Formula 1 crypto.com (ugh, really?) Miami Grand Prix 2022Formula 1

[Magog]

It's almost as if driving for a midfield team with a terrible team mate and getting good results makes you look like a better driver than driving for a top team with the best driver on the grid and getting abysmal results.

Verstappen got 10/17 podiums in 2020, while Albon only got two. But Albon totally would've regularly beaten Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas in 2021. You can tell he would by the way he's currently destroying Latifi (the second best Canadian driver on the grid!!).

If I could have any two drivers in my team it would be Max and George. Max for now with George learning and eventually taking over as lead driver many years down the line. He would for sure be a solid #2 now and is in my mind a future champion as long as he has a competitive car. Lewis is a legend but you have to say his best days are probably behind him. Too distracted with other things to give 110% to racing like Max and George are currently doing. Albon isn't as fast as George but I think he would have scored more points than Perez.

 

[PeterJB]

Before the safety car, Latifi had got to over 30 seconds behind the next driver.

Without pitting.

 

[Veinz]

Ouch, I can’t see Latifi driving for this team after the summer break tbh.

 

[PeterJB]

Ouch, I can’t see Latifi driving for this team after the summer break tbh.

Honestly, last year he was doing all right. He was behind Russell in qualifying, but on race pace was far closer, and drove excellently in Hungary. But now, the first the driver that comes to mind is Narain Karthikeyan. In his HRT years he was consistently slowest in all sessions and only a handful of times outqualified or outraced either his teammate or anyone else. Latifi's qualifying gaps are almost as bad as Mazepin's.

 

[Magog]

Honestly, last year he was doing all right. He was behind Russell in qualifying, but on race pace was far closer, and drove excellently in Hungary. But now, the first the driver that comes to mind is Narain Karthikeyan. In his HRT years he was consistently slowest in all sessions and only a handful of times outqualified or outraced either his teammate or anyone else. Latifi's qualifying gaps are almost as bad as Mazepin's.

The one paid driver who impresses me is Stroll. Some rich boy whose daddy bought a team so he could race but he is more than holding his own against a former multi-championship winner in Vettel.

 

[McLaren]

If I could have any two drivers in my team it would be Max and George. Max for now with George learning and eventually taking over as lead driver many years down the line. He would for sure be a solid #2 now and is in my mind a future champion as long as he has a competitive car. Lewis is a legend but you have to say his best days are probably behind him. Too distracted with other things to give 110% to racing like Max and George are currently doing. Albon isn't as fast as George but I think he would have scored more points than Perez.

You do realize George & Max are only separated by 4.5 months in age, right?

If we get to a point where Max can no longer be a lead driver, I doubt George will be performing any better. I predict as long as the mutual interest is there w/ Red Bull, Max's career will probably age as well as Lewis' into his mid 30's.

 

[MisterWaffles]

Honestly as a Canadian myself, Latifi has just been a huge disappointment all around. You don’t get second place in the championship in F2 in 2019 by sucking, and he hasn’t shown any of that capability at all in F1 even in a Williams. I don’t understand what happened there.

Stroll has been a bit better but he’s still a mid to poor driver in terms of F1 performance.

My country has been so poorly represented in the sport ever since the Villeneuves left.

 

[Blitz24]

You do realize George & Max are only separated by 4.5 months in age, right?

If we get to a point where Max can no longer be a lead driver, I doubt George will be performing any better. I predict as long as the mutual interest is there w/ Red Bull, Max's career will probably age as well as Lewis' into his mid 30's.

And isn't the only reason why George "seems newer" because Max's debut basically created a new rule on an age limit?

 

[McLaren]

And isn't the only reason why George "seems newer" because Max's debut basically created a new rule on an age limit?

They changed the age limit to 18 to join afaik, but looking at their racing careers on Wiki, I would think it's more so because Max basically only spent 1 year in a feeder series before making the leap to F1 instantly where as George spent a good amount of time climbing his way through the feeder ranks.

 

[Veinz]

Honestly as a Canadian myself, Latifi has just been a huge disappointment all around. You don’t get second place in the championship in F2 in 2019 by sucking, and he hasn’t shown any of that capability at all in F1 even in a Williams. I don’t understand what happened there.

Stroll has been a bit better but he’s still a mid to poor driver in terms of F1 performance.

My country has been so poorly represented in the sport ever since the Villeneuves left.

The thing is, it took him 5 seasons in that series to pull that off.

Our last really good prospect was Robert Wickens, it’s a shame it didn’t work out for him in F1.

 

[Peter.]

Before the safety car, Latifi had got to over 30 seconds behind the next driver.

Without pitting.

Stroll gets a lot of the pay driver critique that really should go to Latifi instead. Russell outqualifying him 15-2 and 16-5 as teammates is an insane disparity, even for a top talent head to head against an obviously inferior subordinate. Now Alex Albon is giving him the same kind of treatment.

 

[Liquid]

The worst camera angle of all time is simultaneously the best View attachment 1148363

He's out train spotting.

 

[O604]

I don't think F2 is working as a feeder system.

It functions more as a pay wall. But that part isn't working either. It was intended to attract sponsors for drivers. But only those with exisiting personal wealth who can survive without sponsors have been given opportunities. F2 was created by Salvatore Briatore so I assume it's how it was indended.

 

[Veinz]

It’s 2 or 3 million Euros for a seat in F2. Tons of really talented drivers don’t even get one race, let alone a full season in a good team. But guys like Galeal and Latifi will race in that series for 5 seasons and show pretty much nothing.

 

[NICKname]

It's practically mandatory to have driven in F2 in order to become an F1 driver, so it's pretty much a well functioning feeder series by default. Either way, the pay to win nature of the pyramid as a whole is a big issue, but not nearly as big of an issue as the lack of seats in F1.

Piastri had no real issues while working his way up, yet he still doesn't have a seat. Because of the pay drivers, and because of drivers without any realistic chance of winning a championship hanging on to seats through seniority. But also just because there are only 20 seats. Even if the feeder series were completely fair and easily accessible, that would still block good drivers from getting into F1.

 

[Dolph Drago]

Remember the days of prequalifying? Yes, there were some dumpy cars, but some decent drivers could make magic out of some of those machines. No chance for a Roberto Moreno to drag a 23rd place car to a points finish nowadays with the lack of seats.

 

[PeterJB]

The F2 cars look like a dog to drive and break down constantly.

 

[ScottPuss20]

Before the safety car, Latifi had got to over 30 seconds behind the next driver.

Without pitting.

He's definitely on borrowed time right now. I don't think Williams would want to keep him on for much longer if he's that far off the pace.

 

[McLaren]

This was shared on Reddit yesterday from journalist, Joe Saward. Seems relevant given the topic. There's a lot here, but I wanted to share the context leading up the exert about Williams.

If there is enough money, F1 is not a closed shop as Lawrence Stroll (Aston Martin), Dorilton Capital (Williams) and Finn Rausing (Alfa Romeo Racing) might all sell. McLaren says it won’t, but it might if the numbers added up to a big enough total.

From an F1 point view, it is clear that the popularity of the sport is not dependent on a team, but rather on a successful driver, so what is really important for US growth is to find an American driver to get the country excited (as Max Verstappen has done in Holland, Sergio Perez in Mexico etc etc). Michael’s prize asset in this respect is Colton Herta, but the youngster seems to be a path to join McLaren in F1, while Andretti is also about to lose the last F1 American driver Alex Rossi, who is expected to join the McLaren IndyCar team in 2022.

On Sunday Michael was accompanied on the grid by Mark Walter, the CEO of Guggenheim Partners and Daniel Towriss, the CEO of Guggenheim Life, the parent company of the Gainbridge insurance firm

But money is only important if you spend it. The fact that money does not help much in success is also highlighted with a couple of other stories kicking about in the Miami paddock. One suggested that Williams is looking to change drivers for the second part of the year as Nicholas Latifi has not done a good enough job. Things are complicated by money that the Canadian brings and by contracts, but if it happens, expect Nyck de Vries to take the drive.

Green Notebook from Route 66

Yeah, I know. Route 66 does not go through Florida. In fact, if one is being 100 percent accurate, Route 66 no longer exists. It was removed from the US Highway System in 1985, decommissioned becau…

joesaward.wordpress.com

 

[rsh]

And to add the team-lock-in.
Talented drivers sign for teams like RedBull, Ferrari and Alpine.
That also causes a talented driver like Piastri to be locked-in since he choose the Renault/Alpine Academy.

Same for other drivers like Albon who now has a seat because RedBull supports him, and Leclerc previously with Alfa Romeo as sister team for Ferrari and all Alpha Tauri drivers for RedBull.
Those teams dislike to let a talent go to a competitor. Just one comes to mind who did: Sainz.
No seat or perspective of one at RedBull and therefor went to McLaren.

 

[Magog]

And to add the team-lock-in.
Talented drivers sign for teams like RedBull, Ferrari and Alpine.
That also causes a talented driver like Piastri to be locked-in since he choose the Renault/Alpine Academy.

Same for other drivers like Albon who now has a seat because RedBull supports him, and Leclerc previously with Alfa Romeo as sister team for Ferrari and all Alpha Tauri drivers for RedBull.
Those teams dislike to let a talent go to a competitor. Just one comes to mind who did: Sainz.
No seat or perspective of one at RedBull and therefor went to McLaren.

Ricciardo left Redbull for Renault then Mclaren, lol. Worst decisions ever. Also the most overrated driver ever.

 

[Blitz24]

Ricciardo left Redbull for Renault then Mclaren, lol. Worst decisions ever. Also the most overrated driver ever.

I guess if he gets 1 win this season he will be tied with Mark Webber with 9 victories in the same amount of years run in F1. Pretty difficult to say he's the "most overrated driver ever".

 

[rsh]

Redbull didn’t let Danny Ric go, he simply signed a contract at Renault whilst RedBull also offered him a contract.
Allegedly, the reaction from RedBull management after the Baku crash when he and Verstappen collided, made him realize that they favored Verstappen over him.

And I don’t share your view on Danny Ric. He isn’t the next Senna, but he isn’t Christian Alberts either.

 

[Magog]

I guess if he gets 1 win this season he will be tied with Mark Webber with 9 victories in the same amount of years run in F1. Pretty difficult to say he's the "most overrated driver ever".

Did anyone who wasn't Australian ever rate Webber highly? Also doubt Ricc is gonna ever get another win.

 

[Pupik]

Daniel Riccardo is in that A- group of drivers with Cevert, Regazzoni, Reutemann, Berger, Barrichello, Coulthard, Webber...probably not going to be a world champion unless everything falls into place just right. Probably had to be teammates to "A+ legends" and would be an A if they'd been on another team.

At least he's in a team with a better position to improve than Vettel is right now, who is in a weird spot where he's become more interesting as his chances for winning have become slimmer, but is usually actively trying to pass as many cars as possible in a race.

 

[NICKname]

I guess if he gets 1 win this season he will be tied with Mark Webber with 9 victories in the same amount of years run in F1. Pretty difficult to say he's the "most overrated driver ever".

That's a very big if, and a pretty small amount of wins considering that he was considered the next big thing before the zoomers entered the sport. If he was still at a top team he would seem no better than Perez or Sainz. I don't think he's overrated anymore, in fact he might be underrated at this point, but looking back the massive amount of hype around him in 2014-2016 was misplaced (though understandable, considering that Verstappen and Leclerc weren't at the top yet).

 

[Magog]

Daniel Riccardo is in that A- group of drivers with Cevert, Regazzoni, Reutemann, Berger, Barrichello, Coulthard, Webber...probably not going to be a world champion unless everything falls into place just right. Probably had to be teammates to "A+ legends" and would be an A if they'd been on another team.

At least he's in a team with a better position to improve than Vettel is right now, who is in a weird spot where he's become more interesting as his chances for winning have become slimmer, but is usually actively trying to pass as many cars as possible in a race.

Vettel might be the least talented multi-championship winner ever. People complain about Hamilton's "rocket ships" but Vettel had cars that were light-years ahead of the competition.

 

[Pupik]

Vettel might be the least talented multi-championship winner ever. People complain about Hamilton's "rocket ships" but Vettel had cars that were light-years ahead of the competition.

Tough call. It all hinges on how well one rates Webber / Riccardo and how well anyone has done with Renault turbos. Or on how you rate him alongside Raikkonen in similar machinery.

So you can't really put him with other 3+ World Champs, but knowing that it's tough to do that and still be motivated, that's still better than most one-timers.

 

[PeterJB]

Vettel might be the least talented multi-championship winner ever. People complain about Hamilton's "rocket ships" but Vettel had cars that were light-years ahead of the competition.

Two of Vettel's four titles went down to the wire. One of Hamilton's six with Mercedes did, and that was against someone in the same car. Even in the two years Vettel did dominate, his teammate was miles behind, whereas from 2014-2016 Mercedes occupied the front row on the grid and the top two steps on the podium in more than half the races.

 

[GroupB]

Webber had a particular problem with standing starts, which enabled Vettel to race off into the distance, unchallenged for the remainder of the race.