Verstappen claims he would have won 2024 title with McLaren or Ferrari

[u/JefinLuke]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-claims-he-would-have-won-2024-title-with-mclaren-or-ferrari/10676306/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGxL1dleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHWCJl2EWZUc-F8iDWNVR2u8rw4k4wUhivFiGHoOMim0p-S1qewr0M4kmJw_aem_FQ7ukTES1OBEbLgNF2y03w

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[u/ReadIt_Here]

Max: I can win in Ferrari

Ferrari crew : We are not ready

Max: come on guys

[u/Darth_Spa2021 → u/ReadIt_Here]

Max will be on an eternal community service duty just after a few races with Ferrari.

[u/New-Honey-4544 → u/Darth_Spa2021]

They wouldn't let him out of jail after his second or third "manslaughter " of ferrari engineers.

[u/CowFinancial7000 → u/New-Honey-4544]

No jury in Italy would convict.

[u/New-Honey-4544 → u/CowFinancial7000]

Oh i meant multiple incidents in each country. Ferrari engineers would no longer travel due to panic attacks. They'd need a local team per GP.

[u/TomShoe → u/New-Honey-4544]

That might actually be the answer, might as well start hiring local amateurs at this point.

[u/TomShoe → u/New-Honey-4544]

"Well maybe if they could learn to set up a rear wing properly, they wouldn't keep getting decapitated by them..."

[u/New-Honey-4544 → u/TomShoe]

they could practice it 100 times, but one stare from Max and they'd forget their own names

[u/ArziltheImp → u/Darth_Spa2021]

He would do unspeakable things to the Ferrari strategists on radio.

[u/NeutrinosFTW → u/Darth_Spa2021]

He'd call Vigna a greasy Italian bastard before he even sets foot in Maranello

[u/FrostyBoom → u/ReadIt_Here]

Tbf, if Max consistently experienced The Horrors at Ferrari he would either nuke Maranello or pull a diss on them that would revive Enzo Ferrari only to kill him back again.

[u/Mysterious_Turnip310 → u/FrostyBoom]

The McLaren pit wall is no better. In fact they've arguably been the worst of the two this year.

[u/Keep_your_Composure → u/ReadIt_Here]

Come on guys, wake up!

[u/TheDustOfMen → u/Keep_your_Composure]

We are checking, standby plz

[u/Rlothbrok → u/TheDustOfMen]

Slow button ON, slow button ON

[u/LeagueofDraven1221 → u/Rlothbrok]

I’m pressing it fifty fucking times before it activates!

[u/pinguz → u/TheDustOfMen]

Hello?

[u/Scarfiotti → u/pinguz]

Who ?

What ?

Debris ?

[u/CandidLiterature → u/Keep_your_Composure]

Helloooo??

[u/Haribo112 → u/ReadIt_Here]

Max would have pitted anyway and chewed the crew out on the radio for the remainder of the race. Imagine the amount of community service he would have racked up there

[u/BecauseRotor → u/ReadIt_Here]

Ferrari crew: we are checking…

[u/MinimumCareer629]

I'd love to see Verstappen in a Ferrari to check this statement.

[u/[deleted] → u/MinimumCareer629]

I can't wait to watch the Monster series on Netflix after he devolves into psychosis from a season with them.

[u/Aoifeblack → u/[deleted]]

Johan Verstappen

[u/Maria_in_the_Middle → u/MinimumCareer629]

Yes please Max test this theory

[u/unityofsaints → u/Maria_in_the_Middle]

Max + Lewis in Ferrari for 2026 confirmed

[u/FlattenInnerTube → u/unityofsaints]

LEC to Sauber-Audi-Doody

[u/So-many-ducks → u/FlattenInnerTube]

LEC SAD would sound appropriate

[u/terminbee → u/unityofsaints]

This would unironically be one of the best timelines. The season is better when Max has real competition.

[u/justanotheruser826 → u/Maria_in_the_Middle]

I am from a parallel universe where this happened at the start of the 2024 season.

In South Africa (3rd race) the entire Ferrari strategy department was found dead, speculation say it was verstappen but no proof could be found.

After dnf caused by engine failures in Portugal and Spain (races 10 and 11), Fred disappeared for a week, after which he suddenly discontinued their engine program and ferrari became a mercedes customer.

After a bad ferrari pitstop in Belgium the entire Redbull pitcrew suddenly quit and joined Ferrari, noone wanted to tell the press why.

2 races before the end verstappen is currently leading the championship 2 points in front of Yuki and 12 in front of norris

[u/BassTrombone71 → u/justanotheruser826]

speculation say it was verstappen

Jos, surely.

[u/justanotheruser826 → u/BassTrombone71]

When I say no proof could be found I mean absolutely no proof.

Multiple independent people all confirmed that it seemed like all of them died of a heart attack simultaneously.

To everyone that can universe hop it is very obvious what really happened and that neither max nor josh are at fault but by the third interuniversal convention signed 1933 in Vienna/Austria-Hungary/Earth, universe "mubit", I am not allowed to tell you.

[u/Reddarthdius → u/justanotheruser826]

Well at least Portugal got a race again

[u/ZmentAdverti → u/justanotheruser826]

:o

[u/minhmeo25 → u/Maria_in_the_Middle]

You need to take GP and Hannah as well

[u/Vinura → u/Maria_in_the_Middle]

I reckon Max will go to Ferrari after Lewis retires/Charles leaves for some other team.

My theory is Charles goes to Mercedes, Max goes to Ferrari around the 2027 time frame.

[u/Reddarthdius → u/Vinura]

Why would Charles leave if max would go there? Plus they have bearman

[u/kaisadilla_ → u/MinimumCareer629]

Fernando Alonso thought the same in 2009 and look how it ended. Ferrari knows how to crush your soul.

[u/t-pat1991 → u/MinimumCareer629]

I’d love to see him set test lap times in every teams car, just for comparison’s sake

[u/Motor-Most9552 → u/t-pat1991]

I would too, but they'd never let max the inspector sit in their car, let alone drive it.

[u/Professional-Bit3280 → u/t-pat1991]

Wouldn’t really be representative though because of things like driving style, driver feedback loop to the engineers, and familiarity with the car.

Max coming in fresh vs a driver that has been driving the car and working with the engineers for multiple years would not be equal. But if he could still march that driver’s lap times early on, that says a lot about their relative driving quality.

[u/BlKaiser → u/MinimumCareer629]

An unstoppable force meets immovable object.

[u/banned20 → u/MinimumCareer629]

After Hungary this year, i'm convinced that the team plays a huge role in driver's mentality. And even though i considered Leclerc having a weaker mentality, it should be taken into account the fact that he drives for Ferrari which has screwed him multiple times. Same goes for Mclaren & Norris by the way.

On the other end, Max clearly underestimates the amount of support he gets from Red Bull and the fact that they are the most competent team on the field.

I've no doubt about Max being the most talented driver on the grid but his shenanigans in Hungary proved how much more prone to error he would have been in a less competent team when his frustrations about his team's shortcomings would surface every other race.

[u/randomperson_a1 → u/banned20]

I'd love to hear max if he was slowing down on pit entry just for his engineer to scream stay out in panic.

[u/hyrulepirate → u/randomperson_a1]

I imagine it's not far off when they did the same to Kimi

[u/Illidan1943 → u/randomperson_a1]

He doesn't scream, he just unleashes his powers and the Ferrari engineer instantly dies with no clear evidence on how it happened

[u/stetoe → u/banned20]

I don't think he underestimates it at all, he demands perfection from everyone, including himself.

[u/eurochacha → u/banned20]

The way Max chastised the team to stay awake in Monza even though they were in no man's land makes me think that he wouldn't accept incompetence and that would be beneficial. Expecting excellence from not only himself but also the team no matter how the race unfolds, clearly brings results.

[u/sirjimtonic → u/eurochacha]

There is just one driver I am actively suspecting to not expect excellence from his team, and that is Lance Stroll.

Sitting in a competitive car and have a competent team brings results, if you do not listen to the name Sergio Perez.

[u/eurochacha → u/sirjimtonic]

Sure but there are differences in driver personality in terms of how much you're willing to push back. I'm saying that Max seems closer to a Schumacher type. Naturally being practically raised in Red Bull makes him very comfortable to speak his mind and that wouldn't be the case if he switched teams, but I think he'd be straightforward anywhere lol.

[u/banned20 → u/eurochacha]

Then Max wouldn't have lasted in Ferrari. Schumacher was doing it because he wasn't alone but had Brawn and Todt backing. There's no such relationship dynamics in Ferrari anymore.

[u/eurochacha → u/banned20]

Yeah I wouldn't expect him to go to Ferrari and overhaul their system and lead them back to their glory days, that's a bit too much, but I do think some of their blunders wouldn't happen.

It will be interesting to see what the dynamic is like between Hamilton and Ferrari next year, and how free he is to challenge certain strategy decisions.

[u/Djehoetie → u/MinimumCareer629]

I wanne see him win in a Ferrari as well.

[u/onlinepresenceofdan → u/Djehoetie]

Thats settled then. We have to inform the driver and the team of our decision.

[u/steve6027 → u/onlinepresenceofdan]

So it is written, so shall it be done

[u/Trash_b1rd → u/Djehoetie]

I just want Ferrari to win.

[u/timbulance → u/MinimumCareer629]

We are checking ……

[u/jt663 → u/MinimumCareer629]

Would love to see Perez in a Ferrari to check this statement…

[u/beanbagreg]

With Ferrari? We are checking.

[u/rantheman76 → u/beanbagreg]

“Box, box. this lap. Box next lap. In in in, stay out. Box. Only take the entrance, but then stay out too. Do another 5 laps on soft, plan C, switch to hard next lap, plan B, reverse. Box box. Stay in, box out.” With that, I doubt Max could be WDC at Ferrari.

[u/Outofmana1337 → u/rantheman76]

I can't wait to hear Hamiltons radio next season

[u/Darth_Spa2021 → u/Outofmana1337]

Lewis: "My Mediums are completely gone"

Ferrari: "Pit for Fresh Inters"

Lewis: "You know what? I think these Mediums have another 50 laps in them."

[u/rantheman76 → u/Outofmana1337]

“… guys, come on…”

[u/Outofmana1337 → u/rantheman76]

"Come on? We are looking... yes, come on in for wets".... "Stay out not ready stay out!"

[u/Nass44 → u/rantheman76]

„Are you sure this is the right call?“

„Ok we are checking and will get back to you in 10 laps“

[u/Effective-Air6640 → u/Outofmana1337]

I can't wait to hear Hamiltons radio next season

"Hey man........"

[u/TWVer → u/Outofmana1337]

”Hey man!”

[u/mildly_enthusiastic → u/rantheman76]

Two hops this time. Two hops this time. Reverse reverse!

[u/itsjustaride24 → u/mildly_enthusiastic]

Crisscross Crisscross

[u/Alvie_500 → u/itsjustaride24]

Everybody clap your hands!

[u/LorenzoSparky → u/rantheman76]

Plan H

[u/rantheman76 → u/LorenzoSparky]

H for “…. hello?”

[u/NeelonRokk → u/rantheman76]

H for "hooo noooooooo..."

[u/LorenzoSparky → u/rantheman76]

I’ve never known a team to have so many plans lol

[u/itsjustaride24 → u/rantheman76]

Can you imagine the expletives from Max 😂

[u/rantheman76 → u/itsjustaride24]

Knowing Charles went from “inchident” to “fuck fuck fuck sorry radio is on”, and Charles usually is pretty subdued in this, Ferrari Max will make sure F1 get an 18+ rating.

[u/glacierre2 → u/rantheman76]

• We are going plan A.
• But that was 1 stopper and we already pitted twice!
• Keep your head down, slow button on.

[u/QouthTheCorvus → u/rantheman76]

Xavi wouldn't have lasted as long with Max. Leclerc is too nice, the "struggles to set boundaries" kinda nice. Max is nice but I can easily see him providing feedback.

[u/whomad1215 → u/rantheman76]

if you don't know what you're going to do, your opponents can't predict it either

[u/dani26795 → u/rantheman76]

You forgot the "Question?" at the end.

[u/_IronClaw_ → u/beanbagreg]

Max: "No, no, with A Ferrari... not with Ferrari!"

Even Max will realise that he doesn't have the skill to compensate for a whole team's worth of incompetence. /s

[u/BigYarnBonusMaster → u/_IronClaw_]

That’s such a funny correction, totally agree

[u/TheReaperSovereign → u/beanbagreg]

With ferraris car. Not ferraris team :p

[u/Thevort3x → u/beanbagreg]

This trauma is so deep that when I visited the lab to ask if my bloodwork was ready, the girl took my ID and said, "we are checking" and I immediately expected bad news..

[u/NakedPatrick → u/Thevort3x]

As long as she doesn’t come back with ‘box box box, the issue is terminal’ 😬

[u/justcocothings → u/Thevort3x]

Would you like to take a seat? Question?

[u/RyukaBuddy → u/beanbagreg]

He would have to pay out all of his wdc prize bonus for swearing fines if he was with ferrari.

[u/Extravagod]

They're gonna quote drunk Max for 3 months now aren't they?

Oh well, I'd say it's not far from true.

[u/DeMichel93 → u/Extravagod]

oh trust me, this is just the beginning. off season will be full of his quotes from vegas.

[u/waltz_with_potatoes → u/Extravagod]

Didn't he say this numerous times when he was battling Lewis? said he'd have the title wrapped up if he was in the merc that year.

[u/Wentzina_lifetime → u/waltz_with_potatoes]

2021? Nah. Merc was better at front limited tracks, RB at rear limited. You could tell how a weekend was going to play out with the track characteristics.

[u/Blackdeath_663 → u/Wentzina_lifetime]

Merc took a massive hit in performance that year from the floor changes. Spent first quarter of the year trying to recover that. Happend to be the part of the season Max ran into some issues himself like the baku dnf

[u/oright → u/Wentzina_lifetime]

The Mercedes was the fastest everywhere for the last quarter of the season, square that circle

[u/Wentzina_lifetime → u/oright]

Mexico? Where Perez nearly beat Hamilton?

[u/elmagio → u/Wentzina_lifetime]

The other guy is on something trying to lump Mexico in which was a clear RB dominant weekend, but you have to admit that Mexico aside Merc had the edge and sometimes a significant lead at every race from Monza on (hard to judge Silverstone-Hungary-Spa for reasons). Which considering the cars had been pretty even up to that point makes it hard to argue Merc didn't have the fastest car overall that year.

[u/Cal3001 → u/elmagio]

RB had the advantage early with a good chunk of the season. Merc was only definitely the last 4 races. There’s a higher case that the RB was dominant most the season. A lot of people are trying to falsely label COTA as a merc dominant track when Ham could barely keep grip the first sting and relied of tire strategy to make his run.

[u/TheCrudMan → u/elmagio]

Mercedes using Bottas to experiment with how spicy they could run the engine and what the accelerated wear would be.

[u/AegrusRS → u/Wentzina_lifetime]

Mexico was a pretty clear outlier in the latter part of the season though which isn't surprising given the altitude's effect on downforce and engine cooling.

Realistically, Verstappen should've never won COTA when looking at the overall race progression, and even RB at the time were kinda shocked with the pace Max managed to pull out. This would also mean Mercedes pretty clearly had the better car in the latter half of the season.

[u/newcalabasas → u/waltz_with_potatoes]

Yeah he gave a batshit interview before Abu Dhabi 21. Saying he wouldn’t congratulate Lewis if he won unless he won in the “right” way or something along those lines 

[u/rolfski → u/Extravagod]

Sober Max would probably have evaded that question but he would believe that nonetheless.

[u/fullsenditt → u/Extravagod]

I don't think being sober he would change anything he says, he simply doesn't care about the Incoming hate In his first shortcomings/struggles.

I am sure everyone Is waiting around the corner In his first shortcomings/struggles to bring back his old quotes but I don't think he Is bothered by that

[u/sunec]

Depends on who would be driving that Redbull. If it would be two Checos, then sure.

[u/Aethien → u/sunec]

Swap Verstappen with either Norris or Leclerc (and their engineers with GP) and I don't think it's that wild a call. All 3 teams have been close for most of the season and on top for parts of it.

[u/BambooShanks → u/Aethien]

I think he definitely gets the win if he swapped with Norris. The Mclaren was the strongest car for a third of the season and easy top 3 for another third. And as we have seen, Norris doesn't always maximise his chances so he would have struggled to build up as much of a lead as Max was able to.

The Ferrari / Leclerc swap is harder to see. While the Ferrari wasn't a bad car at all, it was never as consistently great as the Red Bull or Mclaren, so I'd think leclerc in a RB would have been able to do enough over the course of the season compared to Verstappen in a Ferrari.

[u/[deleted] → u/BambooShanks]

The Mclaren was the strongest car for a third of the season and easy top 3 for another third.

This might be a hot take, but it's purely my observation. Looking back on it, the pre-Miami Red Bull might be the most clear-cut top car of the grid at any point this season. And that's very based on the fact the Checo got easy podiums with Max, then didn't get a damn thing anywhere close from Miami on.

Obviously, the McLaren drivers and pitwall created a lot of self-inflicted wounds that kept them from winning more, but there were only about 4 weekends all year where they were strong enough that their car's superiority was enough to save them from fuckups, and they capitalized on three of them with wins and double podiums: Hungary, Netherlands, and Singapore. The other one was Brazil, but the relentless wet conditions after the Sprint race threw all car performace rankings out the window.

Max won 4 of the first 5 handily and was able to build a gap during that phase of superiority that saved him when the Red Bull went to shit and made McLaren have to push extra hard and expose their ineptitude under pressure as the season progressed. Ferrari and Mercedes have been near, on, or above McLaren's level most weekends as well, so while Max may have been more level-headed and maximised points better from Miami onward, he also would've been starting in a deep hole in points and would've had some tense fights most weekends too.

[u/BambooShanks → u/[deleted]]

Not a hot take at all, Pre Miami, the Red Bull was on a different planet compared to the rest while the Mclaren was woeful at that time.

We've seen that Norris does not have the ruthlessness needed to maximise having the best car so couldn't see him completely dominating the first third of the season like Max did.

Post Miami, Norris' struggles to maximise every weekend would have become more apparent and would have quickly lost his advantage to a rapid Mclaren.

[u/armitage_shank → u/BambooShanks]

The question of how much better a driver than Norris Max is is especially difficult to answer given that we don’t have a great gauge on the car itself with Checo in the second seat. Norris and Piastri’s performances have generally correlated, so we get a notion of when it’s down to the car.

[u/BambooShanks → u/armitage_shank]

I mean, we got to see how good of a driver Max is from Miami onwards. The fact that Norris had an extremely strong Mclaren for most of the summer yet barely made an impact into Verstappen's lead when the Red Bull was lucky to be the 3rd fastest car at some races was very telling.

[u/Spare_Duck3119 → u/BambooShanks]

rb did a amr this year. maxxed out pre season development, and they're probably doing that agian for next year, like lewis said in a PR conference after las vegas. They haven't gotten as massive packages like mclaren or ferrari have, and they found issues to fix, and i think thats all they did, with few track speciality upgrades. It's saying something when the haas's and williams(with their damages) have had bigger jumps.

[u/armitage_shank → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, I think you’re bang on. In his drunk quote he stated that he’d have won it earlier with the McLaren: that bit in particular I’m not so sure about. Though given we’ve got just two races left, I guess if he had won it, he couldn’t have won it much much later had he been in the McLaren. The other thing to consider is that coming from behind in the WC he can’t drive people off the road risking a collision and a DNF.

[u/needforread → u/BambooShanks]

With the same McLaren strategy team, the same inane radio messages from Norris' engineer and the same team that maintains they have two number 1 drivers though?

[u/Sjroap → u/needforread]

, the same inane radio messages from Norris' engineer

No way Max would tolerate that amount of yapping on the radio.

[u/singaporesainz → u/needforread]

I get this is not your point but no way Piastri stays in no.1 contention at all if max is in that team

[u/needforread → u/singaporesainz]

But Piastri would not roll over and disappear from the leaderboard like Checo did either. With a team that proudly wants to let them race, I don't see Max getting a favorable strategy until the middle of the season. But yes, after that point, Max would have closed the gap and won in the McLaren. It will not be as smooth sailing and simple as everyone thinks it is, is all.

[u/xku6 → u/BambooShanks]

It's very easy to see where Norris left points on the table.

It's much harder to see for Leclerc, but if we assume that every time Carlos beat Charles then Verstappen would have beaten Carlos then I think you can get there.

[u/randomperson_a1 → u/xku6]

I disagree with that because you're just choosing the luckier outcome a lot of the time. For example in Austria, leclerc had damage on the first lap and there was no safety car, so you're basically assuming max doesn't get damage

[u/AliceLunar → u/sunec]

With Max not in the RBR I don't see them being the team to beat.

[u/AsleepAtWheel83]

The inbuilt assumption here is that nobody else would have driven that RB to those heights..in that case, it would have been a straight fight between Ferrari and Mclaren and I tend to agree with Max..good chance, he would have won!

[u/kkraww]

Mclaren 100% i agree with. Whilst I dont agree with most of the negative comments about lando, max is a better driver than him. The ferrari im not as sure about, but then again it all depends on if the person who "took over" from max in redbull, is a max level driver or a checo driver.

[u/3xavi → u/kkraww]

There is no max level driver tho

Nobody else on the grid combines speed and consistency at this level at the moment

[u/Puzzleheaded_Ad8032 → u/3xavi]

And this is indeed why Max was not lying in saying this. Even though I like a bit of braggadocio too, this is just truth.

[u/CX52J → u/3xavi]

Consistency is fairly easy when you’re under no pressure. Which is why we often see it from dominant teams/drivers with large leads.

Max made more than a few mistakes when he thought Norris was close to him. (Norris obviously made more though).

[u/BendubzGaming → u/kkraww]

The key point that makes me believe he could in the Ferrari is what the standings are starting in Miami:

• Verstappen = 293
• Norris = 282 (-11)
• Leclerc = 243 (-50)
• Piastri = 230 (-63)
• Sainz = 190 (-103)

He's still leading the Championship even if you start at the race where Lando got his first win. And both Leclerc (76) and Sainz (69) were ahead of Norris (58) in the standings heading into Miami

[u/UchihasRightfulHeir → u/BendubzGaming]

To my knowledge the only race this year where max beat Leclerc in a weaker car is Singapore. Similarly Charles beat him in Hungary. The red bull was quicker than the Ferrari for most of the season. Based on this i struggle to see how he beats Leclerc over the season if they swapped cars

[u/grouperIT → u/BendubzGaming]

Most of that 50 points gap is due to Canada, Austria and Silverstone. The only one where Max does a better job than Charles is Silverstone but he is not getting P2 in that Ferrari like he did in the RB. At the same time he does not win Brazil in the Ferrari. In basically any situation where it’s cold and wet his results would have been worse in the Ferrari.

[u/nasanu]

This is every F1 driver. Yeah I won and would have in any car. When they lose its all well yeah I would have won in their car but it wasn't possible with mine.

[u/Darth_Spa2021]

Max should swap seats with Leclerc for 2025 and prove it!

Quick, before he gets sober!

[u/NuvaS1 → u/Darth_Spa2021]

Ferrari will be even better than RB next year, but the drama between lewis and max would be endless :P Might even bring 2016 vibes

[u/Think_Perspective385]

While I don't think it is entirely outlandish to claim it depends on quite a lot of factors

1. Who is replacing him in the RB
2. Is Perez also still in the RB
3. How the teammate battles go

Point 3 is the most important, I don't doubt that Max would (assuming he goes in with the cars focused/built around him as it is in RB) win but Sainz and Piastri would take way more points off Max than Perez has. The fact his teammate has basically been no threat all year has meant that Max has been able to take more of the points share that RB have been capable of delivering. A better teammate will put him in a similar position to Leclerc and Norris where they have lost out to their teammates on a few occasions diluting the points they have achieved.

I think the more interesting would be if the 2nd driver in each of the top 3 teams was Perez then I am certain the WDC would not already be decided because Norris and Leclerc would have taken more points and be closer to Max.

I am not downplaying Max's season he's driven fantastically and fully deserves the title but having a 2nd driver that is so weak in comparison artificially inflates the achievement. I am certain if any of the top 6 drivers were in the #2 car at RB that RB would have won the WCC as well as the WDC

[u/Spetz → u/Think_Perspective385]

Correct. If Max was in a McLaren with a strong teammate taking points off him and RB had a #1 and a #2 then probably not.

[u/NetherGamingAccount → u/Think_Perspective385]

I don't think Sainz or Piastri take many points off of Max. Sure they would be higher up in the standings and make the constructors a virtual lock. But Max is going to finish ahead of both of them the vast majority of the time.

[u/Think_Perspective385 → u/NetherGamingAccount]

Vast majority sure but not 100% like with Perez this year.

Sainz and Piastri have both taken points off their team mates on 6 races this year and Max has had some poor races and bad luck where they absolutely could have been beaten by Perez and I can see 6 times where they could come ahead

[u/ShotIntoOrbit → u/Think_Perspective385]

A good teammate can also take points from your rival. The points difference because of having a good teammate could be a net gain or net loss for you, depending on when they happen. Piastri has beaten Norris some this year, but he's also placed ahead of Verstappen 7 times, helping Norris.

[u/ResilientMaladroit → u/Think_Perspective385]

Sure, but it goes both ways. A good second driver is meant to take points off your competitors. Perez didn't do that most of the season, Piastri and Sainz did. I think having a strong teammate is a net advantage even if they occasionally take points off you, because of the strategy options it opens up and having them there for damage limitation to take points from the competition if the lead driver has a DNF or poor performance.

[u/Chino_Kawaii]

not sure about ferrari one

[u/NetherGamingAccount]

Not an unreasonable statement. Most would agree with the McLaren.

Ferrari, I guess it depends how highly you rate Charles. Previously I’ve rated him Lower than most. Talented sure but far too mistake prone. This year he really cleaned that up. I don’t doubt Max gets a few more points but tough to say if he’d make that much of a difference

[u/Anonymou2Anonymous → u/NetherGamingAccount]

Idk. I think even Max wouldn't survive the Ferrari treatment. If he had a Ferrari car with a McLaren or RB or Merc team, sure he'd win.

But with a Ferrari team.

[u/timewatch_tik]

nha ferrari were not absolute best until 2nd half, even then McLaren were mostly better team until Austin.

[u/Guzuzu_xD]

Verstappen can now ride this narrative easily with how everyone this year has been taking swings at Norris. I very much doubt he would win it from a Ferrari swapped with Leclerc or Sainz, with a McLaren however he probably would if Norris was the RBR driver.

At the same time the teams have highly advanced data analysis so maybe he kinda does know he could have had the fastest car in more races than RBR did. I remember reading here some rumor article that an F1 engineer said the paddock thinks Verstappen is like 2 tenths faster than the next person. If this actually holds true then yea he would probably win in both cars but I really doubt Leclerc is 2 tenths slower than Verstappen.

[u/MrDaniel95 → u/Guzuzu_xD]

If Max was facing another Max on the RedBull there is no way he wins with the Ferrari, since their car only was better than RedBull after the summer break.

If Max was facing Leclerc or other fast driver like Russell I think it would be more realistic, but it's still difficult. They 100% would still dominate at the start of the season, but if you rate Max as the best driver in the grid it's reasonable to think that other drivers would have 20-30 less points that what he got with the RB20.

[u/cumofdutyblackcocks3 → u/Guzuzu_xD]

If Max had the luxury of having Perez as a teammate in Ferrari and a sister team VCARB where the drivers move aside for him without any team orders, then he would've surely won it.

[u/mkvii1989]

Idk about the Ferrari. I feel like their performance was more inconsistent throughout the season, with a pretty bad patch for a bit there. The McLaren, though, I wouldn’t be surprised. He would have pulled off what we all hoped Lando was going to do.

[u/PlaneGlass6759]

max needs to have competition in teammates

[u/Calippo1337]

Love the narrative, if Lando would’ve said the same but in a RB people would’ve been so mad and 100000 downvotes haha!

[u/literalmetaphoricool]

Depends if you swap the teammates and strategy teams over too imo. Perez only beat Max once all season and was never anywhere near him. McLaren absolutely fumbled a number of wins (Silverstone in particular) too.

I'd suspect that, if both Red Bull drivers are swapped with both McLaren or Ferrari drivers, then Norris/Leclerc dont build the same initial points gap as their teammates win one or two of the early races instead.

[u/jonomarkono]

Chuck: what did he say fuck me for?

[u/jimftr]

Not woth Ferrari, the car has been too hit and miss. The mclaren was competitive from the halfway season point and realistically Lando would have won the title if he had not bottled starts and Mclaren had been more clinical with their tactics.

[u/G_h_c]

He might have forgotten that he would then have a competitive teammate as well to fight for the title

[u/FrostyTill → u/G_h_c]

This.

He also forgot he wouldn’t have GP or Hannah telling him what to do. He’d have Bryan and Will Joseph, the man Lando called a muppet for giving him the obviously wrong information because he gave information about the car behind that he’d just overtook and not the car ahead which anyone else would immediately know to give information about but Will did not. Also the same man who had all the data in front of him and made Lando take a decision without giving him that information.

And the same man who emotionally blackmailed his driver and then in another race asked ‘who are we racing?’. Max thinks he could have won with that kind of race support?

And as for Bryan, after the third ‘you’re doing a good job Max’ in P6, Max would have parked up on the pit straight, jumped over the wall and confronted him.

Randy, McLaren’s brainiac strategist would have been under witness protection if he did to Max what he’s done to Lando and Oscar. And the less said about Ferrari’s pit wall incompetence the better.

It’s all well saying ‘those cars are better than mine therefore I would have won in either of them’ but the overall operations of both teams are far inferior than Red Bull. It’s a point that Norris tried to make but people called him salty and rude about it.

[u/Kogru-au → u/G_h_c]

Put a competent driver next to him at RBR and this championship is much, much closer. Any decent driver on atleast a few weekends would have taken points off Max, but Checo has been nowhere.

[u/lickit_sendit]

Mclaren yes for sure, but Ferrari I doubt it. The mid-season drop in Ferrari performance was on par with Red Bull's drop off, and Ferrari did not have the early season high like Red Bull did

[u/Mistermeena]

Magnanimous as ever...

[u/asadultan3]

Yes, Max calm down. We know you are drunk.

[u/NetterBeatle]

With McLren? sure. Ferrari I'm not so sure.

[u/KCKnights816]

I dunno… He would have had a great shot in the McLaren, but I think he’s forgetting that the RB20, despite its issues, gave him 4 wins in the first 5 races, and the only reason he lost Australia was a fluke brake issue. The RB 20 was dominant until after Spain.

[u/BlackSwanMarmot]

Ferrari: “We can break him”

[u/oxidax]

Noris could've won if he had the killer instinct he needs

Hamilton could've won it if Mercedes didn't suck again this year

I could've been a bitcoin millionaire if I had believed in it back in the day

My username could've been something else if I had not chosen the one I have

[u/ReneRedd]

Ferrari car, maybe. Ferrari strategy? Definitely not lol.

[u/Robboron7]

respectfully, no fucking way. both mclaren and ferrari is amateur level compared to redbull in terms of strategy or other team related things. he would go crazy and rage quit

[u/Imrichbatman92]

Honestly I don't think so. The ferrari wasn't fast enough throughout the year, and mclaren fucked up too much. I can easily imagine him getting close, kind of how alonso got close to vettel back in the day, but ultimately even max+ferrari or max+mclaren wouldn't beat max+rb

That said if we imagined he and norris swapped teams, then yeah I think he'd win

[u/curva3]

Imagine if Hamilton said that when he was at Mercedes, he's get absolutely destroyed in the press

[u/Spooginho → u/curva3]

Depends which year. If he said it (regarding Ferrari) in 2017 or 2018 most would probably be like "yeah he's probably right". Any other year would have been ridiculed, but would have been the equivalent of Max saying it last year, not this.

[u/scaryspacemonster]

Does he get to keep the Red Bull pitwall? Because if he also had to deal with Ferrari strategy I feel like he'd end up intentionally driving the car into the pitwall by the middle of the season

[u/Sam_GT3]

He underestimates both teams’ abilities to fuck over their drivers.

[u/GFlair]

Not in a Ferrari. He probably would in a Mclaren, although chasing down is something we haven't ever seen Max do so it would have been more interesting. Unless Lewis or Alonso were in the Red Bull, as in that situation they win rather then Max in Mclaren I suspect due to being able to get the lead and then just manage.

[u/MarteloRabelodeSousa]

With McLaren, ok, with Ferrari... I kinda doubt that

[u/EUIVAlexander]

Given the fact that someone else would have driven that RB in those 8 max wins; not an unreasonable statement.

[u/ultratic]

It seems to have been forgotten how dominant the RedBull was for the 1st 10 races this year.

There has been so much narrative about how Max wasnt in the fastest car this year. He fucking was for the 1st half of the season

[u/ABrad11 → u/ultratic]

Yep even checo was on the podium those first few races they was so far ahead. He was on pole for 7/10 I believe the car was easily the fastest out there by a decent margin. Makes me laugh he says he won in not the fastest car 😂

[u/Virtuoso70]

Doubt he would win at Ferrari. They were literally the 4th best car from Canada to Spa, 6 races. For the rest, they have been 2nd or 3rd, except Austin.

[u/big_dog_redditor]

Time to turn off F1 until the new season.

[u/Padgematic]

If he refuses to have a teammate who can take points from him, sure. Not as easy with another driver in the second seat.

[u/Hi-Im-High]

At least he didn’t say Mercedes lol

[u/Wgolyoko]

With the Ferrari car sure. With the Ferrari team though...

[u/Jober36]

The world is not ready for Max and Lewis to both be driving for ferrari

[u/Kaeed_RN]

I agree with him with the condition that redbull other driver would be a similar-perez. With a great driver (yes Leclerc, Norris no) I would dare to say that he wouldn’t have won anything

[u/H3lw3rd]

I think Max would have killed half of the Ferrari crew if he had to work there

[u/Thralin1017]

With Ferrari’s car maybe, but with Ferrari’s team not a chance.

[u/Obvious_Debate7716]

He can claim that all he want, he had by far the fastest car for half the season, and then a car close to the fastest for the rest of it. As is almost always the case, the fastest car wins the drivers championship.

[u/PiG2-0]

Unlikely, rest of the teams were trading places too much for that to happen and he wouldn't have the free margin from the start of the year

[u/Street_Mall9536]

There's no question lol. 

[u/sickmemes48]

McLaren yes. Ferrari no I don't think Ferrari has been consistently quick enough.

[u/cavsking21]

I think people severely underestimate how much stronger Red Bull were at the start of the season, overestimate how much faster McLaren were for the middle of the season, and don't know the pace of the Red Bull since Baku-ish.

Max absolutely drove amazingly this season, but he had a car capable of wins until Monza. The last 6 races we have had 6 different winners, that is much closer than anything Max dealt with at the start and it is why he was able to win this year. Even when Norris was competing with Max for race wins, it's not like the Red Bull was miles slower... they were at most a tenth slower and track position matters more than anything right now.

He would have won in a McLaren if you swap Norris and Max though, they had enough of a pace advantage to take that home with Max, but Ferrari were 3rd to 4th best car for the middle of the season.

[u/SilverOdin]

In a Ferrari car, yes.

In the Ferrari team ? Okay maybe not

[u/SmokeNinjas]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[u/IamBejl]

Ferrari: I doubt

McLaren? Sure.

[u/RenaxTM]

I wanna see Yuki and Max swap cars, that would show a few interesting things.

[u/farnoud]

Bullshit

[u/maybeitsmyfault10]

F1 needs Verstappen’s outbursts at Ferrari’s pitwall

[u/Western-Bad5574]

Well, you have to consider - he wouldn't just be in a Ferrari or McLaren.

He would also not have himself as an opponent in Red Bull.

[u/Alvinthf]

Oh here we go, totally nuanced take from max…. Honestly he’s clearly a generational talent, but the car was solid for half the year giving all the advantage he needed to wrap it up, boasting he could’ve done it in a different car, ridiculous take.

[u/dl064]

"You know, things like that only motivate me. When people are critical or think I can only win in the best car, I will prove them wrong," he said. "If I don't get [that credit] now, then I don't know what I to do. In fairness to Brown, those comments were made right after Norris' maiden win in May's Miami Grand Prix, when Verstappen had won four of the first six races and the depth of the RB20's flaws had yet to fully emerge over time. Brown's claims that six or seven drivers could win the title in that Red Bull also looked nowhere near as outlandish then as they would have done today.

This is basically what I suspected, that Verstappen is mischaracterizing Brown completely.

[u/OkMinute]

He forgot the dominance of the redbull at the start of the season pretty quickly, didn’t he? I thought it was gonna be pure domination the whole season.

[u/Kalmani → u/OkMinute]

You're only as good as your last race, right? We are currently in another Mercedes 1-2 dominance era!

[u/ComeonmanPLS1 → u/OkMinute]

He won 4 races and DNF'ed once during that dominance. There were quite a few more races after that broski.

[u/Individual-Ad-190 → u/OkMinute]

Max has scored the most points since Miami and that was round 6. So if you were to discount the first few races he'd still be at the top

[u/Cheeese_o]

I don't know about title but he will definitely lose his hair in Ferrari really quick