Open Wheel Racing 2021, anyone there to watch?

[MichVandal]

I know what both Clark and Senna did. But they also benefitted from having the dominant car.

[Kepler]

Mercedes 12/15 at Silverstone after the practice sessions.

OK, what the f-ck? Am I now living in a world where Williams is going to be finishing better than Mercedes?

[MichVandal]

Mercedes 12/15 at Silverstone after the practice sessions.

OK, what the f-ck? Am I now living in a world where Williams is going to be finishing better than Mercedes?

Could be that Williams is really designed for this track- they are really quick this weekend.

But seeing over a number of weekends, I think one of Mercedes' core problems is a lack of correlation between the models and the car. Over many weekends, they are taking all three practice sessions to dial in their car. And then add that to the lack of performance last week when they had one practice session to dial in the car. That suggests to me that the base set up they come with isn't very good, meaning that the simulator is not that close to the car. And it's taking them a pretty long time to really dial in the aero package- they are making great strides, but the progress isn't as steady as the previous rules.

As a Hamilton fan, it's pretty disappointing that it appears that Mercedes does not really have a good grasp on the new aero.

[Russell Jaslow]

Could be that Williams is really designed for this track- they are really quick this weekend.

But seeing over a number of weekends, I think one of Mercedes' core problems is a lack of correlation between the models and the car. Over many weekends, they are taking all three practice sessions to dial in their car. And then add that to the lack of performance last week when they had one practice session to dial in the car. That suggests to me that the base set up they come with isn't very good, meaning that the simulator is not that close to the car. And it's taking them a pretty long time to really dial in the aero package- they are making great strides, but the progress isn't as steady as the previous rules.

As a Hamilton fan, it's pretty disappointing that it appears that Mercedes does not really have a good grasp on the new aero.

Or Mick Schumacher is not as good in the simulator as they are making him out to be. Just saying...

[Russell Jaslow]

Nyck de Vries is out. Daniel Ricciardo is in at AlphaTauri. Starting at Hungary.

It's a cruel sport...

[Kepler]

Nyck de Vries is out. Daniel Ricciardo is in at AlphaTauri. Starting at Hungary.

It's a cruel sport...

Whoa!!!

[MichVandal]

Nyck de Vries is out. Daniel Ricciardo is in at AlphaTauri. Starting at Hungary.

It's a cruel sport...

More cruel when the team is Red Bull. They do this mid season change quite a bit more often than the rest of the field combined.

[Russell Jaslow]

More cruel when the team is Red Bull. They do this mid season change quite a bit more often than the rest of the field combined.

And thus it's no surprise the Red Bull junior program absolutely sucks these days. Because no one wants to sign with them.

They were good when they were the only junior program in existence (pretty much started up when Renault and Mercedes dropped their original junior driver programs -- remember when Michael Schumacher was a Mercedes junior driver?). But when everyone saw how successful the Red Bull junior driver program was (and it was -- Vettel, Buemi, Klien, Alguersuari, Liuzzi, Ricciardo, Vergne, Kvyat, Sainz, and at the tail end of their success, Gasly and Albon), they all started one. Heck, even Williams developed one (which Logan Sargeant was in).

Now, no kid wants to sign with Red Bull. Just look through the F2 and F3 ranks -- if you ranked them all, the Red Bull junior drivers are essentially all on the bottom. Even Max Verstappen wasn't really a Red Bull junior driver. He signed with them as a "regular" driver, as he wasn't hooked up with any junior driver program. He was also eyeballing Mercedes. Red Bull won the Max lottery because they promised him an F1 ride immediately. It had nothing to do with bringing him in as a junior driver and grooming him in the junior series.

Their "greatest" product nowadays is Yuki Tsunoda, who's only still in that seat because of Honda (and the fact they have nobody else to replace him). Liam Lawson is the only current possibility of moving into F1, but some are still lukewarm on him. And note they didn't pick him to replace de Vries. Dennis Hauger is the only other Red Bull junior driver who is accumulating a decent resume. The rest of them are miles away from being F1 material.

[Kepler]

I'm amazed nobody wants to get into Red Bull just because their car is so good.

But I guess they think it's better to be developed elsewhere, make F1 with a backmarker and then jump, like Checo.

[Kepler]

Even Max Verstappen wasn't really a Red Bull junior driver. He signed with them as a "regular" driver, as he wasn't hooked up with any junior driver program. He was also eyeballing Mercedes. Red Bull won the Max lottery because they promised him an F1 ride immediately.

This is fascinating. Mercedes could have been HAM/VER. I loathe Max but I think he really dodged a bullet.

Does that mean RIC would have stuck at Red Bull and been their #1? That would have been a different edition of the multiverse.

[MichVandal]

I'm amazed nobody wants to get into Red Bull just because their car is so good.

But I guess they think it's better to be developed elsewhere, make F1 with a backmarker and then jump, like Checo.

The risk of only getting a half season and then out of F1 is worse. Especially as RBR clearly plays favorites. Vettel and Verstappen have alway gotten the goods and opinions even when they were clearly wrong against their teammate. Not a great environment.

Given who Max is, as well as his dad, it’s really a match made in heaven.

[Kepler]

The risk of only getting a half season and then out of F1 is worse.

Is DeVries dead then? When this happens does the guy who got the cup of coffee find another line of work?

[Kepler]

Given who Max is, as well as his dad

Holy balls:

After a 1998 incident at a karting track in which a man suffered a fractured skull, Verstappen and his father, Frans, were found guilty in court of assault but were each given a five-year suspended jail sentence after reaching an out-of-court settlement with the victim.^[33]

In December 2008, with the couple effectively separated, Verstappen appeared in court in Tongeren, Belgium, charged with assaulting his wife, Sophie Kumpen.^[34] He was found not guilty of assault, but guilty of threatening Kumpen in text messages and of violating a previously issued restraining order. He was fined and sentenced to three months probational, suspended prison sentence.^[35]

On 29 November 2011, the media reported allegations that Verstappen had assaulted his ex-girlfriend; Verstappen claimed to only have had a discussion with her.^[36] In January 2012, he was arrested on attempted murder charges following accusations that he drove a car into his ex-girlfriend in Roermond,^[37] but released two weeks later after the charge was withdrawn.^[38] Verstappen and his ex-girlfriend, Kelly van der Waal, got back together and were married in 2014. They have one daughter, Blue Jaye, born in September 2014.^[39] They divorced on 2 June 2017.^[40]

[solovsfett]

Holy balls:

Holy ****! If any of this is true it’s shocking he has a ride at all. How does this get ignored?

[MichVandal]

Holy ****! If any of this is true it’s shocking he has a ride at all. How does this get ignored?

It’s been brought up, especially when max does max things. Or when Jos does Jos things.