M5Rick wrote

Issue was worn PU using more fuel than a fresh PU, may have been too little left for a sample, and Marshalls trick metal heating device having a spectacular fail...thank goodness for that

///M Power-Belgium wrote

Yeah , I know

2 very unusual things I noticed during the race :

Norris was suddenly driving very slow in the last 2 laps and lost 8-10 sec. and RUS was coming very close.
Norris had to save fuel to avoid a penalty (!)

MAX (P1) stepped out of his car , and his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase (GP) showed up out of nowhere to speak with MAX.
A strange conversation between MAX and Gianpiero Lambiase was going on...
It was very strange to see , both of them held their hands over their mouths (!)
I assume , some people behind the screens can read lips (!)

So I already knew at that moment something unusual was going on .
And I think Gianpiero Lambiase already knew at that moment that McLaren was in trouble with their skid block wear and floor planks.
McLaren tried to cheat with a heating device that was designed only to heat the metal parts under the car taking all the impacts under the car and protecting the skid blocks. Metal expands when it is heated..
In the last 2 races ,the McLaren cars showed a spectacular shower of sparks (!)
How genius can you be to lower the car beyond the FIA regulations to gain speed ?

But this time , genius Rob Marshall has shot himself in the foot (!)

GuidoK wrote

That was probably the news that the FIA would be investigating the plank wear on their cars.
From what I've heard the FIA gets all the setup sheets from all the teams and that gave some insight to conduct this check. Not everything on every car is checked after the race of course as that would take days.

But after they found the McLaren's planks to be out of spec they checked all top 10 cars, and the McLaren's were the only ones out of spec.
I wonder if this was a genuine mistake or that they feel Max' hot breath in their necks and that pushes them to take more risks.....

///M Power-Belgium wrote

Lando Norris won the Brazilian GP with a cheating McLaren car.
The McLaren heating device was already noticed at the Brazilian GP.

///M Power-Belgium wrote

It's a shame that a FIA regulation violation doesn't work retroactively (!)
Then MAX would now be the new WDC leader....

M5Rick wrote

Heating device LOOOL Marshall has eat too many burgers on this one.

RichardInCA wrote

Was the consensus that this was part of the “protect the plank” strategy?

Artemis wrote

Probably NOR's engineers noticed that the fuel level was approaching the danger zone and wanted to ensure the mandatory 1 liter fuel sample requirement to be observed to avoid DSQ.

I recall that the Belgian F1 TV journalist guessed "fuel saving" as cause when he noticed that the gap between VER and NOR was rapidly increasing in the dying stages of the race. During lap 48, GP Lambiase had briefed VER: "Lando is nursing some form of issue".

GuidoK wrote

Man what a turn of events to wake up to... Obviously a very sad event for both PIA and NOR loosing valuable points this way, but I still think NOR has the best chances to win the WDC. 24 points is still a firm lead and of course he has a really fast car.

afadeev wrote

I must have missed something - was McLaren found to have done something illegal? If they have, I can't find any references in the news.

There are references to "devices fitted to several cars for the sole purpose of heating the skids... every team uses the concept to some extent" and "FIA ordered their removal before Q1":

https://www.f1-fansite.com/f1-news/fia-launches-investigation-into-post-brazil-gp-skid-plate-controversy/#:~:text=When%20the%20car%20is%20%22scattering,F1%20Rumours

So, what evidence do you have that McLaren (or other teams) didn't comply with FIA directive and Lando's car was somehow illegal?



Or would be impacted and retroactively DQ-ed the most?
RedBull did "magically" rediscover "form" in the second half of the season, out of nowhere, didn't they?


I know many root for Maxipad on this forum, but common dudes, sharing facts is more fun that speculations!

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G30M wrote

it wasn't illegal, it was genius. then FIA made it illegal from Vegas. now it's illegal, it was not illegal before.

GuidoK wrote

That was probably the news that the FIA would be investigating the plank wear on their cars.
From what I've heard the FIA gets all the setup sheets from all the teams and that gave some insight to conduct this check. Not everything on every car is checked after the race of course as that would take days.

But after they found the McLaren's planks to be out of spec they checked all top 10 cars, and the McLaren's were the only ones out of spec.
I wonder if this was a genuine mistake or that they feel Max' hot breath in their necks and that pushes them to take more risks.....

///M Power-Belgium wrote

LMFAO !

G30M wrote

McLaren (Stella) has confirmed the slow down was due to plank wear not fuel sample

G30M wrote

what i want to know is why they tell Lando to slow down and said nothing to Oscar

GuidoK wrote

I think we don't know whether or not they told Oscar. It wasn't broadcasted, that's the only thing we know.
Or said Oscar something in an interview?

G30M wrote

I'm also curious how McLaren suddenly out of the blue thought about plank wear and told Lando to slow down in the last 5 laps.

they didn't think about it? then suddenly someone thought about it?

I mean they told Lando to go get Max at one point. If at that point they told lando to drive to delta this would (might) not have happened.

Also they didn't care about Oscar!!! threw him under the bus .... (maybe they did and we didn't hear it)

RichardInCA wrote

Oscar had more plank wear than Lando (0.26mm vs 0.12mm) at the end of the race, so it seems that they did throw him under the bus rather than try to get both of them to take things a little easier. Not a good look.

RichardInCA wrote

On another note, Lewis Hamilton’s mindset seems a real issue. Not looking to re-evaluate his career achievements, but the man is just not in a good place. I’ve also never understood why he seems to overshare so much when he’s in a negative state of mind. I feel that he could leave his post race comments to “that was terrible, nothing else to say” but now he’s saying that he’s not looking forward to the next season….not sure what the plan was behind that comment unless to send a shot across the bows of Ferrari’s leadership, but it feels more likely that he’s contemplating pulling the ripcord and calling it quits. Either way, compared to Fernando, I just don’t quite get how he’s kinda diminishing himself at this point. Really Ferrari strategy screwed him and Charles at multiple points throughout the weekend. I’d rather hear him start to point some of that blame back to team incompetence at this point. What has he got to lose?

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/articles/cvgrlpdgr7lo

M5Rick wrote

Stella's a plank for telling engineer to let NOR 'go for it' then to slow down pun intended.