My intention wasn't to give comparison with teammate, or say other contemporary driver. Many contributors come with too much of a driver allegiance to sensibly examine in this context.Brahmal wrote: ↑02 Jul 2026, 04:36Yes, Charles and Lewis are very interesting to compare as drivers responding to the nature of the regulations over the years.Farnborough wrote: ↑01 Jul 2026, 23:18Looks like we're watching bland algorithm simply blunt a driver that can operate in that rarefied area, possibly making dome others look better too.
Lewis has been through at least 3 different PU regimes in his career, which is probably why this new one doesn't bother him so much. However, he had only been through 1 handling regime (flat floor) until the ground effect cars came in and threw him for a loop. Most of Lewis' special skills are handling/braking based, and the GE cars broke many of those skills.
Charles OTOH has been through 2 different handling regimes and encountered the GE cars when he was still relatively young and malleable. However he's only ever used the 1 turbo-hybrid PU regime and has built many of his special skills around power delivery and throttle control, which has now been broken by these new PUs. Perhaps the eventual change to 60:40 power split will allow him to get back to his best, but it's not guaranteed.
These two drivers are mirror images of one another in many ways, which makes this all quite fascinating to watch.
I simply feel that to look at this in isolation with CL, then an important area of his performance has been scuppered by the need and use of algorithmic control in pursuit of energy profile that these rules bring with them.
To make it clear, my feeling is that Verstappen is one of the only one's pointing this out, and he understands it. It's the automated control of deployment that interfere with driver skill right out at that rarefied atmosphere of the performance envelope, and one that bland rules directed at an eco motive can never really appreciate.
The sport is missing this and tries to cover up whats missing. There's far too many competing interests to allow this ultimate skill to flourish.
I'm not interested in driver yang-yang, but to give more rounded direction I'd look at CL skill in that arena similar to Mansell & Hakkinen for that searing pace and chassis attitude right out at performance periphery.
