Liam Lawson is definitively sidelined by Red Bull Racing after just two races. From the Japanese Grand Prix onwards, Yuki Tsunoda is Max Verstappen’s new teammate.
Liam Lawson is definitively sidelined by Red Bull Racing after just two races. From the Japanese Grand Prix onwards, Yuki Tsunoda is Max Verstappen’s new teammate.
I want to see Max in the VCARB and see how he does.
It’ll be amusing if Lawson does better in the Racing Bulls car than he did in the RB. Or if he does better in the Racing Bulls car than Tsunoda does in the Red Bull.
I don’t think it’s impossible that Perez was not slipping - the problem is instead that Red Bull actually has bad (or idiosyncratic) cars, and Verstappen is just so good he can still win in them.
I think both of these will end up being true. I hope Tsunoda does well because I want him to succeed, but I think he’ll struggle. We know Liam can drive, he proved that last season, so I don’t doubt he’ll be about on par with Hadjar.
Agree on the Perez & RBR development. It makes me wonder if Max is actually terrible at giving feedback about the car for development and just drives around issues, and the team are only really taking his feedback on board.
Given that Max has talked about the differences between the RBR and the VCARB in interviews, I wonder whether he has tested the VCARB recently.
That would be illegal, no?
The older cars he can test without restrictions. On simulator there are no restrictions either I believe. For the current car, they would need to use an official filming/testing day from their budget
That would be true for -for instance- Lawson, to get to know his new team. Since RBR and VCARB are supposed to be separate teams, this kind of testing would definitely be illegal!
The only way VER would be able to test any VCARB would be to transfer him there, but that’s not going to happen.
I don’t think so. Some drivers do testing work for multiple teams, like in the last couple of years Bearman did for Ferrari & Haas, Giovannazzi did for Ferrari & Alfa Romeo, or Lawson did for RBR & RB, etc.
If say Alpine offered Hamilton a test drive, I think nothing in the regulations would hinder him from accepting that offer. In reality Alpine wouldn’t do that however.
Hmm, maybe you’re right, I was thinking along the lines of data-sharing being illegal between rival teams, but drivers testing for different teams may actually be allowed. In this case of RBR and VCARB, it just feels very fishy to me.
Thanks for pointing this out.