Formula 1 2025

[The Bear]

2 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

But why would Oscar be put onto mediums if they were planning on going until the end? Landos engineer told him Oscar was going to the end within 1.5 laps of him pitting. So why have Mclaren taken such a pointless gamble? Either they decided to go to the end within 2 laps of pitting Oscar, or they planned it before hand and decided to gamble?

Oscar did a great job getting to the lead and potentially could be undone by being on the wrong tyre, unless Lando makes mistakes. 

Because Friday running showed that the Hards were much slower than the medium. That's why every other team went onto mediums as well. 

 

They essentially gambled with Lando, as there was no point sitting behind Oscar doing the exact same thing. 

Edited 27 July 2025 by The Bear

[cityfanlee23]

2 minutes ago, The Bear said:

Because Friday running showed that the Hards were much slower than the medium. That's why every other team went onto mediums as well. 

But are they 20s slower over 35 laps or whatever was left? So I wonder if Mclaren were planning on putting Lando onto mediums and Oscar onto hards originally? Sas pretty obvious they wouldn't be able to double stack the cars given the rolling start and slow conditions, must be frustrating for Oscar, once again he creates himself an advantage but then has a portion of that offset by strategy. 

 

Edited 27 July 2025 by cityfanlee23

[The Bear]

2 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

But are they 20s slower over 35 laps or whatever was left?

30 laps left when they changed tyres. Lando came out around 5s behind Oscar.

 

They had no idea basically. Limited Friday running in warm dry weather, compared to a much colder track temperature due to a wet race, meaning the tyre warm-up could be a real struggle. 

 

The hard could easily have been nowhere and he dropped back into Leclerc's clutches. They didn't want to just sit on 2nd place with no chance for the win. It was a risky strategy. 

[cityfanlee23]

Just now, The Bear said:

30 laps left when they changed tyres. Lando came out around 5s behind Oscar.

 

They had no idea basically. Limited Friday running in warm dry weather, compared to a much colder track temperature due to a wet race, meaning the tyre warm-up could be a real struggle. 

 

The hard could easily have been nowhere and he dropped back into Leclerc's clutches. They didn't want to just sit on 2nd place with no chance for the win. It was a risky strategy. 

Yeah that's a fair observation. Just seems like whenever there is a strategy gamble it seems to negatively affect Oscar despite doing the right thing. 

[cityfanlee23]

Oscar is really developing quickly. Fantastic driver and could get even better. 

[The Bear]

2 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

Yeah that's a fair observation. Just seems like whenever there is a strategy gamble it seems to negatively affect Oscar despite doing the right thing. 

Oscar is gonna win any way. Mediums have held out. 

[Muzzy_no7]

Literally no racing for the final 25-30 laps.

 

Wish someone at the top would move this sport In another direction 

[cityfanlee23]

Just now, The Bear said:

Oscar is gonna win any way. Mediums have held out. 

The mediums held out but Lando cost himself more than 3s from mistakes. I think he'd have got him without the errors. 

[Brainy]

Turns out they were biased towards Oscar then given how it panned out??? ....

[cityfanlee23]

Pretty boring race, but what a performance from Oscar and great strategy call from Lewis/Ferrari

[Brainy]

Great track, but cannot remember the last great race around here. This particularly has been a snooze fest 

[cityfanlee23]

1 minute ago, Brainy said:

Turns out they were biased towards Oscar then given how it panned out??? ....

I don't think so. They told oscar on multiple occasions his tyres needed managing, he only held out because Lando made multiple mistakes and cost himself challenging, without the mistakes he would have caught him with 2 laps to go. Lando managed to make up effectively 3-4 seconds on the hard strategy, more if he had not made those errors. 

Edited 27 July 2025 by cityfanlee23

[Muzzy_no7]

At the start of 2022 the McLaren was literally the worst car on the grid. 
 

Look at them now, unreal development. 

[The Bear]

5 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

The mediums held out but Lando cost himself more than 3s from mistakes. I think he'd have got him without the errors. 

Possibly. As Murray Walker used to say, catching is one thing..... 

[Brainy]

10 minutes ago, The Bear said:

Possibly. As Murray Walker used to say, catching is one thing..... 

There seemed like barely any overtakes all race, would probably have finished like Russell/Hamilton last year

[Super_horns]

1 hour ago, cityfanlee23 said:

Pretty boring race, but what a performance from Oscar and great strategy call from Lewis/Ferrari

The latter is very unusual !

 

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

Yeah, Spa was unusually boring this year. It's invariably one of the most exciting GP of the year.

[The Bear]

1 hour ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Yeah, Spa was unusually boring this year. It's invariably one of the most exciting GP of the year.

Yeah but it was purely down to the early weather and then the tyre management strategy once everyone switched to dry tyres. 

 

A safety car afterwards would have made things more interesting. 

[Super_horns]

6 hours ago, The Bear said:

Yeah but it was purely down to the early weather and then the tyre management strategy once everyone switched to dry tyres. 

 

A safety car afterwards would have made things more interesting. 

Didn’t help teams set up for a wet weather race then there wasn’t one really .

[Muzzy_no7]

He might keep having the odd good stint in races but Hamilton is absolutely finished. 

[moore_94]

Aston Martin finally looking good for a race

[cityfanlee23]

[BlueSi13]

38 minutes ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

He might keep having the odd good stint in races but Hamilton is absolutely finished. 

100%.  This is arguably his favourite track so to put it in 13th here while his teammate (who hates this track) puts it on pole is completely unacceptable. 

Even if he gets a car to his liking, at 40+ years old he isn't beating a Leclerc in the prime of his career.

 

Call it a career Lewis, it's been a great one 

[Nick]

40 minutes ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

He might keep having the odd good stint in races but Hamilton is absolutely finished. 

It's really not looking good for him at Ferrari is it? He was arguably on the decline whilst at Mercedes. That said, this sport is not about the fastest driver necessarily... it's more about the car and if the fast driver can gel with it. On that basis I'm not totally writing him and his career off just yet.

[BlueSi13]

The hardest interview of his career.  Hamilton saying he's useless, the car is good and Ferrari "probably need to change driver".

Turning in to a very sad end.  I think he's now done mentally.