I clearly remembered Lando using that expression in Imola 25, it's interesting they used it several times. I consider them "half team orders" (aka we want the drivers to do something but don't have the balls to ask directly), and i wonder if their meaning and use changed after Oscar arrived to the team or even during their 2024-25 championship battle years. I do think in Spa it meant "don't fight Lando for position since he's faster and on a different strategy", and I wonder if Oscar overtook again only because of battery or because he really wanted that pitstop priority.
Thank you for the post because yesterady there were people arguing that the sentence was confusing and Oscar didn't necessarily know what he was supposed to do, but the fact It was used in 2023 makes me think that's bullshit.
Hi!
Thank you! If it's useful to even one person, then I can die happy.
You have no idea how much of a Roman Empire this topic is to me. This phrase - don't make it too difficult - was just so specific that I made note of it and tried to keep track of, as I was watching. Who knew it'll be useful, huh?
Honestly, the longer I think about this situation the more my hand is itching for Tin Foil Hat to put on, so I will try to be brief.
This is something I mentioned before, but I do think McLaren doesn't like to be seem as a bad guy, and because of that their team orders are very often phrased like mild suggestions. That's on purpose. Like, the Hungary '24 fiasco was in part, at least a little bit because instead of telling Lando what to do straight up, they went We'd like to reestablish the order, at your convenience which is incredibly vague. Another favourite - although this goes to all F1 teams - is don't lose time with him, which means let him pass.
I read here (tumblr post) that sometimes they will make arrangements to straight up lie on the comms, so it is just as possible that this was some like code to mislead other teams, something akin to infamous Germany Situation or box to overtake.
France '19 was incredibly eye-opening to me, in terms of just how shady McLaren is on the radio, so I kind of recommend this race, just to see them trying to hide something.
As for Oscar, I'm sorry, I just find it easier to believe the guy wanted pit priority. It just tracks with what I saw from him so far, but this is just me and I have no evidence of that, just vibes.
But as for Oscar being confused what McLaren meant, I really, really, really doubt it.
