murphy's law? no, Lando's law.
landos latest pit stops were
3.2s austria 4.64s silverstone 3.57s spa 4.83/4.5s zandvoort, and 5.9s monza 4.1s azerbaijan
at a race where his teammate broke the season record for fastest pit stop (1.91s), Lando has had his worst of the year. he effectively took a free 5 sec penalty. what is wrong with this team bro. I get that people are trying their hardest and things happen, but this is on another level. im not calling sabotage or anything, but this just isn't good enough bro.
considering Lando's radio message post race ("and Lando apologies about the stop" "...") and how he left relatively early, I hope some changes are coming. from his mechanical issues all season:
australia deployment issues austria deployment issues + battery not charging china brake failure (thank you for reminding me @/huntscunt) imola car falling apart inside spain more deployment issues spa power and battery issue zandvoort engine failure (or something related to the chassis)
edit if you want to read more in depth about lando's unluck this season, @/we-love-lando-norris-over-here made a really great (more in depth) post about it. read here!
to the slow pitstops, the World is Against Lando Norris no I don't care about British bias that doesn't exist, if it did, Sainz would've gotten ollie's penalty (many thoughts about that, too).
not to mention the set up changes in Bahrain between q2/3 and another race I can't remember off the top of my head, but changes during qualifying made it significantly harder for him to set a good lap.
also not to mention how he spent the first 1/3 of this year struggling to understand the new design of the car which just to happens to be more geared toward what piastri prefers to drive. from having a completely dominating season last year in terms of his own team (qualifying 20-4, race 16-8) with standout performances like Singapore and Abu Dhabi to now...this.
piastri's 'bad luck' or issues this season was Australia where he lost control (on his own accord) and finished only 9 or in Bahrain where his water wasn't working. bro
again I'm not crying sabotage, that would be an incredibly stupid thing to do and I would hope Mclaren wouldn't stoop to that level (what even is the purpose there) but I just think its so messed up. Zak brown said that they gave their drivers equal car and a fair chance to race, but Is it fair? is it fair when, despite having a car that doesn't fit him, Oscar is still studying Lando's data and benefitting from his bad luck? is it fair that Lando has repeated mechanical issues? is it fair that, in the event of a late safety car, Mclaren would've double stacked 4 and 81 so that Lando had to serve Piastri's 10 second time penalty, too? is it fair that Lando is repeatedly having issues during his pit stops that piastri just doesn't ever seem to encounter? is that fair? I don't think it's fair.
if Lando loses the world championship this year, then fine, the odds have been stacked against him since the first race. while his performance at some tracks hasn't been the most inspiring, I think, with what he's had and what he's worked with, this will still be one of Lando's best ever years. handling all the bad (and there's a lot of bad) with grace, always wishing the best for others & his teammate, taking the grievances of the team on his own shoulders, and never coming after piastri, always congratulating him, & saying he deserves what he's gotten so far this year.
lando norris i will never stop glazing you, but I will always be in awe of your sportsmanship and ability to bounce back. he hasn't changed for anyone despite the (many) criticisms he gets from fans, commentators, and Nico Rosberg each week. Lando Norris you are champion for reasons far beyond what some other competitors (and people !) could ever imagine.
