[HeelToeShift]

Originally Posted by G30M

Max has a 100% record of destroying team mates

True. Wheras Ham's mediocre teammates he needed team orders to pass. Other than Alo he's not had a good teammate and were on average worse than Max's - most of which are still on the grid and top talent currently.

[HeelToeShift]

Originally Posted by AmuroRay

His teammates have all been mediocre /rookies. Per the post here, it said that Max condition is not keeping George and Kimi.

LOL the delirium just gets stronger and stronger. You realize how stupid you sound right? There is no negotiation going on first of all.
Not keeping Rus or Kimi? One of them would stay no matter what. Max would stomp them worse than Ham is getting Lec's balls dropped in his face hourly like Chinese water torture.
Max has absolutely stomped on everyone he's raced against which on avg are better than Ham's teammates by good margin - only Alo was any good and they sabotaged him/his car. Ham needed team orders to beat Bot LOL, and his mediocre teammates, at best, were always so close to him proving he didnt have much over them. Max's teammates and anyone else on the grid including Ham would be or are back markers in the same car as Ham said he cant drive an oversteery car without losing serious pace and destroying the tires.
Again, how about that bet that Ham wins WDC this year? I'll bet my 2024 M3 CS on it now as long as you put up an equal value car. Guaranteed you don't respond to this which everyone sees. Why the confidence until someone calls you out on it?

[RichardInCA]

At this point everyone is saying exactly what their pay stub dictates they should say. I don’t expect any more clarity until Mercedes announce their 26 lineup.

[NickyC]

Concerning Hamilton's teammates, has everyone forgot about Rosberg? He's the only guy to beat two seven times World Champion teammates. Rosberg was a helluva driver, and he did the sport a huge disservice retiring at his peak as it left us with basically no competition for Hamilton at Merc (and thus no competition in the sport at all). Had Rosberg not retired, we could have had another awesome 2-3 years of their rivalry.

[Killed by Death]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Concerning Hamilton's teammates, has everyone forgot about Rosberg? He's the only guy to beat two seven times World Champion teammates. Rosberg was a helluva driver, and he did the sport a huge disservice retiring at his peak as it left us with basically no competition for Hamilton at Merc (and thus no competition in the sport at all). Had Rosberg not retired, we could have had another awesome 2-3 years of their rivalry.

That would have been great if one didn't kill the other.

[NickyC]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

That would have been great if one didn't kill the other.

Yep! I try not to think about it too much. The years immediately after Rosberg's retirement were so horribly boring, Hamilton had zero competition from within or outside the team. What could have been had Rosberg stayed!

[Killed by Death]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Yep! I try not to think about it too much. The years immediately after Rosberg's retirement were so horribly boring, Hamilton had zero competition from within or outside the team. What could have been had Rosberg stayed!

Hate to say it but I think that last season broke Rosberg mentally.

[Killed by Death]

Interesting

[G30M]

Originally Posted by RichardInCA

At this point everyone is saying exactly what their pay stub dictates they should say. I don’t expect any more clarity until Mercedes announce their 26 lineup.

yup pretty much. looks like FIA’s Contract Recognition Board is going to have to get involved if Max wants to leave.

— Helmut Marko firmly dismissed recent speculation about Max Verstappen signing with Mercedes, emphasizing that no such move is possible under the current contract. Speaking to Kleine Zeitung, Marko said:
“Max hasn’t signed and he can’t even do it.”
— The Austrian advisor expressed growing frustration over the persistent rumors and reiterated that Verstappen remains under contract with Red Bull:
“It’s getting nerve-wracking. The same questions keep coming back and we keep giving the same answers, since nothing has changed.”

[wizardofOz]

Highly unlikely Kimi will get booted off the Benz team, if anything Georgina needs to leave for everyone's sake..That diva queen

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by G30M

yup pretty much. looks like FIA’s Contract Recognition Board is going to have to get involved if Max wants to leave.

— Helmut Marko firmly dismissed recent speculation about Max Verstappen signing with Mercedes, emphasizing that no such move is possible under the current contract. Speaking to Kleine Zeitung, Marko said:
“Max hasn’t signed and he can’t even do it.”
— The Austrian advisor expressed growing frustration over the persistent rumors and reiterated that Verstappen remains under contract with Red Bull:
“It’s getting nerve-wracking. The same questions keep coming back and we keep giving the same answers, since nothing has changed.”

That's about the size of it, every time, Helmut is getting fed up repeating it but understandable how the media keeps pecking on about it when MAX's car is not quite on form.

[AmuroRay]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Yep! I try not to think about it too much. The years immediately after Rosberg's retirement were so horribly boring, Hamilton had zero competition from within or outside the team. What could have been had Rosberg stayed!

Is Vettel and their rocket Ferrari a joke? 2017/18 were not slow. The W11 was fast, but Bottas was only 2nd place two times in 5 years. And Bottas was better than Massa as a rookie. He wasn’t slow, and he was a hell of a lot faster than whatever the hell Max was paired with besides Daniel who Max got beaten by multiple times.

[HeelToeShift]

Let’s see who were their teammates;

Ham had Alo (good), But (not very good), Ros (this guy was a joke of a driver and yet still beat ham into submission in 2016), Bot (stinks - had what 5 wins in 5 years in the fastest car ever seen - oh yea he would have won a lot more if not for team orders), and Rus (decent yet Ham got beaten by 2/3 seasons). Ham never had much performance over any of them either.

Max has has Ric (top driver during his time and better than any of Ham’s teammates sans Alo which he’d be close to), Sai (top driver currently in F1 and better than any of Ham’s teammates sans Alo which he’d be as quick as), Alb (top rated driver in F1 and better than any of Ham’s teammates besides Alo), Per (solid driver), Law (meh), Tsu (solid strong driver still in F1). Overall Max has absolutely annihilated all of these guys. Most of them were 5 tenths to 1 second of his quali or race pace. At any point it seems 30-40% of the grid are Max’s ex teammates which also says enough.

[G30M]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

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That's about the size of it, every time, Helmut is getting fed up repeating it but understandable how the media keeps pecking on about it when MAX's car is not quite on form.

so RB blames George Russell!

"George triggered all this speculation trying to leverage his own situation and force clarity."

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Looking more like MAX will end his career at Red Bull and will continue to the end of '28, that's this half of the season and three more full years. My thought now is when Hadjar will replace Yuki and Lindblad steps into the RB carbon.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...4Y68Wrv89ZE4iI

MAX got his 3rd new HONDA PU at Silverstone .

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by AmuroRay

I believe this too, Max is afraid of good teamates.

I already posted this for you .

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by AmuroRay

I believe this too, LEW is afraid of good teamates.

FTFY , as you can see (!)

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Looking more like MAX will end his career at Red Bull and will continue to the end of '28, that's this half of the season and three more full years. My thought now is when Hadjar will replace Yuki and Lindblad steps into the RB carbon.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...4Y68Wrv89ZE4iI

On the other hand ... Yes and No .

MAX's manager Thierry Vermeulen cannot deny the negotiations with Wolff and Mercedes.

As for us MAX fans , it would be much better for MAX and us if MAX moves to Mercedes.
In other words : It's like a sign on the wall , the 2026 RB22 with active aero and the 2026 Ford PU will be a mess .
It's time for MAX to nail it (!)

[Killed by Death]

That's right bitches

[AmuroRay]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

FTFY , as you can see (!)

https://www.planetf1.com/news/no-max-verstappen-clause

Contrary to reports, there is no ‘Verstappen clause’ in Lewis Hamilton’s new contract with the Brit handed “no power” to decide his team-mate.

[Davil]

Hehe. Possibly accurate.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

On the other hand ... Yes and No .

MAX's manager Thierry Vermeulen cannot deny the negotiations with Wolff and Mercedes.

As for us MAX fans , it would be much better for MAX and us if MAX moves to Mercedes.
In other words : It's like a sign on the wall , the 2026 RB22 with active aero and the 2026 Ford PU will be a mess .
It's time for MAX to nail it (!)

MAX is not following up on what Helmut has said and his demeanour is that he is planted well with RBR and Vermeulen is not saying anything just talk. Horner has said they know where they are at with the 21 and what to do to the 21 for more pace, it's easy to say now the car is not good and MAX should go.
We'll see if there's anything further about this during or after the summer break, no doubt the paparazzi will be following MAX and his family on holiday resorts and as '26 draws nearer more info on the RB22 will be leaking out.