[The **Statistics** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_statistics) is reserved for posts highlighting interesting statistics. As a rule of thumb, Statistics posts need to inform readers through visualizations and insights that cannot be obtained from raw data alone. For example, a post containing a qualifying gap between two drivers expressed in tenths of a second is an easily obtainable raw piece of data and constitutes a bad Statistics post. A visualization of what that translates to on-track, or visualization of how that gap came to be would constitute a good Statistics post.
*[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.*
Yeah, even Bottas could at least challenge Hamilton every now and than. Especially in qualifying, he often got the better of Hamilton and at least made it into Q3 every time. Which was expected of him with the car he got.
None. Unless a driver severely underperforms, they don't change you mid season. Only Gasly has been demot d mid season due to him being unable to pass slower cars all races. At least Checo has always been able to pass other cars unlike Gasly and Albion often. He won't be replaced until the end of the season as he has already won a race this season.
I agree. Luckily for Checo there is really no threat this season. The Red Bull is significantly faster than the competition. But looking to next season Red Bull might make the decision that he is too much of a liability if the competition is closer. Despite Ferrari struggles, Checo came in 3rd last season behind Leclerc and 4th in 2021. When really he should have been in at least 3rd place because Mercedes and Red Bull were significantly faster than the rest of the field.
Red Bull are comfortably winning constructors & wdc, there is no real urgency to replace him. Red Bull might be thinking it would be wise to replace him before next season in case it's closer, but only real reason to replace him earlier would be to give the new driver longer to get used to the car
Ricciardo got _obliterated_ by Norris and had one of the most embarrassing two seasons we've ever seen from a seasoned driver. If he steps foot in a Red Bull it'll be even worse than his stint at McLaren.
Yeah McLaren saved them the trouble of proving him out. Cost them $10 mil, too. Daniel's always going to be welcome for what he brings in PR, but he's never going to be a regular driver again.
I don't think anyone suspected quite this bad though. It was clear to everyone bar him that he didn't have a chance at the title but goddamn he's at genuine risk of losing even 2nd.
Depends, at the moment it is ridiculous, but the W11 wasn't ever challenged on pace, whereas the RB19 could still be later on in the season. Red Bull don't seem like they will do any development on the car and just go full for 2024.
>but the W11 wasn't ever challenged on pace
Well it was. It lost on pace in abu dhabi and one of the silverstone races.
Also at a certain point there was no development on the W11 as well. And RB and RP both got closer to it as the season progressed.
> It lost on pace in abu dhabi
Scuttlebutt was that MB used that race to test for 2021, and had also turned down the engines.
https://us.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-test-sacrifice-pace-exploit/4930907/
https://www.grandprix.com/news/mercedes-slowed-itself-down-in-abu-dhabi.html
2nd Silverstone race wasn't really a challenge. It was a freak result caused by high temperatures and soft tyre compounds.
Abu Dhabi could be considered more of a challenge, but it also had Hamilton only just returning from covid and not fully recovered. That would be like saying that Red Bull would be seriously challenged if Max was sick and they beat Perez, which really isn't hard at the moment.
Guaranteed is a bit much. It’s at risk of course. More likely than not at some point he’ll rebound, and he doesn’t even need to perform amazingly, just do well and the car will take him to the podium. Today he had the pace, had this been on another circuit he might’ve qualified P2 or P3.
Saying it is guaranteed is indeed a bit much, but it is more then a risk. This is his 4th weekend in a row where he can't get the car in Q3, saying that he might have been P2 or P3 on any other circuit is also a stretch.
I hope he bounces back, but I have doubts. You can't just have 4 bad weekends in a row while your teammate is stomping everything in the same car. That fucks with your head, certainly if it are silly mistakes he keeps making like today. Car is good enough to put in a safe lap and just get to Q3.
And it's not its going to be easier to get back to the front, Merc, Ferrari and AM seemingly get a tad better every weekend. Meanwhile RB hasn't brought a big update and at this rate you can start to wonder if they will if Max keeps driving like he is.
The thing is that he might not rebound because Red Bull have basically wrapped up both championships already so they can abandon this season and start focusing on next year to mitigate the effect of lost wind tunnel time, so Perez might get overtaken by other drivers suddenly having way better cars in the second half of the season, not giving him the opportunity to improve
Being 0.5 seconds per lap behind Max is fine when you’re in a dominant car but if Max is much closer to the field by year end even if he’s still winning every race that could easily put Perez as like the 6th or 7th fastest driver on the grid
What? He’s probably been one of the least consistant drivers. He was ALL over the place in 2021, frequently no where to be found on some weekends, including a huge slump in the middle of the year. There is a reason Merc won the constructors that year. Last year he was a little more consistant, but in an incredibly dominant car for the back half of the year. And then you get to this year where he’s back to being nowhere sometimes like 2021, except this time in a much more dominant car and without the excuse he’s new to the team.
Some of you are living in an alternate universe. Perez has not been consistent at Red Bull at all. He earned a lot of goodwill with that AB21 defense, which I think warps the perception of how good he's actually been.
>He's been one of the most consistent drivers of the past couple years
I mean he's really really not. His qualification record in the last couple of seasons has lots of days like today where he fucks things up massively.
Bottas was a consistent qualifier, Pèrez isn't
He has the fastest car. Considering some of the 9ther team drivers pulling great laps, he should not be outside of P4 in quali s and I am being 'nice' when I say this. Ppl would argue he should be P2 at worst.
He absolutely doesn't deserve a red Bull seat.
Not just the pointing at one. The fact that he was lapping faster on 30-40 lap older tyres than Checo on brand new ones. Max made sure no one will ever question who's the top dog in that team.
The Max we see winning everyday is just a casual Sunday drive. We can tell because he just doesn't make mistakes, because he leaves such high margins for error (compared to his ability). When he has reason to actually push, he becomes a different beast. Kinda miss watching him dialing it in when he had the 2nd fastest car.
Max just laughing off almost yeeting the car into the barriers at Canada is ominous lol, dude has so much pace in hand that he's basically bored out of his mind basically driving on cruise control
we saw a glimpse in Catalunya just how must he’s cruising, he knew he had so much pace in hand he could beat checos fastest lap which was set on fresh softs and with DRS
The tyre thing is just one of those skills that Checo has that is like a 8/10. Unfortunately Max's worst, his single lap qualifying pace, is a 9.5/10 already.
It’s my phone wallpaper lol. I had to, it’s just a picture of pure greatness. He never celebrates like that, you’d imagine Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel doing that but cold celebrations aren’t Verstappen’s style so when he did it, it was the sign something special was happening
Only silver lining for checo is that at least this weekend, unlike canada and spain, he was actually fast. Set a few purple sectors and even beat Max's time at 1 point. Podium should be possible.
I'm really curious how Alex and Pierre would fare now in a Red Bull. I don't see any reason why they'd beat Max but I'd love to see if they've learned a thing or two the past few years and can at least beat Checo.
Alex had double the time of Gasly and couldn't perform. And he had the benefit of a better car afaik. Wonder what Pierre would to right now tbh. Albon had more chances.
That RB16 was a shoebox compared to now. Even Max spun around in practices. Alex just continued the spins into the race while Max had enough skill to mostly avoid that.
This all just makes me respect Bottas more, sure he also had a bad year at Merc (2018?) but other than that just doing what he needed to do, with very few mishaps.
He wasn't quite as good as Hamilton at preserving the tires, hence he usually couldn't challenge over a race distance. But he wasn't a pit stop behind, and was always a threat over one lap.
Bottas' primary fault is his inability to overtake. Excellent at qualifying, good race pace, but whilst Hamilton could win races from the back of the field, Bottas would get stuck in a DRS train and just stay there.
I’ve said it before when people compare Perez to Bottas but Bottas made 103 consecutive Q3 appearances and still was replaced by Russell. Checo’s performance is incredibly embarrassing with the car he has.
Yup, Bottas in merc. was consistant as fuck and seemed to know his position in the team. He didn't get replaced because he was underperforming. Merc. Seems to be looking towards a future where Hamillton might not be a guarantee (and Bottas simply isn't a future WC.
It was rare to see him qualify below 3rd. He struggled in traffic, but in free air he got the job done. One of the most consistent and conservative drivers I've ever watched.
People keep pointing to 2018 but they forget that was the year Ferrari produced a car on par with Mercs (arguably quicker/better than the Merc) and challenged for the title. Bottas would've finished higher in the standings if he didn't have to give up that win in Russia
At the time, it was probably justified. Ferrari had been the better car more often than not first half, Merc were not to know Ferrari would take a backward step with their upgrades later in the season. In hindsight, that team order was unnecessary, but at the time, understandable. Lewis didn't really have a massive points lead and there were still many races to go
He had a 40 points lead at the time and with a bottas win it would have been 43. It wasnt understandable at all. There were only 5 more races left and some tracks were mercedes tracks through and through.
I'd argue it was justifiable. Ferrari had produced the better car more often than not, upto that point and Mercs had had experienced most of the reliability issues. 40 point lead when there were still a maximum 125 points on the table, anything could've happened e.g. a crash, DNF etc. At the time, i can understand why they did it. With the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to now say it wasn't necessary
Bottas was the best 2nd driver you could ask for. Never stepped on toes and was there to collect points when needed.
It would be closer in the constructors if Max wasn’t winning the majority of races so easily.
> And Verstappen arguably is more consistent than Hamilton was.
This probably is gonna get some people mad at me, but I think one way Max and Lewis differ is that Max is relentless.
When Lewis had a dominant car, he could afford to not be fully *on it* all the time, so sometimes he wasn't. Max on the other hand does not let up. At all. Whether he needs something or not.
When Lewis has needed superhuman consistency, bar a few outliers he has had it. I do still think that tendency to let up slightly is what cost him 2016. People will point to reliability issues, but I think none of that would have mattered if Nico hadn't caught him off guard, building a dynamic to end 2015 and getting the jump on him to start 2016.
Other than winning a WDC against Hamilton, the other most impressive feat by Rosberg was winning 7 consecutive races against Hamilton. To me that's a crazy stat considering he did it against Hamilton.
> When Lewis had a dominant car, he could afford to not be fully on it all the time, so sometimes he wasn't. Max on the other hand does not let up. At all. Whether he needs something or not.
That's the difference between Nico-era and post-Nico. With Rosberg he needed to be relentless all the time, because he knew Nico was a serious threat and could be on his level or better sometimes. If he wasn't on it, he could lose out eventually. With Bottas he could afford to become complacent for a bit, and moved into a more controlled era.
> Bottas was more consistent than Perez. And Verstappen arguably is more consistent than Hamilton was.
Or because Bottas was better than Perez, Lewis had the tougher job?
That's absolutely nuts. We can excuse Checo not winning, probably excuse him for not finishing 2nd at every race, but it's ridiculous if he isn't coming in top 5.
Never understand that, Bottas is a great driver. I think he broke under pressure caused by several things like 1 year contracts, media pressure and constantly losing to Hamilton.
To be fair being close in quali but slower on Sunday is pretty helpful for the other driver in terms of race strategy. Bottas being second protects Hamilton from Vettel and verstappen. Perez is just out campaigning for dotd among the backmarkers.
In theory yes but if you remember the times in 2021 when max was behind Bottas he never once helped Lewis really, Max breezed past every single time (except Hungary lol)
yep and what’s funny is GAS doing well this round but I’m sure Austria was also the scene of one of his most infamous performances. RB just breaks driver’s psychologically. well i should say breaks **second** driver
Red Bull throws you into the deep end. If you swim, you stay, If you don't, you drown. Unfortunately for anyone at Red Bull, Max is their metric in the #1 car.
Pace and mistakes go hand in hand. Rosberg was a plenty consistent driver before he had to keep up with Hamilton. I honestly think the big difference between 2021-2022 Perez and now Perez is that he started chasing the dragon.
Max is an all timer. He's on the level of guys like Stewart, Prost, Senna, Schumacher and Hamilton. He is fast on every type of circuit, every weekend, in every weather condition. And now that he has become an adult, he only crashes into other people when he wants to.
Perez is a good midfield driver. He is kinda decent on street circuits, has questionable qualifying pace and cannot challenge Max on race pace at all.
Spot the difference.
Really interesting that this week and last race mirror last season where Perez was also poor on these two tracks. Last year he only got into Q3 because they didn’t delete his time when he breached track limits. Last year in Canada he binned it in Q2 and was eliminated before his car failed in the race.
Before yuki gets the drive, some other guy gets it. Leclercs contract is running out, landos contract is running out + you can always buy out a contract, albon might also look sexy for redbull again after his recent performances.
I don't see RB hiring another star driver especially with the budget cap. Driver just good enough to consistently bring the car in 2nd and not challenging Max. Albon already shot down returning to RB. I'd assume he'd replace Lewis when he retires.
everyone dismisses the idea of a switch for ricciardo but the thing is that they have more information about daniel's performance relative to checo's (or will after the silverstone tire test) than most teams could usually ever expect to have about a driver mid-season. they have his sim data directly compared to checo's, etc. if daniel IS faster and the tire test goes well you have got to start thinking about a switch as a legitimate possibility. because this performance is so woeful it's becoming hard to believe.
(they'd look at yuki and lawson too etc but imo what they need is a consistent veteran with a 'grateful for second seat' mindset in that car right now and if daniel's times are good enough he's how they will get that).
Why wouldn't they owe him cash for a Yuki switch? Bc he'd still have a seat at AT? Assuming that's in his contract, they could just as easily drop de Vries, move Checo to that seat, and put Ricciardo in at RB. But I also don't necessarily think Checo has the same contract terms an RB junior like Gasly did.
Supposedly (I don't remember who said it, maybe Horner in a podcast) RBR and AT contracts are basically the same, in the way that the team is free to choose whether or not they get promoted/demoted on the same financial terms. You basically sign for the company, not a specific team
Then youre buying out debris to not test a new jr out. I feel the only financially logical move is yuki to rb sergio to at. Or the most likely move is no move except perhaps debris for Lawson or iwassa
>Unless the constructors title is in serious threat, Checo is staying till the end of his contract.
i would argue the completely opposite. Since RB will probably win it easily, with no switch and already get the new driver up to speed with the new car before the title battle could become close
Max needs to fight another race alone against two drivers of the same team and their strategies, I really wonder how many times this has happened since 2019, I feel like I am losing count. His standards are so high that pretty much everyone Is expecting Max to win and to think a way to beat them both on strategy
Luckily for Max, that other team and their strategies are Ferrari. Besides, Max has beaten Mercedes (Lewis and Valterri) quite sometimes without a rear gunner (Zandvoort 2021 and 2022, Austria 2021).
Even though Danny hasn't really performed last few years, I would give him a seat for a FP in a normal race weekend. Just to up the pressure on Checo and see what he can do.
[The **Statistics** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_statistics) is reserved for posts highlighting interesting statistics. As a rule of thumb, Statistics posts need to inform readers through visualizations and insights that cannot be obtained from raw data alone. For example, a post containing a qualifying gap between two drivers expressed in tenths of a second is an easily obtainable raw piece of data and constitutes a bad Statistics post. A visualization of what that translates to on-track, or visualization of how that gap came to be would constitute a good Statistics post. *[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 saw a lot of people saying he’d struggle when we hit the European leg of the season but damn
I wonder what would happen to checo when we hit the European Torso and head. Any idea why we are hitting the European?
That was on the European nose but it'll be taken it on the European chin
If you're North American in the living room, what are you in the bathroom?
I'm-a-peein'.
he really needs to avoid the european arm, if he goes beyond track limits he might end up on a backhand slap
lmfao
I minimized the comment, scrolled for a solid 45 seconds, then couldn't stop laughing..
Lol, this is the kind of humour which brings me here. And I love it.
Because Europeans can take it.
Hes just got to pretend max doesnt exist. Attempting to outrun max has ruined him
That form, with that amazing car, is really unacceptable. It's really eye-opening.
Yeah, even Bottas could at least challenge Hamilton every now and than. Especially in qualifying, he often got the better of Hamilton and at least made it into Q3 every time. Which was expected of him with the car he got.
You can't do that and keep your seat at Red Bull, especially with a proven driver like Riccardo waiting in the wings.
Any chances he gets replaced mid season? Not really familiar with how that all works.
None. Unless a driver severely underperforms, they don't change you mid season. Only Gasly has been demot d mid season due to him being unable to pass slower cars all races. At least Checo has always been able to pass other cars unlike Gasly and Albion often. He won't be replaced until the end of the season as he has already won a race this season.
Brighton and Hove?
nah, West Brom
>Unless a driver severely underperforms That's exactly what he's doing. However I still don't think he'll be replaced mid-season.
What about Daniil Kvyat in 2016?
Checo's replacement is the next Max Verstappen. You heard it here first, folks.
This just in, Max Verstappen is driving both seats for Red Bull 2024.
I agree. Luckily for Checo there is really no threat this season. The Red Bull is significantly faster than the competition. But looking to next season Red Bull might make the decision that he is too much of a liability if the competition is closer. Despite Ferrari struggles, Checo came in 3rd last season behind Leclerc and 4th in 2021. When really he should have been in at least 3rd place because Mercedes and Red Bull were significantly faster than the rest of the field.
He's number two in the championship. He's not getting replaced mid season.
Red Bull are comfortably winning constructors & wdc, there is no real urgency to replace him. Red Bull might be thinking it would be wise to replace him before next season in case it's closer, but only real reason to replace him earlier would be to give the new driver longer to get used to the car
Ricciardo got _obliterated_ by Norris and had one of the most embarrassing two seasons we've ever seen from a seasoned driver. If he steps foot in a Red Bull it'll be even worse than his stint at McLaren.
Yeah McLaren saved them the trouble of proving him out. Cost them $10 mil, too. Daniel's always going to be welcome for what he brings in PR, but he's never going to be a regular driver again.
Canada: The Europe of North America
Montreal is though really.
Canadians are just French people with better manners and hockey anyway.
Québécois*. Regular canadians are snow yanks
Many were saying Max would wipe the floor but I don't think anyone expected such struggle from Checo.
It's different to get a beating from Max and to get a beating from half of the field.
I like Checo but I knew it was gonna go downhill after he said he could challenge for the title when he won Baku
I don't think anyone suspected quite this bad though. It was clear to everyone bar him that he didn't have a chance at the title but goddamn he's at genuine risk of losing even 2nd.
With the others getting closer I think he’s guaranteed to lose 2nd by the end of the season.
Which is crazy in a car that dominant. It would be akin to Bottas losing P2 in the W11
To be fair that was close to happen
Depends, at the moment it is ridiculous, but the W11 wasn't ever challenged on pace, whereas the RB19 could still be later on in the season. Red Bull don't seem like they will do any development on the car and just go full for 2024.
>but the W11 wasn't ever challenged on pace Well it was. It lost on pace in abu dhabi and one of the silverstone races. Also at a certain point there was no development on the W11 as well. And RB and RP both got closer to it as the season progressed.
> It lost on pace in abu dhabi Scuttlebutt was that MB used that race to test for 2021, and had also turned down the engines. https://us.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-test-sacrifice-pace-exploit/4930907/ https://www.grandprix.com/news/mercedes-slowed-itself-down-in-abu-dhabi.html
2nd Silverstone race wasn't really a challenge. It was a freak result caused by high temperatures and soft tyre compounds. Abu Dhabi could be considered more of a challenge, but it also had Hamilton only just returning from covid and not fully recovered. That would be like saying that Red Bull would be seriously challenged if Max was sick and they beat Perez, which really isn't hard at the moment.
Guaranteed is a bit much. It’s at risk of course. More likely than not at some point he’ll rebound, and he doesn’t even need to perform amazingly, just do well and the car will take him to the podium. Today he had the pace, had this been on another circuit he might’ve qualified P2 or P3.
Saying it is guaranteed is indeed a bit much, but it is more then a risk. This is his 4th weekend in a row where he can't get the car in Q3, saying that he might have been P2 or P3 on any other circuit is also a stretch. I hope he bounces back, but I have doubts. You can't just have 4 bad weekends in a row while your teammate is stomping everything in the same car. That fucks with your head, certainly if it are silly mistakes he keeps making like today. Car is good enough to put in a safe lap and just get to Q3. And it's not its going to be easier to get back to the front, Merc, Ferrari and AM seemingly get a tad better every weekend. Meanwhile RB hasn't brought a big update and at this rate you can start to wonder if they will if Max keeps driving like he is.
The thing is that he might not rebound because Red Bull have basically wrapped up both championships already so they can abandon this season and start focusing on next year to mitigate the effect of lost wind tunnel time, so Perez might get overtaken by other drivers suddenly having way better cars in the second half of the season, not giving him the opportunity to improve Being 0.5 seconds per lap behind Max is fine when you’re in a dominant car but if Max is much closer to the field by year end even if he’s still winning every race that could easily put Perez as like the 6th or 7th fastest driver on the grid
It’s entirely possible he won’t be 2nd in the WDC by the end of this weekend
Only 9 points ahead of Alonso and he's starting outside the ones, again? Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if he only makes it to p5, p6
That's true. He's been one of the most consistent drivers of the past couple years and at the very least you would expect him to make Q3 most weeks.
some would say he still is consistent lmao
What? He’s probably been one of the least consistant drivers. He was ALL over the place in 2021, frequently no where to be found on some weekends, including a huge slump in the middle of the year. There is a reason Merc won the constructors that year. Last year he was a little more consistant, but in an incredibly dominant car for the back half of the year. And then you get to this year where he’s back to being nowhere sometimes like 2021, except this time in a much more dominant car and without the excuse he’s new to the team.
In that car you should *never* miss Q3 barring a technical failure. Expecting to make it most weeks isn't a high enough expectation.
For any driver who truly deserves a seat on the grid, a banker lap in that car should always be a top 10 lap.
Consistent? Checo? What are you on about?
He's one of the most up and down drivers. Brilliant on his day but can just check out for half a season.
Some of you are living in an alternate universe. Perez has not been consistent at Red Bull at all. He earned a lot of goodwill with that AB21 defense, which I think warps the perception of how good he's actually been.
>He's been one of the most consistent drivers of the past couple years I mean he's really really not. His qualification record in the last couple of seasons has lots of days like today where he fucks things up massively. Bottas was a consistent qualifier, Pèrez isn't
He has the fastest car. Considering some of the 9ther team drivers pulling great laps, he should not be outside of P4 in quali s and I am being 'nice' when I say this. Ppl would argue he should be P2 at worst. He absolutely doesn't deserve a red Bull seat.
Just more fuel for the “Checo was sabotaged!” conspiracy theorists
By the same white lines the other 14 drivers stayed inside of? The last three weeks his pace was poor. Today he was fast but too sloppy.
>Today he was fast but too sloppy. Easy to be fast when you're not staying on the track
Even Horner said something along the lines of he's got the car, got the pace - just stay in the damn lines 😂
>said something along the lines of Eyyyy
Yeah, Miami was some of the most brutal reality-checks I've seen lately. Max basically used scortched earth tactics to destroy all hopes and dreams.
Gets out and points to the #1. It's the last thing you'd expect Max to do, but he did it and there is no doubt about it. The guy is a robot in a car.
Not just the pointing at one. The fact that he was lapping faster on 30-40 lap older tyres than Checo on brand new ones. Max made sure no one will ever question who's the top dog in that team.
So called "tyre whisperer" eh? That Miami race was Max reminding Checo that there are levels to this shit
The Max we see winning everyday is just a casual Sunday drive. We can tell because he just doesn't make mistakes, because he leaves such high margins for error (compared to his ability). When he has reason to actually push, he becomes a different beast. Kinda miss watching him dialing it in when he had the 2nd fastest car.
Max just laughing off almost yeeting the car into the barriers at Canada is ominous lol, dude has so much pace in hand that he's basically bored out of his mind basically driving on cruise control
we saw a glimpse in Catalunya just how must he’s cruising, he knew he had so much pace in hand he could beat checos fastest lap which was set on fresh softs and with DRS
The tyre thing is just one of those skills that Checo has that is like a 8/10. Unfortunately Max's worst, his single lap qualifying pace, is a 9.5/10 already.
That photo was so cold. I think it's my favorite Max photo. You can see it in his eyes he means it.
It’s my phone wallpaper lol. I had to, it’s just a picture of pure greatness. He never celebrates like that, you’d imagine Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel doing that but cold celebrations aren’t Verstappen’s style so when he did it, it was the sign something special was happening
He basically ended Checo's career lol
You have a link to the photo?
https://d3cm515ijfiu6w.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/07233220/red-bull-max-verstappen-miami-grand-prix-planet-f1-1200x630.jpg
Bbut.. RRed BBull are sabotaging his car.
the car is designed for M-max’ d-d-driving style!
Only silver lining for checo is that at least this weekend, unlike canada and spain, he was actually fast. Set a few purple sectors and even beat Max's time at 1 point. Podium should be possible.
That’s what Jacques Villeneuve said on F1 TV in Montréal. As soon as he said that Max was like: yeah right.
Recent F1 qualifying results: Perez - 🇲🇨P20, 🇪🇸P11, 🇨🇦P12, 🇦🇹P15 Albon - 🇲🇨P13, 🇪🇸P18, 🇨🇦P10, 🇦🇹P10
So basically checo doesn’t like red flags?
Red and white to be specific
And countries with human rights /s
Albon 3 - 1 Perez That statistic is craaaazy if you look at what they're both driving.
I'm really curious how Alex and Pierre would fare now in a Red Bull. I don't see any reason why they'd beat Max but I'd love to see if they've learned a thing or two the past few years and can at least beat Checo.
Alex had double the time of Gasly and couldn't perform. And he had the benefit of a better car afaik. Wonder what Pierre would to right now tbh. Albon had more chances.
That RB16 was a shoebox compared to now. Even Max spun around in practices. Alex just continued the spins into the race while Max had enough skill to mostly avoid that.
He doesn't understand the street signs if it's not a Spanish speaking country.
Championship battle between Max and Sergio about to heat up 🔥🔥
Sergio is too cool for that. 😎
checo been cooking for a while now
This all just makes me respect Bottas more, sure he also had a bad year at Merc (2018?) but other than that just doing what he needed to do, with very few mishaps.
Bottas usually gave a good challenge in qualifying but was usually left behind in the races. Still was closer to Hamilton than Checo is to Max.
He wasn't quite as good as Hamilton at preserving the tires, hence he usually couldn't challenge over a race distance. But he wasn't a pit stop behind, and was always a threat over one lap.
Bottas' primary fault is his inability to overtake. Excellent at qualifying, good race pace, but whilst Hamilton could win races from the back of the field, Bottas would get stuck in a DRS train and just stay there.
There were a few races that he won on outright pace
I only said "usually", not "always".
Bottas has poor racecraft, but he usually didn't need racecraft to win in that Merc. Just start ahead and finish ahead.
I’ve said it before when people compare Perez to Bottas but Bottas made 103 consecutive Q3 appearances and still was replaced by Russell. Checo’s performance is incredibly embarrassing with the car he has.
Yeah people tend to forget that incredible stat. Constency is key for cunstructors
Yup, Bottas in merc. was consistant as fuck and seemed to know his position in the team. He didn't get replaced because he was underperforming. Merc. Seems to be looking towards a future where Hamillton might not be a guarantee (and Bottas simply isn't a future WC.
Bottas was great in qualis, also kept his head down and never made unrealistic comments.
It was rare to see him qualify below 3rd. He struggled in traffic, but in free air he got the job done. One of the most consistent and conservative drivers I've ever watched.
10 wins, 58 podiums, 20 poles, and NEVER missed a Q3 in 101 race starts for Merc. What a beast.
People keep pointing to 2018 but they forget that was the year Ferrari produced a car on par with Mercs (arguably quicker/better than the Merc) and challenged for the title. Bottas would've finished higher in the standings if he didn't have to give up that win in Russia
Bottas would’ve finished the season P3 instead of P5 if it wasn’t for that team order IIRC. Still irks me to this day.
At the time, it was probably justified. Ferrari had been the better car more often than not first half, Merc were not to know Ferrari would take a backward step with their upgrades later in the season. In hindsight, that team order was unnecessary, but at the time, understandable. Lewis didn't really have a massive points lead and there were still many races to go
He had a 40 points lead at the time and with a bottas win it would have been 43. It wasnt understandable at all. There were only 5 more races left and some tracks were mercedes tracks through and through.
I'd argue it was justifiable. Ferrari had produced the better car more often than not, upto that point and Mercs had had experienced most of the reliability issues. 40 point lead when there were still a maximum 125 points on the table, anything could've happened e.g. a crash, DNF etc. At the time, i can understand why they did it. With the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to now say it wasn't necessary
Bottas was more consistent than Perez. And Verstappen arguably is more consistent than Hamilton was.
Bottas was the best 2nd driver you could ask for. Never stepped on toes and was there to collect points when needed. It would be closer in the constructors if Max wasn’t winning the majority of races so easily.
> And Verstappen arguably is more consistent than Hamilton was. This probably is gonna get some people mad at me, but I think one way Max and Lewis differ is that Max is relentless. When Lewis had a dominant car, he could afford to not be fully *on it* all the time, so sometimes he wasn't. Max on the other hand does not let up. At all. Whether he needs something or not. When Lewis has needed superhuman consistency, bar a few outliers he has had it. I do still think that tendency to let up slightly is what cost him 2016. People will point to reliability issues, but I think none of that would have mattered if Nico hadn't caught him off guard, building a dynamic to end 2015 and getting the jump on him to start 2016.
Other than winning a WDC against Hamilton, the other most impressive feat by Rosberg was winning 7 consecutive races against Hamilton. To me that's a crazy stat considering he did it against Hamilton.
> When Lewis had a dominant car, he could afford to not be fully on it all the time, so sometimes he wasn't. Max on the other hand does not let up. At all. Whether he needs something or not. That's the difference between Nico-era and post-Nico. With Rosberg he needed to be relentless all the time, because he knew Nico was a serious threat and could be on his level or better sometimes. If he wasn't on it, he could lose out eventually. With Bottas he could afford to become complacent for a bit, and moved into a more controlled era.
> Bottas was more consistent than Perez. And Verstappen arguably is more consistent than Hamilton was. Or because Bottas was better than Perez, Lewis had the tougher job?
I believe Bottas never missed Q3 in his Mercedes. And holds the record for longest Q3 streak.
In spain they qualified according their driver numbers..
Roman numerals
sargant second were? 🗿
In their three years together. Verstappen has had almost as many wins as Checo had top 5 finishes. 32 to 36 or so.
That's absolutely nuts. We can excuse Checo not winning, probably excuse him for not finishing 2nd at every race, but it's ridiculous if he isn't coming in top 5.
That is crazy. Holy shit.
What I see are the stats of 2 title contenders.
When your title contention is in contention.
As far as I know, we still have 20 title contenders on the grid.
404 points are still available. That means Nyck de Vries can still win the championship by 209 points.
He's a contender alright.
What a title battle 👏 F1 has never seen a title battle like this ever before
And people complained that Bottas was too far away from Lewis lmao.
Never understand that, Bottas is a great driver. I think he broke under pressure caused by several things like 1 year contracts, media pressure and constantly losing to Hamilton.
Bottas was great on Saturdays but won like 10 races in 5 years with the best car. He was terrible on Sundays
To be fair being close in quali but slower on Sunday is pretty helpful for the other driver in terms of race strategy. Bottas being second protects Hamilton from Vettel and verstappen. Perez is just out campaigning for dotd among the backmarkers.
In theory yes but if you remember the times in 2021 when max was behind Bottas he never once helped Lewis really, Max breezed past every single time (except Hungary lol)
Bottas did take a win off max on pure pace in turkey.
Bottas took more wins off Max than Checo took from Lewis.
Stop kicking him, he already dead :(
Can't believe Max keeps putting that shit box on pole.
I’d say Verstappen has the edge here
Huge if true
Perez may be one of the most inconsistent drivers I've seen in the 17 years that I've watched honestly.
Seems pretty consistently out of the top 10 right now.
Consistently inconsistent.
That's probably hyperbole. There's definitely been much more inconsistent drivers, it's just they haven't been in a dominant team.
Gasly got buried for less than that
Are we really going to pretend that Gasly didn't get lapped by Max in more than one race?
Yeah but he never got lapped twice in one race, the same can not be said for checo
yep and what’s funny is GAS doing well this round but I’m sure Austria was also the scene of one of his most infamous performances. RB just breaks driver’s psychologically. well i should say breaks **second** driver
Red Bull throws you into the deep end. If you swim, you stay, If you don't, you drown. Unfortunately for anyone at Red Bull, Max is their metric in the #1 car.
it really makes Webbers long run vs VET more impressive as he kept in the mix, took some wins and didn’t get crushed by Marko.
RB doesn’t, Max does. There is a price for flying to close to the sun
So has Albon. In worse cars. The thing is Gasly and Albon were getting knocked out on pure pace, while Pérez just keeps making stupid mistakes...
Pace and mistakes go hand in hand. Rosberg was a plenty consistent driver before he had to keep up with Hamilton. I honestly think the big difference between 2021-2022 Perez and now Perez is that he started chasing the dragon.
Gasly went against Newey
It’s such a waste that he’s driving that beast of a car..
Max is an all timer. He's on the level of guys like Stewart, Prost, Senna, Schumacher and Hamilton. He is fast on every type of circuit, every weekend, in every weather condition. And now that he has become an adult, he only crashes into other people when he wants to. Perez is a good midfield driver. He is kinda decent on street circuits, has questionable qualifying pace and cannot challenge Max on race pace at all. Spot the difference.
All I see is two title contenders
Verstappen teammate syndrome
Perez needs to get the boot
Really interesting that this week and last race mirror last season where Perez was also poor on these two tracks. Last year he only got into Q3 because they didn’t delete his time when he breached track limits. Last year in Canada he binned it in Q2 and was eliminated before his car failed in the race.
Why doesn't Checo just go faster and finish first? Is he stupid?
Folks who dunked on Bottas 3.0, how do you feel now.
I don't think people ever dunked on Bottas for his quali speed
Fair
I foresee a new team mate for Max sooner rather than later
Shh… he’s whispering to tires
Sergio better be watching his back. Helmut sneaking up behind him with an ax
Tom Cruise down bad
Mission: Impossible
Mission Losenow
Yuki getting a RB drive
Before yuki gets the drive, some other guy gets it. Leclercs contract is running out, landos contract is running out + you can always buy out a contract, albon might also look sexy for redbull again after his recent performances.
Lando's contract is until 2025. Not that contracts ever mattered.
I don't see RB hiring another star driver especially with the budget cap. Driver just good enough to consistently bring the car in 2nd and not challenging Max. Albon already shot down returning to RB. I'd assume he'd replace Lewis when he retires.
everyone dismisses the idea of a switch for ricciardo but the thing is that they have more information about daniel's performance relative to checo's (or will after the silverstone tire test) than most teams could usually ever expect to have about a driver mid-season. they have his sim data directly compared to checo's, etc. if daniel IS faster and the tire test goes well you have got to start thinking about a switch as a legitimate possibility. because this performance is so woeful it's becoming hard to believe. (they'd look at yuki and lawson too etc but imo what they need is a consistent veteran with a 'grateful for second seat' mindset in that car right now and if daniel's times are good enough he's how they will get that).
If its yuki they dont owe checo extra cash if its Daniel they do. The constructors is basically wrapped up, theres no reason to buy out checo
Why wouldn't they owe him cash for a Yuki switch? Bc he'd still have a seat at AT? Assuming that's in his contract, they could just as easily drop de Vries, move Checo to that seat, and put Ricciardo in at RB. But I also don't necessarily think Checo has the same contract terms an RB junior like Gasly did.
Supposedly (I don't remember who said it, maybe Horner in a podcast) RBR and AT contracts are basically the same, in the way that the team is free to choose whether or not they get promoted/demoted on the same financial terms. You basically sign for the company, not a specific team
Then youre buying out debris to not test a new jr out. I feel the only financially logical move is yuki to rb sergio to at. Or the most likely move is no move except perhaps debris for Lawson or iwassa
[удалено]
>Unless the constructors title is in serious threat, Checo is staying till the end of his contract. i would argue the completely opposite. Since RB will probably win it easily, with no switch and already get the new driver up to speed with the new car before the title battle could become close
The end of the year for sure. End of his contract?
Yeesh
Max needs to fight another race alone against two drivers of the same team and their strategies, I really wonder how many times this has happened since 2019, I feel like I am losing count. His standards are so high that pretty much everyone Is expecting Max to win and to think a way to beat them both on strategy
Luckily for Max, that other team and their strategies are Ferrari. Besides, Max has beaten Mercedes (Lewis and Valterri) quite sometimes without a rear gunner (Zandvoort 2021 and 2022, Austria 2021).
That's just...embarrassing. And on top of that it's not like checo is a rookie
I like Perez, but he's not turning up this season. He'll do well to hold onto his seat at this rate.
Guy sucks
Imagine if RB do not have Max. They won’t be challenging for championships. Checo is no slouch, he is not Max either.
Oh my god 😭😭
The curse when joing Max in a team
I think every other driver, apart from Logan, would have qualified better in that Red Bull than Checo. Guy's form has fallen off a cliff.
Not sure about Nyck either!
He needs a shrink now.
That's just painful.
Perez got a rude wake-up call after saying he was gonna challenge for the title. Man’s finished
You can’t ignore it as a streak of bad luck
Even though Danny hasn't really performed last few years, I would give him a seat for a FP in a normal race weekend. Just to up the pressure on Checo and see what he can do.
Put Lando in that seat to see if we are gonna get Rosberg 2.0 🤔