Lance Stroll is a disgrace! He has no place in F1.
Indeed, there are always winners and losers in the season.
I think the Redbull car was average at best for most of the first half of the season, and even Max could not pull it along. The Redbull development was very good, likely the best in comparison to their rivals, and so became a very quick car in the latter half. We shall see if that meant robbing Peter to pay Paul and so development of the 2026 car a little behind.
The thing about strong team mates is that particularly if there is not a 1 and 2 driver hierarchy they also take points off each other in pursuit of the drivers championship. It’s not important, of course, for the constructors as long as both are scoring well.
The 2nd Redbull driver was poor, both Lawson and Tsunodo and really that’s the way Max likes it. If he had a rival who was as fast as him, you would see a lot more bad behavior from Max. At the very minimum, he only wants a number 2 driver that will help him. He does not return the favour.
This is the shortest route to a driver’s championship, and would have been a lot easier for McLaren if they had chosen Piastri or Norris as their number 1 driver. They however, chose to be more even handed and focus on the Constructors’ championship as the first priority.
I hope Hadjar can survive and flourish at Red Bull next year with Max as his teammate, but you can be sure it will not be on equal terms.
Who knows about next year? The tests will show something, but until the wheels turn at the first race weekend, we cannot be sure who has the advantage. If the rumour mill is correct, perhaps Mercedes will have the best powertrain and that is a huge part of the new regs. It will mean Mercedes engine customers will also benefit. After that, with the removal of DRS the team that can have the most downforce for the least drag should be good. I do wonder if reliability next year will suffer which will potentially mix up the points table a bit at certain race weekends.
I think Verstappen genuinely doesn’t care who his teammate is. He has an unfaltering self-confidence, so doesn’t believe anyone would be as fast him. Unfortunately for us fans, I do think he’s right at the moment. Let’s hope that changes in the future.
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I agree, Max does not care as long as the teammate is there on his terms. He is very confident indeed in his own abilities, but he will not tolerate having equal status with a teammate. He probably, due to his confidence, will only race now as a number 1 driver, and I understand from what I can gather that Max has this in his contract.
There is plenty of evidence to show how this works when he has a driver closer to him, as Perez was for a while. Team orders were in favour of Max. It’s not against the rules, the team is free to organise their drivers as they wish.
So, rather like Schumacher in the past, any teammate is there to help him and the team win.
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Toto might have something to say about that, if Mercedes do well in 2026 and RB do not then a very big pay cheque might entice Max to head to Mercedes rather than Aston Martin.
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Drivers, apart from Alonso lol, always want the fastest car. End of. Senna once said he would drive a Williams for nothing.
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Fine looking car…
Compare with today’s car design offerings…
He didn’t deserve 2021. Nico beat him fair and square. And could very well be only 6 if Glock hadn’t let him past. And imagine if he hadn’t the greatest car advantage for the longest time in the sports and compliant teammates, so you are right lets not go there.
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And if Schumacher and Senna hadn’t deliberately driven into their title rivals…
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Senna drove into Prost in 1990. But, Senna was treated unfairly by Balestre in 1989 at the Japanese GP. It cancels out in my humble opinion.
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I agree. Hamilton’s wins and driver’s titles, are too much for his talent level.
He had by far the best car and engine from 2014-2020. Lance Stroll (who is awful) could have won races with those cars. Despite that, he still got beat once by Rosberg for a title.
I consider Hamilton to be in the second tier of F1 greats, along with Vettel. Tier one is Senna, Schumacher, Clark and Fangio. Maybe Prost. YMMV.
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Honorable mention to Gilles Villeneuve. It is difficult to rank him, because he was never a champion. But, he was special.
Max Verstappen’s career is not over. But, I would so far rank him higher than Vettel and Hamilton.
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You may well be correct.
However, whilst Mercedes & Red Bull have produced superb power units for the past few years, Newey’s chassis have been noticeably superior to that efforts of the Mercedes engineers for the majority of the 2021 period to date. Max is a winner & will want the best car. I doubt if a huge salary will persuade him into an inferior car.
No one will know who has produced the best car until the 2026 season actually starts. I don’t see the racing to be as close as it was this year but it will be very interesting to see who has adapted best to the new rules & whether we could even be treated to a surprise package, a new Brawn perhaps?
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Just the once.
Not Prost, imho
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Senna marched to a different drum and was motivated differently to a lot of drivers successful or not.
I agree all drivers want the fastest car believing if they did they could win. It is no coincidence though that the fastest drivers end up in those fastest cars most of the time.
I disagree with your assessment of Hamilton. It takes someone very special to maintain a successful run to win 7 championship seasons. He was indeed in a very good car but the best drivers usually get the best cars that has been true throughout f1’s history. Clark for the most part had the best car in the Lotus of his day, but because he was the special driver of the day.
You have to high an opinion of Stroll too. Many drivers could win in a Mercedes from their successful season but winning a race or two is very different to sustaining focus to win a championship. Botas who is no slouch did win a race or two but could not best Hamilton.
One should not belittle Rosberg’s achievement either he was excellent and just pipped Hamilton. I admire Rosberg for realising a 2nd attempt was going to be a whole new mountain to climb and having achieved his dream decided that was enough. From what I read his winning season took a great deal out of Rosberg.
Comparing drivers of different eras can be fun but wholly subjective as there are too may variables and differences in each eras season and race circumstances.
Jim Clark and Graham Hill were and will always be my heroes. I begged my father to take me to the British GP in 1967. Thankfully he relented and took me it is a day etched on my brain forever. At aged 8 it started a lifelong passion for F1.
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And his wife apparently.
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Yes. As I said I admire Rosberg for his decision to retire after his success. I guess in simple terms it was enough for him and he saw other things were more important after that.
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