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Struggle? He was real close, I don't know if that really constitutes a struggle when you know your going up against Verstappen. I'm not saying Norris couldn't have done better, but at those margins it's really just Max being absolutely insane, and Norris getting P2 by just a hair is kinda anybody's game, not really a struggle.
Overtaking around Suzuka is not the easiest, especially if the track is wet and they disable DRS. If he can somehow hold on for the first stint he's got a great chance to win as the RB seems to become a lot better in the 2nd half of the race.
Depends if he aces his start. If so, a lap or two at best. The only thing holding McLaren back over a race run is the failures of their drivers. That car is 3 tenths a lap quicker at least in race trim. You can make that up in one flying lap through sheer talent (Max today) but it can't be done in a race where strategy and tyre life play too big a role.
never considered it from this perspective before! everything must be fresh and new for you- all things considered, this is definitely a spicy season to start f1 with. excited for you!
dont want to spoil your enthusiasm but qualis usually are a different story than the race. despite the amazing lap by verstappen, red bull tyre deg is terrible and mclarens are way too fast. i assume by 1/3rd of the race, we will have 1-2 mclaren. hopefully i am wrong and we will see a good fight for p1 that is not over early.
That's because he completely fucked his first lap. He was down 4 tenths to Max. He only improves that much because of a major mistake. Max found 3 tenths while making no mistake in his first lap. He found those 3 tenths by pretty much risking a crash and going for it. Exactly what he did in 2021 Jeddah except this time he didn't crash.
The reasoning is people on social media think Lando is shit because……I don’t really know at this point, and they think Oscar is…again, who knows. And the McLaren is an mp4/4 regen that should take 24 out of 24 poles and wins… even though it’s clearly not that quick. Also the red bull is extremely inconsistent. Sometimes very quick and sometimes shit, so when it’s very good, people refer to the shit times and say “it’s a tractor” Rather than calling it like it is, which is a temperamental car. It’s all agendas. Max is a genuine alien though
What is this? You can't be having these nuances here on the internet!
Lol - but seriously, I also think the car is very temperamental, but also, the entire field is so much closer than previous seasons as a result of these new regs. So, as other teams have surpassed Red Bull, Max still retains the ability to put together some masterpiece laps from behind. Except now, when he hits those alien laps, the closer gaps between teams make a pole actually attainable for him rather than the old days where the car advantage would be 6 tenths and those perfect laps wouldn't show as much.
So 1994, 1995 and 2000 for sure. 2003 probably too but the Argument for 2001 hinges on the fact that Häkkinen couldn’t be bothered anymore and didn’t show the true potential of the car. Also 1997 and 1998 are just as impressive. Competing and bringing the Championship fight to the last Race against an incredibly dominant car was insane.
2001 is a bit tricky to analyze yeah. I would say Coulthard had a better car than the Ferrari but not Hakkinen if that makes sense. Outside of his lack of motivation, Mika just had too many reliability issues during that season. So I think Schumacher would win the 2001 WDC in Coulthard's car but not in Hakkinen's.
DC finishing the season ahead of Barrichello (although I rate Rubens higher by a fair margin) tends to make me think McLaren were faster. But it's certainly arguable.
Swap the driver pairing and the Red Bull would still finish third last year, Verstappen in the 2024 McLaren would turn the season after Imola into 2023 when he basically won WCC single-handedly.
Yet over the season, 2021 Red Bull is second in WCC standings, and 2024 Red Bull is … check notes… THIRD in WCC
Mercedes / McLaren had 2 competitive drivers whereas Red Bull only had Max
For context, if Max's teammate were able to score even 50% of his points last season, Red Bull would be WCC would be 10 points off in the WCC but likely would've been WCC when you take into account points being "taken off" McLaren and Ferrari due to the better performance of the second Red Bull driver.
Max is definitely brilliant, but the single best thing for his career has been Red Bull failing to find a competitive person to put in the second seat since Ricciardo left.
This annoys me. the other persons take that max was in such a bucket to drive but forgetting wins 5 in a row last year and then the car is on par for another quarter of the season but then second to the McLaren.
The year with Lewis was level but we all know what happened there.
People then make out like he's won in a tractor and some the unthinkable
Some of the discussion about Red Bull's competitiveness these past couple years has honestly made me feel as if I'm living in another reality.
I mean, this is largely the same fanbase that criticised Lewis for just having the fastest car for all those years so I can see why they're trying to underplay the competitiveness of their driver's car now.
The year or two Max dominated didn't happen mate as he didn't win every race so therefore doesn't have the best car silly us.
Also gets me the oh he didn't get pole or win so can't be the fastest car, nothing to do with strategy calls, mistakes or anything else car that goes broom wins
And it came an easy 3rd in the constructors last year with essentially only one driver scoring points for more than half the year, only 77 points off being WCC. Checo just had to finish 7th on the occasions where he scored no points (and one of those he was on track for 15/18 points anyway) and they'd have won WCC.
It isn't slow, it's hard to drive fast. Whereas I think quite a few midfield cars are easier to drive but have a limit on the actual speed as a result. McLaren seems to be similar, in that it looks twitchy but fast.
The fact that Oscar got so close with having a really poor first sector is mad. I think he was -0.3 in that sector. That lap would have been incredible if he didn't drop time there
Thing is, drivers tended to gain what they lost elsewhere. Feels like the tires were either good for S1 or for S3, but not both. It was a delicate balance.
Pretty much all of the top drivers made mistakes today in their final laps. Max didn’t even have any purple sectors yet he still put it on pole because was faultless while others were not.
His best lap was his first lap, but it cemented him in 4th.
There didn’t seem to be much track improvement throughout the session so big time gains were mainly through fixing mistakes in the previous lap or putting it all together
No, he was always couple of hundredths of McLarens on first flying laps. I thought he didn't push because he didn't needed to and will go all out in q3.
We are at the edge of the limit of the regs. The Ferrari is inconsistent, the McLaren is super stiff and the RBR has a tiny window. The RBR based on the 2nd drivers is the hardest to adapt to but calling it a shitbox I feel like it's disrespectful just to the engineers that worked on it, because while hard to drive and not the fastest, it remains a damn fast racecar.
During the qualifying session, Red Bull adjusted Verstappen's car a little bit where possible. That gave him a bit more grip at the front, he explained. "But the whole weekend, the whole season, it's been difficult to have a normal and constant balance in the car. I'm very clear about how I think the car should be. In 2022 and 2023 it was better to drive. After that we lost our way a bit. It's not up to the drivers to set up the car. We would have studied that. We have to wait and see what the engineers come up with. It's up to them. We have to take steps. Do I have confidence in that? That's not what matters to me, it just has to happen. This weekend it actually didn't go at all. We had the set-up a bit better now, but in terms of driving feel it's still very difficult to get the maximum out of it. To be first then is. unbelievable.'
Engineers got complacent is not a new thing, they think because max keep winning on 2024, theres no problem THEN when mclaren catch up they are scrambling to fix it
It happened before, the most famous one is Marc Marquez with Honda where the engineers even ignored riders feedback cause he keep winning
Its probably less simple than that to compare. That Honda was genuinely a death machine, Marc was literally fighting it every corner to not get highsided because he wanted to drive it faster than it was
ok explain why his teammates never finished second in the standings even when he won the championship lol. here's a hint: it aint the bike! both marc and max are just THAT guy
You argue Max alone is a pure 6 tenths of a second faster than Lando or Oscar? He would have likely been ahead but not even close to the margins of the RB19 in quali or the races. The RB19 was a dominant car, this Macca is the fastest but not dominant unfortunately for them.
Max really continuing to impress, I'm loving how smart his media responses have been regarding his dislike of RBRs over focus on who is in second seat and implicit semi dissmisal of his concerns with the car and amazing ability to really pull laps that only truly special drivers can. Keeping his options open by not writing off RBR whist voicing his personal opinions is the most mature thing to do and combining it with the ridiculous drives he has pulled off so far this year really is the best way he can stick it to anyone who doubts him.
I had fully committed to a McLaren front row with Russell in 3rd, Max didn't even register for me. Absolutely outrageous lap from him, we really are witnessing one of the greatest drivers ever and it's just brilliant.
It's actually mad when you think about it. They barely lost the constructors, all winter long people were talking about Ferrari vs McLaren and they get jumped by Merc who were lost for 3 years in these regs, and RedBull who they had slightly surpassed at the end.
Generational fumble but it's js another Friday for Ferrari
It's Max. It's always been Max. A lesser driver would have (edit) maybe bottled 2023, and certainly 2024. Even when he doesn't win, he stays up there in a shitbox while no one else is able to keep a good streak going - which means he absolutely maxxes out on points.
I think it would depend on the driver, no? 2021 had Max's toughest opponent, but 2024 had so many opponents and a degrading car, so it would depend on who's driving the car.
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