Mercedes driver George Russell reckons Max Verstappen is racing “less aggressive than he’s ever been” in Formula 1 because of Red Bull’s 2023 pace advantage.
Mercedes driver George Russell reckons Max Verstappen is racing “less aggressive than he’s ever been” in Formula 1 because of Red Bull’s 2023 pace advantage.
Slightly more interesting bit in the article:
Intriguingly, when asked about the importance of trust established with racing fellow F1 drivers, Russell suggested there were “maybe three drivers on the grid who you wouldn’t feel comfortable going against”. “There’s a trust between most of the drivers,” he added. “I don’t think [those three unnamed racers] have the spatial awareness of others.
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I think the point made in the headlines is pretty obvious. There's no benefit in being agressive when you're so much faster than everyone else.
I agree that the other point is more interesting. Especially the fact that those drivers he don't feel so comfortable going against, it's not because they're agressive, but becdause they don't (yet?) have the spacial awareness.
There's no benefit in being agressive when you're so much faster than everyone else.
This is also why Max got away with driving so aggressively against MB and Ferrari back in the day.
Hamilton wasn't going to risk a DNF defending against a car he could easily pass 3 laps later
And it's why Max got caught out in 2021. Hamilton did need to defend and didn't yield every time Max put him in a back-off-or-crash situation
My guess for those 3 drivers would be Max, KMag and maybe Stroll? I can't think of who else the 3rd driver could be but funnily enough, Stroll has been one of the best at wheel to wheel racing this year.
I'm not sure about Max. Obviously this season is different, but in the past, I've always viewed him as someone who has excellent situational awareness - but slightly less honed risk management. But I don't think his situational awareness has ever been in question, only his risk management.
If RBR somehow screw up their car, and Max has to start really fighting again, I suspect we'd see far fewer incidents than a couple of years ago, because by then not only will he be older and wiser, but also because he's now proven himself to be one of the greatest of all time (and I say that as someone who is not a fan of Max, I just think it's objectively true), so there won't be any need to take the kinds of risks he used to take in the past.
Yeah these aren't my personal opinions, just who I think George is talking about.