The F1x

• The In Lap

  • Leclerc and Ferrari shine without upgrades

  • Norris nor McLaren ready and Max shows why he is the 2x

  • Colapinto is good

  • First safety car in 10 races!

• Overheard in the Paddock

  • George’s swearing meeting

  • Toto says things cant be said on TV

  • Pirelli had to drop trophies due to copyright (similarity with Bearbrick)

  • Organizers of USGP fined 500,000 euros

• A Quick Look Ahead

  • 🇲🇽 Perez’s last home race in F1?

The In Lap

One of our biggest takeaways from this weekend was how exciting next season could be! We were treated to a race weekend full of overtakes and battles from the front of the grid to the back.

We had teammates fighting (who won’t be teammates next year), great rookies coming into the sport who will either be exciting to watch or, at the very least, create constant pressure on drivers who are underperforming now that we know there are talented drivers waiting. Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, and Max could legitimately all be fighting for race wins next year… 🤞

Ferrari Shock Win

With all the talk of Norris and McLaren trying to catch Verstappen this weekend, and with the news that Ferrari was not expecting to bring any upgrades, I think it is safe to say we were not all expecting THAT performance from Leclerc (and Sainz of course).

Charles played his starting position to perfection. Knowing that Max and Lando would be mostly focused on holding being ahead of each other after the first turn, he just held his inside line and slingshotted himself ahead and didn’t look back until the checkered flag.

Ferrari are now only 8 points behind second place Red Bull in the constructors championship with 5 races to go. Unless Perez can find a noticeable boost in pace next weekend in Mexico the chances of Red Bull holding on are minimal.

Checo has 150 points on the season and now sits P8 in the drivers championship. That is 204 points behind his teammate who has 354 points at the top.

Lando vs Max

We were treated to some amazing racing action this weekend. In both the Sprint and the full race, there was tons of action up and down the grid. What continued to be apparent was that Norris just doesn’t seem able to control the road and push his title contender around.

Lando lost out at the start of the sprint and the race to Verstappen. He was unable to get past Max on newer tires for many laps until he went off track to pass when he received his penalty.

No matter what you think of Verstappen's driving style, the fact of the matter is that it works and has kept Lando at bay all season. This driving style—putting out your elbows, pushing the limits of what is ‘fair,’ and forcing your opponents to make mistakes—is what makes Max so good.

Once Lando cleared Max, he was able to pull a 4-second gap by the end of the race, so he obviously had the pace to get past. At this level of sport, sometimes you need to out-bully the bully, and Lando seems unable to do this at the moment. He fears contact, and Max knows he will be the first to back out when it comes down to it.

This doesn’t all fall on Lando. McLaren has had multiple mistakes and communication issues with their drivers this season, and this race is another example of them not making the right decision in crunch time.

Lando was able to pull a 4-second gap to Max with only a handful of laps to go, so he obviously had the pace. They needed to either tell Lando to get on with it and do his best to pull the 5-second gap so the penalty would be void or give the spot back immediately before the next DRS detection zone to get another run at Max the next time around.

Post-race, Christian Horner said in an interview that McLaren had the pace and the tire advantage to probably pass Max again if he had given the spot up. Now, Horner could be throwing salt on the wound of McLaren, but we think he might be right.

Throughout an entire race and race weekend, you can have many “ifs, ands, or buts.” BUT ultimately, what McLaren did this weekend in a crucial race didn’t work.

Franco Colapinto is the real deal. He has shown up and delivered in a hurry with Williams and is putting himself on the radar of F1 fans and teams.

In his 4 races in F1 he has already beaten his highly regarded teammate twice and one other time finishing one spot behind him (and was a points finish in a Williams)

He is now sitting on 5 points compared to Albon’s 12 in a fraction of the races this season. Over these past 4 races Colapinto has finished P12, P8, P11, and P10.

We are so excited to see how this plays out till the end of the season. Can Albon respond? If he can’t and then Sainz comes in next year and also outshines Albon the questions will come.

Overheard in the Paddock

George Russell said the drivers voices will be heard by the FIA about the recent swearing drama and community service…

Toto Wolff is never one to stray from a controversial comment! After the USGP he let his thoughts be known that there were too many inconsistencies from the stewards and race penalties. George Russell received a pretty soft and questionable 5 second time penalty for pushing Bottas off track at turn 12, and in Toto’s mind Verstappen did the exact same to Lando but did not receive a penalty.

Pirelli had to drop change their trophies last minute due to copyright issue and the unique design, which do share a similarity with Bearbrick.

Organizers of USGP fined 500,000 Euro’s after fans were on the track during the conclusion of the cooldown lap.

A Quick Look Ahead 🇲🇽

To Mexico! Checo will be hoping for a better result in front of the home crowd.

Horner said the other teams are hunting in pairs right now, implying they need Perez to pick it up. It looks more likely than not that Red Bull could drop behind Ferrari to P3 in the constructor championship.

Next year this level of performance will not be enough to keep Perez’s seat if the front running teams are this close.

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