Norris doesn't have that glint in his eyes anymore, if the car is good next year, he will win the WC.
He'll have to fight Oscar, George and Max... I'm not sure if Ferrari will have the juice next year, but i'm hopeful.. if so, he'll have to deal with Lewis and Charles too.
Lando is a weird one for me.. he has the speed to fight with the S tier drivers, but he is still lacking in some areas.. both him and Lewis started their final stint on 3 lap old softs, but he either took too much out of them too early, or they didn't work well with that setup and that's beside the fact that they had a set of mediums available. They fumbled the W today.
Oscar was the quicker driver today, but MCL sacrificed him to save Lando when they should have double stacked. I feel like Oscar is the bigger threat to Lando.. he had the speed in his rookie season, slightly slower than Lando in race pace and lacking tire management. This year, he's made a huge step forward and MCL are gonna have an issue if they keep prioritizing Lando if Oscar keep improving at this pace.. the 2nd strongest driver paring on the grid behind Lewis and George.
I was sweating the last three laps, but I think we found out Lewis was being honest when he thought George was going to out qualify him. Until today I'm not sure he had confidence in the car or himself really......BUT we've seen him catch Max in the second half of the season before. He's the only one I think Max genuinely is concerned about gaining momentum.
I don't think he can make up 100+ points, but a really confident Lewis going into Ferrari next season is gonna be fly knowing they'll listen to whatever direction he wants the car to go in.
Merc is bringing upgrades to the next two races. Not sure they will be optimized, but Lewis is a monster in Hungary, so it should be a fun race.
I don't think Lewis is gonna beat George in quali head to head this year, but if we look back at 2022, he was down 7-1 in Montreal and still managed to beat George, so it's not impossible, but the team dynamic has changed as he's leaving next year, so he won't have the same data that George has, however i expect him to beat George in races this year.
George is having a superb season, especially compared to last year, but the problem for him is Lewis hasn't been comfortable with the car at all this season, and while George is able to maximize his results and get more out of the car, it's not enough of a gap.. i expect Lewis to walk him for the rest of the season if the car is really there. Even if it's not, i still expect Lewis to beat him this season.
End of the race had me in the feels for real.. you can tell he really needed that.. i've watched this dude win championship after championship, race after race since 2007 and never seen him this emotional after a race. The self doubt was real and hearing him express it confirms that Abu '21 really took a toll on him... damn, to think the GOAT was doubting himself... but Lewis has always been more of an emotional type of driver.. Jenson once said, if Lewis could show up every weekend motivated, the rest of the teams might as well pack up and go home. When he's on it, there's no one fukking with him.. and he thrives under pressure.. last 5-6 races of '21 again is another great example of this. I'm just happy the drought was broken and the hunger to win is still there. Masterclass today.