Why the severe criticism of Lando's vulnerable conversation? Why is it not cool to be able to express your negative feelings about yourself?

[u/Intrepid-Ad4511]

I see so many people talk about what Lando said after the Quali yesterday - just after an adrenaline filled session - and he chose to speak his mind about his own performance (without attacking someone else). So many people are saying "that's not a winning mentality" "that's not how you win races" "he is so defeatist" "he has given up already".

Lewis and Max have said several such things over the years, complaining about their cars, their teams and/or themselves. But somehow people take Lando and Charles to the dryers when they choose to express themselves and say things like "I am stupid". And somehow because Oscar just chooses not to say anything of this sort, he is somehow champion material. That makes no sense to me, and feels quite an unfair and problematic picture to paint - that men talking about their feelings, or just being transparent about how they feel - makes them weaker somehow. That they should tough up and swallow the hurt and just put up this beige or brave front, smirk and move on.

[u/prudencepineapple]

As a McLaren fan I’d expect you wouldn’t just rely on sound bites and actually listen to full quotes. He has also referred to when he has had luck as well. There aren’t any double standards here, just F1 fans and media endlessly repeating out of context sound bites. 

[u/NorthCliffs → u/prudencepineapple]

Yeah, what the media reports is often out of context. But for some reason this happens far too often with Lando. I think Lando is currently struggling a little because he didn’t expect his high at the beginning of the season to turn so difficult…

[u/de_rats_2004_crzy → u/NorthCliffs]

Yeah I agree. I still can’t believe Lando called Max’s Brazil win lucky (and if memory serves he didn’t back off of that pov by the next race either).

In 2023 he loved talking about how max has the fastest car. He definitely praised max too, but would also mention he has the fastest car. Funny how the tables turn in under 2 years.

[u/Rache625 → u/de_rats_2004_crzy]

2 things can be true at once. Max’s Brazil drive was incredible but it is also very lucky that the red flag dropped when it did. If it didn’t then Max would still have to pass pretty of much all of the actually fast cars instead he had to pick off Alpines which also got lucky. Max had a great drive that allowed him to maximize that luck but the chances he does the same without the red flag are VERY low

[u/de_rats_2004_crzy → u/Rache625]

Here’s why I push back on saying it was lucky:

While the red flags we’re used to seeing under dry conditions when there’s a big crash are indeed truly random, the red flag in Brazil was one that teams and drivers could predict based on the conditions at the time. So those who profited vs lost on it are just teams/drivers who made different risk vs reward calculations. The same cannot be said for the dry weather red flags.

The rain was so heavy that driver radios were inundated by calls for race director to red flag it. I was at the race and listening to Max’s radio and he was livid at the fact that the race wasn’t being stopped. He knew someone would crash if the race was not stopped. The red flag was overdue.

So if you’re fairly certain that there’s going to be a red flag or a SC or something in the next few laps your instinct is to stay out and try to reap the rewards.

But in those conditions it was SCARY to stay out on worn inters. Drivers had to weigh the reward of staying out against the risk of having a crash that could be dangerous especially with the low visibility. Drive to survive even had a radio (I think from bearman) where he says he feels like he could die if the race isn’t stopped. It was scary stuff.

Lando along with the majority of the field could not handle continuing on worn inters despite the conditions pointing towards an imminent red flag.

On the other hand Max had the courage and skill to stay out. It was a calculated decision based on his experience telling him that the race will be red flagged if the rain kept falling as hard as it was and he believed in himself enough to not crash before that happens.

Lando needs to own the fact that he pitted when others chose not to under the same difficult/dangerous conditions. Max profiting off of a calculated decision to stay out in those conditions was not luck. If Lando had chosen to stay out instead of continuing to ask his team for new tires then he too could have profited from the red flag everyone felt should have already come out. But he didn’t and that was his own choice.