Norris leads all-McLaren front row, Hulkenberg beats Verstappen to fourth

47 comments on “Norris leads all-McLaren front row, Hulkenberg beats Verstappen to fourth”

1. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   7th December 2024, 15:28

   Checo got out-qualified by Zhou in the last two rounds & Bottas this time around, which speaks volumes & is beyond embarrassing.
   Max’s last lap was surprisingly poor in the end since he got out-qualified by even Hulkenberg, but I’m positive he’ll finish at least third in the race.
   1. 

      SPArtacus
      7th December 2024, 15:31

      “I had a good Q1, but we had a hard Q3. We’ll need to figure out what went wrong for next year.” – Sergio Perez post qualifying comments
   2. 

      DaveW (@dmw)
      7th December 2024, 17:49

      Give Bottas some credit that car had no business even being in Q3. Man was on a mission.
      1. 

         Esploratore (@esploratore1)
         7th December 2024, 18:44

         Yes, impressive performance by bottas, very strong in q1, q2 and q3; if he’s leaving f1, he’s going out with fireworks!
2. 

   SPArtacus
   7th December 2024, 15:28

   Why is Checo’s replacement going to Audi? Heck, if needs be, put Bottas in his seat. Liam isn’t even close to ready for that seat.
   1. 

      Edvaldo
      7th December 2024, 15:50

      They probably think he can’t do better than Perez because Perez beat him 10 years ago in their Force India days.

      Even when he drove the Racing Point and Aston Martin cars on short notice, this guy never dropped the ball.

      The fact that he has been jumping from small team to small team his whole career is difficult to understand.
3. 

   Martin (@f1hornet)
   7th December 2024, 15:32

   I think Apline have shot themselves in the foot. Having Ocon in the top 10 rather than Doohan 20th would have been pretty handy.
   1. 

      Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
      7th December 2024, 15:43

      @f1hornet Well, it could cost them. But to be fair, for whatever reason Ocon has not been competitive in recent races or looking like scoring points, apart from the one-off result in Brazil. I know Gasly has had upgrades while Ocon hasn’t, but they have suddenly looked like they are driving entirely different cars, having been evenly matched as teammates before that.

      Still, assuming Magnussen and Doohan don’t score, it will be hard for Hulk to outscore Gasly by the 6 points needed. It’s likely that Verstappen and Russel will get past both which would put them 6th and 7th. Haas might need some misfortune to hit Gasly because it’s unlikely that multiple cars would finish exactly between them (though there is a Redbull, a Ferrari and Mercedes also behind them).
      1. 

         SPArtacus
         7th December 2024, 15:49

         It was a very stupid move, but they clearly haven’t been giving Ocon any support since Monaco. So, that’s on them.

         Frankly, Alpine don’t deserve 6th. Without an incredibly lucky Brazil, they’re still fighting for 9th or 8th at best.
         1. 

            Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
            7th December 2024, 17:13

            I agree. I know the points system is what it is, and I don’t begrudge a weaker team capitalising on a freak opportunity, but I feel like Haas has been the stronger, more consistent team over the season, so I’m rooting for them to take p6.
            1. 

               Red Andy (@red-andy)
               7th December 2024, 17:51

               It would be difficult to design a points system that didn’t put Alpine ahead after Brazil, unless you want to devalue such anomalously good results even more than is already the case. We already have a system for determining the stronger, more consistent team over the course of a season – it’s called “watching.”
            2. 

               Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
               7th December 2024, 19:06

               @red-andy I understand that and I’m not arguing for a change of that part of the points system (though I was in favour of expanding the points paying positions to 12, which I suspect would help Haas more than Alpine this year, given Hulkenberg’s several 11th place finishes). But I’m talking about ‘rewarding’ the stronger, more consistent team over the season, not just ‘determining’, which doesn’t have any real impact to the teams.
   2. 

      Jere (@jerejj)
      7th December 2024, 16:16

      @f1hornet Ocon could’ve very well equally qualified last like in Qatar.
4. 

   Nerrticus (@nerrticus)
   7th December 2024, 15:36

   Dear Red Bull,

   You can’t keep Perez at this point, and its obvious you’re not enthusiastic about Lawson, Tsnuoda, Hadjar, Colapinto or Ricciardo replacing him.

   Get. Hulk.
   1. 

      HJ
      7th December 2024, 15:38

      +1
      1. 

         SPArtacus
         7th December 2024, 16:02

         But as he’d already been sent out on a second set of softs in Q1 it enraged Perez. “I told you man, why the **** don’t you check? We just wasted a set!” he yelled on team radio, before dismissing the race engineer’s counter-argument that almost everyone else ran a second set, too as “irrelevant”.

         I wish his engineer had replied, “Why don’t you learn how to drive.”

         Perez’s radio certainly sounds like a guy on the way out.
   2. 

      PacificPR (@streydt)
      7th December 2024, 16:51

      The same Hulk that was outperformed by a rookie in Baku, the one that never managed to get on the podium in 230 race? That Hulk?
5. 

   Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
   7th December 2024, 15:38

   It’s astonishing that with such a dominant car McLaren will barely win the constructors and only 5 (or 6) races this year. That’s 5 victories out of 18 grands prix! Even in 2005 with a terrible reliability, but similarly dominant car Raikkonen and Montoya managed to win 10 out of 15 races! It says everything about the current McLaren drivers and how good they really are.

   Meanwhile Max once again pulls off a miracle to qualify 5th in what is 5th or 6th quickest car.
6. 

   MichaelN
   7th December 2024, 15:39

   Well that’s as close to ruling out any chance of Ferrari still getting the WCC. Faulty equipment, another mistake when it counts by their lead driver… disappointing!

   Hamilton had better be back on form from race 1 in 2025, otherwise Vasseur is going to have to ask some tough questions about getting rid of Sainz.
   1. 

      Esploratore (@esploratore1)
      7th December 2024, 18:48

      You never know though: points are scored on sunday, there’s no better example than brazil on how things can turn around in an eventful race!
7. 

   Alonslow
   7th December 2024, 15:55

   Russell not being investigated for impeding, not even mentioned in this article, seems he has the correct passport.
   1. 

      SPArtacus
      7th December 2024, 16:06

      There’s no such thing as bias! We’ve been told many times by angry British fans. So, you know it’s true. Move on. Don’t you dare make them cite the small handful of times a steward’s decision hurt them.
   2. 

      Osnola
      7th December 2024, 16:19

      The problem therevwad the lack of drama by lawson.
      He should have made a stage ready performace but just drove of.
   3. 

      roadrunner (@roadrunner)
      7th December 2024, 16:54

      I hate these situations. Lawson kept his foot in and trusted that these cars will see him in the very last moment and clear the way. Russell was absolutely borderline today. This time it just went fine, but someday it’s gonna be an airplane accident with a car flying into the grandstands. The FIA has to do something about it. Last weekend they took the first stap, but I’d like to see these last corner pile ups sanctioned as well, especially as Russell had already so much space ahead of him and yet he still loitered and tried to build a gap.
      1. 

         Roy Beedrill
         7th December 2024, 17:08

         I’d like to know who are the stewards this time. Herbert? Warwick? No, really this is beyond ridiculous. I don’t want to support any talk about bias or other conspiracy, I just want to know how it differs from the episode in previous race which led to one of the drivers getting a penalty.
         1. 

            SPArtacus
            7th December 2024, 17:25

            Felix Holter
            Derek Warwick
            Loïc Bacquelaine
            Mohammed Al Hashmi

            Warwick seems to be a constant companion to question calls. I think at least three of these guys were involved in last week’s mess. I really wonder if they’ll let Herbert steward again. I truly hope not.

            Personally, I haven’t seen any of the incidents in question. Just a quick glimpse while live. So, I can’t offer an opinion if this is another case of bad stewarding.
            1. 

               roadrunner (@roadrunner)
               7th December 2024, 17:49

               It was marginal. Three cars (both Mercedes and I think an Aston piled up before the last corner with Russell being the cork in the bottle. Lawson arrived on a flyer, passd two cars quite easily but Russell jumped out of the way at the very last moment. It looked quite dangerous, but Lawson was able to get his lap in without having to break or leave the racing line. As previous poster have stated: If he’d backed out it’s a slam dunk penalty, but he did floor it and miraculously his way cleared. But it should at least be investigated IMHO.
            2. 

               Davethechicken
               7th December 2024, 18:06

               What is wrong with Herbert? Can you give a specific example where he treated a driver differently based.on their nationality or just vague accusations?
            3. 

               An Sionnach
               7th December 2024, 19:34

               Ordinarily I would say that it would be fine to wave George’s impeding out of the way as no harm was done (largely due to Lawson’s commitment). The problem is that it follows last week’s incident where neither driver was on a push lap and no harm was done. As George said himself of Max’s penalty:
               “Maybe it was a little bit harsh, but these are the rules”.

               Well, this quote would more accurately apply to George. Max’s penalty wasn’t in “the rules”. If George was penalised today, it would be a bit harsh, but within the rules. It’s okay that it was waved away, but it doesn’t look right next to Max’s inexplicable penalty. Absolute joke.
            4. 

               BenHur
               7th December 2024, 20:23

               What’s wrong with Johnny? Being born.
            5. 

               SPArtacus
               8th December 2024, 9:57

               I don’t know…maybe how deep his bad blood runs with Alonso. At one point, he even accused Alonso of upsetting his wife. And it seems like anytime he’s stewarded and had the slightest opportunity, he gave Alonso a highly questionable penalty. The worst case of all was giving Alonso an unprecedented 20-second penalty in Australia early this season. He’s also had extremely critical things to say about Max and was behind a controversial penalty. However, let’s pretend all of the decisions he’s made weren’t driven by a bias conscious or unconscious, you want to avoid even the mere appearance and possibility of non-impartiality. It’s literally written into basically every legal system in the world when it comes to judges and jurors.
            6. 

               SPArtacus
               8th December 2024, 9:59

               ps – Frankly, I find it amazing you even had to be filled in about Herbert. Your interest in F1 seems casual at best. But I guess your vague accusations that I’m just making things up are good enough for you.
            7. 

               SteveP
               8th December 2024, 10:41

               @DaveTheChicken

               What is wrong with Herbert? Can you give a specific example where he treated a driver differently based.on their nationality or just vague accusations?

               My best guess is that what they find to be wrong with Herbert, or Warwick, is that he has a British passport.
               In this instance, it seems Warwick failed to outvote the other three and apply a “fair play” judgement.
            8. 

               Davethechicken
               8th December 2024, 14:19

               Spartacus, just vague accusations then and you allege bias but can’t provide any evidence of it.
               He criticised Max so you accuse him of bias?
         2. 

            SPArtacus
            8th December 2024, 12:33

            I have nothing against Warwick. Herbert is an obvious conflict of interest. But keep putting your head in the sand and trying to twist the argument, which is not that “Brits = bad,” but that British drivers have been treated differently and that stewards are human beings just like the rest of us and that thousands of studies have shown we are incredibly pre-disposed to be biased favorably toward those who are the most familiar to us. A steward could have 100% pure intentions and still be unconsciously biased. I’d say the same if stewards were disproportionately German, Spanish or Italian, especially if one of them was a former driver who had a long running public feud with one or more drivers currently on the grid.
            1. 

               Davethechicken
               8th December 2024, 14:45

               But you are specifically accusing British stewards of bias. Giving examples of penalties they give isn’t bias, it is doing their job. Provide an example of a time they treated a British driver differently, then we can discuss, but right now it seems your accusations are based on your own bias in support of Alonso and Max.
               Ps I am not from Britain before you accuse me of being bias….
8. 

   Coventry Climax
   7th December 2024, 15:57

   And the FiA testing their new software for deleting and reïnstating laptimes for next year?

   Don’t know what’s worse, the possibility of having a laptime deleted late, and no time left to do better, or being found guilty prematurely, to then be proven innocent after all.

   Any news on them using “hawkeye” already? Until then, somehow, they manage to make it an FiA farce either way.
   1. 

      Osnola
      7th December 2024, 16:21

      Agreed. If the are not sure they should no drop a lap. The implications for a driver are great. Like using another set trying to qualify unneeded.
      Deleted/reinstated not good.
      1. 

         SteveP
         8th December 2024, 10:51

         @Osnola

         If they are not sure, they should not drop a lap

         Spend the rest of the session investigating if need be, but as you say this deleted/oh, no it isn’t performance should not happen – unless they want to turn it into a pantomime.

         @ Coventry Climax

         Any news on them using “hawkeye” already?

         They were touting the idea of “AI”
         Not sure why they want the Artificial Stupidity factor in there, as there seems to more than enough of the genuine version in active use.

         Just draw a line round the corner that they may not even touch (just outside the average driving line for the outside wheels seems reasonable) and then sensors in the line that detect contact.
         “Beep” – your lap is toast, next customer please.
9. 

   Jordi Casademunt (@casjo)
   7th December 2024, 16:02

   Doohan’s second lap is interesting because he barely lost half a tenth to Gasly in the second half of the track. He lost one tenth in the pit straight even before braking for T1 (so maybe he screwed up the last corner in his outlap), another tenth through turn 1, 0.15s at turn 5 (with some extra time lost in the straight because of a bad exit), another 0.15s through turns 6 and 7. Then he nails the rest of the lap.

   Not a terrible job considering it’s his first race and Gasly has been quite fast the last few GPs.
   1. 

      SPArtacus
      7th December 2024, 16:08

      And he did well in the afterthought that is Ocon’s chassis. I say this as someone who despises Ocon. The worst teammate in F1 history.
      1. 

         SteveP
         8th December 2024, 10:57

         I say this as someone who despises Ocon.

         You might be slightly biased, then?

         The worst teammate in F1 history.

         I was rather predicting the PG/EO pairing doing a good job of both vying for that title, but I think PG may have edged it.
         1. 

            SPArtacus
            8th December 2024, 12:59

            Exactly. As someone who is biased against Ocon, I have no motivation to give him credit for doing as well as he did against PG in an unfavorable situation.
            1. 

               SPArtacus
               8th December 2024, 13:02

               Oh, the worst teammate in history bit. That’s why I came to despise him. I used to be his fan and got sick of him being such a terrible teammate. Look up the video by Yelistener “Ocon being the worst teammate in history.”

               Also, Ocon is literally famous / known for being a teammate. So, this isn’t some unique view.
10. 

    Leo B
    7th December 2024, 16:13

    Before Turn 2, it will be PIA SAI NOR. That’s the way it will go.
11. 

    Edvaldo
    7th December 2024, 16:52

    Max was very fast, but his Q3 was a mess.
    He’ll probably finish P2 or P3 still, who knows, even a win is possible. Red Bull is back.
    1. 

       SteveP
       8th December 2024, 11:00

       Max was very fast, but his Q3 was a mess.

       Well, someone seems to have moved the difficult to pass Hulkenberg out of his way. How fortunate.

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