If Piastri feels that he was screwed a bit by a poor team decision, he can look over at Leclerc and know that it could have been worse.
Didn’t Piastri get medium-compound tires tyres after the rain, while Norris got softs? He can console himself that he got the better decision from the team on that call.
A tip of the cap to Haas and Hulkenberg for getting 6th place. Over the final stint, he was on soft tyres being pursued by Stroll (I think) on mediums, but like Hamilton he managed to preserve the tyre life and hold position. It wasn’t long ago that the Haas cars had terrible tyre wear and would lose positions at the end of races.
Do the last two tracks, Red Bull Ring and Silverstone, just suit the Haas cars, or have they found some improvement recently?
From the radio call, it sounds like McLaren gave Norris the choice of softs to go after Hamilton or mediums to try to hold off Verstappen. Because Norris definitely can manage soft tires as well as Hamilton while also making up several seconds. Add that to the choice to keep Piastri out for a lap when slicks were 15 seconds slower than intermediates, and someone needs fired. Both of their drivers got boneheaded strategy calls that cost them significant positions and points. Fix both of those and it’s probably McLaren P2/P4, if not P2/P3.
They could just get re-hired at Ferrari.
Both the decisions you described turned out to be wrong, but I can kinda see what they were thinking. Bringing both McLarens to change tyres at the same time is going to mean a slower stop for the second car. If anything goes wrong with the first stop (which does happen) it winds up affecting both the team’s cars. I was surprised that Norris made up almost the whole gap to Piastri in just the one lap. I’m sure the team was, too.
As for giving Norris the choice of soft or medium tyres, is that common? The driver seems like he has enough to deal with already, and a limited view of what’s happening with the other cars. I’d trust the strategist more to make that call than the driver. If Norris did make the call, I’m curious why he thought he could catch Hamilton (who was fatser in qualifying) on the same tyres. Would have been interesting to see soft, medium, and hard tyres on the first three cars battling to the finish.
I wonder if Hamilton is going to be able to remember Plan A, Plan B, … Plan X every race day.
Interesting race! Max proves himself to be a prick yet again. I’m not quite sure what to make of the McLaren kerfuffle. I would’ve been happy to see either of them win. And 200 podiums for ham!
Fucking ESPN cut off coverage just after the national anthem. Didn’t get to see if Piastri did a shoey like a proper Australian.
Yeah, Max was in full Dick Mode today.
My DVR somehow botched the live race. Watched the replay (Nicole Briscoe butts in for commercials) and then had a thunderstorm knock out the Dish before they got to the cool-down room.
Too much Shit-Show today, All Around. Sports, Politics, Gardening (damn birds destroyed my tomato plant!)
I haven’t had time to watch the post-race show to see if Zak Brown had anything to say but I imagine that what happened at McLaren is that they recognized that they botched the pitstops in Silverstone by not double stacking even though it would have been the optimal strategy. It seems like in response they had an agreement they they would maintain the order of the cars after the final pitstops in Hungary. It was a poorly thought-out plan and was even more poorly executed.
I like that Lando showed them the error of their ways before finally allowing Piastri to pass him and take the win. McLaren needs to hire someone who knows race strategy or this stuff will keep happening. At the minimum, have someone watch the broadcast and do what they’re saying to do.
As I’ve had a day or so to think about it, plus having watching a bit of the replay at the bar last night, Lando clearly had the pace. And they were allowed to race. So I think lando should’ve let Piastri by as soon as possible then rr-overtook him on track. Then there’d no hurt feelings, no ignoring team orders. Unless’un they bottled the pass and took each other out of course. Then it’s 105 for ham. Any of these results would’ve made me happy.
That’s a great idea. Too bad Lando didn’t think of it because he had plenty of time to execute it. It might not have worked in the end because it can be hard to overtake in Hungary, but it would have avoided the awkwardness while still making the point that the strategy was flawed.
A job at McLaren awaits!
He stated in the press conference that he thinks a shoey is more Ricciardo’s thing, and he probably won’t make a habit of it. That seems like it fits his demeanor - he definitely seems more chill, and honestly, he’s more mature than Norris already.
Norris needs to figure out his starts. He’s never started on pole and been in first place at the first turn. He was definitely still amped up after the race, snapping at a Hamilton compliment in the cooldown room. The McLaren strategy team - stolen from Ferrari - needs to figure their shit out. Coulthard’s commentary was brutal to listen to; it was obvious the entire situation brought up some really bad memories for him.
Verstappen is still Verstappen. Just a complete rage-drive from start to finish. I was glad to see his time-honored tradition of “let me pass or we both crash” fail so spectacularly.
I’m in! What’s my start date? I can be at the MTC in a week!
Looking forward to Spa. My favorite race. Hope it rains randomly. Usually does there, making for equal measures of Joy and Sorrow.
Should be fun if they all come to race.
Despite the rain, someone managed to get a fire going under Checo. Interesting qualifying. Fun to watch.
Scuttlebutt is that RB is running a high downforce config that helped them today and may not work as well tomorrow. We’ll see. I’m predicting a NOR VER HAM top 3.
Fan fucking tactic race! Nail biter to the end and no verstappen dickery! Well done Rus!
Now I’m sad for the summer break. 
Now there’s rumors that Russell’s car was underweight? Interesting…
It would have to be, after removing his massive balls from the car.
ETA: Just finished the race myself, haven’t watched anything post-race - but that was an absolutely incredible race, start to finish.
Did his balls grow three sizes this day?
Yes. Yes they did.