Is the RB18 dominant?

[DChemTech]

Because I truly believe, and the numbers have always supported it, Max has a big part to play in the performance.

Ferrari and Mercedes also have very good "tier one" drivers so that should even out.

Verstappen's ability to get the job done with efficiency and minimal mistakes is certainly very valuable to Red Bull Racing mind you, but I doubt Verstappen is driving significantly better in 2022 than 2020, or Hamilton is driving significantly worse in 2022 than 2020.

Routine victories that merely build statistics should be called out as such, regardless of the driver -- be it Hamilton or Verstappen collecting the routine victories (or multiple routine championships!). There's a lot more routine victories needed for Verstappen to close in on the excessive statistics of Schumacher and Hamilton mind you, not good news for rival fans, assuming Verstappen and RBR can indeed build similar stats!

It's not just car and driver, strategy, crashes and reliability play a role. There was the major difference between RB and Fer first half of this season.

[PlatinumZealot]

Obvious answer: The driver-car combination of Max Verstappen and the RB18 has been dominant on race day. The RB18 in the hands of Sergio Perez has been competitive against Leclerc in the F1-75. Therefore the difference is clearly in Max Verstappen's ability to maximize the package. Laurent Mekkies of Ferrari states that the straight-line speed of the RB18 is what gives them the edge to win on Sundays. That is a combination of aerodynamic efficiency and the power of the Honda PU.

Erm. So you don't think Leclerc is Maximizing his Ferrari?

[Hoffman900]

Obvious answer: The driver-car combination of Max Verstappen and the RB18 has been dominant on race day. The RB18 in the hands of Sergio Perez has been competitive against Leclerc in the F1-75. Therefore the difference is clearly in Max Verstappen's ability to maximize the package. Laurent Mekkies of Ferrari states that the straight-line speed of the RB18 is what gives them the edge to win on Sundays. That is a combination of aerodynamic efficiency and the power of the Honda PU.

Erm. So you don't think Leclerc is Maximizing his Ferrari?

Seriously!

This guy continuously has the worst takes. Max is doing a tremendous job, but you can only compare his performance against Sergio.

[Andres125sx]

Because I truly believe, and the numbers have always supported it, Max has a big part to play in the performance.

Ferrari and Mercedes also have very good "tier one" drivers so that should even out.

In theory yes, but of the 3 top rated drivers (Ver,Ham,Lec) Verstappen really has been the cleanest this season. Lec and Hamilton had crashes that destroyed their races. Hamilton in Austria qualy and Spa race. Leclerc in Imola and France.

Obviously, when you drive the best car you don´t need to push like mad, like those driving slower cars who need to compensate the deficit. Actually that´s one of the signs of a dominant car, when they can win without pushing too hard

Same as Vettel in 2010-2013, some of us always claimed it was the car, some said Vettel was unique. Time proved it was the car. Similar with Lewis in 2014-2020, except he proved his speed previous seasons with a different car, but in that era you can barely find any mistake by his side, because he didn´t need to push hard at all


Perez will probably beat Lecrerc in the table (only 2 points down now), despite the terrible start of the season for the mexican. Do we really need any more evidence?

[marcel171281]

Perez will probably beat Lecrerc in the table (only 2 points down now), despite the terrible start of the season for the mexican. Do we really need any more evidence?

Verstappen is leading Perez by 126 points, despite an even more terrible start to the season. Do we really need any more evidence?

[ispano6]

Obvious answer: The driver-car combination of Max Verstappen and the RB18 has been dominant on race day. The RB18 in the hands of Sergio Perez has been competitive against Leclerc in the F1-75. Therefore the difference is clearly in Max Verstappen's ability to maximize the package. Laurent Mekkies of Ferrari states that the straight-line speed of the RB18 is what gives them the edge to win on Sundays. That is a combination of aerodynamic efficiency and the power of the Honda PU.

Erm. So you don't think Leclerc is Maximizing his Ferrari?

Seriously!

This guy continuously has the worst takes. Max is doing a tremendous job, but you can only compare his performance against Sergio.

We're talking about Rb18 and how MAX has been dominant with it. Have you guys no understanding of jimba-ittai? Man Machine interface? At one with each other? Rb18 doesn't drive itself, does that make sense? Not Max's problem Charles maximizing his Ferrari isn't a match. What is the point you people want to prove with this thread?

[Andres125sx]

Perez will probably beat Lecrerc in the table (only 2 points down now), despite the terrible start of the season for the mexican. Do we really need any more evidence?

Verstappen is leading Perez by 126 points, despite an even more terrible start to the season. Do we really need any more evidence?

About Max greatness? No, that's evident. But that means nothing about RBR domination

Moreover, if that RBR #2 driver, who is clearly slower than #1 of Mercedes and Ferrari, finish the championship leading the whole grid except his teammate, I'd say that's an evidence about RBR domination

[Andres125sx]

Anycase we tend to discuss about car domination, when it should be team domination which is different, but what counts in the end.

We can discuss if the car is so much better than Ferrari or Mercedes, but if we take into account the whole team... Mercedes car is not a match to RBR, and Ferrari strategy and pitstop crew isn't either, so I think there's no doubt about RBR domination as a team

[GrizzleBoy]

How many times has max been genuinely attacked during a race this season?

If there's no other car capable of actually taking positions from you on more than a few occasions while yours is able to take positions from anyone, at any time, in basically every race.

Well then....

[marcel171281]

How many times has max been genuinely attacked during a race this season?

If there's no other car capable of actually taking positions from you on more than a few occasions while yours is able to take positions from anyone, at any time, in basically every race.

Well then....

...Your car in your hands is very dominant isn't it?

but,... (stiring a pot here)

How many times has checo been genuinely attacked during a race this season?

If there are other cars capable of actually taking positions from you on more than a few occasions while yours is able to take positions also on a simmular amount of occasions.

Well then....

...Your car in your hands isn't very dominant is it?

[Vanja #66]

Looks like by the end of this thread we'll come to a conclusion that RB18 is an undriveable, unreliable and underpowered junk that Max managed to wrestle to WDC with 4 races to go, all with team actually favouring Perez with strategy choices, while Perez actually fought him every time for track position

[Sieper]

Looks like by the end of this thread we'll come to a conclusion that RB18 is an undriveable, unreliable and underpowered junk that Max managed to wrestle to WDC with 4 races to go, all with team actually favouring Perez with strategy choices, while Perez actually fought him every time for track position

Moderately dominant.

[MadMax]

Looks like by the end of this thread we'll come to a conclusion that RB18 is an undriveable, unreliable and underpowered junk that Max managed to wrestle to WDC with 4 races to go, all with team actually favouring Perez with strategy choices, while Perez actually fought him every time for track position

Brilliant. Well played sir (or madam - I don't know either way).

[Juzh]

Looks like by the end of this thread we'll come to a conclusion that RB18 is an undriveable, unreliable and underpowered junk that Max managed to wrestle to WDC with 4 races to go, all with team actually favouring Perez with strategy choices, while Perez actually fought him every time for track position

So not dominant at all.

[Xyz22]

RB18 before TD 039 --> Very competitive. Sometimes quicker than the F1 75 sometimes slower
RB18 after TD 093 --> Best car by a huge margin

This is proved by the fact that Perez demolished Sainz in every race outside Monza and was even faster than Leclerc in Singapore, Suzuka and Austin.