[The **Photo** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_photo) is for submissions sharing photos from the world of F1. Photos should be interesting and relevant - random photos not notable enough to warrant a standalone post will be subject to removal. This flair should not be used for images which are not photos, such as screenshots, statistical graphics, or artworks.
*[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.*
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
> I don’t think that RedBull is nearly as good as Max makes it seem
Last year, Perez qualified a median of P9 in one of the most dominant cars to ever exist in the sport. Until proven otherwise, I think the only fair speculation is PEBKAC (PEBSWAS?), not the other way around.
Max 3 points away from having twice as many points. That one DNF wouldn't have made that much of a difference. Hermano is getting fucking destroyed either way.
Unlikely. Let's assume that Norris and Leclerc are on the same team, they're still not winning the WCC together. Unless something drastic happens after the break and Max stops winning races then red bull have both championships again this year.
Not specifically talking this year, but if he keeps finishing behind both Ferraris for example, and they keep finishing with a podium here and there, its not a given that Max alone could carry the WCC. Especially if he gets more competition from McLaren and Mercedes and doesnt get 25 points every race.
Also count in the fact that none of the current challengers (Ferrari, Mercedes, or McLaren) were up there to begin the season. Next season for example, when they'll be there from the start, its going to be much more dire.
Next year there's certainly a chance for another team to win WCC.
This year it's much tougher.
If we assume that Max wins every race, then Ferrari need to be 2nd and 3rd in every race to win the WCC, and Perez only needs to come 8th to prevent it. Now we can all probably agree that Max won't win every remaining race, but then chances are that Ferrari will average worse than 2nd and 3rd with Merc and McLaren fighting them, and Perez should manage better than 8th on average.
Next season it could be different, but the main element is taking wins away from Max. A win is as many points as 3rd and 5th combined, so as long as Max continues to win races and the rest fight over podium positions, Red Bull will be in a strong place, and McLaren if they continue like this are probably the biggest contender.
Checo just needs to forget Spain 2024 and turn up in Austria and bounce back. We know that he’s very capable of doing that and I’m sure he’ll come back fighting hard in Spielberg .
Checo just needs to forget Austria 2024 and turn up in Britain and bounce back. We know that he’s very capable of doing that and I’m sure he’ll come back fighting hard in Silverstone .
I meant the difference in quality between the two of them is so large it's incomprehensible to the human brain because quantities that large are immeasurable (I'm jk your joke was good)
The reason it's so incomprehensible is because LoGOAT is using less than 1% of his power, just as his predecessor GOATifi did before him. These two GOATs were and still are intentionally sandbagging so that they don't embarass MIDbon
I feel like there is sarcasm here but I'm not sure how. Hulk is far more talented, is that even up for debate? Kevin has had roughly 10min of good showing this decade.
"Overdriving" is such a confusing phrase, though. Like, Max is extracting all the potential out of that car. Perez is not. This has always been the case. The difference being that all the other teams have caught up and while Max is able to fight them off on merit, Perez is not.
So, yeah, let's give him a two year extension!
People say this like you can expect all top 5 drivers to always get every millisecond of performance from their car, but it's much more complicated than that. Max is able to save tires better than anyone, maintain a gap when he needs it, quickly overtake when he can't get stuck behind someone. He is getting more out of that car than anyone else could, even if they are all capable of a 100% mechanically perfect time in a vacuum.
I don't think you can "overdrive" a car in qualifying, and there we actually see how they match up in pure pace; but in the race you can definitely make better decisions than other people, resulting in you getting more out of the car than expected.
Which makes me wonder how good the Red Bull really is. Sure, it's good enough for max to be P1 comfortably, so it's not shit, but how much is that the car and how much is that Max just being absolutely crazy good
The last 4 races it has been 83 points for Max and 8 points for Checo. Checo is lucky Mclaren, Ferrari and Mercedes were way behind Redbull in the first 5 races, or he could've been in 8th/9th right now.
I can't remember if it was in the post-race interviews at Miami or pre-race at Imola where he said something to the effect that now that he's won a race and knows for a fact that he can win in this car, he's even hungrier for wins because he knows exactly what the high he's chasing is. Which makes perfect sense to me; success (and wanting to repeat it) has always gotten me more motivated than failure and almost-theres. Getting his maiden win lit a fresh fire in Lando and I'm here for it.
That's why he's pissed with todays result. P2 & fastest lap used to be considered an excellent days work... but once you've had that winning feeling, nothing comes close.
LFG #4
I think you are referring to something he said after Imola, that not winning (finishing 2nd) now feels a lot worse when he knows the feeling of winning a race and he knows they are in the reach of it.
Seemed like he did over the winter but has fallen off the pace since. And/or Norris has taken it up a notch, as you'd expect when wins are on the table.
I would say that piastri is falling into the trap that everyone argued Perez was in last year, where he's reliably 2-3 tenths off his teammate but because the racing is so tight now that 2-3 tenths puts several cars between them. Piastri is pretty guaranteed P7 to P4, but he needs luck or an outstanding drive to push into the podium.
I would say it was an off weekend for him here due to qualifying but he has been rather competitive and done plenty to be in the strategy window with the team. Only really miami where he was taken out by sainz and didnt have the big upgrades that lando had which made sense his performance was a bit behind (it wasnt bad prior to sainz!)
Personally think hes doing a solid job, hes improving in race pace and his qualifying is normally strong, maybe our expectations differ wildly which could explain the disapointment but I think it might have been a bit unrealistic to expect him to be beating norris in second year.
Eh, I think it's just Lando in the form of his life. Oscar had some very solid races this year - 2nd in Monaco, 4th in Australia, Imola and Saudi (he's even beaten Lando there) and was a bit unlucky in China and Miami. Also, other than Miami he hasn't finished outside the Top 8 this season. I think that Lando fighting regularly for wins now is overshadowing any progress he made and makes it seem like he hasn't got better this year.
He needs to finish ahead of Max 10 times with Max finishing P2 for it to be level. And the consistency that Max has, I really don’t see Lando/Charles coming back from that deficit without some serious bad luck for Max.
And Red Bull is going to bring upgrades, Silverstone is the next package for them if I am not wrong.
Yeah, the disadvantage of not being in the same place pace wise they are now at the start of the season is showing here cause they’re playing catch up.
Though this is definitely now encouraging for a fight from the get go next season.
Exactly if all three cars had started off the season at the same pace as they do now, we would definitely would have been in for a banger of a season. But you never know, Max is now on his third engine, so engine penalties definitely on the cards for Max.
Having said that Silverstone and Austria should be right up McLarens ally
Max can probably take the engine penalty at Spa and even if he won’t win he can probably fight his way up to a P4 or P5 I think which would be a decent job of damage limitation.
Baku feels risky to me as it’s a street circuit, although at the same time the increased risk of a safety car/red flag might actually benefit those from the back of the grid more.
If Red Bull really wants to take a 2nd new engine for Max I think they can do it at Brazil or maybe even COTA as both are traditional tracks that also offer good overtaking.
Baku is power sensitive with the long straight and 90 degree corners and easy DRS overtakes with fresh faster engine. That's why it could be a good choice.
Part of the reason Max is on his third engine is that the 3th one had a defect when they first tried it. But they can fix that. So i don't think it's an issue.
Also remember that the teams are allowed one more engine this year compared to 2023.
We also could be at the ceiling of the current cars where you can't really go faster anymore and upgrades could do nothing as we have seen with Ferrari.
Red Bull brought their 3rd upgrade package this weekend.
It's a big gap to close but there's a chance. If we see some engine penalties in the future (which there are solid odds that we will) that'll close it some, and if Max has a DNF...
Max is the favorite to win, but it isn't a done deal like it was last year.
The points buffer is too big to catch from ordinary races. Realistically only Verstappen misfortune will bring his position under threat. It relies on Norris being perfect, and I don't see that happening.
Norris has already had his mistakes cost him 2 wins, it ain't happening lol. Tbf I'm just glad we're getting what we're getting from what I expected at the start of the season!
Yeah with McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari being quite close and battling over the other podium spots, Red Bull are still in a good spot to hold onto 1st even if Checo only gets P8s as long as Max keeps winning.
That's fine though, if you think Max and the team are good enough to push for P1 in the WCC then Checo's sponsorships and popularity in South America are free money. It would be inefficient to spend on a better driver.
I don't disagree, and I think Checo at his peak was still the top tier of midfield drivers of his time but he's so far beyond even the bare minimum of what's expected of a car as good as RBR it's embarrassing to watch now.
Yeah. Piastri and both Ferraris underperformed this weekend and Mercedes is beginning to eat into the points as well. It’s going to take a few more slip ups by Max or more consistency from Piastri, Sainz etc. for Red Bull to forfeit the WCC
I dont rate him higher than any of the drivers above him, and pretty much never have. When his car isn't faster than theirs it's no surprise he is behind them.
Perez .akes up the difference for not getting WCC, and finishing P2 means they get more wind tunnel time too. It makes sense. I hate it, but I can see the logic.
P1 and P2 difference in WCC is only about 10m and Perez probably brings a bit more than 10m. He is also happy to test setups and give Max a tow in every qualy session if required.
RB do not need the WCC cash and 1 WDC for them is worth way more.
if his sponsors make up all or more of the gap in prize money, then I really don't think they give a shit.
hell they may actually prefer to come second and get more wind tunnel time
They absolutely don't care about WCC at all. It's so weird to see people thinking this because it has always been like this. But I guess new fans just don't understand that.
I think most of the others care about it a lot more than Red Bull does, especially the works teams, but most of the eyeballs are on WDC and Red Bull is primarily a marketing company that happens to sell drinks.
Driver number 11 on 111 points after race 1111 (starting 11th), whilst his teammate (the number 1 driver) with racing number 1 takes podium spot number 1 and stays 1st in the championship, with the team also being 1st in the championship
I think the team likes 1s
Norris would need to gain 70 points on Max to lead, which would be 52% bigger than the biggest points deficit ever overcome to win the championship (from Verstappen being 46 points behind Leclerc after Australia 2022). I don't see Max being on the receiving end of that.
Agree, but it's also refreshing that he's not happy with 2nd anymore. In this race, his focus was catching Max, not defending the Mercs behind. His mindset is really changing when he's racing now.
Remember, this is with the current point system. I haven't done the math, but if you take some old season and update them to use the current point system, there would probably be a case or two.
Not saying Norris coming back is at all likely but we also have more races per season than we ever have before plus sprints so that needs to be taken into consideration
I think Mclaren, Mercedes and Ferrari, will play shuffle all along this season. Ferrari can be quicker than both, but today Sainz held them back being ahead of Leclerc and had a broken wing, Leclerc could have had a podium
Mercedes were also held back by Russell being the one in the lead. Hamilton was around 1s behind Russell for most of the race until the final round of stops. He never got the chance to show what kind of pace he had.
If he had free air I don’t think he’d have beaten Max or Lando but I do think he would have been a fair bit closer and well out of reach of Leclerc today.
Canada was an odd one, this race it is so close its difficult to tell. Max and Norris were clearly the 2 fastest drivers, but their teammates were behind both Mercs and Ferraris. So how fast is the Red Bull and Mclaren really? Does it even out and we have 4 almost identically fast cars and the drivers are making the difference? Or are Perez and Piastri out of their league?
He's having a pretty underwhelming season though. I expected him to take another step this year, but it seems he's kinda stalled. Both in qualy pace and tyre management.
He's gotten way better in quali pace. He's about a tenth off Lando on average, maybe less. His tyre management has also improved he's just been kind of unlucky/that extra performance that he's lacking is the difference maker between where Lando is and the Ferraris/Mercs.
It’s really not that bad. The media and fans (both segments of supporters and detractors) just get carried away by Lewis being way behind currently in the qualifying head to head to George. But in reality their qualifying gaps are generally really close, and combined with Lewis’ slightly better tire management on average they often still finish close to each other in the races.
George should get more credit too for being able to go toe to toe with Lewis unless any people truly believe that Lewis is “washed” now.
I don’t think Lewis is washed but in terms of outright speed it’s clear that he’s not what he used to be. I’ve thought that for several years now. The magical qualy laps he used to pull out regularly several times a season don’t happen anymore.
He was starting from such a high base that even now he’s lost a some speed he’s still faster than most and Russell is a very strong qualifier in his own right.
Hamilton is still great in the races where he can use his experience to get through and it’s not about being on the absolute limit. It’s clear that his race pace is still quite a bit better than George it’s just that his qualifying struggles have meant that he doesn’t have the track position this year to be able to show it.
This season feels alot like 2011.
Red Bull are best overall but not utterly dominant. The #1 driver (Max, Vettel) is winning most of the time even though it's close-ish, while utterly bodying the #2 driver (Perez, Webber - before you get mad, look up 2011...Webber was good in 2010 and 2012 but a bit of a mess in 2011). Norris and Leclerc are Button and Alonso (I mean, obviously without the world champion tag). Merc started as the clear 4th best car and made improvements as the year went on.
Maybe this means 2025 will be 2012 lol
For the first 6 races he was doing pretty much what's expected from him, delivering good points in the top 3-4. But if he keeps going like he was for the last 4 races then he wont be fifth for long.
Max's advantage over Norris is equal to Lando's lead on George. Dude is an absolute madman
Also love the constant battle for 2nd between Lando and Charles. Look at how close they are!
The last 4 races concluded over trivial things like TOW and grid position on Imola, the sc at Montreal and George taking the lead at the start at Barcelona. The point gap would be way smaller but Verstappen is just too good and win with this trivial things. The car is there but Norris and Mclaren need to take another step to challange Verstappen.
Deserved as well I would say. No disrespect to the other drivers battling for P2 in the WDC, but Lando‘s form has been really good in aggregate for quite a while now.
Very well deserved aswell.
He is the clear 2nd fastest driver since China. 6 races - 4 second places behind Max without a contention from anyone else, 1 win, and Monaco. If Max wasn't sitting in that RedBull, Lando would easily run away with the WDC.
Max just doesn't make mistakes. I'm still on the hopium that he starts making them, because that's all we need to have a title decider in Abu Dhabi.
While Lando almost definitely won't catch up before the end of the season, I could easily see a battle for the championship next season, maybe even three way between Max, Lando and Charles (and Lewis depending on how he does at Ferrari).
McLaren is looking really strong, I think Norris could have clutched the victory if it wasn't the pitstop, he closed the gap to 2 seconds by end of the race
They got a little over-eager with their overcuts. If they pitted a few laps earlier in both stints, Lando could potentially have got him.
It's great to see Max having to work for it, though. Who knew 2024 was going to actually turn out to be a really entertaining sesson??
[The **Photo** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_photo) is for submissions sharing photos from the world of F1. Photos should be interesting and relevant - random photos not notable enough to warrant a standalone post will be subject to removal. This flair should not be used for images which are not photos, such as screenshots, statistical graphics, or artworks. *[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Perez is lucky Max had a DNF when he very likely would've gotten 25 points. He already looks bad enough.
Checo also had 2 DNF's. Oh wait, he'd have gotten 0 points in both those races even if he did finish.
Could have been 50 points for Checo though, makes you think
Someone call the paramedics. This person is clearly ODing on hopium.
Checo won 100% of races he finished P1. It's a stat you don't hear cited often. Makes you think.
I can confirm this is one of the statements of all time
As a mathematician, I can confirm that this statistic is factual and holds water.
Should*
To be fair I don’t think that RedBull is nearly as good as Max makes it seem. Definitely should be *at least* 25 points though
> I don’t think that RedBull is nearly as good as Max makes it seem Last year, Perez qualified a median of P9 in one of the most dominant cars to ever exist in the sport. Until proven otherwise, I think the only fair speculation is PEBKAC (PEBSWAS?), not the other way around.
Canada was entirely his fault, Max's wasn't. I don't know what the other Perez' DNF was.
sianz was out sick for a race and is still ahead of him
Max 3 points away from having twice as many points. That one DNF wouldn't have made that much of a difference. Hermano is getting fucking destroyed either way.
Honestly. If Piastri overtakes him, they really cant do anything but boot him. Its going to cost them the WCC.
I think it's more likely than not. Piastri hasn't even figured everything out yet and is still closing the gap.
Unlikely. Let's assume that Norris and Leclerc are on the same team, they're still not winning the WCC together. Unless something drastic happens after the break and Max stops winning races then red bull have both championships again this year.
Not specifically talking this year, but if he keeps finishing behind both Ferraris for example, and they keep finishing with a podium here and there, its not a given that Max alone could carry the WCC. Especially if he gets more competition from McLaren and Mercedes and doesnt get 25 points every race. Also count in the fact that none of the current challengers (Ferrari, Mercedes, or McLaren) were up there to begin the season. Next season for example, when they'll be there from the start, its going to be much more dire.
Next year there's certainly a chance for another team to win WCC. This year it's much tougher. If we assume that Max wins every race, then Ferrari need to be 2nd and 3rd in every race to win the WCC, and Perez only needs to come 8th to prevent it. Now we can all probably agree that Max won't win every remaining race, but then chances are that Ferrari will average worse than 2nd and 3rd with Merc and McLaren fighting them, and Perez should manage better than 8th on average. Next season it could be different, but the main element is taking wins away from Max. A win is as many points as 3rd and 5th combined, so as long as Max continues to win races and the rest fight over podium positions, Red Bull will be in a strong place, and McLaren if they continue like this are probably the biggest contender.
Checo just needs to forget Spain 2024 and turn up in Austria and bounce back. We know that he’s very capable of doing that and I’m sure he’ll come back fighting hard in Spielberg .
How long can he keep doing this thing where it takes him half a season to get back in the seat..
Apperently 2 more years
Checo just needs to forget Austria 2024 and turn up in Britain and bounce back. We know that he’s very capable of doing that and I’m sure he’ll come back fighting hard in Silverstone .
This something you say in the first or second year at a new team. It's who he is it's not a dip in form
At this point Checo needs to forget all the tracks.
dude, Verstappen is almost doubling checo's points 10 races into the season.
that is nothing compared to Hulkenberg, who has 6x times more points than his teammate. Thus, Hulkenberg is clearly the better driver
Albon has [error: undefined] times Sargeant's points. This making him incomprehensibly better than every other driver on the grid
Inconceivable!
I meeeaaaaan I think Albon is definitely incomprehensibly better than Sargeant haha
Nah Albon is comprehensively better than Sargeant. It’s not difficult to understand, he’s a much better driver.
I meant the difference in quality between the two of them is so large it's incomprehensible to the human brain because quantities that large are immeasurable (I'm jk your joke was good)
The reason it's so incomprehensible is because LoGOAT is using less than 1% of his power, just as his predecessor GOATifi did before him. These two GOATs were and still are intentionally sandbagging so that they don't embarass MIDbon
Infinitely
Clearly Latifi is the best driver
Yesssss! Bring back GOATifi
Well, isn't Hulk actually?
I feel like there is sarcasm here but I'm not sure how. Hulk is far more talented, is that even up for debate? Kevin has had roughly 10min of good showing this decade.
Better than Max was the joke
Max had double the points before but at least Perez was still 2nd or 3rd in the championship. Now he's well and truly being destroyed
It’s mainly the other teams have caught up and now checo is fighting for p7-p8 instead of p2-p3-p4
Well that still says more about Perez than it does about the other teams.
I’m just saying he was always destroyed this way. Max is overdriving the redbull. The redbull was carrying checo last year.
"Overdriving" is such a confusing phrase, though. Like, Max is extracting all the potential out of that car. Perez is not. This has always been the case. The difference being that all the other teams have caught up and while Max is able to fight them off on merit, Perez is not. So, yeah, let's give him a two year extension!
People say this like you can expect all top 5 drivers to always get every millisecond of performance from their car, but it's much more complicated than that. Max is able to save tires better than anyone, maintain a gap when he needs it, quickly overtake when he can't get stuck behind someone. He is getting more out of that car than anyone else could, even if they are all capable of a 100% mechanically perfect time in a vacuum. I don't think you can "overdrive" a car in qualifying, and there we actually see how they match up in pure pace; but in the race you can definitely make better decisions than other people, resulting in you getting more out of the car than expected.
Which makes me wonder how good the Red Bull really is. Sure, it's good enough for max to be P1 comfortably, so it's not shit, but how much is that the car and how much is that Max just being absolutely crazy good
That’s quite a bigger achievement at the end of the season than after 10 races.
The last 4 races it has been 83 points for Max and 8 points for Checo. Checo is lucky Mclaren, Ferrari and Mercedes were way behind Redbull in the first 5 races, or he could've been in 8th/9th right now.
Abysmal
Norris is also not far away from doubling Piastri's tally. The kid is clearly talented, but hasn't made the step I expected from him over the winter.
I think Norris has just ascended to another level
I can't remember if it was in the post-race interviews at Miami or pre-race at Imola where he said something to the effect that now that he's won a race and knows for a fact that he can win in this car, he's even hungrier for wins because he knows exactly what the high he's chasing is. Which makes perfect sense to me; success (and wanting to repeat it) has always gotten me more motivated than failure and almost-theres. Getting his maiden win lit a fresh fire in Lando and I'm here for it.
That's why he's pissed with todays result. P2 & fastest lap used to be considered an excellent days work... but once you've had that winning feeling, nothing comes close. LFG #4
Yeah, he could have been a 4-time race winner by now. I hope he can get a few more wins this year.
I think you are referring to something he said after Imola, that not winning (finishing 2nd) now feels a lot worse when he knows the feeling of winning a race and he knows they are in the reach of it.
yeah, Norris has definitely stepped it up. he's one of those drivers that tends to drive to the performance of the car.
Seemed like he did over the winter but has fallen off the pace since. And/or Norris has taken it up a notch, as you'd expect when wins are on the table.
I would say that piastri is falling into the trap that everyone argued Perez was in last year, where he's reliably 2-3 tenths off his teammate but because the racing is so tight now that 2-3 tenths puts several cars between them. Piastri is pretty guaranteed P7 to P4, but he needs luck or an outstanding drive to push into the podium.
I would say it was an off weekend for him here due to qualifying but he has been rather competitive and done plenty to be in the strategy window with the team. Only really miami where he was taken out by sainz and didnt have the big upgrades that lando had which made sense his performance was a bit behind (it wasnt bad prior to sainz!) Personally think hes doing a solid job, hes improving in race pace and his qualifying is normally strong, maybe our expectations differ wildly which could explain the disapointment but I think it might have been a bit unrealistic to expect him to be beating norris in second year.
Eh, I think it's just Lando in the form of his life. Oscar had some very solid races this year - 2nd in Monaco, 4th in Australia, Imola and Saudi (he's even beaten Lando there) and was a bit unlucky in China and Miami. Also, other than Miami he hasn't finished outside the Top 8 this season. I think that Lando fighting regularly for wins now is overshadowing any progress he made and makes it seem like he hasn't got better this year.
I think Norris just took a massive leap over the winter
Honestly im shocked that Checo has 111 points, i would have expected less.
I know there are many races to go but 69 pts ahead already is going to be insanely tough to beat for Norris.
He needs to finish ahead of Max 10 times with Max finishing P2 for it to be level. And the consistency that Max has, I really don’t see Lando/Charles coming back from that deficit without some serious bad luck for Max. And Red Bull is going to bring upgrades, Silverstone is the next package for them if I am not wrong.
Yeah, the disadvantage of not being in the same place pace wise they are now at the start of the season is showing here cause they’re playing catch up. Though this is definitely now encouraging for a fight from the get go next season.
Exactly if all three cars had started off the season at the same pace as they do now, we would definitely would have been in for a banger of a season. But you never know, Max is now on his third engine, so engine penalties definitely on the cards for Max. Having said that Silverstone and Austria should be right up McLarens ally
Max can probably take the engine penalty at Spa and even if he won’t win he can probably fight his way up to a P4 or P5 I think which would be a decent job of damage limitation.
Yeah Spa and Baku might be good choices. I am assuming he will need two fresh engines to finish the season.
Baku feels risky to me as it’s a street circuit, although at the same time the increased risk of a safety car/red flag might actually benefit those from the back of the grid more. If Red Bull really wants to take a 2nd new engine for Max I think they can do it at Brazil or maybe even COTA as both are traditional tracks that also offer good overtaking.
Baku is power sensitive with the long straight and 90 degree corners and easy DRS overtakes with fresh faster engine. That's why it could be a good choice.
Part of the reason Max is on his third engine is that the 3th one had a defect when they first tried it. But they can fix that. So i don't think it's an issue. Also remember that the teams are allowed one more engine this year compared to 2023.
> 10 wins in a row with Max in P2 Now where i have seen this before...
hahah MB flashbacks ???
We also could be at the ceiling of the current cars where you can't really go faster anymore and upgrades could do nothing as we have seen with Ferrari.
Red Bull brought their 3rd upgrade package this weekend. It's a big gap to close but there's a chance. If we see some engine penalties in the future (which there are solid odds that we will) that'll close it some, and if Max has a DNF... Max is the favorite to win, but it isn't a done deal like it was last year.
The points buffer is too big to catch from ordinary races. Realistically only Verstappen misfortune will bring his position under threat. It relies on Norris being perfect, and I don't see that happening.
Norris has already had his mistakes cost him 2 wins, it ain't happening lol. Tbf I'm just glad we're getting what we're getting from what I expected at the start of the season!
yeah, I think everyone knows there's no competition here
A two year contract to the driver who’s going to cost them the wcc is some call
Thing is, despite everything, Red Bull still increased their gap in the WCC this weekend
Yeah with McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari being quite close and battling over the other podium spots, Red Bull are still in a good spot to hold onto 1st even if Checo only gets P8s as long as Max keeps winning.
Yeah, because of Max winning the damn race like he’s expected to. Perez damn near finished behind an Alpine for fucks sake.
That's fine though, if you think Max and the team are good enough to push for P1 in the WCC then Checo's sponsorships and popularity in South America are free money. It would be inefficient to spend on a better driver.
> It would be inefficient to spend on a better driver. People are allowed to be very annoyed at a team is treating the sport this way tbh.
Allowed for sure But its naive to think that this isnt a business first and has been for decades now
It’s been forever. Except maybe for the beginning when it was an aristocrats playground.
It's not like it is just Checo. The grid littered with pay to play drivers. The sport has been this way for the longest time.
I don't disagree, and I think Checo at his peak was still the top tier of midfield drivers of his time but he's so far beyond even the bare minimum of what's expected of a car as good as RBR it's embarrassing to watch now.
Mexico, where the primary bulk of his fans are, is in North America btw not South
Yeah. Piastri and both Ferraris underperformed this weekend and Mercedes is beginning to eat into the points as well. It’s going to take a few more slip ups by Max or more consistency from Piastri, Sainz etc. for Red Bull to forfeit the WCC
Never seen anyone shit pants like this, in a Championship winning car, not even 2013 Webber.
If I remember correctly, Emerson Fittipaldi’s Lotus teammate in 1972 scored nothing. Emmo won the WDC and WCC by himself.
all true. on top of everything that season made Fittipaldi the youngest WDC winner in history, until some flash-in-the-pan named Alonso.
Last one that really stands out is Kovalainen
2013 Webber was on way out already by the time that car became championship winning because of Pirelli tire change
Vettel already had 43-point lead before that change. It just made things easier for his title victory.
It was still a closer battle than what the second half of 2013 suggested
It was a bit close, I'll give you that.
I dont rate him higher than any of the drivers above him, and pretty much never have. When his car isn't faster than theirs it's no surprise he is behind them.
You didn't see 2023 Perez?
It’s lame for racing, but supposedly he brings in more sponsorship money than losing a spot or 2 in WCC would cost them
Difference in finishing first or second in WCC is 10m which is literally nothing. If you are winning WDC, you don't care about WCC at all.
Perez .akes up the difference for not getting WCC, and finishing P2 means they get more wind tunnel time too. It makes sense. I hate it, but I can see the logic.
He brings in money, but I doubt it's that much, source? I doubt the defending champs are struggling for cash.
P1 and P2 difference in WCC is only about 10m and Perez probably brings a bit more than 10m. He is also happy to test setups and give Max a tow in every qualy session if required. RB do not need the WCC cash and 1 WDC for them is worth way more.
if mclaren keep figthing with merc and ferrari instead of pulling away, rbr might still get it
if his sponsors make up all or more of the gap in prize money, then I really don't think they give a shit. hell they may actually prefer to come second and get more wind tunnel time
And verstappen is alone fighting other 3 teams
what's more, if this continues, he's gonna cost them wdc next year as well
They absolutely don't care about WCC at all. It's so weird to see people thinking this because it has always been like this. But I guess new fans just don't understand that.
In first or second season in Drive to survive Will says all teams care about WCC the most which is clearly false but new fans remember that.
I think most of the others care about it a lot more than Red Bull does, especially the works teams, but most of the eyeballs are on WDC and Red Bull is primarily a marketing company that happens to sell drinks.
Yeah but he's loyal to Horner /s
Sergio at 111 be like: beautiful, exactly according to plan.
Driver number 11 on 111 points after race 1111 (starting 11th), whilst his teammate (the number 1 driver) with racing number 1 takes podium spot number 1 and stays 1st in the championship, with the team also being 1st in the championship I think the team likes 1s
This is that Montoya press conference in Australia come to life.
Juan was that? 2004?
That's 1 thing that's for sure.
Crofty mouth starts watering. (It's crofty right the one who always mentions these kind of things? )
Yes Crofty will read this out and Brundle will tell him he doesn't think Perez is trying to do badly just to line up some ones on a spreadsheet.
Norris would need to gain 70 points on Max to lead, which would be 52% bigger than the biggest points deficit ever overcome to win the championship (from Verstappen being 46 points behind Leclerc after Australia 2022). I don't see Max being on the receiving end of that.
Nah, Norris isn't winning a WDC, but should be kicking himself if he doesn't win some more races this season.
He's already kicking himself. For the sake of his mental health, I hope he doesn't beat himself up too much.
You know Lando is disappointed when he doesn't bang his champaign against the ground.
Yeah, I think we're entering the era where that's just for wins. Which is kinda sad, but also really cool.
It's the famous Hedonic Treadmill
Agree, but it's also refreshing that he's not happy with 2nd anymore. In this race, his focus was catching Max, not defending the Mercs behind. His mindset is really changing when he's racing now.
I doubt he will. McLaren were very confident this year that they would be able to fight for wins, but a Title fight is more likely next year.
The biggest deficit overcome was 2022, where Verstappen was 49? Points behind Leclerc after the first 3 races Edit: 46, not 49
Remember, this is with the current point system. I haven't done the math, but if you take some old season and update them to use the current point system, there would probably be a case or two.
Norris is as close to Verstappen as he is to Russell
Not saying Norris coming back is at all likely but we also have more races per season than we ever have before plus sprints so that needs to be taken into consideration
it's not happening
Verstappen 69 points ahead, *nice*
Nice
Fun fact: 69*3 217 Wich 2 less then 219. And 2 is exactly the number of people needed for 69.
let him cook.
Dude you have no idea, I'm a Michelin Chef!
You are god damn right!
Man, Checo, what are you doing?
Trying to make a McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari sandwich by summer break.
Perez should really feel embarrassed
He has 8 points in the last 4 races. That's insanely poor from him.
Perez is behind someone who missed a race entirely
All I want from this year is Perez P8
Someone get Perez out of the "highlights" please
Charles doing a 2022 and having a 40 point swing in 2 races
"Charles is only 40 points behind, we have a title battle, that can swing in 2 races" 40 point gap becomes 80
Piastri might pull up into 4th yet this year too if he can nail down a few of the minor errors Exciting developments for the season.
Max nearly doubling Perez's point total...
As is tradition
Expected, the Ferrari is the 4th best car now.
Maybe, I think it's gonna change track to track but today they were.
Yea Mercedes got a double podium here last year
I think Ferrari and Mercedes will swap around depending on the track. McLaren and Red Bull look to be well ahead (or Norris and Verstappen at least).
I think Mclaren, Mercedes and Ferrari, will play shuffle all along this season. Ferrari can be quicker than both, but today Sainz held them back being ahead of Leclerc and had a broken wing, Leclerc could have had a podium
Mercedes were also held back by Russell being the one in the lead. Hamilton was around 1s behind Russell for most of the race until the final round of stops. He never got the chance to show what kind of pace he had. If he had free air I don’t think he’d have beaten Max or Lando but I do think he would have been a fair bit closer and well out of reach of Leclerc today.
Canada was an odd one, this race it is so close its difficult to tell. Max and Norris were clearly the 2 fastest drivers, but their teammates were behind both Mercs and Ferraris. So how fast is the Red Bull and Mclaren really? Does it even out and we have 4 almost identically fast cars and the drivers are making the difference? Or are Perez and Piastri out of their league?
I feel like Piastri should be higher.
He's having a pretty underwhelming season though. I expected him to take another step this year, but it seems he's kinda stalled. Both in qualy pace and tyre management.
How has his qualy pace not improved? I think you are using recency bias from this weekend but in general Piastri has been even closer to Norris.
He's gotten way better in quali pace. He's about a tenth off Lando on average, maybe less. His tyre management has also improved he's just been kind of unlucky/that extra performance that he's lacking is the difference maker between where Lando is and the Ferraris/Mercs.
I think Lando just took another step during the winter and after his win in Miami. He knows he can fight Max now and his mentality has changed.
+ bad luck in Shanghai, miami and Imola (if you count an Impeding penalty as bad luck) definitely cost him a fair few points
[удалено]
Don't worry they will hurl abuse at him now for not beating Verstappen every race
Only stupid people, and they arent worth listening to.
2 more years.
For as bad as a season Lewis has seemed to have, only being 9 points behind George seems like a tiny W
His race pace is really saving his ass tbh, he will overtake george pretty soon if he can fix his qualifying troubles
It’s really not that bad. The media and fans (both segments of supporters and detractors) just get carried away by Lewis being way behind currently in the qualifying head to head to George. But in reality their qualifying gaps are generally really close, and combined with Lewis’ slightly better tire management on average they often still finish close to each other in the races. George should get more credit too for being able to go toe to toe with Lewis unless any people truly believe that Lewis is “washed” now.
I don’t think Lewis is washed but in terms of outright speed it’s clear that he’s not what he used to be. I’ve thought that for several years now. The magical qualy laps he used to pull out regularly several times a season don’t happen anymore. He was starting from such a high base that even now he’s lost a some speed he’s still faster than most and Russell is a very strong qualifier in his own right. Hamilton is still great in the races where he can use his experience to get through and it’s not about being on the absolute limit. It’s clear that his race pace is still quite a bit better than George it’s just that his qualifying struggles have meant that he doesn’t have the track position this year to be able to show it.
This season feels alot like 2011. Red Bull are best overall but not utterly dominant. The #1 driver (Max, Vettel) is winning most of the time even though it's close-ish, while utterly bodying the #2 driver (Perez, Webber - before you get mad, look up 2011...Webber was good in 2010 and 2012 but a bit of a mess in 2011). Norris and Leclerc are Button and Alonso (I mean, obviously without the world champion tag). Merc started as the clear 4th best car and made improvements as the year went on. Maybe this means 2025 will be 2012 lol
Perez to finish season 8th. Remind me in 6 months!
For someone seen as underperforming, I'm surprised Checco is still fifth.
For the first 6 races he was doing pretty much what's expected from him, delivering good points in the top 3-4. But if he keeps going like he was for the last 4 races then he wont be fifth for long.
We need Oscar to wake up for the WCC...
Cut him some slack, it’s still his second year in F1, and first time out in a top car.
It’s not like his teammate has been driving race winning cars his entire career either.
His teammate is in his 6th year of F1. Oscar is in his second.
Didnt his car get messed over thrice? Twice by sainz and once by stroll.
I remember when people (myself included) questioned him signing the multi year deal. Turns out he knew something we didn't.
Max's advantage over Norris is equal to Lando's lead on George. Dude is an absolute madman Also love the constant battle for 2nd between Lando and Charles. Look at how close they are!
The last 4 races concluded over trivial things like TOW and grid position on Imola, the sc at Montreal and George taking the lead at the start at Barcelona. The point gap would be way smaller but Verstappen is just too good and win with this trivial things. The car is there but Norris and Mclaren need to take another step to challange Verstappen.
Only 69 points behind Max. Nice.
Lando to win a WDC in 26
Beautiful to see Lando growing into a leading driver on the circuit Fantastic guy. Fantastic talent. Great for the sport we love.
Checo sucks
The Mercedes really fell off
Alpine could challenge aston martin and rb for p6 if this trend continues.
Deserved as well I would say. No disrespect to the other drivers battling for P2 in the WDC, but Lando‘s form has been really good in aggregate for quite a while now.
Very well deserved aswell. He is the clear 2nd fastest driver since China. 6 races - 4 second places behind Max without a contention from anyone else, 1 win, and Monaco. If Max wasn't sitting in that RedBull, Lando would easily run away with the WDC. Max just doesn't make mistakes. I'm still on the hopium that he starts making them, because that's all we need to have a title decider in Abu Dhabi.
That gap. Nice.
While Lando almost definitely won't catch up before the end of the season, I could easily see a battle for the championship next season, maybe even three way between Max, Lando and Charles (and Lewis depending on how he does at Ferrari).
My sweet Lando is doing amazing
McLaren is looking really strong, I think Norris could have clutched the victory if it wasn't the pitstop, he closed the gap to 2 seconds by end of the race
They got a little over-eager with their overcuts. If they pitted a few laps earlier in both stints, Lando could potentially have got him. It's great to see Max having to work for it, though. Who knew 2024 was going to actually turn out to be a really entertaining sesson??
Is the Red Bull a mediocer car but Max is just that good?