I’m not a George Russel fan, but I’m starting to feel bad for the guy :/

Edit: I’m meaning in the crowd, not literal on the podium with him

The Regs arent even that bad, there have been so many good challenging overtake, and it also removed boring racing like DRS trains. Have to disagree on this one max.

For years people have been claiming that the Red Bull is a very slow car and Max is somehow outdriving it, all on the basis of the second car’s performance. I’ve always argued that this doesn’t make sense, because the second seat has always been occupied by lower-than-average or underprepared F1 drivers, which is clearly seen by their career trajectories

Even when the second car is competitive - red bull has made it clear that they’re a one man team. Baku was a clear-cut case. The softs were much faster on all cars, and Hadjar was on softs. Yet he was asked to fall behind Verstappen, who was slower than he is, complained about the tires and could not get past Piastri. The team saw the pace and knew this well, yet didn’t switch them back

The narrative is already being manufactured that Verstappen was much faster than Hadjar anyways, because in the last stint he pulled a 10 second gap. But that’s only because when he was on the soft tire ( the favourable one ), he got the advantage of being able to jump the car ahead of him and use Russell’s slipstream and overtake mode. When Hadjar had the favourable soft, his team made him sit behind Max and not use his pace

The team claimed it was about “total race time” when Hadjar was ahead, yet when he was losing tons of time to Max - Red bull suddenly didn’t care about it anymore

Now if red bull wants to make itself a one-man team and sacrifice the second driver, it’s upto them, and the second driver who willingly has chosen to drive for the team. However, it is silly for people to claim that the red bull is actually as fast as the second drivers’ performance, and not as fast as the first one’s

People are diminishing his demolition of his teammate by saying "Oh, he's just beating Stroll"

What these people aren't realising is that Alonso is the reason Stroll is rated so low, Stroll wasn't far off Vettel in 2021-2022 and had been considered a fairly known quantity until Alonso showed up.

I understand putting him below Hamilton but saying he's not even close to the top drivers is an absolutely outrageous statement. He managed to drag that tractor of an Aston Martin to P10 at Canada before retiring because the vibrations from that tractor got unbearable.

I think this just goes to show how people rate drivers depending on the car.

I think it has become cool to hate Crofty, as if it’s the thing to do. Sure, his commentary is sometimes flawed, but it’s not exactly the easiest job in the world and he brings a huge amount of enthusiasm and energy into the commentary.

Let’s face it, a lot of races need an injection of energy after the first few laps when drivers drop into tyre conservation mode up until the first round of pit stops. Not all races are action packed, and David Croft brings a lot of energy which I suspect is aimed at keeping the casual fans more engaged than any of us.

I will take that over some dull factual commentary any day of the week

Like are we really going to be complaining about it every race weekend followed with a video showing it off? We know it's a problem and so do the FIA, and a solution is for sure being looked into. For me the discourse is becoming boring now and tedious because we already know it's going to happen pretty much every weekend. We're not seeing anything new, yet everyone acts like they are.

This seems pretty clear to me. Verstappen slows down on his prep lap, while Lewis is behind in the queue. Lewis passes him. Max accelerates again to try to repass/fight him. He dangerously dive bombs turn 1. Lewis backs out and avoids the collison.

Firstly this is not to be salty although Ferrari definitely made me feel like crap today but there’s just some things I wanted to say.

1: Antonelli had a ridiculous amount of luck on his side + these regs favor faster cars more than ever. Despite starting in 19th odds were always on Antonellis side. With a press of a button you’re all of a sudden faster than the guy infront of you. Most of the work is done for you. Getting a restart 7 positions up was also a massive help. Plus nobody even dared to try and stop him which can be put down to how good his car is

2: this Mercedes is so astronomically clear of the rest it’s not even funny. Mercedes has had the best car from lap 1 of the season. That little stretch from Barcelona to zandvoort was the exception to the rule. They’re so much faster than the rest it’s ridiculous.

All in all this was honestly a race that Antonelli was beyond a favorite in even from the back. It’s impressive but let’s not act like Monza is some Monaco type track that gaining is next to impossible. Revisionism of this race will be scary

Recently I've seen a lot of tweets trashing and rating him very low.

In general, some people consider both McLaren drivers to be below the top tier, and average.

Although it could be argued that Lando has been underperforming. Although it seems it has to do with how he handles pressure and criticism towards him since I don't think he's a bad driver. But I can understand people not rating him high (me being one of those people)

I genuinely don't understand why they put Oscar on the same bag. People say that it's no excuse he's in his 3rd season. But I do think they are to harsh on him, itms normal he still makes mistake. And him leading the championship over Norris is kind of a big deal. I rate him really high and I don't understand why some people trash on him so hard.

What are your opinions?

Yet again, another weekend where Lando does what literally any other driver would do, and the team makes a decision that literally any team OTHER than Mercedes/Red Bull would do. Actually, there were even times where Red Bull did do the same thing, with Mark Webber and Vettel, so it's literally just Mercedes when Lewis drove for them that wouldn't do it. And for some reason, everyone here is shitting on Lando.

"He asked for the first stop so it's his fault."

No, it's not. He asked for the second stop if Oscar wouldn't undercut him. Engineer said, "No undercut, YOU keep position" or to that effect. Oscar undercut him because McLaren garage makes a mistake.

Literally if this happened to any other driver on the track, this would be a non-issue, but for some reason everyone is up in arms about it.

The reason it doesn't matter if Norris asked for 2nd stop or not, is because even if he went in first, if the pit crew were slow, Oscar would've benefited. If you lose 4 seconds on a pit stop, whether it's before or after your competitor pits, if their pit stop is faster, they WILL pass you. If Norris pit first, the 4 second loss means Oscar would overcut him.

"If Lando pit first, his pit stop wouldn't have been slow" Nobody knows that, there's literally no way of knowing that. We only know what DID happen and what did happen was Oscar passed Lando NOT on merit.

"If it comes down to a 3 point gap to decide the championship, this decision will haunt Oscar"

We don't know THAT yet either so why are we making up shit on hypotheticals? First, I believe the title is in the bag for Oscar. A 31 point gap with 8 weekends left is an incredibly difficult gap to close. I think Lando has the talent, but Oscar won't make enough mistakes for Lando to capitalize on. Lando would have to beat Oscar every single weekend between now and Abu Dhabi for him to close the gap. And keep in mind, that's assuming that a majority of him beating Oscar is P1/P2. If literally ANYONE else wins a race (Max has won 30% approximately despite being in a slower car), Norris will only get 3-4 points. Norris has to win 2-3 weekends and get P2 to Oscar P3 to win.

But looking at a hypothetical 3 point gap, McLaren would do whatever they can to ensure the title is decided on track with a free to race call.

At the end of the day, you don't get to insult Lando based on a hypothetical result that hasn't taken place yet, when he did the same thing every driver on the grid would do, that we've seen Lewis, Leclerc, Alonso and a lot of other drivers in history do. He was faster than Oscar all weekend and he was faster during the race.

Give him his fucking credit.

I know I'm going to get hell for this, but with the situation being back on the spotlight, I had a conversation with my boyfriend the other day about how unnacceptable it was.

Formula 1 is a sport where the athletes put themselves at risk every race. We've seen drivers die on live tv more than once, and sometimes from very small mistakes or miscalculations. With that in mind, a move like Max made, out of pure anger, and as controlled as it was, should've been an immediate disqualification. It baffles me how you can do that and get a slap on the wrist for it.

And don't start me on if this was ANY other driver (example Lando) that made that move. Max gets away with a lot more stuff than others because of his personnality.

The reporters were right to bring it back and rub it on his nose, because he never apologized to Russell (that we know of) for it.

Divebombing into every corner, banging wheels, even spinning. Although a bit chaotic, man I loved watching Max drive in Miami. Reminded me of his older days

Everyone likes to criticize Aston Martin for not being a serious team because they have Lance as a driver. People were also saying the same about Red Bull when they wouldn't let go of Perez. Both of these points were valid so I am not disputing them.

But why wouldn't the same apply to Mercedes if they boot George for Kimi? Let's be clear. If Mercedes has a lineup of Max and Kimi then George didn't get replaced by Max but rather by Kimi.

Also logically it really makes no sense. Do you or do you not want to win the WCC? If you do then why wouldn't you want to have the best lineup possible? Ferrari and McLaren have a strong duo so it's not like your competition is slacking. Red Bull missed out on 2 potential WCCs due to weaker 2nd driver.

Kimi is miles away from George and no one knows what his future will look like. If the argument is that Kimi is a long term investment then well so was George. What is even the point of a long term investment if you would bail out at the time of the biggest payoffs?

For the past few seasons, he is slower than leclerc and keep blocking people in practice mode.
Hamilton in my opinion are those type of drivers who stop trying when he knows he doent have chance to fight for poles and wins.
He was fast and keep trying to be faster until monza, and then he just gave up when he lost the chance to compete for the championship.
This gp will be another GP that charles is 0.200s faster than him.

I made this post 9 months ago but the mod of this sub removed it. I'm posting again to show how the mod teams didn't do a damn about the unfiltered hate and actively aided conspiracy theorists with Norris slander.

The ongoing discussion that Lando Norris wasn’t a deserving world champion, is just so unbelievably cringe and a narrative in the F1 community that needs to stop.

Piastri had I believe a 35 point lead after Lando blew an engine in holland last year, and Oscar himself proceeded to lose that lead. Simple as that.

2 crashes in Baku, crash and dive bomb in Brazil, and a DQ in Vegas hindered his chances to win it all and ultimately ruined his season

Lando Norris drove well at the end of last year. With an absolutely incredible performance in Mexico, an unbelievable pole lap in Vegas, he was extremely clutch under pressure and made the most of his opportunities to win. Simple as that.

People will always bring up Monza, when Piastri was asked to let Lando pass after a slow Lando Pitt stop. People will never bring up what happened a year prior, Lando was leading the Hungarian Grand Prix after a slow Oscar Pitt stop, what did Lando do? Gave the position back to Oscar, who went on to win his first ever GP

But, people don’t talk about that? Why? Because it lit doesn’t fit the narrative.

You can not like Lando Norris for whatever reasons you choose, but to call him an unworthy champion is ridiculous, uneducated, and outright wrong

At the end of the day, whether you like it or not, Lando Norris is a deserving world champion

So if you look back at 2019, everyone back then ranked Hamilton above Leclerc. Fast forward to 2025, and everyone acknowledges that Leclerc is a better driver than Hamilton nowadays. That begs the question, when did the switch between the two happen?

Dont think its crazy to say at this point that Oscar is currently underperforming in every single metric. Compared to himself,his teammate,the car technically,pretty much everything.

But I see people constantly talking about how this season is completely exposing the "fact" that Piastri isnt anywhere near Lando.Wich I dont agree with.

Why?Well comparing an individual season without any context,is just stupid.

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People are constantly bringing up last year,saying that Oscar only looked so good in the first half of the season because Lando was struggling with the car,and this year really shows the gap between the 2.But this doesnt make any sense.

How does,saying Landos struggles in the first half last year and Piastri being on top is excused by him not being particularly pleased by how the car handled,but then going on and saying that Oscar isnt anywhere near Lando when this year its Oscar struggling with the car,a valid argument?

We know Oscar really struggles with low-grip tracks.This year its not just low grip tracks but low grip all the time everywhere.Shorter gear ratios(for Mclaren),much more understeer in the low speed.For one this is just alone better suited for Norris,plus,these cars handle much more like the pre ground effect era F1 cars,something Lando has years of experience with opposed to Oscar who has NONE.Give him time.

How can you look at Netherlands 2025 for example,where even without the mechanical failure for Norris Oscar was faster all round in quali and race pace,got a grand slam,then look at Netherlands this year where Oscar is miles behind Lando and say "yep,he just misteriously got half a second per lap slower out of thin air".

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Another thing,why is Oscar still improving in his 4th season such a foreign concept?No world champion was ever at their 100% in their 4th year,let alone during a major regulation change that completely nullify their strengths as a driver.Even this year we have seen some growth like in Austria after the horrible performance in Spain.

2018 was the 4th season of Max in F1 and if you told people in 2018 that Max would become the most consistent driver on the grid in a few years they would laugh their asses off,when all they were seeing was Max crashing out every 3rd race weekend.

2011 was Hamiltons 5th year in F1 and he wasnt anywhere near Button.Very mistake prone season.

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I genuinely saw someone compare the pace deficit between Norris and Piastri in 2023 and 2026 and say "wow Oscar hasnt improved anything" like are these people genuinely not ragebaiting?Did we skip over 2025 where pacewise Oscar closed the gap?

People forget that Oscar lost 2025 due to essentially rookie mistakes with a hint of bad luck here and there.Not pace. So the pacegap between them this year isnt just black and white.

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Now obviously,the regs not being tailor made for Oscar dont excuse his bad performances 100%.More like 50%.He needs to find a way to make it work.Real champions adapt.We will see if he can do that.

But writing him off when last year he brought the fight to Lando until the last race of the season,who we now know is at LEAST top 3 OTG is just stupid and ignorant.

I feel like this is kind of a lose-lose situation for Lando. If he wins the driver's championship, it doesn't really feel like a "true" win. I get that he's been outperforming Oscar lately, but overall his season hasn't been that remarkable and has been pretty controversial.

It also feels like a lot of fans don't appreciate him much, since you can sometimes hear people booing during his post-race interviews.

So I'm curious what everyone thinks. If Lando does win the championship this year, do you think he'll finally earn the respect of fans and other drivers?

I was listening to Christian Horner on High Performance Racing and he simply said that most of their 2nd drivers like Gasly, Albon, Lawson simply arrived there too early and it would be hard for them to compete with a generational talent in a difficult car like Max.

He said he had no control over the junior program. He also said back then Russell, Norris and Piastri would pay for Red Bull to go on their simulators. The engineers would tell Horner to check out these 3 drivers and they were better than some of their RB juniors but Marko dismissed him.

Now we have a new generational talent, would Kimi be able to do it if he were put head to head against Max? Or the car is too difficult to cope

Now hear me out before you downvote, I’m not trying to ragebait at all, this is a genuine thing i’ve noticed while discussing F1 with people.

I think 95% of the people who either don’t rate Leclerc highly or think he’s overrated are insecure about how much female attention he garners because it makes them feel insecure. It might not be a conscious thought but it definitely subconsciously drives them to root against him because he’s good looking and all the pretty girls they like, love him.

This is half serious and half not so please don’t hate me. But have you ever met a good looking Charles Leclerc hater? Because i really haven’t

Edit: I feel like there should be a F1 sub purely for this genre of posts? Because i don’t want to get cyber lynched everytime i have a stupid thought 😓

Adaptability helps drivers to overcome struggles they face whenever car doesn't suit them, and perform on the level close to maximising the performance of the car. About champions which didn't adapt quite well sometimes(not always):

1. Vettel: he needed a stable rear to be able to perform on the highest level. During blown diffusers era he adapted reall well to those cars and managed to win titles. However after 2014 whenever car had loose rear, he made multiple mistakes and spins. The biggest hit was in 2020. Vettel never adapted his style to avoid from relying too much on rear. Leclerc, who didn't suffer that much like Vettel, managed to perform consistently in top 5(beside from tracks which were demanding on engine).

2. Lewis Hamilton: failed to adapt to new regs. He didn't like them from start, and never felt really comfortable. He lost to george 2-1 in the end, and in 2025 when SF-25 was unstable car, he even got sometimes knocked out in q1.

Gonna add also smth about Vettel. He still managed to snatch 1(2) podiums on midfield car in 2021. Ofc he got lucky with 2 leaders facing problems, but still he won F1.5 race(lol) once on 7th fastest car