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Russel is like Norris now. He wouldnt have the consistency or experience to win a title in his earlier years.
Nontheless if Max comes to Merc, Russel can swap to redbull after his contract or even before.
Max's contract is more airtight than Russel's I am sure and Redbull are just as capable to steal George.
George is the next best available driver should Redbull lose Max.
Heck they can even buy out Lewis from Ferrari or Alonso from Aston. And Max himself would not want to come out of that seat and watch someone else storm away with a championship; especially Lewis or George.
I wish someone would have given such wise advice to Ron Dennis in 2007!
Imagine if 2011 would have been the debut year for Lewis. Would any other team have signed him?
We seems to fail to understand the basic fact that every driver is different and use the same scale to measure everyone, just because the driver is young or inexperienced.
Russel is like Norris now. He wouldnt have the consistency or experience to win a title in his earlier years.
Nontheless if Max comes to Merc, Russel can swap to redbull after his contract or even before.
Max's contract is more airtight than Russel's I am sure and Redbull are just as capable to steal George.
George is the next best available driver should Redbull lose Max.
Heck they can even buy out Lewis from Ferrari or Alonso from Aston. And Max himself would not want to come out of that seat and watch someone else storm away with a championship; especially Lewis or George.
I wish someone would have given such wise advice to Ron Dennis in 2007!
Imagine if 2011 would have been the debut year for Lewis. Would any other team have signed him?
We seems to fail to understand the basic fact that every driver is different and use the same scale to measure everyone, just because the driver is young or inexperienced.
2011 was a very erratic year for lewis but it was evident even then that he was fast as hell and still won races. If that was a rookie year he definitely would command attention from other teams.
At the end of the day, it’s no surprise what Merc/Toto want. Russell just hasn’t lived up to the hype.
IMHO Mercedes are losing a genuine racer if they let Russel go. He doesn't get the credit he deserves, I have felt. He doesn't have the alien level 'pre-baked finesse' that Hamilton/Verstappen have naturally, I agree. But he is brave and a 'thinking racer', who will fight tooth and nail - a proper British Bulldog. No driver stays at the same "level" - they hone themselves over the years. I feel Russel is the kind of guy who will 'study' data and learn from engineers on how to improve the finesse aspect of driving. Preserving tyres, when to let go of wheel-to-wheel action and when to pursue it etc, can be improved. Not every driver needs to be a 'natural'.
George is very smart. I listened to his radio towards the end of the race and he asked the team with 4 laps to go to make sure there was no energy left in his battery across the line in his defense against Leclerc. Intelligent, and something it would have been very easy for the team to fall asleep on.
All drivers have interesting qualities. People should spend time looking at F1TV during the races to better appreciate them. Russell has the misfortune of being Hamilton’s opponent and having to deal with the scrutiny that comes with it. Are there things he needs to work on, sure, but definitely a top 5 driver this year.
Russel is like Norris now. He wouldnt have the consistency or experience to win a title in his earlier years.
Nontheless if Max comes to Merc, Russel can swap to redbull after his contract or even before.
Max's contract is more airtight than Russel's I am sure and Redbull are just as capable to steal George.
George is the next best available driver should Redbull lose Max.
Heck they can even buy out Lewis from Ferrari or Alonso from Aston. And Max himself would not want to come out of that seat and watch someone else storm away with a championship; especially Lewis or George.
I wish someone would have given such wise advice to Ron Dennis in 2007!
Imagine if 2011 would have been the debut year for Lewis. Would any other team have signed him?
We seems to fail to understand the basic fact that every driver is different and use the same scale to measure everyone, just because the driver is young or inexperienced.
2011 was a very erratic year for lewis but it was evident even then that he was fast as hell and still won races. If that was a rookie year he definitely would command attention from other teams.
Grosjean was fast and erratic too! That takes a driver nowhere. Once a driver creates a bad impression, that's done deal. Look at Yuki now.
My point is and has always been that, nobody can judge if a driver can fight for championship in his first year or not. Definitely not the armchair experts. If a driver has risen through junior ranks and won championships along the way with a top team backing him, there is no reason to believe that driver cannot fight for championship. Not many drivers have had that opportunity other than Lewis. That's because Ron Dennis had no better options as Kimi left McLaren to Ferrari and Montoya had a brain fart midway through 2006. He already had signed Alonso, who was a double champion and due to lack of better options, put Lewis in there which turned out be a gold mine decision. The only other example of such a feat was Marc Marquez. Who knows if George was put in alongside Lewis in 2019, how things would have looked by now. They had winning cars and an impressive rookie alongside a proven champion.
Russel is like Norris now. He wouldnt have the consistency or experience to win a title in his earlier years.
Nontheless if Max comes to Merc, Russel can swap to redbull after his contract or even before.
Max's contract is more airtight than Russel's I am sure and Redbull are just as capable to steal George.
George is the next best available driver should Redbull lose Max.
Heck they can even buy out Lewis from Ferrari or Alonso from Aston. And Max himself would not want to come out of that seat and watch someone else storm away with a championship; especially Lewis or George.
I wish someone would have given such wise advice to Ron Dennis in 2007!
Imagine if 2011 would have been the debut year for Lewis. Would any other team have signed him?
We seems to fail to understand the basic fact that every driver is different and use the same scale to measure everyone, just because the driver is young or inexperienced.
2011 was a very erratic year for lewis but it was evident even then that he was fast as hell and still won races. If that was a rookie year he definitely would command attention from other teams.
He had some amazing drives in 2011 too like Nurburgring.
Russel is like Norris now. He wouldnt have the consistency or experience to win a title in his earlier years.
Nontheless if Max comes to Merc, Russel can swap to redbull after his contract or even before.
Max's contract is more airtight than Russel's I am sure and Redbull are just as capable to steal George.
George is the next best available driver should Redbull lose Max.
Heck they can even buy out Lewis from Ferrari or Alonso from Aston. And Max himself would not want to come out of that seat and watch someone else storm away with a championship; especially Lewis or George.
I wish someone would have given such wise advice to Ron Dennis in 2007!
Imagine if 2011 would have been the debut year for Lewis. Would any other team have signed him?
We seems to fail to understand the basic fact that every driver is different and use the same scale to measure everyone, just because the driver is young or inexperienced.
Hamilton as Rookie, is in a different league to any other driver, ever. 2007 is quite under appreciated. But that is another discussion. He only lost that championship to a very suspicious gearbox glitch in Brazil. At that period electronic interference would mess with gearbox changes.
I really cannot wait to read Hamilton's book when he retires. Just look at the end of the video for the championship predictions.
Russel could never be pulling off a season 2007 against Alonso at his peak.
Russel is like Norris now. He wouldnt have the consistency or experience to win a title in his earlier years.
Nontheless if Max comes to Merc, Russel can swap to redbull after his contract or even before.
Max's contract is more airtight than Russel's I am sure and Redbull are just as capable to steal George.
George is the next best available driver should Redbull lose Max.
Heck they can even buy out Lewis from Ferrari or Alonso from Aston. And Max himself would not want to come out of that seat and watch someone else storm away with a championship; especially Lewis or George.
I wish someone would have given such wise advice to Ron Dennis in 2007!
Imagine if 2011 would have been the debut year for Lewis. Would any other team have signed him?
We seems to fail to understand the basic fact that every driver is different and use the same scale to measure everyone, just because the driver is young or inexperienced.
Hamilton as Rookie, is in a different league to any other driver, ever. 2007 is quite under appreciated. But that is another discussion. He only lost that championship to a very suspicious gearbox glitch in Brazil. At that period electronic interference would mess with gearbox changes.
I really cannot wait to read Hamilton's book when he retires. Just look at the end of the video for the championship predictions.
Russel could never be pulling off a season 2007 against Alonso at his peak.
I understand the emotions. But they aren't facts. We would never know what George could have done in a rookie year with a winning machine. No other talented driver ever got such an opportunity, ever. I very well know I cannot change you or any other person's opinion that believes what you posted, so let's just take our opinions and move on.
George is very smart. I listened to his radio towards the end of the race and he asked the team with 4 laps to go to make sure there was no energy left in his battery across the line in his defense against Leclerc. Intelligent, and something it would have been very easy for the team to fall asleep on.
All drivers have interesting qualities. People should spend time looking at F1TV during the races to better appreciate them. Russell has the misfortune of being Hamilton’s opponent and having to deal with the scrutiny that comes with it.
It's a double-edged sword though. You can easily argue the opposite.
Russell beats Hamilton: he cements himself as a very top driver, one of the best of his generation, the kind that can go toe-to-toe with Max.
Russell loses against Hamilton: unless he gets destroyed (which isn't the case so far), he'll still end up with his reputation intact by virtue of facing one of the greatest of all time in the same car.
Russel is like Norris now. He wouldnt have the consistency or experience to win a title in his earlier years.
Nontheless if Max comes to Merc, Russel can swap to redbull after his contract or even before.
Max's contract is more airtight than Russel's I am sure and Redbull are just as capable to steal George.
George is the next best available driver should Redbull lose Max.
Heck they can even buy out Lewis from Ferrari or Alonso from Aston. And Max himself would not want to come out of that seat and watch someone else storm away with a championship; especially Lewis or George.
I wish someone would have given such wise advice to Ron Dennis in 2007!
Imagine if 2011 would have been the debut year for Lewis. Would any other team have signed him?
We seems to fail to understand the basic fact that every driver is different and use the same scale to measure everyone, just because the driver is young or inexperienced.
Hamilton as Rookie, is in a different league to any other driver, ever. 2007 is quite under appreciated. But that is another discussion. He only lost that championship to a very suspicious gearbox glitch in Brazil. At that period electronic interference would mess with gearbox changes.
I really cannot wait to read Hamilton's book when he retires. Just look at the end of the video for the championship predictions.
Russel could never be pulling off a season 2007 against Alonso at his peak.
Hamilton had six years of junior formula experience under his belt, unlimited F1-testing, was 22 years of mature age, and had a top car. No one is going to have that kind of opportunity anymore. There have to be results if there is talent. But hats off when you pull that kind of rookie season against reigning champion Alonso; it truly is the rookie season of all time.
Super talents these days come to F1 in such a rush with little experience, like Verstappen.
I wish someone would have given such wise advice to Ron Dennis in 2007!
Imagine if 2011 would have been the debut year for Lewis. Would any other team have signed him?
We seems to fail to understand the basic fact that every driver is different and use the same scale to measure everyone, just because the driver is young or inexperienced.
2011 was a very erratic year for lewis but it was evident even then that he was fast as hell and still won races. If that was a rookie year he definitely would command attention from other teams.
Grosjean was fast and erratic too! That takes a driver nowhere. Once a driver creates a bad impression, that's done deal. Look at Yuki now.
My point is and has always been that, nobody can judge if a driver can fight for championship in his first year or not. Definitely not the armchair experts. If a driver has risen through junior ranks and won championships along the way with a top team backing him, there is no reason to believe that driver cannot fight for championship. Not many drivers have had that opportunity other than Lewis. That's because Ron Dennis had no better options as Kimi left McLaren to Ferrari and Montoya had a brain fart midway through 2006. He already had signed Alonso, who was a double champion and due to lack of better options, put Lewis in there which turned out be a gold mine decision. The only other example of such a feat was Marc Marquez. Who knows if George was put in alongside Lewis in 2019, how things would have looked by now. They had winning cars and an impressive rookie alongside a proven champion.
Come on man. Grosjean never showed he had elite talent. He was quick, not fast over a race distance. Actually quite a bit like George. He was outpaced by an older KImi Raikonnen for crying out loud. Hamilton in his disaster year still easily outpaced Button more often than not, and the next season he really embarrassed him. There is just no comparison mate. You think you are being fair but you clearly are not.
So it seems like Ola is behind pursuing Max while I hazard a guess that Toto wants George and Kimi pairing.
This really feels like it's gonna happen now. Horner will be happy to take George. And George would probably jump at the chance to be the #1 at Red Bull.
Spoke about this outcome in the silly section, months ago. Essentially, for George, his career path would be, that he arrived at two sinking ships, one after the other.
At the end of the day, it’s no surprise what Merc/Toto want. Russell just hasn’t lived up to the hype.
It has literally nothing to do with George not living up to hype. Like at all. Mercedes is pulling for Max because of the civil war at Red Bull. It isn't because George isn't living up to the hype.
What exactly was George supposed to do in 2 zero pod cars to live up to the hype ? Winning a race , getting 19 top 5's and beating Hamilton in points is living up to the hype in 2022.
Tying Hamilton in H2H qualifying in 2023 and getting the tie beaker with sprint qualifying is also living up to the hype.
And going up 8/1 in 2024 and getting a pole in 2024 is also.
This really feels like it's gonna happen now. Horner will be happy to take George. And George would probably jump at the chance to be the #1 at Red Bull.
Spoke about this outcome in the silly section, months ago. Essentially, for George, his career path would be, that he arrived at two sinking ships, one after the other.
At the end of the day, it’s no surprise what Merc/Toto want. Russell just hasn’t lived up to the hype.
It has literally nothing to do with George not living up to hype. Like at all. Mercedes is pulling for Max because of the civil war at Red Bull. It isn't because George isn't living up to the hype.
What exactly was George supposed to do in 2 zero pod cars to live up to the hype ? Winning a race , getting 19 top 5's and beating Hamilton in points is living up to the hype in 2022.
Tying Hamilton in H2H qualifying in 2023 and getting the tie beaker with sprint qualifying is also living up to the hype.
And going up 8/1 in 2024 and getting a pole in 2024 is also.
So the points were important in 2022 but not in 2023?
2011 was a very erratic year for lewis but it was evident even then that he was fast as hell and still won races. If that was a rookie year he definitely would command attention from other teams.
Grosjean was fast and erratic too! That takes a driver nowhere. Once a driver creates a bad impression, that's done deal. Look at Yuki now.
My point is and has always been that, nobody can judge if a driver can fight for championship in his first year or not. Definitely not the armchair experts. If a driver has risen through junior ranks and won championships along the way with a top team backing him, there is no reason to believe that driver cannot fight for championship. Not many drivers have had that opportunity other than Lewis. That's because Ron Dennis had no better options as Kimi left McLaren to Ferrari and Montoya had a brain fart midway through 2006. He already had signed Alonso, who was a double champion and due to lack of better options, put Lewis in there which turned out be a gold mine decision. The only other example of such a feat was Marc Marquez. Who knows if George was put in alongside Lewis in 2019, how things would have looked by now. They had winning cars and an impressive rookie alongside a proven champion.
Come on man. Grosjean never showed he had elite talent. He was quick, not fast over a race distance. Actually quite a bit like George. He was outpaced by an older KImi Raikonnen for crying out loud. Hamilton in his disaster year still easily outpaced Button more often than not, and the next season he really embarrassed him. There is just no comparison mate. You think you are being fair but you clearly are not.
"like George"
Hamilton had 33 crashes and incidents in his first 5 years. Which include crashing into parked cars in the pit lane and piling into lap cars and other clumsy stuff.
If anything , Russells 2 or 3 incidents of the last 2 years is just the kind of thing that tends to happen with aggressive young talents. Whether that be Lewis , Max or even a Montoya.
If Russell was keeping his nose clean like Bottas did, there'd be more cause for consern.
I wish someone would have given such wise advice to Ron Dennis in 2007!
Imagine if 2011 would have been the debut year for Lewis. Would any other team have signed him?
We seems to fail to understand the basic fact that every driver is different and use the same scale to measure everyone, just because the driver is young or inexperienced.
Hamilton as Rookie, is in a different league to any other driver, ever. 2007 is quite under appreciated. But that is another discussion. He only lost that championship to a very suspicious gearbox glitch in Brazil. At that period electronic interference would mess with gearbox changes.
I really cannot wait to read Hamilton's book when he retires. Just look at the end of the video for the championship predictions.
Russel could never be pulling off a season 2007 against Alonso at his peak.
Hamilton had six years of junior formula experience under his belt, unlimited F1-testing, was 22 years of mature age, and had a top car. No one is going to have that kind of opportunity anymore. There have to be results if there is talent. But hats off when you pull that kind of rookie season against reigning champion Alonso; it truly is the rookie season of all time.
Super talents these days come to F1 in such a rush with little experience, like Verstappen.
By same extent, the loads of data, and simulation and preparation is more advanced these days to prepare drivers for formula 1. It all balances out as the drivers competing in the same period all have the same tools for preparation.
A rookie should not be beating a reigning 2 time champ, regardless of how many junior formulas or testing they do. We know this. Anyhow, my point is we cannot assume putting George in the Mercedes would have giving him a championship, that's just undermine Hamilton indirectly without any basis.
Also Verstappen didn't just come out of the playground and hopped into an F-1 car. He probably has had more advantage by virtue of his dad being a former F1 driver and entitlement than the average driver.
Just look at the end of the video for the championship predictions. 
