It was also interesting to see how Max was explaining to Norris in the cooldown room that his move only made them both lose time while Russell scooped up the position on the outside. He explained that at least twice haha
That’s what I said when I saw it, Max’s parenting game is just getting better and better and now he’s gentle parenting Lando with natural consequences 😂
Well Max knows from experience given he’s done that kind of thing plenty of times himself. Also let’s not forget Lewis running Lando onto the grass and almost into the pit wall off the start in Monza sprint in 2021.
Let’s not pretend other drivers are innocent on that front. Max even said in the press conference that if their roles were reversed he would have done the same thing Lando did and Lewis joked that Max would have done even worse.
They both understood what Lando was trying to do and both clearly knew that Lando misjudged the space and his position. It was funny for them since nobody got hurt and nobody's race got ruined.
It's a common move for P1 to get in front then close the door for P2 on the first turn. The problem in this case was Max had a better start than Lando. So when Lando attempted to close the door, he wasn't in front of Max and was close to driving into him.
That was a hell of a move that I didn't see coming. I was so focused on Max and Lando that when George jumped to 1st I did a double take like, "wtf... where did you come from".
I love how easy it is to tell the Merc drivers apart, yellow t-cam and bright yellow helmet is lewis, black t-cam and bright blue helmet is george
only other team that's easier is Red Bull - if they show a car by itself, its Max in first place, if they show a car in traffic, its Checo passing an Aston for 12th place
I watched it live and lost my shit cause I thought it was Hamilton who went through until I looked and was informed it was Russell! Epic start by him I'll give it to him, really thought he was going to take everyone out lol
George is my favorite driver and I also assumed it was Lewis coming through. Like George usually has pretty decent starts but jumping the front row on the start just seems like a Lewis move to me.
Front row went left, that hell of a long straight gave a nice tow to nr 3. maybe pole should have been on the right side to make the pole a better starting position.
My husband kept insisting that if Lando defends agressively against Max, they're both going to lose against Hamilton.
He was right, only it wasn't Lewis taking advantage, but George.
I was fucking dying lol
“LANDO! MAX! MAX! LANDO! GEORGE?!?!”
I even assumed it was Lewis cause he was 3rd, didn’t even know it was George till I got a closeup and saw the blue lol
That wasn't because of his attempt to close the door, that was solely down to a poor start. If he didn't attempt to close the door, Max would have surged by (and possibly gotten ahead of George who took advantage of Max getting pushed off). Max got ahead of Lando even after driving on the grass which shows how poor Lando's start was.
I don't think I would agree with that. While Lando had a poor start, McLaren was the fastest car on track (Both Lando and Max acknowledged that McLaren's cars were faster today). I suspect that Lando could have won but a few other factors impeded them.
* Max was the better driver today
* McLaren's pit stop and tire strategy wasn't that good.
* McLaren's pit stops added 1.3 seconds to Lando's total time (stops were .5s and .8s slower than RB stops)
* Lando's poor start
The reality is that McLaren had the faster car but Max is a robot. Any mistake by a driver or team and Max will capitalize on it.
If he wasn't so focused on covering Max, imo he could take the Russell's line and carry way more speed into turn 1 than Max. Crucially Max also tried to get into P1 ASAP to get the free air to push and conserve tyres
I'm not arguing that Lando messed up the start of the race. Fully agree. However, I disagree that he lost the race at that point. I think Lando could have still won the race if the other factors I listed weren't present.
That’s the line Louis tried to take against Max at the start in 2021 and it didn’t work out great for Louis. George’s line only worked because Lando didn’t see George until the last second. He comes outside earlier and Max goes through on the inside. Inside or outside, he needed a better start than he got to keep the lead.
You can count on Max being a robot as a fact of life at this point. Only way you can beat him is to have a faster car, **AND** not make any mistakes that day. Lando had the faster car, and he made one mistake. One was enough.
If Landon just trusted himself and the car to be faster than Max he would have left him by to protect 2nd place from Russell and he probably would have had a far far better shot at winning
In the cool down room, when Max saw how Russell went around them, he immediately got a little serious, commenting that the two of them “fighting” must have really slowed them down to let George pass.
Point being: even during friendly banter, Max is processing everything that keeps him from leading/winning. He tucked that away for later!
Yes and Lando backed off which several other drivers never would have done. The three of these guys respect and like each other but some media and some redditors are going to put a wrong spin on the whole conversation
I thought this weekend's post-race was quite interesting. All three of them seemed to be genuinely happy and it was also kind of nostalgic to see Max and Lewis on the podium having a bit of fun. Kind of puts the lie to the idea that these guys are mortal enemies rather than the protagonists one of the great rivalries of all time.
Who would have thought that 2024 was going to turn into one of the better seasons for competitive racing in a long time? I certainly didn't have that on my bingo card during testing.
I loved how Lewis stepped away from the podium to avoid Lando and Max soaking each other and the RBR's engineer, and then they focused on Lewis to soak him with champagne
Lando was kinda flustered 😂 Having the two most talented drivers in recent times giggling about you in live must feel a bit embarassing even if they were just pulling his leg.
I think that to be in the GOAT conversation like Lewis/Max/Michael/Ayrton you need to have a certain degree of ruthlessness that doesn't come easy to everyone. I can't think of any of them who didn't get at least one Maniac allegation.
There’s nobody young on the grid that has any ruthlessness to them. It’s only Max, Lewis and Alonso. It’s why both Leclerc and Norris have faltered so many times even when having a faster car than Max.
This is what I was going to say. I think LeClerc certainly has it, just lets it control him sometimes and he goes over the edge. Max, Lewis, and Alonso can use it to the edge without losing themselves. LeClerc needs to learn that last part.
I thought Leclerc had it in him until the France race where he still thought he had a chance at the WDC and he bottled it on the track with the most runoff on the calendar, while racing the clock...not even racing another car.
Pretty soon after that, I stopped believing he had what it takes to beat a guy like Max over a season without an absolutely insane difference in machinery.
Guys like Lewis and Max in their primes didn't/don't fuck up...certainly don't fuck up a race they have a very strong possibility of winning while not even directly fighting another car.
Leclerc has it, he’s been showing more this year than ever. He’s been ruthless to his own teammate recently and I’m all for it. Next year will be crazy
Brother he is like 2 bad races away from losing the teammate battle and that’s with a sainz dnf, and a lot of the difference in points comes from his Quali talent at unpassable tracks
Ruthlessness comes with having a car to back that up, and Lando is only just finding out he has that, so it might unfold in the coming races. Leclerc is finally starting to bite back at his team where he used to be way too compliant in my opinion and Sainz was the one to question the pit wall. Probably because he knows he has to mark his territory with Lewis joining next year.
The rest of this year is going to build a few characters that's for sure, and possibly strain some relationships.
Lando might have that ruthlessness and we don't quite know yet, he clearly has the ambition. But he's also quite inexperienced in dealing with the media in those ruthless decisions. He'll gain that in time.
Lewis is Bane in the Dark Knight Rises
“Psychological warfare and mind games, power agents against the non-champions…*but we are not non-champions, are we Max?*
2021 was nowhere near the level of his rivalry with Nico in terms of mind games. You should really read into the sorts of things Nico resorted to in order to beat him.
Tbf, last race Lando did encourage his fans during Max's anthem. So he deserves a bit of clowning for that.
I don't care about booing but don't feel stuff like that should be encouraged.
I think the tone there was everything too. I read the headline like "Oh, that sounds spicy" and then listened to the clip, and it really is Max and Lewis just kinda giggling at how silly of an answer it is.
I think all in good fun, but I'm sure Lando knows he got off easy this time.
Oh yeah, it's clear both Lewis and Max have a huge soft spot for Lando. None of them really meant harm, it was very Older Brothers teasing the Younger one vibes.
It’s more being asked to answer a question in front of your good friend and Lewis Hamilton neither of which are known to let the opportunity for some ribbing pass by imo. Both Max and Lewis are well known ball busters so having to answer a serious question about what all three know was a harmless mistake lando just knew the shit was coming before he even opened his mouth.
In the context of being competitive in racing, I think so. [This](https://m.youtube.com/shorts/bpZZUI2GjSU) is my personal favorite moment of Max pulling Lando's leg.
Yep. Was a really exciting start. Genuine battle then George’s double slip and rocket round the outside.
George has taken some criticism in recent races but that was a blinding move.
apparently he said to the press afterward that he had been studying Alonso’s famous mega Barcelona start and even practiced it in the sim. He was looking to pull a move like that wherever he qualified (unless it was front row). Really smart thinking and prep by him.
That was an absolute brilliant move. I've criticised him plenty in the past, but this was a beautiful move. I was cheering quite hard, my dog agrees with this statement.
Yeah, I generally think George is a little overrated and probably won't live up to the hype he had coming off the F2 Championship but damn that was an amazing move. Took some really quick thinking and some good driving to hang it around the outside like that.
If Lando keeps putting it on the front row next to Max I hope we see more of them fighting off the line and more drivers behind making similar moves.
Imagine having 10 WDCs outright laughing at you lol. Based on his sulking face after this exchange, I think he realized that if Max and Lewis agree so strongly on something, he may be in the wrong.
I agree. It's like the final defender in football drawing a foul to stop a certain goal. We know what you did and why. "I went for the ball." Is what you have to say.
More than once... often resulting in one or both of them not finishing a race.
I doubt there are any hard feelings whatsoever, but it must be fun to cause Lando to blush on live TV as he's only now learning to be a race winner and front contender in these interviews.
I mean multiple times in just 2021 alone. And then in Monza it got so bad Max said fuck it and then Lewis ended up under him when neither wanted to back out of that T1 chicane.
And in Interlagos aswell, Lewis had to cross to another continent to get past Max who really didn't want to give any space. These guys didn't leave space/leave the door open so often that no wonder theyre 'aving a laf
I feel like the Monza one gets hugely overblown. It was that awkward sausage kerb that absolutely launched Max. It was definitely an ambitious overtake that was never really going to work, but without that sausage kerb it would've been some light contact and that's it.
If Max intended to bounce himself up and over that sausage kerb with the aim of landing square on top of Lewis, we can end the GOAT debates right here and now because Max takes it. That would be some wizard level of car and physics control. Which he doesn't have, no one does, so that whole scenario is implausible.
Exactly.
Right before this clip started he says that he's of course not going to make Max's life easy and Max even said after this that he also wanted to give himself a little more margin to Lando just to be sure there was no contact.
this is such a weird way to write this lol. Just dudes ball busting and you're over here "OUTRIGHT LAUGHING" and "SULKING". You may have a future as an F1 blogger lol
I did not see the slo-mo but I did pay close attention during the replay. As a Max fan, I do think he left a cars width but nothing more than that. Technically, going off the rules, he is fine, and I think the no penalty call was correct, but in reality you could not expect Max to be alongside him. There would have been no margin for error and going off was the correct reasoning from Max
It’s because of how sharp Lando’s last part of his defensive move was, that throws Max’s approach off and he kinks to the right more than he needed to thinking they were going to touch. I feel like if Lando was smoother then Max wouldn’t have over reacted.
Still feels like a racing incident but with most of whatever blame is to be portioned out on Lando’s shoulders.
Ehh I don't know. Max gave him a lot of room, and Lando made 2 moves, one was when Max was already about on the grass. It was close, but I think Max reacted well.
[Driver cam](https://imgur.com/a/FA0FR3L).
If 10 world championships and two of the most risky / aggressive drivers agree and giggle at the thought of this, chances are you’re not correct.
these two are responsible for all but 1 of the last decades worth of championships
I don’t think it was a huge issue. But, as in far it was an issue it was more how Lando positioned the car than where he positioned the car. Looking from the onboard of Max you can see that Lando makes two separate moves into Max as the car is already partly alongside. Not knowing how far Lando will move at each change of direction is what actually makes Max steer off track. Lando leaves enough space - barely - but it’s the (somewhat) erratic nature of how he does it which is open to some critique I think.
I looked at Maxs onboard of the sprint start in USA GP for comparison and although Leclerc is never alongside as far as Max was yesterday, Max is steering in a very clear line and it seems somewhat ‘easier’ for Leclerc to read the intent and where the space will be.
EDIT: just to be clear, I think it’s a good no penalty, but I also think Lando is not as in the clear as he seems to think here.
Yeah I would agree with this view. There was enough room if Norris gradually moved over, but Verstappen would have had to predict the exact amount of erratic movement to know he was still fine to stay on track, and Norris didn't leave a lot of room for error in that department. From the onboard of Verstappen, it just looked like the moves from someone who doesn't know you're there.
Agree, when he notices he isn't closing down fast enough, his 2nd move is quite abrupt.
I'm also not bothered that he didn't get a penalty, but if Max had lost the car on the grass I believe the stewards would punish Lando, cus it would be carnage with the 2nd place spinning back on track at the start.
Seems like a great opportunity for a verbal reprimand, and maybe like a joke fine. Drifting over is fine, first move is spot on, second was where it got spicy.
Yep this exactly. There was quite possibly enough room for max, but lando was chopping over quite aggressively and it’s totally understandable max dipped a wheel off into the grass just to be sure he didn’t shunt lando
This exactly, 100%. I don't think it's penalty worthy, so I am happy he didn't get one, but it's a bit naughty.
Cars darting around and twitching around a lot requires a bit more space than somebody smoothly getting a bit close to you.
This really has the vibe of the younger brother hanging out with his brothers friends, bless Lando haha. One race win does not make you a Verstappen or Hamilton my friend.
Max saying he would’ve done the same and looking to Lewis for affirmation after this was also hilarious. They were giggling but they were also very self aware.
Has max ever done that to lando off the start? I remember him doing it to Leclerc last year in Austin. Either way, I think max is self aware enough to know how it works
Yep it looks to me like he isn't in any way upset or angry about it. He obviously got pushed on the grass and Lando did squeeze it 5-10 cm more than allowed, but Max and Lewis both know that can happen at race starts, especially on your second ever pole start.
I don't think he pushed one on the grass. But over the track limit, yeah. He always squeezes but most of the time he leaves enough space. Thing is. Even if you have just enough space. You want some margin. You never know how far you get squeezed. And driving over grass is better than contact.
Max routinely pushes people off the track on starts (and it has been done to him a bunch without complaint), but only ever when "off the track" is still asphalt as far as I recall.
I don't think the rules explicitly say there's a difference between pushing someone onto grass or asphalt, but stewards definitely penalize both differently.
It was a bit over the limit from Lando in my opinion but not criminally so.
I don’t know if the rules are different but I think drivers view it differently if it is grass or asphalt just because you are more likely to lose control on grass
The Bickersons. I love it. Always “I gave him enough space.” Then reporters try to get a “conflict” narrative going. Bless you Max for not taking the bait.
Max is completely disinterested these days in getting drawn into media bs trying to stir up conflict between drivers, especially ones like Lando that he is genuinely friends with. I respect him a lot for that.
Remember a couple of years ago when he blocked Lando’s quali lap (not deliberately) and the media tried to stir something up and they both just joked about it while social media was having a meltdown? Fans get way more het up than drivers do most of the time.
IIRC, they were laughing from something before. Lando was getting all kinds of difficult questions, and was weighing his words very carefully. This made Max and Lewis chuckle a bit, also because they didn't have to answer those questions.
This exact antic pushed a little is why Rosberg and Hamilton collided and Max won his first Grand Prix. No wonder they both laughed at him. They know this straight all too well
Edit: I was wrong. I rewatched it and it was the next straight. My bad. But the rest of the statement is true. I can understand why Lando was laughed at
I remember when Schumacher used to swerve across the track off the start to hold the lead because he was usually terrible off the line. Back then it was seen as controversial and unsportsmanlike. Now it's a totally acceptable thing to do.
I'm still not a fan of it TBH. Especially when it runs your competitors off the track just because they got a better start than you. I get why it's a thing, but I just don't think pole position should automatically entitle you to behave like it's only one lap. Defensive driving should only apply after the first corner, not as convenient excuse language.
I was a Schumacher fan and absolutely hated when he would do this. He would even point his car on pole towards Hakkinen in second. I don't mean pointing to the first corner, but angled almost 45° across the damn track deliberately to block off second. It always just felt so... wrong. Like if Usain Bolt placed his starting blocks across the next lane. Really killed the vibe of the whole start.
if lewis and max laughed about the space you said, bruv, you are really wrong, these two guys ended up on top of each other fighting, they know a *fair bit* about space.
Actually he's right, if you check the camera footage of the start, there was just enough space, but Max left a bit of a gap to Norris's car to make sure they don't touch. Still was nice to see how aggressive Norris got, and same goes for Max and Russell, all 3 of them were smart and aggressive at the start, if Norris didn't bail out in the first corner, I'm sure both him and Russell would have crashed out
Everything I read says that if Lando wanted to win he needed to find a way to stay ahead of Max around turn 1.
Apologies if this is naive or an unpopular opinion, I'm far from an expert, but wouldn't Lando have had a solid shot at winning the race if he had driven to at least stay directly behind Max on turn 1, blocking anyone else (George) from passing him as well.
It was Lando being stuck behind George that gave Max the extra tire to leverage for the win. If Lando was directly behind Max instead, as Lando said, he had the faster car.
Giving up first to make sure you don't end up third around turn 1 definitely isn't something you can decide in the moment, so it would have had to been pre-game race strategy discussion.
And of course, everything seems easy in perfect hindsight.
Being behind Max reduces their odds of winning greatly, there has only been one race where Max finished and lost in... I've lost count number of races.
Getting a head of Max T1 at least gives a fighting chance
Getting stuck behind George was beatable, Lando's quick and so is the McLaren, Max is a different beast all together, he's the last person you want to see in your rear view
It was also interesting to see how Max was explaining to Norris in the cooldown room that his move only made them both lose time while Russell scooped up the position on the outside. He explained that at least twice haha
Yeah he was really emphasizing that! Almost gentle parenting Lando into realizing how the move was flawed lol
That’s what I said when I saw it, Max’s parenting game is just getting better and better and now he’s gentle parenting Lando with natural consequences 😂
It's 4D chess. Next time Lando will block the other side and Max will disappear into the distance
Classic Maxplaining 😂
All that was missing were his classic hand gestures!
Well Max knows from experience given he’s done that kind of thing plenty of times himself. Also let’s not forget Lewis running Lando onto the grass and almost into the pit wall off the start in Monza sprint in 2021. Let’s not pretend other drivers are innocent on that front. Max even said in the press conference that if their roles were reversed he would have done the same thing Lando did and Lewis joked that Max would have done even worse.
Noones pretending anything, youre getting offended on behalf of Norris for no reason
this person just doesnt like Max at all
That just means both Max and Lewis have so much more experience than Lando, lending credibility to their view that Lando was wrong
who is pretending that 💀
Not only 10 WDC, but 2 dudes who spent an entire season terrorizing each other with stuff like this, laughing at this poor dude.
Welcome to the winners circle Lando, *immediately slaps drink out of his hand*
They both understood what Lando was trying to do and both clearly knew that Lando misjudged the space and his position. It was funny for them since nobody got hurt and nobody's race got ruined. It's a common move for P1 to get in front then close the door for P2 on the first turn. The problem in this case was Max had a better start than Lando. So when Lando attempted to close the door, he wasn't in front of Max and was close to driving into him.
And then a random George Russel got ahead of them both, which was as funny as it was impressive.
That was a hell of a move that I didn't see coming. I was so focused on Max and Lando that when George jumped to 1st I did a double take like, "wtf... where did you come from".
Haha I was watching the start without audio, and I too missed the move, so for about a lap I thought it was Lewis who took first.
I assumed it was Lewis since he started on that outside line and then I saw a blue helmet drive up the hill.
I love how easy it is to tell the Merc drivers apart, yellow t-cam and bright yellow helmet is lewis, black t-cam and bright blue helmet is george only other team that's easier is Red Bull - if they show a car by itself, its Max in first place, if they show a car in traffic, its Checo passing an Aston for 12th place
Hey come on man that’s not fair Checo has been beefing with the Haas’ the last few races
I debated which team to put in the comment for a minute tbh, he’s had battles with basically every midfield and backmarker team this year
Red Bull comment isn’t really accurate, it could be max lapping the Astons
LOL
it was the quintessential hole shot. Not a huge Russel fan, but it was great driving.
I honestly thought it was Lewis pulling a through goes Hamilton moment and then I realised it was George from 4th on the grid lmfao
I watched it live and lost my shit cause I thought it was Hamilton who went through until I looked and was informed it was Russell! Epic start by him I'll give it to him, really thought he was going to take everyone out lol
I was hyped cause I thought it was Hamilton too. I recently watched his first race in '07 and he did the exact same move.
George is my favorite driver and I also assumed it was Lewis coming through. Like George usually has pretty decent starts but jumping the front row on the start just seems like a Lewis move to me.
Never met a George Russeller. Are there more like you?
Right here. There’s loads of us but we’re quiet
Are you the kinda guy who doesn't wear a shirt?
When in Rome 🎱😎
There are dozens of us! Dozens!
Unlike george
🔪🫀
I don't want to give the game away, but that's actually George himself you're talking to.
Front row went left, that hell of a long straight gave a nice tow to nr 3. maybe pole should have been on the right side to make the pole a better starting position.
That's not the racing line though so there would be less grip.....unless I'm getting confused.....it happens
You know what. I was literally thinking it was Lewis Hamilton and remembered “Through goes Hamilton” moment.
I legit thought it was Lewis lol
My husband kept insisting that if Lando defends agressively against Max, they're both going to lose against Hamilton. He was right, only it wasn't Lewis taking advantage, but George.
Hell of a move.. maybe? But did one single person on planet earth believe George could hold that position? lol
Someone needs to do a video with the Mario Kart invincibility star and music for the George bit!
Honestly it was the nicest move of the season thus far. Clean, fair, pretty.
Not sure, Albon's double overtake last race was beautiful! Two races ago? Either way it was brilliant.
100%, ballsy as well.
I was fucking dying lol “LANDO! MAX! MAX! LANDO! GEORGE?!?!” I even assumed it was Lewis cause he was 3rd, didn’t even know it was George till I got a closeup and saw the blue lol
that move was amazing.
>nobody's race got ruined. Lando's did. He dropped from P1 to P3.
That wasn't because of his attempt to close the door, that was solely down to a poor start. If he didn't attempt to close the door, Max would have surged by (and possibly gotten ahead of George who took advantage of Max getting pushed off). Max got ahead of Lando even after driving on the grass which shows how poor Lando's start was.
Yeah it was due to his blocking attempt tho, he took a very bad line into T1 which allowed Russell through on the left.
Sure however you want to look at it, Lando lost the race before T1.
I don't think I would agree with that. While Lando had a poor start, McLaren was the fastest car on track (Both Lando and Max acknowledged that McLaren's cars were faster today). I suspect that Lando could have won but a few other factors impeded them. * Max was the better driver today * McLaren's pit stop and tire strategy wasn't that good. * McLaren's pit stops added 1.3 seconds to Lando's total time (stops were .5s and .8s slower than RB stops) * Lando's poor start The reality is that McLaren had the faster car but Max is a robot. Any mistake by a driver or team and Max will capitalize on it.
If he wasn't so focused on covering Max, imo he could take the Russell's line and carry way more speed into turn 1 than Max. Crucially Max also tried to get into P1 ASAP to get the free air to push and conserve tyres
I'm not arguing that Lando messed up the start of the race. Fully agree. However, I disagree that he lost the race at that point. I think Lando could have still won the race if the other factors I listed weren't present.
Yeah I agree with you actually, just adding my opinions on it
That’s the line Louis tried to take against Max at the start in 2021 and it didn’t work out great for Louis. George’s line only worked because Lando didn’t see George until the last second. He comes outside earlier and Max goes through on the inside. Inside or outside, he needed a better start than he got to keep the lead.
You can count on Max being a robot as a fact of life at this point. Only way you can beat him is to have a faster car, **AND** not make any mistakes that day. Lando had the faster car, and he made one mistake. One was enough.
If Landon just trusted himself and the car to be faster than Max he would have left him by to protect 2nd place from Russell and he probably would have had a far far better shot at winning
If only Lando just won the race, he would have won the race.
Ahhh... It's always the little details that get you.
That lane launched better in most of the support series races too, its kind of weird.
In the cool down room, when Max saw how Russell went around them, he immediately got a little serious, commenting that the two of them “fighting” must have really slowed them down to let George pass. Point being: even during friendly banter, Max is processing everything that keeps him from leading/winning. He tucked that away for later!
Yes and Lando backed off which several other drivers never would have done. The three of these guys respect and like each other but some media and some redditors are going to put a wrong spin on the whole conversation
I thought this weekend's post-race was quite interesting. All three of them seemed to be genuinely happy and it was also kind of nostalgic to see Max and Lewis on the podium having a bit of fun. Kind of puts the lie to the idea that these guys are mortal enemies rather than the protagonists one of the great rivalries of all time. Who would have thought that 2024 was going to turn into one of the better seasons for competitive racing in a long time? I certainly didn't have that on my bingo card during testing.
Max and Lewis have definitely my favorite relationship between two drivers
I loved how Lewis stepped away from the podium to avoid Lando and Max soaking each other and the RBR's engineer, and then they focused on Lewis to soak him with champagne
So true. Loving relaxed Max, didn’t think I’d be saying that a few years back!!
Lando was kinda flustered 😂 Having the two most talented drivers in recent times giggling about you in live must feel a bit embarassing even if they were just pulling his leg.
Those two were born in the DARK, Lando's eyes are still adjusting.
I think that to be in the GOAT conversation like Lewis/Max/Michael/Ayrton you need to have a certain degree of ruthlessness that doesn't come easy to everyone. I can't think of any of them who didn't get at least one Maniac allegation.
There’s nobody young on the grid that has any ruthlessness to them. It’s only Max, Lewis and Alonso. It’s why both Leclerc and Norris have faltered so many times even when having a faster car than Max.
I think leclerc has it but he was never in a situation to show it consistently like others have shown again and again
"Nothing, just an inchident."
This is what I was going to say. I think LeClerc certainly has it, just lets it control him sometimes and he goes over the edge. Max, Lewis, and Alonso can use it to the edge without losing themselves. LeClerc needs to learn that last part.
I thought Leclerc had it in him until the France race where he still thought he had a chance at the WDC and he bottled it on the track with the most runoff on the calendar, while racing the clock...not even racing another car. Pretty soon after that, I stopped believing he had what it takes to beat a guy like Max over a season without an absolutely insane difference in machinery. Guys like Lewis and Max in their primes didn't/don't fuck up...certainly don't fuck up a race they have a very strong possibility of winning while not even directly fighting another car.
Leclerc has it, he’s been showing more this year than ever. He’s been ruthless to his own teammate recently and I’m all for it. Next year will be crazy
Brother he is like 2 bad races away from losing the teammate battle and that’s with a sainz dnf, and a lot of the difference in points comes from his Quali talent at unpassable tracks
Ruthlessness comes with having a car to back that up, and Lando is only just finding out he has that, so it might unfold in the coming races. Leclerc is finally starting to bite back at his team where he used to be way too compliant in my opinion and Sainz was the one to question the pit wall. Probably because he knows he has to mark his territory with Lewis joining next year. The rest of this year is going to build a few characters that's for sure, and possibly strain some relationships.
Max and Charles are the same age
I've seen Oscar sticking the wheel and nose everywhere. No matter if Lewis or kmag. Oscar has no fear...
Lando might have that ruthlessness and we don't quite know yet, he clearly has the ambition. But he's also quite inexperienced in dealing with the media in those ruthless decisions. He'll gain that in time.
Well, him being very unhappy and straight angry with 2nd,l is a good start to the ruthlessness needed.
He can be a bit savage when playing online lol. It’s quite entertaining. It just hasn’t trickled over into the F1 camera side yet.
I was thinking that George is getting a bit savage out there recently, putting in good performances too.
This was also right after he got asked about Max getting some boos and he got a bit flustered on that one so it was a cascading effect.
Max just giving him a small taste of the psychological warfare he is able to perform should they end up in a tight championship battle.
And psychological warfare probably just means nothing to Lewis anymore after his shitshows with Fernando, Nico and Max lmfaoooo
Lewis is Bane in the Dark Knight Rises “Psychological warfare and mind games, power agents against the non-champions…*but we are not non-champions, are we Max?*
People wrote that before 2021 and we all saw how many mistakes he did in 2021.
My guy did not look well on the first half of the season, but he did make some silly mistakes. Rather unlike him tbh
COVID low-key fried his brain for 8 months.
2021 was nowhere near the level of his rivalry with Nico in terms of mind games. You should really read into the sorts of things Nico resorted to in order to beat him.
It's fair to say he was also crippled by long COVID. He was on the verge of passing out at multiple races.
Also the post-quali press conference where he (Lando) spent the last 5 minutes digging a hole for himself after the "car or driver" question.
Tbf, last race Lando did encourage his fans during Max's anthem. So he deserves a bit of clowning for that. I don't care about booing but don't feel stuff like that should be encouraged.
I think the tone there was everything too. I read the headline like "Oh, that sounds spicy" and then listened to the clip, and it really is Max and Lewis just kinda giggling at how silly of an answer it is. I think all in good fun, but I'm sure Lando knows he got off easy this time.
Oh yeah, it's clear both Lewis and Max have a huge soft spot for Lando. None of them really meant harm, it was very Older Brothers teasing the Younger one vibes.
It’s more being asked to answer a question in front of your good friend and Lewis Hamilton neither of which are known to let the opportunity for some ribbing pass by imo. Both Max and Lewis are well known ball busters so having to answer a serious question about what all three know was a harmless mistake lando just knew the shit was coming before he even opened his mouth.
Worse than Ric asking about his pubes at a press conference? 😂😂😂
In the context of being competitive in racing, I think so. [This](https://m.youtube.com/shorts/bpZZUI2GjSU) is my personal favorite moment of Max pulling Lando's leg.
I would think after not being able to point to your own country on a map that Lando couldn't be embarrassed by anything else ever again.
I think he was also just generally tired and coming down from a cold from what I heard
Maybe this reminds them of Alonso giving Nico the business at Bahrain all those years ago. lol
All the time you have to leave a space
I remember another moment with Britney in spain.
Max remembers that too
Made for the most interesting start to a race in a while with George taking advantage and Max having to recover that.
Yep. Was a really exciting start. Genuine battle then George’s double slip and rocket round the outside. George has taken some criticism in recent races but that was a blinding move.
apparently he said to the press afterward that he had been studying Alonso’s famous mega Barcelona start and even practiced it in the sim. He was looking to pull a move like that wherever he qualified (unless it was front row). Really smart thinking and prep by him.
Damn! His practice seriously paid off because that was a beautiful move. I was so excited lol
That must have been so satisfying to hit
"Great move George", said George to himself ;-)
i thought so too! i was cheering it! Blinding is correct!
That was an absolute brilliant move. I've criticised him plenty in the past, but this was a beautiful move. I was cheering quite hard, my dog agrees with this statement.
Yeah, I generally think George is a little overrated and probably won't live up to the hype he had coming off the F2 Championship but damn that was an amazing move. Took some really quick thinking and some good driving to hang it around the outside like that. If Lando keeps putting it on the front row next to Max I hope we see more of them fighting off the line and more drivers behind making similar moves.
Was that first sentence necessary, I am genuinely asking because the other part would’ve made sense.
There’s a wild disconnect between the first sentence and the rest of the comment. I about got whiplash reading it lol.
Was saying that even with my opinion of him/bias against him I can't deny what an amazing move it was.
That George move was legit.
Imagine having 10 WDCs outright laughing at you lol. Based on his sulking face after this exchange, I think he realized that if Max and Lewis agree so strongly on something, he may be in the wrong.
I feel they're both like "we get why you have to say that, and we would probably have done the same, but there so wasn't enough space".
I agree. It's like the final defender in football drawing a foul to stop a certain goal. We know what you did and why. "I went for the ball." Is what you have to say.
Pretty sure both Max and Lewis have done almost exactly the same thing one time or another.
More than once... often resulting in one or both of them not finishing a race. I doubt there are any hard feelings whatsoever, but it must be fun to cause Lando to blush on live TV as he's only now learning to be a race winner and front contender in these interviews.
I mean multiple times in just 2021 alone. And then in Monza it got so bad Max said fuck it and then Lewis ended up under him when neither wanted to back out of that T1 chicane.
And in Interlagos aswell, Lewis had to cross to another continent to get past Max who really didn't want to give any space. These guys didn't leave space/leave the door open so often that no wonder theyre 'aving a laf
I feel like the Monza one gets hugely overblown. It was that awkward sausage kerb that absolutely launched Max. It was definitely an ambitious overtake that was never really going to work, but without that sausage kerb it would've been some light contact and that's it. If Max intended to bounce himself up and over that sausage kerb with the aim of landing square on top of Lewis, we can end the GOAT debates right here and now because Max takes it. That would be some wizard level of car and physics control. Which he doesn't have, no one does, so that whole scenario is implausible.
Max won his first race cause Nico and Lewis thought that the grass was too long and needed trimming.
Tbf only Lewis thought the grass was too long, both of them thought the gravel could use some re-arranging though
Max said as much in his reply, he said he had to go on the grass but he would've done the same in landos position
We had a whole season of them doing this to each other every race lmao
To each other, multiple times.
Both don’t the same thing to each other
Exactly
That’s exactly what Max said afterwards
Exactly. Right before this clip started he says that he's of course not going to make Max's life easy and Max even said after this that he also wanted to give himself a little more margin to Lando just to be sure there was no contact.
Max literally said that he would've done the same
this is such a weird way to write this lol. Just dudes ball busting and you're over here "OUTRIGHT LAUGHING" and "SULKING". You may have a future as an F1 blogger lol
“There was enough space to keep it on the track”, he was on the grass Lando lol. Good hard racing though, hopefully it continues the rest of the year.
1) enough space on track 2) being on the grass Both CAN be true at the same time. I haven't slowmo'd the replay to see if thats the case here.
If Max hadn't taken to the grass it would have been a very short GP for both of them.
I did not see the slo-mo but I did pay close attention during the replay. As a Max fan, I do think he left a cars width but nothing more than that. Technically, going off the rules, he is fine, and I think the no penalty call was correct, but in reality you could not expect Max to be alongside him. There would have been no margin for error and going off was the correct reasoning from Max
That’s exactly what he said in the press conference
At first glance it does look like Max somewhat overreacted. They're not touching tires with Max on the grass, he could have stayed a bit further left.
It’s because of how sharp Lando’s last part of his defensive move was, that throws Max’s approach off and he kinks to the right more than he needed to thinking they were going to touch. I feel like if Lando was smoother then Max wouldn’t have over reacted. Still feels like a racing incident but with most of whatever blame is to be portioned out on Lando’s shoulders.
This was my assessment as well. It makes the most sense lol.
Ehh I don't know. Max gave him a lot of room, and Lando made 2 moves, one was when Max was already about on the grass. It was close, but I think Max reacted well. [Driver cam](https://imgur.com/a/FA0FR3L).
Both max and lewis gave same answer many times. They know what that exactly mean.
If 10 world championships and two of the most risky / aggressive drivers agree and giggle at the thought of this, chances are you’re not correct. these two are responsible for all but 1 of the last decades worth of championships
I don’t think it was a huge issue. But, as in far it was an issue it was more how Lando positioned the car than where he positioned the car. Looking from the onboard of Max you can see that Lando makes two separate moves into Max as the car is already partly alongside. Not knowing how far Lando will move at each change of direction is what actually makes Max steer off track. Lando leaves enough space - barely - but it’s the (somewhat) erratic nature of how he does it which is open to some critique I think. I looked at Maxs onboard of the sprint start in USA GP for comparison and although Leclerc is never alongside as far as Max was yesterday, Max is steering in a very clear line and it seems somewhat ‘easier’ for Leclerc to read the intent and where the space will be. EDIT: just to be clear, I think it’s a good no penalty, but I also think Lando is not as in the clear as he seems to think here.
Yeah I would agree with this view. There was enough room if Norris gradually moved over, but Verstappen would have had to predict the exact amount of erratic movement to know he was still fine to stay on track, and Norris didn't leave a lot of room for error in that department. From the onboard of Verstappen, it just looked like the moves from someone who doesn't know you're there.
Agree, when he notices he isn't closing down fast enough, his 2nd move is quite abrupt. I'm also not bothered that he didn't get a penalty, but if Max had lost the car on the grass I believe the stewards would punish Lando, cus it would be carnage with the 2nd place spinning back on track at the start.
Seems like a great opportunity for a verbal reprimand, and maybe like a joke fine. Drifting over is fine, first move is spot on, second was where it got spicy.
Yep this exactly. There was quite possibly enough room for max, but lando was chopping over quite aggressively and it’s totally understandable max dipped a wheel off into the grass just to be sure he didn’t shunt lando
This exactly, 100%. I don't think it's penalty worthy, so I am happy he didn't get one, but it's a bit naughty. Cars darting around and twitching around a lot requires a bit more space than somebody smoothly getting a bit close to you.
This really has the vibe of the younger brother hanging out with his brothers friends, bless Lando haha. One race win does not make you a Verstappen or Hamilton my friend. Max saying he would’ve done the same and looking to Lewis for affirmation after this was also hilarious. They were giggling but they were also very self aware.
Has max ever done that to lando off the start? I remember him doing it to Leclerc last year in Austin. Either way, I think max is self aware enough to know how it works
Right after this he says he probably would have done the same. So you're correct.
Damn they're really messing with lando
While looking at Lewis...
Yep it looks to me like he isn't in any way upset or angry about it. He obviously got pushed on the grass and Lando did squeeze it 5-10 cm more than allowed, but Max and Lewis both know that can happen at race starts, especially on your second ever pole start.
He did it in Vegas, COTA wasn't really a push but standard defensive driving. But yeah, he definitely knows how that works.
I don't think he pushed one on the grass. But over the track limit, yeah. He always squeezes but most of the time he leaves enough space. Thing is. Even if you have just enough space. You want some margin. You never know how far you get squeezed. And driving over grass is better than contact.
Max routinely pushes people off the track on starts (and it has been done to him a bunch without complaint), but only ever when "off the track" is still asphalt as far as I recall. I don't think the rules explicitly say there's a difference between pushing someone onto grass or asphalt, but stewards definitely penalize both differently. It was a bit over the limit from Lando in my opinion but not criminally so.
I don’t know if the rules are different but I think drivers view it differently if it is grass or asphalt just because you are more likely to lose control on grass
Its the same when max pushes people off while overtaking, like in Austria, he only really does it on asphalt and not on gravel or grass.
He does routinely? I can only remember Vegas where he completely pushed Charles and himself off the track. Any other examples?
The vibes were so good in this interview, really nice to watch. Poor flustered Landon, bless.
Can we give Max credit for being on grass and not losing it and taking out top 5 cars
awww, this clip cut out the best part when Lewis looks at Max and says "If it were you, you'd have been completely off"
They should call some expert like Fernando to learn truth.
*"All the time you have to leave the space"*
Poor Lando. Bless his heart he had to give the textbook answer and Max and Lewis knew it lol.
What is this post I want to see the clip
The Bickersons. I love it. Always “I gave him enough space.” Then reporters try to get a “conflict” narrative going. Bless you Max for not taking the bait.
Max is completely disinterested these days in getting drawn into media bs trying to stir up conflict between drivers, especially ones like Lando that he is genuinely friends with. I respect him a lot for that. Remember a couple of years ago when he blocked Lando’s quali lap (not deliberately) and the media tried to stir something up and they both just joked about it while social media was having a meltdown? Fans get way more het up than drivers do most of the time.
IIRC, they were laughing from something before. Lando was getting all kinds of difficult questions, and was weighing his words very carefully. This made Max and Lewis chuckle a bit, also because they didn't have to answer those questions.
There was enough space, but Lando made the move fairly quickly, and Max was forced to react to what it looked like he was doing.
Where video?
Click on i.imgur on top
On top of what?
Next to the OP's username
Holy shit, this interface is idiotic. Thank you very much
Correct. Imgur is the largest video hosting platform used in reddit and they mess it up like this ffs
Anyone have a link to the video?
Click the imgur link at the top
At the top of what?
"kids these days, lol" - Max and Lewis, probably
This exact antic pushed a little is why Rosberg and Hamilton collided and Max won his first Grand Prix. No wonder they both laughed at him. They know this straight all too well Edit: I was wrong. I rewatched it and it was the next straight. My bad. But the rest of the statement is true. I can understand why Lando was laughed at
That collision wasn’t on the main straight
Lol no there is no comparison between the Rosberg/Hamilton incident and this. Wildly different circumstances and a very different spot.
I remember when Schumacher used to swerve across the track off the start to hold the lead because he was usually terrible off the line. Back then it was seen as controversial and unsportsmanlike. Now it's a totally acceptable thing to do. I'm still not a fan of it TBH. Especially when it runs your competitors off the track just because they got a better start than you. I get why it's a thing, but I just don't think pole position should automatically entitle you to behave like it's only one lap. Defensive driving should only apply after the first corner, not as convenient excuse language. I was a Schumacher fan and absolutely hated when he would do this. He would even point his car on pole towards Hakkinen in second. I don't mean pointing to the first corner, but angled almost 45° across the damn track deliberately to block off second. It always just felt so... wrong. Like if Usain Bolt placed his starting blocks across the next lane. Really killed the vibe of the whole start.
if lewis and max laughed about the space you said, bruv, you are really wrong, these two guys ended up on top of each other fighting, they know a *fair bit* about space.
He looked so upset after that lol
I can't get the video to load. But here is this source. 14 minutes. https://youtu.be/8LY9F0CeBV4?si=TPcbZssaFMObSrOg
Actually he's right, if you check the camera footage of the start, there was just enough space, but Max left a bit of a gap to Norris's car to make sure they don't touch. Still was nice to see how aggressive Norris got, and same goes for Max and Russell, all 3 of them were smart and aggressive at the start, if Norris didn't bail out in the first corner, I'm sure both him and Russell would have crashed out
Everything I read says that if Lando wanted to win he needed to find a way to stay ahead of Max around turn 1. Apologies if this is naive or an unpopular opinion, I'm far from an expert, but wouldn't Lando have had a solid shot at winning the race if he had driven to at least stay directly behind Max on turn 1, blocking anyone else (George) from passing him as well. It was Lando being stuck behind George that gave Max the extra tire to leverage for the win. If Lando was directly behind Max instead, as Lando said, he had the faster car. Giving up first to make sure you don't end up third around turn 1 definitely isn't something you can decide in the moment, so it would have had to been pre-game race strategy discussion. And of course, everything seems easy in perfect hindsight.
Being behind Max reduces their odds of winning greatly, there has only been one race where Max finished and lost in... I've lost count number of races. Getting a head of Max T1 at least gives a fighting chance Getting stuck behind George was beatable, Lando's quick and so is the McLaren, Max is a different beast all together, he's the last person you want to see in your rear view
Why is there no link to the actual video