No. The points are the race. Race Pace will be the key. NOT qualy. Points are won on the sunday. You need to give the driver a car to fight on Sunday not saturday. Alain Prost commented on the same. You have to put your strengths into the race, Merc need good race pace on the C3, and with straight line speed they have it gives them most strategic and on track possibilities. Its pointless qualy on pole when the person behind have so much pace they can undercut/overcut OR overtake you on track.Phil wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 6:08 pmI don't want to be the pessimist in here, but..... I think Max will be WDC this Sunday.
Without wanting to get into the rights or wrongs - it's rather simple; Lewis needs a win or best case finish ahead of Max, but within the points. From the other point of view - all Max has to do is beat Lewis or make sure both don't score points.
I've been following the Missed Apex podcast and there seems to be some info that Mercedes could have an advantage at this race due to the rear-wing problem RedBull is facing. This makes me believe that RedBull will throw everything into qualifying and make sure Max qualifies on the front row to give him every chance possible. This could be from setting up the car to favor one-lap pace to perhaps even gambling on a different tire in Q2. Perhaps even splitting it with Perez or using him to their advantage.
Given Verstappen can race pretty much how he likes and go for high-risk maneuvers, I see a very dangerous race ahead to the point where he has track position, any maneuver or potential overtake could be extremely dangerous. So I don't know... I somehow think the odds slightly favor Max.
Anyway, just wanted to vent a bit before the big race on sunday. On a better note; the contructors throphy is all but guaranteed at least.
THis is why i think RB will shift and concentrate on Race pace for Max. They need to give him a car to fight mercs and that may mean going lower downforce IF for whatever reason he has to pass lewis he needs to do it. Also protect him from Lewis. Going the total laptime route may also work (i.e get pole and pull a lead) but it relies on mercs being slower in the tight sections, but i think the laptime in the tight sections be too close so i don't expect them to take this risk.
This race is always and WILL be all about TRACK POSITION and giving you the race car to fight with more on track and off track possibilities. This race maybe won on simple out laps or in laps. So having a car which can perform on new and worn tyres maybe crucial.