Gillian wrote: ↑26 Mar 2025, 13:17
Cs98 wrote: ↑26 Mar 2025, 09:48
Alexf1 wrote: ↑26 Mar 2025, 09:45
Well, Benetton '96 situation incoming then. Berger and Alesi were experienced and quite close as teammates against Senna and Prost. But they were nowhere in the Schumacher style Benetton. Shows you pointy car with looser rear is fastest but only for the generational talent drivers.
Except the RB21 looks neither pointy nor loose. Look at Liam’s laps in the car, it’s understeer and lack of commitment that kills the time for him.
I don't get it either. Look at the McLaren, that's a pointy car.
It's an old narrative from the last regulations where the RB was very sharp on the front, largely due to its high rake philosophy. Since 2022 this hasn't been the case. Out of all the top teams you'd have to say the RB looks the least responsive on the front, especially in medium and low speed corners. Max still manages to rotate the car with some trickery, that is his secret relative to his teammates in this car. I suspect it's a combination of adding a lot of front wing (and tolerating it in high speed), braking early and prioritising the exit, knowing the limit of grip on the front precisely, and insane consistency.
The real issue here is not the second seat, it's the fact that RB can't produce a balanced car anymore, the second seat is a symptom. Max can drive around the issues better but they are losing competitiveness compared to the other teams. We saw what Max could do in a car that had a lot of downforce and good balance in 2022 and 2023, and Perez was winning races and being a decent driver then because the car had reasonable balance.
