Carlos drove away from Charles easily too, I think he legitimately could’ve had a shot at Max all things being equal. I’m actually disappointed Max retired as I would’ve loved to have seen a true battle between him and Carlos.
I would really like to see Carlos in the other Redbull next to max next year, that would spice things up.
I think Verstappen goal is to see how many team mates he can go through in his career.
Looking to set that record too 
12 posts were merged into an existing topic: Karting and it’s Association with “pro” Motorsports… F1 etc
Just listened to Beyond the Grid with Ayao Komatsu and it was a cool interview.
One interesting note I got out of it was that Steiner had asked Haas to invest more into the team to increase performance, so Haas actually threw some money at it and got the Rich Energy money for 2019, but then they built that atrocious 2019 car, so Gene basically was like “okay I threw money at it and we actually made a worse car with the increased budget, so no more spending until we figure out how to use our money wisely and work cohesively”. So that’s Ayao’s goal is to get the three HQs communicating better and using the resources they have in the most efficient way possible, rather than asking Gene for money again. Seems like a lot of people give Haas shit for “not investing” or “not spending enough to show commitment” but I’m thinking he might be right. If I threw millions at a problem and it got worse, it would be the definition of insanity to double down and throw more at it.
Anyway, Komatsu seems like a really sharp and likable guy. My favorite bits of these interviews are hearing from team principals or team employees who have worked with many legendary drivers, talking about what made each driver stand out and what their strengths and weaknesses were. Great to hear that insight from someone who was literally looking at the data and working side by side with these drivers 24/7.
What is up with logan tho? Why he keep crashing and crashing ?
Pretty sure his confidence is shot. I really want him to have a good weekend to give him a boost. Doesn’t look likely this weekend though☹️
He is trying way too hard and pushing when he doesn’t need to. Feeling the pressure and I would imagine after Australia where they took his car away, he is even lower mentally than before.
His speed isn’t bad, he can be close to Albon, even across a race, but he is making way too many mistakes to hold onto that seat unless something changes quickly.
I think I drove on the simulator he had developed the code for. I started at Loughborough on the same course the year after he finished his PhD and having some driving experience I was tapped to “work” on the next PhD students thesis driving the simulator and real life machinery.
I remember I think on here somewhere I wrote I thought when he came to F1 he was making too many rookie mistakes still in F2, I watched every F2 race that year. Finessing his driving to remove those errors along with the pressure of F1 would be too much of a mountain for him.
I feel like Williams have kind of ruined his career by plucking him into that seat when he wasn’t ready, something Toto hinted at the other day when talking about Kimi A being something special but not quite ready and ‘not making the same mistake as Williams did with Logan’
I feel sorry for him really, he seems to be a real nice guy who always goes over to meet the fans and do autographs.
Given we’re at historical lows for new seats for rookie drivers (2025 is a bottleneck moment, but will soon rest back at historical lows), drivers have to take the opportunity when presented regardless of experience or whatever because the likelihood is it’ll never be offered again.
Couldn’t agree more, and no way Logan could’ve nor should’ve turned it down. My point was Williams shouldn’t have offered it when it was obvious he wasn’t ready.
Just a simple video, but cracking nonetheless.
I’ve been a Perez fan for sometime and remain one but not sure why. Initially, it was his performance with underdog cars. Last year there was a lot of boasting, which always makes me cringe, about how he will be challenging VER. Seemed like a lot was coming from the dad but Sergio was part of it and his season was a disaster with lots of over driving mistakes. This year, there is no unqualified boasting and he is driving at his best with very few mistakes. He might have a win if VER breaks, other than that no chance. I think he’ll retire next year
Why would he retire if he is able to consistently score podiums and a win or two in tracks that he likes or if Max has issues? He seems to have accepted the #2 driver role and it is definitely helping him a lot.
On another note, it seems to be the end for Sargeant in Williams. He does not have any confidence in the car, the team does not have confidence in him and the partnership will not work in the long run. I was suprised they kept him for 2024 in the first place. He is just not good enough for F1, this is a fact. In every race he either makes a mistake or is just painfully slow.
I have never rated both Williams drivers. Albon has never stacked well against competent teammates and only looked good against Latifi and Sargeant who are in the bottom of the bottom tier of F1 drivers and has been regularly at the top of the destructors championship (even broke the record for highest damage cost in 2019, he had around 5.5m in damages). Sargeant is slow and crashes every 2 races. The team itself is also terrible operationally and seems to be barely making it financially, they need a complete restart to fix their situation. I might be harsh but it is sad to see one of the most successful teams in F1 suffer like that. Replacing their lineup with consistent, experienced drivers would be a good start.
I rate Albon but I am starting to agree on Sargeant. This is one instance where I think Haas has actually come out ahead with two experienced drivers. The stability of keeping those two is very helpful when rebuilding a team. I think Vowles is doing a good job and really pinpointing the issues at Williams, but his drivers don’t make things easy for him right now. I would keep Albon and try to wrangle an experienced guy to replace Logan. They need both cars to finish the weekend without crashing more than anything at the moment.
Yeaaahh, I definitely agree with you on that. But then again I’m not too surprised since Williams is an old school team. They come from the age of carburetors, grid girls, and was there when microsoft excel was the latest and greatest haha. I would imagine it’s hard for an “independent” team like that to “get with the times” without the financial backing of a major corporation like the others. They have cost caps and stuff now, but there for a while it seems like spending was unlimited. Not just for the racing itself, but money towards a team’s infrastructure too.
I will have to disagree on the Albon statement though. Not only was he was kind of setup for failure when he got “promoted” from Toro Rosso to Red Bull in the middle of his debut season (then becoming team-mates with basically a robot of a driver), but even his seat in Toro Rosso came pre-maturely. He didn’t have much F1 seat time compared to other drivers, so really his time in F1 has been a sink or swim situation, much like Sargeant. The difference is he’s done a better job at like, “not sinking”.
For example, even though he struggled at Red Bull, on his good days, the gap/difference between his pace and Verstappen’s was smaller than the gap between Perez and Verstappen during the 2021 season when Perez replaced him. But that little bit of info is shadowed because the Red Bull pace during Albon’s time, put Verstappen fighting for podiums while Albon was fighting mid-field. The 2021 season however, Red Bull as a team got faster so Verstappen was fighting for wins while Perez was fighting for podiums. So that makes Perez look better from a results standpoint.
Now Alex is stuck in a team who’s struggling to level-up their whole operation yet still trying to compete every race weekend.