Motorsport Off Topic Thread

I don't think anyone is forgetting that. There's just some that think the disparity is due to the car being designed and engineered towards his driving style, and the others thinking it's not, and he's just a god amongst men that is driving a crap car and still finishing in the points. Like I said, it's hardly worth arguing over because we'll literally never know for sure.
 
Last edited:
The thing is it’s fine when you’re 25 seconds up the road and win every race while everyone else is taking turns coming second.

However now that’s not a thing you need both drivers up there competing, the problem is your car is set to 640000dpi and no bugger can drive it except the guy that has the most experience of that and indeed likes it. If Yuki can’t drive it, they are cooked for the rest of the season. It’s not the end of the world though, it’s all change next year anyway.
 
Scam said:
I don't think anyone is forgetting that. There's just some that think the disparity is due to the car being designed and engineered towards his driving style, and the others thinking it's not, and he's just a god amongst men that is driving a crap car and still finishing in the points. Like I said, it's hardly worth arguing over because we'll literally never know for sure.
Click to expand...

Well we know 100% its not a crap car in terms of pure pace as evidenced by Max being quick with it. You don't judge how good a car is based on the laps the inferior drivers do in it, you judge its pace based on what the best driver can get out of it.

You can't outperform a car without rewriting the laws of physics. If Max finished 2nd and 4th in the opening two races it's because the car was capable of it.

In my eyes its probably 60-70% the other drivers just not being at the same level as Verstappen (They are multiple levels below, not just a single level IMO) and then the other 30-40% being down to the car being designed specifically for Max.

Obviously I've just pulled those percentages out of my ass crack but you get the idea :p
 
Last edited:
koolpc said:
Nope
Click to expand...

Fair enough but multiple drivers (Perez & Albon) have stated that development between and during a season went in the opposite direction of how they like the car to handle.

I guess that doesn't necessarily mean it intentionally went in the direction of Verstappen. That said other teams over the years have made design choices based on driver preference so I'd be amazed if this wasn't the case to some degree with Verstappen. Maybe it's more a case of building the fastest car possible (even if it's sketchy to drive) because they know Max will handle it, which I'll admit isn't quite the same as building a car specifically for his driving style.
 
Last edited:
I'm watching the DTS episode about Perez and Lawson right now.

Massively awkward to watch in hindsight !
 
Last edited:
GravyMonster said:
Its famously the opposite, Alonso much prefers having understeer.
Click to expand...
True, I misremembered how he described it. Likes understeer so that he can brake later and use the brakes in corner to rotate the car.

Max and Charles probably prefer carrying more speed into the corner, which is a bit riskier if you aren’t confident or have a feel for what the car will do.
 
Jono8 said:
I'm watching the DTS episode about Perez and Lawson right now.

Massively awkward to watch in hindsight !
Click to expand...
I’m sure in one of those episodes they said Lawson was only 2 tenths off Max when they tested the car at Silverstone (although the track was a bit wet). Wonder what went wrong there?
 
Stu999 said:
So why haven’t they utilised that expertise to fix it over the last 3+ years that the problem has been evident?
Click to expand...
Don’t think it’s been a problem for that long. They crushed 2023, would’ve come into 2024 with confidence and halfway through is probably when they realised it wasn’t sustainable. Also hard to know that other drivers can’t drive it without them actually driving it, which we’re seeing now.

Between 2026 being new regs and the fact that you can’t just change the cars characteristics and guarantee the same pace, it makes sense that they’ll just ride this out and hope that the 2nd seat can score some points.
 
Mesai said:
Don’t think it’s been a problem for that long. They crushed 2023, would’ve come into 2024 with confidence and halfway through is probably when they realised it wasn’t sustainable. Also hard to know that other drivers can’t drive it without them actually driving it, which we’re seeing now.

Between 2026 being new regs and the fact that you can’t just change the cars characteristics and guarantee the same pace, it makes sense that they’ll just ride this out and hope that the 2nd seat can score some points.
Click to expand...

It's interesting really. I guess it's good for the drivers championship potentially as the car is completely optimised to Max, who is obviously an elite driver that will deliver a championship if the car is fast enough. However it has perhaps shown that if taken to extremes, it heavily compromises your chances at the constructors championship, especially if other teams are close, or have as fast a car.
 
Mesai said:
Don’t think it’s been a problem for that long.
Click to expand...

I think it's had fundamental issues since Gasly was there in 2019. You look back at what he has said, what Albon has said, and what Pérez has said and it's clear there have been issues. Newey and Max gave the team enough of an edge that those deficiencies weren't so important but now Newey has left and the other teams have closed, and the issues are being exposed as never before.
 
Mr Jack said:
I think it's had fundamental issues since Gasly was there in 2019. You look back at what he has said, what Albon has said, and what Pérez has said and it's clear there have been issues. Newey and Max gave the team enough of an edge that those deficiencies weren't so important but now Newey has left and the other teams have closed, and the issues are being exposed as never before.
Click to expand...
I agree that the direction has been that way for a while but has only been an issue this past year or two. They’ve only had lower tier drivers in that second seat, with little time to adjust, and Max carrying the team made everyone a bit complacent and put them down a path that isn’t easy to recover from (until new regs).

I think few would disagree that there’d have been less of a difference with the likes of Charles, Lewis, Alonso, etc. in that second seat, not that you should be building a car that only a handful of drivers can put in the points.
 
imtoooldforthis said:
Everyone is blaming the car saying it's impossible to drive because its based around Max's driving style.

Yet people seem to have forgotten that Max's driving style is to have the car as pointy as possible with big preference to oversteer yet all Lawsons complaints have been about the complete opposite, terminal understeer and no front grip...

It's a weird one
Click to expand...

It's not based around Max's driving at all. For the past two years Max hasn't liked the car and has been complaining he's having to change his style to suit the car. He's just better at extracting performance from a *******.

It's already been said before by engineers. They will develop the fastest car possible regardless of a drivers style.

Newey in his interview after leaving mentioned that the car had deficiencies and that the team continued to develop that concept regardless of those issues and basically got stuck down that path.
 
Last edited:
Stu999 said:
So why haven’t they utilised that expertise to fix it over the last 3+ years that the problem has been evident?
Click to expand...
Same reason Mercedes couldn't resolve their car in the past few years I guess, as I alluded to in my post.
But why would RB be focused upon this year's car anyway with 2026 just around the corner?
 
Last edited:
I can't blame them for acting quickly this time, we've spent 2 years critiscising them for not dropping Perez, and shouting "there has to be a better option" but the same people now seem to be annoyed they've acted quickly.
We don't have access to the inner working of the team or their data to see how bad it really is and exactly where the performance issues are.

Its a ruthless sport, probably more now than its ever been, you only get a couple of chances at best and if you don't perform that's it.

It'll be interesting to see how Lawson gets on in the RB which I'd imagine is going to be much closer to what he drove last season as well, but Hadjar has looked pretty handy so far.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom