F1
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fergus90
Senior Member
They’ve had an incredible downfall. Lost key personnel in the garage in Wheatley and Newey but losing Rob Marshall to McLaren too.
Their pit stops used to be the best are now a shambles and quite often they get tyre strategy wrong. I’m surprised Horners not under some pressure considering how quickly things unravelled for them.
Windhook
Well-known member
It's believable scenario to leave Red Bull, but seems more of Verstappen family power move against Horner.
Aston Martin are showing nothing promising, actually this is their worst car in years. Always can find excuse with "working on next season with new regulations", it takes Adrian Newey 2-3 seasons on average to find the right design for a competitive car. Not saying championship car, a competitive.
Mercedes are about to extend Russell's contract until 2028 given his solid display recently. Kimi is inexperienced, but he's been groomed by Mercedes academy for many years. Throwing him under the bus for Verstappen is likely, but very inconsistent for a guy like Toto Wolff.
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Horner is very close with the Yoovidhya's who are the majority owners with 51% so his job is probably the most secure of everyone in Red Bull Racing. They're the only reason he even survived that scandal that dropped last year since it seemed like the Austrian part wanted him gone.
He should be under more pressure, but he's a master politician.
If I'm Toto Wolff or Zak Brown then I'm dropping Russell and Lando Norris without any hesitation for Verstappen.
Russell and Lando are both good and all that, but Verstappen is a generational talent, and in a results business like this you just gotta be ruthless if you can get the best.
Antonelli and Piastri I'm keeping due to their talent.
With that being said it's also a bit of a gamble to leave just when the new regulations are coming into effect not knowing who is going to get out ahead of everyone else there. So maybe he sticks with Red Bull for 2026 to see how it goes first.
Windhook
Well-known member
Yes, Max Verstappen is the best driver by far this generation, but he also brings the aura of no.1 driver wherever he goes. That'd be not to Piastri's liking and imagine the scene where team Verstappen is going about Zak's ass in case Oscar dominates. Remember Checo won a few back-to-back races in 2023 and this triggered Max into CPU mode. Somewhere along the way Checo being cemented no.2 driver lost his focus and ultimately costed Red Bull another constructors' title.
Talking about team balance. McLaren won constructors' because of their "papaya" strategy - no no.1 driver. Zak Brown managed this aspect well last season. Same for Toto Wolff in 2016 with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Now early on McLaren car is clearly the dominant and there haven't been any head-to-head clashes for P1 between Lando and Piastri to call a rivalry. But if this good run of results goes on with double podium finishes, drama is inevitable. McLaren are no stranger to this.
Speaking of papaya color - a Dutch driving an orange livery car.
Jos Verstappen actually did it with Arrows in 2001, I think. Black-orange Orange sponsored.
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Yes, Max Verstappen is the best driver by far this generation, but he also brings the aura of no.1 driver wherever he goes. That'd be not to Piastri's liking and imagine the scene where team Verstappen is going about Zak's ass in case Oscar dominates. Remember Checo won a few back-to-back races in 2023 and this triggered Max into CPU mode. Somewhere along the way Checo being cemented no.2 driver lost his focus and ultimately costed Red Bull another constructors' title.
Talking about team balance. McLaren won constructors' because of their "papaya" strategy - no no.1 driver. Zak Brown managed this aspect well last season. Same for Toto Wolff in 2016 with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Now early on McLaren car is clearly the dominant and there haven't been any head-to-head clashes for P1 between Lando and Piastri to call a rivalry. But if this good run of results goes on with double podium finishes, drama is inevitable. McLaren are no stranger to this.
Speaking of papaya color - a Dutch driving an orange livery car.
But do you think Max even will be in the sport for so long?
He's talked a lot about how he want to run his own racing team and how he don't want F1 to be his life like it's been for Alonso and Hamilton.
I won't be surprised if he's retires in 4-5 years max.
I get your point about McLaren due to Lando being well established, but Mercedes with Antonelli still being so young and upcoming should take advantage of it IMO.
I feel like it's a risk you just have to take if the opportunity is there.
Windhook
Well-known member
I think so. He talked about it, but he's not giving any signs of lost passion. Max has driving in his blood and spends majority of his time competing in online racing platforms. In fact most of them drivers are obsessed or forced to as professionals with testing, competing and driving simulators. What drives Max is most likely to become undisputed 8 time WDC. The reason why Hamilton will not retire any time soon, I think.
My point is, for all team principals the main goal is to win the constructors' title. It brings a lot of money and sponsorship bonuses. Otherwise everybody would have just focused on their no.1 driver and car.
For example Max moving to Mercedes will give him some shot at WDC, the car is competitive, but Kimi still finishing 6-10th will not please Mercedes and shareholders, being behind McLaren, Ferrari in constructors. Not sure how much of a future there is for Red Bul with the Ford engine deal they signed for 2026 onwards.
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Haraldinho
Well-known member
What a lap delivered by Max. It is not over yet.
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Mercedes were planning to move on from him by the end of this season anyway. They wanted to give Antonelli the seat by 2026 at the latest.
fergus90
Senior Member
Mate it’s pain year after year. Too many Italians in the garage. Ferrari at its best on track had the strongest pit wall too.
Hamilton has been shit for 70% of this entire regulation cycle so the move is going about as good as I’d anticipated.
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
The issues runs deep in the team for sure. They need to clean house and get rid of all the guys that have been here forever despite the team continuously underperforming year in and out.
Fucking race enginners cannot even communicate properly to the drivers half the time.
It's a clown show led by the man that looks like a clown. No wonder their other team Juventus is also a shitshow. Elkann need to finance it if he want, but stay the fuck away and allow for big structural changes in the team.
Next year might be worse as there's reports Ferrari are concerned about their engine development for the 2026 changes.
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