Formula 1 Heineken Chinese Grand Prix 2025Formula 1

[timekiller001]

I'm not sure if I completely buy into the "Lawson is terrible" fad.

I mean, he was pretty much on par with Yuki from the moment they put him in Ricciardo's seat. I cannot believe for one second Lawson is legit that slow in a Red Bull car... I have no idea what the hell is going on with that second car, but Max must have a very specific driving style that most people cannot seem to cope with.

It's not the driver, it's the car. The way it's set up for Max must be very specific, as every other driver has failed to match him ever since Ric left for 2019.
Gasly and Albon might have been question marks because of their lack of experience, but Perez just confirmed it. He was up there when he managed to find the sweet spot, but that happened far to rarely.
Putting Tsunoda in that seat will just confirm that and ruin his home race.

 

[IforceV8]

It would only need to be 250g per tyre over 20-ish laps. I think that Leclerc's lack of front downforce could've caused excessive wear.

What I don't get is that you know that your driver is going to be doing a one stopper, you know that cars have underweighed when doing a one stop against conventional wisdom, so why wouldn't you put in that extra kilo of ballast to make sure?

I'm not sure then knew they could make it one stop and in the end LEC and HAM ended up in the same place. Losing the finish and points for 1 kg is inexcusable.

 

[Rossell2]

I do get the impression that Max is flattering that car more than it deserves. Liam I think just needs more practise in the sister team. If Yuki struggles though it'll be plain to see where the problem is, RB will have no excuses at that point.

Edit: As for Ferrari, they really need to get their backsides in gear. Both drivers have got enough speed to put a challenge in, but they're being let down.

 

[NickGuy]

Lawson may not have long to prove himself.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/liam-lawson-red-bull-seat-already-at-risk-disastrous-start-f1-2025/

And everyone blamed Mercedes last season for sabotaging his setups, maybe Lewis is just a tinkerer.

im not sure what to think about the last season at Merc, to me it's mulligan'd because I dont think Lewis was mentally checked in after a certain point. It definitely seems like he likes to fiddle with the setups, but how do you not just let the setup that got pole and a win rock T_T

 

[EngieDiesel]

im not sure what to think about the last season at Merc, to me it's mulligan'd because I dont think Lewis was mentally checked in after a certain point. It definitely seems like he likes to fiddle with the setups, but how do you not just let the setup that got pole and a win rock T_T

Could have been he felt that while that setup was good for short runs like quali runs and the sprint, it wouldn't have held up in a full race after the track conditions and tire compounds changed in the later stages.

 

[McLaren]

I'm not sure if I completely buy into the "Lawson is terrible" fad.

I mean, he was pretty much on par with Yuki from the moment they put him in Ricciardo's seat. I cannot believe for one second Lawson is legit that slow in a Red Bull car... I have no idea what the hell is going on with that second car, but Max must have a very specific driving style that most people cannot seem to cope with.

It's been alluded to for years now, since the Albon days. Max's preference in how the car handles has been said to be unique compared to almost every other driver & Red Bull clearly will cater to that if it makes him faster. Even this article today about the swap points to it.

He believes that Red Bull’s engineers have a ‘duty’ to build a car that can reach its limits in the hands of his teammates and not just himself.

Verstappen wants his car to have an extremely sensitive front end, something many of his past teammates have struggled with.

Why Verstappen ‘isn’t happy’ with proposed Lawson to Tsunoda swap for the Japanese GP

The driver market could see its first activity after just a couple of races!

www.f1oversteer.com

 

[Grayfox]

Very odd, and disappointing. I guess as the teams are running so close to the weight limit now, there's little room for error. Has tyre wear played a part here again like with Russel in Spa?

Tire wear should not be a factor.
Teams should know much a worn tire weighs and should use that as the baseline with a little extra for safety.
Frankly the FIA should stipulate a minimum weight of the car without tires/wheels
The weight of these is KNOWN, all rims are the same as are the tires.

I'm not sure if I completely buy into the "Lawson is terrible" fad.

I mean, he was pretty much on par with Yuki from the moment they put him in Ricciardo's seat. I cannot believe for one second Lawson is legit that slow in a Red Bull car... I have no idea what the hell is going on with that second car, but Max must have a very specific driving style that most people cannot seem to cope with.

On the stream i was watching yesterday.
Someone mentioned that his average finish is lower than Mazepin, after the first 3 races, it was .5 places or something and that HAAS was bad, the RB is not.
But people were going on how bad Mazepin is after those 3 races.

 

[NickGuy]

It never was the second driver

but after 3 different drivers got "lol skill issue max is just the GOAT om nom nom"'d i really don't have it in me to feel any sympathy for red bull. Ignoring blatant issues just because youre seeing success is a good way to implode later on

 

[MagpieRacer]

Tire wear should not be a factor.
Teams should know much a worn tire weighs and should use that as the baseline with a little extra for safety.
Frankly the FIA should stipulate a minimum weight of the car without tires/wheels
The weight of these is KNOWN, all rims are the same as are the tires.


On the stream i was watching yesterday.
Someone mentioned that his average finish is lower than Mazepin, after the first 3 races, it was .5 places or something and that HAAS was bad, the RB is not.
But people were going on how bad Mazepin is after those 3 races.

The difference with Mazepin is it went beyond a skill issue. He didn't deserve to be in F1 on so many different metrics. Lawson has earned his right to be there, he's just being sent to fail.