Pierre Gasly believes Max Verstappen is the favourite to win in Belgium. The Dutchman has to start from 14th position, but has been incredibly fast all weekend.
A penalty for Verstappen every race
Gasly said in a conversation with Sky Sports that he identifies Verstappen as the favourite for victory. "When I saw how fast Max is, it occurred to me that he should be penalised every race and always start from the back so much he would win anyway", he laughs.
"He is incredibly fast and I think he will win the race, for sure", the Frenchman added. Gasly praised his former teammate and said the Dutchman was driving in his own category.
Gasly goes for points
Gasly will start from eighth on the grid in Belgium. From this position, the AlphaTauri driver hopes to score points. He has not managed to do so since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix six races ago.
Yet I am betting Max fans believe it's his driving and not the car that is fast. In fact it's the fastest on the grid and even faster than Mercedes dominance. No chance of any car catching Max. Perez no problem as his car is set up for max and Perez can't drive it properly. The bookies made max favourite at 14th on the grid. Never in all my 47 years of F1 have I seen that happen. Even Hamilton who came from 14tg to win was never a favourite. Just goes to show how fast that rocket ship is. And max fans will be happy to see this for years. Yet moaned when mercedes did this. Will Horner be able to do more than 4 in a row? Am sure not as technology will have improved again before that happens. If not I hope it does as it will be as boring for fans of F1 if this happens again. That's real fans and not those who hang onto winning drivers or support someone because they hate the other.
Then, we shall see a reverse grid race..... which I have been saying would make the racing more interesting..... on tracks where overtaking is possible, not on a track like Monaco, obviously! Putting the faster cars ahead of slow ones, doesn't make for good overtaking, apart from lapping them. More logical to put the slower ones in front of the faster cars, then we will see more interesting races and more overtakes.
@Mech Engineer +3295028-08-2022 16:16 But if the best drivers qualify for worst position, why would they qualify at all? I mean you would get the best track position by staying in during qualify and thus earning an 20th position...
Give points for qualifying as well, to encourage them to do their best, then they can gain even more if they overtake others to get to the front by the end of the race.
F2 do a reverse grid and award points. Plus the FIA would also make it compulsory to give all on qualifying. They will easily get the stats
I kinda like that, and yeah, it'll change the dynamics of qualifying maybe a lot, but the teams can't manipulate results too much if it does end up hurting them during the races. It would be easiest to take qualifications out of the equation entirely, and have extended free practices instead, so you could use the results from the previous race to determine the starting grid for the next race. Put the winners at the back and so forth, if they manage to win from the back, it'll be all the more amazing to see them try to do it again in the next race.
But you have teams sand bagging to finish last to start first next race. Perhaps they would never win race (A) but know they do well in race (B) so just finish last or DNF then you got pole next race. Great idea but also dumb.
Yeah, but what is the point in starting first, but finishing last? The lower you finish, the less points you get, so you're only screwing yourself out of points by finishing lower. Because every point you pass up on, can be taken by your competitor, just like with any other race. But yeah, they could maybe calculate in a couple lower finishes to have an advantage in the next race, but that still comes at a points loss from finishing lower, and they still have to get more points in the next race to make up for that loss, similar to Leclerc's last pit stop, instead of gaining 1 point, he lost 2. Maybe they could introduce taking away a point when you finish 19th and 20th, to avoid teams purposely tanking some races and prevent "pole vultures". Although i still don't really see much point in tanking your own race. And taking away points might unnecessarily punish weaker teams, so idk, it's definitely not a worked out plan yet.
Interesting idea if robots were driving but humans would mess it up. Too many wrecks and too much $$$ wasted for better teams trying to get to the front.
Don’t joke about it , Mercedes will push the FIA for it
Mercedes reign is over. When the entire flex floor accusations instigated by Mercedes came about, and all Hamilton/Mercedes fanboys were yelling and throwing accusations. Look at all these poor losers now; Max is the crushing hammer and will win the 2022 World Championship by the time Mexico City is on order. Haha, poor Lewis & Company.
Poor losers? We are yet to see anything remotely like Max and Horner over the past several. Even moments before they were handed the championship on a silver plate, they were Whining over the radio how typical it was that the race director was going to follow the rules. Just laughable really.
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