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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • He didn’t phone it in, he never does. He went into this weekend knowing two things:

    1. the Ferrari was likely to be faster over one lap due to the circuit’s mixture of long straights, big braking zones and slow corners suiting their car (see Monza).
    2. the Red Bull usually has the best pace on race day regardless of its qualifying performance.

    Gone are the days where Max has had to regularly risk crashing his car in quali to start as high up the grid as possible - he knows that as long as he has a strong qualifying and a clean start, he can almost always move forward in the race. His banker lap in Q3 was excellent and proved good enough to keep hold of P3 even as other drivers improved.

    The only weekend this year where Max has really treated qualifying like life or death was at Monaco where your qualifying position is crucial because overtaking is almost impossible.








  • Been watching since 2014. The last race I attended in person was Silverstone in 2021 and what I will say is that a sprint weekend makes every day interesting when you’re actually at the circuit and spending all day there.

    Watching it on TV feels very different though - it feels rushed, repetitive and it slightly dilutes the actual GP. During a standard weekend it feels like you’re steadily building to a massive event. I think having three sprint races in a season is fine but six of these things is annoying. I like that F1 is willing to trial new ideas but they’re throwing a bit too much shit at the wall to see what sticks at the moment. The calendar is too bloated as well, but that’s a whole 'nother issue.








  • I think you’re trying extra hard to be generous but it’s undeserved. Checo is a good driver but he seems to need near-optimal conditions to qualify well - the right circuit, the right track conditions, the right weather. The problem is that you’re often not afforded that much stability on a race weekend and the last few races have demonstrated his inability to adapt. Until he finds a way to handle difficult conditions he’s gonna continue to get creamed by Max.

    As for him doing a good job - he’s not even achieving the bare minimum, which should be a podium every weekend at the very least. The only reason why his performances haven’t caused major concern at Red Bull yet is because the pace of the RB19 means that Max doesn’t need a wing man this season.


  • Wouldn’t be a wise choice for Charles unless he is very confident that he can be faster than Max on average - it would be a better bet to stay at a big team that is fully behind him. I think this is why Lando turned down Red Bull repeatedly.

    Also don’t think this is a good choice for Red Bull - they need a Hamilton-Bottas lineup and not Hamilton-Rosberg lineup. It’s too risky unless you have the best car by a large margin, and with the cost cap and aero restrictions Red Bull can’t be absolutely sure that their car will have this much of a clear advantage in the next two seasons.