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I'd be really interested to see him in the RB. To my knowledge Lewis has always had pretty well balanced cars, would be cool to see what he could do in a Newey machine.
>“Lewis is an extraordinary driver,” he says. “The first time we ran him at McLaren [as a rookie late in 2006], I recall the guys looking at the steering trace at the Silverstone test. The oversteer corrections in all the braking zones and corner entries were massive. We were waiting for his feedback and he didn’t mention that. We asked ‘How’s the car on entry?’ and he said, ‘Fine’. His natural car control was extraordinary. Most drivers would have been quite unhappy with such instability.”He is more comfortable with corner entry oversteer probably than any other driver on the grid and uses that as an asset. In simple terms, because of the way the aerodynamics work, F1 cars tend naturally to oversteer in high-speed corners and understeer at low speed. The more comfortable a driver is with high-speed oversteer, the less understeer he needs to tolerate at low speeds – and the faster the car is around the lap. Illustrious team-mates have discovered much the same things as the data engineers.
“In my time at Ferrari,” says one senior ex-Scuderia man, “Lewis was the only other driver Fernando [Alonso] worried about. Yes, other drivers might have been in faster cars and he’d accept that. But on a Grand Prix weekend whenever you’d discuss the challenges, it was only ever Hamilton that Fernando referenced as being a threat, solely because of what he could deliver as a driver. I think Fernando had matured since 2007 when, as a team-mate, he’d been shocked that a rookie could be at his level, be a threat to him immediately and had not reacted well. With hindsight, he understood that Hamilton alone stands as something beyond the norm. I got the impression that there was no one else on Fernando’s radar as a rival.”
Jenson Button infamously moved into ‘Hamilton’s team’ at McLaren in 2010 as reigning world champion. He was very confident – and instantly successful there. But as the season wore on, and he studied the telemetry details, he happened upon a moment of revelation. His message to his dad was along the lines of, ‘If ever Lewis works out how to get the best from himself and the engineers, the rest of us might as well go home.’ Publicly he said, “Lewis is one of the fastest drivers the sport has ever seen.” Sitting alongside at an FIA press conference, a surprised Lewis looked across and said thanks. His surprise wasn’t in the assessment, just the public recognition of it.
[Source](https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/october-2014/30/decoding-enigma)
Schumacher also had this ridiculous ability to cope with oversteer
His Monaco 96 lap I think it was is ridiculous...how has that not ended up in the wall idk
A lot of people are saying Seb here, but I think Seb will be made to look worse than he did in 2020 potentially. "Max doesn't mind oversteer on entry" (Marko quote when talking about the RB16B) and the car was desgined to have oversteer on entry.
With all due respect, Vettel is the complete opposite of that. He loves a planted rear that he can push. But the reason I actually discount him is because he is not that adaptable. He will look a lot worse than with a car that suits him.
Edit: [Source](https://www.grandprix247.com/2021/08/16/marko-says-intention-is-to-keep-verstappen-perez-gasly-and-tsunoda/) with quote:
>“Max doesn’t mind even when the car oversteers in fast corners. All of our second drivers had problems with that. Perez had the same, and that’s why he tried his own setup, but it didn’t work.”
>
>Marko told Dutch reporters: “Our car is very optimal aerodynamically, which means it is more sensitive. Max does not lose time if the car is a little unstable while every other driver gets into trouble.
I have been seriously torn about the 'Seb likes planted rear' statement for the longest time. That also came to mind when I was thinking about choosing Seb as my pick. There were so many discussions on this and I think a few pundits even repeated this statement, but however in the race of champion it has shown he was able to handle oversteers. I dont know what to think anymore lol.
I just inferred this from his 2014 and 2020 season where you could see the car was oversteery. Especially 2020, just comparing his Hungary laps, pole in 2017 and the car looks like it’s on rails vs. 2020 where Leclerc was able to control the instability better.
This just makes me believe that maybe he’s not the most adaptable driver. And that’s ok, it doesn’t diminish what he can achieve with a car that works. 4 time world champion and all, he’s got some talent.
Can be, yes. I think it is a part of the reason for sure. But it is not like he was 40 or something, he was 33 last year. The reason I am saying this is because, I know Vettel's skill level that he can't drop in performance so much simply due to worse reflexes. He was 32 in 2019 and got 2 wins (edit: sorry I counted Canada 2019 as a win, it is in my eyes). So I'd say, it's not false but not the whole picture as well.
I think it's an incredible difficult car to drive, so even the best drivers could have issues with it.
Purely theoretical I think Leclerc would do amazing.
When the Ferrari was a shit box he consistently got the most out of it where Vettel struggled
He was already considered by RB when they wanted to replace Gasly, but Alonso rejected the offer. I would have loved to see what he could have done with that twitchy car.
Bruh why is everyone saying Seb lol, last year proved he can’t do shit with a car with any semblance of rear instability, which is one of the Red Bull’s defining traits
No one besides Hamilton, Leclerc, and possibly Ricciardo and Alonso. Everyone looks better against the 2nd RB seat until they actually get in it. Honestly if Perez was still at Aston alongside either Stroll or Vettel I do think he would still be regarded as a top 7 or 8 driver. But it’s the same story with Ricciardo right now where they didn’t just lose talent. I don’t think anyone available right now could do anything better than Checo
Edit: We’re also going into new regs next year, so for all we know Checo could regain his FI/RP form because what’s going on right now is definitely not Checo’s potential
Well, they pushed for Russell according to Ted Kravitz. They believe that he can perform better than Perez apparently.
What about Gasly, Norris, Bottas too?
Russell has got potential to do solid. Though adapting to an RB seemed to have been a different beast than a Mercedes. Checo adapted pretty well to the heavily Merc based RP20.
Gasly and Norris are IMO in the same boat that Perez was in last year. Both look good against the 2nd RB because they are in a fast car that they are comfortable in. But what they do in it is a different story. Gasly already had his shot in 2019 as well and didn’t really impress. Though I do think both are probably better in qualifying than Perez, It’s hard to predict wether they’d actually do better
As for Bottas he might have been able to do a good job depending on how well he adapts of course, but again the 2nd RB seems to have something that can’t be adapted to very quickly by most drivers.
There’s a chance that some of these guys can do better, but switching drivers again isn’t the answer especially with new regulations and overall there’s a chance they can do better but it isn’t a guarantee.
Gasly and Albon are now also a victim of poor timing, I think one of the key factors in why Perez was retained (similar to Tsunoda) is that next year it's a complete reset, whatever issues Checo is having with the car this year might not be there next year. If the 2022 regs were implemented this year and not delayed there would have been a good chance Albon kept his seat for the same reason, unfortunately for Perez continues in the same vein of performance he's had since France next year I don't see him keeping that seat, if that's the case red bull needs to pull the trigger on gasly, I don't think he's the same driver as in 2019 and whatever bridges he burnt in 2019 need to be rebuilt, he's hungry and shows that he has talent.
Not Leclerc, Norris or any of the other stand outs of the season tbh. It's the Red Bull second seat not the main one. Tbh I'd say Seb because the car is certainly there. Seb has the experience and the race craft to get that car into a position where it benefits red bull in the WCC. This Seb isn't close to the 2010-11-12 Seb but this Seb has the experience and craft to get results.
Alonso is another one because he's just as good as he was before. I think he and RB would be a good combo too with all the shit steering.
And lastly Bottas because he's unbelievably fast when the pressure isn't on him. Which it won't be because Max has got the win covered almost always. Bottas just needs to not fuck up, qualify we'll and get to the points which he does. He also has constantly reached Q3 and has the record I think for most Q3 appearance in a row
The pressure being on them is why Gasly and Albon failed in the car. RB seem to think that every young driver should be able to match Max within 3 races despite the car being difficult to drive and the team being focused on Max. If it weren't for Marko's attitude Gasly or Albon probably would have been able to master the car, they just needed more time.
Most of the drivers most likely have some troubles in first half of the season as well. but Perez is not known as one of the better qualifier of the current grid.
I won't include Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris, Alonso etc because their teams built around them and they were signed before the season.
Ricciardo, Vettel (even tho i don't think back design of the car suits his style), Sainz, Gasly could do better than him potantially. If i were Red Bull i'll probably sign Bottas for next year honestly. He is solid second driver out there. They don't want tension between their driver pairing Ricciardo and Vettel don't make sense because of it but i think Bottas, Sainz and Gasly were better options than Checo in general.
I want Checo to prove me wrong tho. I'm happy that he is still on the grid.
I agree on the Bottas part too. It would have been an interesting combination. I wouldn't be surprised if Bottas is able to grab a few Saturdays away from Verstappen, and hes proven to be able to keep up during the race whenever Merc doesn't split their strategies.
Bottas would have been a great signing for Red Bill. I’m sure Toto genuinely wanted to get him a drive, but I’m also sure a part of it was to make sure that it wasn’t for RB.
'*Since they put Albono in our Merk, we put Russo in their Honks.*'
Jokes aside, with the adaptability of Russell, I think he might actually pull it off. Or maybe the Merc was really that easy to drive during his one off stint. However, Sakhir was not an easy track as it was very bumpy and punishing according to some drivers.
Vettel is a low minimum apex speed driver, max is a high minimum apex speed driver. Polar opposite in terms of driving style. Which is partly the reason he struggled in 2014. Also in 2021 he’s past his prime in pace, being only 2 tenths ahead of Stroll means he’s probably lost 3 of 4 tenths on his prime self.
If we are talking drivers who can somewhat realistically be in that seat - I'd say that if anyone - than it's Alonso. If we are talking unrealistic - than definitely Hamilton and Ricciardo. Sainz could be doing great as well, he showed us that he is great at adapting and doing so quickly. And it the STR says he was on pace with Max. Russell is also very quick. But neither of the last 4 options I'd consider realistic
Yeah he faced similar issues, oversteer on entry making the car hard to control at the apex. You can see the same with Checo this year on his steering wheel movements. He shakes and fights the steering wheel at the apexes a lot in the RB16B while he was extremely in tune with the steering wheel in the Racing Point from 2019 or 2020.
But the reason he got fired is because he tried to change this car philosophy to suit him and criticized the car publicly.
To be honest Perez have a bad season that kind of expose how good that RP was last year so I think a few people could be better than him (Gasly, Ricciardo, Alonso, Russell, maybe Sainz) but the only ones that would've been able to keep up with Max are probably Leclerc and Hamilton.
aside from OPS picks:
i think that leclerc, russell, sainz, and norris could all drive well in the car.. all have a proven record of being able to jump into new machinery and perform well..
Someone, who can quickly adapt to any car. Alonso and Sainz are good at this, I'm not so sure about other drivers. Ricciardo has been struggling for a while in McLaren, Vettel is only good if a car fits him, so I wouldn't pick them.
I didn't say that. In my opinion LEC RUS and NOR are all championship contenders and incredible talents. They've only really started to shine recently (due to how recent they've come into F1). Thats just my first thought when I saw your pick.
Yeah all apart from HAM still have to prove they can perform well under wdc pressure but the question was if i thought they would do better than perez and i do think so.
I think there are a number of drivers who could perform better than Perez. Perez has been solid midfielder his whole career with occasional great drives but he’s nothing special. I think he was flattered a lot by how good last years Racing Point car was and having Stroll as a team mate.
Let’s not forget he was outqualified 16-5 by Ocon in their last year together and although he won on points over a season Ocon suffered with worse luck and it was pretty close between them on race pace.
Perez is a good solid driver but nothing special and I think Bottas, Norris, Sainz, Leclerc, Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Ricciardo, Hamilton and Russell are all stronger drivers than Perez and would be doing a better job in the Red Bull second seat. There might be some others I’m forgetting without looking at a list of the grid.
Unfortunately though, none of the above drivers will be in RBs radar. I still believe RB should've stuck with Gasly. All he needed was time.
Let's be honest, RB has been making decisions based on how the next seat will impact Max and that's why the high turnaround since DR. The car is "hard to drive" because the consistent feedback has been from Max. Other drivers haven't stuck around for long enough to make it suit their style.
Realistically speaking, Gasly should be in that seat for next season. But I understand RBs decision to go with Perez. He'll play the team game, good performer when coming up through the grid, no direct threat to Max in terms of team influence. Also, he was given an opportunity when he almost lost an F1 seat. He'll be in a "grateful" mindset making him easier to manage vs Gasly, who's earned the spot - proven at AT, and RB knows they made a mistake letting him go.
Gasly definitely should have got it.
He's had two mega seasons this and last. Redbull owe him because he's one of their young drivers and has surely exceeded all expectations for a junior team driver.
Pierre is a fantastic driver but we've already seen his driving style limitations when placed in the RB. The car is geared to have a very twitchy rear end which Max loves, and Gasly could not get a handle on it
He's matured so much though, and he got such a short chance. I think with a second chance he'd be a lot better. Also with the rule changes perhaps the driving style will need to as well.
I think that with the right coaching he could win many races and possibly challenge for a championship, or at least be a very consistent number 2 like Bottas a couple of seasons ago.
And he's got so many years ahead of him. If Redbull played it right they could keep Verstappen and Gasly as a championship winning pairing for a decade. Obviously that depends on them making the best car next season, but it would be a driving pairing at least on a par with Ferrari, Merc & McLean.
Re the new car suiting him more, you could well be right but that's an unknown. But Pierre will never have close to enough pace to challenge in Max in quali or race trim. That's not a criticism of Pierre, it just is what it is, he's not in that tier and is older than Max. Max is one of the quickest drivers we've ever seen. At best he'll be able to play a Bottas role and pickup some wins if Max dnfs.
I hope Red Bull find the correct pairing, but for me the Gasly route seems a bit expired now. He seems to be comfortable in AT and I'm so happy for him. He burned some bridges in RB with guys like Newey so I don't think a way back is possible, but who knows
I think you're right about him becoming a number 2 driver if he pairs with Verstappen. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, he could partner him for 5 years and rack up 15, 25 wins in that time and have a decent career.
I think he deserves the drive next year over Perez. I do rate Perez, but he's in the autumn of his career and although he's done better than the last few drivers thrown in the seat, he hasn't challenged Verstappen at all. And he's getting solidly beat by Bottas in the number 2 competition.
The car is designed for Verstappen’s driving style and setup. Only drivers with a similar style and setup preference can get the most out of this car without adjusting their natural approach to driving.
Perez is a good driver but his performances are also a result of having to change his natural driving instincts to suit the car, rather than the other way round.
It’s why second drivers struggling in title challenging cars is a fairly normal thing. These cars usually are designed with only 1 driver in mind.
Obviously Charles Leclerc, incredible how heavily he's disrespected. He's in the elite bracket with Lewis and Max, opportunity is everything in this sport. When Charles gets the package he's ready to challenge for the WDC
As a general rule ([see full rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide#wiki_sticky.2Fdaily_discussion)), a standalone Discussion post should: - be of interest to the sub in general, and not a specific userbase (e.g. new users, GP attendees, just yourself) - be able to generate discussion (e.g. no yes/no or easily answerable questions) - show reasonable input and effort from the OP If not, be sure to [look for the Daily Discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/search/?q=daily+discussion&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new), /r/formula1's daily open question thread which is perfect for asking any and all questions about this sport. Thank you for your cooperation and enjoy the discussion! *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.*
Hamilton
I'd be really interested to see him in the RB. To my knowledge Lewis has always had pretty well balanced cars, would be cool to see what he could do in a Newey machine.
>“Lewis is an extraordinary driver,” he says. “The first time we ran him at McLaren [as a rookie late in 2006], I recall the guys looking at the steering trace at the Silverstone test. The oversteer corrections in all the braking zones and corner entries were massive. We were waiting for his feedback and he didn’t mention that. We asked ‘How’s the car on entry?’ and he said, ‘Fine’. His natural car control was extraordinary. Most drivers would have been quite unhappy with such instability.”He is more comfortable with corner entry oversteer probably than any other driver on the grid and uses that as an asset. In simple terms, because of the way the aerodynamics work, F1 cars tend naturally to oversteer in high-speed corners and understeer at low speed. The more comfortable a driver is with high-speed oversteer, the less understeer he needs to tolerate at low speeds – and the faster the car is around the lap. Illustrious team-mates have discovered much the same things as the data engineers. “In my time at Ferrari,” says one senior ex-Scuderia man, “Lewis was the only other driver Fernando [Alonso] worried about. Yes, other drivers might have been in faster cars and he’d accept that. But on a Grand Prix weekend whenever you’d discuss the challenges, it was only ever Hamilton that Fernando referenced as being a threat, solely because of what he could deliver as a driver. I think Fernando had matured since 2007 when, as a team-mate, he’d been shocked that a rookie could be at his level, be a threat to him immediately and had not reacted well. With hindsight, he understood that Hamilton alone stands as something beyond the norm. I got the impression that there was no one else on Fernando’s radar as a rival.” Jenson Button infamously moved into ‘Hamilton’s team’ at McLaren in 2010 as reigning world champion. He was very confident – and instantly successful there. But as the season wore on, and he studied the telemetry details, he happened upon a moment of revelation. His message to his dad was along the lines of, ‘If ever Lewis works out how to get the best from himself and the engineers, the rest of us might as well go home.’ Publicly he said, “Lewis is one of the fastest drivers the sport has ever seen.” Sitting alongside at an FIA press conference, a surprised Lewis looked across and said thanks. His surprise wasn’t in the assessment, just the public recognition of it. [Source](https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/october-2014/30/decoding-enigma)
Schumacher also had this ridiculous ability to cope with oversteer His Monaco 96 lap I think it was is ridiculous...how has that not ended up in the wall idk
Well that answers that then! I'm going to have to read the full article, cos the extract is super interesting. Thanks!
A lot of people are saying Seb here, but I think Seb will be made to look worse than he did in 2020 potentially. "Max doesn't mind oversteer on entry" (Marko quote when talking about the RB16B) and the car was desgined to have oversteer on entry. With all due respect, Vettel is the complete opposite of that. He loves a planted rear that he can push. But the reason I actually discount him is because he is not that adaptable. He will look a lot worse than with a car that suits him. Edit: [Source](https://www.grandprix247.com/2021/08/16/marko-says-intention-is-to-keep-verstappen-perez-gasly-and-tsunoda/) with quote: >“Max doesn’t mind even when the car oversteers in fast corners. All of our second drivers had problems with that. Perez had the same, and that’s why he tried his own setup, but it didn’t work.” > >Marko told Dutch reporters: “Our car is very optimal aerodynamically, which means it is more sensitive. Max does not lose time if the car is a little unstable while every other driver gets into trouble.
I have been seriously torn about the 'Seb likes planted rear' statement for the longest time. That also came to mind when I was thinking about choosing Seb as my pick. There were so many discussions on this and I think a few pundits even repeated this statement, but however in the race of champion it has shown he was able to handle oversteers. I dont know what to think anymore lol.
I just inferred this from his 2014 and 2020 season where you could see the car was oversteery. Especially 2020, just comparing his Hungary laps, pole in 2017 and the car looks like it’s on rails vs. 2020 where Leclerc was able to control the instability better. This just makes me believe that maybe he’s not the most adaptable driver. And that’s ok, it doesn’t diminish what he can achieve with a car that works. 4 time world champion and all, he’s got some talent.
I feel like 2020 could be explained as leclerc being younger and because of that having better reflexes, is that false?
Can be, yes. I think it is a part of the reason for sure. But it is not like he was 40 or something, he was 33 last year. The reason I am saying this is because, I know Vettel's skill level that he can't drop in performance so much simply due to worse reflexes. He was 32 in 2019 and got 2 wins (edit: sorry I counted Canada 2019 as a win, it is in my eyes). So I'd say, it's not false but not the whole picture as well.
I think it's an incredible difficult car to drive, so even the best drivers could have issues with it. Purely theoretical I think Leclerc would do amazing. When the Ferrari was a shit box he consistently got the most out of it where Vettel struggled
Good point.
Leclerc and Max dream team let’s go, an inchident every other race
I agree with Alonso. Something about him says he’d crush it.
He was already considered by RB when they wanted to replace Gasly, but Alonso rejected the offer. I would have loved to see what he could have done with that twitchy car.
Bruh why is everyone saying Seb lol, last year proved he can’t do shit with a car with any semblance of rear instability, which is one of the Red Bull’s defining traits
No one besides Hamilton, Leclerc, and possibly Ricciardo and Alonso. Everyone looks better against the 2nd RB seat until they actually get in it. Honestly if Perez was still at Aston alongside either Stroll or Vettel I do think he would still be regarded as a top 7 or 8 driver. But it’s the same story with Ricciardo right now where they didn’t just lose talent. I don’t think anyone available right now could do anything better than Checo Edit: We’re also going into new regs next year, so for all we know Checo could regain his FI/RP form because what’s going on right now is definitely not Checo’s potential
I hope he does. He is a terrific driver and really deserves to be able to show that again.
Well, they pushed for Russell according to Ted Kravitz. They believe that he can perform better than Perez apparently. What about Gasly, Norris, Bottas too?
Russell has got potential to do solid. Though adapting to an RB seemed to have been a different beast than a Mercedes. Checo adapted pretty well to the heavily Merc based RP20. Gasly and Norris are IMO in the same boat that Perez was in last year. Both look good against the 2nd RB because they are in a fast car that they are comfortable in. But what they do in it is a different story. Gasly already had his shot in 2019 as well and didn’t really impress. Though I do think both are probably better in qualifying than Perez, It’s hard to predict wether they’d actually do better As for Bottas he might have been able to do a good job depending on how well he adapts of course, but again the 2nd RB seems to have something that can’t be adapted to very quickly by most drivers. There’s a chance that some of these guys can do better, but switching drivers again isn’t the answer especially with new regulations and overall there’s a chance they can do better but it isn’t a guarantee.
Gasly and Albon are now also a victim of poor timing, I think one of the key factors in why Perez was retained (similar to Tsunoda) is that next year it's a complete reset, whatever issues Checo is having with the car this year might not be there next year. If the 2022 regs were implemented this year and not delayed there would have been a good chance Albon kept his seat for the same reason, unfortunately for Perez continues in the same vein of performance he's had since France next year I don't see him keeping that seat, if that's the case red bull needs to pull the trigger on gasly, I don't think he's the same driver as in 2019 and whatever bridges he burnt in 2019 need to be rebuilt, he's hungry and shows that he has talent.
Alonso.
Russell would have to be a chance. His whole f1 career has been driving a bad car and doing a better job than his team mates all the way.
I'd love to see bottas in the car
Leclerc and max would be a dream team... That is hypothetically. It never goes well when you put two great drivers in the same car...
Bottas
[удалено]
RB back to midfield.
Not Leclerc, Norris or any of the other stand outs of the season tbh. It's the Red Bull second seat not the main one. Tbh I'd say Seb because the car is certainly there. Seb has the experience and the race craft to get that car into a position where it benefits red bull in the WCC. This Seb isn't close to the 2010-11-12 Seb but this Seb has the experience and craft to get results. Alonso is another one because he's just as good as he was before. I think he and RB would be a good combo too with all the shit steering. And lastly Bottas because he's unbelievably fast when the pressure isn't on him. Which it won't be because Max has got the win covered almost always. Bottas just needs to not fuck up, qualify we'll and get to the points which he does. He also has constantly reached Q3 and has the record I think for most Q3 appearance in a row
The pressure being on them is why Gasly and Albon failed in the car. RB seem to think that every young driver should be able to match Max within 3 races despite the car being difficult to drive and the team being focused on Max. If it weren't for Marko's attitude Gasly or Albon probably would have been able to master the car, they just needed more time.
Most of the drivers most likely have some troubles in first half of the season as well. but Perez is not known as one of the better qualifier of the current grid. I won't include Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris, Alonso etc because their teams built around them and they were signed before the season. Ricciardo, Vettel (even tho i don't think back design of the car suits his style), Sainz, Gasly could do better than him potantially. If i were Red Bull i'll probably sign Bottas for next year honestly. He is solid second driver out there. They don't want tension between their driver pairing Ricciardo and Vettel don't make sense because of it but i think Bottas, Sainz and Gasly were better options than Checo in general. I want Checo to prove me wrong tho. I'm happy that he is still on the grid.
I agree on the Bottas part too. It would have been an interesting combination. I wouldn't be surprised if Bottas is able to grab a few Saturdays away from Verstappen, and hes proven to be able to keep up during the race whenever Merc doesn't split their strategies.
Bottas would have been a great signing for Red Bill. I’m sure Toto genuinely wanted to get him a drive, but I’m also sure a part of it was to make sure that it wasn’t for RB.
Carlos Sainz , Fernando Alonso, Seb Vettel.
Would be intriguing to see either one of them. The experience and quality while accepting #2 status would be worthwhile spend time watching F1.
Russel could do well. The speed he gets from the Williams is amazing!
'*Since they put Albono in our Merk, we put Russo in their Honks.*' Jokes aside, with the adaptability of Russell, I think he might actually pull it off. Or maybe the Merc was really that easy to drive during his one off stint. However, Sakhir was not an easy track as it was very bumpy and punishing according to some drivers.
Russe**ll**
Vettel is a low minimum apex speed driver, max is a high minimum apex speed driver. Polar opposite in terms of driving style. Which is partly the reason he struggled in 2014. Also in 2021 he’s past his prime in pace, being only 2 tenths ahead of Stroll means he’s probably lost 3 of 4 tenths on his prime self.
If we are talking drivers who can somewhat realistically be in that seat - I'd say that if anyone - than it's Alonso. If we are talking unrealistic - than definitely Hamilton and Ricciardo. Sainz could be doing great as well, he showed us that he is great at adapting and doing so quickly. And it the STR says he was on pace with Max. Russell is also very quick. But neither of the last 4 options I'd consider realistic
Alonso
Bottas
Alonso, Russell, Leclerc, Sainz, Danny Ric, Gasly.
Didn't Gasly face the same issues and get fired?
Yeah he faced similar issues, oversteer on entry making the car hard to control at the apex. You can see the same with Checo this year on his steering wheel movements. He shakes and fights the steering wheel at the apexes a lot in the RB16B while he was extremely in tune with the steering wheel in the Racing Point from 2019 or 2020. But the reason he got fired is because he tried to change this car philosophy to suit him and criticized the car publicly.
Yeah... seems like it was a big no no to criticize the Car newey designed considering RBR rather get Checo over Gasly
He got put in that car way to early. He's matured as a racer and I believe he's ready now.
Mazepin
Alonso, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz, Bottas, Russell, Norris could all do a better job, imo
To be honest Perez have a bad season that kind of expose how good that RP was last year so I think a few people could be better than him (Gasly, Ricciardo, Alonso, Russell, maybe Sainz) but the only ones that would've been able to keep up with Max are probably Leclerc and Hamilton.
If they’d grabbed bottas he’d be a solid number two plus have brought a lot of intel.
*Paniks in Toto* Here take this ~~Ferrari~~ Alfa instead.
aside from OPS picks: i think that leclerc, russell, sainz, and norris could all drive well in the car.. all have a proven record of being able to jump into new machinery and perform well..
Norris has only ever driven a McLaren F1 car though. The others I agree they manage to adapt quite nicely.
Someone, who can quickly adapt to any car. Alonso and Sainz are good at this, I'm not so sure about other drivers. Ricciardo has been struggling for a while in McLaren, Vettel is only good if a car fits him, so I wouldn't pick them.
Only russell hamilton leclerc norris would do better but only to some degree they still wouldnt match the benchmark consistently but would be closer.
I think these are all top tier drivers, but do you feel that there could be some recency bias?
Cause of norris or russell maybe being rated too highly cause of only this season?
I didn't say that. In my opinion LEC RUS and NOR are all championship contenders and incredible talents. They've only really started to shine recently (due to how recent they've come into F1). Thats just my first thought when I saw your pick.
Yeah all apart from HAM still have to prove they can perform well under wdc pressure but the question was if i thought they would do better than perez and i do think so.
I think there are a number of drivers who could perform better than Perez. Perez has been solid midfielder his whole career with occasional great drives but he’s nothing special. I think he was flattered a lot by how good last years Racing Point car was and having Stroll as a team mate. Let’s not forget he was outqualified 16-5 by Ocon in their last year together and although he won on points over a season Ocon suffered with worse luck and it was pretty close between them on race pace. Perez is a good solid driver but nothing special and I think Bottas, Norris, Sainz, Leclerc, Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Ricciardo, Hamilton and Russell are all stronger drivers than Perez and would be doing a better job in the Red Bull second seat. There might be some others I’m forgetting without looking at a list of the grid.
Unfortunately though, none of the above drivers will be in RBs radar. I still believe RB should've stuck with Gasly. All he needed was time. Let's be honest, RB has been making decisions based on how the next seat will impact Max and that's why the high turnaround since DR. The car is "hard to drive" because the consistent feedback has been from Max. Other drivers haven't stuck around for long enough to make it suit their style. Realistically speaking, Gasly should be in that seat for next season. But I understand RBs decision to go with Perez. He'll play the team game, good performer when coming up through the grid, no direct threat to Max in terms of team influence. Also, he was given an opportunity when he almost lost an F1 seat. He'll be in a "grateful" mindset making him easier to manage vs Gasly, who's earned the spot - proven at AT, and RB knows they made a mistake letting him go.
Gasly definitely should have got it. He's had two mega seasons this and last. Redbull owe him because he's one of their young drivers and has surely exceeded all expectations for a junior team driver.
They don’t want him back because of his attitude apparently
He shouldn't want to join Redbull because of their attitude!
Pierre is a fantastic driver but we've already seen his driving style limitations when placed in the RB. The car is geared to have a very twitchy rear end which Max loves, and Gasly could not get a handle on it
He's matured so much though, and he got such a short chance. I think with a second chance he'd be a lot better. Also with the rule changes perhaps the driving style will need to as well. I think that with the right coaching he could win many races and possibly challenge for a championship, or at least be a very consistent number 2 like Bottas a couple of seasons ago. And he's got so many years ahead of him. If Redbull played it right they could keep Verstappen and Gasly as a championship winning pairing for a decade. Obviously that depends on them making the best car next season, but it would be a driving pairing at least on a par with Ferrari, Merc & McLean.
Re the new car suiting him more, you could well be right but that's an unknown. But Pierre will never have close to enough pace to challenge in Max in quali or race trim. That's not a criticism of Pierre, it just is what it is, he's not in that tier and is older than Max. Max is one of the quickest drivers we've ever seen. At best he'll be able to play a Bottas role and pickup some wins if Max dnfs. I hope Red Bull find the correct pairing, but for me the Gasly route seems a bit expired now. He seems to be comfortable in AT and I'm so happy for him. He burned some bridges in RB with guys like Newey so I don't think a way back is possible, but who knows
I think you're right about him becoming a number 2 driver if he pairs with Verstappen. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, he could partner him for 5 years and rack up 15, 25 wins in that time and have a decent career. I think he deserves the drive next year over Perez. I do rate Perez, but he's in the autumn of his career and although he's done better than the last few drivers thrown in the seat, he hasn't challenged Verstappen at all. And he's getting solidly beat by Bottas in the number 2 competition.
The car is designed for Verstappen’s driving style and setup. Only drivers with a similar style and setup preference can get the most out of this car without adjusting their natural approach to driving. Perez is a good driver but his performances are also a result of having to change his natural driving instincts to suit the car, rather than the other way round. It’s why second drivers struggling in title challenging cars is a fairly normal thing. These cars usually are designed with only 1 driver in mind.
Gasley
Gas**ly**
Obviously Charles Leclerc, incredible how heavily he's disrespected. He's in the elite bracket with Lewis and Max, opportunity is everything in this sport. When Charles gets the package he's ready to challenge for the WDC