It's the worst engine of the field. So no he should not have to thank Renault, since the only alternative is pushing. If he had a Ferrari or Mercedes engine he'd have won (and not started at the back)
Not quite exact. The Renault power unit has won 11 races in almost 5 years (7 for Ricciardo 4 for Max). Not in the same league as Mercedes and Ferrari, I agree, but far better than Honda that hasn't won anything in 4 years, not even got a podium, I believe.. Since Verstappen will be Honda-powered from next year, he may have time to look back on his criticism perhaps.
Really odd to compare it that way, but whatever. Mclaren won **** all with the Mercedes engine when that was head and shoulders above the rest in 2014, so them not winning anything with Honda can't be completely blamed on Honda. If we use your metric for how good an engine/car/driver is, Lance Stroll has to be a better driver than Alonso purely because last year, Stroll got more podiums and outscored Alonso. The reason Red Bull started at the end of the grid today was because they inserted Renault's ''updated'' Spec 3 engine, which was so **** they had to revert to the old spec 2. This Honda engine just now introduced is rumoured to be a real upgrade. Qualifying didn't tell us much as none of the Honda/Renault engined teams did all that much for strategic reasons, but from the laps they did do, the Honda outqualified all Renault engined teams bar the Red Bull.
My point is that Max Verstappen owes ALL his success in F1 to the Renault engine that powered his car. But he keep whinning about it. Verstappen has adopted the same line of thoughts as the Red Bull management. When success comes, it's thanks to them, but failure is always caused by their engine partner. I wish them good luck with Honda. BTW, according to Abbiteboul (Renault CEO) , some of the problems Red Bull has with their engines is because they do not want to follow Renault's schedule re. components replacement. Red Bull prefers to make their own mix, sometime re-using components beyond their mileage limit, ending up with parts with various durability that affect the reliability of the power unit. The Renault engineers have repeatedly expressed concerns at these methods, only to be told they are not in charge at Red Bull !
No he doesn’t. He owes all his victories to Adrian Newey, who despite the huge handicap of Renault (lack of) power, managed to engineer the best chassIs on the grid and generate race win opportunities.
THAT engine counts for nothing. It's the slowest on the grid. So it's a massive disadvantage. I can't understand how you do not see that.
no, not if it has a tag-heuer badge. But more general, yes, the engine counts for 80% at least. That is the sole reason mediocre teams like sauber and haas are where they are. I truly think the engine is the decisive factor and aero is only 20% So no, Max owes Renault nothing as if it was the least powerfull and least reliable one in the field.
The Renault is the worst engine in the field. If Adrian Newey wasn't designing their cars, Max would be further back on the grid with the Renault factory team.
Verstappen also owes his victories to his talent in being able to conserve his tyres better than Ricciardo. While still being quicker
A few years back, if Renault hadn't accepted to renew ts contract with that team, they would have been no Red Bull on the grid. Both Ferrari and Mercedes categorically refused to suply them when Marko went begging !! Red Bull's participation Under the hybrid formula has been thanks to Renault; people shouldn't forget that!
If the association with Honda works and delivers a good car, I still cannot see Vertappen assuming fully the role of team leader at Red Bull. He is fast, but too immature and drives erratically too often to become a WDC, IMO. .
Of course it is thanks to Renault, without that engine there would have been no Red Bull since 2017... And it is also thanks to Newey for designing that car, without Newey they would not have been this far up front. The Renault team themselves are midfield, so that is the best comparison for the engine and car. A driver you can only compare to his team mate. And we all can see who is the faster of the two Red Bull men, the standings as well as the qualifyings are clear.
To be honest about Vettel, while being more mature (in age at least), he makes a lot of unnecessary mistakes/judgements. I do not see Kimi do those same things (like trying to ram Hamilton of the track -Bakoe 2017 or desparate passing actions like yesterday's)
What amazes me is everyone that thinks Max is the best thing on the grid, yet Daniel has beaten him every season. Even now with 6 retirements to 4, he's only 30 points behind with all the crap luck he's been getting lately.
He (DR) beat Max last year in pts. DR had 6 DNF's to Max's 7....so even if you gift Max a 1st podium win to equal the DNF''s....DR still comes out ahead. I've gotten into debates about " Well Max outqualifies DR most of the time so Max is faster!" .....which is true...but my response is " It does'nt matter, pts is what matters especially in a race with 19 other mindsets all gunning for pts."
Well, they both have a win each for 2018, which is good. If Toto had the balls he would have signed Ricciardo. Unfortunately it seems he wants a compliant team mate for Hamilton.
A GP win is no certainty that Verstappen is WDC material. In my opinion, he is not: far too erratic to win regularly. Why would Mercedes take the risk of Hamiton and Ricciardo sharing wins and points among themselves. Also, not sure if Ricciardo would do better than Bottas I am afraid the "2 drivers per team" structure imposed by the FIA leads inevitably to one getting Number On status, and the other one supporting him. Maybe not good for the spectators, but essential to avoid internal rivalry and im at 2 titles.
Ye yes the tense unfolding story of Rosberg Vs Hamilton was probably the last we will see in F1. It was reminiscent of Prost / Senna. The dynamics of inter-team rivalry is pure drama.
Also not good for Ricciardo. At Mercedes he could have shown he was WDC material and taken the fight to Lewis
