Formula 1 2025 Season

The part I don't understand with 2 drivers in a team and one driver struggling and claims the car doesn't suit them is how can the team not get it to ones liking?.

 With adjustable everything and all the data in the world to find the path,the car should be able to hit nearly any kind of balance needed for building confidence.

 Seems to me the team of engineers aren't willing to look up from what the super computer screen tells them is fastest long enough to sort out what a certain driver needs to feel to extract the performance.

wae said:

How many drivers that aren't named Max do we have to see struggle in the Red Bull car before we admit that the car is either very difficult to drive for everyone and Max is just good enough to wrangle it or Max has a weird driving style and the car has been bent to fit him?  Ricciardo, Gasly, Albon, Perez, and now Lawson all seem to be in the same place with the car.  And none of those drivers went into that seat as bad drivers.

It's also a factor that this is how Horner has lead RBR since he got there- find the #1 driver and make the car work for them at the sacrifice of driver 2.  He did it for Vettel and once Max showed he was slightly faster than Ricciardo, he did it again.  And then the majority of development effort goes to making driver 1 faster.  How many times have we seen Vettel or Max get faster and seeing whoever is #2 go farther back?  

I guess it comes down to a question of what's more important: the Constructors Championship or the Drivers Championship. While Red Bull seems to want both, it seems funny how, as you guys have pointed out, the car seems to suit Max's skill set. I doubt they will ever find a driver who has the same style as Max...

alfadriver said:

It's also a factor that this is how Horner has lead RBR since he got there- find the #1 driver and make the car work for them at the sacrifice of driver 2.  He did it for Vettel and once Max showed he was slightly faster than Ricciardo, he did it again.  And then the majority of development effort goes to making driver 1 faster.  How many times have we seen Vettel or Max get faster and seeing whoever is #2 go farther back?  

I think that's true, but I also can't say I blame them for catering to Max's skill set. Look at the results. The only reason they lost the Constructors last year was that Checo fell off a cliff for some reason. It'll be interesting to see if Lawson can bring the fight to Max a bit more consistently. He certainly has the right attitude, I don't think he's going to be intimidated.

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

Maybe.  But at the same time, you can see that what they *think* is how Max likes the car, it's gone either too far, or in the wrong direction.  At this point, I would think they would be at least equal with McLaren, given the lead they have had since the ground effects started.  Instead, they found a characteristic that even Max can't deal with- almost as if Max hides flaws.  And is that good or bad?

Mind you, they have also gone farther down the 2025 development road than McLaren has, given all of the parts they are throwing at the car.  They may run out of money way before anyone else does.

alfadriver said:

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

Snip* They may run out of money way before anyone else does.

That hasn't stopped them before.

Lolz.

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

catering budget will be big this year!

wae said:

How many drivers that aren't named Max do we have to see struggle in the Red Bull car before we admit that the car is either very difficult to drive for everyone and Max is just good enough to wrangle it or Max has a weird driving style and the car has been bent to fit him?  

I've been saying this for a long time; what Max needs/wants in a car is different from most other drivers. When the car had understeer Perez was fairly close.

Schumacher's used trialing throttle in the same way drivers use trail braking; it's an uncommon style. 

I believe Max also has specialized style that doesn't fit other drivers.

From what I can gather, Verstappen has an extreme outlying ability to tolerate corner entry rear end instability. This allows him to get the car turned earlier in slow corners especially, and to make his lines more V shaped.

This is of course very fast, but it's not the only fast way to drive. Hamilton built his career on braking super late. Checo built his career on saving tires by avoiding slides. Sainz and Norris tend to maximize mid corner speed. Not sure any of those strategies would fit with Max's V shaped, ultra pointy preference.

That said, ever since Newey departed, this rear instability has gotten difficult even for Max, and thus bordering on impossible for Checo/Liam/normal drivers.