“With this McLaren, Verstappen would have even more of an advantage than with the Red Bull.” This is a very repeated phrase in the paddock in recent times and it may be that, despite being exaggerated, it is really accurate.
There are already several grand prizes in which they have the most complete car, the most capable in the balance between classification and long runs for races. The climate affects it little and the temperature range in which it works is the widest.
Hamilton’s great victory in Great Britain
Since Lando Norris’ victory in Miami, which seemed to open a period of papaya dominance, neither the Englishman nor Oscar Piastri have finished finishing the job in Imola, Monaco, Canada, Spain, Austria, Silverstone… There are too many failed occasions for the most diverse reasons.
Especially painful for them has been the Silverstone weekend, always an incentive and stage for the British teams. Again they had speed and also rhythm, but this time Mercedes and a changing climate appeared to move the score from the music stand: first Russell took the pole from them and on Sunday, Hamiton took a clear victory, with 13 laps to go.
Lando, almost everything is fine, but…
Norris emerged from third during the first drizzle, even with the initial dry conditions, like a thunderclap to pass Russell and Hamilton and leave with a good distance. When everything seemed on track, the rain got worse and the stops came.
There came the first incomprehensible decision for those in orange. Instead of a double stop, like at Mercedes, they decided to sacrifice Piastri, keeping him on the track for one more lap, which in these conditions is a mere 10 seconds. They took him out of the equation on their own. By the way, Oscar couldn’t handle the intermediates with Sainz having problems with his car, also questioning those who see him as an indisputable star in the making. He has a lot to learn and seems stuck.
Lando, However, he was very good with the intermediates and built a four-second advantage over Hamilton, but the final stop came on lap 39, with the track again dry and There came the disaster. First, Lewis was one lap ahead of them at the stop, then Norris failed to brake and pushed the jack carrier and lost at least two seconds. Then they put the soft ones on him in a meaningless decision, since they had a new set of means to reach the end.
Hamilton completed the ‘undercut’ and then controlled first Norris and then Verstappen masterfully. At McLaren they need to evaluate everything that happened and learn to better manage resources that are now the best. And Norris and Piastri, finish baring their fangs by force of blows.
But things did not end there, because Verstappen, with a new set of hard wheels, which was his great asset for the end of the test, also ate the toast with four laps remaining. The Dutchman gets more and more points, with a car that is more difficult and slower than his.
Miracles of an improvement of 1.5 seconds in one year do not happen many times in F1, to go from being the last team, in Bahrain 2023, to the first, just a year and a month later. But it can evaporate at any time. And it seems that Norris is aware: “Right now I’m not making the right decisions and I blame myself for some of those decisions. I hate it, I hate ending up in that position and there are no excuses, I haven’t done a good job,” he confessed yesterday in front of Jenson Button, who was interviewing those on the podium after the race.
“It has been hard, I have enjoyed it, with these complicated conditions, you are always on a knife’s edge, many good things… but one more disappointment. I think that as a team we haven’t done the job well enough, but at least, I’m on the podium at Silverstone,” he consoled himself.
