ringo wrote: ↑16 Apr 2025, 08:09
I think the Mercedes can win the next race in Jeddah comfortably if their Las Vegas performance last year is anything to go by.
Agreed on the team sticking with George.
Max will not bring much in value at this stage.
George has no weaknesses now and is firing on all cylinders. The team is focused around him, he knows the systems and culture and is ingrained in the 2026 project.
Max would be a disruption for Mercedes now as he will need to come up to speed and importantly he will be a fish out of water without Marko and the redbull engineers tha tailored his cars to him.
Russel has nothing to worry about. Totto wants to show the Merc driver program can create champions also. So he's not going to select Max to win in his cars.
While Max is definitely a great driver, but he is not going to come alone. He is going to bring an unwanted baggage of toxic fans, Jos who is a loose cannon and that dutch journalist who keeps releasing team info to the world. None of which is a problem currently for Mercedes and they are going about their business quietly.
One advantage with George, other than the fact that he is equally fast, is that he doesn't bark on the team either on radio or in press. He maintains a lot of patience and professionalism with the team, which has been evident in the last 6 years at Williams and Mercedes. He didn't lose his mind in the last race where he had all sorts of technical issues and completed the job. I don't remember which other driver fits in that category other than Schumacher, Mika and Prost.
With Max, it's like Alonso. The cars get more and more difficult to drive for other drivers in the team, making WCC an impossible task. Max's ask for the kind of car is so vastly different to other drivers. Whereas for someone like George, it need not have to be developed oddly differently to get performance out of it. There is a pattern with Max. If the car is to his liking, other can't drive and if the car is likeable for other driver in the team, he doesn't become much of a differentiator. It becomes a big conundrum for engineers. I don't think this going to change if Max moves from Red Bull to Mercedes. In their heydays, Mercedes cars have been generously harmonious to two drivers and W16 follows the same pattern, but I doubt it remains that way if Max joins. Nothing against Max, but you cannot ignore the facts.
He finished 11th in the second fastest car. The guy he "mugged" ended up 5 places ahead. The highlights are nice but in reality this was not a good race for Kimi. Russell and Kimi have the potential to be up there, but Kimi isn't there yet and nor should we expect him to be at this point.
