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Originally Posted by minn19
Edit: Also if Vandoorne was the real deal why did he not end up with another team or RB for that matter?
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Vandoorne is the guy next door. No wealthy family. No big sponsors. Ron Dennis chose him because of talent and results - no pay driver.
Especially in the nowadays F1 world: no money = no honey. And if the powers that be of a team got a personal interest to promote their own kid, you're at risk of getting axed.
F1 is a ruthless dog-eat-dog business. Not every F1 driver deserves to be considered "one of the 20 best F1 drivers worldwide". Lots of super talented race drivers never got the chance to access F1.
Quote:
Originally Posted by minn19
Any comments on Horner’s (mis)management of the team that has lead them to where they are now?
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Horner virtually single-handedly ruined RBR with his antics on track and off track. Success went to his head: hubris.
Verstappen gets increasingly bothered by all that has happened since Summer 2022 (finding out that Perez had deliberately crashed during the Monaco Q3 qualies, seems to have caused quite some damage in the team dynamics; losing Honda after 2025; the damaged relationship with Mark Mateschitz after having snubbed Porsche and an attempted power grab (failed RBR buyout); the fallout/handling of the female employee story widened the divide; Adrian Newey and several others have left, etc.). Lawson getting demoted being the latest in a series of situations that bother Verstappen (he opposed against demoting Lawson, but Horner & C° ignored his point of view). Chances are increasing that Verstappen will be donning the Mercedes race suit in 2026, you'll see.
Throwback to 2022: Verstappen refused to let Perez pass in the final stages of the 2022 Interlagos GP because of the the 2022 Monaco Q3 crash:
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Originally Posted by Artemis
- when Verstappen was radioed to let Perez pass during the final lap of the 2022 Brazil race, the reporter "already knew for sure at that moment" that Verstappen would refuse "and that has everything to do with Monaco earlier this year";
- he claims that a couple of weeks ago, "I believe in Mexico" (the Mexico race weekend of Oct 28-30, 2022), Verstappen was internally asked whether under such (hypothetical) scenario he would let Perez pass, but Verstappen "re-iterated" that he would refuse to do so "because you know why"; Red Bull internally "knew" that Verstappen would definitely not change his mind on this subject and that "what happened in Monaco is not forgotten";
- he said that, after Max Verstappen secured the 2022 WDC title in Japan (Oct 9, 2022), Jos Verstappen told his newspaper that "also for him, Monaco was the turning point";
- he added that during the Azerbaijan race weekend (June 10-12, 2022; the next race after the Monaco race weekend of May 27-29, 2022) he was "by chance standing next to Red Bull" and he heard Helmut Marko ask where Perez was; after returning from the press conference, Perez was escorted upstairs where he was "summoned to explain" ("op het matje geroepen" is a Dutch expression for being ordered to explain alleged inappropriate behavior); the reporter added: "And apparently, there, Perez has internally admitted that he had deliberately spun during the final run of the qualifications. He had P3, so it was not about pole position. He saw on his steering wheel via the delta time that he was not faster underway. He thought « I park over there » and so Verstappen - who was faster underway - can no longer pass.";
- Perez went on to win the Monaco race and the reporter claims that "Verstappen has always remembered this";
- he added: "People can say: « Suggestive ». However, we know this already since months. It's internally already known." and "The onboard images of Perez, the data, and you clearly see that only in that moment he immediately floors the gas pedal in the middle of the turn ahead of the tunnel. Yeah, that was pure intent. And this has nothing to do with speculation, again, this is just a fact and he has also internally admitted this.";
- he also said: "Inside Verstappen's mind there is a difference between helping someone and truly deliberately screwing someone. And in his view that has happened in Monaco. And you can factually construe this. And he does not forget this.";
- futhermore: "Max Verstappen is not in F1 to make friends. He's a man of principles, a pure winner. And notwithstanding that it's only about P6, he has already internally told this, and he's not gonna change his mind in the final lap at Interlagos.";
- he concluded that "regardless of everything you may think about it, I do not understand why, given that he had internally already pointed this out a couple of times, to still think that via the onboard radio he would then [you could make him] agree.";
- and finally about his claim that the incident is related to Monaco, he concluded: "Was it Monaco? He [Verstappen] replied something along the lines « You can decide that. I'm not gonna say it ». Well, I just know for 100% that that's case. He's not saying it, but we are there to disclose it to the world.".
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