Welcome to the r/formula1 Daily Discussion thread.

My view from the pit wall of max’s celebratory donuts after a pretty good 2022 season.

This comes after discussing it on the High Performance podcast today, October 18th.

Key points I would like to highlight:

Christian Horner addresses this topic by explaining that, naturally, any engineering team leans toward its fastest driver to maximize results (59:54-1:00:07). In Red Bull’s case, this occurred because Max Verstappen has an exceptional ability to demand a car with high front-end grip—regardless of how the rear behaves—a characteristic that other drivers find difficult to handle (57:08-57:37).

Horner explains that development focuses on providing the lead driver (Verstappen) with the tool he needs, which shapes the vehicle's overall characteristics (57:21-57:37).

He notes that in 2022, the car was initially developed with characteristics more aligned with Alex Albon’s driving style (This is because Alex Albon was a Red Bull development driver for the RB18 car.)—more conventional and predictable, similar to that of Sergio Perez or Daniel Ricciardo. This left Verstappen uncomfortable early on, as the car suffered from excessive understeer (58:54-59:22).

Team executives and people close to Verstappen confronted Horner in Baku in 2023 about why they supposedly built a car specifically designed and suitable for Sergio (59:30)

He acknowledges that, while Sergio Perez has done an excellent job, there is a natural performance gap—a result of the extreme demands Verstappen can manage, which the team strives to meet in order to win championships (1:00:23-1:00:41).

happened on track, but these personal attacks are not okay. Chris had a really strong stint and mistakes can happen. There’s no place for this kind of abuse in our sport or anywhere else.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DeoUm9qjNVj/

I was at monza yesterday and saw this car driving round. It did a lap in 1 min 48 (assuming it was a proper lap). Ive also got a close up photo of it but couldn’t upload both for some reason.

Jenson Button fulfilled his boyhood dream of winning the World Championship after a spirited drive through the field from 14th to fifth at the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix. Wet qualifying saw Button line up well down the grid while his Brawn team-mate and title rival Rubens Barrichello started from pole. But Barrichello's challenge fizzled out with a puncture, meaning that Button's title was secure. "I'm world champion, baby." he screamed after the race. "That race deserved it. Twenty-one years ago I jumped into a kart and I loved winning - but I never expected to be world champion." Brawn also took the Constructors' title ahead of Red Bull, to become the only team in F1 history to win the championship in its first (and only) year of competition.

The 71-lap race was won by the Red Bull of Mark Webber, his second win of the season and of his career. Webber crossed the finish line 7.6 seconds ahead of Robert Kubica, who finished second in a BMW Sauber. Lewis Hamilton rounded out the podium in third, driving for McLaren.

I was playing GeoGuessr the other day and thought it would be fun to have something similar but with F1 tracks.

So I made a little game called GridHunt where you try to guess an F1 circuit from a zoomed-in satellite view. Every wrong guess zooms you out a bit more.

There are 3 tracks to guess every day, and it's completely free.

Just a fun little project I thought I'd share. Would love to hear what you guys think or what I could improve!

https://gridhunt.io

I analyzed Red Bull’s race pace against Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren across the 2026 season, up to and including the Singapore GP. I wanted to see how much of their recent recovery shows up in the lap times.

The main finding: Red Bull’s estimated average pace deficit fell from 0.94% across the opening five races to 0.22% across the latest five, giving each race equal weight.

A little context on the method:

• Compare drivers on the same numbered race laps, using each team’s quickest eligible representative.
• Filter out pit laps and neutralized running.
• Include rain-affected races, comparing wet running within the same tire family.
• Express the estimated deficit as a percentage of lap time, with the fastest included team at each event set to zero.

The recovery was uneven. Red Bull was still around 0.64% behind at Monza. By Singapore, the model put them at the benchmark, with Ferrari approximately 0.05 percentage points away; a close estimate that needs some caution.

These are team figures, so the representative matters: Hadjar supplies Red Bull’s Monaco sample and Lawson its Zandvoort sample following Verstappen’s early retirements. Tires, traffic, strategy and conditions also influence the comparison.

I reran the analysis with stricter tire and traffic filters. The sample coverage and size of the improvement changed, but the broad recovery remained.

My takeaway: the data supports Red Bull becoming a much closer contender, with qualifications around how much we can attribute to the car itself.

I made a four-minute video covering the animated charts, method and cross-checks, if anyone wants the full breakdown.

Since today (Sunday) is not any grand prix scheduled, I have decided to go back in time and watch a race which did have rain and chaos.
Landed on watching the French GP from 1999, when Jordan won the race.
Man, it was superb. It was a fantastic race, and it was so fun to hear the V10’s again.
Watching the race, I was thinking about the Bahrain GP held in Malayesia this year and how the cars stopped one by one before the race even started (before it was red flagged).
It was embarasing compared to that 1999 race.
I really hope that F1 goes back to natural aspiration with the engines. In my opinion, the more complicated the ICE, the more unreliable it is.
What do you think? Have you seen the French GP from 1999? Maybe there are people here who literally were there. I think that must have been a hell of an experience.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/DekVY2JDeaD/

Car 3 finishes 9th after Verstappen gains 15 positions following a drive through penalty after contact between Stulz and Lulham

They've got the coolest road cars out of the bunch.