While we are scrutinizing every meters these boys drive...how much difference can an engineer make?
If they'd have too swap engineers for a day, would we from the outside not notice a relative difference?
Would Max be qualifying faster, and Carlos getting more solid stints together?
I think Spa was teh best race for Max to date. And still there was a substantial amount of lost opportunity. An F1 driver on top of his mental game would not have taken 8th with Max's driving skills. I think Senna would have screamed for better tires the moment he noticed he was unable to keep the gap to the car in front constant. "These tires are rubbish, I'll try my luck with the next set, they'll just have to last a few laps more."
Before the race, with all the tire conservation going on, not really taking part in Q2, I thought Max would absolutely minimize the use of Mediums. And while in terms of laps used this came to be, perhaps a strategy they didn't commit to sufficiently, as if they did not believe it would actually work. If we (I'm not alone in this) are right about this, it's also his engineer to blame. If Medium tires don't provide the speed needed, take them off after 6 laps. The good things were happening for Max on Softs.
It's too bad that TR seem to consistently lose out in pit strategy and execution.
Max was leading Raikkonen, and Raikkonen seemed fine to let Max do the overtaking. He had the race pace to keep a World Champion with a faster engine and likely better chassis content to sit behind. Only the pit stop turned this around.
Where in Hungary they committed to get Max (along with Carlos) ahead in the pit stops, they not just let Max slot in behind for pit stop #1. McLaren, Wiliams and Ferrari make such situations work out for them, TR generally do not. As Carlos was so disappointed about when only Max beneffitted in Hungary.
Spa for Max was his best drive. The TR car was a huge underdog. 1 or 2 points would have made him happy, he said prior to the weekend. Then the bad uck with the new engine needed. Starting from the back. A bad start even. Then having rounded La Source, Max became a racer and it all turned around.
Good things were expected in Hungary, but really, in a normal situation with functioning engine we would expect him around 10th in the grid. In place closer matching his race pace. In stead of dealing with Alonso end of lap 1, he'd be dealing with cars WAY up the order. Contrary to way many expected, he was not a sitting duck on the straights, he'd taken off more downforce for the race. A WDC in a Ferrari was on his tail all the first stint. Max was ready for the fight 5 places and more up he track.
While Bottas suffered a drive through (although probably getting quite a few tenths of pace in return for that mistmatch in tires), Max overtook him on merit. He could have done that just as well without the drivethrough for Bottas, without the grid penalty for Max.
Carlos is now clearly ahead in the "bad luck" battle. But did he show any good laptimes during the race? Did he make up any ground? He was shortly down the road from Max and Raikkonen, but didn't exactly creep up on Kimi.
Would anyone in their right mind say that Carlos would have gotten 8th from starting 18th this weekend? Or even from his fine grid position? Would Carlos be overtaking Massa and Bottas? Keeping Kvyat behind? Mixing it up with Grosjean and Perez? We'd simply not seem him overtaking significant cars all year.
Max, no-one will deny, was amazing at Spa. And this was without the rain he was wishing for. We may well have missed out on a performance bigger than Vettel's Monza 2008 with Toro Rosso. Dad Jos did great things in the rain, but never seemed to get a whole race in the wet. Or spin out of one. Max is really the 2.0. Imagine rain had arrived in Spa just before the first round of pit stops. Same track positions. No way he'd have settled for 8th then. The best is yet to come.
Tost is really nice to include Carlos in his praises. But Carlos, more than after Hungary, will really need to step it up next time. As Carlos is losing track timein getting ahead of their bad luck battle, Max is getting top shelf experience, battling much richer teams.
Red Bull really have a dilemma for next season. They wanted Max many years ago already but only got him when they gave him an F1 seat before he turned 17. Now Max is the most exciting driver in F1, perhaps since several years. He's making things happen in races and leaving little to be desired in qualifying.
You get scorched for being a fangirl to merely mention it, but Max is destined to be upgraded to Red Bull. Why would he not be worthy if Kvyat was? Ricciardo is making things happen speed wise, but getting mechanicals. Kvyat is a bit scrappy but does pick up points, puts really great stints together. Certainly a worthy 2nd driver in a top team. But Max is now at least a worthy second driver also. Surely RB can ditch Kvyat, but I suspect they'd want him alongside Max when they eventually lose Ricciardo. RB needs 3 cars for 2016.
With the TR lacking little pace this year, could they hold on to Kvyat sending him back there? TR could be even closer next year. Early this year they were even ahead at times.
There will always be great drivers wanting to take TR seats, but now they have 2 good drivers at RB, and a possibly magic one at TR. It will be hard to hold on to Max if in 2016 he is to feel hampered in his progress. Perhaps TR can come up with promising ideas to get further up the grid. Renault closing the gap more to Mercedes power seems obvious to happen. But if Red Bull get a better engine, and join the fight for wins...Max will be vulnerable to courting from top teams.
I bet RB really want to give Max a RedBull drive next year. And they know it already. But it hurts my heart to think they'll have to ditch Kvyat. There are fewother drives for Kvyat other than back to TR. Sit out 2016 for Kvyat? End of F1 career? we've seen that with other fine drivers.
If Carlos continues to be outclassed in races, his future in F1 may be less bright than Tost is saying. Another year at TR won't help race craft. A really competitive engine might make it less obvious.
I hope Massa retires and Kvyat gets his seat.