adrianjordan wrote: ↑05 Sep 2021, 10:20
I'll go further and say that RBR management have such a polarising effect on fans that it influences how fans think of any given driver.
I uses to absolutely dislike Vettel when he drove from RBR, but once he left the team we started to see more of him and in his last couple of seasons at Ferrari and this year at Aston especially, he has become one of my favourite drivers.
It makes me question the opinion I have of Max as well.
agreed.
Ever since 2014 my enjoyment of RBR has gone down quite a bit.
In Vettels RBR glory days, one had to look at things with a bit of balance,
as the success they had is similar to the Ferrari dominance and current Merc dominance,
it gets a bit boring and you start rooting for the competition.
The way things however dwindled down between RBR and Renault was really ugly.
Yes, Abiteboul is a toxic element and i'm glad he's gone and Renault/Alpine is able to finally flourish,
but that doesn't take away the awful position RBR had towards manufacturer that got them 4 consecutive WCC's and WDC's.
It's starting to look like RBR isn't that 'great happy family' and looks much more like a toxic family.
There are many signs of this, and it goes back all the way to Alguersuari and Bourdais for example, but definately doesn't exclude Webber.
I also must say that I have come to really enjoy Vettel by now. I think the Aston Martin environment is much better than both RBR and Ferrari (atleast under Binotto). I would be very interested to see Verstappen @ Aston Martin.
I think Verstappen's qualities are even 'blocked' by the RBR environment. I personally believe Max can grow to become a far more complete driver in a different environment. Ferrari under binotto is not the right place.
I would doubt Mercedes is the right place either.
Mclaren and Aston Martin to me are far better candidates for Max to really grow, and with Abiteboul gone Alpine likely too.
Max is too much of a product under RBR imho, and i would say @ Mclaren or Aston Martin, he gets to be himself and the driver that he is/can be instead of 'RedBull driver number 33'. Offcourse he's worth far too much for RBR to let go though.
For RIGHT NOW, he's at the right place in his chances to drive a decent car. If the rules wouldn't change next season, i would be inclined to say that RB probably would have an interesting car next season too but Mclaren is shouldering in right into the competition too.
I do feel though that RBR is giving it a last all-or-nothing effort with Max though.
If they don't manage to become WDC this or next season, i would not be surprised to see RBR unplug from F1 and just become a regular sponsor at best (like in the sauber days).