Hey, sorry to bring podcast talk to you, but a point was brought up regarding George and the monaco penalty disaster, where they thought George being George he over-communicates on the radio and therefore causes confusion with talking over pitwall, but then wondering if the constant checking is really because he doesn't trust his own team and feels like they're not on top of his race and he has to keep nudging them to make sure they're actually paying attention, especially with the rescent merc flubs with him...Thoughts?
Iāve never loved the term āover communicatesā even in a sport with an element of radio secrecy. I mean youāre alone in a carbon fibre arrow going 200 miles an hour, I think if your only access to communication was a radio, and choices get made in milliseconds, youāre going to want to ensure you get things right.
Merc has a sort of historic habit of encouraging George to call his own strategy. Heās the man in the car, he does know the tire best, and of many of the drivers Iāve watched over the years George really does have an uncanny ability to plan strategy mid drive. While heās fucked up once or twice, itās also given him wins before.
I donāt want to go so far as to say George doesnāt trust Mercedes, but thereās been a couple times over the last year or two where theyāve been deeply slow on a choice, and THAT frustrates him. That frustration is fair for most drivers- youāre trying to manage a million things and keep the car out of the wall, whatever choice they decide on will mean a lot of changes for you, and it needs to happen as fast as possible.
I think this is a case of the outcome determining our view of the incident. Thereās been times heās been overly demanding and forceful, and it paid off (Zandvoort 22, Spa24), thereās also been times heās gotten himself worked up and being told to shut up was fair because his anger wasnāt letting him focus (France 2022). If theyād pulled the pit stop off right, we wouldnāt be questioning if George was over communicating.
But because it all went wrong, every pundit in the world is pointing fingers on who to blame. While George was pressing hard on them while they were likely balancing a lot- they did fuck it up and he was right. Merc should have been focused on him- while I understand that itās second nature for a team to focus on their leading driver- Kimi had a pit stop gap and was far safer. Georgeās pit was more complicated, and was vital to them gaining places, given his penalty they should have been thinking about how to reduce that, Marcus and strategy should have been planning to pit him the second they saw a safety car because that reduces how much he loses when the pack gets backed up- and if theyād had tires out there for him, why werenāt they prepared to serve the penalty.
George may have come in earlier than they were exactly ready for, but the question isnāt whyād he do that, itās why werenāt they bringing him in that early? Itās poor strategic prioritising and even POORER communication and following public relations
