Ah, to “Float like A Butterfly”. Uhm, where’s’ Good
‘Ol George Foremen to Knock Yuhs Out!
After wading thru the pandemonium Ye Bloody
Daily Mail rag was frothing about over thoust Axing of Liam Lawson. I have to
say I mused to Thyself how la Scuderia must be most content to have the
pressure taken off of them regarding their first ever double disqualification
from a Grand Prix, eh? Although Ferrari will need to drastically improve at
Suzuka, results-wise. Seriously, lagging behind Williams in the Constructors
standings, Yikes!
Whilst I doubt I’ll ever be a fan of Max
Blunderhead’s, nee Naximilian Verstappen. You cannot underestimate His driving
prowess. As last year’s Sao Paolo Grand Prix still clearly stands out as His
best drive to me.
Not to mention the immense amount ‘O pressure
the Dutchman relieved for Red Bull by winning from pole on Sunday…
No, what peeves me off is the Free pass the Hierarchy
at Red Bull Racing seemingly is getting somewhat, with it’s Mega’ Damage
control spin job. Touting how this is being done to save Lawson’s future and
for the good of the team, Bully!
Since I can no longer recall how long I’ve been
scribbling here on No Fenders about der Helmut tossing out drivers like luke
warm bathwater, Ja Volt! As how far back do we wish to go?
While the Pied Piper of F1 Chris Horner
serenely states that they’re looking forward to Yuki Tsunoda’s vast wealth of
experience to help sort out the troublesome RB21, Seriously? Hmm, why didn’t
Horner and Dr. Helmut Marco see fit to put the Japanese driver in straight
away? Or does the reported increase of Honda money have something to do with
this change of heart?
As the names Scott Speed, Vitantonio Liuzzi and
Sebastien Bourdais immediately spring to mind. While being reminded of Jaime Alguersuari, Jean-eric Vergne,
Sebastian Buemi, etc.
Not to mention the harshness Nyck de Vries
suffered during His ten race outing at Alphatauri. Before somebody named
DannyRic’, aka Daniel Ricciardo replaced Him, and so it goes…
While it’s also been well documented over the
fortunes of Maximus’ Hothead’s past Red Bull F1 teammates Pierre Gasly who was
swapped mid-season for Alexander Albon. And then Albon being demoted to test
and reserve driver in favour of Sergio Perez. All suffering crushing blows to
their F1 careers as Verstappen’s teammate at the Big Bulls’ outfit since the
Dutchman’s arrival in 2016.
Going back even further, it was also pointed
out how Daniil Kvyat suffered a similar fate accompli as Lawson has. Although
the Russian driver was at least given a full season before being demoted to
Scuderia Toro Rosso in order to make way for Formula 1 Wunderkind Max
Verstappen. While Gasly also suffered the same demotion before ultimately
moving onto Alpine…
The saddest statement or indictment of Red
Bull’s driver blunder is the fact that Lawson lasted only half as long as
Japanese driver Yuji Ide did for Super aguri in 2006, Youza! Especially since
I’d rate the 23yr old Kiwi’ Lawson as a far superior talent vs. Ide!
While to underscore the brilliance of
Verstappen, to date Max has won 64 of Red Bull’s 123 victories, which I believe
equates to over 50%! Not to mention His 41 pole positions equals more than one
third of the team’s 104 to date. As Red Bull quickly approaches it’s 400th
Grand Prix, a mere pittance vs. Ferrari’s All-time ledger of 1,100 and counting!
Although Red Bull is only celebrating it’s 20th Anniversary in Formula 1 vs.
Ferrari having raced since 1950.
While at least Marco’s willing to admit that
Red Bull is missing the genious of Adrian Newey, as even Max says this year’s RB21
is a handful to drive!
Yet Tsunoda’s placement at Red Bull can surely
only be seen as a stop-gap measure with Honda becoming Aston Martin’s Werks’
Power Unit (PU) supplier beginning next year. While Honda Racing Company
president Koji Watanabe has already
confirmed that Honda’s funding of drivers at Red Bull will cease at year’s end.
Thus presumably leaving the door open for either Lawson to return, or Isack
Hadjar to join the roiling Hot driver barbeque at Red Bull.
But I’d say that Red Bull’s bigger problem is
keeping Verstappen, since inevitably the Dutchman will either move to another
F1 team or retire from the sport, leaving Red Bull in a vacuum! As Red Bull
seemingly has nobody in it’s vaunted Junior Academy to emulate Max’s impressive
winning tally for the Energy Drinks company…
As Grizzled F1 Journo’ Joe Saward notes, only
two Red Bull Junior Academy drivers have won Grands Prix for Red Bull, i.e.;
Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo. With Pierre Gasly winning once for
Scuderia AlphaTauri, whilst Vettel made history winning both Toro Rosso and Red
Bull’s maiden Grand Prix victory, if I remember correctly?
Meanwhile one of Red Bull’s two Blowhard, as
ironically Joe Saward noted being somewhere in Hornerwald prior to the latest
Red Bull Messopotamia. Noted that it wouldn’t be surprising for Lawson to
outqualify Tsunoda in the Racing bull, which is noted for being quick in
Qualie’.
And talk about pressure, as Yuki will be under
immense scrutiny by His Home Nation’s Fans…
As this gives Alpine’s rookie Jack Doohan a
slight reprieve, making me think of the following scenario. Imagine that
Williams had justdumpedCarlos Sainz Jr. who’s reportedly been struggling for
pace in the FW47 after just two races in favour of Alpine/Williams reserve
driver Franco Colapinto…
As the Box score will show that Tsunoda
finished P12 at Suzuka, with Lawson P17. Although one race doesn’t make a very
large sample size. And in fairness to Lawson, Yuki’s in His fifth full season
having just made His 90th start in Japan. While Lawson has only raced two
partial seasons as a replacement driver, having just capped His 14th start
As
Formula 1 is a brutal sport, perhaps even Blood Sport, Eh? As the $64k question
now is how well does Lawson progress from this setback? Or will the Red Bull
Hierarchy see fit to replace Lawson at season’s end?
While “Wouldn’t It be Ironic”, (Alanis) if Verstappen and Tsunoda became future teammates at Aston Martin…
