2021 Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[Big Tea]

I think the most important thing is that he manages to at least put pressure on Bottas so Lewis and Valtteri can’t team up to put Max under pressure. Right now it’s 2 against 1. At this point I think 2nd place is best possible outcome for Max but we’ll see

Max has the pace to win, ultimately that's the most important thing, i'd recommend ignoring Bottas he won't be in the winning strategy, keeping track position to Hamilton is what counts.

Remember the free tyre choice. He could well come into play at pitstop time

[Sieper]

It will be tough tomorrow. The mercs are fast. Perez is nowhere and no other team (maybe leclerc) can prevent an undercut.

[zibby43]

It will be tough tomorrow. The mercs are fast. Perez is nowhere and no other team (maybe leclerc) can prevent an undercut.

With how much faster the midfield is this year, I’m interested to see how many places Perez can claw back. If he can get a top 5 finish, that will say a lot about the car, and it will allow RBR to once again outscore Merc with a 1-5, minimum.

[Sieper]

He can now bolt a low DF rear wing on and start from the pits. That should help because today (ok, with wasted tires too) he was stuck. I think P8 at most, with a “normal” race (not too many red flags and people retiring).

[zibby43]

I think that’s fair. I think even though Max had some blistering today, he had plenty of pace in reserve. Even non-RBR fans have to respect the raw performance of that car in Max’s hands this year.

I know I do.

[Sevach]

I think the most important thing is that he manages to at least put pressure on Bottas so Lewis and Valtteri can’t team up to put Max under pressure. Right now it’s 2 against 1. At this point I think 2nd place is best possible outcome for Max but we’ll see

Max has the pace to win, ultimately that's the most important thing, i'd recommend ignoring Bottas he won't be in the winning strategy, keeping track position to Hamilton is what counts.

Remember the free tyre choice. He could well come into play at pitstop time

I don't think he will have the pace, he wasn't on it even for the first couple of laps on soft, they guy couldn't even shake off Leclerc.

There's 2 ways he can interfere neither of which spells doom in my book.
One they stop him super early, Max shouldn't follow him in and keep his eyes on Hamilton, if that happens there's probably gonna be an overlapping moment which complicates things up but it's all about keeping your head cool and holding the advantage over Hamilton.

Another is they go super late in his pit stop to the point Max catches him on very old tires at which point he'll be excedingly "overtakable" low drag or not.

A slow rear gunner can only do so much.

[PhillipM]

Being Bottas he'll be exceedingly overtakable anyway, guy seems to have forgotten how to defend the past two years.

[Chuckjr]

I’m so disappointed in Perez. I really really thought he would be better. He really must step up or they need to replace him. Unlikely, but if they landed Russell, I think RB would have a formidable line up for 2022.

Fred would also be an outstanding choice, imo. I think he would accept a number 2 role at this point in his career, and certainly he would have opportunities from time to time to win a race or few over a couple years at RB, and I think that possibility of race wins would make him want the job. He would be great in helping to further develop the 2022-23 car, imo because he has so much freaking experience. I think he would love the opportunity to take it to Lewis head to head again in (likely to be) similarly paced cars. But I’m just dreaming me thinks, unfortunately.

[darkpino]

I think RBR needs to look in the mirror also. This will be the 3th 2nd driver who won’t succeed if this keeps going on. And Perez is no slouch, he’s experienced and pretty quick also as he shown in the past. It can’t be true that it’s all down to the drivers and RBR has nothing to do with it imo

Make that the fourth. In the last season Ric was also .2/0.3 seconds per lap slower. His saving grace was that the midfield was farther away, so he still could produce good finishes.

I think the problem is not so much driver quality, but the way the car is built around Verstappen. Schumacher liked his car to be unstable so he could change direction fast. Everyone who has driven next to him complained that the car was all over the place.

Rosberg once gave a quite candid interview on how he had to learn how to drive like Hamilton to be able to perform in the Merc, since the design was so Hamilton centered.

The same might be happening at RB. Verstappen is creating a car that works for him, but is a nightmare for most other drivers.

Might be true, I don’t know. Irvine and Barrichello seemed to do pretty good or is it my youth memories that are fading?

To everyone calling Alonso: I saw a video some years ago where the driving styles of Alonso and Schumacher were being compared. There they (and I) came to the conclusion that Alonso really likes a particular way of driving so I’m not sure if that will fit RBR either

[Wouter]

Translated by GPBlog:

Max: "I think what we learned today is that it’s very close again. It’s a bit different. It seems like we are quick through corners, they are quick on the straight this weekend and, of course, after one free practice session, and then you’re not allowed to make any changes and you don’t get it right, then you’re a bit stuck. So I think we’re a bit stuck on the straight, so that’s why we have to make up our time in the corners."
New format is wrong

The Dutchman is not very happy with the new race weekend format. If the Dutchman could change anything about the car he would. "I think we have to look a little bit at the schedule because, to do an FP2 session and you’re not allowed to change the car is a bit wrong, in my opinion. It’s a bit of luck sometimes now, if we keep this format going, for sprint races that you only have one free practice to nail the set-up."

"Of course sometimes it will work in your favour and sometimes it will work against you. I think so far this week it hasn’t really been good to us – but of course we always have to look at ourselves to make sure we could do better – but if I could do it again, yeah, for sure, I would choose for a bit more top speed,"

[Edax]

Make that the fourth. In the last season Ric was also .2/0.3 seconds per lap slower. His saving grace was that the midfield was farther away, so he still could produce good finishes.

I think the problem is not so much driver quality, but the way the car is built around Verstappen. Schumacher liked his car to be unstable so he could change direction fast. Everyone who has driven next to him complained that the car was all over the place.

Rosberg once gave a quite candid interview on how he had to learn how to drive like Hamilton to be able to perform in the Merc, since the design was so Hamilton centered.

The same might be happening at RB. Verstappen is creating a car that works for him, but is a nightmare for most other drivers.

Might be true, I don’t know. Irvine and Barrichello seemed to do pretty good or is it my youth memories that are fading?

<snip>

Irvine almost got sacked in the first year and had some private sessions to deal with the car.

If you google for Schumacher driving style I think you’ll find plenty of references from drivers and engineers. Schumacher basically drove the car on the front wheels and had the backend completely loose.

Thinking about it one of the first “victims” of Schumachers driving style was a certain Verstappen.

“It was a very difficult car. You could not feel the limit and so you were pushing and pushing and then suddenly it would have oversteer. Normally when you get oversteer you can control it but the Benetton would go very suddenly and so you ended up having a spin. I had big problems with that car.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benetton_B194

That looks very similar to today’s situation. The 194 won the championship in the hands of Schumacher, but the team went trough 3 2nd drivers (Letho, Herbert and Verstappen) who couldn’t handle the cars loose rear end.

That makes me wonder. Did Jos, having witnessed Schumacher first hand, schooled Verstappen to drive like schumacher. In interviews Max seems to be always talking about the front axle. And his powerslide on the way to the finish in Monaco shows that he is not afraid of the rear.

Several drivers have complained about the RB being difficult. But I have not seen a good description of what the issue is. That would be interesting.

[Wouter]

[djones]

I do wonder how much Max likes a quite specific and unique car and the Redbull is totally designed around him. Therefore other drivers find it really hard.

If this season has shown anything, it's how a specific characteristic of a car can just ruin a drivers speed. Case in point... Riccardo. There is no way he is slower than Norris, certainly not by the margins we see all the time.

[Big Tea]

I do wonder how much Max likes a quite specific and unique car and the Redbull is totally designed around him. Therefore other drivers find it really hard.

If this season has shown anything, it's how a specific characteristic of a car can just ruin a drivers speed. Case in point... Riccardo. There is no way he is slower than Norris, certainly not by the margins we see all the time.

Like all things, it has to be combinations. I wonder how Max would fair in the other STR v Gasly? Interesting to see, but I feel in a few races Max would be up there again.

[djones]

I would love to see that.

I've no doubt after a couple of races Max would be the quicker driver. But maybe 0.1 or 0.2 sort of thing... not 0.5+ like we see so often at Redbull.