Red Bull F1

Full seats on the grid now!

 

good to see all these development drivers finally getting a chance

 

Radio's will be....yeah.

earplugs anyone?

 

often, the best part of the middle of a grand prix is the whining and temper tantrums on the radio

keeps me from falling asleep

 

hadjar's radios in F2 both entertain me and piss me off. We'll be in for plenty this coming season lol

 

40% or 8 F1 drivers for the 2025 grid have been a RedBull junior at some point.

Verstappen, Sainz, Gasly, Albon, Tsunoda, Lawson, Doohan, Hadjar.

 

Not surprised by this assessment. Subtle confirmation on the cars overall driveability as well. This was the problem for Perez. Its just not a car/philosophy that works with his inputs as he drives.

--Red Bull believes Liam Lawson's similar driving style to Max Verstappen will allow the team to run its 2025 Formula 1 cars in a closer set-up window than it has been able to previously.--

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/liam-lawson-max-verstappen-similarity-red-bull-f1/

 

Very interesting to see how that plays out. I can't help believe that Lawson is in for a similar fate as the other former RBR drivers.

Gasly, Albon and Perez were all 4-5 tenths behind Max. Different years, different cars, different regulations even, yet same result.

 

Well he has a very particular personality when interviewed by French Television.
Very unusual driver I would say.
A mix of direct speaking, self confidence and sometimes a little bit arrogant.
Very honest when answering which is very weird for a rookie..

 

Max may overcome Schumacher in having the weakest team mate roster in for a champion in history.

 

Interesting insight about Lawson and his struggles to even Kart. Not a wealthy family to support him. He has done well given that limitation compared to others on the grid who felt less financial stress to compete and move forward in the Jr series.

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/13276424/liam-lawson-can-new-red-bull-driver-succeed-in-hardest-seat-in-f1-after-sergio-perez-struggles

Beating the odds with Kiwi spirit
While one could construct an argument that Lawson's unorthodox route to his Red Bull seat might actually have been the best possible preparation, most onlookers would see success for him as a bigger surprise than failure.

The good news for Lawson is that playing the role of the underdog isn't new to him.

To begin with, he comes from a country that has produced just one other F1 driver (who only lasted two seasons) in the last 40 years.

"I think to achieve a high level in any sport or any industry that you choose, being from New Zealand, I feel like it's always harder from a small country," Lawson said.

"I didn't personally know how unachievable F1 was, I always was lucky that I just believe I could do it and I was lucky that my family around me gave me that support. But looking back, it is that bit harder."

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Image: A 17-year-old Lawson pictured during his maiden F3 season in 2019
But even within New Zealand, Lawson's parents' lack of financial means meant graduating from domestic to international competition was a challenge.

"The first 12 months of go-karting I did, I finished solidly last every single time. I was just driving by myself at the back of the field," Lawson recalled.

"I was trying to convince my dad to get a better engine because I was convinced that it was bad, and finally he did. And we put it on for this qualifying session at this big event and straight away we were at the front, and that was the moment that karting became serious.

"For my parents, they sacrificed everything for me as kid. Even just to race go-karts, to compete at the front in New Zealand it's still extremely expensive.

"My parents don't own a house right now because of me growing up karting and leaving home. My siblings, my whole family has given up a lot for me to do this."

In a 2025 season already stacked full of fascinating storylines, Lawson's attempt to prove he belongs at the front of the grid promises to entertain.

 

You'd like to think that hey?

Gasly was incredible in 2021, is definitely no slouch.
Albon is just as good as George Russell
Perez has always been overrated to me, but a lot think he's a solid driver. Until he went against Max, he's never looked terrible.

Hard to quali Piquet as a teammate to Schumacher since it was only for a few races.
Patrese was probably considered good when he was against Mansell, but a bum when he was against Schumacher.
Barrichello was a star at Stewart-Ford before going to Ferrari. He got pulled in late to be with Brawn GP in 09 and was better than Button in the last half of the season.
Rosberg, the same guy that beat both Schumacher and Hamilton in the same machinery.

Of course you think Bottas is better than all of them.

 

Gasly - fired by RedBull - 1 win
Albon fired by RedBull - zero wins

Russell 3 wins has defeated LH - Albon not in the same category at all.

Max has faced no notable competition.

Bottas stats crush Perez, Gasly and Albon together. Zero debate as Bottas out-quallified LH 30% of the time. Your base argument is just a dislike of Bottas LOL.

 

Gasly and Albon were fired by Red Bull by their performances against Max. Outside of Max they have both been great.

Albon performed better than Russell against Latifi in the same car.

Bottas without a dominant car is utter garbage. He could barely beat Zhou. In fact, even when Bottas had a dominant car, he was lousy in the race. Comparing stats when it's completely down to the car is crazy.

I don't dislike Bottas, but it became very evident how poor he is once he left Mercedes. Truthfully it was obvious when he was with Mercedes. I, like most, blamed it on him mentally checking out after having the team holding him back against Lewis over and over. Turns out, it wasn't just that. He stinks.

The problem is the select opinions here. Drivers are good until they face Max and get destroyed. Then they are the worst drivers ever. However any driver Hamilton faces are champion worthy based on their performance relative to Hamilton.

Anyone with half a brain will admit Hamilton has had better teammates than Schumacher or Verstappen. But to completely dismiss those drivers as being the worst teammates ever based on personal feelings against Max or Michael is ridiculous. Boosting up teammates based on personal feelings towards Lewis is also silly. And vise versa.

 

Both Max and Schumacher's team mate list you mentioned is very subpar compared to Senna/Sir Lewis Hamilton's etc.

 

You always manage to prove my point when you think you're being clever. Prost is literally the only worthy teammate Senna had, and he scored points than Senna did in 1988. Hakkinen was a rookie and got in that major wreck, so it's not the Mika of 1998+

• Alain Prost: Senna's teammate at McLaren-Honda in 1988
• Gerhard Berger: Senna's teammate from 1990–1992.
• Johnny Cecotto: Senna's teammate in 1984.
• Stefan Johansson: Senna's teammate in 1984.
• Elio de Angelis: Senna's teammate in 1985.
• Johnny Dumfries: Senna's teammate in 1986.
• Satoru Nakajima: Senna's teammate in 1987.
• Michael Andretti: Senna's teammate in 1993.
• Mika Hakkinen: Senna's teammate in 1993.
• Damon Hill: Senna's teammate in 1994.

 

There is another possibility here that you've ruled out: Max has utterly destroyed them and didn't allow them to win more.

Bottas is in no way incredible before or post Mercedes. At Mercedes he looked ok as he beat Lewis a reasonable amount of time. That is more telling about Lewis than it is Bottas.

Barrichello's reputation before joining Ferrari was high. Only after joining Ferrari and Schumacher demolishing him, did his reputation tank.

Perez was frequently branded "the king of the midfield" and "the tyre whisperer" and some even claimed that he would never get the Red Bull seat as "The Verstappens" would never allow it because Perez would beat Max. Those same people are now saying Perez is the weakest of all time.

Gasly is often noted as how good he is, getting great results.
Albon, the same.

Only when facing Verstappen did people say they were useless and weak.

Can't have it both ways.

 

Good points on Senna's team mates. My point was he had real worthy competition.

 

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Prost was also Senna's teammate in 1989, and took the title from Senna that year. Both drivers had several DNF during the season.

 

I'll explain for you, if it went over your head. Senna had seen a high level team mate that is worthy of competition during his career. Let me know if I need to go further.

 

This is the RB thread. take that has been driver out of here. He is embarrassing to f1

 

Piquet or Rosberg doesn't qualify?

 

Piquet- Being that they only did what 3 races together? There's no challenge there. Rosberg was good. Still Schumacher cruised through is primary years with subpar team mates.