ItsaboutGR1

3 months ago 🇦🇺

🚨 Toto 🗣️"We were not completely ready to have [George] in. We had a bit of confusion ourselves on the strategy, then he came in and we didn't hold him for five seconds. We missed out on a P3 or P4, it's a shame." "One part of me feels so happy for Kimi and the guys made me go to the podium. They said, 'This is your home place, you should go.' But I had a look at George and he had a weekend which wasn't good." "And I want to keep it balanced emotionally. Now it's about picking the team up, him up when we head to Barcelona." "We just need to keep going. This is a long championship. Last year everyone said it was Piastri's, then it swung." "Montreal was a drama because we let him down and that was a possible 25 points, but it's a long championship." [🗞️Motorsport]

There is a theory regarding the pit lane speeding penalties: because Cadillac’s pit box was added, the pit lane became longer. Drivers naturally took the optimal racing line through the pit entry to save time, effectively travelling a shorter distance than the one used by the FIA’s speed measurement system. As a result, many drivers ended up being penalized. However, the radio messages raise some interesting questions. Bono explicitly told AKA not to cut the corner and, later, added: “We are plenty safe.” That strongly suggests that cutting the corner could increase the risk of triggering a speeding penalty. With that warning, AKA simply took a normal line and, unsurprisingly, avoided any penalty. The biggest question is: if AKA’s side of the garage knew this, did GR’s side know as well? Was this something Bono figured out in real time, or had Mercedes already diagnosed the issue after seeing multiple drivers receive pit lane speeding penalties during practice sessions? There is no evidence that GR was informed of this specific risk or given a similar warning. At the same time, several other drivers reported that they had engaged the pit limiter correctly and that their systems showed no issues. Oscar, for example, received a penalty while clearly not understanding the reason. This suggests that the cause was far from obvious to the drivers themselves. Alpine’s reaction raises even more questions. The team reportedly lodged a protest and even sent personnel to physically measure the pit lane distance themselves. That does not look like the behaviour of a team that already understood the issue. Yet Autosport later reported that the FIA claimed teams had been warned before the event about the potential problem, including both the speed calculation and the effective pit lane distance, and that drivers were advised to take a wider line through pit entry. If that information was indeed communicated, who exactly was it communicated to? Are we really supposed to believe that Bono was the only person in the paddock who managed to figure this out? Or that the FIA informed all teams, but multiple teams and drivers still appeared completely unaware of the cause? And if the information was communicated clearly, why does it appear that only one driver received a specific warning not to cut the corner?

Does no one find this strange? Has the championship leader ever claimed P1 by actually competing against another driver in a real fight? Whenever McLaren, Ferrari or Red Bull looked poised to challenge for the lead, their cars always ran into various issues. His teammate has also had next to no chances, with the car suffering a different mechanical issue in five out of six races. It’s clear that whenever his teammate’s car ran faultlessly, the championship leader could not come out on top. The only real head-to-head contest was at the Canadian Grand Prix — and after his teammate took the lead, the car’s battery failed. You may put it down to sheer luck, but mathematically speaking, what are the odds that he is the only one among all 22 drivers whose race results have never been affected by car issues? And what is the probability that every rival who poses a threat to him keeps suffering car problems? I’d love to hear the explanation from the FIA, apparently the greatest mathematical institution in the world.

There is a theory regarding the pit lane speeding penalties: because Cadillac’s pit box was added, the pit lane became longer. Drivers naturally took the optimal racing line through the pit entry to save time, effectively travelling a shorter distance than the one used by the FIA’s speed measurement system. As a result, many drivers ended up being penalized. However, the radio messages raise some interesting questions. Bono explicitly told AKA not to cut the corner and, later, added: “We are plenty safe.” That strongly suggests that cutting the corner could increase the risk of triggering a speeding penalty. With that warning, AKA simply took a normal line and, unsurprisingly, avoided any penalty. The biggest question is: if AKA’s side of the garage knew this, did GR’s side know as well? Was this something Bono figured out in real time, or had Mercedes already diagnosed the issue after seeing multiple drivers receive pit lane speeding penalties during practice sessions? There is no evidence that GR was informed of this specific risk or given a similar warning. At the same time, several other drivers reported that they had engaged the pit limiter correctly and that their systems showed no issues. Oscar, for example, received a penalty while clearly not understanding the reason. This suggests that the cause was far from obvious to the drivers themselves. Alpine’s reaction raises even more questions. The team reportedly lodged a protest and even sent personnel to physically measure the pit lane distance themselves. That does not look like the behaviour of a team that already understood the issue. Yet Autosport later reported that the FIA claimed teams had been warned before the event about the potential problem, including both the speed calculation and the effective pit lane distance, and that drivers were advised to take a wider line through pit entry. If that information was indeed communicated, who exactly was it communicated to? Are we really supposed to believe that Bono was the only person in the paddock who managed to figure this out? Or that the FIA informed all teams, but multiple teams and drivers still appeared completely unaware of the cause? And if the information was communicated clearly, why does it appear that only one driver received a specific warning not to cut the corner?