Russell

[delicate orbit]

Verstappen is contracted at Red Bull, and why would Mercedes fire Russell?

[candid canyon]

If Verstappen comes, Kimi isn’t leaving

Max has exit clauses which are about to be hit, meaning he can leave early

Kimi is the merc project

[delicate orbit]

And where does Russell go?

[candid canyon]

Red Bull probably tbh

[delicate orbit]

Red Bull?

Cadillac?

[candid canyon]

Those are the only options

[delicate orbit]

Oh you already said Red Bull

[candid canyon]

Send him to alpine 🤣

[delicate orbit]

Red bull gonna have an entirely different lineup next year 💀

Russell and Hadjar

[candid canyon]

And the car still will be impossible to drive

Incoming P11 in constructors

[slim torrent]

signing verstappen in 2026 would be the biggest mistake in formula one history

it would set the team back by years

[grand notch]

Send him back to Williams

[violet violet]

Which doesn’t matter if it means they finally have someone capable of winning a championship

[slim torrent]

Russell is obviously capable of winning a championship

[torpid vale]

aston martin a good shout too

[violet violet]

I get it, being a Russell fan and knowing Toto would drop him in a heartbeat if Max showed interest must be tough 😭

[slim torrent]

Wait you actually don’t think Russell is a championship calibre driver???

[delicate orbit]

Alonso's not going anywhere unless he wins championship number 3, and if Stroll quits he will be replaced with Tsunoda

[candid canyon]

That’s if stroll quits for next season

Otherwise Tsunoda will be at Cadillac or out of F1

[slim torrent]

if Russell is available aston are obviously going to sign him instead of Tsunoda

I don’t see Tsunoda as a particularly good pick for any team bar Cadillac tbh

[delicate orbit]

He is a Honda driver, he can't be anywhere other than Aston Martin next year or else he will leave, unless he cuts ties with Honda after this year

[slim torrent]

he is not a honda driver

they do not negotiate for him

they simply give him some support

[torpid vale]

this is prob one of the saltiest statements ive ever read. like geez bro any team who open a seat for verstappen if he is available, its called championship winning bias.

heck even zak brown would do that if verstappen came through.

if u dont believe that look at what happened with ducati last year. gigi signed marc marquez instead of CHAMPIONSHIP winning jorge martin. Why? cuz he is marc marquez

[violet violet]

Under the right circumstances anything is possible but give kimi time and I bet he’ll outshine Russell

[odd ore]

Dropping Russell for Antonelli would be silly.
Russell is a great driver (top 5 on grid for sure) and you wouldn't want to fumble him, even if he isn't best mates with Max.

But for all we know Antonelli may have a really low development ceiling

[candid canyon]

Toto isn’t letting Antonelli go under any circumstance

He’s their project

[violet violet]

Nevertheless that is the most likely outcome

Tho I still believe that max stays at Redbull, but we’ll see

[slim torrent]

It is one step forward for two steps back

Sure, you get the best driver on the grid but you ruin the careers of your two best ever academy graduates

Including one a decade younger than Verstappen

[violet violet]

It what way does that ruin kimi’s career? 🤣
Most likely enhances it by having a champ to guide him

And merc isn’t redbull so they most likely wouldn’t make the mistake of creating a car only max can perform in

[slim torrent]

Because he’d be driving a much more extreme car

[odd ore]

Nope, that is by no means a given. Merc might not cave to that demand

[slim torrent]

Well then Verstappen won’t join

[odd ore]

Also, if you're admitting that Max's teams develop cars that have extreme balance, does that mean you can stop saying Tsunoda is washed?

[slim torrent]

no because tsunoda is still doing worse than perez was

and perez isn’t in the sport

[odd ore]

He's not joining a team that's currently got a faster car outright, will likely have a better PU for 2026, isn't imploding leadership-wise and shedding key staff every few weeks? Why not?

[odd ore]

Reminder that Perez had a decade of experience when he joined RBR. Yuki had less than half of that

[slim torrent]

Because he will genuinely have more success at Aston

I think Verstappen can win races and championships in inferior cars if they are built for him

But if they aren’t, his performance tanks more than other drivers

[odd ore]

Aston are the definition of 'all the gear but no idea'

Newey isn't fixing that team in one year

And Max can only carry bad cars so far

[slim torrent]

Newey can give them a competitive car for 27 or 28, if the engine is good enough

[odd ore]

As long as they keep Stroll in a race seat that team is not serious about winning anything. Not jumping on the Lance hate train, but he's simply not the best choice

[odd ore]

The Honda project hasn't had much positive noise around it. Newey is good, but Merc has both good car design and engine, and I don't see Aston challenging them, especially with issues like the wind tunnel issue Newey identified

[violet violet]

Now that’s just funny and rather ignorant 😭

[odd ore]

evidence for this?

[violet violet]

Source “trust me bro”

[slim torrent]

verstappen’s gap to perez in 2024 was what, 7 tenths?

in 2022 it was 2 tenths

that was when the car was in a raw neutral state

now, did perez get worse? probably

but that is still an extreme gap

[candid canyon]

Perez fell off after mid 2023

[torpid vale]

says who lmao? did u forget that toto was the man who signed LEWIS HAMILTON. I think he knows what he is doing

[torpid vale]

U say that as if verstappen already requested an extreme car. He is driver who can ADAPT to any car, its pure ignorance if u think otherwise. Max would an amazing mentor for kimi and it would only help him grow

[slim torrent]

verstappen has shown literally nothing to say he can adapt to any car

he has driven for ONE team and gone through ONE regulation change where in the first season of said regs he was worse than the 2 seasons around it

well hes driven for two but like toro rosso doesnt really count lets be honest

[torpid vale]

oh so the car he drove from 2016-2018 was already modified to his liking was it? like i said before toto knows what he is doing.

[torpid vale]

worse? 2022 u mean? the year where he started of with 2 mechanical failures and ferrari having the fastest car (at the start). Despite that it still has the second most wins in f1 history.

if this is the standard for "worse" then oh boy toto is in for a treat

[slim torrent]

Ferrari weren’t the fastest at the start lol

Verstappens gap to Perez in 2021 was 5 tenths, 2023 5 tenths

In 2022 2 tenths

[torpid vale]

ok redbull and ferrari exchanged fastest cars every weekend, still dont see what point ur tryna make?

[torpid vale]

ok? ur only point for verstappen not joining merc is the gap to his teammate lmao cmon man. 2 tenths or 5 tenths verstappen was clearly quick and also perez was able to adapt to that car really well in 2022 compared to 2023.

[torpid vale]

.

[slim torrent]

well yeah getting 3 tenths slower is getting worse

and verstappen will have an actually good teammate

not some midfield driver

the reason for the move being awful is not because verstappen gets slower when the car isn’t suited to him, it would be awful because the verstappen camp would force the car to be suited to him

[violet violet]

I see nothing “awful” about this situation, tho I do see someone praying max doesn’t make the move, like get over it. It probably won’t happen but if it does it won’t ruin f1…. Sheesh

[slim torrent]

you ruin the careers of your two best ever academy graduates

that is embarrassing for an organisation

[torpid vale]

u make that claim with no solid evidence. stop counting your chickens before they have hatched mate.

[torpid vale]

oh thats really good, nothing to worry bout is it then

[torpid vale]

its a SPORT and its brutal, every team would like to have the best of the best even if it comes to dropping their homegrown and i see nothing wrong with it. Every man to himself.

[torpid vale]

exactly lmao

whether russell is a championship calibre driver or not isnt relevant when it comes to comparing him with a guy with 4 WDC. f1 is not a sport to gamble, a TP would rather have a guaranteed WDC winner instead of a driver who has never been able to showcase his skills in an actual title race, frankly because he has never been in one. (not exactly his fault but it is what it is)

[slim torrent]

Is him not being 3 tenths slower evidence…

[slim torrent]

You gain 5 years of success that you probably would’ve had anyway in exchange for 10 years

If not more

[violet violet]

Also max hasn’t ruined anyone’s career. That seems to be the team’s fault and if it is max, that proves even more what damn good driver he is.

So any team would sign him if given half a chance

[slim torrent]

do you think red bull just accidentally ignore feedback from their second driver or

[odd ore]

I mean they've been ignoring their complaints about its drivability for years, so yes

The tie-up between Max and Mercedes would be amazing (especially for Merc's marketing), and I don't see Max suddenly being terrible just because he's not in an ultra-tailored car. He's clearly one of the greatest of all time

[violet violet]

I believe that is part of it. It seems it took redbull quite a while to realize they were actually in trouble.

And I’d say that’s due to Max’s incredible over driving. Redbull assumed that if max can make it go fast then it must not be the cars fault.

[slim torrent]

He wouldn’t be terrible

But the point is that he will not be in that unsuited car

[violet violet]

Another example was last Sunday. Redbull is essentially p10 in the constructors without max dragging that car to podiums

[slim torrent]

max drags the car built for him to podiums

[delicate orbit]

This

[paper glade]

And I don’t think Mercedes would build the car completely around max

[candid canyon]

Well they’re watching Red Bull crumble because of a car built around max

P3 last year, P4 this year

[slim torrent]

They would

It’ll be something he wants contractually

[paper glade]

My point exactly - doing this also basically eliminates much chance for a successful second driver

[paper glade]

And I don’t think Mercedes would be I’m with that so I don’t think they would hire him

[slim torrent]

Toto would, I doubt the Merc board would

[torpid vale]

and when has russell ever proved that he has the capabilitues to win a WDC? now dont give me that he has the scope to do it blah blah. we all thought the same for lando and look how he crumbled. 5 years of GUARANTEED success? anyone would take it.

[slim torrent]

literally EVERY time mercedes have had a race winning car he has showed up

every single race for the last year

Austria, Silverstone, Spa, Brazil, Vegas, Canada

Norris had zero wins before he had a title contending car

And 5 years of success with Max is far from guaranteed

What if he doesn’t gel with the car?

What if he leaves after 2028?

What if he’s like Vettel?

[torpid vale]

what if he does gel with the car?
what if he doesnt leave after 2028?
what if merc builds a monstrosity of a car and he dominates?
if u wanna talk about ifs, buts and maybes so can I. 🤷

[torpid vale]

if its far from guaranteed for max, then its even further for george.

simply cuz he is just a better driver.

[slim torrent]

You were talking about guarantees…?

[torpid vale]

yes guaranteed that merc gives him a decent enough car to compete he can win titles. U cant come with the same guarantee for george can ya?

[slim torrent]

Yes you can…

[torpid vale]

👍 alr then, if u can guarantee george can win in a decent car, then it comes with an automatic guarantee that max can asw.

[slim torrent]

No it doesn’t??

He’s never driven the car??

[torpid vale]

and what 2026 car has russell driven? u do realise its a regulation change right?

[slim torrent]

yeah and what 2026 car has max driven

You got standards for one guy but not the other

[torpid vale]

my standards are based on the driver's capabilities and what they done in the past with a car which is decent and semi decent. and max excels in all categories. And the fact that he is the best driver on the grid right now and has been for the past 4 years. if that isnt enough to proclaim that a driver can win a decent car next season i dont know what is.

[slim torrent]

because he’s never driven or tested a mercedes mate

‘vettel has won 9 races in a row surely he can win next season’ oh

[torpid vale]

we have one of the biggest regulation changes coming next season.... the car next year is gonna be entirely different to this year

[torpid vale]

do u know that vettel has never won a race starting 4th or lower? max is way better than what vettel was. and also the fact that merc built a monster of an engine which was almost cleansweeping the entire grid

[slim torrent]

thats such a dumb stat because vettel just qualified well

[torpid vale]

oh yeah clearly he has qualified well (2012)

[slim torrent]

he missed out on the top 3 twice in 2 years lol

[torpid vale]

?

[slim torrent]

Real stat

Didn’t qualify outside the top 3 ONCE in 2011

[torpid vale]

oh 2011. yes im aware of that. still doesnt explain 2012.

[slim torrent]

Car was slower than the mclarens in qualifying

[torpid vale]

ah so not so much of a "he always qualified well" was it?

[slim torrent]

well yeah he wasn’t gonna qualify on pole and win the race in a car 2 tenths slower