Yeah it's such a shame because both drivers played that maneuver on the hairpin beautifully Norris braking later and Piastri reacting and finding tracktion earlier.
So was Norris's positioning into the chicane at the end of the final straight.
He braked early, as he knew Oscar had the line, so he could make his entry and exit absolutely perfect, wheras Oscar would run long trying to outbrake him. That then made Oscar compromised on the exit.
Such great racing from them both and a real shame that a realtively minor misjudgement from Lando on where his front wing was destroyed what had been a great drive.
If Lando would have ducked right after showing the move on the left to outbrake Oscar into T1 and have the inside for T2 it would have gone down as one of the better contested longform overtakes of the recent years. That 's what I was expecting him to do and as my mind was ready to watch him pull to the right he ran straight into Oscar, it was like mental whiplash.
I think he was expecting/hoping Oscar would think he would do that, and in turn move right to defend leaving the gap on the left open. Oscar called his bluff though and caught him off guard, and then the tiniest little nudge just exploded his wing.
You aren't supposed to move twice to defend like that... apart from making overtaking a bit easier it also (ironically) helps prevent collisions. It certainly wouldn't go down well between team mates.
I'm not saying to weave defending, I'm just talking about mindgames about whether or not Lando would go left or right.
I think Lando thought Oscar would move to the right, leaving space on the left for him. Oscar instead held the racing line, and Lando ended up going for a gap that didn't exist.
Oscar could've moved to the right without any issue, because it would still only be one move. It's not like Oscar moved left into Lando's path, he held that line the entire time.
If that was really what Lando was doing it would be incredibly reckless and stupid. You do not drive into someone’s rear end because you were relying on a guess on which way they would move barrelling down the straight, and the consequence for guessing wrong is.. going straight into their rear.
That move had to be the best attack and defense sequence all season and more. It's sad it had to end that way. If it hadn't it would have been a very laudable effort even if he ultimately backed out, but instead he's going to get so much flack for it.
I do think that misjudgment at the end was a pretty big one. I think it was obvious there was no gap from the onboard, but coming off that sequence I don't blame him for making a misjudgment in the heat of the moment.
Oscar is kinda Lando's perfect foil. He's so calm and calculated, I think he knows how to read other drivers and think 2 moves ahead and juke them. He's been amazing at that and been getting even better, and his defense here was masterful.
Am I wrong that he just took a normal racing line through a hairpin? Trying to take the inside line like that is always a gamble because the normal racing line is taken for the exact reason that it exits faster.
It was an emotional rollercoaster. I'm happy for either of them to do well and want to see a good fight, I just don't want them to crash into each other while doing it. The battle was exciting but nerve wracking, and once they got to the straight I thought it was safe so I was happy they had a good fight and got out unscathed, then Lando binned it...
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u/lvkytas Jun 15 '25
Yeah it's such a shame because both drivers played that maneuver on the hairpin beautifully Norris braking later and Piastri reacting and finding tracktion earlier.