The king is dead, long live the king.
Only 102 days to lights out for 2023..
Knowing the rules and using them to your advantage is as important in F1 as having a quick car.
Fair questions. But I wonder whether RB will ever start asking why it fails to get good results form its second driver. Mercedes has the opposite problem where they get good results from both divers, and they even fought for championships between Rosberg and LH. Whatever you think about Bottas, there were always a few weekends every year where he was just quicker than Hamilton and everyone else. And now they have Russell competing with a 7 time world champion. They know how to get the best out of both drivers and RB really don't.
They are in a way Red Bull trying to correct mistakes of the past by giving Perez plenty of time but it does seem to have gotten to the point where it’s a toxic seat as you say.
I mentioned Gasly and Albon in the last post but I have no doubt they wouldn’t be near Verstappen on race pace. It feels like a seat you need to get someone the quality of Sainz or Norris into and see what happens. Could put to bed then if the car is as centered around Verstappen’s driving or not.
Hoping the teams battling for second keep developing and put pressure on Red Bull to necessitate poaching somebody of that quality and form.
They've given him time but the gap has grown. While Max is dominant at the front, Perez is getting caught up in the battles behind. In most cases, perez could be a decent gap behond max and still come comfortably second. I never thought Perez was top tier, but he's falling further and further behind.
Maybe Red bull keep developing the car to suit Max and ignore Perez, even thought Max is already comfortably ahead. Maybe nobody in Red Bull feels safe saying no to Max, even though its hurting the overall team performance.
Hard to know. Its a persistent pattern though, so it unlikely to just be down to the second RB driver every time.
Not sure exactly what you are saying but Ricciardo absolutely performed coming into the 2nd redbull seat. He came in alongside 4 time champ vettel and sent him packing.
Then when paired with verstappen, he was able to compete with him.
Also albon was going well from the start but never recovered from Hamilton taking him out twice from front running positions.
You tend to have that with any driver or team that's dominating. The 21 season, cost cap and Drive to survive are probably the reasons for that. Verstappen deserves all the success he is getting, he's just in a different league to the rest of the grid!
Verstappen being so good is probably why Checo will be at RB next year, Max could win the constructors on his own. All Checo has to do is put the car in the top 5 consistently, I don't think he's much doing better than what Albon did. Checo should be embarrassed for his performance at Suzuka, his dive on Kmag has to be one of the stupidest of the season
My view on Perez is that if red bull are as far clear next season as this then he'll be with the team until end of 2024 and then be gone. If the other teams close the gap and there's a fight for constructors, then he's a liability who won't end the season with them, and one of either Lawson or Ricciardo (depending on how he's performing) will end up in the red bull seat, with the other being in alpha Tauri. Either way, Checo won't be with red bull in 2025.
I'd agree except I think Redbull would swap out Perez early doors if the pattern looks the same next year regardless of how far out in front they are.
They might, but the one thing Checo does bring is a few sponsors and big money. I don't see RB getting rid of him early unless it is an absolute necessity. Have seen some reports say he brings $30-35m plus a year.
I take your point of. Ricciardo. But he left because he saw the writing on the wall. It was going to be Max's team and Ricciardo didn't think he'd get a fair opportunity.
Albon, started well and faded which is the same thing that happened to Perez except it happened faster with Albon. I doubt the crashes with Hamilton (poor form by Hamilton) were the reason he lost pace and eventually his seat.
Both of those instances show Red Bull failing to get the best out of the second seat.
But what use is that money in the cost cap era?
Drivers salaries and the top 3 earners salaries in the company are not covered in the cost cap so it could cover some of that I guess.
The team will still be looking at profit/loss. Perez fills a big advertising spot on the car too. Any organisation would think twice before taking a $30mn reduction in revenue.
Perez essentially drives for free and RB get $20-25m to pay for about one third or more of Verstappens salary. I'd say thats very useful
It's a sizeable chunk of money that Red Bull don't have to pony up to keep the team going.
Merc fans blaming RedBulls dominance for the drop in numbers. Really it's down to the likes of the drive to survive fans thinking every season will be like 2021 now realising most seasons are like 2022 where you have one team or driver dominating
It's not the fault people who started watching Drive to Survive. They watched an entertaining show as a gateway to hopefully being entertained by the sport. The sport isn't very entertaining this year. I haven't watched many races or listened to the ones I can't watch. I'm happy getting the results afterwards this year because so little is at stake.
F1 is a mix of sport, entertainment and business. If its in a good balance, then everyone wins. This year is lacking in entertainment so its hardly surprising that fan engagement has reduced. I'm not a new DTS fan and I haven't prioritised F1 this year. I'd usually watch most races around a friend's house. Few lads, couple of frozen pizzas and have the craic. Haven't done it this year becalmed the racing is dull. That's not the fans' fault.
First I'd heard of this, could have been a good springboard for Lawson.
Would be interesting to hear the reasons why it was rejected.
Seems a bit of a leap with claims of a guaranteeing a female driver on the F1 grid based on testing her in an F3 and F2 car. maybe using the social climate to their advantage?
Time for F1 to go back to being Free to air. The sooner Sky crashes and burns the better and I say that as a Sky subscriber. The way TV and Sky are going do I will probably not be for much longer.
Some talk of Apple bidding for the global rights
I wouldn’t mind that if it meant we could watch live races on an Apple device with that region locking bullshit.
Oh I do not like that either.
Sky can have their go no worries, just give access to the global F1 TV Streaming App to everyone and let Sky compete with that.
Qatar will be interesting.
Max will simply want to win the title in the Sprint race.
I see Max getting a clean sweep.
Fastest in Practice 1
P1 in Qualifying
P1 in Sprint Shootout
P1 in Sprint
P1 in Race.
I hope Perez wins the Sprint and Max wins the title in the proper race.
I think Max just needs to finish in the top 5 or 6 of the Sprint race no matter where Perez finishes.
https://www.topgear.com/car-news/formula-one/yeehaw-andrettis-bid-enter-f1-has-been-approved
Oh well then hopefully someone takes Max out of the Sprint. Go on Lewis.
Hopefully F1 approves it now or it's doomed if it does not.
"I hope Perez wins the Sprint" "Go on Lewis"
I hope you know, there is no Lewis Perez on the grid.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wa.vanillicon.com/v2/a58c6737830beabc6576355567924454.svg)
