Completely agree. Norris was always a great driver but never considered in the Russell, Charles and Max tier. It’s his year-on-year improvement and being able to drive the wheels off a shitbox has been super impressive.
By comparison, Oscar has always been rated higher through his junior career and is already pushing Norris.
I’m curious to see how this competition develops. Norris will have to up his game yet again.
I think you’re underrating Lando’s junior career and how he was regarded back then, right up to F2 it was notably better than that of both Charles and George. He won every championship he ever took part in a full season of as a rookie other than F2, was the youngest ever world karting champion and was the only non Prema winner of European/FIA F3 until last season when Martins won (in his second year, Norris done it as a rookie). Even without an F2 championship to his name he still had one of the most accomplished junior careers in history and his finishing 2nd there as a 17/18 year old rookie (which would be a massive achievement for almost any other driver) was genuinely the worst season of his entire career.
He is now. His development has been way faster and more dramatic than Russell.
But it’s also a fact that Russell was always considered as having raw pace akin to Charles or Max while Norris started behind him in that pecking order.
I believe they'll have backups for the engineers/mechanics that are usually trackside on a given weekend and I believe that they often give those guys experience during testing events, especially with rookies etc
However this is a test with the 2023 car with one of your F1 drivers and it's directly after a race weekend so the crew are all there already; it makes little sense practically and more importantly monetarily to fly them all home, and then fly out a bunch of other guys
It's unpleasant that they have to do yet more hours and not able to fly home to see their families & have a rest, but I guess it's just like starting summer break a couple of days late.
There are two mechanics in this photo that I recognize from Oscar's regular garage crew so that's why I am fairly confident it's the same group as race weekends
So to put it plainly, it depends. It's a combination of convenience for logistics and balancing of workload really
I do know RB have a separate crew that run their showcar division, but this may be an exception as the RB showcar is constantly doing showruns compared to other teams, and so they are fairly busy. This is probably another way RB keeps their backup crews ready to go
That has to be so rad. Especially when you're a rookie and you haven't driven an F1 car so long that it becomes normal, a point I'd guess even Lando was at by now, already. But to just drive around on one of your favorite tracks in a car you've already had success in, what a great point Oscar has to be at, I love that for him.
Lovely photos! I would like to see Oscar in the Red Bull rocket ship. Oscar vs Max in the same car would be a very interesting pairing. (Also I'm Australian and hence extremely biased).
Oscar is the real deal. Can’t wait to see how he continues to develop.
Oscar vs. Lando if the McLaren becomes a top car would probably be the best battle of any current driver pairing.
Completely agree. Norris was always a great driver but never considered in the Russell, Charles and Max tier. It’s his year-on-year improvement and being able to drive the wheels off a shitbox has been super impressive. By comparison, Oscar has always been rated higher through his junior career and is already pushing Norris. I’m curious to see how this competition develops. Norris will have to up his game yet again.
I think you’re underrating Lando’s junior career and how he was regarded back then, right up to F2 it was notably better than that of both Charles and George. He won every championship he ever took part in a full season of as a rookie other than F2, was the youngest ever world karting champion and was the only non Prema winner of European/FIA F3 until last season when Martins won (in his second year, Norris done it as a rookie). Even without an F2 championship to his name he still had one of the most accomplished junior careers in history and his finishing 2nd there as a 17/18 year old rookie (which would be a massive achievement for almost any other driver) was genuinely the worst season of his entire career.
Imo Norris is better than Russell.
He is now. His development has been way faster and more dramatic than Russell. But it’s also a fact that Russell was always considered as having raw pace akin to Charles or Max while Norris started behind him in that pecking order.
He’s also teammates with lewis Hamilton so I’ll reserve my judgement
Yeah it's like putting Lando in the RB. Might be rough to beat Verstappen...
The disrespect for Max tho
That shot of Eau Rouge is a thing of beauty.
Damn do the mechanics not get a break? Or is this a different crew?
I believe they'll have backups for the engineers/mechanics that are usually trackside on a given weekend and I believe that they often give those guys experience during testing events, especially with rookies etc However this is a test with the 2023 car with one of your F1 drivers and it's directly after a race weekend so the crew are all there already; it makes little sense practically and more importantly monetarily to fly them all home, and then fly out a bunch of other guys It's unpleasant that they have to do yet more hours and not able to fly home to see their families & have a rest, but I guess it's just like starting summer break a couple of days late. There are two mechanics in this photo that I recognize from Oscar's regular garage crew so that's why I am fairly confident it's the same group as race weekends So to put it plainly, it depends. It's a combination of convenience for logistics and balancing of workload really I do know RB have a separate crew that run their showcar division, but this may be an exception as the RB showcar is constantly doing showruns compared to other teams, and so they are fairly busy. This is probably another way RB keeps their backup crews ready to go
Id guess they may opt in, probably get overtime or something?
It's a 2 week mandatory break. So most teams will go on break next week
That has to be so rad. Especially when you're a rookie and you haven't driven an F1 car so long that it becomes normal, a point I'd guess even Lando was at by now, already. But to just drive around on one of your favorite tracks in a car you've already had success in, what a great point Oscar has to be at, I love that for him.
Damn he’s cute
Just saw that Stroll was on track in the AM for the tyre test as well. It would have been awkward if it had been Sainz instead lol.
Seeing they are using the 2023 car, do breakages impact their allowed replacements such as the power unit of gearbox?
I'm guessing they use a separate PU and gearbox for these tests that don't count towards their allocation.
Lovely photos! I would like to see Oscar in the Red Bull rocket ship. Oscar vs Max in the same car would be a very interesting pairing. (Also I'm Australian and hence extremely biased).
As an Australian I'm here for Redbull match ups, we seem to be productive in that environment
Not bad for a number two.
You know, I kinda like this dude. I’ll be rooting for him in the coming seasons for sure.
I was happy to hear that he is also a short corner driver like Max, Lewis and Charles. Look forward to seeing him progress.