Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2022Formula 1

[NotThePrez]

So you don't think a manufacturer paying for a driver's seat doesn't hold more weight than a family member doing so? This is the point Iam trying to make.

Nope, because in the grand scheme of things, they're still a pay driver. The goal is ultimately the same, for the backer to provide enough financial assistance to a team to entice them to sign their driver. Doesn't matter if the backer is family (Stroll, Norris, Latifi), an OEM (Daddy Schumacher, Tsunoda before this year), a major drinks supplier (Ricciardo and Vettel before joining RBR proper), or someone with just a metric crap ton of money (Checo).

Very, very few drivers make it into this level of motorsport without some significant amount of outside backing. What separates them from others is still their own driving ability. While Lando has received a lot of funding from his dad, he has still been able to prove that he has a place on the grid, to the point of McLaren offering him a contract extension through to 2025. Meanwhile, Latifi, despite having backing from his very wealthy family, has no (public) guarantees beyond this year, especially with the new owners of Williams stating that they're not as reliant on the money he brings in.

 

[sillybilly]

And now we have another race w/ Red Bull being accused of playing favoritism again.

Verstappen's dad blasts Red Bull's Monaco calls

Jos Verstappen, the father of F1 world champion Max, has criticised Red Bull's Monaco Grand Prix strategy and said the team should have prioritised his son and not Sergio Perez.

www.espn.com

I think this sort of drama is something Red Bull would've preferred left behind in Spain. Internal spats as they climb back into the WDC & WCC are only going to help Ferrari make up for their blunders.

haha so good that the number 2 drivers for the top two team ended up ahead of the number 1 for each team.

Does anyone think that RBR was hoping that Ferrari would quickly pit to cover Checo and that would have allowed Max to be able to overcut them and potentially adjust the stops to get ahead also of Checo?

Ferrari failed so hard it's funny because they let their drivers get undercut and overcut by checo...


How frustrating was it that the commentators seemed to have no understanding that LEC had been undercut by Checo on the switch to intermediates?

 

[SlowGrayAudi]

Lando said in an interview that he chose the McLaren young driver program because he would actually have a shot at getting a drive in F1 versus Red Bull where you're a dime a dozen and they don't ****ing care about you

Red Bull tried stealing Norris away from McLaren when he was still in F2. Money wasn't what got him into the sport, money was what got him a seat at McLaren.

 

[NICKname]

Lando said in an interview that he chose the McLaren young driver program because he would actually have a shot at getting a drive in F1 versus Red Bull where you're a dime a dozen and they don't ****ing care about you

This is completely irrelevant. Red Bull specifically offered him a seat at Toro Rosso for the 2019 season.

Also, I don't see how a pay driver would need to have a shot at getting an F1 seat, unless that means a shot at an affordable seat.

To me it seems like he has preferred to drive for McLaren for a long time now, at least in this part of his career, and the money just helps to make sure they don't treat him like Magnussen or Vandoorne.