Max Verstappen 2025 World Champion?

Sick cope by Lando.

 

Very true. I don't think two even drivers works very well in F1 unless they are mid-pack or lower - it always leads to drama, and it's virtually impossible to control them. Recent examples which come to mind:

Leclerc and Sainz
Max and Ricciardo (at the time - not saying the same talent, but Ricciardo was able to achieve similar or slightly better pace at times)
Lewis and Nico
etc...

 

Also true...

 

Max radio chatter to Ferrari would be so funny I would hyperventilate.

But seriously, I think the only way he ends up there is if they develop the best car one day, or very close to it. I don't think he is going to go to Ferrari just to do it, or put himself in a poor position. With the limited amount of development per season and the deep engineering talent on the top teams, just seems like it would be too big of an obstacle for Max. That being said, if they are sort-of close, then I think he could make the difference.

Ferrari is not worthy of a driver like Max right now. I hope they will be one day.

 

Seems like the speed was there somewhat in the first half, but just impossible to extract except for Max. That is really the story if he wins the WDC in my opinion - that he was able to make that thing go fast when it was literally terrifying his teammates out of FP1.

Seems like the car now is a pretty good platform based on Max's comments the last few races. Also as shown by Tsunoda moving up in performance...although still very far from Max. This is why Lando and Piastri are really in trouble now. Max beat them when he didn't even like the car...now he actually enjoys driving it. Look out.

 

100%. The best example is the crash in Azerbaijan on the opening lap. That is like F4 wanker level stuff. I was really shocked. Nothing to do with team politics.

He seems like a nice enough guy and was really fast out of the gates. I don't dislike him at all.

But, honestly I do not want him to win because he has not been a good entertainer for the second half of the season. It's not good for the sport, and it's not good entertainment. Like a fighter getting up big on the cards in points, then running away for the last 4 rounds to win a title. Kind of embarrassing really; and will actually elicit boos.

 

i do hope that Max pull a kimi here.

 

Against Max and a revigorated Red Bull it will be far from enough to win this title for Piastri..

 

Should the championship leader follow a pre-arranged scenario, to keep us entertained during the whole season ?

And me who thought that to win a championship, the recipe was simply to collect more points than the other drivers.

What I find embarassing is that F1 is now considered more as an entertainment than a sport.

 

Oscar is not entertainment. He is a driver and he is suffering as Stella has stated this week on circuits with low grip. Overall he is doing well for year 3. Points matter not wins unless its a tie. Strange post that one earlier.

 

In some circumstances titles were won by drivers collecting more points, but less wins than their rivals.
Mike Hawthorn and Keke Rosberg come to mind.
In 1958, Hawthorn won only 1 GP against 4 for Moss, but won the title by 1 point.
In 1982 K.Rosberg only won 1 GP, but many podiums, a year where Pironi, Watson, Lauda, Prost and Arnoux won 2 each.
Both won through constancy and regularity (and an inferior car for Rosberg) but benefited from the unreliability of others.

 

Ouch. Not necessarily disagreeing but painful words to hear. History seems to agree with you. Anybody remember Kimi Raikkoenen?

 

I remember the entire paddock having a moment of relief when Keke finally won that one race. It would have been a shame to crown a WDC who didn't even won a race.

 

Everyone is at least a secret Ferrari fan. I truly hope they bring the glory days back but they have Himalayan internal issues. Vettel lost his mind at Ferrari as that team and its issue broke him, as it did Alonso, temporarily, did but got it back, sort of. Charlie is on his way out if they don't deliver next year, and Lewis is only there just to satisfy his curiosity, I don't think he was truly expecting anything as he saw it as no different than Mercedes at the time, which they're really not in terms of performance, at least for this season.

 

Well, had he won the title without one single win, Keke would still have done it within the rules.
I have no doubt that many people would have been upset by that, and found the title undeserved.
It's a bit like winning Le Tour de France, without winning one stage, which is technically possible !

 

In reality Ferrari always had issues. But they had the money to "engineer" them away. The budget and testing caps really hurt them enormously.

To put it differently: Not even Schumacher and his dream team could have pulled off all those WDCs if there was a budget and testing cap in place at that time. He put in endless development laps and hours with the team to get it to the front. I bet Charles/Vettel and even Lewis would have done a lot better without the limitations on car development.

 

The 'undeserved' stigma still hangs a bit over that title.

With today's safety measurements in place 1982 would have played out differently. More a bit like 2025: Title fight between the two WDC leading drivers Villeneuve and Pironi and Rosberg sitting nicely on third place. With the title ultimately going to Gilles.

 

The limit on testing has undeniably hampered Ferrari since it was introduced.
Trial and error was traditionally their empiric tool for car development.

 

Would the tifosi say that about Mike Hawthorn's 1958 title too ? I doubt it.
It was obtained in far more contentious circumstances, IMO.

 

I think more than just the Ferrari fans made an asterisk on the 82 title. Personally I didn't have a problem with it. First you have to arrive to arrive first. He outlived them all (sadly quite literally). And I was glad he also got a win. That was needed for the prestige of being a WDC more so than for the points count.

 

IMO, Keke Rosberg title has an asterisk because people died or got seriously injured, but not because of the single win. Even more back then, when winning 10 races per season like now was an anomaly. Actually I think it would have been more memorable if he hadn´t win any race.

 

1982 was a pivotal year: the beginning of the turbo era and the swansong of the V8 Cosworth.
Favorite after early success, the turbo Ferraris were tragically eliminated from the championship (Pironi, Villeneuve).
The Brabham-BMW (Piquet), and the Renault were too fragile (Prost, Arnoux), but they all won some races.
Among the atmos, Rosberg was more constant than the McLaren boys (Lauda , Watson) .
Gathering points all season, Keke won by default, but there wasn't a dominant car or driver that year.