Official 2023 Australian Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[Muzzer79]

Fundoreen said:

Why is max so valuable? 100k hysterical dutch people is not much of a market,just noisy as they have had nothing to shout about since the earth cooled.
If rb ditch Perez they will probably loose the whole of the central and south american drink market. Anyone/everyone makes a similar fizzy drink.
They will win the title anyway so the will look better letting them do as they please like the extreme sports image they try and project.

Red Bull have historically struggled to attract the top driver and keep him. In fact, they've historically not been very good at driver management at all.

The only time they have managed to get the top driver in F1 was with Vettel. They developed him, prioritised him over Webber, he won four titles and when the going got a little tough, promptly buggered off to Ferrari.

Horner is petrified that the same will happen with Max so will do anything to keep him happy because

a) they want him winning in their car - who do you replace Max Verstappen with? Yuki Tsunoda? Nick De Vries?
b) they don't want him winning in someone else's car.

On point (a), they'd of course have a queue of drivers wanting to drive for them, given how successful their car design is, but that's not the same as known quantity, who is the right age and who they know will win a race given a quarter of a chance.

Like him or loathe him, Max looks like the next 'phenomenon' - Losing him would be a disaster for Red Bull.

[HustleRussell]

The fact Red Bull hired Perez indicates that they are willing to look outside their programme. They could bag any one of a number of top drivers. They've been in regular dialogue with Norris for example.

They have the best car by a country mile. The suggestion they can't get a top driver if Max buggered off

And where does Max go in this scenario? Surely the way he destroys Hamilton- which appears to be his aim- is to win more WDCs than Hamilton does when all said and done.

You might ask "If Red Bull are no longer recruiting exclusively from within their own programme, what is the point of Toro Rosso?". They're asking that same question themselves.

[Fundoreen]

Muzzer79 said:

Fundoreen said:

Why is max so valuable? 100k hysterical dutch people is not much of a market,just noisy as they have had nothing to shout about since the earth cooled.
If rb ditch Perez they will probably loose the whole of the central and south american drink market. Anyone/everyone makes a similar fizzy drink.
They will win the title anyway so the will look better letting them do as they please like the extreme sports image they try and project.

Red Bull have historically struggled to attract the top driver and keep him. In fact, they've historically not been very good at driver management at all.

The only time they have managed to get the top driver in F1 was with Vettel. They developed him, prioritised him over Webber, he won four titles and when the going got a little tough, promptly buggered off to Ferrari.

Horner is petrified that the same will happen with Max so will do anything to keep him happy because

a) they want him winning in their car - who do you replace Max Verstappen with? Yuki Tsunoda? Nick De Vries?
b) they don't want him winning in someone else's car.

On point (a), they'd of course have a queue of drivers wanting to drive for them, given how successful their car design is, but that's not the same as known quantity, who is the right age and who they know will win a race given a quarter of a chance.

Like him or loathe him, Max looks like the next 'phenomenon' - Losing him would be a disaster for Red Bull.

As already proven many times you need the best car.Still got fingers crossed for merc/ferrari and now aston to get in the way within a few races.

[Muzzer79]

HustleRussell said:

The fact Red Bull hired Perez indicates that they are willing to look outside their programme. They could bag any one of a number of top drivers. They've been in regular dialogue with Norris for example.

They have the best car by a country mile. The suggestion they can't get a top driver if Max buggered off

And where does Max go in this scenario? Surely the way he destroys Hamilton- which appears to be his aim- is to win more WDCs than Hamilton does when all said and done.

You might ask "If Red Bull are no longer recruiting exclusively from within their own programme, what is the point of Toro Rosso?". They're asking that same question themselves.

I didn’t say they couldn’t get a top driver. I said they couldn’t get/would be losing the best driver.

I still think Max is destined for Ferrari. Either they’ll hand him a blank cheque and ask him to fill in the numbers, Red Bull will drop the ball, he’ll get bored winning at Red Bull or a combination of all three.

[suffolk009]

wevster said:

I think if that happened the team would side with Max and Perez would be out the door.

The only way Perez will win the championship is if Max has an awful lot of bad luck, similar to Rosberg/Hamilton 2016.

Perez will not be able to match Max for speed over a season, Max is on another level compared Perez.

Having said all that, I do hope there is controversy between the drivers, that would spice things up a bit...

The only way Perez will will the WDC this year is if Max has somesort of season-ending accident, like Schumacher at Silverstone in 1999. Irvine finished that season in second place -- just two points behind Hakkinen

[TheDeuce]

Muzzer79 said:

I still think Max is destined for Ferrari. Either they’ll hand him a blank cheque and ask him to fill in the numbers, Red Bull will drop the ball, he’ll get bored winning at Red Bull or a combination of all three.

The only problem with that, is that Max publicly snubbed Ferrari a few years back by saying something along the lines of "I have no ambition to go to Ferrari, that is where drivers go to end their career".

Which is accurate to an extent but probably not what Fezza wish to hear! Although I recall he said some warmer things last season about Ferrari - and in the same sentence dismissed ever moving to Mercedes. So who knows?

I suspect his valuable fan and sponsor following would open the doors to any team in reality. Also his ability as a driver of course..

[abzmike]

It’s easy to imagine Ferrari trying to tempt him, but I don’t think Max will go to a team that is uncompetitive, either the car or the organisation. He doesn’t need any more money that RB will give him for as long as he wants, and it’s hard to see them imploding in performance or organisation.

[thegreenhell]

Muzzer79 said:

I still think Max is destined for Ferrari. Either they’ll hand him a blank cheque and ask him to fill in the numbers, Red Bull will drop the ball, he’ll get bored winning at Red Bull or a combination of all three.

I think he'll quit F1 when he gets bored at RB. He's already indicated that he's not in it for the long haul, and history has shown that Ferrari is a graveyard for drivers who think they can go there and reproduce the successes they've had elsewhere.

[TheDeuce]

thegreenhell said:

Muzzer79 said:

I still think Max is destined for Ferrari. Either they’ll hand him a blank cheque and ask him to fill in the numbers, Red Bull will drop the ball, he’ll get bored winning at Red Bull or a combination of all three.

I think he'll quit F1 when he gets bored at RB. He's already indicated that he's not in it for the long haul, and history has shown that Ferrari is a graveyard for drivers who think they can go there and reproduce the successes they've had elsewhere.

Speaking of which... Is Alonso the driver that has continued in F1 for the longest time after leaving Ferrari? It's been nearly ten years since he drove for them and he's still in the sport.

Most definitely either retire post Ferrari or go to another team and are played out after a few years one way or another. Has anyone else remained a decade later and still taking podiums?

[Pflanzgarten]

Kimi left and went back remember!

[RB Will]

Not the most accurate way of determining fan bases but Max has about twice as many followers on Instagram as Perez

[TheDeuce]

RB Will said:

Not the most accurate way of determining fan bases but Max has about twice as many followers on Instagram as Perez

It's global, probably a fairly reasonable way to determine fan engagement.

I think F1's own survey is pretty thorough and well grounded though, Max has 14.4% of the sports fans behind him. Not bad on a grid of 20 drivers.

Checo obviously has massive support from south and central america and the southern states of north america, and that's a lot of people! But still it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Max can easily double that support globally.

I'm sure someone at RB drinks HQ makes it their mission to study the global social and media headlines and knows just how much value he adds to the RB brand. We will never know, he will definitely never know. But it's clearly 'a lot'.

Edited by TheDeuce on Wednesday 29th March 00:11

[paulguitar]

Cold said:

Not sure why there's all the moaning. We've had a different winner every race so far.

We've had two races.

[SmoothCriminal]

HustleRussell said:

The fact Red Bull hired Perez indicates that they are willing to look outside their programme.

They had no other choice.

They burned through every young driver programme driver they had, even resorting to bringing back journeyman Albon who they had booted off the programme before.

[TheDeuce]

Pflanzgarten said:

Kimi left and went back remember!

Ahh but that doesn't count, it has to be the career enjoyed/endured after being ejected from the 'family'

Going back resets the timer, sorry Kimi.

[motomk]

Weather update from down here.
http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/melbourne.shtm...
Radar loop.
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR022.loop.shtml#s...
http://www.bom.gov.au/

The clocks go back here on saturday night/sunday morning. We will be 9 hours ahead on sunday. Piginapoke has that covered already.

[Sandpit Steve]

motomk said:

Weather update from down here.
http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/melbourne.shtm...
Radar loop.
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR022.loop.shtml#s...
http://www.bom.gov.au/

The clocks go back here on saturday night/sunday morning. We will be 9 hours ahead on sunday. Piginapoke has that covered already.

Interesting weather - cold and cloudy, unusually so for a GP.

Possible implications for getting tyres up to temperature, they don’t really like ambient temperatures under 20ºC.

[anonymous-user]

TheDeuce said:

thegreenhell said:

Muzzer79 said:

I still think Max is destined for Ferrari. Either they’ll hand him a blank cheque and ask him to fill in the numbers, Red Bull will drop the ball, he’ll get bored winning at Red Bull or a combination of all three.

I think he'll quit F1 when he gets bored at RB. He's already indicated that he's not in it for the long haul, and history has shown that Ferrari is a graveyard for drivers who think they can go there and reproduce the successes they've had elsewhere.

Speaking of which... Is Alonso the driver that has continued in F1 for the longest time after leaving Ferrari? It's been nearly ten years since he drove for them and he's still in the sport.



Most definitely either retire post Ferrari or go to another team and are played out after a few years one way or another. Has anyone else remained a decade later and still taking podiums?

Possibly Alboreto or Lauda?

[Deesee]

Grid boxes 20cm larger here than standard following Ocon and Alonso penalties..

[sparta6]

angrymoby said:

Checo isn't even in the same boat as Bottas ...at least Hamilton gave Bottas positions & wins back

Bottas


Alonso, Leclerc or Russell for the 3rd step.