Max Verstappen

Teams often deceive the media and the public by pretending they treat both drivers the same.

 

When Max arrived he was super popular and as he started winning that popularity only grew. Now that he is dominating I'm starting to see the tipping point as the fans are starting to resent him for it.

It won't be long before Max is made out to be the bad guy just like Hamilton, Vettel, Schumacher, and on and on to any driver who wins 'too much'. Just the nature of sport as nobody likes a winner and the underdog is so much more interesting.

 

As a fan, I don't like (long) periods of 1 driver dominating and winning a lot, even more so when he is not a Ferrari driver....

But being a superior and dominant driver does not make you bad in my book, especially not if they had to work hard to get there.

However, bad behavior (arrogance, foul play, wining) does.... In this aspect Max is not a bad guy (yet).

 

He's already the bad guy.

On Sky tv the only ones who are objective are Brundle and Chandhok. Hill and Herbert might as well get Lewis Hamilton tattoo'd on their foreheads. Crofty sounds down right depressed since last year and Ted Kravitz can't wait for F1 weekends to arrive so he can try and create fictional tention.

I expect some bias, that's only normal, but the last 4 are not journalists anymore. They are a cheering section. If it wasn't for Will Buxton being there and the absence of Brundle, I'd watch F1TV all the time. Jolyon Palmer does a great job.

Verstappen became the villain for many last year (before the title was won). He's taking it in stride. He could've easily played victim yesterday (F1 audio muted the boos for as much they could but it really was far, far worse), he takes it on the chin and laughs it off.

I wouldn't be surprised if Max ends up at Ferrari in the future.

 

I won't disagree that the British media is not entirely impartial

I was thinking yesterday about Max at Ferrari and I truly believe he would be crushed by the politics. No insult to Max but right now he is in a team that not only operates well but is centered to him. At Ferrari he would be starting from a much lower level of power and it is near impossible to change things. Schumacher had a team around him but historically one driver cannot reverse the Ferrari way.

 

Max would not be crushed at Ferrari but he would not flourish either. An important key of his success is the total faith he has in his team (next to the quality of that team).

 

To make it clear, I seriously doubt he'd join Ferrari with the current lunatics in charge. If Max was to come to Ferrari, I would think he'd come under the same condition Schumacher came in, bring the team of his choosing. We know Newey has been tempted by Ferrari a few times, and very nearly signed a few years ago for an astronomical sum...if Ferrari remains titleless for the next few years I can see a huge offer being made that even Max would have to think twice about. This would be an offer directly from the board.

Several things for this need to happen though: Max to get a bit bored by driving up front (i.e. a dominant car for a couple of years), Ferrari to implode (not exactly an impossible foresight), Leclerc to be utterly fed up with the incompetence and trying his luck elsewhere (who can blame him) and Newey seeking one final challenge (he gets bored easy and I can see it happen under the right circumstance).

 

Personally I am an unashamed "bandwaggoner" with no particular allegiance, but a firm believer in meritocracy
I like a winner, and I appreciate a driver and a team combination that dominate because of exceptional talent and sound engineering.
I don't belong to the Twitter or Netflix generation, so I have no interest in what happens off the track.
Unlike some, I couldn't care less how drivers dress, what they say, or the gossips created around them.
I don't judge racers by that, in fact I deeply loathe this media generated BS.

In the past, I thought Verstappen was a bit reckless, but he has changed: he has matured and is the polished article now.
If he wins more titles, and Red Bull keeps giving him good car, I will be fine with that.
All I ask from a driver is a minimum of sportmanship, which today translates as not being overtly aggressive on track.

 

Max Verstappen has won from 7 different grid positions in 2022, a new all-time record.

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As much as I'm a Ferrari fan, I'd have to say that something needs to change or we're going to have generations of drivers that don't want to drive the red cars. It used to be a given that everyone would want to drive for Ferrari, but with even former champs like VET and ALO failing to take the title, well, who knows. HAM doesn't seem interested, and I see no reason for VER to want to join the Scuderia.

 

I don't think Ferrari wants LuLu anyway.

Max may be a different story in a few years, but frankly, the Team has a long way to go to convince the likes of Max....

 

Ferrari hasn't got anything to offer Max right now. For the next few years he'll likely enjoy a more than decent Red Bull and become a 3, 4x WDC, enter the top 3 winners all time. If he gets bored of that he might start to start seriously shopping, and there will be no more alluring team than Ferrari to turn around. He'll want carte blanche though, as when Ferrari does come knocking, they won't have won anything significant in that time (titles). Certainly the drivers aren't the problem talent wise. The real danger for Ferrari is losing Charles Leclerc. He lives and breathes Ferrari but even he doesn't want to become the next Jean Alesi.

 

Yes. If Max would have experienced the same let downs from the team as Charles did, he would be constantly frothing at his mouth from rage.
Instead, in Red-Bull, he looks happy like a 2 yr old baby with a pacifier

 

Where would CL go?? Not RB. Hes not going to suck hind tit to Max. I really think that Max, CL and CS have a good mutual respect now. CS has come a long way. He,s FAST. CL is fast in a lap, but I almost think CS is fast in over a race. Perez is a great driver, but not any of the top 3. Kick me in the jimmies , but I think compared to the last few years Ferrari is holding it. RB has something.... CRAZY going on. They have some kind of party mode on Max's car. He is good, but NOT that good.

 

Yeah it's called the "Max". Seems to be pretty effective.

/

 

I think Max is a world class driver, but its not all him. Charles is as good a shoe. Carlos is not far behind. Its like Merc last year. Ham is a good shoe, but their car was just to far ahead.

 

I like Sainz and think he's a good fit for Ferrari, but he isn't faster than Leclerc over a single lap or an entire race. How many times now have we seen Leclerc take chunks of time out of Sainz and open a sizeable gap? One of the best examples of him doing it was at Silverstone, even with damage to his front wing. Considering the number of Leclerc's races Ferrari has botched this season, Leclerc's still leading Sainz by 32 points.

 

Could be, could be not, but in the end they are BOTH world class. Not like Max and Checko.

 

you obviously did not witness his first 2 years in F1.

 

I think lec lacks the mental game. It seems if the team does not let him down he self sabotages

 

Well, I did.

Arrogance: no. Being self assured: yes.

Foul play: Max made sure that everybody knows that he not a pushover (like Bottas for instance) and that he means business in overtaking. For me that is not foul play, that is making clear that you are a hard cookie and must be taken seriously. Foul play is deliberately driving others of the track (remember Senna?) or intentionally ruining other drivers fast laps during qualifying.

Whining: yes, about the poor reliability of his car, mainly the Renault engine. But not about other drivers (like Russell is doing) or his own team (like a certain Hamilton).

 

Leclerc (assuming everything at Ferrari goes tits up), would likely go to Mercedes (only real option) to replace Lewis.

RB doesn't have a party mode or something secret for 1 car only...that doesn't make sense. They'd have it for both so winning the WCC would be easy. When the car didn't suit Max at all at the start this season (polar opposite of what he wants from a car), he was still the clear faster of the two in the races. The car has now lost a lot of weight and the weight is now more where Max likes it so he can manipulate the car more, and he's miles clear.

Looking at Max's F3 season especially was very telling. The team Max entered was a lower-midpack team with just 1 podium in 2 seasons. Max scored 10 wins, 5 podiums and challenged for the title in his rookle season. His 2 teammates scored a grand total of 2 podiums. 411 points, with the team scoring a collective of 539.

Ocon beat Max, but he already was in his 3rd season of single seater racing, and he was with Prema (the overwhelming champions of the 2 seasons prior, and indeed 2014)

His actions made so much noise in F3, all teams chased after him, minus one, I forget which one...but certainly all the top teams (ferrari, Mercedes, Renault, and of course Red Bull). Red Bull eventually secured him by undercutting Mercedes and Ferrari by offering him a drive for the very next season, something the rest could only offer after a season in F2.

 

LOL - massive lol. See above ^^^

Red Bull: "Massive ask" to win all remaining F1 2022 races
Red Bull thinks it will be a “massive ask” to win all the remaining Formula 1 races this year, despite its car being so dominant.

 

6 in a row (which in effect would mean 12 in a row) would be a HUGE ask, no matter how much you attempt to downplay it. How massive you ask? Well that's quite simple: In the HISTORY of F1, NEVER has anyone won more than 9 races in a row, and the most a manufacturer has ever won in a row is 11.

So yes, to do something that no one has ever done in over 70 years I would see is a pretty big ask.

 

Dude, Max has fought other drivers. Called the steward and his own team idiots.