Panflute

Any sandstorms?

Elections.

Colapinto's performance in Brazil probably put a dent in his RB prospects.

Maybe I was invited but I'm not allowed to tell.

I can't recall it happening at least. Sometimes one driver from a low-end team can catch a lucky break (like Gasly in Zandvoort 2023) but for both of them to get a result like that based on good strategy and merit is truly a result for the ages. Of course it would not have happened without the wet conditions, but given how many established drivers/teams struggled today it's still a great performance. Ocon did look good on the first restart but I think Max was just holding back to get temperature into his tires and would've caught him. His pace was just that much higher in the end.

Yup. The race weekend is over so my rage at Lando has settled. Guy is just getting treated unfairly now.

The question was (paraphrasing): "A decisive moment was the VSC, pitting under that, and the red flag that followed. Can we get your take on that?"

It is real, but as I said on the discord server, I took it more as him talking about Red Bull's strategy to stay out being lucky, as it was a massive gamble and they couldn't have known that Colapinto would bin it. And yeah, I honestly think his reaction was pretty reserved when you take into consideration that he was looking at a slam dunk decisive WDC points swing a few hours earlier. Had I been in his situation, I would probably still have been crying in the fetal position.

Accurate.

Raining.

There's really no telling what the pecking order will be like after next year, but I reckon Max might want to be in a team with a Mercedes power unit.

McLaren did their best to fuck this race up but got bailed out by a lucky VSC. They're lucky they have such a quick car and strong driver line-up because their pitwall is not even close to being the best.

McLaren went for an unusual strategy and did 2 push laps total on their softs, so it was probably more tricky to get performance out of them on the second run and for whatever reason Piastri was able to get more out of the tires at that point.

Are you alright?

I don't think it's just Newey leaving. The entire organization was on its ass at the start of the season due to a power struggle in the wake of Horny Horner's leaks. Newey leaving was just part of the fallout. That sort of instability will just affect an organization, starting at the top and trickling down to the on-track performance. I also don't believe this had anything to do with some secret part Red Bull had to remove from their car due to a regulation change; they weren't necessarily going slower, it's just that some teams came with really good upgrades and were suddenly ahead of them. Red Bull went down a wrong development path and stagnated.