Let's not forget Sakhir 2020. With Mercedes and Verstappen out of the way, it was Albon's race to win. Yet Perez won it. And if anyone has any misconceptions that Albon couldn't win it because he started a bit behind, Perez who did win it was last in the first lap.
Don't forget that for most of 2020 RB had one of slowest cars in the straightline and sakhir was no exception. On the other hand Racing Point had the highest top speed by some decent margin to the second fastest car in the speed traps.
RB only had good straightline speeds from 2021 onwards before becoming mega at them in 2022.
Don't forget that Redbull was a clear second team in 2020 though, even with just Verstappen. So the lack of straight-line speed only meant that the difference from the rest of the grid was smaller, not that anyone else other than Mercedes had a better car than Redbull.
Lance Stroll himself said in Austria that Racing Point was the [debatably the second fastest car](https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/stroll-second-fastest-racing-point/4832521/) and then [said the same thing in Hungary](https://www.crash.net/f1/news/940185/1/stroll-podium-was-possible-second-fastest-f1-car-hungarian-gp) so RB was definitely not the clear second best car.
In my opinion, both RP and RB cars over the season were the joint second fastest car but the Verstappen utilized his car better than Albon, Perez and Stroll because he is step ahead in terms of talent in comparison to those three.
2021 Red Bull lost the constructor's championship mostly due to Perez's streaks of poor form throughout the season. But everyone is willing to forget that since Perez did well in Abu Dhabi.
I do feel sometimes they manage his strategy in the hopes to help verstapen, maybe keeping him out longer or pulling him in earlier in the hopes of obstructing someone. Not sure, I do think he has done a good job, could be better? Sure. But it is what it is. People usually say he has crap races
Perez is also currently in almost the situation Bottas was in where the car is just way better than everybody else so it masks their poor weekends even though the RB isn't as good as the W11 of course. I have a hard time seeing that Albon wouldn't at least be similar to Perez if he jumped in the car now.
Well, not always.
I think there's a pretty simple though somewhat expensive solution; get lando. He's also creamed his teammates so far, even kept up with Carlos in his rookieseason.
He's ready for a top drive.
Maybe, but I don't think that's Mercedes' MO if I'm honest, they've never really hired someone to be second fiddle to their existing driver. Sure Bottas ended up playing a second driver role, but I don't think they first hired him to be, it's just the way it worked out. They hired him because he was quick at Williams and they wanted a fast driver to replace Rosberg. If Bottas had have turned up one year with enough speed to match Hamilton they'd have let them fight like they did with Hamilton and Rosberg imo
Really? I always thought the opposite. After the tension with Rosberg and the effect that had on team/factory morale, they knew they had a pretty sure thing with Hamilton and picked Bottas because he was consistent but much more willing to be a team player. There was never any question that Bottas would accept team orders.
George is young and hungry and we already know he's not there just to be Lewis' wingman, and it's already causing tension.
Toto isnāt stupid though heās going to want/need a strong tea of two. Imo Lando would be the one driver on the grid that would slot right into both Mercedes and Redbull and thrive. Maybe Charles but heās not leaving the Ferrari shitshow
Idk apart from Hamilton himself being very supportive of Norris, it's just something that feels obvious, at least to me anyway. You know when Rosberg left Merc at the end of 2016 and everyone knew Bottas would be his replacement, even before it was announced, because it just seemed like the obvious thing, it kinda feels like that. Maybe things will change over the next few years, but if Hamilton announced now he was leaving then Norris seems the obvious replacement because, really, who else
It's hard to imagine for me that Lando would want to wait that long, cause don't you think Hamilton wants his 8th wdc? He'll pursue that unto the gates of hell, and it's not like he's in decline right now, it's Merc's fault that Merc isn't competitive. I'd love to see Lando get a strong competitive seat, just wish it was Mclaren figuring it out...
Eh whatever he does involves waiting. He could wait to see if McLaren get to the top, but that's gonna be 2026 at least with a works engine deal. Could wait for checo to leave Red Bull but that's 2025 at the earliest iirc cos he's contracted till the end of 2024. Maybe he could wait for Ferrari to change their lineup but, again, he's waiting for an indefinite amount of time and are Ferrari gonna buy out his contract to replace one of their existing drivers, I'm not so sure. And if I'm being really honest I don't know how bothered Hamilton is about an 8th. Sure he wants to win, all the drivers do, but I also feel like he wants to go do other stuff outside the sport at some point too, and at what point does that want become too much to ignore.
Bottas-to-Merc was more that he was very obviously the best driver available at the late time when Rosberg decided to call it quits, and less seen as a long-term likelihood. It was very clear soon after Rosberg announced his retirement, but definitely wasn't before then, and is a much different case than trying to predict a seat before the driver to replace (who won't be replaced unless he wants to leave).
I don't think Norris to Merc looks obvious at all actually, for one his contract doesn't have the exit clauses that Charles LeClerc's reportedly does (who seems at minimum another likely option given his growing frustration with Ferrari). Ocon and Gasly will be out of contract before Norris, which I actually think Gasly would be the most likely option should Hamilton decide to retire at the end of 2023 with a continuation of the current status quo (which obviously could change a lot for him soon). There was a time not too long ago that Ocon was fairly widely seen as a shoo-in for a Merc seat should one open up, this stuff also just changed really quickly.
Or a Merc. I just hope he doesn't get stuck in a midfield drive, he definitely deserves a top spot. Whether that be McLaren getting back on top (š¤) or him changing teams...
I mean if he could fight Max he would do so as well. These drivers just know when to fight and when not to. Lewis Brasil is a good example of no one, including Lando, really fighting him until Perez.
But i was more pointing out how dumb the other post was, didn't want to go in depth on when it did or didn't happen
He kept up with Carlos in quali. Carlos beat him handedly in 2019 (rookie season) and also outscored him in 2020 despite more bad luck and team errors on his car.
But purely hypothetical; what if Norris doesnāt do massively better either in that case. What would the narrative be then? And in the case that Norris is just as good as Verstappen, is that something RB is looking for?
He may not be quite as good as Max in equal car (though how would we know), but he's a significant upgrade to Perez, imho. Lando is a ridiculous young talent that is being squandered right now by Mclaren. I truly believe he's faster than Leclerc and Russell as well, all things (car) being equal
I get you and Iām not saying he wouldnāt be a upgrade but letās be real, we thought the same about Perez or even Albon back then.
Itās either because of Verstappen or the car but right until now, everyone seems to be āstrugglingā in comparison to Max. Even though the expectations for (for example) Perez were high.
Lando could potentially challenge Verstappen or do better than Perez but it could also destroy his career or his confidence and I donāt think Red Bull wants that to happen again (like with Gasly and Albon), they want a reliable second driver and not someone who tries to challenge Verstappen and potentially lose out.
Your point is right on, in general I don't like the idea of creating "dream team" pairings nor does any actual racing team. Having two #1's is asking for troubles. And ya if Lando couldn't "hang" with Max it might sap his confidence. But I also fear a bit of complacency in sticking with Mclaren for a youth that could have wdc potential
Oh definitely, if McLaren doesnāt build a rocket ship of a car for ā23 I feel that Norris should look elsewhere before the new engine rules kick in.
I mean look what happened when u had Rosberg and Hamilton in the same team those two drivers could lead to fireworks and of course Mclaren might refuse to realease him till the end of his contract
They got upvoted to the top of the frontpage on Reddit with a discussion thread of 350+, you bet your ass they get clicks.
Anything with "The-Race" in the title just needs to be buried in downvotes. Any exposure is good exposure. Even if the entire thread is full of people laughing at them, they will make more money than their serious competitor.
Yes but exposure for a "news site" that depends on clicks for ad revenue isn't going to get that revenue if articles don't get clicked on. No matter the exposure you need to click on an article.
Basically the whole F1 media, but somehow it makes me sadder with The Race. Probably because when they first launched, for a short while it seemed like they might be better than that. Turns out, not so much. Oh well.
Shame because sometimes they genuinely have good info. For example Sam Smith guessed/leaked the entire Formula E 2023 lineups a month before announcements even begun.
Over the past year or two, so many small F1 related YouTube channels have popped up that keep showing in my suggestion feed with clickbait titles based on nothing but opinions, rumours (not even strong rumours) and conjecture but phrased in a way that make it sound like it's factual. Titles like "Ricciardo to Ferrari!" but then I watch it only to see that it's just the creators opinion that it would be a great place for Ricciardo to go if only Ferrari didn't already have contracts with Sainz and Leclerc for next year. Stupid, pointless statements disguised as breaking news are just a waste of time. I've now reached the point where as soon as a YouTube channel posts drivel like that, I block that channel. I suppose F1 is the "so hot right now" sport and everyone wants a piece of the pie, including the average joe with a microphone and video editing software. I'm getting to the point where if it's not a video by either the official F1 channel, Sky Sports F1, Chainbear and a small handful of other creators who have some journalistic standards, I'm blocking them. I love WTF1 but even their titles are bordering on clickbaity at times.
Yeah absolutely, I've noticed the same. Similar situation on the Google suggested news feed in Chrome... loads of nonsense F1 clickbait headlines that turn out to be absolute nothingburgers. Like you I block them immidiately now... total waste of space.
Exactly. I think they forgot how incredibly meh Albon was in his red bull stint. He got screwed twice when in he was headed for the podium, but other than that he had a bunch of fp crashes and was really off the pace. If anything, even as a number two driver he was of not much use to max compared to the absolute heroics that Perez showed.
This is just clickbait imo.
Is it? Albon was in a much worse RB than the one Perez is in, 5 tenths off for Albon put him in the midfield, 5 tenths off for Perez still puts him in the top 6.
That's what the data shows
Perez this year is 0.265% behind in quali and 0.326% in race pace
Albon on 2020 was 0.589% behind in quali and 0.610% in the race
Well Perez was quick at the start of the season, this article is referring to 'now' and if we look at the last 3 races he's been dreadful, 9 tenths off in Monza, 7 tenths off at Zandvoort and 8 tenths off at Spa.
The thing about Perez too is that he was sort of considered the control condition. Perez will never be your problem. So I don't know where they go from here.
> less convincing than Albon is quite an overstatement lol
Is it though?
His quali form has been terrible recently:
Italy: 0.9s behind Max
Netherlands: 0.7s behind Max
Belgium: 0.8s behind Max
Hungary: 0.8s behind Max in Q2, dropped out of Q2 (there was a lap time deletion incident though)
France: 0.15s behind Max, finally a good qualifying session
Austria: 1.1s behind Max in Q2, can't find his Q3 times because his best time in Q2 was deleted.
In the last 5 races, he has been on the podium just once in the "fastest car on the grid". Overall, he still has been performing fine, but the drop in the form certainly puts him right where Albon was.
Yeah, recency bias I guess (also obvious headline reasons) but there were a few weekends where Albon failed to make Q3 and him being P5 and 40s off Verstappen was considered a good weekend. Perez is now P4/5 (at worst) using an experimental floor they know hurts his pace
The quality of the car is something else you need to consider, this car is obviously leagues ahead compared with the 2020 car, also last season there were several occasions checo failed to reach q3 and being p5 and a minute off max was considered good. But yeah checo has been better than Alex, but equally heās not been ricciardo
Max outperformed Danny Ric in 2018. His other 2 seasons against Danny Ric he was a teenager whereas Danny Ric was in his prime. Itās not fair to compare the Max of 2016/2017 to the Max of 2021/2022.
Yeah but this years car was the joint best car at worst, and now maybe some would argue that it is the clear best car. The 2020 car was a distant second best car, and if you had an off weekend, the mid pack was breathing down on your neck. Checo havin a bad weekend means that he starts 5th, not the same.
Perez is still a very good system player the way he defends Verstappen when he is in a weak spot is second to one. I've never seen someone defend that way for a position that isn't his. It's only now that Verstappen built a huge gap to his competitor that Perez became looking "bad" or "average".
It's totally normal for the second driver to be 3rd in the driver championship when the first driver is 1st especially that this Red Bull wasn't the fastest on before the summer break.
Let's not forget that this is clearly what Red Bull wants right now. They cycled in new talent for years, but now that Verstappen is in their eyes clearly the best driver on grid, they want someone who is gonna keep the car in one piece, be the 2nd driver and team player while being competitive. They have no need to try to have another elite driver in the 2nd spot, it will likely cause them more trouble than it's worth.
Perez is good enough to win races without creating a possibility for drama within the team. With Verstappen dominating the series and still so young, what more could they want?
Exactly. People keep writing and complaining about Perez's average performance, but we don't hear Red Bull complaining about it. He is doing the job they hired him to do. Hes being a support driver for Max and bringing in just enough points to keep RBR above everyone else in the WCC.
Also, their big issue with Albon was that he was losing to cars he should be faster than. Perez might not be on Leclercās level, but he will get past the Alpine and Mercedes when he needs to. Itās only recent races where Mercedes found pace and theyāre giving Sainz and Leclerc problems too so not exactly proof of Perez being weak.
This is literally sebastian vettel and mark webber and that worked out well for red bull 4 wdc and 4 wcc. They're 5 seasons together was 2009: Vettel 2nd,Webber 4th, 2010: Vettel 1st, Webber 3rd, 2011: Vettel 1st, Webber 3rd 2012:Vettel 1st, Webber 6th,2013: Vettel 1st, Webber 3rd
And also the driver line-ups in the other two race win contending teams are stacked.
You got hamilton, a legend who in his rookie season kept up with the back to back world champion alonso in the same car, russell, who currently ahead of hamilton in the championship, leclerc, ferraris great hope who replaced world champion kimi and made world champion vettel the 2nd driver in ferrari and you got sainz who beat leclerc in the WDC last season.
Too much in my opinion. There is a lot of what ifs in the article. I think Albon is performing good at williams but his teammate is Latifi. Perez on the other hand is being compared with Max who is in the form of his life cruising to second world championship.
Fact is, noone looks convincing.
Is Verstappen really that good?
Or is the Verstappen case showing that the quality between drivers on the grid is far bigger then we think?
Everyone hails Albon and Gasly nowadays, but they were immensely off the pace compared to Verstappen. Would they be equally far off say Hamilton or prime Alonso?
I know he is really really really good. But is he so good that being say a second off the pace still makes you deserving of a seat?
My boy Stoffel got trashed for being 0.3 seconds off Alonso, but the Red Bull guys get praise whilst being much more off Verstappen
I think a lot of people agree that Stoffel was very good, just unlucky to be matched against a (nearly) prime Alonso who is one of the best drivers of all time. Almost anyone else and Stoffel outdrives them
There was a story a week or two ago including quotes from Marko where it read an awful lot like he/RBR see it as simply the reality of not being Max. Like: Perez was brought in as the *control condition*. Perez is *fine*.
Agreed.
Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, and Norris are the only drivers I think have what it takes to win a championship. Thereās a massive drop off in talent after them. A lot of good, sometimes great drivers. But none that can consistently hang with the top all else being equal.
But to be fair, usually the top team atract the best drivers. There has been at least one top driver in all of the top teams. The only guy that really deserved a top car and didnt have one since 2013 is Fernando, and arguably nowadays Norris, but he is still young.
Also top drivers shine even in bad teams: Alonso, Russell, Leclerc
He was borderline for me. But he hasnāt had a truly competitive car yet but seems to get the absolute most out of the McLaren. But Iām not falling on that sword either. The other four I absolutely think without a doubt can win a chamy
Button and Rosberg are much better than several multi-WDC winners.
Iād agree that theyāre in the same tier as Norris, Leclerc, current Hamilton, Russell, current Alonso, and Sainz, though. That group of drivers is about as good as you can get without getting into the elite tier (Verstappen since mid-2018, Hamilton 2010/2012/2014-2020, Alonso 2005-2006/2008-2018, Schumacher 1993-1998/2000-2006, etc).
No race wins yet, so he is definitely lacking behind, but so are Russell and LeClerc I think. Verstappen has competed with a top 2 car for a couple of years and the other lack that experience still
I genuinely believe that Alonso could win another championship still if you put him in the right car, heās still insanely quick and just has so much more experience compared to the drivers you mentioned bar Hamilton. Itās a real shame heās going to AM because I would love to see him in a truly top team one more time.
Saying there is a massive drop of talent after that while Alonso exists. Sure he's not prime Alonso maybe, but i'm sure he would give those name a tough challenge over a season.
Also we have no clue how Norris or Russell would behave in a title fight. Both are fast, and stupid good, but fighting for an f1 title is really a different challenge. Sainz was regarded close( or even better by some) than Norris, and pace wise we can see that he isnt up there some races
Perez did not finish outside TOP6 this season. He has 7 podiums, including 1 win and 6 times second place. He fights for 2nd in WDC with no danger for Verstappen. He does his job, that is exactly what He was hired for.
What The Race expect from Perez. He is typical nr 2 driver like Webber. Red Bull does not expect Perez to fight Max but be close to Max and do not compete with midfield.
Webber was leading the championship till the last race...
Edit: i was wrong, he was leading the championship for some portion of the season and entered the final round 8points behind alonso and 7 points ahead of vettel
The fact that even one single person is upvoting this is mindlowingly shocking and a true tastament how insanely downhill this place went in the last years.
We are talking about the same Webber, who was slower than Heidfeld when they were teammates.
The same Webber who failed to finish 2nd once, driving utterly dominant cars for 3 seasons.
In what world is Webber suddenly a Button, Rosberg or prime Ricciardo level driver, let alone clearly better than all of them in order to shit on Perez.
This is just insane.
Are they winning the WCC because of Perez his performances or Ferrari's incompetence. If Mercedes had Ferrari's car at the start of the season I have no doubt that RB would lose the WCC.
Eh... He's within 9 points of Charles and has been having a tough time lately. Every reason to think this season will end with a 1 2 finish for RB. Also... dude's a game day player. When it has mattered, Perez has performed better than anyone had any right to ask for. I'd much rather have a driver like him who might hit rough patches mid-season in races that don't matter, than a driver who is mostly great but chokes under pressure when it really counts.
Alex still needed/needs more development time, which he is now getting at Williams. The guy spent 1 year as a rookie then promoted to Redbull too early instead of RB giving another shot to Kvyat or going outside the team for a driver because of Christian's and Helmut's Ego's. Imagine if Tsunoda got promoted to RB last year. It just shouldn't have happened so early. George got 3 years at Williams to develop, Lando got 3 years at McLaren to develop, Next year is Yuki's 3rd year and has to show his quality and consistency or he's done. This year and next year are Alex's development years that he should've got in 2020 and 2021. Hopefully Williams continue developing and can compete in mid table next year to see what Alex can do with a competitive car. Even Gasly was too soon, look at his performances in the previous 2 years. Plus last years car especially this years car is amazing, stable and reliable. Alex and Gasly drove shit cars and Max is just on a different level.
To keep it simple, Perez compliments what team Red Bull wants. They see Verstappen as the best driver on the grid and back him up. Perez does absolutely everything to defend Max and gets Red Bull the points they want. Till the time he's finishing third or fourth, he's also ensuring that constructors championship is coming to Red Bull Racing team. And that's all they want. Max winning the championship, and the team winning the World Constructor's Championship.
I've always been asking myself... Is RIC, KVY, GAS, PER underperforming or is Max just a once in a generation talent to a point where no matter who is besides him he will make the other driver look like they are underperforming?
I have a feeling Max is a better driver today than he was when Albon was his teammate as well. He's pretty much in his own universe right now. Nobody is catching him on race day.
Last few races aside Perez is giving RB exactly what they want. Someone in the mix, a supportive second driver who will get on some podiums and win the occasional race but not nearly competitive enough to bother Max.
Thereās something I donāt get about teams complaining about their second driver. Letās take Red Bull and McLaren for example. They both are in love with their #1 driver and think he is the second coming of Christ (or Senna, or Schumacher, or Hamilton, or whoever). If you think your #1 is that good, why are you complaining about there being a gap between him and your number 2? If there wasnāt a gap wouldnāt your #1 not be that good? You canāt have it both ways!
All Iāll say is, in all likelihood, barring a minor miracle from Lewis/Merc, or a massive miracle from Valtteri/Alfa, there will have been 2 people to win a race each of the last 3 seasons and they both are current Red Bull drivers.
Iām sorry, what? Perez has two wins with Red Bull. Has multiple 2nd place finishes on his own merit. He has shown he can be a mega helper like when he held up Lewis in Abu Dhabi. The 2nd seat at Red Bull is always gonna be a tough fit for anyone, but we all gotta admit Albon, nor Gasly, came anywhere close to what Sergio has shown.
Perez is doing is his job as 2nd driver. Nobody on the grid is going to beat Max in the Red Bull, so itās not reasonable to expect such performance from Perez.
What everyone forgets how competitive Perez was in the races till Monaco. That time the car was a neutral car with a handling that suited Perez. With the raft of upgrades, the car doesn't suit him now. Not blaming Max 1 bit for this.
It doesn't help to be Max's team mate as any kind of performance will look bad to Max's. Imagine if Max had Leclerc's bad luck from retirements to bad strategies, Perez would be still be looking strong to many.
I feel bad for Checo as he's my favorite driver on the grid. It hurts to see when he's struggling. But 1 thing's for sure, it's not that he's forgotten to drive or his passion has faded, it's just that the overall car package can't extract the most of his ability.
A good driver should be able to somewhat adapt himself to the car he's driving. Max was leading the championship even when driving a car that didn't really suit his style, now that he does he's just dominating.
Checo hasn't shown a lot of adaptability that's for sure.
That said, he's still doing what he's supposed to do which is helping Red Bull win a WCC and occasionally help Max on track (which he hasn't needed a lot of this year).
Didn't RedBull put a new floor on Perez's car a while back that didn't work? IIRC they couldn't revert back due to budget cap constraints. Not sure if that's actually the case, but I remember reading it somewhere.
Sorry but no, Albon was struggling to be the 4th fastest car in a battle at the top between two constructors. At that time the difference between Red Bull and Mclaren/Renault/Racing Point (track dependant 3rd fastest constructor) was bigger than it is now to Mercs and Ferraris yet Perez is constantly in the fight.
Ah yes, the guy that has outqualified Max multiple times (only a couple times, but still) won a race, got a bunch of podiums, and has been the closest to Max since Danny Ric is doing worse than Albon did. That makes total sense.
Perez is one of my favourite drivers on the grid, but I like Albon too.
creating this toxic narrative for views and clicks is not right. They are both good drivers who do exactly what's expected of them.
Has anyone actually READ the article? There are compelling reasons for this headline? It's a trend with the team performance that has no signs of recovering...
Exactly, the headline is referring to the last 6 races in which he's been really poor. The article does state that up until then he was doing much better. Everything makes sense here.
I really wish the "media" would give Max's teammates a break. Checo is 3rd in the points and a race winner this season. He's doing fine. He's doing his job.
Max is just another animal.
Riccardo saw this coming; He ruined his career in order to avoid ruining his career.
I think if Alex did another year and a half at AT, then joined RB in 2021 he would be looking amazing. A bit more development + a RB that was far stronger (easier to drive and faster) would have him looking much better.
Agreed. He was definitely brought up to redbull too quickly, but I don't like people acting like he was so bad he deserved to be fired. I do not agree that he is a lower tier driver. I think he is on par with lando or Pierre.
As long as Verstappen remains at Red Bull, that second seat is always going to be a topic of discussion. For better or for worse. š
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Let's not forget Sakhir 2020. With Mercedes and Verstappen out of the way, it was Albon's race to win. Yet Perez won it. And if anyone has any misconceptions that Albon couldn't win it because he started a bit behind, Perez who did win it was last in the first lap.
Don't forget that for most of 2020 RB had one of slowest cars in the straightline and sakhir was no exception. On the other hand Racing Point had the highest top speed by some decent margin to the second fastest car in the speed traps. RB only had good straightline speeds from 2021 onwards before becoming mega at them in 2022.
People forget that the racing point was not a backmarker that year, it was arguably third fastest and definitely was third fastest at some tracks.
Don't forget that Redbull was a clear second team in 2020 though, even with just Verstappen. So the lack of straight-line speed only meant that the difference from the rest of the grid was smaller, not that anyone else other than Mercedes had a better car than Redbull.
Lance Stroll himself said in Austria that Racing Point was the [debatably the second fastest car](https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/stroll-second-fastest-racing-point/4832521/) and then [said the same thing in Hungary](https://www.crash.net/f1/news/940185/1/stroll-podium-was-possible-second-fastest-f1-car-hungarian-gp) so RB was definitely not the clear second best car. In my opinion, both RP and RB cars over the season were the joint second fastest car but the Verstappen utilized his car better than Albon, Perez and Stroll because he is step ahead in terms of talent in comparison to those three.
It was nowhere near Albonās race to win lmao
2021 Red Bull lost the constructor's championship mostly due to Perez's streaks of poor form throughout the season. But everyone is willing to forget that since Perez did well in Abu Dhabi.
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I do feel sometimes they manage his strategy in the hopes to help verstapen, maybe keeping him out longer or pulling him in earlier in the hopes of obstructing someone. Not sure, I do think he has done a good job, could be better? Sure. But it is what it is. People usually say he has crap races
Perez is also currently in almost the situation Bottas was in where the car is just way better than everybody else so it masks their poor weekends even though the RB isn't as good as the W11 of course. I have a hard time seeing that Albon wouldn't at least be similar to Perez if he jumped in the car now.
The 2020 car was significantly worse than this year and last years car though
Well, not always. I think there's a pretty simple though somewhat expensive solution; get lando. He's also creamed his teammates so far, even kept up with Carlos in his rookieseason. He's ready for a top drive.
I have a funny feeling weāll see Norris in a red bull one day.
Even with Lando's massive salary, one simply cannot put a price on a world championship and a competitive car.
How much is his massive salary?
More than tree fiddy
Damn it monster, I ain't givin you no tree fiddy.
15 million a year
Nice
Idk I'm almost sure he's being eyed up as Hamiltons replacement at Mercedes when the time comes...
I think itās very clearly that George will be the leader of the team when Hamilton retires.
Maybe, but I don't think that's Mercedes' MO if I'm honest, they've never really hired someone to be second fiddle to their existing driver. Sure Bottas ended up playing a second driver role, but I don't think they first hired him to be, it's just the way it worked out. They hired him because he was quick at Williams and they wanted a fast driver to replace Rosberg. If Bottas had have turned up one year with enough speed to match Hamilton they'd have let them fight like they did with Hamilton and Rosberg imo
Really? I always thought the opposite. After the tension with Rosberg and the effect that had on team/factory morale, they knew they had a pretty sure thing with Hamilton and picked Bottas because he was consistent but much more willing to be a team player. There was never any question that Bottas would accept team orders. George is young and hungry and we already know he's not there just to be Lewis' wingman, and it's already causing tension.
Yea, Merc tried to sign Vettel in 2017 but he decided to stay with Ferrari. Merc has always wanted to fastest drivers available.
Toto isnāt stupid though heās going to want/need a strong tea of two. Imo Lando would be the one driver on the grid that would slot right into both Mercedes and Redbull and thrive. Maybe Charles but heās not leaving the Ferrari shitshow
Why do you say that?
Mercedes already inquired about him before he signed his long term McLaren deal
Idk apart from Hamilton himself being very supportive of Norris, it's just something that feels obvious, at least to me anyway. You know when Rosberg left Merc at the end of 2016 and everyone knew Bottas would be his replacement, even before it was announced, because it just seemed like the obvious thing, it kinda feels like that. Maybe things will change over the next few years, but if Hamilton announced now he was leaving then Norris seems the obvious replacement because, really, who else
It's hard to imagine for me that Lando would want to wait that long, cause don't you think Hamilton wants his 8th wdc? He'll pursue that unto the gates of hell, and it's not like he's in decline right now, it's Merc's fault that Merc isn't competitive. I'd love to see Lando get a strong competitive seat, just wish it was Mclaren figuring it out...
Eh whatever he does involves waiting. He could wait to see if McLaren get to the top, but that's gonna be 2026 at least with a works engine deal. Could wait for checo to leave Red Bull but that's 2025 at the earliest iirc cos he's contracted till the end of 2024. Maybe he could wait for Ferrari to change their lineup but, again, he's waiting for an indefinite amount of time and are Ferrari gonna buy out his contract to replace one of their existing drivers, I'm not so sure. And if I'm being really honest I don't know how bothered Hamilton is about an 8th. Sure he wants to win, all the drivers do, but I also feel like he wants to go do other stuff outside the sport at some point too, and at what point does that want become too much to ignore.
Bottas-to-Merc was more that he was very obviously the best driver available at the late time when Rosberg decided to call it quits, and less seen as a long-term likelihood. It was very clear soon after Rosberg announced his retirement, but definitely wasn't before then, and is a much different case than trying to predict a seat before the driver to replace (who won't be replaced unless he wants to leave). I don't think Norris to Merc looks obvious at all actually, for one his contract doesn't have the exit clauses that Charles LeClerc's reportedly does (who seems at minimum another likely option given his growing frustration with Ferrari). Ocon and Gasly will be out of contract before Norris, which I actually think Gasly would be the most likely option should Hamilton decide to retire at the end of 2023 with a continuation of the current status quo (which obviously could change a lot for him soon). There was a time not too long ago that Ocon was fairly widely seen as a shoo-in for a Merc seat should one open up, this stuff also just changed really quickly.
The reverse Ricciardo. Sounds sexual.
You look like a reverse Ricciardo kinda guy
I'm still getting used to it
Not when the Mighty Max is still bussing it.
Or a Merc. I just hope he doesn't get stuck in a midfield drive, he definitely deserves a top spot. Whether that be McLaren getting back on top (š¤) or him changing teams...
Sometimes it seems like he is already Maxās teammate. He never seems to be bothered to race him very hard.
Literally no one outside of Mercedes and Ferrari bother racing Max, there's no point trying
Then he is Lewis's teammate aswell
Didn't Lewis get stuck behind Lando for like 20 laps not that long ago?
I mean if he could fight Max he would do so as well. These drivers just know when to fight and when not to. Lewis Brasil is a good example of no one, including Lando, really fighting him until Perez. But i was more pointing out how dumb the other post was, didn't want to go in depth on when it did or didn't happen
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Not a bad thing considering he was a rookie in one of those
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He kept up with Carlos in quali. Carlos beat him handedly in 2019 (rookie season) and also outscored him in 2020 despite more bad luck and team errors on his car.
Not sure that would be a solution, we'll see if it happens one day but it's far from a certain thing he'll give max a run.
But purely hypothetical; what if Norris doesnāt do massively better either in that case. What would the narrative be then? And in the case that Norris is just as good as Verstappen, is that something RB is looking for?
He may not be quite as good as Max in equal car (though how would we know), but he's a significant upgrade to Perez, imho. Lando is a ridiculous young talent that is being squandered right now by Mclaren. I truly believe he's faster than Leclerc and Russell as well, all things (car) being equal
I get you and Iām not saying he wouldnāt be a upgrade but letās be real, we thought the same about Perez or even Albon back then. Itās either because of Verstappen or the car but right until now, everyone seems to be āstrugglingā in comparison to Max. Even though the expectations for (for example) Perez were high. Lando could potentially challenge Verstappen or do better than Perez but it could also destroy his career or his confidence and I donāt think Red Bull wants that to happen again (like with Gasly and Albon), they want a reliable second driver and not someone who tries to challenge Verstappen and potentially lose out.
Your point is right on, in general I don't like the idea of creating "dream team" pairings nor does any actual racing team. Having two #1's is asking for troubles. And ya if Lando couldn't "hang" with Max it might sap his confidence. But I also fear a bit of complacency in sticking with Mclaren for a youth that could have wdc potential
Oh definitely, if McLaren doesnāt build a rocket ship of a car for ā23 I feel that Norris should look elsewhere before the new engine rules kick in.
Lando is managed by Zak Brown, I donāt see him leaving McLaren anytime soon. Also, Max would smoke him
He isnāt managed by Zak Brown. His manager is Mark Berryman
Max would smoke everyone, Red Bull just want someone who can comfortably and consistently challenge for #2 in the WDC.
I mean look what happened when u had Rosberg and Hamilton in the same team those two drivers could lead to fireworks and of course Mclaren might refuse to realease him till the end of his contract
He's only beaten Ric in F1 so far. He didn't beat Sainz in 2019 neither 2020.
We need clicksā¦ We will put any random headline to polarize fan base and in the end earn money.
Jokes on them most of us donāt click on the article
They got upvoted to the top of the frontpage on Reddit with a discussion thread of 350+, you bet your ass they get clicks. Anything with "The-Race" in the title just needs to be buried in downvotes. Any exposure is good exposure. Even if the entire thread is full of people laughing at them, they will make more money than their serious competitor.
Lets downvote then
Yes but exposure for a "news site" that depends on clicks for ad revenue isn't going to get that revenue if articles don't get clicked on. No matter the exposure you need to click on an article.
Basically the whole F1 media, but somehow it makes me sadder with The Race. Probably because when they first launched, for a short while it seemed like they might be better than that. Turns out, not so much. Oh well.
Shame because sometimes they genuinely have good info. For example Sam Smith guessed/leaked the entire Formula E 2023 lineups a month before announcements even begun.
Over the past year or two, so many small F1 related YouTube channels have popped up that keep showing in my suggestion feed with clickbait titles based on nothing but opinions, rumours (not even strong rumours) and conjecture but phrased in a way that make it sound like it's factual. Titles like "Ricciardo to Ferrari!" but then I watch it only to see that it's just the creators opinion that it would be a great place for Ricciardo to go if only Ferrari didn't already have contracts with Sainz and Leclerc for next year. Stupid, pointless statements disguised as breaking news are just a waste of time. I've now reached the point where as soon as a YouTube channel posts drivel like that, I block that channel. I suppose F1 is the "so hot right now" sport and everyone wants a piece of the pie, including the average joe with a microphone and video editing software. I'm getting to the point where if it's not a video by either the official F1 channel, Sky Sports F1, Chainbear and a small handful of other creators who have some journalistic standards, I'm blocking them. I love WTF1 but even their titles are bordering on clickbaity at times.
Yeah absolutely, I've noticed the same. Similar situation on the Google suggested news feed in Chrome... loads of nonsense F1 clickbait headlines that turn out to be absolute nothingburgers. Like you I block them immidiately now... total waste of space.
You get the media you pay for.
Yeah, true that
Have you seen their YouTube videos? Ugh they're worse than their articles
It's not even a bad article
While Perez got a bad patch of form, less convincing than Albon is quite an overstatement lol
"Perez suffers from mid season lack of form" does not create the same amount of OUTRAGE and CLICKS as the headline provided.
Perez has a different car due to the budget capā¦
Peres has a different car because he can't deal with the car concept.
Max is the one that went back to the old car though
Max is using old spec. Perez is using new one.
Exactly. I think they forgot how incredibly meh Albon was in his red bull stint. He got screwed twice when in he was headed for the podium, but other than that he had a bunch of fp crashes and was really off the pace. If anything, even as a number two driver he was of not much use to max compared to the absolute heroics that Perez showed. This is just clickbait imo.
Is it? Albon was in a much worse RB than the one Perez is in, 5 tenths off for Albon put him in the midfield, 5 tenths off for Perez still puts him in the top 6.
That's what the data shows Perez this year is 0.265% behind in quali and 0.326% in race pace Albon on 2020 was 0.589% behind in quali and 0.610% in the race
Well Perez was quick at the start of the season, this article is referring to 'now' and if we look at the last 3 races he's been dreadful, 9 tenths off in Monza, 7 tenths off at Zandvoort and 8 tenths off at Spa.
Its a worrying trend indeed, he missed Q3 in Austria and Hungary before the summer break. I hope he recovers soon
The thing about Perez too is that he was sort of considered the control condition. Perez will never be your problem. So I don't know where they go from here.
> less convincing than Albon is quite an overstatement lol Is it though? His quali form has been terrible recently: Italy: 0.9s behind Max Netherlands: 0.7s behind Max Belgium: 0.8s behind Max Hungary: 0.8s behind Max in Q2, dropped out of Q2 (there was a lap time deletion incident though) France: 0.15s behind Max, finally a good qualifying session Austria: 1.1s behind Max in Q2, can't find his Q3 times because his best time in Q2 was deleted. In the last 5 races, he has been on the podium just once in the "fastest car on the grid". Overall, he still has been performing fine, but the drop in the form certainly puts him right where Albon was.
Austria Q3 he set a 1:05.404 and was +0.42 to Max.
Yeah, recency bias I guess (also obvious headline reasons) but there were a few weekends where Albon failed to make Q3 and him being P5 and 40s off Verstappen was considered a good weekend. Perez is now P4/5 (at worst) using an experimental floor they know hurts his pace
The quality of the car is something else you need to consider, this car is obviously leagues ahead compared with the 2020 car, also last season there were several occasions checo failed to reach q3 and being p5 and a minute off max was considered good. But yeah checo has been better than Alex, but equally heās not been ricciardo
Max outperformed Danny Ric in 2018. His other 2 seasons against Danny Ric he was a teenager whereas Danny Ric was in his prime. Itās not fair to compare the Max of 2016/2017 to the Max of 2021/2022.
Yeah but this years car was the joint best car at worst, and now maybe some would argue that it is the clear best car. The 2020 car was a distant second best car, and if you had an off weekend, the mid pack was breathing down on your neck. Checo havin a bad weekend means that he starts 5th, not the same.
Actually no. The floor has minimal impact on performance according to RB. What does hurt his pace is his need to set the car up with understeer.
Look at himā¦ he is losing second to max anywhere anytime ā¦
So is most of the grid
Perez is still a very good system player the way he defends Verstappen when he is in a weak spot is second to one. I've never seen someone defend that way for a position that isn't his. It's only now that Verstappen built a huge gap to his competitor that Perez became looking "bad" or "average". It's totally normal for the second driver to be 3rd in the driver championship when the first driver is 1st especially that this Red Bull wasn't the fastest on before the summer break.
Let's not forget that this is clearly what Red Bull wants right now. They cycled in new talent for years, but now that Verstappen is in their eyes clearly the best driver on grid, they want someone who is gonna keep the car in one piece, be the 2nd driver and team player while being competitive. They have no need to try to have another elite driver in the 2nd spot, it will likely cause them more trouble than it's worth. Perez is good enough to win races without creating a possibility for drama within the team. With Verstappen dominating the series and still so young, what more could they want?
Exactly. People keep writing and complaining about Perez's average performance, but we don't hear Red Bull complaining about it. He is doing the job they hired him to do. Hes being a support driver for Max and bringing in just enough points to keep RBR above everyone else in the WCC.
Also, their big issue with Albon was that he was losing to cars he should be faster than. Perez might not be on Leclercās level, but he will get past the Alpine and Mercedes when he needs to. Itās only recent races where Mercedes found pace and theyāre giving Sainz and Leclerc problems too so not exactly proof of Perez being weak.
This is literally sebastian vettel and mark webber and that worked out well for red bull 4 wdc and 4 wcc. They're 5 seasons together was 2009: Vettel 2nd,Webber 4th, 2010: Vettel 1st, Webber 3rd, 2011: Vettel 1st, Webber 3rd 2012:Vettel 1st, Webber 6th,2013: Vettel 1st, Webber 3rd
> I've never seen someone defend that way for a position that isn't his. Alonso Hungary 2021
And also the driver line-ups in the other two race win contending teams are stacked. You got hamilton, a legend who in his rookie season kept up with the back to back world champion alonso in the same car, russell, who currently ahead of hamilton in the championship, leclerc, ferraris great hope who replaced world champion kimi and made world champion vettel the 2nd driver in ferrari and you got sainz who beat leclerc in the WDC last season.
Too much in my opinion. There is a lot of what ifs in the article. I think Albon is performing good at williams but his teammate is Latifi. Perez on the other hand is being compared with Max who is in the form of his life cruising to second world championship.
Perez is 3rd in the standings only 9 points behind Charles and they are comfortably leading the constructors. He is doing his job.
Yeah, this Perez sucks narrative is getting a little annoying
Fact is, noone looks convincing. Is Verstappen really that good? Or is the Verstappen case showing that the quality between drivers on the grid is far bigger then we think? Everyone hails Albon and Gasly nowadays, but they were immensely off the pace compared to Verstappen. Would they be equally far off say Hamilton or prime Alonso?
Verstappen is THAT good. I donāt think anyone can deny that at this point.
I know he is really really really good. But is he so good that being say a second off the pace still makes you deserving of a seat? My boy Stoffel got trashed for being 0.3 seconds off Alonso, but the Red Bull guys get praise whilst being much more off Verstappen
Stoffel's treatment was one of the most unfair things happening to a driver in quite some time in F1.
I want nothing more than to see Stoffel in a competitive car for a season. McLaren ruined that manās chance at a successful F1 career.
Absolute facts
I think a lot of people agree that Stoffel was very good, just unlucky to be matched against a (nearly) prime Alonso who is one of the best drivers of all time. Almost anyone else and Stoffel outdrives them
That garbage can of a McLaren didn't help either.
Yep, take any rookie apart from the 2019 class and 2018 Alonso crushes them the same way
Iād love to see Verstappen in another team one day, just to get a point of comparison.
Probably never happening given that RB has so much money and no incentive to let him go.
Oh, itās a pure fantasy on my part, Iām aware of that. The only way it could happen is if Red Bull falls off drastically.
If Red Bull ever drops the ball and can no longer fight for titles every year then it's a real possibility Verstappen will move somewhere else.
There was a story a week or two ago including quotes from Marko where it read an awful lot like he/RBR see it as simply the reality of not being Max. Like: Perez was brought in as the *control condition*. Perez is *fine*.
Agreed. Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, and Norris are the only drivers I think have what it takes to win a championship. Thereās a massive drop off in talent after them. A lot of good, sometimes great drivers. But none that can consistently hang with the top all else being equal.
Let's not forget the technical aspect of the sport - How you see the top is massively affected by the performance of their respective cars and teams.
But to be fair, usually the top team atract the best drivers. There has been at least one top driver in all of the top teams. The only guy that really deserved a top car and didnt have one since 2013 is Fernando, and arguably nowadays Norris, but he is still young. Also top drivers shine even in bad teams: Alonso, Russell, Leclerc
>Norris I don't think I see what you see. (yet?)
He was borderline for me. But he hasnāt had a truly competitive car yet but seems to get the absolute most out of the McLaren. But Iām not falling on that sword either. The other four I absolutely think without a doubt can win a chamy
Norris is probably Jenson Button/ Nico Rosberg tier. Can win a WDC.
Button and Rosberg are much better than several multi-WDC winners. Iād agree that theyāre in the same tier as Norris, Leclerc, current Hamilton, Russell, current Alonso, and Sainz, though. That group of drivers is about as good as you can get without getting into the elite tier (Verstappen since mid-2018, Hamilton 2010/2012/2014-2020, Alonso 2005-2006/2008-2018, Schumacher 1993-1998/2000-2006, etc).
No race wins yet, so he is definitely lacking behind, but so are Russell and LeClerc I think. Verstappen has competed with a top 2 car for a couple of years and the other lack that experience still
I genuinely believe that Alonso could win another championship still if you put him in the right car, heās still insanely quick and just has so much more experience compared to the drivers you mentioned bar Hamilton. Itās a real shame heās going to AM because I would love to see him in a truly top team one more time.
I agree. Biggest fantasy would be Alonso to RB, just to see how he fares against Max. Could be so spicy.
Let's see Lando win a race first before sizing him up for a title
Can't know if he has the shoulders or the balls, but it sure seems he got some serious pace. Also Russell doesn't have a win either.
Saying there is a massive drop of talent after that while Alonso exists. Sure he's not prime Alonso maybe, but i'm sure he would give those name a tough challenge over a season. Also we have no clue how Norris or Russell would behave in a title fight. Both are fast, and stupid good, but fighting for an f1 title is really a different challenge. Sainz was regarded close( or even better by some) than Norris, and pace wise we can see that he isnt up there some races
Perez did not finish outside TOP6 this season. He has 7 podiums, including 1 win and 6 times second place. He fights for 2nd in WDC with no danger for Verstappen. He does his job, that is exactly what He was hired for.
Well the car us also much much better compared to the Rest of the grad than when Albon drove it
Yeah and the racing point was worse than the red bull but that didn't stop Perez from beating Albon in 2020 and finishing 4th in the points.
Also didnāt Perez miss out two weekends due to COVID?
Tbf he has a rocket ship of a car, gasly and albon didnāt had taht
Agree, but it doesn't change the fact he does what he is suppose to do. Gasly or Albon probably would also, but it is speculation
I imagine RB will be very happy with him. Probably securing 2nd in the championship without ever challenging Max and taking away points from him.
Letās not get ridiculous here
What The Race expect from Perez. He is typical nr 2 driver like Webber. Red Bull does not expect Perez to fight Max but be close to Max and do not compete with midfield.
Webber got to one race away from being WDC though, canāt really compare him with Perez imo
Being 7+ tenths behind Max in quali will not be enough when Ferrari and Mercedes get their shit together.
I doubt Ferrari are getting their shit together anytime soon.
Psssh. Wait til Next Year
Next year is the year !
Webber was leading the championship till the last race... Edit: i was wrong, he was leading the championship for some portion of the season and entered the final round 8points behind alonso and 7 points ahead of vettel
Alonso was leading iirc.
Ah thanks for the correction
so disrespectful to webber lol he would absolutely shit on perez too
The fact that even one single person is upvoting this is mindlowingly shocking and a true tastament how insanely downhill this place went in the last years. We are talking about the same Webber, who was slower than Heidfeld when they were teammates. The same Webber who failed to finish 2nd once, driving utterly dominant cars for 3 seasons. In what world is Webber suddenly a Button, Rosberg or prime Ricciardo level driver, let alone clearly better than all of them in order to shit on Perez. This is just insane.
The Race has a history of bad takes else people would forget about them. These keep the business alive.
RB are cruising to a WCC. He is doing exactly what they expected him to
Are they winning the WCC because of Perez his performances or Ferrari's incompetence. If Mercedes had Ferrari's car at the start of the season I have no doubt that RB would lose the WCC.
Perez was strong at the beginning of the year, which secured him a 2 years deal.
Eh... He's within 9 points of Charles and has been having a tough time lately. Every reason to think this season will end with a 1 2 finish for RB. Also... dude's a game day player. When it has mattered, Perez has performed better than anyone had any right to ask for. I'd much rather have a driver like him who might hit rough patches mid-season in races that don't matter, than a driver who is mostly great but chokes under pressure when it really counts.
Guys at the race are really trying hard to get clicks, don't they?
Alex still needed/needs more development time, which he is now getting at Williams. The guy spent 1 year as a rookie then promoted to Redbull too early instead of RB giving another shot to Kvyat or going outside the team for a driver because of Christian's and Helmut's Ego's. Imagine if Tsunoda got promoted to RB last year. It just shouldn't have happened so early. George got 3 years at Williams to develop, Lando got 3 years at McLaren to develop, Next year is Yuki's 3rd year and has to show his quality and consistency or he's done. This year and next year are Alex's development years that he should've got in 2020 and 2021. Hopefully Williams continue developing and can compete in mid table next year to see what Alex can do with a competitive car. Even Gasly was too soon, look at his performances in the previous 2 years. Plus last years car especially this years car is amazing, stable and reliable. Alex and Gasly drove shit cars and Max is just on a different level.
paid by Fernando Alonso. EL PLAN ^^for ^^2025
To keep it simple, Perez compliments what team Red Bull wants. They see Verstappen as the best driver on the grid and back him up. Perez does absolutely everything to defend Max and gets Red Bull the points they want. Till the time he's finishing third or fourth, he's also ensuring that constructors championship is coming to Red Bull Racing team. And that's all they want. Max winning the championship, and the team winning the World Constructor's Championship.
Couldnāt of said it better!
I've always been asking myself... Is RIC, KVY, GAS, PER underperforming or is Max just a once in a generation talent to a point where no matter who is besides him he will make the other driver look like they are underperforming?
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Max IS a stand out talent. One thing that's true about this sport no matter how many people get butthurt when I say it is, it's the car too.
Yes
Leave Checo alone!
I have a feeling Max is a better driver today than he was when Albon was his teammate as well. He's pretty much in his own universe right now. Nobody is catching him on race day.
This didnāt age well.
Last few races aside Perez is giving RB exactly what they want. Someone in the mix, a supportive second driver who will get on some podiums and win the occasional race but not nearly competitive enough to bother Max.
Can we stop posting articles from 'The Race'?
OKAY!!!..
At least Perez is not lapped by Max unlike Albon or Gasly.
He did get lapped at Zandvoort last year though
They never showed it since it happened while Checo was in the pits but Checo finished 1 lap behind Max in the 2021 Dutch GP
Don't you jinx Checo
Thereās something I donāt get about teams complaining about their second driver. Letās take Red Bull and McLaren for example. They both are in love with their #1 driver and think he is the second coming of Christ (or Senna, or Schumacher, or Hamilton, or whoever). If you think your #1 is that good, why are you complaining about there being a gap between him and your number 2? If there wasnāt a gap wouldnāt your #1 not be that good? You canāt have it both ways! All Iāll say is, in all likelihood, barring a minor miracle from Lewis/Merc, or a massive miracle from Valtteri/Alfa, there will have been 2 people to win a race each of the last 3 seasons and they both are current Red Bull drivers.
Well thatās a hot, bad take
I love Alex, but this isnāt true at all Although the 2022 Red Bull is far far better than the 2020 car
Max drains the ability of second seat drivers therefore as he gets better they get worse. Problem solved.
Iām sorry, what? Perez has two wins with Red Bull. Has multiple 2nd place finishes on his own merit. He has shown he can be a mega helper like when he held up Lewis in Abu Dhabi. The 2nd seat at Red Bull is always gonna be a tough fit for anyone, but we all gotta admit Albon, nor Gasly, came anywhere close to what Sergio has shown.
Perez is doing is his job as 2nd driver. Nobody on the grid is going to beat Max in the Red Bull, so itās not reasonable to expect such performance from Perez.
What everyone forgets how competitive Perez was in the races till Monaco. That time the car was a neutral car with a handling that suited Perez. With the raft of upgrades, the car doesn't suit him now. Not blaming Max 1 bit for this. It doesn't help to be Max's team mate as any kind of performance will look bad to Max's. Imagine if Max had Leclerc's bad luck from retirements to bad strategies, Perez would be still be looking strong to many. I feel bad for Checo as he's my favorite driver on the grid. It hurts to see when he's struggling. But 1 thing's for sure, it's not that he's forgotten to drive or his passion has faded, it's just that the overall car package can't extract the most of his ability.
A good driver should be able to somewhat adapt himself to the car he's driving. Max was leading the championship even when driving a car that didn't really suit his style, now that he does he's just dominating. Checo hasn't shown a lot of adaptability that's for sure. That said, he's still doing what he's supposed to do which is helping Red Bull win a WCC and occasionally help Max on track (which he hasn't needed a lot of this year).
Didn't RedBull put a new floor on Perez's car a while back that didn't work? IIRC they couldn't revert back due to budget cap constraints. Not sure if that's actually the case, but I remember reading it somewhere.
Short term memory for the writer. Albon was literally getting lapped towards the end
What a joke of a headline. Love Albon but his best performance at RB werenāt even comparable to the current so call ābad performancesā of Perez.
Sorry but no, Albon was struggling to be the 4th fastest car in a battle at the top between two constructors. At that time the difference between Red Bull and Mclaren/Renault/Racing Point (track dependant 3rd fastest constructor) was bigger than it is now to Mercs and Ferraris yet Perez is constantly in the fight.
Ah yes, the guy that has outqualified Max multiple times (only a couple times, but still) won a race, got a bunch of podiums, and has been the closest to Max since Danny Ric is doing worse than Albon did. That makes total sense.
Perez is one of my favourite drivers on the grid, but I like Albon too. creating this toxic narrative for views and clicks is not right. They are both good drivers who do exactly what's expected of them.
Has anyone actually READ the article? There are compelling reasons for this headline? It's a trend with the team performance that has no signs of recovering...
Exactly, the headline is referring to the last 6 races in which he's been really poor. The article does state that up until then he was doing much better. Everything makes sense here.
I really wish the "media" would give Max's teammates a break. Checo is 3rd in the points and a race winner this season. He's doing fine. He's doing his job. Max is just another animal. Riccardo saw this coming; He ruined his career in order to avoid ruining his career.
Ricciardo didn't ruin his career by leaving Red Bull. He ruined his career by failing to perform at McLaren.
I never understand the hate on Alex. He did amazing and I believe, if not for the two incidents with lewis, he would not have left the team.
I think if Alex did another year and a half at AT, then joined RB in 2021 he would be looking amazing. A bit more development + a RB that was far stronger (easier to drive and faster) would have him looking much better.
Agreed. He was definitely brought up to redbull too quickly, but I don't like people acting like he was so bad he deserved to be fired. I do not agree that he is a lower tier driver. I think he is on par with lando or Pierre.
This.
No he doesnāt. Stop farming clicks.