His race pace the last few races has been concerning, but the terrible performances in qualifying is just dumbfounding. The Red Bull has such a gap on the rest of field, shown by Max, that Checo should never be in danger of missing Q3 barring a crash or mechanical failure.
I know his seat is probably safe as long as Red Bull stays solidly ahead in the constructors, but if he keeps performing this poorly RBR has to at least look at potential options for next season.
Hopefully they choose to wait until next season.
Feels bad though. Checo is such a good driver but that consistency is an issue
He was so good earlier in the year. If I had my tinfoil hat on I’d think Red Bull set it up so their star Verstappen wins again.
It’s just like Lewis vs. Bottas every year. Some drivers are just insanely consistent.
Quite a swing the other way. A few races ago he was still fighting Max for the championship and seemed to have genuine pace. And now some people are jumping to the complete other extreme, wondering if his seat is in danger. That seems a bit too sensationalist to me, but he definitely needs some good races in order to turn this around. That car seems like a rocket ship, and he should be able to do better.
He’s definitely in a slump. Hope he figures it out soon.
I would love to see Norris in that seat, or even Ricciardo for the rest of the season to give us some competition at the front.
