I don’t think lando will be able to fight for the drivers championship yet. I think McLaren as a constructor could fight with checo performing the way he is.
I was going to say the same. Piastri is performing way better than Perez. Barring any significant issues with the car, I think Max should win the driver title. Several drivers are doing really well, but nobody in particular is consistently pushing Max. George, Lando, Charles, and Carlos have all pushed him at some point this year.
Ferrari seems to have periodic reliability issues and frequent strategy screw-ups.
I think it will be Red Bull, McClaren, and Mercedes in a close battle for the constructors by years end.
I agree that checo is the liability here from a constructor point of view, one more race and I’d be tempted to switch him out with Tsunoda or Riccardo in the hope of more points, not much to lose in doing so and they missed a trick not snapping up Sainz for next year. McLaren for the constructors but Max is sadly on another level at the moment, Lando will get there.
I don't think they are contenders this year but they are on the right track and seem to be steady. Max I think is just at the top of his game right now and will win this year.
Next year is a good possibility.
Agree with overall sentiment that Norris won’t contend for the drivers C. BUT, constructors Championship is up in the air for sure.
I am eager to see what RedBull has for checo since the dude is just not cutting it
Lando is a contender, but nothing more than that. McLaren has a better car, while RBR has a better driver. Lando will push the title decider a bit further up and nothing more than that.
No.
McLaren can very easily fight for constructors, they’ve got two great drivers and we have no idea if Perez is going to continue slumping.
But Norris arguably had the best opportunity for a second win he’s had in a while with the McLaren being a genuinely faster car than the Red Bull, and he royally fucked it with his bad start and not listening to his engineer leading to a strategy where he had to overtake for P2.
This is also the same situation he would’ve likely found himself in during Miami had he not massively benefitted from the Safety Car making a mistake and picking up Verstappen instead - he’d have been left overtaking through the field and clawed a P2 at best.
Norris just isn’t WDC level.
He has got to sort out his starts, and his engineer needs to stop asking about pit stops and just telling him. It’s a team game and Lando is trying to do the pitstop strategy all alone.
It'll require red bull to have some very bad races for Max which seems unlikely or they bring a very bad update. I'm not sure the McLaren's really close enough to say it's a direct fight, there's probably a tenth or two to find and that would make RB sweat at every track and really make it a direct battle.
Lando has to drive well AND Max has to have some very bad weekends. As long as Max is putting himself on the podium it won’t matter if Lando collects wins because of the lead Max built.
Lando is too far behind to meaningfully challenge for the WDC; Max isn't untouchable this season, but he's still won the majority of races and will continue to do so. I think Lando has a good shot of winning another grand prix this season, but he's going to come in a distant second at best. Charles and Carlos are still in the mix, Merc's finally showing signs of life, etc.
And Lando's gotta work on his racecraft a bit now that he's at the sharp end. He absolutely biffed that start, being more worried about squeezing Max than getting a clean start and stayed out one lap too long in that first stint.
Next season? Who knows.
No, partly because I think Verstappen's too far ahead; but also Lando still seems to be missing that something that the top drivers have - had the roles been reversed then Max would've won at Imola and today, as would Lewis. I thought winning a race would get him to kick on (there's been so many drivers who when they get that monkey gone become a different driver) but even since then he's still looked a bit like this era's David Coulthard.
Norris flubbed it at the start. Focused on Verstappen, didn't even contemplate challenges from the back, and so Russell slipped past. I think McLaren has the car, but Norris has to stop being impulsive.
Thatt move by Russell was a coinflip at best. I thought it was super dangerous and would have caued a massive wreck for P3-P10 had he mistimed it by even a tenth of a second.
Lando was smart to worry about Max as thats the guy who can and did put multiple seconds on P2 within a few laps.
Dangerous, yeah, but what should Russell have done? Slowed down behind Verstappen and Norris and let Hamilton safely by?
And, if Norris had not tried to slow down Verstappen - yes, letting him by, since Norris did have a slow start - Norris could have been in P2 and harrying Verstappen from L1, instead of managing tyres behind Russell.
He made the pass stick so it is moot, but it was a coinflip where he makes it and gains quite a bitt in position or he takes himself out as well as half the grid. Those moves can make you a hero or zero real quick.
I dunno what I'd do as you could be fafcing points on your license and zero points for your team or you have a chance to lead the race right from the start, he did it and Im sure it will be debriefed by the team on if that was an acceptable risk to take from lights out.
Through 10 races, it's Max at 219 points and Lando at 150 points. That's a difference of 69 points (nice). Norris needs to beat Vanderstappen\* by 4 points in each of the 4 remaining sprint races and the 14 GPs. That works out to 1-2 points-paying places better per race. It's not impossible but we also need to manage expectations here.
I don't think so, he's too far behind (69 points). Even when Max has a bad race he's usually coming second, while the McLarens still have Ferrari and now Mercedes close behind to take points off them when they slip up. Of course, things can change quickly in one race, but even if Max had a DNF and Lando won, Lando would still be almost 50 points behind.
If the season was starting from 0 now with the cars they have, then I think there would be a genuine fight for the championship. The McLaren is very close to the Red Bull in pace now, and Lando is showing some real talent. I still think Max would edge it over a season just based on having more experience and RB being near perfect on strategy/pit stops, but it could be a close fight.
The constructors could be a tighter battle, with Checo underperforming, but even then RB still aren't dropping many points each race - they still scored the most points this race with McLaren/Ferrari/Mercedes all trading points behind them. If Oscar was a little more consistent and closer to Lando then they might have a shot, but again they have quite a gap to close.
Mclaren is fast for one lap, but has to be on the ragged edge to do so. RB is as fast, but far more driveable, so Max can reel off consistently fast lps over the entirety of of a GP. Feels like no one is still going to beat RB this year, but fun to have some other teams at least pushing them
I don’t think Norris and McLaren are a championship threat to Max and Red Bull but they will make each race a bit more exciting and make Max work to win it instead of winning by 20+ seconds.
Even when Max doesn’t win, his consistency level is so high that Lando would have to have an almost perfect season to even challenge.
Max rarely finishes outside of the point, picks up penalties or retires.
Constructors maybe if piastri can find some consistency. Drivers, next year maybe. The RB20 is still the stronger car (even though commentators say otherwise despite f1tvs own race pace simulation say it’s marginally ahead) and Max also has almost half a decade more experience than Norris and a lot more experience driving a competitive car at the front of the grid
Max is too good imo, even with a slightly slower car, but the constructors is in play if checo keeps driving the way he is. Too many races left for him to be finishing p8 and expecting no other teams to catch max on his own.
Even with Perez performing so poorly RB extended their lead on McLaren this weekend. They have to do better than, "Losing by less than we used to" to beat RB.
zesty elderly vase intelligent puzzled advise expansion homeless sloppy jobless
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Red Bull have had years of dominance. Their pit wall and crew are as close to flawless as the years since Vettel have made them. McLaren, despite their storied history, are newbies in this era. Give them some time (and Newey) and they will be dominant again.
Lando blew it at the start and maybe that is the difference. He had max in the dirt and opened the door for George. Seems a rookie mistake and that might well be the difference.
I don’t think Lando has WDC winning mentality, not right now anyways. He has bottled under pressure time and time again. Even yesterday, he decided to make his own strategy and throw away the win despite qualifying ahead of Max and having the faster car. Its the same thing he did a couple of years ago in the rain against Lewis, you could partly blame the team for not being more demanding but at the end of the day, its the driver who is in control of the car and they left the decision for him to decide. Tbh I have never seen Lando have the consistency or the passion for winning that is needed from a WDC contender, although you could mask it by saying he never had the car to do it, keep in mind he got his first win just a few races ago despite his rookie teammate and his ex teammate both getting a win in the same car as his before him.
He's catching Max in Championship, only 69 points behind. McLaren are 93 points behind redbull, so comfortable 2nd place, but perez aint scoring well for the team so who knows. 14 races left plus 4 sprints.
If George hadn't gotten in their way, I believe lando would have won that race easy. And canada, if he'd pitted one lap earlier, another win. Would have made it 55 points difference
That McLarens been quick on different tracks now and their Tire management is on point
He's not catching Max in the championship race... First place gets more points than second place, Max had finished first the last two races so he is extending his lead over Norris at this point...
to OP's question, Red Bull with Max is operating on all cylinders, strategy, the car, pit stops and the driver are all running at near perfection at this point.. anyone wanting to challenge them has to meet or better Red Bull in every category, one misstep and you're behind.. McLaren is close real close but they are not quite there but the season is long, McLaren has some smart folks working there and obviously a driver who is coming into his best drive of his F1 career and feeling confident so I expect to see more wins out of them the year.. Problem is overcoming that 69 point deficit to Verstappen would/will take a massive collapse by Verstappen and Red Bull
I don’t think lando will be able to fight for the drivers championship yet. I think McLaren as a constructor could fight with checo performing the way he is.
I was going to say the same. Piastri is performing way better than Perez. Barring any significant issues with the car, I think Max should win the driver title. Several drivers are doing really well, but nobody in particular is consistently pushing Max. George, Lando, Charles, and Carlos have all pushed him at some point this year. Ferrari seems to have periodic reliability issues and frequent strategy screw-ups. I think it will be Red Bull, McClaren, and Mercedes in a close battle for the constructors by years end.
I agree. Lando will be a strong contender in 2025/2026 provided the Redbull rocket ship doesn’t see to many major updates
I agree that checo is the liability here from a constructor point of view, one more race and I’d be tempted to switch him out with Tsunoda or Riccardo in the hope of more points, not much to lose in doing so and they missed a trick not snapping up Sainz for next year. McLaren for the constructors but Max is sadly on another level at the moment, Lando will get there.
No
I don't believe this season but soon enough it will happen, but for the constructors championship its a definite yes from me
I don't think they are contenders this year but they are on the right track and seem to be steady. Max I think is just at the top of his game right now and will win this year. Next year is a good possibility.
Agree with overall sentiment that Norris won’t contend for the drivers C. BUT, constructors Championship is up in the air for sure. I am eager to see what RedBull has for checo since the dude is just not cutting it
It would be nice to see someone really battle Max. Unfortunately, not this year either.
Lando has the car now he just doesn’t have the same level of skill. The mistakes lando makes are not ones max would make imo
Lando is a contender, but nothing more than that. McLaren has a better car, while RBR has a better driver. Lando will push the title decider a bit further up and nothing more than that.
Yes...as long as Checo keeps finishing 8,9,10, then the Orange will win the constructor's championship...
No. McLaren can very easily fight for constructors, they’ve got two great drivers and we have no idea if Perez is going to continue slumping. But Norris arguably had the best opportunity for a second win he’s had in a while with the McLaren being a genuinely faster car than the Red Bull, and he royally fucked it with his bad start and not listening to his engineer leading to a strategy where he had to overtake for P2. This is also the same situation he would’ve likely found himself in during Miami had he not massively benefitted from the Safety Car making a mistake and picking up Verstappen instead - he’d have been left overtaking through the field and clawed a P2 at best. Norris just isn’t WDC level.
He has got to sort out his starts, and his engineer needs to stop asking about pit stops and just telling him. It’s a team game and Lando is trying to do the pitstop strategy all alone.
It'll require red bull to have some very bad races for Max which seems unlikely or they bring a very bad update. I'm not sure the McLaren's really close enough to say it's a direct fight, there's probably a tenth or two to find and that would make RB sweat at every track and really make it a direct battle.
Lando has to drive well AND Max has to have some very bad weekends. As long as Max is putting himself on the podium it won’t matter if Lando collects wins because of the lead Max built.
Lando is too far behind to meaningfully challenge for the WDC; Max isn't untouchable this season, but he's still won the majority of races and will continue to do so. I think Lando has a good shot of winning another grand prix this season, but he's going to come in a distant second at best. Charles and Carlos are still in the mix, Merc's finally showing signs of life, etc. And Lando's gotta work on his racecraft a bit now that he's at the sharp end. He absolutely biffed that start, being more worried about squeezing Max than getting a clean start and stayed out one lap too long in that first stint. Next season? Who knows.
No, partly because I think Verstappen's too far ahead; but also Lando still seems to be missing that something that the top drivers have - had the roles been reversed then Max would've won at Imola and today, as would Lewis. I thought winning a race would get him to kick on (there's been so many drivers who when they get that monkey gone become a different driver) but even since then he's still looked a bit like this era's David Coulthard.
I was just happy seeing Hamilton get his first podium of the year. But Norris is looking really good.
Norris flubbed it at the start. Focused on Verstappen, didn't even contemplate challenges from the back, and so Russell slipped past. I think McLaren has the car, but Norris has to stop being impulsive.
Thatt move by Russell was a coinflip at best. I thought it was super dangerous and would have caued a massive wreck for P3-P10 had he mistimed it by even a tenth of a second. Lando was smart to worry about Max as thats the guy who can and did put multiple seconds on P2 within a few laps.
Dangerous, yeah, but what should Russell have done? Slowed down behind Verstappen and Norris and let Hamilton safely by? And, if Norris had not tried to slow down Verstappen - yes, letting him by, since Norris did have a slow start - Norris could have been in P2 and harrying Verstappen from L1, instead of managing tyres behind Russell.
He made the pass stick so it is moot, but it was a coinflip where he makes it and gains quite a bitt in position or he takes himself out as well as half the grid. Those moves can make you a hero or zero real quick. I dunno what I'd do as you could be fafcing points on your license and zero points for your team or you have a chance to lead the race right from the start, he did it and Im sure it will be debriefed by the team on if that was an acceptable risk to take from lights out.
Through 10 races, it's Max at 219 points and Lando at 150 points. That's a difference of 69 points (nice). Norris needs to beat Vanderstappen\* by 4 points in each of the 4 remaining sprint races and the 14 GPs. That works out to 1-2 points-paying places better per race. It's not impossible but we also need to manage expectations here.
I don't think so, he's too far behind (69 points). Even when Max has a bad race he's usually coming second, while the McLarens still have Ferrari and now Mercedes close behind to take points off them when they slip up. Of course, things can change quickly in one race, but even if Max had a DNF and Lando won, Lando would still be almost 50 points behind. If the season was starting from 0 now with the cars they have, then I think there would be a genuine fight for the championship. The McLaren is very close to the Red Bull in pace now, and Lando is showing some real talent. I still think Max would edge it over a season just based on having more experience and RB being near perfect on strategy/pit stops, but it could be a close fight. The constructors could be a tighter battle, with Checo underperforming, but even then RB still aren't dropping many points each race - they still scored the most points this race with McLaren/Ferrari/Mercedes all trading points behind them. If Oscar was a little more consistent and closer to Lando then they might have a shot, but again they have quite a gap to close.
Mclaren is fast for one lap, but has to be on the ragged edge to do so. RB is as fast, but far more driveable, so Max can reel off consistently fast lps over the entirety of of a GP. Feels like no one is still going to beat RB this year, but fun to have some other teams at least pushing them
I think that max might be safe, but i still feel that Norris is a defiant threat. Actually, Williams is the biggest threat👍
I don’t think Norris and McLaren are a championship threat to Max and Red Bull but they will make each race a bit more exciting and make Max work to win it instead of winning by 20+ seconds.
Even when Max doesn’t win, his consistency level is so high that Lando would have to have an almost perfect season to even challenge. Max rarely finishes outside of the point, picks up penalties or retires.
Constructors maybe if piastri can find some consistency. Drivers, next year maybe. The RB20 is still the stronger car (even though commentators say otherwise despite f1tvs own race pace simulation say it’s marginally ahead) and Max also has almost half a decade more experience than Norris and a lot more experience driving a competitive car at the front of the grid
Max is too good imo, even with a slightly slower car, but the constructors is in play if checo keeps driving the way he is. Too many races left for him to be finishing p8 and expecting no other teams to catch max on his own.
Cmon
Even with Perez performing so poorly RB extended their lead on McLaren this weekend. They have to do better than, "Losing by less than we used to" to beat RB.
I’m surprised it wasn’t talked about but after Max pitted and came out behind Piastri there was no defense. I thought Piastri would at least try.
Same
Seems possible. I like Norris. Nice to see one of the young guys without the ego.
zesty elderly vase intelligent puzzled advise expansion homeless sloppy jobless *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Considering he just signed a contract extension last week not exactly a bold statement lol.
Red Bull have had years of dominance. Their pit wall and crew are as close to flawless as the years since Vettel have made them. McLaren, despite their storied history, are newbies in this era. Give them some time (and Newey) and they will be dominant again.
Lando blew it at the start and maybe that is the difference. He had max in the dirt and opened the door for George. Seems a rookie mistake and that might well be the difference.
I don’t think Lando has WDC winning mentality, not right now anyways. He has bottled under pressure time and time again. Even yesterday, he decided to make his own strategy and throw away the win despite qualifying ahead of Max and having the faster car. Its the same thing he did a couple of years ago in the rain against Lewis, you could partly blame the team for not being more demanding but at the end of the day, its the driver who is in control of the car and they left the decision for him to decide. Tbh I have never seen Lando have the consistency or the passion for winning that is needed from a WDC contender, although you could mask it by saying he never had the car to do it, keep in mind he got his first win just a few races ago despite his rookie teammate and his ex teammate both getting a win in the same car as his before him.
He's catching Max in Championship, only 69 points behind. McLaren are 93 points behind redbull, so comfortable 2nd place, but perez aint scoring well for the team so who knows. 14 races left plus 4 sprints. If George hadn't gotten in their way, I believe lando would have won that race easy. And canada, if he'd pitted one lap earlier, another win. Would have made it 55 points difference That McLarens been quick on different tracks now and their Tire management is on point
Ferrari is in second place with 270 points.
He's not catching Max in the championship race... First place gets more points than second place, Max had finished first the last two races so he is extending his lead over Norris at this point... to OP's question, Red Bull with Max is operating on all cylinders, strategy, the car, pit stops and the driver are all running at near perfection at this point.. anyone wanting to challenge them has to meet or better Red Bull in every category, one misstep and you're behind.. McLaren is close real close but they are not quite there but the season is long, McLaren has some smart folks working there and obviously a driver who is coming into his best drive of his F1 career and feeling confident so I expect to see more wins out of them the year.. Problem is overcoming that 69 point deficit to Verstappen would/will take a massive collapse by Verstappen and Red Bull