Albon still making big gains during race weekends

12 comments on “Albon still making big gains during race weekends”

1. 

   Scotty
   7th October 2019, 3:05

   Keith, Thank you for COTD and caption contest honors. I’m a big fan of the site. Keep up the good work!
2. 

   Chaitanya
   7th October 2019, 5:02

   Overall Albon seems to be much closer to Verstappen even in qualifying compared to Gasly. Also there was a comment made by one of Sky commentrators: some drivers are exceptional in midfield teams but as soon as they are put in top teams and spotlight they flat line. That seems like a perfect description of Gasly.
   1. 

      NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
      7th October 2019, 6:19

      I wonder why that is. Same thing as Bottas. Brilliant at Williams, next Senna were Frank Williams claims, yet at Mercedes he fails to impress.

      Meanwhile some drivers get in and get the job done like Leclerc. Is it purely psychological? Both Bottas and Gasly are somewhat mild and nice, meanwhile Leclerc is a bonified duchebag. As is Verstappen another midfielder who successfully made the transition to the current best.

      Maybe those midfield greats are operating at peak performance possible for their talent and another step up is just not possible? Then when inevitable happens, racing against say Lewis Hamilton in same team, same team meetings they begin to doubt them-self and slowly they begin to perform bellow their peak?

      It is just strange, but also very interesting.
      1. 

         Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
         7th October 2019, 7:19

         More often than not they just have a much easier team to beat in the midfield. But yes there is obviously a lot of psychological pressure that comes with getting a top drive; Frentzen, Fisi, Gasly etc. Kyvat being a good example of a psychological adventure too. The best have the belief and arrogance to know they belong at the top.
         1. 

            Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
            7th October 2019, 7:19

            *team mate to beat
      2. 

         Initially
         7th October 2019, 7:25

         Most likely their team mates in the midfield team makes them look good. Pretty sure they’re as good in top teams. That ”good” is just not good enough when they’re paired with someone a lot better.
         Take Bottas as an example. He was paired with Massa. He very barely beat Massa. Massa against Alonso in Ferrari we all know. Before that Massa was paired with Kimi. Quite even. Then Kimi vs Alonso at Ferrari same story as
         Alonso vs Massa. Alonso vs Hamilton we all know. So the result is Bottas just barely better than Massa who in turns was way behind Alonso. And Alonso is in turn more or less same level as Lewis. So Bottas ends up being a bit behind Alonso/Hamilton on paper even before going to Mercedes. Ans voila, he is.
      3. 

         ColdFly (@)
         7th October 2019, 8:32

         Both Bottas and Gasly are somewhat mild and nice, meanwhile Leclerc is a bonified duchebag.

         Get a top team seat for Magnussen and Ocon immediately.
   2. 

      Neil (@neilosjames)
      7th October 2019, 7:47

      I think the identity of the driver on the other side of the garage, and the psychological impact of what they’re doing, plays a huge role in whether a driver makes it in a big team. Going from being ‘the man’ at your team to studying data that tells you how someone like Hamilton or Verstappen is doing things with the car that you can’t do (and may never be able to do) can’t be easy.

      Gasly with Verstappen is the best example of the last year, but go back a bit and there’s Vandoorne when he was alongside Alonso, Kovalainen when he was with Hamilton. Drivers who were rated quite well, but came up against data showing them that even a perfect lap from them would be slower than the decent lap their superstar team-mate. Even if they had potential to get closer as they learned, the immediate brickbat to the face knocked them off their stride.

      Whereas Leclerc arrived and will have seen that Vettel wasn’t doing ‘impossible’ things. Same with Verstappen when he landed next to Ricciardo. For them I think realising they genuinely had the ability to beat the ‘top guy’ acted as a huge confidence boost and they went in the opposite direction to the Gasly/Vandoorne drivers, improving quicker than they otherwise might.

      Makes me wonder how things might be different… for example, if Leclerc had been dropped in alongside an elite driver at the top of his game this year (say, had he been a Red Bull junior, and got Gasly’s seat alongside Verstappen), he might have lost his mojo and be nowhere near the future superstar level he’s currently at.
   3. 

      Jere (@jerejj)
      7th October 2019, 8:04

      @Chaitanya Yes indeed. He’s seemed to be able to get to grips with the RB15 quicker than Gasly did. He, at least, as managed to finish in the top-six consistently, something his predecessor also failed to achieve consistently.
   4. 

      JMDan (@danmar)
      7th October 2019, 21:09

      Unlike in grade school not everyone is a champion in real life.
3. 

   frood19 (@frood19)
   7th October 2019, 11:46

   that tweet about Autosport and F1 Racing is absolutely scandalous. autosport in particular is an institution and to be intentionally run into the ground like that is just horrible (the rumour is that they are jacking the price to obscene levels so they can ‘justify’ closing down the prints). F1 Racing also has a long pedigree of quality journalism and i always looked forward to buying it. i have a monstrous stack of autosports and other magazines that is fun to dive into every now and then (something you don’t really do with an online archive).

   certain issues were truly treasured items when i was growing up – peculiarly, the issue with the report of the 1996 argentinian gp, though i think this was because it included full reports from all sorts of other races (including one of the last ‘long’ safari rallies, won by Makkinen and with hair raising tales throughout the field; 1996 was the last year of group A before WRC rules started), so it felt like a bumper issue. I also have the 50th anniversary edition, which really impressed on me that there was a serious amount of history contained in autosport – this probably contributed to my ongoing interest in years past of F1 and other motorsports (and indeed i had a motorsport magazine sub for some years).

   i realise print journalism is in the doldrums but other magazines seem to be making the leap to digital-only without this kind of ugly behaviour. the autosport website used to be pretty good, but the rumour is that that will go too. it’s all just very sad.
4. 

   Blazzz (@blazzz)
   9th October 2019, 0:34

   This from Sky F1.

   Albon is not yet on Verstappen’s level on 1 lap pace and arguably, race pace. Yet, despite this, he has scored more points than Max Verstappen so far. Let that sink in for a second. But then you look back at Danny Ric v Max- despite not having Max’s speed Ricciardo managed to achieve the same feat and beat Max 2-1. This is something that I find amusing given it’s hardly mentioned in large parts of the media. IMO Albon has the potential to rattle Max’s cage- simply by approaching his racing differently and not outright pace. As the saying goes- ‘there are many ways to skin a cat’.

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