I understand what you are saying, but even just against Gasly, how ever bad he was in the team, look at his driving since being dropped from the boss team. He is far from being a poor driver. And I do take on what you say about being favoured, but no secret is being made of it.Phil wrote: ↑22 Dec 2020, 13:00The thing that irks me about Verstappen, is that the only reference anyone has about the ability of a driver, is his direct performance against his team-mate. And considering that, the only driver he's driven against I rate as a somewhat known quantity is Ricciardo (who himself fared well against Seb in 2014) and Sainz. All the others have been subpar at best, so the whole record of beating his team-mates is as impressive as it has been for George Russel.
What I also think goes against Verstappen is that he seems to have quite a bit of favorable treatment at RedBull (for good reason, one has to say). But it still taints the picture somewhat, as much as it did Vettel when he was driving and dominating with RedBull back in the days.
Even so, it's indisputable that Verstappen is an extremely talented driver and in the last two season, he has also taken on the role as a teamleader impressively and delivered consistent and strong performance for the team with little to few mistakes. He is also very strong in cars that are difficult to drive and this is further underlined in the wet where he has historically performed above average. In fact, the only other driver on the current grid which I would attribute the same level of similar traits and talent is Hamilton, who has performed just as strongly in the wet and as consistent over the years even in bad cars. Small exception being that Hamilton has faced far stronger team-mates without the luxury of receiving beneficial treatment in any of his years or teams he has raced. But that would be comparing a 13 year career spanning two teams with a 6 year one at a single team.
Also the fact that Verstappen pretty much jumped into F1 without the luxury of having years of racing works for him, not against him. He is way more mature as a result of driving F1 for 6 years than any other driver jumping into a hot seat and being measured against a driver widely regarded as one of the best and a two times WDC champion to boot. Verstappen's biggest advantage is that he could easily become the driver with the most years in F1, given how early he entered. In fact, I see him as the only other driver with a real shot of coming close to Hamiltons records - given the right car and circumstance. He is only 23 years of age and could be easily looking at another 12-13 seasons until he reaches the age of Hamilton has now as the record holder of most stats with that many races and experience under his belt already.
I am not a Max Evangelist, ot even in his top million fans, but I really do see something there.
). The thing that we should focus on is that Russell beat Bottas! That means a lot for a guy without any practice in a new car!