2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[AR3-GP]

You're comparing Mercedes at its best vs RedBull at its worst. It wasn't nearly as dramatic and bad as you make it.

https://i.postimg.cc/PqdpRFpN/image.png

Silly comparison. Ant was just sitting a few seconds behind Charles waiting for him to box, trying his hardest not to grain the tyre or do something silly. He would drive a full second off his true pace in the mid sector regularly. We saw the real pace there at the end when Kimi pulled away with ease. We also saw how Lando was able to close by 0,5s+ per lap. I honestly think RB were 4th quickest in the race, because even Charles looked very good for pace.

It's impossible to argue with Max fans because whatever you say, a scenario is always there, ready to be brought up for Max's benefit. I am willing to bet that Max will not be more than 2 tenths adrift the average fastest race pace here once the analysis accounts start posting their data. I wont bother much with this race because it was boring as hell, but I will come back 2 hours later to check if I was right.

You're obfuscating things for your own benefit by trying to talk about "average race pace". Max is Max. Whatever uncomfortableness one has with what that means is one's own thing to resolve. It has nothing to do with us. When Antonelli wanted to go, he dropped Max like a bad habit. Norris came from 6 seconds back and was obviously the fastest guy out there. RB was not in their league today and it wasn't "2 tenths". That's just data obfuscation if you manage to successfully smear the data enough to show that. The best thing to do is watch the race, and see who can push and take off when they want and need to. Norris and Antonelli could. Max could not, and the gap was easily more than 4 tenths/lap to both in raw pace.

[f1isgood]

People will keep giving backhanded compliments to Verstappen because it affects their worldview that a specific driver can just be that much better than every other driver. Outliers exist and Verstappen is a very big one of them. Car was fourth fastest as usual and Verstappen scammed a podium as usual creating this illusion that somehow Red Bull was competitive. People can always look at data, try to be "objective" in their own way (the irony) and make conclusions. That will simply not change the reality they are forced to accept every weekend.

Rinse and repeat every weekend. I am not even sure why people bother to actively engage.

[Emag]

I have no problem whatsoever with Max being the best driver of our generation. Probably by some margin.

But I find it funny how people time and time again continue to view things in skewed perspectives to make him look like a physics-bending entity.

And would you look at that. First posts are in :

[avantman]

True. Ironically, MV is easily by far the most underrated driver on the grid.

“I don’t think people actually realise what Max is doing in that car. I don’t think people recognise that we haven’t had the best car all year. Max Verstappen has lifted this.” Horner, 7 dec 2021

Casual fans and all those “data lovers” still cannot realisw what he’s doing in those cars.

[AR3-GP]

I have no problem whatsoever with Max being the best driver of our generation. Probably by some margin.

But I find it funny how people time and time again continue to view things in skewed perspectives to make him look like a physics-bending entity.

And would you look at that. First posts are in :

Right on cue with the misleading averages. Imagine proudly trying to suggest an analysis that put Antonelli slower than Max as credible.

Emag I told you, I need you to watch the races. Sometimes us data geeks can get lost in the python and tables and not see the bigger picture, what's actually happening on the track. A good analysis takes both into consideration. A good portion of Antonelli's pace was not needed today and only used when it mattered. He did throw it off the track once or twice in the 1st stint, which we can put down to youthful exuberance.

[Badger]

You're comparing Mercedes at its best vs RedBull at its worst. It wasn't nearly as dramatic and bad as you make it.

https://i.postimg.cc/PqdpRFpN/image.png

Silly comparison. Ant was just sitting a few seconds behind Charles waiting for him to box, trying his hardest not to grain the tyre or do something silly. He would drive a full second off his true pace in the mid sector regularly. We saw the real pace there at the end when Kimi pulled away with ease. We also saw how Lando was able to close by 0,5s+ per lap. I honestly think RB were 4th quickest in the race, because even Charles looked very good for pace.

It's impossible to argue with Max fans because whatever you say, a scenario is always there, ready to be brought up for Max's benefit. I am willing to bet that Max will not be more than 2 tenths adrift the average fastest race pace here once the analysis accounts start posting their data. I wont bother much with this race because it was boring as hell, but I will come back 2 hours later to check if I was right.

Pay attention to the race instead of getting into this nonsense. Antonelli was clearly driving to a delta until Charles boxed, he would literally drop more than a second on some laps just to get out of his dirty air. We all saw what happened in the final laps when they were all pushing. Or you think Max was hiding his real pace when he was one second back from the win with a few laps to go?

Average race pace on a track where you can't overtake is useless. You need to find the pockets where cars are pushing and not being held up from the car in front.

[Emag]

Silly comparison. Ant was just sitting a few seconds behind Charles waiting for him to box, trying his hardest not to grain the tyre or do something silly. He would drive a full second off his true pace in the mid sector regularly. We saw the real pace there at the end when Kimi pulled away with ease. We also saw how Lando was able to close by 0,5s+ per lap. I honestly think RB were 4th quickest in the race, because even Charles looked very good for pace.

It's impossible to argue with Max fans because whatever you say, a scenario is always there, ready to be brought up for Max's benefit. I am willing to bet that Max will not be more than 2 tenths adrift the average fastest race pace here once the analysis accounts start posting their data. I wont bother much with this race because it was boring as hell, but I will come back 2 hours later to check if I was right.

Pay attention to the race instead of getting into this nonsense. Antonelli was clearly driving to a delta until Charles boxed, he would literally drop more than a second on some laps just to get out of his dirty air. We all saw what happened in the final laps when they were all pushing. Or you think Max was hiding his real pace when he was one second back from the win with a few laps to go?

Average race pace on a track where you can't overtake is useless. You need to find the pockets where cars are pushing and not being held up from the car in front.

Sure sure. What was the excuse in Monza by the way? I am sure there was something you can spin up to make RedBull 1 second a lap slower than Mercedes there as well.

[Valeo]

What do we expect for Baku?
Second sector looks like a major struggle?

[Rikhart]

The gap is at least 4 tenths to Mercedes and at least 6 tenths to Mclaren here.

Cut those in half and then I agree with you.

Norris was at least a second per lap faster at the exact stage with same age tyres and both in same kind of clean air as well. It was not 6 tenths, it was probably more.

[euv2]

Red bull the 4th fastest for me today, if I had to put a number on it-

Nor 0.45s faster, Ant 0.2s faster, Leclerc 0.1s faster. The first stint also gives a good idea of their pace since the gaps were quite big.

[avantman]

Red bull the 4th fastest for me today, if I had to put a number on it-

Nor 0.45s faster, Ant 0.2s faster, Leclerc 0.1s faster. The first stint also gives a good idea of their pace since the gaps were quite big.

Take into account that Max individually has at least two to three tenths on those guys. Which leads us more or less towards AR3-GP’s numbers.

[Badger]

It's impossible to argue with Max fans because whatever you say, a scenario is always there, ready to be brought up for Max's benefit. I am willing to bet that Max will not be more than 2 tenths adrift the average fastest race pace here once the analysis accounts start posting their data. I wont bother much with this race because it was boring as hell, but I will come back 2 hours later to check if I was right.

Pay attention to the race instead of getting into this nonsense. Antonelli was clearly driving to a delta until Charles boxed, he would literally drop more than a second on some laps just to get out of his dirty air. We all saw what happened in the final laps when they were all pushing. Or you think Max was hiding his real pace when he was one second back from the win with a few laps to go?

Average race pace on a track where you can't overtake is useless. You need to find the pockets where cars are pushing and not being held up from the car in front.

Sure sure. What was the excuse in Monza by the way? I am sure there was something you can spin up to make RedBull 1 second a lap slower than Mercedes there as well.

You're bending yourself out of shape mate Did we not just see Antonelli pull 4,5 seconds in 8 laps in free air? Did we not see Lando close the gap to Max by 0,5s per lap in free air? Did we not see Lando before the VSC? But you would rather look at an average pace chart which includes 35 laps of traffic and tyre management on a track where you can't overtake than admit the obvious. You're emotional about this for some reason.

[Sergej]

plus two more podiums lost for mechanical problems (Monaco and UK)

[Emag]

Pay attention to the race instead of getting into this nonsense. Antonelli was clearly driving to a delta until Charles boxed, he would literally drop more than a second on some laps just to get out of his dirty air. We all saw what happened in the final laps when they were all pushing. Or you think Max was hiding his real pace when he was one second back from the win with a few laps to go?

Average race pace on a track where you can't overtake is useless. You need to find the pockets where cars are pushing and not being held up from the car in front.

Sure sure. What was the excuse in Monza by the way? I am sure there was something you can spin up to make RedBull 1 second a lap slower than Mercedes there as well.

You're bending yourself out of shape mate Did we not just see Antonelli pull 4,5 seconds in 8 laps in free air? Did we not see Lando close the gap to Max by 0,5s per lap in free air? Did we not see Lando before the VSC? But you would rather look at an average pace chart which includes 35 laps of traffic and tyre management on a track where you can't overtake than admit the obvious. You're emotional about this for some reason.

There is nothing for me in this. It’s just weird how Max is deified by looking at things selectively and ignoring the bits that ground him to reality. Its almost cult like. But I will indulge no further at the risk of running into repetitive rants like last year.

There is an objective way to look at things. And within that perspective, RedBull cannot be a second down on Mercedes and McLaren if you account for a 3 tenth driver gap, which I personally do for Max against the other elites.

The driver gap for me is variable and there are drivers in this grid who can nullify that against Max on their best days. Which is what I think happened here with Lando in particular. So no, I don’t think Max somehow scammed a P2 here while driving a sh*tbox. He would have been P3 without the VSC anyway. If he could be there on pace, I don’t see how the car can be as bad as people here make it to be.

[Badger]

Sure sure. What was the excuse in Monza by the way? I am sure there was something you can spin up to make RedBull 1 second a lap slower than Mercedes there as well.

You're bending yourself out of shape mate Did we not just see Antonelli pull 4,5 seconds in 8 laps in free air? Did we not see Lando close the gap to Max by 0,5s per lap in free air? Did we not see Lando before the VSC? But you would rather look at an average pace chart which includes 35 laps of traffic and tyre management on a track where you can't overtake than admit the obvious. You're emotional about this for some reason.

There is nothing for me in this. It’s just weird how Max is deified by looking at things selectively and ignoring the bits that ground him to reality. Its almost cult like. But I will indulge no further at the risk of running into repetitive rants like last year.

There is an objective way to look at things. And within that perspective, RedBull cannot be a second down on Mercedes and McLaren if you account for a 3 tenth driver gap, which I personally do for Max against the other elites.

The driver gap for me is variable and there are drivers in this grid who can nullify that against Max on their best days. Which is what I think happened here with Lando in particular. So no, I don’t think Max somehow scammed a P2 here while driving a sh*tbox. He would have been P3 without the VSC anyway. If he could be there on pace, I don’t see how the car can be as bad as people here make it to be.

Get out of your own head about Max mate. I am not including any "driver gap" in my analysis that RB was over half a second slower than McLaren, and maybe 3 tenths behind Merc. That's just me taking the lap times and sorting out the unrepresentative parts of the race where Antonelli was managing behind Charles, and the laps where Lando was stuck behind George and Max.

This wasn't even a race where Max "magic" made the difference IMO. He drove very well, got the most out of it as he usually does, but the P2 was completely a consequence of the VSC (and perhaps Hamilton's DNF) giving track position on a track where you can't overtake.