Norris beats Verstappen to pole as Russell crash ends qualifying

31 comments on “Norris beats Verstappen to pole as Russell crash ends qualifying”

1. 

   David BR (@david-br)
   20th October 2024, 0:48

   I missed the session. How did Russell qualify 6th without setting a time when Gasly, Alonso and K-Mag did?
   #baffled
   1. 

      MichaelN
      20th October 2024, 0:53

      He set a 1:32.974 earlier on.
      1. 

         David BR (@david-br)
         20th October 2024, 1:32

         OK thanks, the Q3 results table states ‘no time’ for some reason.
         1. 

            Esploratore (@esploratore1)
            20th October 2024, 10:37

            This site often has typos and such on tables, if a result is a shock, like this, check wiki, they update it pretty fast and it’s always correct there; maybe it wasn’t up yet by the time of your comment, but by the time of mine it’s up and it’s still not been fixed here.
2. 

   Edvaldo
   20th October 2024, 1:32

   Pretty rough weekend for Piastri. Norris is distancing himself from Piastri the way he should’ve done since the beginning.
   1. 

      Nick T.
      20th October 2024, 4:09

      This is no different from their qualifying performances throughout the season. I think Piastri is down something like 16-3/15-4 in quali and often has a car or three between them. The difference is that Lando has been so poor in executing, especially on lap 1, they’ve often ended up near each other. Yet, Norris is still way ahead in the head-to-head race results. The number of times they’ve battled together on track and situations like Hungary have simply generated this false media/fan perception that OP is always snapping at Lando’s heels.

      OTH, without George putting it into the wall, there’s strong chance Norris is P3 and that would make their quali result look a lot more even.
      1. 

         Esploratore (@esploratore1)
         20th October 2024, 10:41

         Verstappen had good chances to get pole, but I would’ve been surprised if anyone else could’ve beaten norris’ time.
         1. 

            M2X
            20th October 2024, 14:11

            Verstappen was up 0.170 on Norris’ time in S1 in his 2nd run.
            Norris was down 0.055 on his time in S1 in his 2nd run.

            Russell binning it gave a different spectacular ending to Q3
         2. 

            Nick T.
            20th October 2024, 18:42

            He treated his first run like a banker. He looked likely to quite comfortably get pole.
   2. 

      Esploratore (@esploratore1)
      20th October 2024, 10:40

      As nick said, norris always had huge performance margin on piastri, it’s just that his mistakes and bad starts masked that somewhat.
3. 

   An Sionnach
   20th October 2024, 3:34

   Lando is expecting a tough race. It’ll be disappointing if he falls short this year because he no longer has the machinery. Yes, he could have gotten some better results earlier in the year, but… it’s been a little topsy-turvy with nobody standing a chance against Max at the beginning of the season and it swinging in Lando’s favour after. Too bad about the sprint. Sounds like he was having a hard time out there.

   Is the pace in the race going to be Sainz, Leclerc, Max, Lando? He had a swashbuckling sprint and it would be nice to see Sainz win the race in similar fashion. Vamos!
   1. 

      Nick T.
      20th October 2024, 4:15

      When the car was great Max was great.

      When the car was just good Max was great.

      When the car was average, Max was great.

      On the flip side, Lando’s had a winning car from May through September and found a way to frequently not finish ahead. So, there’s really no argument to be had that he’s somehow been unlucky. It’s clear from the gap between Max and Checo that the McLaren is still faster than the RBR. So, if Lando can’t beat Max tomorrow, he’ll only have himself to blame.
      1. 

         pcxmac (@pcxmac)
         20th October 2024, 4:19

         Sorry, the Red Bull is a great car, Perez needs to retire, hes using his kids as sympathy, and his performance is garbage. Its sad to see Red Bull hanging on to someone who’s mind and body are not in it anymore. Perez is faking it, maybe even lying to himself, because he really does not believe in the team or it’s mission, hes still sleighted from when he had a run in from Max’s family, and all that drama which ended up seeing him away from the pointy end. Was it fair or right, probably not, but Perez needs to be honest with himself, and leave before everyone hates watching him, and everyone is sick of seeing a guy who can barely place a car in the top 10, while his teammate takes wins. Its not good for anyone, especially Perez’ reputation.
         1. 

            Nick T.
            20th October 2024, 4:37

            When the car was great, no one was near Max and Checo was finishing P2. So, reality doesn’t align with this assessment. However, I agree that Perez is an embarrassment and should bow out. My feeling is that he’s desperately hoping to put together a string of strong results to close out the season so that he can retire without primarily being remembered as the guy who fell apart. However, it’s clear he’s gotten past the worst of his struggles and is likely a half-second off where a driver like Ocon or Gasly would be putting the car. The other 4-5 tenths is Max.
         2. 

            Robbie1
            20th October 2024, 9:31

            “ Perez is faking it, maybe even lying to himself, because he really does not believe in the team or it’s mission, hes still sleighted from when he had a run in from Max’s family, and all that drama which ended up seeing him away from the pointy end.”

            Yes, because you, anonymous poster on the internet, have intimate knowledge of Perez, his life, his thoughts and his ambitions…..

            Another comment proving you can’t be taken serious on any subject.
         3. 

            MichaelN
            20th October 2024, 9:55

            Pérez has a father who is deeply involved in Mexican politics. This is a serious, and as Pérez alluded to more than once, dangerous business.

            I’m sure he is perfectly capable of handling whatever it is Jos Verstappen did or did not actually do or say. Jos Verstappen, mind you, is most famous for solving his problems with his fists. Even within his own family, for which he has been in court multiple times. He’s not some Machiavellian genius pulling the strings behind the scenes. Quite the opposite.
      2. 

         Esploratore (@esploratore1)
         20th October 2024, 10:44

         We’ve all seen perez’s performances this year, you can’t just say mclaren is better because red bull has a terrible 2nd driver, you need to look at what the best drivers do with it.

         We know that even though he makes more mistakes than verstappen norris is fast, as things are looking at this track red bull seems better to me.
         1. 

            Nick T.
            20th October 2024, 18:46

            He’s not in a disaster spiral right now at all. He’s been getting into Q3. So, while he’s not a good benchmark, it’s obvious that Max is just making a really big difference. The question you need to ask yourself is do you think Lando is really as fast Max? If no, then you can’t say McLaren doesn’t have a car advantage.
      3. 

         An Sionnach
         20th October 2024, 11:03

         Yes, Nick. I have to agree with you. It’s more a disappointment because I was hoping for a level of competition that we may not get. Lando and Oscar have had that much better car for long enough to catch up if they put in some one-twos. I expected better, particularly from Oscar. It was fine for them to beat all comers when they had that car. I’d have liked Lando to catch up, but then he seemed likely to just win as Max was a sitting duck. Now, it has changed, perhaps. I’m not sure where the car is, anymore. I’d guess it’s a little off where it needs to be for Lando to match Max in this race. I like Lando and think he has been doing the job in the last couple of races after all the criticism. There might be too much going on to understand where they are, though. Hopefully the McLaren will run better on a different set of tyres. I reckon Lando is good around here and the way he attacked those last corners on his lap… he’s giving it everything. It is Charles, Russell or Lando-style high risk, high reward stuff. I’m not sure Max does this kind of thing and is more measured. Lando knows Max and knows he’s got to go all in to beat him. That’s a risk he needs to take and fair play for him for doing it. Even in the last race, he was risking crashing out to get that fastest lap point. He knows it’s not against the rules, but it has to be annoying to see Ricciardo take it away after he risked so much for it. I’d like to see Lando win the championship at some stage. Was expecting it next year, at least, but now I’m not so sure. Hopefully performance here is race-specific from a car perspective. I’m concerned that Ferrari is too much in the ascendency and it might be another Lewis year next year. If he gets it against Leclerc he’ll have earned it, but… I just like the idea of Sainz or Lando having the machinery to have a good run at the championship. Not having a mega car to make it too easy, but even if they did, they’d have a good enough team mate to have to earn it. Leclerc, too. It would have been the best way to finish their team rivalry if it was for the championship.

         I don’t know where Pérez is and I have a feeling Red Bull have data we don’t have that favours him more than we might expect. I know that the overall package that comes with the man can be hard to turn down, as every team needs as much cash as they can get. I just wonder if there’s more to it. I’m not sure about Tsunoda. There may be an issue because he’s a Honda driver, or, through either his temperamental character or the data, they do not consider him a good benchmark. Let’s see. It might be true that Tsunoda is quick. A few races against Lawson might reveal more than we might have suspected about the performance level of Red Bull drivers. The team must have some idea of where they are at. I don’t think they would tell us and they’d want the drivers to go at it.
         1. 

            Nick T.
            20th October 2024, 18:50

            Lando is lightning fast. It’s very possible he can find a way to work through the weaknesses he’s shown on track. Part of it is clearly nerves. That’s a tough, but not impossible issue to overcome. Lando will need to pull a Rosberg and put enormous effort into ensuring he ups his game on all the areas of weakness before next season if Max has an equal car. If, like it looks like, McLaren will be the fastest car from the start then Lando should cruise to a WDC next season.
         2. 

            Nick T.
            20th October 2024, 18:59

            I think we’ll get our answer if Yuki comfortably out performs Liam and isn’t promoted. I’m sure his temperament is a strike against him, but I think it was a 75% a gut feeling that he’s not good that made Horner and Helmut decide long ago not to seriously consider him, but that was when Perez wasn’t such a disaster and they had many more choices for the second seat. Now, their situation is much more desperate and yet they still seem to quietly exclude Yuki. To me, that’s been driven by a combo of Honda, Yuki’s temperament and him never having a reliable benchmark.
4. 

   Coventry Climax
   20th October 2024, 10:57

   I think the FiA needs to look into having multiple contestants from the same country.
   It’s just shocking to see how shamelessly fellow countrymen help each other out by crashing, during qualifyling and races alike, much like teammates running it into the wall on purpose, or drivers on the payroll of the same company, helping out drivers from their sister team by stealing flaps and any such.
   This should stop. ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)

   (Yep, four times ;-) -five now- just in case anyone misses it.)
   1. 

      MichaelN
      20th October 2024, 11:55

      Schumacher, then at Mercedes, went out of his way to assist his compatriot Vettel in whichever way he could (which wasn’t a lot, but still) back in the closing stages of the 2012 season. This was particularly irksome as Vettel was racing Ferrari-driver Alonso. Not to make too much out of it, but it was still disappointing given the long and successful history Ferrari and Schumacher share.
5. 

   Asd
   20th October 2024, 12:08

   There was no reason to stop drivers from finishing their last laps! I hate it, I bloody hate it!
   Russell’s car was a mile away from anything and he was obviously fine, he told you he was fine too.
   Pathetic, such a qualifying session such be deemed as a no-contest.
   1. 

      David (@nvherman)
      20th October 2024, 12:24

      And, pray tell, what would’ve happened had one of the drivers still to reach that point had a similar “off” and collided with Russell’s stricken car? It has to be done the way that it is, and if you think otherwise, you’re just plain wrong
      1. 

         Asd
         20th October 2024, 12:57

         what would’ve happened had one of the drivers still to reach that point had a similar “off” and collided with Russell’s stricken car?

         Nothing. Nothing would’ve happend. It would’ve been a mild collision. Simple as that. The cars wouldn’t have exploded with the power of an atomic bomb, they would’ve been just fine.
         1. 

            David (@nvherman)
            20th October 2024, 13:20

            Tell that to Jules Bianchi. Oh wait, you can’t
            1. 

               Nick T.
               20th October 2024, 18:54

               Jules ran into a JBD tractor that was about 30 feet away from the edge of the track. Before 2019, drivers would have been allowed to finish their lap. No driver over the last 50 years has been killed or badly injured by hitting a car that was off the track. So, the data contradicts your subjective argument.
   2. 

      Dex
      20th October 2024, 12:42

      Sometimes you have to take a minute to think about things less linearly. Yes, he was fine, but perhaps he, or someone else, wouldn’t be if someone ends in the same spot (and mistakes in Q3 are unheard of…).
      Always take an extra few seconds to contemplate things, it’s a really good approach in life. But yes, I understand that this is frustrating for the fans, and it does affect the results somewhat “unfairly”, but that’s how the sport is. Unpredictable things happen, and someone crashing isn’t even that unpredictable. That’s one of the reasons they do the first run.
   3. 

      MichaelN
      20th October 2024, 14:12

      “There is a hazard beside or partly on the track.”

      That’s the sole requirement for a yellow flag, which was met.

      Qualifying will sometimes be influenced by yellow flags. It’s not fun, but it happens rarely and it’s not a problem as such.

      Teams can anticipate this by doing their second run earlier.
   4. 

      Grapmg
      20th October 2024, 16:32

      For qualifying I rather see them have more laps for pole (and tyres) so the chance a yellow flag ruins your qualification is less of a factor. In that sense the one hour qualification session wasn’t that bad.

Comments are closed.