the commentariat and by much of his fanbase. If he is the driver that people claim he is, he must be held to a standard – and if he’s not being held to that standard, it’s obvious that nobody actually rates him.
Coming into Bahrain, Lando’s been fine – he won from pole in Australia, he came second in China, second in Japan – but it was only fine. The problem for him was that it wasn’t well enough, losing points to Oscar in the China sprint and only leading the championship because of Oscar’s mistake in Australia in the wet. The thing is, this weekend has validated every concern that those Lando doubters have ever had.
6th in Quali and 3rd in the race in Bahrain is plainly unacceptable in a McLaren that pulled a significant gap on the pack in Oscar’s hands. Lando’s final lap was a disaster (as was his Sprint Quali lap in China), and after a blitzing start he couldn’t ever get George in the first stint, which ended up screwing him. Had he gotten George, he’d have been able to go longer, build a gap, take his penalty easier, and be better than 4th when the safety car came out. But after a great start (likely unaided by being out of position), Lando messed around for laps, and cost himself points.
His inability to get Charles for so many laps when he was on a softer compound against a dogshit hard was completely horrifying. Lando getting caught by Lewis, passing off the track, and then having to give the place back is just unacceptable. It’s just not good enough, especially when George couldn’t even get Oscar with softs, to get gotten by a Ferrari on hards.
It’s pretty clear to me at this point Lando’s the underdog in the Championship – Oscar is just driving better so far this year, and Lando’s 4 years of experience advantage should be worth something. It’s not. Lando’s the one making the rookie mistakes. Lando’s the one screwing up wheel to wheel constantly. Lando’s the one who is just slower.
And it’s time the kid gloves come off.
..
Not that we needed more proof of it, but George Russell is a fucking star. Mercedes’ now (and allegedly future) Prince put in a star performance this weekend, with a front row performance on the road in qualifying, jumping Charles at the start, and holding off Lando in the fastest car for lap after lap twice. Now, the answer is that holding Lando behind you isn’t as impressive as Charles or Lewis or Max in the same caliber of car, but George did very well.
He is often the least talked about elite driver, mostly because he’s been in mediocre or bad machinery his whole life. When the Merc is quick, he’s pretty much guaranteed for results, even in 2023 when the luck was against him for a while. With the return of dirty air as a main problem, it wouldn’t shock me if George wins a few more races than expected if he can keep putting in elite qualifying performances. The defence he showed at the end of that race on old, worn out softs was a masterclass, and he might have a few chances to do that.
..
Ferrari are still fucking bad, driven by two elite drivers. Dog bites man.
They got screwed by the timing of the safety car, because a medium-medium-soft strategy was probably pretty close to optimal. But they’re still too slow.
..
Red Bull are the fascinating ones in all of this, because it’s clear that they’re not very fast but it’s also clear they’ve got no idea how to maximize their package on a week to week basis. One of the reasons the Red Bull got slower last year was Adrien Newey not being on the pit wall, and not being to help with set up and identifying solutions. It’s clear that the Red Bull crew are not fully understanding this car and why they’re seeing what they’re seeing – I don’t think Max or anyone would claim that they knew why he was fast in Japan or slow now. And that’s decidedly not great!
It’s similar to where Mercedes have been in the ground effect era, which is not great. Max getting the win at Suzuka is to his credit, but the return of dirty air is something the 2022 Mercedes never had in its favour (plus, let’s be real, even as much as I like Piastri, Charles and Max were less likely to bottle pole than the McLaren boys). Will Max win some races? I’m sure, he’s too talented and he’ll get pole at some hard to overtake tracks. But it’s going to be very hard to see him being consistent week in and week out with a car as unstable and with as small an optimal window as this Red Bull.
Best Of The Rest
Ollie Bearman is a star. A bad qualifying didn’t stop him from being a star on Sunday, ending up in the points. It’s a great drive from him and from Ocon, and it’s a reminder of how much talent is on the grid that even good drivers – hell, even great ones, sometimes – will get knocked out in Q1 this year.
If the FIA fail to delete a lap time in time for Q2 and then they do, they should let the car that gets fucked set a lap in the gap between Q2 and Q3 and see if they would have been fast enough to make Q3. Nothing is happening in that time, let’s spice it up.
Carlos Sainz fraud watch is officially on after he completely forgot how to race. Great qualifying, but man he needs to be better than that.
Leave a Reply