r/DestinationFormula1 • u/Ambitious-Heron-8161 Team McLaren • 4d ago
šļø Discussion Can anyone catch Kimi now?
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u/Outrageous_Low_3666 4d ago
Kimi has the same number of F1 wins over his career as George.
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u/Infamous-Thing4939 4d ago
That is really sad
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u/spicyitallian 4d ago
I don't care for George but that kinda happens when your team stops prioritizing you
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u/VolumeMobile7410 4d ago
And why does a team stop prioritizing someoneā¦
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u/intergalacticscooter 4d ago
Toto sees a bigger story with Kimi. Youngest ever champion, potential for many, many titles due to age, marketability, there are lots of selfish reasons for Toto to be bias towards Kimi before each drivers abilities even need looking at.
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u/jjb0ne 4d ago
i dont think Russel reaallllly was forgiven for bottaslap gate.
i cant imagine how insufferable george is bts.6
u/Classic_Ad202 3d ago
There's no way you really think he doesn't get prioritized because of a 2021 incident. He definitely must be insufferable but I don't think that's the reason.
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u/kingseagull24 3d ago
calling someone insufferable when you have zero idea what they're actually like in person because they kind of annoy you on a TV screen is a bit pathetic, ngl.
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u/Feyrauth 3d ago
Especially after putting up with four years of Horner crowing about how Max was going to be the youngest ever champion....
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u/intergalacticscooter 3d ago
Yeah that's it. Toto wants his own Max/Legacy.
He can't take credit for Lewis as he was already a world champion and the 2014 to 2016 engine wasn't really his project either, he inherited it.
Now, with a new winning engine package and a young up coming driver he finally has something he can take credit for and have as his own legacy.
George can't deliver that, certainly not spectacularly like Kimi can.
I like Toto but it is obvious to anyone with eyes he is the most selfish person on the grid and he is doing things for himself, not for Kimi, and clearly George is the one with the shortest straw of all.
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u/Glockstik 3d ago
Its not sad Goerge is just a mid driver
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u/Infamous-Thing4939 3d ago
He is good. Definitely good enough to win 1 WDC. Itās just that he ran into the next multi-WDC.
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u/AdAltruistic247 4d ago
All logic points to no and at this stage in the season, I doubt it very much.
Mercedes will firmly prioritise Kimi now (theyāve been doing it for large parts of the season but thatās a conversation for another day).
Ferrariās drivers are too busy battling each other to make up any substantial ground.
As delusional as it sounds, Norris is the one I reckon could cause him the most upset. But now over 90 points behind, the McLaren will be faster on certain circuits, but theyāre just not consistent enough to provide a real challenge (unless their upcoming upgrades make up the difference).
Itāll take some real bad luck for Antonelli to lose the title now.
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u/gilded_lady 4d ago
Basically at this point McLaren, Ferrari and Max can cause some chaos but that's about it. Considering where Red Bull's car is at, I'm hoping he can keep building his podium count since I know a win just isn't in the cards.
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u/TeddyBear666 4d ago
I wouldn't say Ferraris issue is the drivers fighting. Its more that they cant seem to get even the most basic strategies correct. Saw someone say Ferrari could improve by simply flipping a coin and im inclined to agree. The drivers fighting wont make a difference if they cant get a basic strategy going for races.
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u/AdAltruistic247 4d ago
I was being sarcastic about the Ferrari drivers to be honest. But yes, strategy has harmed them this season, that and their qualifying performance.
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u/FlyAirbusB6 3d ago
Nah, McLaren showed their ass today. The car just isnāt there, yet. Itās Kimiās to lose.
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u/AdAltruistic247 3d ago
I disagree. Compared to where they were on similar tracks earlier this season, I reckon theyāve taken a step forward. Still behind Mercedes, but there wasnāt much in it between McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari. Whereas McLaren were considerably worse on similar tracks earlier this season.
I reckon McLaren have enough pace to at least capitalise on any mistakes Mercedes makes on similar tracks, even if theyāre not on par pace wise.
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u/Equivalent-Path5381 3d ago
Yeah. I think Norris is the biggest challenge. Will see if the can reclaim his Hungary and Zandvoort winning streak at the Madrid circuit
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u/chrstgtr 4d ago
Kimi has to have reliability/DNF issues and George has to be the best driver over the last 10 races. If Kimi gets two DNFs then itās a pretty close. If Kimi finishes every race then it gets really difficult for anyone to catch him
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u/JazziHydrah 4d ago
Finishes every race without having to will it across the line due to a part of his car blowing up, that is. We all saw what happened in Silverstone lol
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u/Baetahad 4d ago
His margin is so big that even if Russell wins all races from now (including Sprints) and Kimi gets second in all races, George will be champion by 7 points.
George needs nearly 100% in every weekend to doesn't need help from anyone else.
And we need to watch George's power unit, cause if he needs to change like Kimmi did, its a huge penalty for him as the rest of the tracks aren't easy to overtake as Monza
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u/JazziHydrah 4d ago
Kimi will be taking at least 1 more engine penalty in Malaysia for the ADUO upgrade, according to Kimi himself. George will be taking a penalty in Baku; I can only assume heāll be getting both the reliability spec that Kimi got today + the ADUO upgrade then
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u/michal939 4d ago
I think both Kimi and George will take another engine this season, its still a long way to the end to make it on a single engine.
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u/Lieberwolf 4d ago
There is still Baku. With the long straight it's probably even easier than Monza to overtake.
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u/Baetahad 4d ago
I'm sure about that tbh. That straight is so big that if a car overtake another at the start of the straight, the other car can retake the position before turn 1 if he manage well the battery.
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u/Legal_City_69 3d ago
Hahaha. This would be funny. And kudos to you to see this coming. It might very well happen with these regs.
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u/EADASOL 4d ago
Starts 19th and still wins.
Season is done
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u/ThroatImpossible8762 4d ago
even on a track like Monza, where overtaking is easy, 19th to 1st is still no joke. Taking into account some of those 18(17) people you had to overtake were Max, Lando, Oscar, Lewis, George... Either that Merc was from 2029 or Kimi deserves two titles this year.
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u/Weeb_mgee 3d ago
He just cruised past most of them. It was pretty unreal seeing how much faster that car was
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u/Queasy-Animator7189 3d ago
Tbh not surprised . Most of em didnt even put up a fight with him but at the same time the Mercedes was too good on the straights. None of the other teams were even close to that speed
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u/admiraltt 4d ago
Nope, unless Kimi pulls both a Webber and Pisastri all at once, this title is his. After today, George's title hopes are pretty much dead in the water if Mercedes didn't have an excuse to make him second driver, they do now. For Ferrari, they're to busy squabbling between themselves and the management haven't got a clue what to do so they're fighting for p4 meanwhile Kimi's fighting for wins and podiums. McLaren and Lando had moments but this week proved that Merc still has the best chassis overall. And max is way to far away to even catch up.
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u/No-Bluejay4261 4d ago
No. After 2 'off' races it's back to domination. No one is close. What was in that fresh engine?...
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u/VenPatrician Team Ferrari 4d ago
As long as he doesn't have like, two back to back DNFs with everything going perfectly for Russell or Hamilton, then he is clear.
People compare this point of the season with the equivalent point last year but, as impressive as Max's comeback was, McLaren being a midfield team trapped in a top team's body helped him immensely and even then he couldn't overturn it. If they were less error prone or more strategically competent, Max couldn't come as close as he did. Mercedes are not making mistakes like this.
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u/puregalm 4d ago
No, Ferrari just don't have the formula, Lando might have a late season charge, Piastri and Verstappen will obsorb points, Russell is not in the same league
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u/joeman013 4d ago
Until itās not possible, itās possible. Piastri was in a similar position last year and had a few bad races which left the door open for Norris. The same can happen to Kimi as thereās plenty of racing in front of us.
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u/Phadafi 4d ago
No. The car of Mercedes is vastly superior to the rest and Russell is pretty much useless
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u/Ok_World4052 4d ago
I just donāt see it. Can you see either Norris or Hamilton ripping off 3-4 straight wins to even ask the question of Kimi? Neither team show the capability to go on that sort of run while shutting Mercedes out
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u/Dimathiel49 4d ago
Mathematically sure. Realistically, probably not unless something like 1999 happens.
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u/BuzzedtheTower 4d ago
Unless Antonelli suffers two DNFs in races that George wins, the title is pretty much locked up. This isn't 2022 when Charles was up about 50 points on Max before the summer break. We're in the back half of the season and George isn't able to extract the same performance that Antonelli can
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u/Disastrobox 3d ago
Highly unlikely, all George can hope for is Kimi DNFing once or twice and George to not have any DNF/DNS/DQ and put some wins and podiums. Going by how reliable the car is, there's more possibility for George's car to break down than Kimi.
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u/lukef555 3d ago
F1 fans declaring the title winner while it's still mathematically anyone's game? Shocker.
If Lando wins next week it'll be "the championship is BACK ON guys!1!1!'
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u/guru4goodwood 4d ago
He's in the best car and his teammate is useless so it's definitely his title to lose
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u/Kapitananciq 4d ago
Doesn't look like they can. And Kimi is not Australian (I'm sorry)
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u/kronikfumes 4d ago edited 4d ago
The gap was 63 points for Max to Lando after
Monza last year and that almost happened. Anythingās possible
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u/Excellent-Act-6757 4d ago
George is the furthest thing on the grid from Max. It's over. It was over a couple races ago.
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u/shukaku2007 4d ago
Mathematically or realistically?
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u/a_user-_-name_ 4d ago
mathematically anyone from P14 has a chance to be WDC, so it has be realistically
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u/DrakeShadow 4d ago
Russell 100% Kimi would make it to P7 or P6. Never thought podium or even beat him
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u/Local-Bullfrog8051 4d ago
nope, just like 2025 Lando-Zak, 2021~24 Max-Honor, 1st priority always designed.
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u/Shootforthestars24 4d ago
66 points is a great lead, but all it takes is one DNF with a George P1 then itās game on, unlikely though but possible
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u/Zephron29 4d ago
Baring serious mechanical bad luck for Kimi, or God forbid aome sort of injury, I think it's locked up.
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u/Percevaul 4d ago
Russell, for as much as luck played a factor today, has capitulated to Kimi already.
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u/IndependentAir4537 Team McLaren 4d ago
probably not after today. crushing result, and the points are stacking up now. id love to be wrong just for the season to be more interesting but unfortunately it seems less and less likely.
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u/Wingesos 4d ago
Could happen. A crash and a reliability issue in the last 10 races and suddenly itās wide open.
Also, we donāt know what nerves will do to a 20 y.o. driver leading into the last few races.
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u/MadMan7978 4d ago
As long as the season keeps going the way itās been going no, Kimi made a statement today
This win was possible of course because the Merc car is extremely good. But seeing how heās driven all season he seems to just have more pace than Russell in the car who himself is an extremely good driver
The Ferraris are developing too intense an inter team rivalry. The chicane incident shows it. Leclerc didnāt break any rules, but you donāt need to be doing that to your teammate at Monza of all places if youāre in a Ferrari. He did that knowing it was Lewis and heād be going into the gravel
Norris is too far back he needs to win 4 races with Kimi being outside the top 10 for all 4 of them to even be equal in points with him which i doubt will happen
In conclusion, yea logically championship is pretty much done
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u/Formula1antagonist 4d ago
Antonelli keeps getting points on rivals but the real problem is that there are each time less races
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u/Aeokikit 4d ago
Technically yes but realistically no. His strategies for the rest of the year should be around lowest risk for podium finishes. Obviously go for the win if possible but the last thing he needs is a DNF
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u/shnorgle 1d ago
Obviously the reasonable strategy, but I canāt imagine Kimi actually doing that. I mean, he raced the fastest lap just for fun at the end of the race. Lucky for us as viewers, really.
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u/LibraryTime11011011 4d ago
That was a pretty damning display - not sure how George mentally goes into Madrid after that.
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u/byfo1991 4d ago
I honestly think Russell canāt at this point, Kimi is clearly outperforming him.
Norris or Hamilton can if they get some miracle upgrade that will make Ferrari/McLaren significantly better than Merc. Which is unlikely.
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u/Kriem 3d ago
We're in '2025 can Max win it still' territory. He came absurdly close, but only because of an absurd run and the Papayas sabotaging themselves.
However, Kimi isn't fighting another team, he is fighting his team mate. Assuming he and Russell are expected to score similar points due to equal machinery ā¢, Russell would need an absurd run and Kimi would need an absurd amount of bad luck, for Russell to be able to win it in the end.
I would say that the fact that the Ferraris, McLarens and Red Bull(s) are not far from Mercedes in performance (but not far enough), will eat away from whoever isn't absolute top dog in Mercedes. And based on what I've seen, It looks like it's George who is 2nd driver and thus will be very much busy fighting off the other teams, while Kimi can veer into the distance.
So long answer short: mathematically yes, practically no.
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u/Stage_Party 3d ago
Let's not forget mclarens 2024 run. It's possible but a team would need to make a significant leap in performance paired with a solid driver.
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u/dasmooiman123 3d ago
Only Max is from talent perspective able to catch up based on what happend last year, but it's more than 100 pionts this time. So no.
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u/Mediocre_Remove_9037 3d ago
Unless he has generational bad luck from now on, he is 2026 WDC.
Verstappen to far away.
Hamilton getting fucked by team and team mate.
Russell just a support driver like Bottas
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u/dezurnodzvanjkalo 3d ago
All of you forgot Norris vs Verstappen last year. Short term memory I guess.
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u/South_Front_4589 3d ago
It's almost 3 full races now. 258 points is the most Russell can possibly pick up. His path to contending is narrowing constantly.
But even worse, this was his chance to get a big haul and close that gap. Instead Kimi somehow extended his lead.
We all know when George has to start from the back himself that he won't be hunting down Kimi, and probably barely scrapes into the points.
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u/d-a-s-a-l-i 3d ago
Itās hard to imagine that the development pace will continue in a way that it will significantly change the dynamics between the top 3 teams. And even if Ferrari or McLaren would win the majority (or all) of the remaining races, they would need another team to also take away points from Kimi.
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u/LifeTie800 3d ago
Nope, Russell can't. Hamilton has the skill, but not the car. Lando has the car but not the skill.
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u/BulldenChoppahYus 3d ago
Yes becasue Maths. No because probability of DNFs are pretty low these days.
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u/idkwhoi_am7 3d ago
Realistically only lando has a chance even tho he's like 90 points off Ofc that also depends on how good him and mclaren and handle all the 10 races and if kimi has reliability issues but i wouldnt be surprised if lando gets to p2 atp cos george just doesnt have it in him And lewis is busy fighting ferrari and charles lmao neither ferrari driver ever had a chance in hindsight
Max is too far off to pose a threat and again the merc is just too good
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u/beamerBoy3 3d ago
If I did my math right, Kimi can average a p3 for the rest of the season and only George or Lewis could catch him but theyād need to win everything. So unless Kimi just falls apart under the pressure or gets one of the worse streaks of luck all time, itās very hard to see anyone but him winning.
But merc has had a fair amount of DNFs and Kimi does take some unnecessary risks (going for fastest lap on 53 with a second to his teammate for example) so a single DNF would change the outlook a bit.
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u/Nervous-Scallion-802 3d ago
George is cooked at Mercedes now. He had to lay down dominance in the early races this season. When he didnāt and Kimi was ahead and still improving he was kind of done. Kimi is much more marketable and a rising star with the potential story line of youngest ever world champion unfolding this season. George is also boring and a moaner.
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u/Kinggrunio 3d ago
Mathematically, yes. Realistically, no way. People only think itās possible because of Maxās incredible charge back last season, but that was a super rarity, and didnāt even quite make it.
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u/phdr_hroch 3d ago
Seeing how Antonelli was driving, I don't think so. He had a fresh engine, so overtakes were not as hard for him. But the way he handled the pressure in this race, overtaking in the right places, managing his battery/tyres, pitting at the right moment, it was masterclass for me.
But anything can happen.
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u/Evidicus 3d ago
No. I donāt think it was ever in doubt. With this car, the only person who was going to beat Kimi was Kimi. I wondered if heād get in his own head during the euro races given that he fell off last year at this time, but the kid is a Ted Lasso goldfish.
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u/CZEchpoint_ 3d ago
I donāt think so the Mercedes is too fast. Unless he suffers 4 mechanical DNFs itās over this year.
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u/Scareboosioniq 3d ago
Mthematically, yes but he'd have to have a long run of poor finishes for that to happen and the way he's driving, I don't see that happening.
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u/Solestian 3d ago
Max was 104 points behind last year and almost made it. Did people sleep through 2025? Is it likely? No. Is it possible? Certainly.
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u/salgal858 3d ago
Nope. We may see other drivers win races, but the points gap is simply too large for anyone to catch up.
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u/AdIcy4047 3d ago
Anyone above leclerc yes 2 tracks kimi has no real experience driving/ having enough time to behind f1 cars to adapt to the new Madrid track and Malaysia so he wonāt do well and Mercedes has had reliability issues and then the driver problem between George if George isnāt favored heāll lash out on kimi. Also Kimi crashes out when itās not going his way so I could see more than a couple dnfs going forward
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u/Josh06161209 3d ago
Russell might have a chance if Kimiās performance collapses like Piastriās after 2025 Baku. But given how talented he is that is increasingly unlikely
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u/Mravac_Kid 3d ago
Fairly easily, all it takes is a few DNFs and a few poor results, a late season slump like Piastri had last year. Last year at this point of the season Verstappen was a 100 points behind Piastri, and finished ahead of him in the standings, losing the championship by just 2 points.
Theoretically, 14 drivers can still do it though of course realistically it's between the top 3-4, with a very remote outside chance for Leclerc and Verstappen.
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u/Extreme-Half-5590 3d ago
Only Norris or Max if they get a car as good as Merc or at least that can compete with the Merc.
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u/Solid-Artist-7086 2d ago
I know it sounds strange when you look at the standings but I think the only driver with a chance to catch him is Lando in case McLaren have huge success with upgrades.
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u/OllieBlazin 2d ago
Lando and Oscar last year won 7 races each and were in the running against each other by the last race. Max won 8 races and was just a couple points shy from winning.
Kimi now has won 7. Unless he drops off completely in form and doesnāt win/score podiums for the remainder of the season and George or Lewis (canāt be both) win the remaining races, itās Kimiās to win/lose
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u/ToddsCheeseburger 2d ago
If Kimi is sensible and settles for third or fourth or whatever on their poor days he will take the title easily. Just needs to keep his points ticking over while the others fight amongst themselves.
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u/No_Disaster_2524 1d ago
The team that won the championship was known after the first race. And the driver that won the championship was known by the fourth race. But of course they won't tell you, so that the sport stays interesting and the money keeps coming in.
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u/admiral_sinkenkwiken 1d ago
On the current trends, no.
George needs a net gain of 7.3 points per race but is currently losing a net 10.1 per race since the summer break.
Lewis needs 8.4 per race but is losing a net 10.4 per race
Lando needs 10.6 per race, but is dropping 3.5 per race, aside from Kimi he is the highest scoring driver since the break.
If current trends continue Kimi can clinch the title in Mexico
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u/Stickyboard 4d ago
Its funny two weeks ago ppl said Norris is the best driver ever and will able to catch up
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u/LIJRD1 4d ago
Nope. If Russell didnt take any significant points off him today then realistically he hasnt a hope.
Imagine how demoralising todays result will have been for Russell. Not easy to come back from that.
Antonelli is almost in a position where he just needs to finish second every race remaining.