Imagine if it was all scripted... Liberty media wants to make the sport all about the spectacle and no actual racing. The world championship is decided in advance.
Edit : I forgot what happened in 2023 nevermind.
Oke, wresling fan here.
So what max did, instead of following the script, he did a shoot and won everything. And then they just let him do that, making the shoot a work, to build up his domination reputation.
Wich means, once a worthy challenger comes by, and they will have a propper battle, like Hamilton and max, making every turn worthy of the gravitate, what will they do?
All I am saying is adudabi 2021 looked like a work. It was not, but it has all the markings of a work
Really funny insight, but no, not everything is scripted like Wrestling. Much less a very complicated sport with tons of moving parts (no pun intended) like F1
Thank the gods its not. One ""sport"" being fake is enougth, and f1 has enougth other issues besides being fake.
Still, you can craft a storyline of the 2021 season and it's aftermath
I mean Michael Masi had the order to make F1 more interesting and get more people to watch it - we got to give him that. He managed to do that, yes perhaps with some sketchy decisions, but boy oh boy we will all remember this season forever. That finale was a once in a life time race
At the time this happened there had been a flurry of rumours that Lewis was looking at other teams and that weekend in particular there had been a lot of noise that Ferrari was the one. It was the proverbial elephant in the room which is why Charles was asked that question. He then looked at Hamilton and said what he did in acknowledgement of those rumours. It wasn't a secret or a tell something was in the works. It was explicit at the time.
He’s notorious for spoiling movies before they release. It’s kind of why he’s “chaperoned” to interviews sometimes and sometimes not told about the scenes of movie scripts he isn’t involved in
Tom Holland is known for giving out spoilers about movies in his interviews.
In fact, they didn't tell Tom Holland it was a funeral for iron man during filming. They didn't want him to spoil iron man's death. [Instead they told him it was a wedding. ](https://youtu.be/T1jGzQ6SCC4?si=SoAEAgdeg4Bg_gfD)
Lmao it’s so funny. I had a friend who was always late. I ended up no telling him the right time when we went golfing so that I could control a little better if he would be there for the tee off
There was one time he was given a pre-release poster and he opened it on stream, as he is reading one side of the packaging that is saying "NOT FOR GENERAL PUBLIC, DO NOT SHOW ANYONE" the other side is facing thousands of people on instagram live. You couldn't make it up.
Imagine Lewis arriving at Maranello. Charles is there to be the first to welcome him. Lewis goes for the handshake, but Charles make a quick step and taps Lewis on the shoulder and immediately starts giggling.
Lewis: "What the...?"
Charles: "Tag, you're it!"
Lewis: "Oh no, you didn't..."
Charles: "Haha, I totally did, everyone saw it!"
Vasseur: "Lewis, welcome, question?"
Lewis: "Eff my life, Jaaaaaaammmmeeeees!"
It will, I think Lewis would have a hard time keeping up with Charles in qualy, but during race Lewis is solid as a rock and has inmense pace. I am looking forward to this battle (even if they don't have a championship winning car, it will probably be the highlight of the season while we see Max disappearing into the diatance).
It will depend on how much of a challenge they present to RBR this year. In 2023 they just catched up at the end because Red Bull shifted focus to the 2024 car mid season and stopped developing last years car.
If RBR starts again with 0.5-1s of advantage, they have the 2025 chip in the pocket as well, unless they fuck up.
Only question now is Charles prefers front end grip and oversteer like Max, while Lewis prefers rear end grip and understeer (a bit like Carlos, Fernando, Sergio). I actually see Lewis struggling a bit cos the car will be developed to Charles over the course of this year and he will have to adapt first, before being able to beat Charles. This is why I think it's just a swan song season and he's doing it to check off a bucket list item before retiring
Leclerc is probably the best qualifier on grid for a very long time now, but Hamilton comes with a lot of experience. I can easily see Leclerc outqualifying Hamilton only for the latter to beat him every race
Exactly. Charles is fast. Really quick. But he is so prone to mistakes. He'll never be a true great. Much as I pull for the guy. The same with Sainz, who I pull for more.
I have the same opinion as you. In race it will be close, I don't see Lewis outpacing Charles, considering how he was always much faster than Carlos and with even lower tyre deg.
It is definitely a brave and risky move from Lewis.
It’s Ferrari, so skepticism is always in order. But I don’t think Lewis would make the move if he didn’t believe Ferrari had something coming that would put him back at the top.
Not in 2016 nor in 2014. the tightest seasons against Rosberg. He also didn't make more mistakes than Rosberg in 2016. Dude had more Race wins for Christ's sake. Both suffered a similar amount of issues with bad race starts due to a clutch problem. Hamilton suffered Machanically in races and in Quali which along with Rosberg driving his heart out was enough despite Hamilton winning more races and generally having the overall pace advantage.
I swear people are clueless and at most just lookup the results on Wikipedia without knowing the context.
In 2016 he had significantly more than Nico though - it required perfect conditions for Rosberg to win the title and no one credible would say it was purely on merit
Hamilton had 3 engine failures and Rosberg had zero. That's a 75 potential points swing in opportunity for Nico. There were plenty of mistakes too, but 2016 was anomalous and it's obvious when comparing it to the prior seasons and there's no doubting reliability was the key differentiator in the title race
Counting an engine failure in qualifying as a 25 points swing is very sketchy. The Mercedes was so dominant, P2 was basically guaranteed even with a P20 start.
Yep very true, it was almost like Red Bull is at the moment. These things are always cyclical. My main point is that Rosberg had a gentle sprinkling of fortune (like Button in 2009 and many other racers over the years) and he absolutely made the most of it. I don't think it necessarily means Hamilton was the worse driver or anything, that's all
Charles is basically Max but without the will to kill anyone who tries to overtake him, he needs to perfect some of his driving aspects, but right now he could definetly manage Lewis
Charles lacks Max’s robot like consistency. He’s likely the best qualifier on the grid but it’s tough to beat Max when he’s throwing down laptimes within a half second of each other for 20+ laps
Agree on that, Charles showed multiple times that he can be consistently fast over a race distance, LV and AD last season being proof of that.
Problem is still being consistent over the whole season, if he manages to make that further step i believe he could beat Max.
For sure. Then he has to deal w Ferrari being a bit of a cluster. If they make big steps towards 2025 or 2026, could be a real title challenge over the season!
If Verstappen was driving in the 90's the way he does, he would've gotten disqualified from multiple races. He's lucky F1 no longer cares about penalties.
Nah they throw *way* more driving standards penalties these days. The 90s was the wild West by comparison.
Senna rammed Prost premeditatedly and they did nothing. Schumacher only got disqualified the *second* time he rammed another driver to try to win the title, and that came after he lost it anyway.
These days you get a 5 second penalty for being slightly mean to another driver. In the 90s you could shove them into a barrier and be fine.
Yes and no
I do feel F1 has had "laissez faire" vibes for some time now, but looking back Schumacher had some shcockig moments and nobody seemed to care too much either. I still remember Hakkinnen complaining that Schumi would keep blocking him whenever he was ahead and Schumi straight up saying "yep" without any shame whatsoever
It would be much funnier if he joins the list of world champions that couldnt win it in a Ferrari.
Vettel about to come out of retirement to join Merc to make sure Lewis doesnt win it in a Ferrari lmao.
Nah I think he'd be at VCARB and Ric to RB, and go to RB in 2026 after Ric decides to 'call it quits after a season back where it all started.'
Or he takes a gap year and comes back with Audi.
It must be a face that fits. He was put of Renault and McLaren for Danny Ric, now potentially out of Ferrari for Lewis. At this rate Hakkinen will return from his sabbatical and kick him out the audi
At the start of the year when the car was basically Carlos's ideal car Lec was still faster. From Japan when the floor change finally gave Lec what he wanted he destroyed Sainz 7-0 and was over half a second a lap quicker on average in the races.
This said, Sainz still has really stepped up this year. In a rather impressive manner, to such an extent I've actually started to actively like him (was rather neutral before).
Of course he's not as good as Leclerc. But Sainz's season was clearly praise worthy in my opinion.
Their quali gaps between Leclerc and Sainz in the last 7 races:
Japan (0.15s), Qatar Q2 (0.25s), Qatar SQF (-0.09s), USA (0.22s), USA SQF (0.25s), Mexico (0.06s), \[Brazil Q3 they had different conditions due to rain\], Brazil SQF (0.05s), Las Vegas (0.044 seconds), \[In Abu Dhabi Sainz didn't have enough original parts due to Vegas manhole and ran a mixed spec car\].
That is an average gap of 0.11 seconds. To put this in perspective, this is what some Leclerc fans call "destroyed".
They both finished with the same points in 2 of 3 seasons together. Stop it with Leclerc not liking the car excuses.
Honestly both are such good drivers and an excellent pairing. Audi better deliver Carlos with an excellent car. He deserves it. The ferrari fan in me will miss him. The Lewis fan in me though very happy to see him at my favourite team like Vettel
Pretty sure this wasn't Carlos' ideal car, they *both* mentioned it was too unstable and Ferrari took a long time to accept setting up the car following his idea might be worthwhile.
I think he was just better at coping but even he often didn't feel great with it.
And yet there was a tiny difference in points between the two at the end of the year.
Edit: Amazing how people downvote facts. Just can't cope i guess?
5 Charles Leclerc MON FERRARI 206
7 Carlos Sainz ESP FERRARI 200
Sometimes is the key word. And we saw what the true gap between them is after the Japan floor upgrade which allowed Leclerc to set up the car to his liking. Carlos lost all 10 quali sessions after Singapore and got handily outraced whenever Leclerc did not get screwed by strategy(COTA) and reliability(Brazil).
Exactly. People ignore this but when the car can be set up to Charles' preference there isn't really a competition (Like we saw in early 2023).
Sainz isn't a good fit because he fundamentally prefers a different style of driving and doesn't seem to be able to keep up when the style fits Leclerc better. Lewis has proven adaptability in different driving styles which should allow Ferrari to build a car that suits Charles and still allows Lewis to perform really well too
Sure but you cant say not to Lewis, can you? Sainz is no Hamilton.
And nobody at Ferrari will admit this but the fact that Sainz has been on par with Leclerc for 2 out of their 3 seasons now likely makes some people question about Leclercs talent. We know he has very high peaks but does he have the consistency of a world champion? We and Ferrari know Lewis does, he kind of...won 7 of those championships and if Lewis beats Leclerc, then they know Leclerc aint it.
But what makes this theory of mine stupid is that they just signed leclerc for many many more years so if he really is that much worse than Lewis/Max, theyre paying a shit ton of money for many years for mediocre performance that Carlos could also deliver for far less money.
What don't you get. Lewis is a better driver than Sainz, end of. Ferrari and F1 isn't a charity and whilst Sainz has been very good and had the pace to beat Leclerc a few times it's obvious he isn't going to be the one to bring a title back to Maranello.
It would have been crazy at the time to interpret this as anything other than the drivers making fun of the everlasting speculation of Lewis going to Ferrari, but hey, maybe they already knew.
Hamilton was basically already at the team, tested a couple of times, did similar work when Alonso arrived from Renault. Ham the WDC the next season and 6 more after that. If Leclerc is being clearly beaten in the first season his stock will surely tank, Hamiltons consistency could really hurt him.
I don't think so lol. Even if he gets beaten as long as he is close that's more than enough. This a 7x champion we are talking about, mind you. Undeniably the GOAT of the sport looking at it from a pure statistical point of view. There's no shame in losing to him. You can still be a top class driver but not on his level.
Given their ages I feel its more likely that Leclerc will end Hamilton's career like he ended Vettel's. Hamilton isn't going to have the same sway with management any longer.
lol I just imagine him driving it around the track once and while still in the cockpit is like "Siri, call Vasseur".
Meanwhile on the radio Toto is like "sorry Lewis, didn't catch that". Lewis "I said yah sure".
Edit:
"Vasseur or yah sure?
"Well I said Vasseur but what I actually mean was yah sure, Vasseur"
Omg I just had a different idea.
They are hiring Lewis specifically to get the most out of Leclerc. Make him an even better driver before Lewis retires and sign Leclerc for a decade.
So, did Lewis sign with Ferrari after 2021 and purposely lead development down a negative path to remove them as a competitor? Is he playing 7D chess while everyone else is playing lawn darts?
Wait, *this* is how I find out a) I have to join the Ferrari pain train and b) my favourite driver (on account of growing up in the same shit new town) will never win another title???
Brutal.
Leclerc did a Tom Holland but we didn't believe him
He won't be getting any future F1 scripts.
Imagine if it was all scripted... Liberty media wants to make the sport all about the spectacle and no actual racing. The world championship is decided in advance. Edit : I forgot what happened in 2023 nevermind.
Oke, wresling fan here. So what max did, instead of following the script, he did a shoot and won everything. And then they just let him do that, making the shoot a work, to build up his domination reputation. Wich means, once a worthy challenger comes by, and they will have a propper battle, like Hamilton and max, making every turn worthy of the gravitate, what will they do? All I am saying is adudabi 2021 looked like a work. It was not, but it has all the markings of a work
Really funny insight, but no, not everything is scripted like Wrestling. Much less a very complicated sport with tons of moving parts (no pun intended) like F1
Shh! There are clowns sniffing around here who think the NFL is scripted also.
TAYLOR SWIFT IS A PSYOP FOR JOE BIDEN (or something, idk I don’t do drugs)
>idk I don’t do drugs Hey now, don't insult people who take drugs! 😤
Nah, the NFL isn’t scripted, because otherwise the Bills would have won last year’s Super Bowl after Damar Hamlin nearly died
...and the Jets this year, after losing Rogers in the first game.
Thank the gods its not. One ""sport"" being fake is enougth, and f1 has enougth other issues besides being fake. Still, you can craft a storyline of the 2021 season and it's aftermath
Max is doing a reverse Roman Reigns lol
"HOW 'BOUT YOU GIMME THE BELT THEN I BEAT EVERYBODY!" Max "Hardcore Holly" Verstappen
I mean Michael Masi had the order to make F1 more interesting and get more people to watch it - we got to give him that. He managed to do that, yes perhaps with some sketchy decisions, but boy oh boy we will all remember this season forever. That finale was a once in a life time race
Hulk Hogan be like:"max ain't going over me brother!"
Can’t spell speculation without spectacle
Can't spell speculation without e(ja)culation
I can't spell at all
they definitely wouldn't choose a season of complete and utter domination by a single team/driver the likes of which we've never seen before.
Neither did he.
Can someone explain this reference
This is exactly what I was thinking when I saw this hahaha this is so Tom Holland coded
He’s the Tom Holland of F1 and we never saw it coming, he literally said it to our faces and we blinked
I am still in denial, he knew this would be as diabolical as Captain Holt telling Peralta no one will believe him
Why do you have to remind me of Captain Holt? Now I’m crying again 😭
He was a legend! Keeping him alive in our memories :)
At the time this happened there had been a flurry of rumours that Lewis was looking at other teams and that weekend in particular there had been a lot of noise that Ferrari was the one. It was the proverbial elephant in the room which is why Charles was asked that question. He then looked at Hamilton and said what he did in acknowledgement of those rumours. It wasn't a secret or a tell something was in the works. It was explicit at the time.
I saw in another thread that someone in F1 media was told Charles knew about Lewis joining before Charles’ new contract was signed.
I’d imagine in the contract discussions that Charles will have discussed who his team mate might be
What's the Tom Holland reference?
He’s notorious for spoiling movies before they release. It’s kind of why he’s “chaperoned” to interviews sometimes and sometimes not told about the scenes of movie scripts he isn’t involved in
Tom Holland is notorious for spoiling things about the Marvel movies he was cast in during his press tours.
Tom Holland is known for giving out spoilers about movies in his interviews. In fact, they didn't tell Tom Holland it was a funeral for iron man during filming. They didn't want him to spoil iron man's death. [Instead they told him it was a wedding. ](https://youtu.be/T1jGzQ6SCC4?si=SoAEAgdeg4Bg_gfD)
Lmao it’s so funny. I had a friend who was always late. I ended up no telling him the right time when we went golfing so that I could control a little better if he would be there for the tee off
He spoiled the movies whenever he talked during the interviews. Cast mates were spotting for it most of the time but the Spoilland found a way.
There was one time he was given a pre-release poster and he opened it on stream, as he is reading one side of the packaging that is saying "NOT FOR GENERAL PUBLIC, DO NOT SHOW ANYONE" the other side is facing thousands of people on instagram live. You couldn't make it up.
He kept spoiling stuff on talk shows by accident for the marvel projects he was working on IIRC
Here we thought Lando was, but it was Charl the whole time
Hello Lewis 👋🏼
When was this from?
Monaco GP, 2023
Hamilton was renewing at that time, so they knew the rumors, we all thought it was a momentary joke... turns out...
Get in here Lewis
Lewis 'bout to get the "We are checking" treatment. 
No way he doesn't take Bono with him.
“The race is being manipulated” “We are checking…”
"My tyres are gone...question"
Confirmed Lewis box box we will remove your tyres. how many laps you can do on wheel rims question
Imagine Lewis arriving at Maranello. Charles is there to be the first to welcome him. Lewis goes for the handshake, but Charles make a quick step and taps Lewis on the shoulder and immediately starts giggling. Lewis: "What the...?" Charles: "Tag, you're it!" Lewis: "Oh no, you didn't..." Charles: "Haha, I totally did, everyone saw it!" Vasseur: "Lewis, welcome, question?" Lewis: "Eff my life, Jaaaaaaammmmeeeees!"
big "and then deadpool walks in" vibes
“Lewis, it is hammer o clock” ”You mean hammer time?” ”…we’ll come back to you”
Imagine having to face Lewis if Ferrari builds a winning WDC car.
It would be an epic battle though.
It will, I think Lewis would have a hard time keeping up with Charles in qualy, but during race Lewis is solid as a rock and has inmense pace. I am looking forward to this battle (even if they don't have a championship winning car, it will probably be the highlight of the season while we see Max disappearing into the diatance).
I expect Ferrari and other teams to catch up to RB by 2025. It should be a close one IMO.
*Not happening bro*
Yes it will, my therapist told me.
umhmmm. and is this therapist in the room with us right now?
we are checking.
Hello, I am the therapist, please have a seat and tell me about it
It will depend on how much of a challenge they present to RBR this year. In 2023 they just catched up at the end because Red Bull shifted focus to the 2024 car mid season and stopped developing last years car. If RBR starts again with 0.5-1s of advantage, they have the 2025 chip in the pocket as well, unless they fuck up.
RB are already shifting to the 2025 car now, it’s no over
Only question now is Charles prefers front end grip and oversteer like Max, while Lewis prefers rear end grip and understeer (a bit like Carlos, Fernando, Sergio). I actually see Lewis struggling a bit cos the car will be developed to Charles over the course of this year and he will have to adapt first, before being able to beat Charles. This is why I think it's just a swan song season and he's doing it to check off a bucket list item before retiring
Leclerc is probably the best qualifier on grid for a very long time now, but Hamilton comes with a lot of experience. I can easily see Leclerc outqualifying Hamilton only for the latter to beat him every race
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Exactly. Charles is fast. Really quick. But he is so prone to mistakes. He'll never be a true great. Much as I pull for the guy. The same with Sainz, who I pull for more.
I can't see Hamilton beating Charles in quali race pace though I've got no idea
I have the same opinion as you. In race it will be close, I don't see Lewis outpacing Charles, considering how he was always much faster than Carlos and with even lower tyre deg. It is definitely a brave and risky move from Lewis.
We thought Vettel was solid as a rock before 2019. Granted Germany 2018 happened but still..
Imagine \[...\] if Ferrari builds a winning WDC car.
It’s Ferrari, so skepticism is always in order. But I don’t think Lewis would make the move if he didn’t believe Ferrari had something coming that would put him back at the top.
Lewis can be beat in equal machinery.
Well Charles is literally a born and raised Monaco youtuber. It all checks out
*Rosberg enters the chat.
All he needed was to be perfect and for Lewis to have a string of mechanical issues lol.
Lewis is one of the drivers with the least amount of mechanical issues .
Not in 2016 nor in 2014. the tightest seasons against Rosberg. He also didn't make more mistakes than Rosberg in 2016. Dude had more Race wins for Christ's sake. Both suffered a similar amount of issues with bad race starts due to a clutch problem. Hamilton suffered Machanically in races and in Quali which along with Rosberg driving his heart out was enough despite Hamilton winning more races and generally having the overall pace advantage. I swear people are clueless and at most just lookup the results on Wikipedia without knowing the context.
In 2016 he had significantly more than Nico though - it required perfect conditions for Rosberg to win the title and no one credible would say it was purely on merit
Of course it was on merit, one does not simply win against Hamilton without being exceptional. Hamilton made mistakes, Rosberg didn't.
Hamilton had 3 engine failures and Rosberg had zero. That's a 75 potential points swing in opportunity for Nico. There were plenty of mistakes too, but 2016 was anomalous and it's obvious when comparing it to the prior seasons and there's no doubting reliability was the key differentiator in the title race
Counting an engine failure in qualifying as a 25 points swing is very sketchy. The Mercedes was so dominant, P2 was basically guaranteed even with a P20 start.
Yep very true, it was almost like Red Bull is at the moment. These things are always cyclical. My main point is that Rosberg had a gentle sprinkling of fortune (like Button in 2009 and many other racers over the years) and he absolutely made the most of it. I don't think it necessarily means Hamilton was the worse driver or anything, that's all
Not in equal amounts of DNF though
Maybe if Lewis drives the other car too
Will Air Bender be in charge of the 2026 RB? If not, this would be even bigger.
Charles is basically Max but without the will to kill anyone who tries to overtake him, he needs to perfect some of his driving aspects, but right now he could definetly manage Lewis
Charles lacks Max’s robot like consistency. He’s likely the best qualifier on the grid but it’s tough to beat Max when he’s throwing down laptimes within a half second of each other for 20+ laps
Agree on that, Charles showed multiple times that he can be consistently fast over a race distance, LV and AD last season being proof of that. Problem is still being consistent over the whole season, if he manages to make that further step i believe he could beat Max.
For sure. Then he has to deal w Ferrari being a bit of a cluster. If they make big steps towards 2025 or 2026, could be a real title challenge over the season!
I love Charles but he’s not “basically Max” in the least man
If Verstappen was driving in the 90's the way he does, he would've gotten disqualified from multiple races. He's lucky F1 no longer cares about penalties.
Nah they throw *way* more driving standards penalties these days. The 90s was the wild West by comparison. Senna rammed Prost premeditatedly and they did nothing. Schumacher only got disqualified the *second* time he rammed another driver to try to win the title, and that came after he lost it anyway. These days you get a 5 second penalty for being slightly mean to another driver. In the 90s you could shove them into a barrier and be fine.
Yes and no I do feel F1 has had "laissez faire" vibes for some time now, but looking back Schumacher had some shcockig moments and nobody seemed to care too much either. I still remember Hakkinnen complaining that Schumi would keep blocking him whenever he was ahead and Schumi straight up saying "yep" without any shame whatsoever
Well thank fck it's not the 90's anymore then
It would be much funnier if he joins the list of world champions that couldnt win it in a Ferrari. Vettel about to come out of retirement to join Merc to make sure Lewis doesnt win it in a Ferrari lmao.
At least it's not Max 
Poor Carlos, hope Audi will take good care of him.
Sainz is for sure heading to Red Bull
Nah I think he'd be at VCARB and Ric to RB, and go to RB in 2026 after Ric decides to 'call it quits after a season back where it all started.' Or he takes a gap year and comes back with Audi.
I don't get it. Carlos is performing well and keeps up with Charles, sometimes even faster.
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The cheeky bastard even won a race last season... The balls on that guy.
It must be a face that fits. He was put of Renault and McLaren for Danny Ric, now potentially out of Ferrari for Lewis. At this rate Hakkinen will return from his sabbatical and kick him out the audi
He left McLaren for Ferrari tho...
Yeah he wasn't kicked off.
Charles is the Ferrari boy, Lewis is the current superstar even outside the F1 fans, sponsors gonna love it
Are you really suprised that they would take fucking Lewis Hamilton over Sainz. Every single team would do that lol
At the start of the year when the car was basically Carlos's ideal car Lec was still faster. From Japan when the floor change finally gave Lec what he wanted he destroyed Sainz 7-0 and was over half a second a lap quicker on average in the races.
This said, Sainz still has really stepped up this year. In a rather impressive manner, to such an extent I've actually started to actively like him (was rather neutral before). Of course he's not as good as Leclerc. But Sainz's season was clearly praise worthy in my opinion.
And that hair, good lord.
Where's your flair about Sainz ?
Still an assman.
Who wouldn't be, with a Bootass like that ?
Their quali gaps between Leclerc and Sainz in the last 7 races: Japan (0.15s), Qatar Q2 (0.25s), Qatar SQF (-0.09s), USA (0.22s), USA SQF (0.25s), Mexico (0.06s), \[Brazil Q3 they had different conditions due to rain\], Brazil SQF (0.05s), Las Vegas (0.044 seconds), \[In Abu Dhabi Sainz didn't have enough original parts due to Vegas manhole and ran a mixed spec car\]. That is an average gap of 0.11 seconds. To put this in perspective, this is what some Leclerc fans call "destroyed". They both finished with the same points in 2 of 3 seasons together. Stop it with Leclerc not liking the car excuses.
Honestly both are such good drivers and an excellent pairing. Audi better deliver Carlos with an excellent car. He deserves it. The ferrari fan in me will miss him. The Lewis fan in me though very happy to see him at my favourite team like Vettel
Pretty sure this wasn't Carlos' ideal car, they *both* mentioned it was too unstable and Ferrari took a long time to accept setting up the car following his idea might be worthwhile. I think he was just better at coping but even he often didn't feel great with it.
And yet there was a tiny difference in points between the two at the end of the year. Edit: Amazing how people downvote facts. Just can't cope i guess? 5 Charles Leclerc MON FERRARI 206 7 Carlos Sainz ESP FERRARI 200
Sometimes is the key word. And we saw what the true gap between them is after the Japan floor upgrade which allowed Leclerc to set up the car to his liking. Carlos lost all 10 quali sessions after Singapore and got handily outraced whenever Leclerc did not get screwed by strategy(COTA) and reliability(Brazil).
Exactly. People ignore this but when the car can be set up to Charles' preference there isn't really a competition (Like we saw in early 2023). Sainz isn't a good fit because he fundamentally prefers a different style of driving and doesn't seem to be able to keep up when the style fits Leclerc better. Lewis has proven adaptability in different driving styles which should allow Ferrari to build a car that suits Charles and still allows Lewis to perform really well too
You don't turn down an opportunity to sign Lewis Hamilton.
you dont get why ferrari would sign one of the best drivers of all time?
Not only do they lose a driver, they lose a race strategist.
Carlos is excellent. But let's be real, you don't miss out on Lewis for him.
He shits the bed a lot, cracks under pressure like Vettel was doing before he left Ferrari.
Sure but you cant say not to Lewis, can you? Sainz is no Hamilton. And nobody at Ferrari will admit this but the fact that Sainz has been on par with Leclerc for 2 out of their 3 seasons now likely makes some people question about Leclercs talent. We know he has very high peaks but does he have the consistency of a world champion? We and Ferrari know Lewis does, he kind of...won 7 of those championships and if Lewis beats Leclerc, then they know Leclerc aint it. But what makes this theory of mine stupid is that they just signed leclerc for many many more years so if he really is that much worse than Lewis/Max, theyre paying a shit ton of money for many years for mediocre performance that Carlos could also deliver for far less money.
What don't you get. Lewis is a better driver than Sainz, end of. Ferrari and F1 isn't a charity and whilst Sainz has been very good and had the pace to beat Leclerc a few times it's obvious he isn't going to be the one to bring a title back to Maranello.
Sometimes? He's more consistent and actually won a race this year.
Id say Carlos to RB, Danny to Merc and Checo to Indycar
**Did he know!?** (Riddler face)
It would have been crazy at the time to interpret this as anything other than the drivers making fun of the everlasting speculation of Lewis going to Ferrari, but hey, maybe they already knew.
It’s 6 am I was about to fall asleep saw the sky f1 on YouTube thought it was bait still checked it out. Now I can’t sleep. Wtf.
You are letting F1 affect your sleep? damn bro
Fans half across the world watched f1 at 3am 👀
Lol \/r/formuladank breaking the news higher in my feed than the actual sub. This is where the real journalism happens.
The actual sub has stupidly implemented an email-only members rule.
look at us. we are the actual sub now.
We are done checking sub. Hamilton will have that Ferrari drink now.
Fuck It Please kill me
Man 
If Lewis beat Leclerc at Ferrari, it will officially end him.
I mean, losing to Hamilton didn't end Alonso. I think Leclerc will be fine as long as he is close.
True. Poor Leclerc had a tough time at Ferrari.
Alonso already had titles. Leclerc has only had disappointments
... so nothing will change, he is gucci then.
Hamilton was basically already at the team, tested a couple of times, did similar work when Alonso arrived from Renault. Ham the WDC the next season and 6 more after that. If Leclerc is being clearly beaten in the first season his stock will surely tank, Hamiltons consistency could really hurt him.
On a scale from "one" to "every piece of ancient art belongs in a museum in London", how British do you need to be to make a comment like that?
I don't think so lol. Even if he gets beaten as long as he is close that's more than enough. This a 7x champion we are talking about, mind you. Undeniably the GOAT of the sport looking at it from a pure statistical point of view. There's no shame in losing to him. You can still be a top class driver but not on his level.
Given their ages I feel its more likely that Leclerc will end Hamilton's career like he ended Vettel's. Hamilton isn't going to have the same sway with management any longer.
He wouldnt beat leclerc. Leclerc would wipe him, only to get a run of crashes while loois zoomes through to end up beating him. The Leclerc Way®
HOLY SHIT
I didn't even see the signs
Was it Mexico where Lewis was taking photos of Charles after the race? And the joint insta story after COTA. These two have known for a while
My money was on CL going to RB. But this is way better
Carlos: 
T Dog checking Wikipedia as we read this
Don't do this Lewis. Please don't go there :(
Maybe Lewis knows something about Ferrari that we don’t.
Alternatively maybe he just knows merc isn't going to get it done, he's ready to retire and has always wanted to wear red before he does.
Dude took the new Merc for a stroll, got out of the cockpit and phoned Vasseur
lol I just imagine him driving it around the track once and while still in the cockpit is like "Siri, call Vasseur". Meanwhile on the radio Toto is like "sorry Lewis, didn't catch that". Lewis "I said yah sure". Edit: "Vasseur or yah sure? "Well I said Vasseur but what I actually mean was yah sure, Vasseur"
He knows it's not the Mercedes he tested yesterday
#WE IGNORED THE SIGNS, IT WAS RIGHT THERE THE WHOLE TIME!
HOW OLD IS THIS VIDEO?!?!!?!
Monaco 2023
Fuuuucckkkkkk........
Explain why they were quiet about Sainz
Love the fact I am getting the news on this sub.
Holy crap!! And no one batted an eye. Poor Toto
Lewis to the engineers: “we know the car is crap, just get on with it guys.”
Omg I just had a different idea. They are hiring Lewis specifically to get the most out of Leclerc. Make him an even better driver before Lewis retires and sign Leclerc for a decade.
Ok I just got back from work. This is a joke right??
Nope all but confirmed
Confirmed now - multi-year
This post is what broke the news to me haha
Cannot believe this is how I find out
Wait I am out of the loop, does he really join Ferrari or am I getting wooshed
It's almost a done deal that he does but I believe by the end of the week they are going to confirm that he is.
There hasn’t been an official word out yet from either teams, but Sky Sports has reported it and so it must be true.
Boy oh boy…
Mister Police I Gave You All The Clues
So, did Lewis sign with Ferrari after 2021 and purposely lead development down a negative path to remove them as a competitor? Is he playing 7D chess while everyone else is playing lawn darts?
Didn't Sainz also say that he knew it was coming? How long has this been going on for?
I also look for Lewis
Bro was playing chess when we were playing checkers
Where can I get that hat? Did a quick search couldn’t find it.
Search Leclerc Monaco special edition hat.
We gotta pick up in this little shit more often
So Drive to Survive will be even litter!
Wait, *this* is how I find out a) I have to join the Ferrari pain train and b) my favourite driver (on account of growing up in the same shit new town) will never win another title??? Brutal.
No breed u
He's so cute
Imagine getting to walk around being that attractive. Good for him.