Posts by copperdrifter26

silverviper44 said:Look, let’s be real: every single driver on the grid has incredible driving skills. There's just no other way they'd ever make it to Formula 1. You don't exactly go onto eBay and buy an F1 license; that's not how this works. You earn your way up through results in the junior series, and those performances are what actually serve as your ticket to the big leagues.

It really all comes down to the car you're sitting in. Honestly, looking at George Russell's performance over the last few seasons, he wasn't exactly making waves when he was behind the wheel at Williams. Now, suddenly, he looks like a top-tier talent? It’s pretty obvious that once he stepped into that Mercedes, everything changed.

So, like I was saying before, it all comes down to this: the car, the car, the car, the car, and then the driver.

I mean, if you've been following this sport for more than a year, how is this not obvious? At the end of the day, the car is about 90% of the equation, talent accounts for maybe 9%, and then you've got that tiny 1% of pure luck. Usually, after one or two seasons, that luck factor tends to even out. Once the cars are performing at the same level, then—and only then—does that damn talent actually become the deciding factor.

George Russell is pure talent. Seriously, a massive talent. Anyone who actually bothered to follow his junior career in Formula 1 could have seen from a mile away that we were looking at a phenomenal driver. It’s no wonder he ended up landing a seat with the top team. Compare that to someone like Esteban Ocon—look, he's a good driver and definitely has talent, but he just doesn't seem to be in that elite inner circle where you can actually jump in and replace anyone. Even if Mick was a junior driver for years, he still isn't breaking into those top-tier seats.

George Russell is driving right on Lewis Hamilton's tail, and honestly, Lewis is such an incredible talent—even if he’s maybe a little slower now than he was back in his absolute prime. But look, if you take someone like Nicholas Latifi, Lance Stroll, or Tsunoda and throw them into Mick's car, we'll find out pretty quickly whether it's just the car, the car, the car.

graniteharbor502 said:Yeah, in the one where he slammed into the wall at Monaco while having PP and basically threw the race away because of it. Both Sainz and Leclerc were actually praising the other drivers for having incredible front-end grip that weekend. Ferrari had a car capable of winning in Monaco, and who ended up taking it in the end?

In the end, Red Bull won—and they're the best car on the grid this season, right? Since we’re looking back at the Monaco Grand Prix, let's take a look at Max's track record there:

2015 - Qualified behind Sainz (who was just 0.3s behind Leclerc in qualifying back in 2022). Ends up with a DNF after a crash, while Sainz scores points.

2016 - Driving the best car in Monaco. He struggles while his teammate dominates qualifying. Then, during the race, Max has another collision and gets a DNF, all while Ricciardo cruises to victory (though Red Bull eventually forgot how to prep tires during their pit stops 🤣).

2017 - Finally nails qualifying, but loses out to Ricciardo in the race (honestly, mostly due to strategy, he had the pace).

2018 - Back in the best car in Monaco. Struggles again while his teammate dominates qualifying. Sounds like a copy-paste of 2016? Well, it basically was, except he actually finished the race this time (though outside the points) and Ricciardo took the win.

2019 - With the best chassis, he qualifies 3rd. Finishes the race in 4th, just behind Ferrari.

2020 - No race.

2021 - Qualifies 2nd in the top car, and finally, he gets the win.

Looking at the data, Max's references in Monaco aren't exactly stellar, even in Newey's Red Bull. We see crashes and DNFs while Ricciardo (whom Lando Norris absolutely dominates) is busy grabbing poles and wins.

Ask yourself why he's been in Formula 1 for so long when Leclerc is essentially his contemporary. Even back in 2016, people were already calling Max the future world champion.

It's because he was an exceptional talent, and also because his dad, Jos, pushed for a direct jump into Formula 1 without going through the junior formulas—a move only Helmut Marko and Red Bull accepted, whereas Mercedes wouldn't touch it.

Are we really talking about Max Verstappen, who has been racking up wins every single season since joining Red Bull, even when they were sitting as the third-best team in the standings? Remind me, how many wins did Leclerc grab last year when Ferrari was the third-fastest car? 🍿

Every year, Max Verstappen's Red Bull has had a car capable of taking pole position on specific tracks, like Monaco, Canada, or Mexico—where engine power levels out and the high-downforce cars dominate. Leclerc only really had that kind of car in 2019. Sure, he could have snatched a win at Silverstone last year, but Ferrari has almost always been much further behind Red Bull/Mercedes than Red Bull was to, say, the field back from 2016 to 2020 when Max was grabbing those occasional wins.

I’d argue the only real difference here is that this Verstappen is driving a much less reliable car than the one from 2021. Because just like last year, if his car actually holds together, Max is walking away with 1st or 2nd place.

He’s driving worse. Either that, or Sergio is driving significantly better, but the gap between them is tiny considering Sergio was losing quite a bit to Esteban Ocon in qualifying.

Max showed what he could do back in his Toro Rosso and Red Bull days. I’ve already pointed out that he beat Sainz—a driver older than him—in the exact same car during his very first season, with a 49:18 margin. And we're talking about the same Sainz who pulled more points than Leclerc last year. I also mentioned that Max was pulling wins even when Red Bull was sitting as the third fastest car on the grid. Leclerc just couldn't pull that off.

Back in 2015, Sainz was faster in qualifying, 9 to 8, but their race results when both finished were 6-5 in favor of Sainz. Sainz had 7 DNFs while Max had 4, and when you're stuck at the tail end of the midfield like they were, if you grab a fourth or fifth place while your teammate hits a DNF, that point gap widens pretty quickly. For comparison, Leclerc had a 13-9 advantage in qualifying and was 14-7 in races when both finished.

That’s what happened to Leclerc last year, but unlike 2015 where "luck" seemed to favor Sainz, in 2021 it’s working heavily against him. Every single time the Ferrari is actually good, Leclerc ends up with a tragic result (Monaco, Canada, Sochi, Spa). Despite all that, without a single DNF to his name, Sainz is still only 5 points ahead. When Binotto mentions that Leclerc lost "about 60 points due to bad luck," that says everything you need to know.

If we're playing by those rules, you could say Ricciardo beat Max 2-1 over three seasons in terms of total points, even though Lando Norris is making him look bad for the second year in a row.

Perez is ahead simply because his car only broke down once, not because he actually drove better than Verstappen. If neither of them had mechanical issues, Max would be 2-1-2 and Perez would be 4-4-3, so you can decide for yourself what matters and what doesn't.

But why don't you apply that same logic to Leclerc and Sainz last year? Or Ricciardo in 2018 (which would make it 3-0 for Ricciardo)?

My criteria are very straightforward.

I'm afraid they aren't.

Since he was driving a slower car than Leclerc—which is incredibly obvious now—we can basically say he gave him a masterclass in driving. 👍

I think Leclerc is the one giving the driving lessons this year. Just look at where Sainz finished behind Max. Since Sainz is a better driver than Perez, we can draw a parallel to see which car was actually faster in Saudi Arabia. ☕

Honestly, it feels like Andrej Plenković has a deeper grudge against MOST than anyone I've ever seen. I mean, seriously, this is next level. He’s basically out there acting like kicking them out of The Cabinet was his absolute favorite thing to do just to grab all the political capital for himself. It makes me think they probably had him on such a tight leash back then that he couldn't move an inch without their permission, and now he's finally cutting loose.

Sam Clark75 said:Spot on. Back when Max couldn't touch Lujo for anything, everyone claimed it was just because Lujo had a dominant car and a glorified wingman. Now that he’s routinely beating him in a faster machine, suddenly it proves he’s some mega talent. Logic is flawless—if you're looking for someone to worship.

As for Bottas, yeah, Mercedes absolutely screwed him over. But if he actually knew how to play it aggressive? Nah. He isn't proactive at all—just a passive observer watching his own downfall. He'll probably coast through his contract at Alfa and then retire thinking he was the best. The best damn sidekick Lujo ever had, but whatever. Someone had to fill that role, I guess.

Comparing last year's Red Bull to anything from Mercedes (or any other team) is night and day. These two cars are incredibly, INCREDIBLY close—I can't remember the last time they were this matched up. And Max is driving perfectly (which is something you just can't say about Hamilton right now).

He should have fallen out of the top 10 at Indianapolis after that off-track adventure, and he made a massive amateur mistake in Baku, not to mention that understeer issue at Silverstone that sent him crashing into Max. Bottom line: this year, it's crystal clear that Max is driving at, I don't know, a 10/10 level—almost flawless, sovereign, and intense. Hamilton is fast, sure, but he's making way too many mistakes. He's just not on Max's level this season; I think we can all agree on that.

I honestly cannot believe the sheer audacity of that move. You get absolutely hammered by those weak little 10-second penalties, your main rival ends up heading to the hospital, and what do they say? "Get in there Lewis... what a drive, what a drive mate." It’s unbelievable.

Max is going to absolutely smoke him in the next race.

Jason Campbell70 said:With that incredible W12, the second Mercedes driver finished near the back in Q3, dropped two spots at the start, and then spent nearly 30 laps unable to overtake a single soul on track. And it wasn't just that he couldn't pass anyone—he couldn't even pull away from George Russell in that absolute junk heap of a Williams. A Williams, mind you, which didn't manage to score a single point all last season.

No matter how much Mercedes is paying Hamilton—supposedly around $50 million for this season—it’s absolutely worth every penny. There isn't a single development area for the car that could provide as much of a performance leap as Lewis Hamilton himself does.

What Hamilton is doing right now is only comparable to what Michael Schumacher did at Ferrari in the late 90s.
This is exactly why we love Formula 1.

Oh, come on, how can you say that? In the last race, Valtteri Bottas was dead last in that rotten car, not pacing alongside Hamilton and Max.

Or look at McLaren—that car is basically scrap metal considering Daniel Ricciardo was trailing behind Lando... Or let's take the W8, where Hamilton in Miami looked like he was driving an old McLaren while Bottas was busy fighting off Ferraris.

What I'm saying is, sometimes the tires just aren't in the "window," or a driver simply has an off weekend where they just can't find a rhythm with the car. That doesn't mean the car isn't great, because the W12 is definitely a fantastic machine. If anyone thinks it's on par with a Williams just because Bottas was scrapping with them last weekend—while in that very same "Williams," Hamilton is setting fastest laps right next to Max in the Red Bull Racing—then they really need to rethink their perspective.🙂

Gary Palmer8 said:It honestly surprises me how little some people on here seem to get. Once you saw how even the tiniest mistake sent drivers flying off because of those wet patches sitting just off the racing line... well, all that praise for Lewis moving from P10 up to P2 is totally justified. It was a hell of a drive.

At the end of the day, Max didn't actually make a mistake; he just completely outclassed him through Turn 1 and cruised straight to the win. If it hadn't been for that 5-second penalty after he rejoined the track following that wreck, he might have finished 5 or 6 places higher, and in this kind of racing, that’s a massive gap.

Raymond Anderson4 said:You’re out here trying to glorify Newey, even though this is basically the first time since the Vettel era that he's actually managed to put together a winning car from the jump this season.
He only pulled it off because the regulations played right into his hands—he didn't even have to mess with that high rake concept.

Honestly, Mercedes-Benz has the best collective brain trust in Formula 1. Between the engine, the chassis, the aero tunnels, the simulators—you name it, they own it. They’re just on another level, and honestly, even five Neweys couldn't fix that gap.

I have to say, friend, I don't quite see it that way.

Back in 2014, the RB10 had the best chassis on the grid.
In 2016, the RB12 was easily the best chassis out there.
And by 2018, the RB14 was definitely the class of the field.

It feels to me like Newey and his crew basically course-correct every couple of years. Before 2020, the real headache was always the horsepower situation. I mean, the Renault 2016 and 2018 engines were lagging by nearly a full second. No matter how incredible your chassis is, you just can't make up a gap like that on pure power alone.

The W12 is such a fantastic car. Throughout the whole weekend, they looked just a hair quicker than the Red Bull, until Q3 when the Red Bull leveled the playing field and Max missed out on pole. Lewis was great, though not quite the best out there. Charles Leclerc in that car is easily about three or four tenths ahead of Sergio Perez—no contest.

During the race, Max was just dominant. Lewis really should have let him through at the first turn; he lost that battle because he was trying to avoid losing part of his wing too. All things considered, he had a solid run. Both of their paces were exceptional—Max was slightly faster, but even with a damaged car, Lewis is still the master of tire management, so he managed to close the gap significantly.

Trailing them, Leclerc is leaving Sergio Perez in the Red Bull 17 seconds behind. After the pit stops, he’s got a 28-second cushion over Lando Norris and a massive 35-second lead over his teammate, who, despite having decent speed, keeps spinning off whenever the track gets soaked.

As for the rest, Daniel Ricciardo is getting absolutely hammered. He really needs to step it up, otherwise Lando is going to build a gap that'll be impossible to close.

The same goes for Fernando Alonso, because honestly, he looks like a guy who's ready to call it a career...

Regarding Vettel, he was actually good and fast even during the race. I think once he finds his rhythm, Lance Stroll won't be an issue, but I'm worried there might not be much left in the Aston Martin.

I have to circle back to the "incredible" Lewis Hamilton, who manages to hit the barriers at the most critical moments of the race, barely rolling back with a broken nose only for the Safety Car to pull in five seconds later. Unbelievable. He swaps the nose in the pits without a penalty, starts from 9th, and with 30 laps to go, he slices through a bunched-up grid to finish second. All this praise for that kind of driving honestly surprises me, considering this isn't some highlight reel channel, but an F1 forum.

So... what’s the consensus among our resident forum experts regarding Sebastian Vettel? Is Ferrari pulling some kind of remote sabotage on the Aston Martin car number 5? And is Carlos Sainz actually outperforming Charles Leclerc? (Right now, there's currently a large gap in pace between Charles Leclerc / Carlos Sainz in qualifying)👍

stormybadger8 said:

I don't know what you're trying to say with that, but I'm not following. says:
Man, you talk so much nonsense it’s actually exhausting to read. 🤦

It’s even harder when you can't actually see what's happening right in front of you. 🙂
Of course, when you can't see or understand what's going on, everyone around you just sounds like they're talking nonsense.

Charles Leclerc is screwed. He’s got zero fresh softs left, and he managed to burn through both sets of new mediums and a fresh set of softs during Q2. Just great.
He’s down to his last set of hards.

Charles Leclerc is starting on softs because he ran them during Q3.
Will he actually win the race and show decent pace on used softs or hards? Maybe in your dreams, but honestly? Not happening.🙂

So you're saying it's the exact same strategy Sebastian Vettel used, except Vettel didn't make it into Q3? I don't see the issue here. A Soft > hard > Soft / Medium (with a one-lap stint) is absolutely plenty. There’s no way he’s going to lose a whole second on an empty tank just because of one qualifying lap on Softs—especially since they knocked out 5 or 6 fast laps on them during FP without any trouble.

stormybadger8 said:We’ve known for ages that math isn't exactly your strong suit, but honestly, it’s wild how blind you people can be. 🤦

Fernando Alonso burned through every single new tire except the hards...
So why on earth would you try to set a fast lap on hards?
It was clearly nonsense to those Sky pundits and the crowd following them instead of using their own eyes and brains... but for anyone actually capable of thinking for themselves, it wasn't. ☕

Anyway, I expect Charles Leclerc to finish somewhere near Sebastian Vettel, if not behind him...
That one lap was fantastic, but everything leading up to it sucked, and his strategy was pure stupidity, regardless of what anyone says...
Because trashing every single tire set might make sense in Monaco, but certainly not here. ☕

Man, you're talking a lot of nonsense there, even for a quote. 🤦

Leclerc used the exact same amount of rubber as his teammate; the only difference is that Vettel couldn't make it into Q3 while Leclerc did, so Leclerc ended up using the ones Vettel would have had left, even though Vettel is starting from 13th.

It’s not like anyone cares, really—the plan is just to go straight to the new hard tires and drive until the end of the Grand Prix. And even if that doesn't work, one fast lap on Soft tires isn't going to change anything against everyone else on fresh rubber. I don't see why anyone would bother pitting an extra time just for one quick lap on softs; I guess that's just your logic.

Dana Murphy4 said:I actually told him myself that he couldn't have done any better than that lap, so maybe that's why he ended up getting out of the car. It’s a bit of a shame because I suspect he might get overtaken quite easily tomorrow, so I suppose the gap between him and Vettel could end up being about three or four spots. If you look at the driver-to-car ratio, I think Leclerc definitely drove the most impressive lap today. As for tomorrow's race, I feel like Bottas should be able to win without much trouble, though I guess his start might be an issue since his starts during the last two races were pretty rough. A lot is probably going to depend on the pit crew too, because since the track will likely be crowded at any given moment, I imagine if they stay in the pits just two or three seconds longer than usual, you'd lose way more positions than normal.

What do you mean Bottas? Max is going to cruise to a victory tomorrow (unless those soft tires completely fall apart during the first stint).

Regarding Leclerc, that was definitely his best lap of the season so far.

silverviper44 said:Come on, stop lying. Everyone knows Vettel has arguably the best Ferrari he's ever driven. The issue is clearly him, not the car. The guy is a four-time fraud. 😁 😁

He isn't some influencer who could win a championship even in a Williams Racing. 😁 😁

Exactly. That’s my point all along: Ferrari has been riding Vettel like a tired workhorse, yet he handles it like a gentleman because he's honoring his contract until the end.

I honestly don't get what idiots are running Ferrari. Every single damn point matters when you're fighting for the prize money.

I honestly find myself wondering how Ferrari can be this clueless sometimes. I mean, they pulled the exact same stunt on Charles Leclerc in Austin last year—forcing him to run with that old engine right before qualifying just because the one from Free Practice 3 was basically junk. It’s hard to wrap my head around.

It’s honestly unbelievable what they’re doing to poor Sebastian Vettel.🙂

Alex Barnes93 said:Look, if we actually talk about this, it’s just gonna make things way more awkward for everyone, so let’s all just collectively pretend it didn't happen. Like, can we please just ignore the fact that they pulled Sebastian Vettel into the pits with basically 15 minutes left in Free Practice 3, only to swap in that second engine—you know, the absolute dud they've been lugging around all season—just an hour before qualifying starts?

Didn't they pull the exact same stunt on Charles Leclerc in Austin last year? Or is there always some sort of conspiracy theory floating around whenever Sebastian Vettel is involved? Seriously though, what happened with that gearbox failure during Free Practice 2 yesterday?

Nicholas Newman2 said:To sum it up: if Bottas outclassed Lewis five times, then Lewis isn't exactly a superhuman driver, is he?🙂
The reality is that George Russell is the best of that trio.
He was looking pale as a ghost, getting into the cockpit for the first time, dealing with a tight fit and all sorts of issues.
What do you think would happen once he actually gets comfortable? Imagine what he'd do compared to Charles Leclerc or Max Verstappen.🍿

EDIT: I almost forgot to mention that Sebastian Vettel would be right up there with those speedsters too.😁

Mecca has at least a 0.3 to 0.5-second advantage in car pace over RB, and they’re sitting a full second ahead of Ferrari. But you have to look closer—if you compare Mecca's second driver (whether it's Valtteri Bottas or George Russell today) against the other drivers at RB and Ferrari, like Alexander Albon and Sebastian Vettel, you start to see the real story of where those secondary drivers actually land compared to their lead teammates.

George Russell finally sat in the car yesterday, and get this—he went from having the absolute worst car on the grid straight into the best one. It took him exactly three hours of practice to end up just 0.026 behind Valtteri Bottas, who’s been tearing it up at Mecca for four seasons now. Honestly, it makes you wonder how good George would be if he could just spend three or four race weekends in a row at Mecca, or maybe even an entire season? I really think he’d blow past Bottas. If you followed the junior formulas, you know the kid was incredible; he was absolutely dominating Alexander Albon and Lando Norris back then. Sure, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen are the top tier right now, but they've had time to mature. I bet if George got a seat at Mecca, he’d be giving Bottas a much harder time than Lewis Hamilton does these days.

I honestly think having Valtteri Bottas around gives Lewis Hamilton such a massive boost. If you look back at how Lewis was driving during that 2015-2016 era, he was on a completely different level—just lightyears faster than the driver we’re seeing today.

graniteharbor502 said:But if that were the case, how much of an advantage would Max Verstappen have? Would we be looking at a full second difference?

It’s kind of like Charles Leclerc (talking about qualifying here). Honestly, I think Charles Leclerc is probably the fastest guy on a single lap in Formula 1, and even back in Formula 2, he was still the king of pole positions—he had seven in a row, though they broke his streak at eight, otherwise it would've been nine! And seeing this kind of dominance from Max... it reminds me of how Sebastian Vettel used to roll. It’s rare to see anything like it. And let's be real, Seb definitely wasn't pulling a Nicholas Latifi during qualifying...

Nicholas Newman2 said:That was a bold move by Charles Leclerc and Ferrari.

Final thoughts after qualifying.
George Russell👎
Unfortunately, he’s performing below expectations. He lost out to Valtteri Bottas—it was only by a tiny fraction, but still, losing to Bottas is tough.🤦

At the end of the day, it comes down to the car. You can't expect this kind of performance from a driver sitting on the front row.

🤦
Look, Bottas has actually beaten Lewis Hamilton five times in qualifying this season. We're talking an average gap of about 0.15s in favor of Hamilton. Meanwhile, Russell jumped into a car yesterday that wasn't even tailored to his style, and he still managed to stay within 0.026s. Honestly, you can't argue with those numbers; if Charles Leclerc or Max Verstappen were in that same car, they would have left Bottas in the dust.

I honestly think Charles Leclerc could pull a 0.5s gap on those two guys from the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc is going absolutely mental 🙏

Jason Campbell70 said:"It all comes down to the race car; anyone could be a champion if they were driving a Mercedes-Benz."
- If that's true, why does Lewis Hamilton have 42 wins and 4 titles over 4 seasons, while Valtteri Bottas only has 9 wins and hasn't managed a single title—just a 5th and a 3rd place finish in the standings?
"That's because they aren't driving identical cars. Hamilton's is faster."
- LOL.

Even though both are arguably the GOAT of their respective sports, I completely agree with that sentiment.

Let's be real, Bottas is just a mid-tier driver. Even Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button aren't really in the same league as Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, or Daniel Ricciardo, let alone Bottas. Now, if we're talking about Luxury, sure, one of the best—and if you look at the last 7 years, that Mecca has been by far the most dominant force in the sport, and that's just a fact. Honestly, it’s a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison anyway; I’m pretty sure Lewis would go down to the very last race fighting against Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, or that trio mentioned above. So, regardless of how George Russell finishes against Lewis Hamilton, nobody can take anything away from him, though I know people are definitely getting tired of those robot-like performances.