Aside from Verstappen being fairly unstoppable (though more vulnerable than usual), that was a heck of a race. I had refused to believe that the McLaren performance was real, because the last few times it most definitely was not. Brilliant work by the team and drivers both, with Piastri being denied his first podium only because of the safety car they had no way to predict. Mercedes also had a good day, both their drivers moving up the ranks nicely (though unable to pass the McLaren drivers on the track). Ferrari was, well, Ferrari (again). Alpine had a bit of a nightmare race. Aston Martin honestly had a pretty bad day as well, even Alonso was unable to put up any sort of actual defense on track and he is usually extremely difficult to pass unless he's managing his tires for later in the race. Williams, on the other hand, showed marked improvement. Points for Albon and a career best finish for Sargeant. Haas once again didn't have anything to offer in terms of race pace, and both Alfa and Alpha had a day to forget as they languished in the back.
What a topsy-turvy race! About the only thing that was fairly predictable was Verstappen dominating and Perez under-performing. I haven't checked today's fantasy results yet, but I have to imagine I got demolished. I'll take a thrashing in the fantasy league if we get races like this, though.
+1
Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
- Loved the McLaren performance
- too bad about Piastri, but good for Hamilton to get that podium
- great to see the gap from Red Bull coming down
- Alonso / Aston again were nowhere really, their performance certainly has dropped of alot
- Ferrari. Lol.
- The Williams are getting up there as well, which is good
- What is the deal with Perez? after a strong start to the season he has just disappeared. Verstappen will win both championships on his own, but come on Checo.
- Was that track just particularly great for McLaren or will they challenge for wins consistently from now on?
So, spent the weekend at Silverstone. It was my first GP (likely the last given how much it cost) so an interesting experience.
Some observations that may or may not be of interest.
Never really paid much attention to F2 and F3 but really enjoyed their sprint and main races. F2s also backfire a lot. A real noticeable bang as they got onto Hamilton straight. There was also Porsche racing but they looked positively sedate compared to the single-seaters, as you'd expect.
Other than the practice sessions, there was commentary in the stands and, with the big screens dotted around, it was easy enough to keep track of the action. It only really got drowned out when the main pack came through.
The veteran race cars also came on at various parts of the day. It was great seeing the cars from different periods of F1, more so because they had the classic late 80s Williams that I used to have as a toy, plus the 90s/2000s Jordons and Benettons. You can definitely notice the noise difference.
F1 wise, we were on the Hamilton Straight, right at the Club end of the pit lane. As such, we got to see Brad Pitt and the dummy F1 cars (actually F2s as could be identified by the backfire) on the parade lap.
Race wise, the crowd went mental when Norris got Verstappen on the first lap, followed by a collective groan when Max took it back. As an unashamed 80s kid and a big McLaren fan because of it, it was hard not to get caught up in and have some conflicting emotions when Hamilton started chasing down Norris in the second phase.
It's also nuts seeing a literal wave of people get unleashed from the stands at Stowe and Vale and flood across the track to the podium area. Sadly, Max got booed which I find disappointing. Would have been classier just to give Norris and Hamilton the colossal cheer they got, and just given Max a polite 'golf clap'.
That sounds great. How crowded was it overall? They spoke of 480.000 over the weekend and 160.000 on sunday. Did you have to wade through people if you wanted to go anywhere?
On the one hand I want to attend an F1 race or a big 24h race, like Spa or Nürburgring or LeMans - on the other hand these large crowds sounds really intimidating.
That sounds great. How crowded was it overall? They spoke of 480.000 over the weekend and 160.000 on sunday. Did you have to wade through people if you wanted to go anywhere?
On the one hand I want to attend an F1 race or a big 24h race, like Spa or Nürburgring or LeMans - on the other hand these large crowds sounds really intimidating.
I would love to do the camping and BBQ thing at LeMans at least once in my life. Not too interested in the side activities (concerts and the like) but just spending a nice day camping with racing engine grunts all day long.
That sounds great. How crowded was it overall? They spoke of 480.000 over the weekend and 160.000 on sunday. Did you have to wade through people if you wanted to go anywhere?
On the one hand I want to attend an F1 race or a big 24h race, like Spa or Nürburgring or LeMans - on the other hand these large crowds sounds really intimidating.
I would love to do the camping and BBQ thing at LeMans at least once in my life. Not too interested in the side activities (concerts and the like) but just spending a nice day camping with racing engine grunts all day long.
Until health and mobility issues started hampering us both more, I'd thought this would've been an awesome thing to do with my dad. Nowadays I don't think either of us could handle it, together or separately, but it was a cool thought.
Yeah, the Sunday especially was very crowded. You don't get much elbow room in the seats and it was a sell-out. Walking around and you will generally be going with or against the crowd.
That said, it never bugged me too much. In some ways it was no worse than a football stadium as the 480,000 are spread over a larger area and the entrance gates, food, drink, apparel stores and toilet blocks are duplicated fairly regularly around the track. You only really encounter a fraction at any one point.
Friday was quite quiet. Saturday got almost as busy as the race at quali but was quieter for most the rest of the day.
+2
SnicketysnickThe Greatest Hype Man inWesterosRegistered Userregular
Word on the Street is that DeVries is out, replaced by Ricciardo
Word on the Street is that DeVries is out, replaced by Ricciardo
If that's true, which it probably is, that's a reprieve for Perez... for now.
Indeed, fortunately for Perez there's not too many obvious replacements kicking around, but can't see him getting renewed. Which is a shame but it can't be denied that he's struggling quite a bit lately.
Word on the Street is that DeVries is out, replaced by Ricciardo
If that's true, which it probably is, that's a reprieve for Perez... for now.
Indeed, fortunately for Perez there's not too many obvious replacements kicking around, but can't see him getting renewed. Which is a shame but it can't be denied that he's struggling quite a bit lately.
Perez's problems seem mostly centred around Saturdays - his recovery drives in the races aren't bad by any means. In fact I feel he was a tad hard done by at Silversrone, as given the conditions, the track was constantly improving to the point where, regardless of which car you were driving, you needed to be the last car across the line to get the best time - and he was in the first car across the line instead. Wrong bit of track at the wrong time, which is on the Red Bull strategists as much as Perez, I think. But it was in the end just another Saturday to forget for him and there is a very distinct pattern there at the moment. The form just isn't there.
Bloody harsh for de Vries though, if that's the case - I'm not a fan of giving a rookie driver half a season and then kicking them to the kerb, but the Red Bull organization, including AlphaTauri and especially Helmut Marko, are absolutely ruthless in that regard. You hit the ground running with them or you will get left behind.
Bloody harsh for de Vries though, if that's the case - I'm not a fan of giving a rookie driver half a season and then kicking them to the kerb, but the Red Bull organization, including AlphaTauri and especially Helmut Marko, are absolutely ruthless in that regard. You hit the ground running with them or you will get left behind.
Yeah, I don't understand it either. Its not like Alpha Tauri is fighting for anything, let alone race wins. So why not give DeVries a full season to evaluate. Besides, Yuki Tsunoda hasn't lit the world on fire either.
EDIT: The only reason this would make sense for me would be, if they want to put somebody else beside Verstappen and need to move Perez somewhere. But even with his poor qualifying form recently, I don't think RB is there yet.
Bloody harsh for de Vries though, if that's the case - I'm not a fan of giving a rookie driver half a season and then kicking them to the kerb, but the Red Bull organization, including AlphaTauri and especially Helmut Marko, are absolutely ruthless in that regard. You hit the ground running with them or you will get left behind.
Yeah, I don't understand it either. Its not like Alpha Tauri is fighting for anything, let alone race wins. So why not give DeVries a full season to evaluate. Besides, Yuki Tsunoda hasn't lit the world on fire either.
I have heard some say that DeVries has less slack as he's a fair bit older than the average rookie.
Red Bull is an absolute meatgrinder of an organisation though, just look at what happened to Albon, poor lad. The crazy thing is that aside from Verstappen, has anyone actually come out the other side of that pressure cooker looking good? But hey, Horner gets to look TOUGH every year on DTS so it must be working.
Yuki Tsunoda said he believes Nyck de Vries is performing better than is being perceived as the Dutchman faces questions over his F1 future.
After 10 races of his maiden full campaign, De Vries is one of just two drivers yet to register a point with the Dutchman’s best performance being a P12 in Monaco.
All of this seems a long way from his super-sub appearance in Monza last year where he took the Williams car to P9 and there is increasing pressure on his F1 future, not least from the Red Bull hierarchy.
While the AT04 is no doubt one of the worst cars on this year’s grid, De Vries’ performances have looked worse in comparison to that of his team-mate Tsunoda who has regularly dragged the car higher up the grid.
But Tsunoda feels the public perception of De Vries is not fair and that he is doing better than many think.
“He understood quite quickly how to make the car faster, what set up the car wants,” Tsunoda told PlanetF1.com. “How he gives the feedback to the team is quite incredible.
“He looks from the outside like he’s struggling but I don’t think he’s struggling as much.
“Probably he just needs a bit of time and his pace is okay in the races. Just the experience more [of] how to drive differently in each compound, something like that.”
Daniel Ricciardo On Loan to Scuderia AlphaTauri for Remainder of 2023 Season
Following a strong performance in today's tyre test at Silverstone, Daniel Ricciardo will be driving for Scuderia AlphaTauri with immediate effect. Joining the Scuderia on loan from Oracle Red Bull Racing, Daniel will line up in Budapest for his first race.
Happy To Be Back On The Gird
Drovek on
( < . . .
+1
Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
edited July 2023
Man, Red Bull just can't make anyone except Verstappen work with their cars, huh.
EDIT: And Ricciardo back in the fold is a surprise.
Bloody harsh for de Vries though, if that's the case - I'm not a fan of giving a rookie driver half a season and then kicking them to the kerb, but the Red Bull organization, including AlphaTauri and especially Helmut Marko, are absolutely ruthless in that regard. You hit the ground running with them or you will get left behind.
Yeah, I don't understand it either. Its not like Alpha Tauri is fighting for anything, let alone race wins. So why not give DeVries a full season to evaluate. Besides, Yuki Tsunoda hasn't lit the world on fire either.
I have heard some say that DeVries has less slack as he's a fair bit older than the average rookie.
Red Bull is an absolute meatgrinder of an organisation though, just look at what happened to Albon, poor lad. The crazy thing is that aside from Verstappen, has anyone actually come out the other side of that pressure cooker looking good? But hey, Horner gets to look TOUGH every year on DTS so it must be working.
Reminds me of very shitty workplaces where they bend over backwards because of one "productive" asshole at the cost of the health of the rest of the organization.
Word on the Street is that DeVries is out, replaced by Ricciardo
If that's true, which it probably is, that's a reprieve for Perez... for now.
I'm rethinking this. I'm coming round to thinking this is a warning shot across Perez's bow. If Ricciardo does alright in the AT, and Perez keeps struggling, Danny is in that Red Bull next year, isn't he.
Bloody harsh for de Vries though, if that's the case - I'm not a fan of giving a rookie driver half a season and then kicking them to the kerb, but the Red Bull organization, including AlphaTauri and especially Helmut Marko, are absolutely ruthless in that regard. You hit the ground running with them or you will get left behind.
Yeah, I don't understand it either. Its not like Alpha Tauri is fighting for anything, let alone race wins. So why not give DeVries a full season to evaluate. Besides, Yuki Tsunoda hasn't lit the world on fire either.
I have heard some say that DeVries has less slack as he's a fair bit older than the average rookie.
Red Bull is an absolute meatgrinder of an organisation though, just look at what happened to Albon, poor lad. The crazy thing is that aside from Verstappen, has anyone actually come out the other side of that pressure cooker looking good? But hey, Horner gets to look TOUGH every year on DTS so it must be working.
Albon looks transformed at Williams. Not just his driving, the dude looks happier and more relaxed - and he always looked happy and relaxed to a point. The different environment clearly suits him.
The Red Bull pressure cooker has been in full effect for a long time - I'd argue the only other person to come out of it looking good was Seb Vettel. (Edit: and maybe Mark Webber.)
Everything I ever seem to pick up about the general environment in these organizations, you couldn't pay me enough to go to Red Bull or Ferrari. The likes of Mercedes, Aston Martin, Williams, they just feel so much less dehumanizing. Obviously they'd still be hard, this isn't an easy business, but they always display a human side you can relate to. I feel like I could talk to Toto Wolff, Mike Krack, James Vowles, etc and have an actually human conversation with them, for example.
Actually probably true of Fred Vasseur as well but the organization around him is just...
Bloody harsh for de Vries though, if that's the case - I'm not a fan of giving a rookie driver half a season and then kicking them to the kerb, but the Red Bull organization, including AlphaTauri and especially Helmut Marko, are absolutely ruthless in that regard. You hit the ground running with them or you will get left behind.
Yeah, I don't understand it either. Its not like Alpha Tauri is fighting for anything, let alone race wins. So why not give DeVries a full season to evaluate. Besides, Yuki Tsunoda hasn't lit the world on fire either.
I have heard some say that DeVries has less slack as he's a fair bit older than the average rookie.
Red Bull is an absolute meatgrinder of an organisation though, just look at what happened to Albon, poor lad. The crazy thing is that aside from Verstappen, has anyone actually come out the other side of that pressure cooker looking good? But hey, Horner gets to look TOUGH every year on DTS so it must be working.
Albon looks transformed at Williams. Not just his driving, the dude looks happier and more relaxed - and he always looked happy and relaxed to a point. The different environment clearly suits him.
The Red Bull pressure cooker has been in full effect for a long time - I'd argue the only other person to come out of it looking good was Seb Vettel.
Everything I ever seem to pick up about the general environment in these organizations, you couldn't pay me enough to go to Red Bull or Ferrari. The likes of Mercedes, Aston Martin, Williams, they just feel so much less dehumanizing. Obviously they'd still be hard, this isn't an easy business, but they always display a human side you can relate to. I feel like I could talk to Toto Wolff, Mike Krack, James Vowles, etc and have an actually human conversation with them, for example.
Actually probably true of Fred Vasseur as well but the organization around him is just...
You can probably even have a beer and an expletive ridden talk with Guenther Steiner.
It'll happen, I have no doubt. Granted it'll take a stunning lap or several from Ricciardo and for Perez to drop the ball yet again, but who'd bet against that happening at least once over the rest of the season?
Bloody harsh for de Vries though, if that's the case - I'm not a fan of giving a rookie driver half a season and then kicking them to the kerb, but the Red Bull organization, including AlphaTauri and especially Helmut Marko, are absolutely ruthless in that regard. You hit the ground running with them or you will get left behind.
Yeah, I don't understand it either. Its not like Alpha Tauri is fighting for anything, let alone race wins. So why not give DeVries a full season to evaluate. Besides, Yuki Tsunoda hasn't lit the world on fire either.
I have heard some say that DeVries has less slack as he's a fair bit older than the average rookie.
Red Bull is an absolute meatgrinder of an organisation though, just look at what happened to Albon, poor lad. The crazy thing is that aside from Verstappen, has anyone actually come out the other side of that pressure cooker looking good? But hey, Horner gets to look TOUGH every year on DTS so it must be working.
Albon looks transformed at Williams. Not just his driving, the dude looks happier and more relaxed - and he always looked happy and relaxed to a point. The different environment clearly suits him.
The Red Bull pressure cooker has been in full effect for a long time - I'd argue the only other person to come out of it looking good was Seb Vettel.
Everything I ever seem to pick up about the general environment in these organizations, you couldn't pay me enough to go to Red Bull or Ferrari. The likes of Mercedes, Aston Martin, Williams, they just feel so much less dehumanizing. Obviously they'd still be hard, this isn't an easy business, but they always display a human side you can relate to. I feel like I could talk to Toto Wolff, Mike Krack, James Vowles, etc and have an actually human conversation with them, for example.
Actually probably true of Fred Vasseur as well but the organization around him is just...
You can probably even have a beer and an expletive ridden talk with Guenther Steiner.
Several beers.
Lots of beers.
With Steiner's expletive count rising with every one.
Yeah I think this is mostly about evaluating Ricciardo in a car before kicking Checo to the curb. Barring some massive improvement he's done.
Red Bull is absolutely horrible at talent development, ironic considering they have a B team.
Perez kind of got screwed by RB sending him out first for the final part of Q1 this week, but Albon was right behind him and was half a second faster.
being a minute early on the track does not account for the massive turd that perez turned in
i dont think that ricciardo will be promoted to RB this year. RB doesn't need to invite drama that gains them nothing. they already have the money and the trophy on lock. they also don't need to feed fan expectations re: Ricciardo
they are doing the sensible thing.. their junior team is getting obliterated despite having what is debatably the best power unit on the field... Tsunoda is *probably* terrible and amazingly De Vries was somehow worse. They are putting Ricciardo in to see what kind of car they really have and to benchmark Tsunoda so they can make decisions and move on for the future
I agree that it's likely a "how bad is the AT car actually..." experiment but it's also a shot to Perez that RB has no problem making big changes if you don't perform.
Tsunoda is a fine driver he just doesn't seem to have a next level to turn in something special. He's like a ai competitor in a video game set on medium difficulty.
Pitt is set to play a former driver returning to the sport with fictional team APXGP to help a rising young driver, played by British actor Damson Idris.
You know, I'd wondered, given Pitt's age in particular. But that is exactly the same setup as Stallone's much-derided Driven in 2001.
Let's hope the execution is better this time. But I'm still half expecting an early scene to be roughly:
Team boss: "You're a hard man to find, Brad."
Pitt takes a long drag on his cigarette vape, and pointedly doesn't turn to look at team boss
Yeah I think this is mostly about evaluating Ricciardo in a car before kicking Checo to the curb. Barring some massive improvement he's done.
Red Bull is absolutely horrible at talent development, ironic considering they have a B team.
Perez kind of got screwed by RB sending him out first for the final part of Q1 this week, but Albon was right behind him and was half a second faster.
being a minute early on the track does not account for the massive turd that perez turned in
i dont think that ricciardo will be promoted to RB this year. RB doesn't need to invite drama that gains them nothing. they already have the money and the trophy on lock. they also don't need to feed fan expectations re: Ricciardo
they are doing the sensible thing.. their junior team is getting obliterated despite having what is debatably the best power unit on the field... Tsunoda is *probably* terrible and amazingly De Vries was somehow worse. They are putting Ricciardo in to see what kind of car they really have and to benchmark Tsunoda so they can make decisions and move on for the future
1. Agreed
2. Also agree, I don't think they'll boot Perez mid-season.
3. Hadn't thought of this but it makes sense!
Further to the movie, Wikipedia has a few other little notes, including the potential title Apex (that's not bad), and Lewis Hamilton in an acting role (not exactly surprising) as well as reportedly co-producing.
Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a Formula One driver who raced in the 1990s, has a horrible crash forcing him to retire from Formula One and starts racing in other disciplines. Until a Formula One team owner and friend (Javier Bardem) contacts Hayes and asks him to come out of retirement to mentor a rookie prodigy Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) on the Apex Grand Prix team (APXGP).
Replace the names and that really is so much the Driven setup.
I should add that I don't hate Driven and have watched it a few times. But I'll never claim it's a genuinely good movie. Rush or Ford v Ferrari (aka Le Mans '66) it ain't.
Further to the movie, Wikipedia has a few other little notes, including the potential title Apex (that's not bad), and Lewis Hamilton in an acting role (not exactly surprising) as well as reportedly co-producing.
Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a Formula One driver who raced in the 1990s, has a horrible crash forcing him to retire from Formula One and starts racing in other disciplines. Until a Formula One team owner and friend (Javier Bardem) contacts Hayes and asks him to come out of retirement to mentor a rookie prodigy Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) on the Apex Grand Prix team (APXGP).
Replace the names and that really is so much the Driven setup.
I should add that I don't hate Driven and have watched it a few times. But I'll never claim it's a genuinely good movie. Rush or Ford v Ferrari (aka Le Mans '66) it ain't.
Cue to shot where the main character is trying to pass someone on a straight, gets frustrated, upshifts twice, and gets the pass done easily.
Bloody harsh for de Vries though, if that's the case - I'm not a fan of giving a rookie driver half a season and then kicking them to the kerb, but the Red Bull organization, including AlphaTauri and especially Helmut Marko, are absolutely ruthless in that regard. You hit the ground running with them or you will get left behind.
Yeah, I don't understand it either. Its not like Alpha Tauri is fighting for anything, let alone race wins. So why not give DeVries a full season to evaluate. Besides, Yuki Tsunoda hasn't lit the world on fire either.
I have heard some say that DeVries has less slack as he's a fair bit older than the average rookie.
Red Bull is an absolute meatgrinder of an organisation though, just look at what happened to Albon, poor lad. The crazy thing is that aside from Verstappen, has anyone actually come out the other side of that pressure cooker looking good? But hey, Horner gets to look TOUGH every year on DTS so it must be working.
Ricciardo, Vettel, and Weber have all done pretty well (relatively) for themselves while with Red Bull.
Hmm... I wonder what the "acting" role for Lewis might be. Based on photos from this weekend, it looks to me like a lot of the drivers will at least have cameos in the movie:
Posts
Only by 4 seconds in front of a McLaren?
Yeah, there goes the predictions.
Chuffed for Norris, great drive and kept Hamilton behind no problem.
6th different constructor on the podium I heard, that's not bad.
Verstappen as usual racing in another league. Either he's got that car dialed in like no one else or Perez is awful lately.
Decent result for the Mercedes after qualifying. Can't believe George did 28 laps on softs.
What a topsy-turvy race! About the only thing that was fairly predictable was Verstappen dominating and Perez under-performing. I haven't checked today's fantasy results yet, but I have to imagine I got demolished. I'll take a thrashing in the fantasy league if we get races like this, though.
I forgot my ruddy predictions AGAIN. Slipped down to almost slap-bang mid-table. When I was 2nd overall feels a long time ago now. Ah, halcyon days.
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Race
- Loved the McLaren performance
- too bad about Piastri, but good for Hamilton to get that podium
- great to see the gap from Red Bull coming down
- Alonso / Aston again were nowhere really, their performance certainly has dropped of alot
- Ferrari. Lol.
- The Williams are getting up there as well, which is good
- What is the deal with Perez? after a strong start to the season he has just disappeared. Verstappen will win both championships on his own, but come on Checo.
- Was that track just particularly great for McLaren or will they challenge for wins consistently from now on?
That was a pretty cool race.
Some observations that may or may not be of interest.
Never really paid much attention to F2 and F3 but really enjoyed their sprint and main races. F2s also backfire a lot. A real noticeable bang as they got onto Hamilton straight. There was also Porsche racing but they looked positively sedate compared to the single-seaters, as you'd expect.
Other than the practice sessions, there was commentary in the stands and, with the big screens dotted around, it was easy enough to keep track of the action. It only really got drowned out when the main pack came through.
The veteran race cars also came on at various parts of the day. It was great seeing the cars from different periods of F1, more so because they had the classic late 80s Williams that I used to have as a toy, plus the 90s/2000s Jordons and Benettons. You can definitely notice the noise difference.
F1 wise, we were on the Hamilton Straight, right at the Club end of the pit lane. As such, we got to see Brad Pitt and the dummy F1 cars (actually F2s as could be identified by the backfire) on the parade lap.
It's also nuts seeing a literal wave of people get unleashed from the stands at Stowe and Vale and flood across the track to the podium area. Sadly, Max got booed which I find disappointing. Would have been classier just to give Norris and Hamilton the colossal cheer they got, and just given Max a polite 'golf clap'.
On the one hand I want to attend an F1 race or a big 24h race, like Spa or Nürburgring or LeMans - on the other hand these large crowds sounds really intimidating.
I would love to do the camping and BBQ thing at LeMans at least once in my life. Not too interested in the side activities (concerts and the like) but just spending a nice day camping with racing engine grunts all day long.
Until health and mobility issues started hampering us both more, I'd thought this would've been an awesome thing to do with my dad. Nowadays I don't think either of us could handle it, together or separately, but it was a cool thought.
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That said, it never bugged me too much. In some ways it was no worse than a football stadium as the 480,000 are spread over a larger area and the entrance gates, food, drink, apparel stores and toilet blocks are duplicated fairly regularly around the track. You only really encounter a fraction at any one point.
Friday was quite quiet. Saturday got almost as busy as the race at quali but was quieter for most the rest of the day.
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If that's true, which it probably is, that's a reprieve for Perez... for now.
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Indeed, fortunately for Perez there's not too many obvious replacements kicking around, but can't see him getting renewed. Which is a shame but it can't be denied that he's struggling quite a bit lately.
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Perez's problems seem mostly centred around Saturdays - his recovery drives in the races aren't bad by any means. In fact I feel he was a tad hard done by at Silversrone, as given the conditions, the track was constantly improving to the point where, regardless of which car you were driving, you needed to be the last car across the line to get the best time - and he was in the first car across the line instead. Wrong bit of track at the wrong time, which is on the Red Bull strategists as much as Perez, I think. But it was in the end just another Saturday to forget for him and there is a very distinct pattern there at the moment. The form just isn't there.
Bloody harsh for de Vries though, if that's the case - I'm not a fan of giving a rookie driver half a season and then kicking them to the kerb, but the Red Bull organization, including AlphaTauri and especially Helmut Marko, are absolutely ruthless in that regard. You hit the ground running with them or you will get left behind.
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Yeah, I don't understand it either. Its not like Alpha Tauri is fighting for anything, let alone race wins. So why not give DeVries a full season to evaluate. Besides, Yuki Tsunoda hasn't lit the world on fire either.
EDIT: The only reason this would make sense for me would be, if they want to put somebody else beside Verstappen and need to move Perez somewhere. But even with his poor qualifying form recently, I don't think RB is there yet.
I have heard some say that DeVries has less slack as he's a fair bit older than the average rookie.
Red Bull is an absolute meatgrinder of an organisation though, just look at what happened to Albon, poor lad. The crazy thing is that aside from Verstappen, has anyone actually come out the other side of that pressure cooker looking good? But hey, Horner gets to look TOUGH every year on DTS so it must be working.
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EDIT: And Ricciardo back in the fold is a surprise.
Reminds me of very shitty workplaces where they bend over backwards because of one "productive" asshole at the cost of the health of the rest of the organization.
EDIT:
"Let's make a car that could only be driven by someone with superhuman reflexes" followed by "why can no one drive our car!?"
I'm rethinking this. I'm coming round to thinking this is a warning shot across Perez's bow. If Ricciardo does alright in the AT, and Perez keeps struggling, Danny is in that Red Bull next year, isn't he.
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Albon looks transformed at Williams. Not just his driving, the dude looks happier and more relaxed - and he always looked happy and relaxed to a point. The different environment clearly suits him.
The Red Bull pressure cooker has been in full effect for a long time - I'd argue the only other person to come out of it looking good was Seb Vettel. (Edit: and maybe Mark Webber.)
Everything I ever seem to pick up about the general environment in these organizations, you couldn't pay me enough to go to Red Bull or Ferrari. The likes of Mercedes, Aston Martin, Williams, they just feel so much less dehumanizing. Obviously they'd still be hard, this isn't an easy business, but they always display a human side you can relate to. I feel like I could talk to Toto Wolff, Mike Krack, James Vowles, etc and have an actually human conversation with them, for example.
Actually probably true of Fred Vasseur as well but the organization around him is just...
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Teams making the car to benefit only one person is a tale almost as old as formula one itself.
You can probably even have a beer and an expletive ridden talk with Guenther Steiner.
It'll happen, I have no doubt. Granted it'll take a stunning lap or several from Ricciardo and for Perez to drop the ball yet again, but who'd bet against that happening at least once over the rest of the season?
Steam | XBL
Red Bull is absolutely horrible at talent development, ironic considering they have a B team.
Perez kind of got screwed by RB sending him out first for the final part of Q1 this week, but Albon was right behind him and was half a second faster.
Several beers.
Lots of beers.
With Steiner's expletive count rising with every one.
Steam | XBL
being a minute early on the track does not account for the massive turd that perez turned in
i dont think that ricciardo will be promoted to RB this year. RB doesn't need to invite drama that gains them nothing. they already have the money and the trophy on lock. they also don't need to feed fan expectations re: Ricciardo
they are doing the sensible thing.. their junior team is getting obliterated despite having what is debatably the best power unit on the field... Tsunoda is *probably* terrible and amazingly De Vries was somehow worse. They are putting Ricciardo in to see what kind of car they really have and to benchmark Tsunoda so they can make decisions and move on for the future
Tsunoda is a fine driver he just doesn't seem to have a next level to turn in something special. He's like a ai competitor in a video game set on medium difficulty.
You know, I'd wondered, given Pitt's age in particular. But that is exactly the same setup as Stallone's much-derided Driven in 2001.
Let's hope the execution is better this time. But I'm still half expecting an early scene to be roughly:
Team boss: "You're a hard man to find, Brad."
Pitt takes a long drag on his cigarette vape, and pointedly doesn't turn to look at team boss
Pitt: "Not hard enough."
Steam | XBL
1. Agreed
2. Also agree, I don't think they'll boot Perez mid-season.
3. Hadn't thought of this but it makes sense!
Replace the names and that really is so much the Driven setup.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untitled_Joseph_Kosinski_film
I should add that I don't hate Driven and have watched it a few times. But I'll never claim it's a genuinely good movie. Rush or Ford v Ferrari (aka Le Mans '66) it ain't.
Steam | XBL
Cue to shot where the main character is trying to pass someone on a straight, gets frustrated, upshifts twice, and gets the pass done easily.
Ricciardo, Vettel, and Weber have all done pretty well (relatively) for themselves while with Red Bull.