I think it's telling that when Lando was approaching George his engineer warned him- "We know what Russell is like. He's all or nothing so just have patience with him. "
There are a few drivers on the grid that the others are more cautious of because of their driving style. As long as they race within the rules it's fine and people tiptoe around the issue, but no one wants to have their race ended over a boneheaded move that was never on. Sometimes it's aggressive driving, sometimes it's incompetence.
Every situation is different but there do seem to be a few drivers more prone to that behavior or to making those mistakes.
He's not wrong. The restart was especially bad for him because he was squeezed from both sides and had to back out or he was going to get hit. A few seconds later into the braking zone nearly the same thing happened and he yielded again. After the restart madness was sorted out he got to work passing people again.
Having a quick car helps make decisions quickly to live to fight another day, but his colleagues could stand to be more sensible about their car positioning. It doesn't have to be 'win it or bin it' whether you're at the front (Checo) or closer to the back.
If he can get his qualifying form in order he's probably on the podium every remaining race. At that point he's all but locked up 4th.
I'm glad to see his faith in the team rewarded with a car that appears to be on a rocket trajectory right now. With some luck and a ton of work in Woking over the winter there's a legitimate chance of a Max/Daniel vs Lando/Oscar vs Lewis/George vs Charles/Carlos for poles, wins, and a couple of championships before the new regulations hit.
His interviews have become 3-5 word answers where he doesn't even look at the interviewer half the time. His driving has become even more desperate and insensible, supposedly passing out multiple times in Qatar but continuing on, along with even crazier wheel banging than we were used to seeing.
Whatever it is I hope he gets it figured out before he hurts himself or someone else.
Seems strange for a racing organization (FiA) to focus on things like podium celebration when we can't get consistent or timely track limits, impeding penalties, etc.
I think we're going to find out just how difficult it really is to pass in Mexico. Lando is starting out of position with a chip on his shoulder, he'll be sending it.
The panel kept switching between yellow (or white) and green. Super confusing to me.
I agree, and mistakenly assumed they would give him a warning or announce something had malfunctioned with the panels. I don't know how anyone could say what colors were supposed to be followed when the boards were a mess and there were no flags being waived besides blue flags.
I'd like to see both McLarens in the top 5 and both Alpha Tauri in Q3.
I think we'll see a few interesting knock outs and probably a couple guys we don't get to see in Q3 often. Valtteri, Alex, and Daniel all looked like they were on it over one lap.