[Team] Red Bull: Unbullievable

[PanozDP01]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

while conservative, i definitely think this is a more than reasonable choice...i am a bit surprised by what sounds like a guaranteed two year extension tho.



guess no promotion for Ric/basically the end of his F1 career as well?

Do you want to revise this ?

Perez is really on a roll now. Getting punted in Q1 2 races in a row and being the worst Red Bull/Vcarb for 3 races in a row.

Riccardo isn't that good but he could probably fulfill the most minimal requirements of that seat. Like getting out of Q1.

[chillibowl]

Maybe after the race!

[Skam85]

Not sure some people realise that points aren't awarded until Sunday.

There's medication for being a bit too trigger happy I'm told.

[Plantagenet]

The changeable weather for the race may help Perez, in a manner to Button in the slightly crazy race of 2011.
However, I think the real issue with Perez this weekend is that he hasn’t been quick in any session. I don’t know if RB have altered the balance of the car to develop it further for Max, and that this is making it harder to drive for Perez. To my mind, the gap between him and Max is going up, certainly since the early days of 2023 where he started the championship brightly.

One ray of sunshine for RB is that Ricardo had his best qualifying for ages, maybe since rejoining the RB fold.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by Plantagenet

The changeable weather for the race may help Perez, in a manner to Button in the slightly crazy race of 2011.
However, I think the real issue with Perez this weekend is that he hasn’t been quick in any session. I don’t know if RB have altered the balance of the car to develop it further for Max, and that this is making it harder to drive for Perez. To my mind, the gap between him and Max is going up, certainly since the early days of 2023 where he started the championship brightly.

One ray of sunshine for RB is that Ricardo had his best qualifying for ages, maybe since rejoining the RB fold.

Red Bull optimized the car even more than the RB19, but that has compromised it on bumpy circuits and where curb hopping is a technique to cut time.
Horner said the RB doesn't have the issue but it uses RB19 suspension.

Perez set a time that was 12th fastest when he set it but people still completing their laps in Montreal bumped him down to sixteenth and that was it, the session had ended so no way back.
The field is extremely close now and differences are in hundredths of seconds, the field covered by less than two seconds front to back so there's no room for error or getting caught out by hindering someone or being hindered, or not getting tyre temperature right.
You might get two runs but you need everything right to maximize the run.
One small issue might cost twenty to thirty hundredths of a second but that can take you from 9th to 11th, or 14th to 17th.
And in restricted time that's it. Your gone.

[S griffin]

I remember the first couple of years Checo had with RBR (2021-22) he was always there or thereabouts most days, but since last year he’s had too many off days. He needs to find something. The contract extension might help take the pressure off though

[BTCC frog]

Sergio Perez’s contract extension at Red Bull reminds me of the one given to Paul Lambert by Ipswich Town in January 2020.

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by Skam85

Not sure some people realise that points aren't awarded until Sunday.

No points awarded for breaking your rear wing off.

[TrapezeArtist]

Conspiracy alert! Christian Horner has all sorts of trouble over inappropriate something (allegedly). Sergio Perez gets a two year contract extension despite some lamentable performances and not much in the way of moderately good ones.

[ChrisA]

Vestappen facing a possible 10 place grid penalty at next race. His Canadian engine is at Honda being examined. He took a new engine for Spain, and this might trigger the penalty as was over his allocation.

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

Vestappen facing a possible 10 place grid penalty at next race. His Canadian engine is at Honda being examined. He took a new engine for Spain, and this might trigger the penalty as was over his allocation.

Sounds like they will take it in Spa like they have the past two seasons.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I remember the first couple of years Checo had with RBR (2021-22) he was always there or thereabouts most days, but since last year he’s had too many off days. He needs to find something. The contract extension might help take the pressure off though

I'm curious that all three of the scapegoats, (Ricciardo, Perez, and Lance Stroll) have actually simply met the expectations that people have of them.
There is so much on various sites about their performances and so much negativity about whether or not they deserve their seat, that the poor results actually reflect what people are saying about them.
In other words, they are living up to the reputation they are given.

At the beginning of 22 and 23 Perez was doing all that could be expected of him but a couple of lesser results and the deluge started. And it doesn't let up no matter what he does right.
8th in Spain was about as good as could be expected given that he qualified 8th, and is not regarded to be in the same league as Max, Lando, Oscar, Charles, Carlos, Lewis or George.
The same critics will argue that we have convergence or near convergence and that it is about as even as it can get, so why would a lesser driver be further forward than where he qualified considering the others all started ahead of him after his grid penalty....

Daniel qualified behind Yuki but managed to grab a few places more and than Yuki but the result for both was still nothing like previous standards so is it a circuit issue?

And Lance was faster in Q2 than Fernando but then Fred put in a quick lap at the end of Q2 that didn't give Lance time to respond.

The differences in time per lap are fractions of seconds so in the real world there is nothing in the gaps. (How many sips of Coffee or spoonful's of porridge can you down in 296/1000ths of a second....)

And look at the grid!
Row 2 two merc's
Row 3 two Ferrari's
Row 4 two Alpines
Row 9 two RB's
Row 10. two Williams (Yes I know Albon started from pit lane, but he was 19th in qualifying anyway.)
Only Red Bull, McLaren, Aston Martin, Haas and Sauber didn't start with both team mates alongside each other.

[Sandgroper]

The drums are beating again, a lot of unsubstantiated reporting.
Interesting times ahead.

[Teretonga]

Here is a question to Racer magazine and an answer to the question.
Writer is Chris Medland.

Q: Two years ago Perez could at least challenge Verstappen and won a couple races here or there. Last year he wasn’t as competitive. This year it’s almost like they’re driving different cars. I’m not here to speculate on if he belongs in the car or anything like that. I’m curious what the team attributes the massive gap in pace to Verstappen to?

Ryan, West Michigan

CM: Even Perez himself puts it down to ability. In an interview we ran sections from with him in Canada, he admitted, “You have a reference where you currently have the best driver on the grid next to you and he’s performing at such a high level, at one with the car…”

Don’t take any of the following as criticism of Perez, either. Verstappen was starting to put some distance between himself and Ricciardo more often back in 2018, then also had a clear advantage over Gasly and Albon after that.

Verstappen’s ability to get a car to do what he wants is incredible. On a recent Skip Barber Racing School day, I was shown his approach to a corner in Sebring in the Florida Winter Series back in 2014 where his car control and rapid reactions meant he could attack the bumps like nobody else. And he was just starting out in cars then.

Like many drivers, especially when they pass 30 (Alonso and Hamilton have generally been outliers on the current grid) Perez has clear strengths but is at his best when the car allows him to use them. He finds it tougher to drive around problems, whereas Verstappen’s adaptability gives him an advantage.

That’s also shown by the fact that Perez is often closer early in the season, where they both start from the same point and on tracks Verstappen isn’t a huge fan of, but then the Dutchman works out how to adjust or get the car to do more of what he wants. He himself said it was Baku last year where he tried a few different settings and approaches in the race while behind Perez, and it clicked.

Look at how close the chasing pack is to Verstappen, though. Perez could be 0.3s per lap off his teammate last year and usually finish second or on the podium after starting in the top four or five. This year, that deficit would leave him in the bottom half of the top 10, or even outside it sometimes in qualifying. Then you’re stuck in a more competitive pack and can’t make easy progress.

Even with clear air and the ability to run his own race without any disruption from lap three in Barcelona, Verstappen was still very nearly caught by Norris, who had a lot more fighting to do. The Red Bull advantage has gone, and that’s emphasizing the value of Verstappen.

[S griffin]

Interesting question. I can see frustration has crept into Checo. I don't think the car is that easy to drive either. Nor do I think Perez has got any worse. Times have changed. It was easier to challenge Max back in the day. But he's not invincible now. No one could have expected him to dominate this much. That said, I expected Perez to be closer by now

[Greem]

Oof. Messy.

https://racingnews365.com/jos-versta...botaged-brakes

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Greem

Oof. Messy.

https://racingnews365.com/jos-versta...botaged-brakes

That's just click-bait!

Verstappen Snr is just trying his best to destabilise Horner with all this stuff in the hope that he will be appointed to head up RBR instead of Horner. I think that he's just a nasty piece of work, and for his own reasons has blamed Horner for not being involved in the demonstration runs of the older cars, a fact that Horner has denied.

It's Verstappen Jnr that I have some sympathy for, having to put this all this rubbish out of his mind to do what he's paid to do, and which he does very well.

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

That's just click-bait!

Verstappen Snr is just trying his best to destabilise Horner with all this stuff in the hope that he will be appointed to head up RBR instead of Horner. I think that he's just a nasty piece of work, and for his own reasons has blamed Horner for not being involved in the demonstration runs of the older cars, a fact that Horner has denied.

It's Verstappen Jnr that I have some sympathy for, having to put this all this rubbish out of his mind to do what he's paid to do, and which he does very well.

Agree with all that - Jos just shows himself to be utterly classless, again & again. Like you, I really feel for Max, having to put up with it.

[Mike Harte]

Just thinking to myself about this, but isn't it more than a coincidence that Verstappen Snr is claiming that his son's brakes are possibly going to be sabotaged just a few days after the mystery emails claiming that Hamilton's car is also to be sabotaged.

All this after rumours that were floating around a couple of month's ago suggesting that Senior had been allegedly involved or behind somehow in the whole Horner-gate episode.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Just thinking to myself about this, but isn't it more than a coincidence that Verstappen Snr is claiming that his son's brakes are possibly going to be sabotaged just a few days after the mystery emails claiming that Hamilton's car is also to be sabotaged.

All this after rumours that were floating around a couple of month's ago suggesting that Senior had been allegedly involved or behind somehow in the whole Horner-gate episode.

That article is a mess. The headline says one thing, the embedded text (and quotes from Jos) say (IMHO) another (plus are ambiguous as to meaning).

I read the article text as that Jos is saying Horner is doing is best to keep Jos from driving an older RB car in the Legends Parade. That Horner warned him...

Quote from the article...

"And that I should just watch out if that thing should brake as well. I think that's pretty serious to put it that way."

Are we talking "break" (something to separate into pieces) or "brake" (device for slowing or stopping)?

The flow and context of that quote to me suggests that the word meant was "break" not "brake". Meaning, becareful the car might "break". And not that the "brake" might fail. I guess a "brake failure" would be a "break" of the car.

I think the press and fans have taken an ongoing clash between Jos and Horner and extrapolated out that Horner is going to sabotage the brakes on the vintage RB F1 car. And now somehow it has morphed into Horner sabotaging Max's car for this weekend? Multiple crazy logic leaps? Or am I missing something in that article?

Richard