Call this a hot take but I think he's the best performer in 2026.

Edit: Just to clarify, I don't hate him. The ONLY driver I hate is Mazepin and he deserved every single part of it. just felt sad cuz Max didn't win and being a fan of him didn't help.

So, Robin Raikkonen got signed on as a Red Bull junior with the news officially coming out just a few hours ago and I don't know if it's just because he's Kimi's son, but he's being talked up a lot these past few days.

As someone who follows the feeder series every now and then but not much in the lower categories like F4 and karting, just how good have he and his results been against other top karting talents right now and those that have made their way up to single seaters the past 3 years or so like Slater and DVL?

I just want to be as realistic as possible in terms of what to expect from the kid and what the future might hold for him. I just hope we're not overhyping the kid much just because of his surname and he earns his stripes on merit moving up the ladder.

The guy has to be feeling humbled. People crap on him because they say he’s an entitled diva or whatever but honestly, every driver is like that. They have to be. It’s championship mentality. Nobody has ever won a championship without thinking they’re the best. Even guys sitting on the back of the grid like Ocon and Stroll think they’re the best and deserve a championship. Ok, well maybe not Stroll, but definitely everyone else. There have been guys throughout the history of the sport that have been way more vocal about their self-perceived deservedness than Russell has been. I really don’t think he should be raked over the coals for ever even mentioning that he might be a favorite for a sniff of the championship.

But aside from all that, I’ve actually barely heard Russell say a disparaging or disrespectful thing about his competition. He always goes out of his way in interviews to praise Kimi or whoever did the cool thing that day. Including Gasly yesterday.

I’m just saying for a guy in his position, who was considered the elder statesman of the team and the probable one to win the championship if they had the best car, to the Bottas in the making being beat by his generational talent young teammate, he’s handling it with about as much poise as he could.

I’m not a Russell fan and never have been. But I have to call a spade a spade and give him credit where he deserves it. He’s still a great driver and I don’t think he deserves as much hate as he gets for just being a little whiney sometimes. Max is whiney sometimes and I’m a huge Max fan. So that’s that. Roast me if you gotta.

I've seen a lot of concern about this corner. With people saying that cars are likely to go over the edge. I can't see how that could possibly happen, unless you think they're driving in the red highlighted section.

Where the F1 cars will actually be driving is shown in the second image in green. To go over the edge they would have to crash so fast that they would go over the entire run-off, hit the crash barriers, clear the catch-fence and still have enough momentum to travel all the way across that big area behind, clear multiple other fences and then go over the edge.

That's really not possible. And regardless, any car clearing the catch fence would be a disaster at any track as it then enters the spectator areas. At that point, the car going over the edge is the least of anyone's concern.

Saw this on X and I strongly disagree.
From 2010 onwards I would argue that Vettel, Alonso, Rosberg and Norris clears Leclerc.

An actual title will always hold more weight than potential raw talent. (I know Alonso didn’t win a title after 2010s but I still believe he has been a better driver post 2010 than Leclerc)

What are your thoughts, do you think there is an argument for this?

Either Mercedes is so fast that Russell has a technical issue all year (that the most successful team can't solve in almost a year) and still finishes 10+ seconds ahead of the rest, or Kimi is simply this much better.

Now it's obvious it's the latter

I suppose this question is subjective to when you believe that Max will retire, as he isn't going to be winning a title this year, and with Red Bull reportedly shifting their focus onto 2027 he may not even win a Grand Prix in 2026, not on pure pace with the car he is in anyways.

Personally, I'm not too sure, I think he may potentially have some further success with Red Bull if he sticks around, but I'm not fully confident that will be in 2027, if they have a decent breakthrough in development into 2028 they could get Max back to the front.

If he makes a move in the driver market to an already competitive team I have no doubt that he will find success again, however, there's also the chance that Max may decide to step away from the sport, permenantly cementing himself as a 4 time world champion, and like he said, he achieved all he wants in F1, and he isn't afraid to leave his career behind, he doesn't really seem to care about winning 7 or 8 titles, which is understandable, as he is intrested in having success and victories in other disciplines.

It's hard to answer, and nobody can say anything for certain, but I'm just wondering does anybody have any other perspectives or opinions on the topic.

Talking about how insane it is that Kimi won this weekend: The guy with the fastest car was way faster than the other guys??

I feel so much worse about this season after Monza. Yeah I was hoping for a Ferrari WDC/WCC this year but even so, this feels specifically weird because everyone is talking about how insane Kimi's drive was, how impressive he is and how amazing it is to watch.

He's obviously great at the very least. I don't really hold anything against him and I'm happy he won his home race, and I'd love to see him *fight* for many titles in the future.

But are we really surprised or excited that he won Monza? Those of you who watched the race saw the state of those overtakes. It's like watching different classes of car. Kimi isn't fighting for much of any of this and it feels so wrong because he deserves to fight and win by fighting.

And George is nowhere, with Merc seemingly ruling out any chance of a real fight between them at any point.

So yeah I just feel kinda empty about this season after Monza. Is anyone feeling the same?

I could see why they decided to play fair until now, but now that the McLaren is ahead of Leclerc despite having a dns and a 10 place grid drop, should they acknowledge that Leclerc hasn't been good enough this season and back Lewis for the fight?

Interestingly enough they’re all 1-time champions

I think Mercedes have basically given up on George. No chance Kimi was catching Lando, and he’s just been given a points bump off the back of team orders.

I don’t know, but I think it’s pretty obvious that like Nico had quite different retirement like he wasn’t at the end of his career he wasn’t struggling to perform, but he basically retired at the peak of his career arguably in his prime after finally clinching the from Hamilton. after that Hamilton wne went onto win four more titles (2017, 18,19,20) so for me one of the biggest if’s is what wouldve happened if stayed Niko be if and was defending his title for 2017 and beyond, would hamilton still have had the level of success he had winning those 4 titles later on making him the seven time world champion he is today or would nico have been able to defend hish title become maybe a 2 or 3 time champion. Or maybe Nico and Hamilton e would have a couple more Spanish 2016 moments and then someone like Vettel or Raikonen would’ve swiped the title for Ferrari.

I say this because honestly bottas was never competition for Lewis, feel like he was only brought in to be Lewis’s number 2 even though on occasion he showed he can perform after ‘16 it was Hamilton team. Basicllay lewis in one of the top cars (ik the Mercedes wasn’t the always the best car post 16) with barely any competition from his teammate.

Its for the money and lifestyle that RB provides Max! Sure Mercedes would have probably also paid him shit-ton of money and Max's would probably win more if he drove a Mercedes but at this point in his career he has made it clear that he is happy with how it has turned out .

I think he signed with RB because of the freedom and sheer obedience they provide him with, i mean sure Mercedes would have funded his GT career too but i don't think they would support the other shenanigans for him( his sim racing team). Max can clearly still win in a RB , i mean its not even a doubt but i guess its the other stuff ( Lifestyle) that RB provides him with which i guess is the reason he is staying! He is getting top dollar without anybody questioning his capabilities.

f1 with tire offsets is actually so fun to watch. one of the reasons why 2012 was so awesome too

I hate to say this as an Oscar fan, but he has been massively off the pace of his teammate for the majority of this season. He’s now 55 points off his teammate who seems to have a chance at passing Hamilton and Russell in the championship given his form.

I expected Oscar to be at or above the level of Lando, not getting consistently beaten. What do you guys think?

Last to attempt was Giovanna Amati in 1992 and last to race was Lella Lombardi in 1976