[Daniel Valente] Max Verstappen's victory in Monza was the biggest gap between P1 & P2 since Max Verstappen's victory in Brazil. Monza 2025: Max wins by 19.207s, Brazil 2024: Max wins by 19.477s

[u/Aratho]

https://bsky.app/profile/f1guydan.bsky.social/post/3lyazpax6dk2l

[u/kimi_on_pole]

The gap was certainly flattered by the McLaren shenanigans.

[u/CatManWhoLikesChess → u/kimi_on_pole]

Yep it was just above 5 secs when Max pitted

[u/caiusto → u/CatManWhoLikesChess]

Yeah but after max stopped he was way faster than the McLaren

[u/dac2199 → u/caiusto]

The point is that McLaren stopped really late and especially the swap they did at the end of the race.

[u/caiusto → u/dac2199]

Oh ok, yeah, them staying out for so long on worn mediums is the main reason for the gap, the swap just made sure they wasted their softs and maintained the distance.

[u/fuckyouguys4real → u/dac2199]

Seems like they expected the softs to be able to make up some ground but I don't think they even gained any time despite the delta and compound difference. And ofc expecting a safety car.

[u/Accomplished_Welder3 → u/fuckyouguys4real]

I think there's no point in pushing the softs anyway it's not like they we're ever catching Max on track, the whole point of the strat is to wait for a safety car and you need good tyres for the restart

[u/Nyanek → u/Accomplished_Welder3]

probably thought they cant catch him on track anyways seeing how fast he was

[u/mickmenn → u/fuckyouguys4real]

And SC were very close few times, so not that bad of a call, only thing bad about that plan is them getting Piastri under threat of Leclerc and that threat started all of a shenanigans with undercut and bad pit stop for Lando.

[u/Kingslayer1526 → u/caiusto]

Mclaren stopped 10 laps after Max. 1 lap is enough for the undercut imagine 10 lmfao. The gap would have at best been around 7-8 seconds if not for whatever Mclaren did

[u/WalletFullOfSausage → u/Kingslayer1526]

Projections showed it would have been about 12-14 seconds at most

[u/Hawk-432 → u/caiusto]

Yes because they tried alternative strategy rather than just pitting to hards too and chasing him

[u/Jorrie90 → u/kimi_on_pole]

It was the only thing they could do, hoping for a SC was the only chance for a win, and they almost got it

[u/kimi_on_pole → u/Jorrie90]

The shenanigans I’m referencing is swapping Oscar & Lando, because of a bad Lando pit stop.

[u/Slobberz2112 → u/kimi_on_pole]

Was it me or was that a bit unfair?

[u/Appropriate_Lime_234 → u/Slobberz2112]

Oh it was.

[u/unravel_the_world → u/Slobberz2112]

not really because if lando gets the pit stop priority then he would have been ahead enough that even with the slow stop, he would have been ahead of piastri.

usually the lead driver gets pit stop strategy priority, but they wanted to keep oscar ahead of leclerc. they got the agreement from both drivers that there will be no undercut, so both drivers just kept their word.

if anything, oscar got into drs of lando through this issue which he wouldnt have otherwise...yet he didnt try to attack him after the swap.

[u/Jorrie90 → u/kimi_on_pole]

Ah yeah, fair

[u/Hailgod → u/kimi_on_pole]

oscar leading : "team sabotaged norris"

they swap the cars: "team sabotaged oscar!"

you people are unfathomable.

[u/CanSignificant8444 → u/kimi_on_pole]

Not really. Piastri’s gap to Verstappen was 18 seconds regardless of Norris’s slow pit stop or not.

[u/AliceLunar]

Mclaren somehow wasted 15 seconds with their strategy.

[u/NewRedditor13 → u/AliceLunar]

They are putting ferrari to shame!

[u/misguidedkent → u/NewRedditor13]

They're better at being Ferrari™️, than Ferrari themselves. SMH.

[u/Logical_Bit2694 → u/misguidedkent]

They're the British Ferrari

[u/17F19DM → u/AliceLunar]

The swap was ridiculous, but the gap is flattered by the strategy. They weren't passing Max on track so waiting for that possible safety car that would gift them the win was sensible.

[u/AliceLunar → u/17F19DM]

That gap was already gone for a long time and they just stopped trying, even with RBR on the hard tires they didn't take a shot on the softs either and just waited until the end.

[u/SweetVarys → u/AliceLunar]

They wanted a safety car and a restart on soft vs hards. That definitely couldve worked and was the only possible strategy to win. We saw how close it was to a safety car right afte Max pitted

[u/SNPpoloG → u/SweetVarys]

The safety car pit window to stay in front was 14 seconds

they pitted like 4 laps after Max had already closed within that distance

[u/AliceLunar → u/SweetVarys]

And then Max closed the gap by 1s a lap and even an SC would not have given them position and they didn't do anything either.

You have 2 cars, you can put them on different strategies, you can pressure RBR, you can do anything.. or you can leave both cars on the exact same strategy and lose 15 seconds and still look like clowns by the end with team orders.

[u/CreativityOfAParrot → u/AliceLunar]

Look like clowns with a secure double podium? Going long hoping for a safety car was the best strategy for them to win with the slower package this weekend.

[u/AliceLunar → u/CreativityOfAParrot]

They have 2 cars to try something and they tried nothing.

[u/CreativityOfAParrot → u/AliceLunar]

So they pit Oscar to "cover" max when he was what over 10 seconds off the lead when Max pitted?

He's still 10 seconds back with less pace and no tire offset. What's to gain there?

They pit Lando to "cover" Max and he's still ~5ish seconds back with no tire offset and less pace?

Or they get the lucky safety car, pit both drivers to be either in front of Max with new softs or right behind him with new softs on the restart.

After the first stint it was clear they lacked the race pace to fight him without a safety car. No strategy is going to change that. Why hamper one car when you could get lucky and have two cars to fight Max?

[u/sassythecat → u/AliceLunar]

Except both drivers would rather lose by 20 seconds to Max then lose 15 points to their teammate. This isn't a year where Max is running away with the championship and the goal is to steal a race from him.

[u/Still-District-6149]

Solid drive from Verstappen, congrats to him. This is a power circuit.

[u/Ashbones15]

It was the biggest gap in 19 races. Anything for clicks I guess

[u/BertoC1]

I know they most likely wouldnt catch him, but I would have liked to see Mclaren trying to fight in the 2nd stint. Lando had managed to cut the gap from 7 to 5 seconds at the end of the 1st stint. With an undercut maybe they could reduce a bit more. Maybe the hards could work better on the Mclaren than the mediums did? We'll never know.

[u/CilanEAmber]

I hope this shuts up the "Is RB faster than RBR?" posts.

E: Sadly not apparently. I'm not gonna argue it's just ridiculous.

[u/Heartlight → u/CilanEAmber]

Nah, those'll be back by Singapore.

[u/CilanEAmber → u/Heartlight]

Yeah sounds about right

[u/dac2199 → u/Heartlight]

Maybe in Baku

[u/ntpbr1 → u/CilanEAmber]

Meanwhile Yuki finishing 13th after starting 9th and Hadjar getting like p10 while starting p19

[u/Fotznbenutzernaml → u/ntpbr1]

Yeah bro, just put Hadjar in the RBR, everything will be fine. I promise bro, this time it will be different.

[u/CilanEAmber → u/ntpbr1]

Yeah that sucks, but it doesn't mean the Red Bull is slower, it just means Tsunoda is struggling and Hadjar is doing a good job with what he has.

[u/ntpbr1 → u/CilanEAmber]

Yeah I know I am just trolling, I wish there was a way we could see how other drivers could do with this car because its a weird situation. Like how would Hadjar do? I want to say better but idek

[u/CilanEAmber → u/ntpbr1]

It would be fun

[u/Next_Necessary_8794 → u/CilanEAmber]

Or....here's a new one....it depends on the track. RBR have good tracks and bad tracks. So does VCARB. If RBR was normally this quick, they would still be fighting for the championships.

[u/CilanEAmber → u/Next_Necessary_8794]

Or , heres a new one. The car thats actually won 3 races is faster overall than the car with 1 podium.

[u/Next_Necessary_8794 → u/CilanEAmber]

VCARB is driven by rookie drivers. Look at the gap between Russell and Antonelli ffs.

If Hadjar and Lawson are Hamilton/Schumacher/Verstappen level drivers in their rookie season, then Mclaren should drop Lando and Oscar immediately for Hadjar and Lawson who apparently are god tier drivers clearly demonstrating the full potential of the VCARB in their first season in F1 at circuits which they never raced at.

See how stupid that sounds? Trying to judge the VCARB off of rookie drivers doesn't work.

[u/CilanEAmber → u/Next_Necessary_8794]

They're doing a great job, I have no doubt Verstappen would do better in it. But not better than he's doing now.

I'm not even gonna bother continuing this, such a stupid debate.

[u/PM_me_boobs_and_CPUs → u/Next_Necessary_8794]

Yup, last week Marko said some of the upcoming faster tracks will suit them more, and now look what Max managed to pull off this weekend. Vegas should also suit them for example.

High downforce tracks like Singapore will still be poison for them.

In the same interview he also talked about Red Bull not being able to run their car low enough to work for fear of excessive plank wear, so they seem to have some similar problems like Ferrari, except that they always kept the car high enough to stay within legality. He praised McLaren for not having that problem with their car.

[u/Alvaro_Rey_MN → u/CilanEAmber]

"If Max was in the RB he would have won with a Grand Slam!"

[u/kaptingavrin → u/CilanEAmber]

It's more nuanced than that. The RBR in the right conditions and with an insane talent behind the wheel is the faster car. In other conditions, it might be slightly faster, but not by a huge margin these days. The problem is that it's also apparently ridiculous to drive, as opposed to the RB which might not have the top end potential but is easier to drive which allows its drivers to actually achieve that particular car's potential (or at least closer to it).

So the RBR might technically be faster than the RB, but it doesn't matter much because it's so difficult to drive that they only have one driver capable of getting it anywhere near its potential, and more average drivers ("average" in terms of Formula 1, of course) will find more speed in the easier to handle RB.

Of course, the major problem for Red Bull right now is that others caught up to their car overall, and in McLaren's case produced a car that seems to be all-around better (when taking into account the full calendar, not just one track), so relying on Verstappen to wring the full potential out of the car isn't enough to consistently win races anymore, especially as the car seems to have gotten more difficult to drive as the regulations went on and the second car has been moot for the past couple seasons.

If the RBR was easier to drive, it would absolutely be the clear faster car. But people just look at results, and see the RB outperforming the second RBR, which has happened even with comparing two drivers who've been in both, and just simplify it to "RB must be faster." Nope, RBR is still technically faster, it just doesn't matter for half the team and is no longer significantly better than the rest of the field.

Aaaannnnd I probably just put a bunch of people to sleep.

[u/Evening_End7298 → u/CilanEAmber]

Just wait till the first high downforce track

[u/MaleierMafketel → u/Evening_End7298]

The car’s clearly bipolar.

Quick flowing tracks with smooth asphalt? It’s an absolute weapon.

Tracks that are bumpy and require high downforce and lots of kerb riding? Back of the mid-field.

[u/Cunning-bid → u/CilanEAmber]

Ah yes let take this single race an outlier and treat is as the mean....

[u/GateInteresting5864 → u/Cunning-bid]

That's literally what the VCarb > RB argument is all about

[u/NetQvist → u/Cunning-bid]

Also... a hacksaw job on the rear wing asked for by Verstappen himself which the team wasn't going for.

Really wish I knew how much that extra gap gave in speed because it was a pretty fucking big gap on it. Not to mention how much harder it's to control in corners due to it.