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.
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