Formula 1 2025 Season

wae said:

How many drivers that aren't named Max do we have to see struggle in the Red Bull car before we admit that the car is either very difficult to drive for everyone and Max is just good enough to wrangle it or Max has a weird driving style and the car has been bent to fit him?  Ricciardo, Gasly, Albon, Perez, and now Lawson all seem to be in the same place with the car.  And none of those drivers went into that seat as bad drivers.

It's also a factor that this is how Horner has lead RBR since he got there- find the #1 driver and make the car work for them at the sacrifice of driver 2.  He did it for Vettel and once Max showed he was slightly faster than Ricciardo, he did it again.  And then the majority of development effort goes to making driver 1 faster.  How many times have we seen Vettel or Max get faster and seeing whoever is #2 go farther back?  

I guess it comes down to a question of what's more important: the Constructors Championship or the Drivers Championship. While Red Bull seems to want both, it seems funny how, as you guys have pointed out, the car seems to suit Max's skill set. I doubt they will ever find a driver who has the same style as Max...

alfadriver said:

It's also a factor that this is how Horner has lead RBR since he got there- find the #1 driver and make the car work for them at the sacrifice of driver 2.  He did it for Vettel and once Max showed he was slightly faster than Ricciardo, he did it again.  And then the majority of development effort goes to making driver 1 faster.  How many times have we seen Vettel or Max get faster and seeing whoever is #2 go farther back?  

I think that's true, but I also can't say I blame them for catering to Max's skill set. Look at the results. The only reason they lost the Constructors last year was that Checo fell off a cliff for some reason. It'll be interesting to see if Lawson can bring the fight to Max a bit more consistently. He certainly has the right attitude, I don't think he's going to be intimidated.

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

Maybe.  But at the same time, you can see that what they *think* is how Max likes the car, it's gone either too far, or in the wrong direction.  At this point, I would think they would be at least equal with McLaren, given the lead they have had since the ground effects started.  Instead, they found a characteristic that even Max can't deal with- almost as if Max hides flaws.  And is that good or bad?

Mind you, they have also gone farther down the 2025 development road than McLaren has, given all of the parts they are throwing at the car.  They may run out of money way before anyone else does.

alfadriver said:

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

Snip* They may run out of money way before anyone else does.

That hasn't stopped them before.

Lolz.

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

catering budget will be big this year!

wae said:

How many drivers that aren't named Max do we have to see struggle in the Red Bull car before we admit that the car is either very difficult to drive for everyone and Max is just good enough to wrangle it or Max has a weird driving style and the car has been bent to fit him?  

I've been saying this for a long time; what Max needs/wants in a car is different from most other drivers. When the car had understeer Perez was fairly close.

Schumacher's used trialing throttle in the same way drivers use trail braking; it's an uncommon style. 

I believe Max also has specialized style that doesn't fit other drivers.

From what I can gather, Verstappen has an extreme outlying ability to tolerate corner entry rear end instability. This allows him to get the car turned earlier in slow corners especially, and to make his lines more V shaped.

This is of course very fast, but it's not the only fast way to drive. Hamilton built his career on braking super late. Checo built his career on saving tires by avoiding slides. Sainz and Norris tend to maximize mid corner speed. Not sure any of those strategies would fit with Max's V shaped, ultra pointy preference.

That said, ever since Newey departed, this rear instability has gotten difficult even for Max, and thus bordering on impossible for Checo/Liam/normal drivers. 

Ric seemed to be the only other one to handle Max's car well. Max never really got the better of him, although Max hadn't reached Super Saiyan form at that point... But the RBR car was also at peak form when Ric was the sim/dev driver. I'm still kinda surprised they didn't stick Ric in there after the test hype, but RBR does what it does.

ztnedman1 said:

Ric seemed to be the only other one to handle Max's car well. Max never really got the better of him, although Max hadn't reached Super Saiyan form at that point... But the RBR car was also at peak form when Ric was the sim/dev driver. I'm still kinda surprised they didn't stick Ric in there after the test hype, but RBR does what it does.

You can't say they didn't give Danny a fair chance last year in the VCARB car. He just didn't deliver. It sucks, we all like him, but that's the fact.

In reply to wae :

Sorry, I corrected it.....

Hopefully, we don't see a lot of the safety car this weekend after a chaotic race in Australia.

Eddie Jordan has died at 76. I enjoyed his unfiltered, if mildly lunatic take on life.

Streetwiseguy said:

Eddie Jordan has died at 76. I enjoyed his unfiltered, if mildly lunatic take on life.

I hope there's a really good documentary made about Eddie, he was such a character and at the center of so many amazing Formula 1 stories

Streetwiseguy said:

Eddie Jordan has died at 76. I enjoyed his unfiltered, if mildly lunatic take on life.

It's been a long time since Aston Martin was Jordan F1- I wonder if anyone from his team is still there?

And it's kind of sad that he had to work so hard to make F1 fun, and all of that didn't last.

Streetwiseguy said:

Eddie Jordan has died at 76. I enjoyed his unfiltered, if mildly lunatic take on life.

He was one of the reasons we used to watch the Channel 4 coverage whenever possible. Definitey an interesting cat and he knew everyone.

Good obituary of Eddie. I forgot some of the crazy stuff that happened back in the 90s, like Gachot going to jail and giving Schumacher his break.

Why Sainz spun? this has to be the most complex answer to a question of he didn't expect wheel spin changing gears.

RIP Eddie, I loved the 7up (Giving Shumi his first taste) and the yellow Jordan EJ10. The things he said were entertaining, defiantly a different prospective, but he defiantly lived the life in F1.

RIP Eddie

The Formula 1 YouTube channel posted a nice video tribute to him
Remembering Eddie Jordan: Legendary F1 Team Owner And All-Round Entertainer

Oh Hell Yeah! Here comes number 8 boys! Time to buy a bunch of Ferrari swag

I am so stoked for Sprint Qualifying results-Go Lewis!! Looks like the #2 Red Bull car is crap, nothing new there, apparently

Yeah, it's still only a Sprint race and he's only ahead by a few hundredths, but a pole is a pole!

Def seems like Hammy is starting to get the feel of the Ferrari, and he's a very popular driver with the crowds, so good on him! I think the move to the red cars has given him a newfound sense of fun on the track again.

Looking forward to seeing what he can do as the season progresses. 

Ollie Bearman gave me HAAS hopes for a bit, but as the other cars ramped up they just fell down the order. Still, some glimmers of hope. Fun to see him faster than Ocon right out of the box!

All of the rookies did pretty well today - well, except maybe Lawson.

MiniDave said:

Yeah, it's still only a Sprint race and he's only ahead by a few hundredths, but a pole is a pole!

Def seems like Hammy is starting to get the feel of the Ferrari, and he's a very popular driver with the crowds, so good on him! I think the move to the red cars has given him a newfound sense of fun on the track again.

Looking forward to seeing what he can do as the season progresses. 

Ollie Bearman gave me HAAS hopes for a bit, but as the other cars ramped up they just fell down the order. Still, some glimmers of hope. Fun to see him faster than Ocon right out of the box!

All of the rookies did pretty well today - well, except maybe Lawson.

I mean he set the track record so that's something. He was flying.

MiniDave said:

Yeah, it's still only a Sprint race and he's only ahead by a few hundredths, but a pole is a pole!

Def seems like Hammy is starting to get the feel of the Ferrari, and he's a very popular driver with the crowds, so good on him! I think the move to the red cars has given him a newfound sense of fun on the track again.

Looking forward to seeing what he can do as the season progresses. 

Ollie Bearman gave me HAAS hopes for a bit, but as the other cars ramped up they just fell down the order. Still, some glimmers of hope. Fun to see him faster than Ocon right out of the box!

All of the rookies did pretty well today - well, except maybe Lawson.

I mean he set the track record so that's something. He was flying.

The track has been resurfaced, so the record being broken is not a surprise. Still, it is nice to see Lewis on top!