So far I haven’t had time to watch the whole race. I was flagging 11B, it was fun to watch the cars coming into corner 11 and down the straight. I didn’t stay for the podium and that’s sad to hear that fans did that during Max’s national anthem. All of those drivers are awesome to watch!
Oct 25, 2023·edited Oct 25, 2023Liked by Ross Bentley
Separated by a few tenths of a second viewed from 5000 feet puts all the cars in the same spot, wow, and yet somehow Max keeps ending up in front, his belief must be strong Master Ross just as you say! And about missing apexes driving the limit of the car, it's not as detrimental (ignoring the car limits thing for a second) running a bit wide of a tangency after a virtual apex, is it? Last, totally agree, people can be rude, I imagine they must have no clue how otherworldly is the talent and skill here, and how for 99.99% of the world, those F1 cars would be impossible to drive, never mind drive fast.
Heartily agree with your observation, Roger -- It's nice to be told that all of the apexes I miss are actually the result of being better than I thought I was, LOL. I know you know, but we need to add ten more decimal places with 9's in them to your statistical analysis! Cheers!
Nailed it! Ross a very succinct analysis of the COTA race and the drivers. Lando revels in the challenge of getting McLaren back to the top but is so humble and mild mannered about his role in the process. He and Max are two of the greatest personalities currently in F1, but are polar opposites. Max can be verbose, but I think he is obviously one of the best. I’m a fan of both for their talents and personalities.
Thanks for your insight and thoughts Ross, I really enjoy your articles
Excellent commentary, as always! Regarding the booing- most wouldn’t know this but much of the booing was due to the local/state political disdain for Greg Abbott , the Texas Governor and Max’s trophy presenter.
Nov 13, 2023·edited Nov 13, 2023Liked by Ross Bentley
Always a huge pleasure to read anything you write, Ross, but particularly enjoyable when you get a chance to talk a little F1.. I have a young and committed student right now and it makes me look good to see so much of what I discussed with him over the weekend iterated in your summary... so I'm tooting my horn via yours.. but really that's to say I have little to add beyond agreement (almost like my racey viewpoint was built by yours..) but one thing you touched on briefly that I've had my eye on for a few seasons now is the Charles/Carlos v Ferrari element. When my guy-who-exposes-my-bias; Seb, parted from Ferrari and Carlos came in I immediately expected (and hoped) to see Carlos (sliding into the worn mold of de facto number two driver at Ferrari..) use the high awareness he'd demonstrated in his past to Prost his way past the faster raw paced but oblivious and trusting Leclerc.. and man has it been fascinating to see that play out.. I won't even try to tally them all but genuinely you could create a lengthy article around the multiple times Carlos has overridden Ferrari's strategy to a higher finish than his teammate who in many of those very races is victim of his own inability to understand and control the race situation. Now, I'm aware I've desired to see this happen but what really surprises me most is how three years in we're still seeing it. I kind of thought I had been exaggerating with my premonition that Leclerc's race IQ would hold him back, but he seems to have grown little compared to say, Max. That prompts me to fire down a tangent about how despite the ever-hightneing professionalism of pro sports today there's still a ton of old, outdated thinking (you touched on RBRs approach) that stifles potential, it can be very frustrating.. but I'll cut it off here, thanks again Ross for all you've done and continue to do for your students like me, and your students students!
I have the feeling Max was booed because there were a lot of Checo fans there in Austin, and he can expect the same this weekend especially, and also in Las Vegas. Too bad since he is World Champion and will continue winning most likely...ever watch his onboard videos? Like Ross says, he drives the car, not so much the track.
Re: Verstappen & Perez - I've heard opinions that a car can be developed in ways that favor one driver vs. another. Assuming that's possible, can you speculate how much of the Verstappen-to-Perez gap might be due to car development favoring Max? I guess that's a roundabout way of asking if we saw both these drivers in a pair of Haas cars, for instance (or Alfas, or what have you), would the gap be the same?
Two cars in a team can be touted as "identical", but I think we know that even a slight change can make a difference. The fact that the cars are set-up to a drivers liking makes them very different depending on the team and drivers, and there is the "upgrade" equation as well, as one driver gets more goodies than the other. I'd love to see Max and Checo swap cars and see what happens.
There’s a YT video in which Button offers his opinion that either RB has designed the car to Max’s style or that Max has figured out how to drive Newey’s car. It supports my belief that while Max is fast in the RB, his talent cannot be fully evaluated until he drives for another team, especially one that does not cater to his every whim and demand as does RB.
So far I haven’t had time to watch the whole race. I was flagging 11B, it was fun to watch the cars coming into corner 11 and down the straight. I didn’t stay for the podium and that’s sad to hear that fans did that during Max’s national anthem. All of those drivers are awesome to watch!
Oh, what a cool place to observe the cars and drivers! And thanks for being a flagger - the most under-appreciated role in motorsport!
Thank you for being a flagger. The racing we love to watch doesn't happen without you and your colleagues being at the track.
Separated by a few tenths of a second viewed from 5000 feet puts all the cars in the same spot, wow, and yet somehow Max keeps ending up in front, his belief must be strong Master Ross just as you say! And about missing apexes driving the limit of the car, it's not as detrimental (ignoring the car limits thing for a second) running a bit wide of a tangency after a virtual apex, is it? Last, totally agree, people can be rude, I imagine they must have no clue how otherworldly is the talent and skill here, and how for 99.99% of the world, those F1 cars would be impossible to drive, never mind drive fast.
Heartily agree with your observation, Roger -- It's nice to be told that all of the apexes I miss are actually the result of being better than I thought I was, LOL. I know you know, but we need to add ten more decimal places with 9's in them to your statistical analysis! Cheers!
Haha, nice to have helped you understand you're better than you thought Christopher, and no doubt, I'm short at least 10 decimal places for sure!!
Nailed it! Ross a very succinct analysis of the COTA race and the drivers. Lando revels in the challenge of getting McLaren back to the top but is so humble and mild mannered about his role in the process. He and Max are two of the greatest personalities currently in F1, but are polar opposites. Max can be verbose, but I think he is obviously one of the best. I’m a fan of both for their talents and personalities.
Thanks for your insight and thoughts Ross, I really enjoy your articles
Best
Tom
Excellent commentary, as always! Regarding the booing- most wouldn’t know this but much of the booing was due to the local/state political disdain for Greg Abbott , the Texas Governor and Max’s trophy presenter.
Thanks for that info, Alan. It's good to know that not all that booing was aimed at Max.
Always a huge pleasure to read anything you write, Ross, but particularly enjoyable when you get a chance to talk a little F1.. I have a young and committed student right now and it makes me look good to see so much of what I discussed with him over the weekend iterated in your summary... so I'm tooting my horn via yours.. but really that's to say I have little to add beyond agreement (almost like my racey viewpoint was built by yours..) but one thing you touched on briefly that I've had my eye on for a few seasons now is the Charles/Carlos v Ferrari element. When my guy-who-exposes-my-bias; Seb, parted from Ferrari and Carlos came in I immediately expected (and hoped) to see Carlos (sliding into the worn mold of de facto number two driver at Ferrari..) use the high awareness he'd demonstrated in his past to Prost his way past the faster raw paced but oblivious and trusting Leclerc.. and man has it been fascinating to see that play out.. I won't even try to tally them all but genuinely you could create a lengthy article around the multiple times Carlos has overridden Ferrari's strategy to a higher finish than his teammate who in many of those very races is victim of his own inability to understand and control the race situation. Now, I'm aware I've desired to see this happen but what really surprises me most is how three years in we're still seeing it. I kind of thought I had been exaggerating with my premonition that Leclerc's race IQ would hold him back, but he seems to have grown little compared to say, Max. That prompts me to fire down a tangent about how despite the ever-hightneing professionalism of pro sports today there's still a ton of old, outdated thinking (you touched on RBRs approach) that stifles potential, it can be very frustrating.. but I'll cut it off here, thanks again Ross for all you've done and continue to do for your students like me, and your students students!
Take care!
The Carlos/Charles "competition" is super interesting... and a bit surprising at times.
I have the feeling Max was booed because there were a lot of Checo fans there in Austin, and he can expect the same this weekend especially, and also in Las Vegas. Too bad since he is World Champion and will continue winning most likely...ever watch his onboard videos? Like Ross says, he drives the car, not so much the track.
Re: Verstappen & Perez - I've heard opinions that a car can be developed in ways that favor one driver vs. another. Assuming that's possible, can you speculate how much of the Verstappen-to-Perez gap might be due to car development favoring Max? I guess that's a roundabout way of asking if we saw both these drivers in a pair of Haas cars, for instance (or Alfas, or what have you), would the gap be the same?
Two cars in a team can be touted as "identical", but I think we know that even a slight change can make a difference. The fact that the cars are set-up to a drivers liking makes them very different depending on the team and drivers, and there is the "upgrade" equation as well, as one driver gets more goodies than the other. I'd love to see Max and Checo swap cars and see what happens.
There’s a YT video in which Button offers his opinion that either RB has designed the car to Max’s style or that Max has figured out how to drive Newey’s car. It supports my belief that while Max is fast in the RB, his talent cannot be fully evaluated until he drives for another team, especially one that does not cater to his every whim and demand as does RB.
So the same scenario that Hamilton was in for many years.