2026 Dutch Grand Prix Zandvort

[Mogster]

Aye. At this level no driver is bringing a second. However the gap can be made artificially larger by providing a car that leans strongly towards a particular drivers skill set.

[Paa]

Bottas outqualifying Perez four races in a row now.

Yeah but, IIRC, it was by like 0.1s, right? From what I remember watching, almost all team mates were within 0.1s from each other, or thereabouts. But the key thing here is that even Tsunoda and Lawson were 0.1s slower, ie, they stepped into a car they never drove before with only 1 Practice and very limited sets of tyres and are immediately on pace What does that tell us about F1 now ?

Last year, Lawson was like 1s slower than VER despite doing pre season testing and etc. Now he´s keeping up just like Hadjar has been. The driving challenge aspect of F1 is almost dead now

The issue of Max's team mates failing at Red Bull was entirely for the fact that the previous cars were exclusively built for his driving style. The new gen cars are in some way, moved away from those specific elements that gave Max the strength. Hence, his team mates are now closer, including Hadjar. It wasn't that they were bad drivers. The current gen cars are obviously not what instinctive drivers want, but there is still racing element in them. Blaming the new regs for reduced gap between Max and his team mates now, is too simplistic.

At the same time the car has become less competitive.
This has always been the same story and discussed many times. The car more on the edge can be faster, but more challenging to drive, therefore bigger gap.
"Built for his style" basically just means too much front end, that others can't handly anymore. Like Albon described it very precisely.

[Artur Craft]

Blaming the new regs for reduced gap between Max and his team mates now, is too simplistic.

It´s a significant part of the story as other team mates are way too close as well

[PlatinumZealot]

Very good by Lawson to be so close in Max's home.

[Wynters]

Blaming the new regs for reduced gap between Max and his team mates now, is too simplistic.

It´s a significant part of the story as other team mates are way too close as well

Perhaps it's simply a case of Lawson having another year under his belt? He stepped into the Red Bull after only 13 F1 races, barely half a season of experience and spread across three years. He's now got 47 races behind him. That's more than a lot more experience. And it's unusual for Verstappen's team mate to have this much experience. Gasly only had a season before hand. Albon had half a season. Hadjar, one season. Since the problematic Riccardo years, only Tsunoda and Perez have been allowed to develop as drivers before being installed in the second seat. I'm sure Gasly and Albon would do significantly better it they were to be put in matching machinery today, much as I'm sure Hadjar will be a better driver in a few years time. It's just the nature of the current RBR model.

[search]

Tires left for the race:



Pirelli says S-H and M-H are pretty much equally quick.

[bluechris]

From what we saw from Leclerc, maybe S-M is ok also

[search]

From what we saw from Leclerc, maybe S-M is ok also

yeah, for the Ferrari it probably is. Although I would think more likely the other way around, to get a bigger tire offset for the 2nd half. It seems difficult to gain anything at the start

[Bill]

Yeah but, IIRC, it was by like 0.1s, right? From what I remember watching, almost all team mates were within 0.1s from each other, or thereabouts. But the key thing here is that even Tsunoda and Lawson were 0.1s slower, ie, they stepped into a car they never drove before with only 1 Practice and very limited sets of tyres and are immediately on pace What does that tell us about F1 now ?

Last year, Lawson was like 1s slower than VER despite doing pre season testing and etc. Now he´s keeping up just like Hadjar has been. The driving challenge aspect of F1 is almost dead now

The issue of Max's team mates failing at Red Bull was entirely for the fact that the previous cars were exclusively built for his driving style. The new gen cars are in some way, moved away from those specific elements that gave Max the strength. Hence, his team mates are now closer, including Hadjar. It wasn't that they were bad drivers. The current gen cars are obviously not what instinctive drivers want, but there is still racing element in them. Blaming the new regs for reduced gap between Max and his team mates now, is too simplistic.

At the same time the car has become less competitive.
This has always been the same story and discussed many times. The car more on the edge can be faster, but more challenging to drive, therefore bigger gap.
"Built for his style" basically just means too much front end, that others can't handly anymore. Like Albon described it very precisely.

when lawson joined redbull he was not running the same spec as Max, he was racing an older car.the difference between drivers can be explained simply.is hulk running the same car as bortolerto

[Badger]

The H2H time gaps have shrunk pretty much across the board between teammates, that is definitely a feature of these cars that reward consistency more than "hustling". Verstappen is the only top team driver that retains a significant time gap at this stage, which is about what you'd expect.

[search]

The (unexpected) rain has just missed the race window again, but could spice up the opening part a bit.

[search]

everyone starts on slicks. Top 4 on M, following six on S

Leclerc is on a used S (despite having a fresh one), so seems to plan to stop again.

[Hoffman900]

Oof. You don’t see F1 cars have “Indy Car” like crashes often.

Glad to see Max moving.

[nitrotech]

Ooh

[PlatinumZealot]

Woah. Max crashes into the last corner after riding on a damp patch. I think Lawson was applying too much pressure to Max there.