[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

I wonder if RB has problems with the traction control software (especially in Max' car).
This race Max didn't have a great start; LEC was way faster to 100kph but their reaction time was almost the same, and also in Singapore Max had quite a poor start in the rain.
I think in Singapore you could hear in the onboard footage that the engine was struggeling with traction control.

this is onboard in suzuka. It also looks like the traction control software can't find that optimal point. Acceleration doesn't look that fast:

According to Helmut Marko ( Singapore )

MAX had terrible wheel spin and got Anti-Stall .
Personally I think MAX starts in second gear when It's wet .
And think today as well..

[///M Power-Belgium]

[Blindside_137]

That has to be the worst way to learn of a title. A post race interviewer telling you because of a penalty but you had no information or clue to even suspect that would be possible on a 30 minute race.

[Artemis]

Entered the top 3 at the age of 25: Schumacher - Vettel - Verstappen.

4 races to go. So still possible to top the list.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Throwback to the first race of the season (Bahrain - Sakhir).

Shortly after the race (5:40pm), Mercedes-AMG expressed Schadenfreude about both Verstappen and Perez encountering a DNF as a result of car issues: "You love to see it."

That unsportsmanlike tweet didn't age well.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Entered the top 3 at the age of 25: Schumacher - Vettel - Verstappen.

4 races to go. So still possible to top the list.

Attachment 3003375

Yeah. With 4 races to go, there's a big chance that MAX can beat that record.

But let's keep in mind that Checo's home race is at Mexico...

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Throwback to the first race of the season (Bahrain - Sakhir).

Shortly after the race (5:40pm), Mercedes-AMG expressed Schadenfreude about both Verstappen and Perez encountering a DNF as a result of car issues: "You love to see it."

That unsportsmanlike tweet didn't age well.

Sure. As usual, it was just Mercedes nonsense...

[Artemis]

Mercedes-AMG congratulated Verstappen. Many comments regarding that tweet reflect frustration.

[AlexFL]

Max has now won 12 of 18 races. Absolutely incredible season for him and a well-deserved title!

[MontyB1]

Congrats to Max and RedBull, they built an amazing and super dominant car and did everything they could to favour Max only and not many teams can do that.

Amazing driver that deserves this Championship after some great performances.

A bit of a mess on the points today the FIA really need to get their act together and actually re-read their rule book with actual lawyers instead of just copy paste. Either way that shouldn’t take it away from the win.

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by yco

congrats to Red Bull and Max for their 2nd tittle in history.. and actually the first clean title..

Exactly - think of how much cleaner it would have been and the points gap larger for Max if HAM hadn’t purposefully tried to kill him at Silverstone and started the war...

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by MontyB1

to favour Max only

what do you mean by that?

Originally Posted by MontyB1

A bit of a mess on the points today the FIA really need to get their act together and actually re-read their rule book with actual lawyers instead of just copy paste.

Can you be more clear about what the FIA did wrong in your view?

[HeelToeShift]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

Max well done, WDC 2022!


I have a very different opinion on this.
You can't speak for me, you can only speak for yourself.
when you start saying "we all know this", that is called a fallacy.
And you only use a fallacy if you have a weak argument.

The "gifted" situation was imho that Max came in for fresh tyres and Lewis didnt. Coming in for fresh tyres ended up to be the right choice. Both drivers had that choice.
And this year in Zandvoort a similar situation came up. Again Max came in for fresh tyres, giving away his lead. Still it prooved to be the right choice.
So maybe Lewis and Merc is too much focussed on driving in front. I think Max and RB is focussed on driving the fastest in these situations.

I also don't think this years' RB dominance can be compared to MERC's dominance of past years. A big portion of RB's victories come from Ferrari making stupid mistakes.
There are a lot of tracks on the calender where Ferrari is arguably the better car. (LEC's amount of pole positions are a sign of that, together with SAI they had 11 out of 18 poles, RB only had 6)
Most of RB's lead in WDC and WCC is a result of their superior strategy and team performance in the pits (and of course very good driving).
On average I think the RB is the better car on the faster tracks and the Ferrari is the better car on the slower tracks. So RB probably has better aerodynamic grip and Ferrari probably has better mechanical grip.
Overall I think the RB is still the better car, but it's not miles ahead like the MERCS were in pretty much every aspect. Of course RB had porpoising sorted out from the beginning, so they could focus most of their updates on improving the car in terms of adding speed (mostly optimising parts by removing dead weight), but certainly in the first half of the year, the ferrari was better on a lot of tracks.

Totally agree. Last year, there were questionable calls in many races from lack of penalties to inconsistently applied penalties, etc. Max won that race fair and square. If you're going to say otherwise, I would go back to Ham's first championship where it was gifted to him by a driver who decided to 'slow down'.
As for this year...RB's dominance is the drivers, a solid (though not quite the fastest car), team, and strategy. MB's car was so far ahead, anyone could have won (ie Rus with no seat time). RB did not have the luxury of a car that was several notches above the competition. Ferrari might have made it a bit closer with better strat calls but RB always seems to execute and Max and Checo deliver.

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

what do you mean by that?




Can you be more clear about what the FIA did wrong in your view?

It’s the lame argument that RBR forsakes Checo completely in order for Max to win. Apparently VER haters feel like RBR should be tailoring their cars for the slower driver...

[HeelToeShift]

Originally Posted by OG Shark

It’s the lame argument that RBR forsakes Checo completely in order for Max to win. Apparently VER haters feel like RBR should be tailoring their cars for the slower driver...

It is 100% just another BS attempt to make excuses.

Checo has won more races than both MB drivers combined.

[GuidoK]

you can see MERC's car dominance compared to RB's car dominance not only in the number of victories, but also in the number of pole positions:
2014: MERC 18 out of 19 poles
2015: MERC 18 out of 19 poles
2016: MERC 20 out of 21 poles
2017: MERC 15 out of 20 poles
2018: MERC 13 out of 21 poles
2019: MERC 10 out of 21 poles
2020: MERC 15 out of 17 poles
2021: MERC 9 out of 22 poles, RB 10 poles
2022: RB 6 out of 18 poles, Ferrari 11 poles.

So the dominance of MERC is pretty clear, up to 2020 it was pretty well established. Only last year RB had a car that was well matched. (in 2019 of course Ferrari snatched away quite a few poles in the 2nd half of the season because they cheated with the fuel system, but otherwise MERC was dominant)
And this year...I don't think it's the car that dominates, it's the team, drivers and race strategy. Otherwise they would have had more pole positions.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by OG Shark

It’s the lame argument that RBR forsakes Checo completely in order for Max to win. Apparently VER haters feel like RBR should be tailoring their cars for the slower driver...

Yeah lame excuse. One wonders why Checo wanted to stay at RB so badly; he was very very happy when the contract was finally signed.
You'd think they would look at that, because in the end it's Checo himself that is the only one who can judge on this.

And lets not forget that Checo is driving his best season ever. He's currently 2nd, whereas his previously best was 4th with 190 points (also at RB, last year)
He's just not as good as Max, just as SAI is not as good as LEC (at least this year) and just as BOT was never as good as HAM.
But they all have the same car, equipment and team at hand. If occasionally parts are developped and completed just before a race and not enough new parts are ready for 2 cars, obviously those parts that are available go to the highest ranked drivers, but I'm sure that happens in every team.

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by HeelToeShift

It is 100% just another BS attempt to make excuses.

Checo has won more races than both MB drivers combined.

Yeah that one just makes no sense. You going to lower the potential of your car so the slower driver has a better chance of matching the pace of the faster driver? And even with how it has played out PER is likely going to finish P2 in the championship - yeah he certainly has been crapped on this year hasn’t he... that’s just harsh treatment by RBR there...

[HeelToeShift]

Originally Posted by OG Shark

Yeah that one just makes no sense. You going to lower the potential of your car so the slower driver has a better chance of matching the pace of the faster driver? And even with how it has played out PER is likely going to finish P2 in the championship - yeah he certainly has been crapped on this year hasn’t he... that’s just harsh treatment by RBR there...

So true - hardly ever do you see two teammates equally matched but by and large Checo has kept up with Max better than any other teammate has. This year, Checo has won more races than anyone aside from Lec (who has only one more win) and Max. He is 2nd in the WDC and hopefully finishes there. He's a very composed, even keeled driver who really does not get the credit he deserves.

[HeelToeShift]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Yeah. With 4 races to go, there's a big chance that MAX can beat that record.

But let's keep in mind that Checo's home race is at Mexico...

I think he will win 3/4...let's also not forget that he is on pace to score the most points ever in an F1 season too!

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

Yeah lame excuse. One wonders why Checo wanted to stay at RB so badly; he was very very happy when the contract was finally signed.
You'd think they would look at that, because in the end it's Checo himself that is the only one who can judge on this.

And lets not forget that Checo is driving his best season ever. He's currently 2nd, whereas his previously best was 4th with 190 points (also at RB, last year)
He's just not as good as Max, just as SAI is not as good as LEC (at least this year) and just as BOT was never as good as HAM.
But they all have the same car, equipment and team at hand. If occasionally parts are developped and completed just before a race and not enough new parts are ready for 2 cars, obviously those parts that are available go to the highest ranked drivers, but I'm sure that happens in every team.

Yeah PER knows how he compares to VER - and that he is in a really good pace. RIC ran from the competition - but PER knows he is in the best seat that he can be in and showed that be eagerly re-signing like you said.

Originally Posted by HeelToeShift

So true - hardly ever do you see two teammates equally matched but by and large Checo has kept up with Max better than any other teammate has. This year, Checo has won more races than anyone aside from Lec (who has only one more win) and Max. He is 2nd in the WDC and hopefully finishes there. He's a very composed, even keeled driver who really does not get the credit he deserves.

Definitely an excellent driver. Just a victim of constant comparison being 2nd seat to one of the greats we have seen in F1. Hard to look good when your teammate starts regularly running away from the field. But he has done an excellent job and I do think he has started to improve his pace the last couple of races in this pointier car. It’s just hard to compete against such a unique talent that can not only extract max pace out of a car but do so while being so good on his tires.

[Killed by Death]

The Greatest Driver on Earth couldn't even pass Ocon