Silly Season 2020/2021 (starting with silliness in 2019)

[raymondu999]

If RB do sign Russell, or Perez, or whoever — they will need to ensure that it’s someone who can drive around what seems to be a relatively imbalanced RB design which shouls, more rather than less, be carried forward to next year?

[NathanOlder]

Maybe RedBull should just build a good car like they always seemed to claim they did. Was the best chassis for years until the Power Unit became strong enough. Perez is the best bet in my opinion, Solid, reliable and will bring points to help in the WCC.

[El Scorchio]

If they want the best possible driver combination, they should choose Perez. If they want the best supporting driver for Max (more likely) they should choose Hulk.

I think Russell is not an option. He's a Mercedes driver and they aren't going to let him go to Red Bull, and he's not mad enough to give up the pretty strong prospect of driving that car in a year or so. Red Bull aren't silly enough to try and 'borrow' him seen as he'll just run back to Merc with as much of Red Bull's sensitive info as possible. It would literally be like inviting a spy into your camp.

[Schuttelberg]

If I were Gasly, I'd sign the first offer I get for any team's junior academy let alone a drive for the first team. Not a fan of the way his performance is being downplayed. I've been a big supporter of Alex and I believe even now that he can really give Max a run for his money but that doesn't mean Gasly's performances should in any way be belittled.

[Big Tea]

If I were Gasly, I'd sign the first offer I get for any team's junior academy let alone a drive for the first team. Not a fan of the way his performance is being downplayed. I've been a big supporter of Alex and I believe even now that he can really give Max a run for his money but that doesn't mean Gasly's performances should in any way be belittled.

I don't think Gasly's performance is being downplayed, just his ability to drive THAT Red Bull car.
The same for Albon. I think most people see them as promising drivers, but out of their depth in the RBR boss team.

I have been cheering Albon on since he moved to Red Bull, but I now think that if he stays there it will ruin him as a driver and his rep with other teams. He needs to go somewhere he ca show he IS good, and I thing AT would be ideal

[Schuttelberg]

If I were Gasly, I'd sign the first offer I get for any team's junior academy let alone a drive for the first team. Not a fan of the way his performance is being downplayed. I've been a big supporter of Alex and I believe even now that he can really give Max a run for his money but that doesn't mean Gasly's performances should in any way be belittled.

I don't think Gasly's performance is being downplayed, just his ability to drive THAT Red Bull car.
The same for Albon. I think most people see them as promising drivers, but out of their depth in the RBR boss team.

I have been cheering Albon on since he moved to Red Bull, but I now think that if he stays there it will ruin him as a driver and his rep with other teams. He needs to go somewhere he ca show he IS good, and I thing AT would be ideal

We will not know how Gasly will do with that car unless we see it. He's obviously grown as a person and driver. His form has also shown a steep curve upwards. I find these hypothetical analysis completely BS.

[Big Tea]

If I were Gasly, I'd sign the first offer I get for any team's junior academy let alone a drive for the first team. Not a fan of the way his performance is being downplayed. I've been a big supporter of Alex and I believe even now that he can really give Max a run for his money but that doesn't mean Gasly's performances should in any way be belittled.

I don't think Gasly's performance is being downplayed, just his ability to drive THAT Red Bull car.
The same for Albon. I think most people see them as promising drivers, but out of their depth in the RBR boss team.

I have been cheering Albon on since he moved to Red Bull, but I now think that if he stays there it will ruin him as a driver and his rep with other teams. He needs to go somewhere he ca show he IS good, and I thing AT would be ideal

We will not know how Gasly will do with that car unless we see it. He's obviously grown as a person and driver. His form has also shown a steep curve upwards. I find these hypothetical analysis completely BS.

Well we saw what he did with that car, and it was not good. If he went back, he would probably remember himself, and if things went off again we could say good bye to him in F1. It is not a ' hypothetical analysis', it is something we have seen.

[JordanMugen]

If RB do sign Russell, or Perez, or whoever — they will need to ensure that it’s someone who can drive around what seems to be a relatively imbalanced RB design which shouls, more rather than less, be carried forward to next year?

Russell will be fine, he is an ace. Perez I'm not so sure, Hulkenberg should be OK as he could cope with the similarly unstable Renault.

The other drawback of Perez is that he is too likely to crash into Verstappen (or vice versa) in a wheel-to-wheel battle.

[Scorpaguy]

If RB do sign Russell, or Perez, or whoever — they will need to ensure that it’s someone who can drive around what seems to be a relatively imbalanced RB design which shouls, more rather than less, be carried forward to next year?

Russell will be fine, he is an ace. Perez I'm not so sure, Hulkenberg should be OK as he could cope with the similarly unstable Renault.

The other drawback of Perez is that he is too likely to crash into Verstappen (or vice versa) in a wheel-to-wheel battle.

...loved the "(or vice versa)"

[Big Tea]

If RB do sign Russell, or Perez, or whoever — they will need to ensure that it’s someone who can drive around what seems to be a relatively imbalanced RB design which shouls, more rather than less, be carried forward to next year?

Russell will be fine, he is an ace. Perez I'm not so sure, Hulkenberg should be OK as he could cope with the similarly unstable Renault.

The other drawback of Perez is that he is too likely to crash into Verstappen (or vice versa) in a wheel-to-wheel battle.

I, also, think Perez and Vettel in the same team is a recipe for disaster. They are both very much the same 'type'

[Racer X]

If RB do sign Russell, or Perez, or whoever — they will need to ensure that it’s someone who can drive around what seems to be a relatively imbalanced RB design which shouls, more rather than less, be carried forward to next year?

Russell will be fine, he is an ace. Perez I'm not so sure, Hulkenberg should be OK as he could cope with the similarly unstable Renault.

The other drawback of Perez is that he is too likely to crash into Verstappen (or vice versa) in a wheel-to-wheel battle.

...loved the "(or vice versa)"

Toto said that if Russell leaves Williams he will be a Mercedes reserve driver. So George has a 0% chance at RedBull and he also said that Williams is not negotiating with Sergio that the Perez(s) camp is the one who made those rumors to put pressure on RedBull to help Sergio & his agent in their negotiations.

[Edax]

If RB do sign Russell, or Perez, or whoever — they will need to ensure that it’s someone who can drive around what seems to be a relatively imbalanced RB design which shouls, more rather than less, be carried forward to next year?

Russell will be fine, he is an ace. Perez I'm not so sure, Hulkenberg should be OK as he could cope with the similarly unstable Renault.

The other drawback of Perez is that he is too likely to crash into Verstappen (or vice versa) in a wheel-to-wheel battle.

I don’t think Verstappen has an issue with Perez. I think his color coordination was a bit off this weekend. Normally he aims for the red cars, this time the pink ones

I think Perez is a very capable driver. It is a shame that he got caught up in the McLaren mess. Anyway that is their loss. But the stuff he has shown at Force India certainly make him a good candidate for RB. The only thing I also worry about is whether he can adapt to the car which seems to be much more edgy than the pink Mercedes.

Hulkenberg has his curse against him. I am afraid that that drag strip in Germany sealed his career.

Russell is a dark horse for me. Problem is that His teammate is not much of a reference. Without that it is hard to judge how difficult it is to bring a Williams to Q2. After all it is a car with arguably the best engine made by one of the most prestigious F1 manufacturers.

[nevill3]

From what I have seen of Albons performances recently I believe that RedBull regularly try non optimal contra strategies with him. This is partly due to his qualifying results I think which then get compounded by RedBull bringing him early or trying something different with his tyres to attempt an upset or at least rule out things for Max to try.

If Albon could qualify directly behind Max we would get a more representative performance. Last week Alex was able to keep up with Max once he had been lapped by him so his speed in the race is not in question I am sure. His main problem is qualifying, but trying to push to the limit in a car that is as delicately balanced as the RedBull is this year has often seen him try a little too hard and results in a disappointing qualifying result from which his race becomes a battle to gain the lost ground and results in RedBulls experimentation with differing strategies which are sub optimal. Christian knows they do this which is why he has supported Alex so much. With the RedBull car getting more stable and less prone to snap Alex's excuses are diminishing which I think has prompted the change in Christian's messages to the press.

[Big Tea]

From what I have seen of Albons performances recently I believe that RedBull regularly try non optimal contra strategies with him. This is partly due to his qualifying results I think which then get compounded by RedBull bringing him early or trying something different with his tyres to attempt an upset or at least rule out things for Max to try.

If Albon could qualify directly behind Max we would get a more representative performance. Last week Alex was able to keep up with Max once he had been lapped by him so his speed in the race is not in question I am sure. His main problem is qualifying, but trying to push to the limit in a car that is as delicately balanced as the RedBull is this year has often seen him try a little too hard and results in a disappointing qualifying result from which his race becomes a battle to gain the lost ground and results in RedBulls experimentation with differing strategies which are sub optimal. Christian knows they do this which is why he has supported Alex so much. With the RedBull car getting more stable and less prone to snap Alex's excuses are diminishing which I think has prompted the change in Christian's messages to the press.

Is anyone able to shed some light on why the car id that twitchy and why it can not be altered on just the one car?
Or do they want both cars set up identical so they can use the feedback from Albons tyres?

They are obviously not going to alter the car away from Max's preference, but why can they not 'tame' alex car?
Is there something fundamental that they can not trim out? Weight distribution if fixed (is it not?) so what is left that can not be tuned out? It is not like they were looking for grip on a bad car, just balance on one.

[LHamilton]

I wonder if someone's theory about Perez having struggles adapting to new cars might have some value to it. I can't remember who, or where I saw it. But whomever has brought that up, creds go to you, whoever you are .

THESE STATS ARE BASED UPON RACE FINISHING POSITIONS

2011: New to F1, hence also new team. Sauber.

This year Perez was a Rookie. And being new to everything that is F1, you might expect people to not be at their best. That being said, Perez got beaten most times early by Kobayashi, but started 'winning' on a few occasions more on the latter part of that year. Did he struggle? Hard to say because he was a rookie this year. However, the pattern of doing better at the latter part of the year seems to be something that follows Perez when looking at this theory.

2012: Loss of blown exhaust

To tricky to judge just based upon race finishing positions since both drivers got quite a few retirements. Five for Kobayashi, six for Perez and only in one race did they both retire, meaning that the other nine occasions were spread amongs nine races.

2013: New team, McLaren.

Generally beaten by Button pretty much the whole year apart from the last four races, where Perez came out on top. So again, better at the latter part of the year. Although in this situation; very late on.

2014: New team, Force India. Also, new beginning of the V6 era.

This season is a bit more up and down, but I would say he did struggle a little bit more in the beginning of the season than the latter part. Hard to tell really. But if there are people out there thinking Perez is better than Hulk, and watching the other two season they were together, there is a case of him struggling this season.

2017: New regulations, same team. New teammate in Ocon.

Can't really say that he struggled in the beginning judged on the race finishing positions. However, factors such as Ocon being a rookie might have something to do with it. Although Ocon is a fast driver, the same thing applies for Ocon as I said with Perez that rookie probably will never be up to speed right away. Or could it be that he was with the same team, so they knew what he liked/didn't like, hence the adaptation went smoother. Might very much be so, who knows.

2020: The pink Mercedes

Although the cars in general didnt change to much between 19'-20', Racing Points car seems like it certainly did with people suggesting/confirming that it's essentially last years Merc, or heavy influences by it.

If we look at the 2020 thus far, which has been pretty wierd to say the least for Racing Point as a whole, with both of their drivers not being able to take part in one/two races due to pandemic. However, if we try to look at the races where both driver do find themselves driving, Stroll seems to have the upper hand when both cars finishes. However, only five out of twelve races has seen both cars finish the race. And in these Stroll goes away with a score of 4-1 and a points tally of 47-26. All of these five races came within the span of the first eight races, with Stroll retiering/DNS the last four.

If people have the belief that Perez is better than Stroll, which most people do, it looks like Perez have struggled in the beginning races of this season. To me, Perez showed more of the Perez we are used to know in Mugello, when Stroll was given preferential treatment in terms of new upgrades, which Perez did not have until next race. From this moment on, it seems that Perez has had the upper hand. However, it's hard to really judge due to the amounts of retirements that Stroll has had.


There are some tendencies to suggest that Perez might struggle in the beginning when being presented when something new. And if that were so, and the rumours about Red Bull car being tricky to drive, Perez (if being signed), might have a difficult transition. And I wonder what might be from the medias perspective, if whomever takes that Red Bull seat, doesn't perform up to par right away.

Just some food for thoughts