Race 14 - 2023 Dutch GP [Zandvoort]

[airshifter]

Chaos.jpg


Overall I thought it was a very fun race to watch. The changing weather creates most of it, and usually does with races like this. In all fairness to those that got it wrong as much as right, the track was drying so quickly that staying out in the rain might have made sense if the rain just came through in a quick band. But in any case, in both qually and the race the changing track spiced things up, and wow.... so many people dropping way back and then recovering in many cases.

As is getting usual, RB and Max at the helm were in their own league. Checo's side of the garage made the right call when the rain came, but no car on the track today was even close to matching Max. As for Checo getting played, I saw it as risk minimization myself. Max was quicker, and he was going to pass Checo regardless. By pitting him first it avoided any potential on track drama and saved Checo the embarrassment of the pass.

As for DOTD, I don't vote on such things but probably would have given it to Gasly or Albon myself. Fred put in a great drive, but we expect great drives from Fred, Lewis, and Max. And he put the car where it could and should be, as he always does. But for Gasly and Albon to put the cars where they did IMHO took more effort by both the drivers and teams. Granted the Williams is getting better, but really it was put where it shouldn't have made it in qually, and Fred could have done better there. Not to mention the fact that compared to Alonso, Alex may as well be a rookie in terms of experience.


As for the car comparisons, I don't know if this race proved much of anything that we didn't already know. AMR might have clawed forward some, McLaren blew it in strategy, Ferrari got strategy wrong for Leclerc AGAIN, Williams seems to be making progress, and the RB with Max at the wheel can't be touched. I think overall the AMR, Merc, and Ferrari are fairly equal cars but the drivers inconsistencies and/or poor strategy calls are making the performance delta seem greater than it is. McLaren are also close, but it seems they are often more on or off depending on the track type. Their drivers are doing well but the team can fail them at times.

[Bagwan]

I agree with Tazzy , that Fred was best in that race .

The moment he heard the rain was coming , he knew he didn't have to do any saving of tires , so took off like a shot , taking the fastest lap at the perfect moment .
That sly move is a perfect example of what he does on a regular basis .

He was asking the team to watch others in the corners ahead of him for cues on how wet it was .
To just be able to process explaining the idea to the team , then thinking about the data coming back while driving one of these cars in the wet is an unbelievable thing to me .


Nothing against anyone else , but it was Alonso in my opinion .

[Tazio]

Baggie, that is why Fred is commonly referred to as "The Wiley Old Fox". With very few exceptions he is a man among boyz. I think this was his best race of the season, and although there were other very good drives, I think 'Zo really deserved DOTR

[Nitrodaze]

I agree with Tazzy , that Fred was best in that race .

The moment he heard the rain was coming , he knew he didn't have to do any saving of tires , so took off like a shot , taking the fastest lap at the perfect moment .
That sly move is a perfect example of what he does on a regular basis .

He was asking the team to watch others in the corners ahead of him for cues on how wet it was .
To just be able to process explaining the idea to the team , then thinking about the data coming back while driving one of these cars in the wet is an unbelievable thing to me .


Nothing against anyone else , but it was Alonso in my opinion .

To be fair, Alonso got the most out of his race than any other driver in the race. So he is my man of the race too. But what a race eh? Every driver iin the top ten drove their pants off, l think.

[Nitrodaze]

I think Monza is going to throw up some surprises. The battle for 2nd may shuffle up again. Aston is looking fast but are they fast enough? The Mercedes is showing an increase in performance. Alpine was fast enough to keep Ferrari behind. I wonder if Ferrari has drifted backward.

[Tazio]

To be fair, Alonso got the most out of his race than any other driver in the race. So he is my man of the race too. But what a race eh? Every driver iin the top ten drove their pants off, l think.

Yes, a very entertaining race.
The Boss, Gas', Alb', 'ax, and even
'los had really great races. I can't include Checo however, he made a couple mistakes. I just don't know how Fred overtook Zho so effortlessly after their pitstops. It was like he let him through.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[Nitrodaze]

Yes, a very entertaining race.
The Boss, Gas', Alb', 'ax, and even
'los had really great races. I can't include Checo however, he made a couple mistakes. I just don't know how Fred overtook Zho so effortlessly after their pitstops. It was like he let him through.

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If we have it in order of top three, this is how l would put it now:-

1. Alonso
2. Gasly - 12th to 3rd; that was some driving
3. Albon