A strong weekend from Lando. Simply bravo! The pace was stunning. I was impressed. The upgrades are working really well. It's funny that in the McLaren technical thread, everyone was mostly focused on the rear wing that Leo tested and didn't use it later. But the other components made a big difference in terms of aerodynamics.Preach.E8404424 wrote: ↑27 Jul 2026, 08:16I am getting tired of the "poor little Oscar" act as well. Nothing is ever his fault apparently. He focuses on racing Lando at the start above everything else, often to his own detriment. He seem to think that if he gets in the lead it's the team's job to keep him there even if he is slower than Lando. And, despite all the wibble about him being this ice cold character, he seems to lack situational awareness on track and cant control his emotions in the cockpit, often lashing out at the team and/or whining about not getting his way. Counter that with Lando's approach at COTA last year when he refused to criticise Oscar for taking him out when baited by the media. The mask has slipped a few times now with Oscar. At the team photo after the race he turns up with sad face on and Stella comes out, gives him a cuddle and then sits next to him. Bless. It's not easy when the other kids wont let you have the ball. Poor little Oscar. And this attitude is in the media as well, they all seem to rush to make excuses for him. And it's usually that "bad luck" did it. This is the same mythical force that is strangely absent when Lando slips up, like in Turn two yesterday, then it's "making a mistake". Which it was. Oscar pressured him, good effort there, and Lando fell for it.
Oscar is Stella's boy in that team, it's pretty obvious. Stella is the lead guy on that pit wall. Any decisions, such as Spa, are coming from him and he's making sure that Oscar is protected. The only problem is that Lando is blowing him away, and stating it on the radio for all to hear. The comment about putting ten seconds on Oscar on old tyres, and then doing it, speaks volumes. Lando led that team to a win this weekend, the only non Mercedes driver to have a Pole, Sprint Win and Race Win. And his Team Principal cant even bring himself to openly congratulate him, describing him Pole Position as "surprising" and spending most of his time making excuses for another appearance from Oscar Disastri.
It's not unwarranted.
One of the issues is that Oscar inherited a sour Ricciardo fan base, and shares an edgy Max fanbase from when Lando started competing with him. So, the majority of his die hard fans hate Lando.
A powerful comment. I could also recall a couple of moments when Oscar behaved very unsportsmanlike, especially at Silverstone. When he asked Lando to let Oscar pass. Last year, Lando had more problems with the car, with balance, with reliability, but Lando was more consistent and won, becoming champion. Deservedly so. And Oscar broke down. But overall, they're both strong. And Stella has to maneuver. He's understandable, but he certainly has some sympathy for Oscar.E8404424 wrote: ↑25 Jul 2026, 19:00Stella forgets that Lando missed FP1 in Barcelona and still outqualified Oscar. So that's not even close to an excuse. Oscar has been behind all weekend and there is no way that he is making up the three or four tenths he was behind Lando on a last run on a track where no one else is improving. Oscar has been beaten over the last three years and is behind this year too, and we are heading to the part of the season where his Championship challenge imploded last year. And yet, he keeps getting contract extensions as a joint Number One while Lando clinched the Constructors with a win at Abu Dhabi in 2024, when it was win or bust, and then won the Drivers last year. No extension for him, McLaren's first World Drivers Champion since 2008.SilviuAgo wrote: ↑25 Jul 2026, 18:18Amazing job by Lando, as I expectedSuper happy for him and for his performance. Or maybe for his and his crew performance. Cause maybe is only me, but more and more there is a guy at McLaren that I increasingly don't like.
And a little context, Fred Vasseur and Lewis were making sure the first thing they do is congratulate Lando for his pole while stella just goes “it’s a bit of a surprise”. This kills me so bad. But he didn't forget to underline how difficult was for Oscar missing FP1.
Lando was top3 in FP2, P1 in FP3 and P1 in quali Q1, Q2 and Q3 and stella is like Alonso is on pole.
So imo if Max is coming to McLaren, considering also the two months ago rumors, Stella will also leave, and GP will be TP.
And this post brought me a smile. Nice club for Lando.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HOFY-_wWMAA ... name=large
Stella isn't even hiding it anymore. He just cant bring himself to congratulate Lando. There is a whole history of him making sure the focus is on Oscar. The strategy in Spa being the latest. There's the statement that "Oscar is the future" at Monza right after Oscar gifted Charles a home win because he was too busy fighting his team mate to the detriment of the entire team. When Lando won the sprint in Miami this year Stella said that whoever was on pole would have won that race. Then there's the smirk, caught on camera, when Lando retired at Zandvoort last year. The statement, right after Lando became Champion, that Oscar would be a multiple Champion, and this was right after Oscar blew a 100 point lead to Max, in half a season, to come third. Oscar came third last year in a two horse race and Stella's going "No, Oscar is better". The punishment Lando got for racing poor little Oscar a bit too hard in Singapore came from Stella (Oscar wasn't bothered about being "team like" when he almost pushed Lando off at Monza helping Charles to win), this was followed by Oscar getting nothing for taking out both cars at COTA in the sprint. Stella's approach was to remove Lando's punishment, which helpfully aided Oscar by giving him priority on when to go out in Qualy etc etc, instead of punishing Oscar. Apparently a wheel tap is worse than taking yourself, and your team mate, out.
I am starting to see why Lando jumped to taking the blame at Canada last year, he was getting in there first before Stella made sure he did. Look what happened in Singapore after Oscar spent lap after lap whining about a bit of hard racing. Lando knows the script.
I think GP is being hired to be Team Principal. Stella is not a TP. He is a great guy in the factory, apparently a great motivator, but his Piastri man crush at then track, making excuses for his favourite, is embarrassing when the guy on the other side of the garage is taking home more poles, wins, and titles.
You can take the man out of Ferrari, but you'll never take Ferrari out of the man.
Forgive me in advance, I don't know what you wrote earlier, but a former technical director named Anderson said at the beginning of the year, "Look at the new Aston Martin. It's pure Newey." And the result? The worst chassis car of the first half of the season. So, looks don't tell the whole story. Just like candy. The wrapper may be pretty and colorful, but the taste isn't so good.
I’ve never claimed the opposite. I think I have put the disclaimer more often than I should have at this point.LionsHeart wrote: ↑27 Jul 2026, 11:26Forgive me in advance, I don't know what you wrote earlier, but a former technical director named Anderson said at the beginning of the year, "Look at the new Aston Martin. It's pure Newey." And the result? The worst chassis car of the first half of the season. So, looks don't tell the whole story. Just like candy. The wrapper may be pretty and colorful, but the taste isn't so good.
I agree but I think Oscar was overdriving the car trying to gap Lando but he couldn't as Lando was so fast. This meant Oscar burned through his tires and compromised his race pace against cars behind. I bet if Lando stayed in P1 after lap 1 he would have won in a dominant fashion and Oscar would have a solid run to P2, never completely relaxed but still in control.Emag wrote: ↑27 Jul 2026, 08:50Oscar might not have even finished on the podium. Lewis and Max were gaining on him. His deg on the hards was horrible. People also seem to have forgotten that 2 drivers got grid penalties for him to start the race 3rd. Just a poor weekend by him which almost cost McLaren a win, mostly because Norris slid off wide in lap 1, but also because they were willing to compromise both drivers to keep the papaya rules alive.
Honestly conspiracy theories are so stupid. At the same time I am reading conspiracy theories that Stella and McLaren favor Piastri and then on a second post I see that it is the other way around.Danzo84 wrote: ↑27 Jul 2026, 12:23Alot of conspiracy theories floating around social media again today, always happens if lando finishes ahead of oscar. The race i watched i thought mclaren got strategy spot on for both drivers but i do think they should have moved oscar out of the way once they saw lando close up after going wide on one lap and losing a second but gaining it back in no time at all
And Oscar camp never does anything to stop it...Danzo84 wrote: ↑27 Jul 2026, 12:23Alot of conspiracy theories floating around social media again today, always happens if lando finishes ahead of oscar. The race i watched i thought mclaren got strategy spot on for both drivers but i do think they should have moved oscar out of the way once they saw lando close up after going wide on one lap and losing a second but gaining it back in no time at all
Oscar did say after the race that the strategy was fine, he didn't continue blaming the team like he did in the heat of the moment (in the car).billamend wrote: ↑27 Jul 2026, 12:28And Oscar camp never does anything to stop it...Danzo84 wrote: ↑27 Jul 2026, 12:23Alot of conspiracy theories floating around social media again today, always happens if lando finishes ahead of oscar. The race i watched i thought mclaren got strategy spot on for both drivers but i do think they should have moved oscar out of the way once they saw lando close up after going wide on one lap and losing a second but gaining it back in no time at all
100%FittingMechanics wrote: ↑27 Jul 2026, 12:20I agree but I think Oscar was overdriving the car trying to gap Lando but he couldn't as Lando was so fast. This meant Oscar burned through his tires and compromised his race pace against cars behind. I bet if Lando stayed in P1 after lap 1 he would have won in a dominant fashion and Oscar would have a solid run to P2, never completely relaxed but still in control.Emag wrote: ↑27 Jul 2026, 08:50Oscar might not have even finished on the podium. Lewis and Max were gaining on him. His deg on the hards was horrible. People also seem to have forgotten that 2 drivers got grid penalties for him to start the race 3rd. Just a poor weekend by him which almost cost McLaren a win, mostly because Norris slid off wide in lap 1, but also because they were willing to compromise both drivers to keep the papaya rules alive.
I'm quite annoyed by how driver centric many of online discussions are, this whole Oscar vs Lando story is completely stupid in my opinion. Stella doesn't have a favorite driver and would love for both to do well because it means the team is doing well.
McLaren does however need to think about how to handle situations like these. Car ahead cannot have absolute control over "undercut", what would have happened if car head wants to run super long and car behind can't match it?
Someone is working for McLaren PR departmentFittingMechanics wrote: ↑27 Jul 2026, 12:20I agree but I think Oscar was overdriving the car trying to gap Lando but he couldn't as Lando was so fast. This meant Oscar burned through his tires and compromised his race pace against cars behind. I bet if Lando stayed in P1 after lap 1 he would have won in a dominant fashion and Oscar would have a solid run to P2, never completely relaxed but still in control.Emag wrote: ↑27 Jul 2026, 08:50Oscar might not have even finished on the podium. Lewis and Max were gaining on him. His deg on the hards was horrible. People also seem to have forgotten that 2 drivers got grid penalties for him to start the race 3rd. Just a poor weekend by him which almost cost McLaren a win, mostly because Norris slid off wide in lap 1, but also because they were willing to compromise both drivers to keep the papaya rules alive.
I'm quite annoyed by how driver centric many of online discussions are, this whole Oscar vs Lando story is completely stupid in my opinion. Stella doesn't have a favorite driver and would love for both to do well because it means the team is doing well.
McLaren does however need to think about how to handle situations like these. Car ahead cannot have absolute control over "undercut", what would have happened if car head wants to run super long and car behind can't match it?
SilviuAgo wrote: ↑27 Jul 2026, 13:22Amidst all this discussion about Lando, Oscar, Carlos, Stella, and everyone else, I just want to say one small (positive) thing. Because everyone in Hungary was focused on the new 'B-spec' Aston Martin and how it was going to fight McLaren—along with other crazy press headlines—McLaren’s own technical updates were completely overshadowed. Even for us, since we focused more on the rotating rear wing solution.
But the fact that the MCL40 was absolutely flying, and that we saw Lando's ability to attack the T6-T7 kerbs with full commitment while setting all those fastest times in Sector 2, is thanks to a genius named Rob Marshall.
On a personal note, it was a huge and amazing opportunity to meet him once in Cologne. The man is like a walking library, a true technical encyclopedia. Big thanks to him for his work at McLaren and his solutions that are always ahead of their time.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HOKZpOUWAAE ... ame=medium
No, we don’t need him, let him stay in the team that he and his dad destroyed.
