Max Verstappen

I honestly wonder if he believed his own talk about going for the title.

 

After Baku surely..
Since Monaco I am not so sure

 

I wrote “I think,” not “I am sure.”

 

16 wins out of the last 20 races. Honest question: did this ever happen before?

 

I don’t think so.

 

Do you mean there are a few drivers on the grid that, IN THEIR PRIME, could beat him?

 

F1 has alot of races now. That car is insanely quick so it's easy to win almost every race. RB being corrupt in 2021 paid off really well.

 

Makes you wonder why Eddie Irvine was booted.

Massa and Rubens were decent non-threats to MS, kinda like how Elio was and Patrese was in the 80's. (yes, different teams, I realize that)

 

Probably not, but close, only MS or LH would be close to it.
But one team won 15 out of 16 in 1988.

 

It's moot at this point. Teams could triple the cap and still not catch Max in that RB.

 

Perez managed in Baku so I'm assuming Leclerc, Norris could do it on a few more occasions.

Barrichello was an upgrade on Irvine. Barrichello was actually really highly rated but then utterly destroyed by Michael.

Michael at the time was of course an utter destroyer of teammates. People often moan that Ferrari put Barrichello in so that Michael could get easy wins...but lets be honest here, who could they actually get in that time?

Hakkinen was firmly under contract with Mclaren, so that wasn't going to happen
JV wouldn't even look Michael in the eye let alone even enter the thought of being his teammate (not that JV was all that IMO).
Coulthard got a contract offer but he refused.
Montoya was doing Indycar/CART whatever it was called, which wasn't taken hugely seriously by europeans still.

Those where the A tier drivers or drivers with titles.
B tier, that's were barrichello already fell in and he took the drive.

Fast forward a few years
Hakkinen then retired, seat given to Kimi on a mega deal that locked Kimi in for 3 years minimum.
Alonso...only did 1 year at Minardi at the time and his talent was a bit unknown still.
Ferrari wanted Montoya for 2004, tried to sign him multiple times but he refused. This would've made 2004 an epic year IMO.
Kimi and Alonso both under contract and weren't going to be let go any time soon.

Move to today and Max is known as the team mate destroyer (naming drivers active during Max's years).
A tier drivers:
Hamilton
Alonso
Button
Kimi
Vettel
Norris
Leclerc

Hamilton: Under contract and in the best car during those years so he wasn't going anywhere, and for what reason?
Alonso: Red Bull offered him a contract in 2019, he refused
Button: Retired
Kimi: RB tried to sign him for 2014 (ok just before Max's time but just felt it necessary to mention), then had a Ferrari contract. Still a race winner at the end of that contract but perhaps moved to B tier by this point and for his final years at Alfa
Vettel: Wanted to fulfill his Ferrari dream
Norris: Been offered a contract alongside Max, but he refused as Mclaren gave him #1 status
Leclerc: Under contract with Ferrari.

Perez is a B tier driver. Albon unable to drive the cars he did at RB forced them to sack him unfortunately...a huge shame because I rate him very highly, as proven time and time again when he's in that Williams, but it was a forced decision. Doesn't matter who they picked of the B tier...end result was always the same. Perez can be replaced by Hulkenberg today, nothing changes.

Two A tier drivers rarely worked. We all begged it to happen during the Merc domination of course (and RB before that) but it's rare that a second A tier driver a) has a contract expiring and b) risks his career status by going up against someone like Max. Lastly, 2 A tier drivers in a team only works if the team is guaranteed to be miles ahead and others unlikely to catch up any time soon due to a specific advantage, such as engines.

 

Done to death now. 400K overspend doesn't buy you this. Secondly...whilst they did overspend, they had less to spend over-all due to damage caused by others (i.e. out of their hands) so grand scheme of things, the point is at best irrelevant.

Binotto himself said an overspend of 2 million was worth up to 0.2 of a second. Given that the breach was just over 400K, that buys a massive...0.04 of a second advantage.

 

Why you even bother to react? Anybody still mentionning overspanding, especially as the reason for the current dominance is in utter denial, still

 

Good question, I've no answer to be honest.

 

They cheated man. Don't try to sugar coat it. If it wasn't a big deal why did they need to do it?

 

Merc cheated in 2013 and got vital data from Pirelli and developed their car through that test.

All of Lewis Merc championships are invalid I guess. Cheerio bye bye

 

So if F1 teams for 2023 have overspend their budget cap, then they cheated too?

 

Yep. As of now RB is on record for cheating, you see that RB is a monster.

 

Man accept that RB cheated and stop trying to change the subject.

 

Got it. So IF Mercedes, along with others, overspent their budget cap, then they too are cheaters.

 

Correct. Maybe Merc should cheat. Look at RB results, it was worth it.

 

So then, "cheating" would be the norm then since other teams are possibly following RedBull by going over the budget cap.

 

Maybe. Horner is smiling after every race. Teams may not care.

 

You do realize that when this budget cap was enacted, RedBull overspent the budget cap on other expenditures rather than the car.

 

I bet Horner told you that didn't he? lol