It was an excellent drive, and he has shown over his career he is incredibly consistent. However this is the reason I take issue with the argument that he's the GOAT. Similarly to many of his wins he didn't really have to do anything special to pull this off, that would justify putting him in that discussion.
He drives in a car and an era where all that is required of him is simply to turn up and not be shit. He doesn't win these races, the other drivers lose them. I have sympathy for Verstappen because I think he does really have to fight that car, if he was in the Merc it might be a different story. Bottas has those spins because he's just... bad.
I don't think Verstappen fights his car. I think he is like that kid in high school whos dad got him a sports car for his 18th birthday and all he wants to do is go fast. Max doesn't have the patience or really the mental fortitude to be challenging for world titles. He just wants to get in front of everyone and go. Watching the race it wasn't a matter of if Max would mess up and spin but when. You could just see it coming when he was chasing Perez. No patience, no planning, no mental capacity to wait for Perez to make a mistake. I think this is why Max has so many of these stupid moments.
It's all hypothetical of course because you can only race who is there with you and there's no way to tell how he'd manage in similar circumstances but I just don't buy it based on accolades alone. I believe the same applies to Schumacher. Imagine if Senna had driven in an era when there was no Prost or Mansell for example.
The great champions of the past had to actually battle other great drivers in other competitive cars throughout their careers.
Schumacher won his first titles with a nearly undriveable car though.
His tyres were probably done though, they showed Perez onboard the lap Stroll pitted and he was drifting through every corner.Stroll had an amazing 35 laps. I'll give him that.
But that last half of the race...oof.
(I do think that's more on strategy, tires and the conditions changing to ones less favourable for him...but still...oof).
Undriveable when Benetton had traction control and the competition didn't? Right..Schumacher won his first titles with a nearly undriveable car though.
As a result of dive bombing Ocon and taking him out. Whatever damage he had it was his own doing.Bottas picked damage at the very beginning.
As a result of dive bombing Ocon and taking him out. Whatever damage he had it was his own doing.
I assume you're talking turn 1? Bottas and Ocon had another incident later in lap 1, which is where I guess he got the damage from....eh. That's a very severe reading of the incident.
I assume you're talking turn 1? Bottas and Ocon had another incident later in lap 1, which is where I guess he got the damage from.
Fair enough - I was referring at turn 1 incident. Didn't exactly see the incident you're talking about.
Schumacher won his first titles with a nearly undriveable car though.
Allegations that were never proven despite repetitive investigations. According to Verstappen Sr.:
"It was a very difficult car. You could not feel the limit and so you were pushing and pushing and then suddenly it would have oversteer. Normally when you get oversteer you can control it but the Benetton would go very suddenly and so you ended up having a spin. I had big problems with that car."
Having TC doesn't make your car invincible to oversteer though, it just means the other drivers weren't able to succeed despite of it. Although I would put more blame on Briatore for applying pressure, rather than Herbert/Verstappen/Lehto etc. being able to drive. Briatore was basically Helmut Marko of the 1990s and early 2000s, throwing number 2 drivers under the bus the first chance he got.Allegations that were never proven despite repetitive investigations. According to Verstappen Sr.:
"It was a very difficult car. You could not feel the limit and so you were pushing and pushing and then suddenly it would have oversteer. Normally when you get oversteer you can control it but the Benetton would go very suddenly and so you ended up having a spin. I had big problems with that car."
Allegations that were never proven despite repetitive investigations. According to Verstappen Sr.:
"It was a very difficult car. You could not feel the limit and so you were pushing and pushing and then suddenly it would have oversteer. Normally when you get oversteer you can control it but the Benetton would go very suddenly and so you ended up having a spin. I had big problems with that car."
Wins: | 0 (0%) | |
Podiums: | 2 (1.9%) | |
Pole positions: | 0 (0%) | |
Championships: | 0 (0%) | |
Best result: | 3rd | |
Best grid position: | 6th (1994 Belgian Grand Prix) | |
Seasons: | 8 | |
Events: | 107 | |
Starts: | 107 | |
Points: | 17 (0.2 points per race avg) | |
Laps raced: | 3987 | |
Laps led: | 0 ) (0%) | |
Fastest laps: | 0 (0%) | |
Retirements: | 58 (54.2%) |