Red Bull Racing Dutch driver Max Verstappen’s dominance is so incredible this season that it leads everyone to separate his extraordinary driving skills from the super race car he drives and analyze the two components of this combination separately.
We know that “ifs” and “buts” don’t get us anywhere, that’s how Engineer Luigi Mazzola began speaking during the latest episode of the Pit Talk podcast, making us reflect on what Enrique Scalabroni stated on the same microphones last week: “Verstappen in a Ferrari would have won in Austria!”
The question that anyone who follows Formula 1 has asked at least once has been commented on: does the car or the driver matter more? In the case of this Red Bull, both situations can be analyzed.
Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez: Comparing their skills
Assuming that the RB19 has proven to be the strongest race car on the grid, Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez demonstrate very different performances. For this reason, Engineer Enrique Scalabroni stated that if Max Verstappen were driving a Ferrari right now, he would be able to make it win – emphasizing exclusively the skills of the driver, implicitly comparing them to those of his teammate.
Engineer Luigi Mazzola disagrees with what was said and responds as follows: “Pérez has mentally lost his way in recent Grand Prix races, even though he has won races as well. It is clear that at the moment, he is at a disadvantage compared to a driver who is at the peak of his mental strength. He is at his lowest point, and that’s where the difference shows.” – he pointed out during his interview.
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He also comments on Scalabroni’s statement about the RB19, namely that “Red Bull is a good car, not exceptional as everyone believes,” affirming that one cannot say that the RB19 is not a better car than the others. He adds that taking someone like Hamilton, Russell, or even Leclerc, they are by no means stagnant, they simply achieve less compared to those who have a Red Bull in their hands.
Engineer Mazzola resumes talking about Sergio Pérez’s performances, saying: “Being mentally down, even if he doesn’t qualify in Q3 or even exits in Q2, he still participates in the race and somehow climbs up, finishing in the top five or coming close, albeit with an incredible gap.” And furthermore: “The performance of a car is made up of efficiency, balance, load, grip, and then the driver, certainly. But without those things, the driver won’t go anywhere.”
Max Verstappen in Ferrari? He would raise the bar
Luigi Mazzola offers a different perspective than “Verstappen in a Ferrari would win right now,” leveraging the attitude and position of the former, perfectly embodying the driver who is hungry and thirsty for victory and doesn’t settle for anything. If there’s even a single point to be gained, Max goes for it, as he demonstrated in Austria when he returned to the pits on the last lap of the race for a tire change, intending to secure the extra point for the fastest lap, along with his responsibilities.
A driver with this type of attitude “if he were to come to Ferrari, he would turn the team upside down,” Luigi Mazzola stated.
“Because someone who forces you to change tires on the last lap in Austria means he is raising the bar for everyone, mechanics, engineers, and technicians. Is there a point available? I want it; in sport, you eat, bite, you want more. If a driver like that were to come to Ferrari, it’s clear that it would shake things up.”
Luigi Mazzola concludes the topic by reminding us that he experienced this situation twice in his career, once with Prost and another with Schumacher, saying, “You see the difference when someone like that arrives, and you shift up three gears.” – the former Ferrari engineer pointed out.
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