2022 Australian Grand Prix: Melbourne - April 10th

graniteharbor502 said:It’s all about the car, because let’s be real, Max is just a better driver than Leclerc.

Based on what, exactly?
You love using the standings as "proof" for which car or driver is superior. By that logic, Perez is a better driver than Max now since he’s got more points in the exact same car... unbelievable.

cosmicmoose2 said:Based on what criteria?

Just trolling, 🙂

mellowtiger83 said:... Ford is going to be right in the mix, so we're looking at a six-way battle ...

Sounds too good to be true. 🙂

graniteharbor502 said:It all comes down to the car, since Max is clearly the better driver compared to Leclerc.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. 🙂

graniteharbor502 said:The car is everything. It's simple. Max is just a better driver than Leclerc.

If you’re looking at this through a subjective lens rather than an objective one, then sure, that holds water. However, subjective reality really ought to align with objective reality eventually.🙂

Translated by Roger Wright94

🙂 😍

graniteharbor502 said:Leclerc even admitted today that Ferrari has "the best car." We can only guess how big the gap to Red Bull Racing actually is, but it’s there. Just like Red Bull has the edge over Mercedes. We're talking pure pace here.

If we're strictly talking about raw speed, Max has been terrible this season. Like, shockingly bad. I haven't seen him this off his game in forever.
I don't mean he's messing up like he used to—slamming into walls or taking out other drivers—he's just plain slow.
Why? Who knows. But it isn't Red Bull being slower than Ferrari; it's Max who's falling behind.

For crying out loud, look at what Perez is doing with that car in qualifying. Hey, Perez—the guy who was never, ever good at qualifying and usually got smoked by his teammates—
and on the rare occasions he actually beat them, it was mostly because he treats those tires like they're made of glass...

So now, either Max is just slow and struggling in qualifying, or Perez is on something, because suddenly he's fast enough to outpace Max, whose whole thing used to be qualifying.

stormybadger8 said:If we're talking pure pace, Max has been terrible this season—like, seriously bad. I don't think I've ever seen him this off the pace.
Not that he's out there driving like a maniac and smashing into walls or other drivers like he used to, but he’s just slow. Plain and simple.
Why? God knows. But it doesn't look like Red Bull is slower than Ferrari; it looks like Max is just slower.

For crying out loud, just look at what Perez is doing with that car in qualifying! I mean, Perez—who has never, and I mean *never*, been a qualifying specialist and usually gets absolutely smoked by his teammates...
And even when he does beat them (which happens more than you'd think), it's mostly because he treats those tires like they're made of glass during the race...

So, either Max is just slow and struggling in qualifying, or Perez is on something crazy because suddenly he's fast enough to outpace Max, who has always lived and breathed qualifying...

I totally agree, it feels like Max isn't the same beast he was last season. Last year he was dialed in, totally unstoppable, just oozing confidence. Now? He seems vulnerable. Maybe it's the setup, maybe it's tire warm-up issues, who knows...
He seems a bit rattled too, though I haven't a clue why. Maybe he felt better being the underdog chasing the title rather than the champion trying to defend it. Especially with that little "human error" stain from last year hanging over him.

Edit: With Charles Leclerc, it feels like the exact opposite. He's mentally rock solid and incredibly consistent.
And then people try to claim it's all just the car... If that were true, why isn't Sainz sitting in second place?

mellowtiger83 said:...Mercedes showed during this race that they're making steady progress. Once they pin down the root cause of their issues—which should be soon—they'll start moving forward fast...

When was the last time a team with such a massive deficit at the start actually caught or passed the leader!?

As for how much they've actually improved (if they even have), I'll run the numbers tomorrow or the day after. Right now, I'm still riding the high from the race. Plus, I've got engines to work on tonight.

Raymond Anderson4 said:Perez told Sky that they likely went with the wrong setup. He used "we," which suggests he feels he and Max were running pretty much the same configuration.

Today they ran a setup with higher downforce, which might be the culprit. They actually looked more competitive when they were running lower downforce...

They always speak in the plural, I suppose to emphasize that the driver and the entire garage crew operate as a single unit...
It is standard practice for all drivers to do this.

mellowtiger83 said:Someone tell Charles Leclerc what kind of message he needs to send out there.

Tibac, I already told you what I thought about Leclerc...🙂

Max is trailing by 46 points now, and both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have pulled ahead of him in the standings. Oh, my dear Max...

Alexander Albon finally secured a point for Williams...🙂

Well, my dear Max, is it because his luck finally ran out?...🙂

Jason Campbell70 said:There were all those interesting theories and predictions about how the new cars would be so good at following one another that we might even consider getting rid of DRS entirely in the future.

Looking at what happened today, and even what we saw during those first two races... man, it’s quite something...

Even the drivers themselves have mentioned that while following the car ahead feels easier now, it doesn't necessarily mean overtaking has become simpler, since the impact of DRS just isn't as decisive as it used to be.

Jacob Castillo70 said:http://kt.freestreams-live1.com/skysports-f1/

Thanks for this—you basically saved our morning and our sanity.👍

Check out this stat:
Back in 2021, Perez was trailing Max by an average of 0.673 seconds in qualifying. Fast forward to 2022, and that gap shrinks down to a tiny 0.065 seconds... crazy...

cosmicmoose2 said:Not really though—Leclerc only lapped a few of the guys at the very end. Back in the 2020 season, there were races where Lewis was basically within a minute of Max, Bottas, and Alexander Albon, but he had lapped everyone else—like all 15 drivers who finished—by a full lap.

there wasn't even a Safety Car restart, it felt like it lasted less than half a lap

cosmicmoose2 said:An interesting statistic:
In 2021, Perez's average qualifying gap to Max was 0.673 seconds. In 2022, it dropped to just 0.065 seconds.

To me, this suggests that the car is simply settling better for Perez this year rather than him suddenly finding a massive leap in performance... Christian Horner mentioned something along the lines of the setup not quite working for Max, implying they haven't quite dialed in the right configuration for him yet...

During the debate after the last race regarding which car actually has the edge, nobody cared about the lead driver's take—everyone was too busy obsessing over the Constructors' Championship standings.

Following this latest race, the Constructor standings aren't even the focus anymore; instead, everyone is just fixating on whatever the lead driver says.

Fair enough.

cosmicmoose2 said:An interesting stat:
Perez's average qualifying gap to Max Verstappen in 2021 was 0.673 seconds. In 2022, it dropped to just 0.065 seconds.

Thanks for sharing this. I was actually starting to head down that rabbit hole and began running the numbers myself...

cosmicmoose2 said:Check out this stat:
Perez's average qualifying gap to Max Verstappen back in 2021 was 0.673 seconds. Fast forward to 2022, and it shrunk down to just 0.065 seconds.

Look, Max has mentioned more than once that he just doesn't feel comfortable in the car during qualifying—like, he doesn't even feel he can push it to the absolute limit without hesitation. And you can really see how much that hurts his qualifying sessions. But hey, his race pace? Honestly, it's more than solid.

cosmicmoose2 said:By what metric, exactly?
If you insist on using finishing positions as the definitive proof of which driver or car holds the advantage, then by that logic, Sergio Perez is actually a superior driver to Max Verstappen, simply because he happens to have more points while sitting in the exact same machinery.

I would suggest we look at pure driving skill. Not to mention all those previous seasons where Charles Leclerc seemed practically invisible, only showing true potential now that he finally has a dominant car under him. Though, one must recall how Max managed to outmaneuver him even in a slower car during Saudi Arabia.
As for your comment regarding Perez, please, don't make me laugh.🙄
In the race he actually finished, Max was ahead of Perez, and in both instances where he had to retire due to technical failures, he was significantly further ahead of Perez than anyone else.

stormybadger8 said:If we are discussing raw pace, Max has been quite poor this season—truly, exceptionally poor; I don't believe I have ever witnessed him perform at such a level before.
I don't mean that he's making reckless mistakes, like his old habit of crashing into walls or colliding with other drivers, but rather that he is simply slow.
Why is this happening? I haven't the slightest idea, but it isn't that Red Bull is being outperformed by Ferrari; it is that Max himself is lagging behind.

Good heavens, just look at what Perez is achieving with that car in qualifying! Here is Perez, a man who has almost never been particularly impressive in qualifying sessions and has spent most of his career trailing his teammates,
and on the rare occasions he did manage to beat them, it was largely because he has always been so incredibly gentle with his tires...

So, we are left with a dilemma: either Max is slow and struggling in qualifying, or perhaps Perez has found some secret advantage that has suddenly made him fast enough to surpass Max, whose qualifying performance has always been his greatest strength.

The qualifying ratio stands at 2-1 in favor of Max. And that is even after Perez claimed that single lap in Saudi Arabia was the lap of his life. Naturally, Max is capable of much more, but only once Red Bull manages to resolve their ongoing balance issues. Even as it stands, while he is still struggling to find the rhythm with the car, he remains the best of the rest. In this specific race, Perez didn't even come close to matching him.

graniteharbor502 said:Qualifying gap is 2-1 in favor of Max. And that’s after Perez claimed that one lap in Saudi Arabia was the run of his life. Obviously, Max can go even faster, but only once Red Bull sorts out those balance issues. Even like this, before he's even fully dialed in, he's still best of the rest. He didn't even come close to Max this qualifying.

What Formula 1 are you even watching, and on what channel?
Perez is stuck on Max's gearbox every single qualifying session, which is honestly shocking because Perez has never been this close to anyone, let alone Max...

Considering how Perez qualified the Red Bull and the gap to pole, based on everything we saw last year and the way Max absolutely crushed Perez in qualifying, Max basically had to sweep all three PP this season...