Video: Max Verstappen & Fabio Wibmer in a 2-Seat F1 Car

 Make them play this and cast it: www.rockpapershotgun.com/trials-risings-tandem-mode-preview

 Haha this is a great idea... trials on a tandem bike, but maybe Fabio and Danny M???

 That or a race down the slopes at Saalbach?

 I think not being able to see straight ahead in the braking zones would scare this shit out of me while my head is literally being pulled off of my neck.

 @mikelevy: this could be your shoe in to get an f1 racer on the podcast!

 @artistformlyknowasdan: I feel like Max has more important things going on and doesn’t know we exist haha But yes, I would f*cking love that.

 @mikelevy:
Max has evolved into a genuine dude and I’d guess he loves an opportunity to step away from F1 for a bit. He does videos for Rebull from time to time and always looks like a kid skipping school!

 @ExMxEr: I'll get stoned in the village square of course, but....I like Max. I think he's okay actually.

No one is to stone anyone, until I blow this whistle!!

 @mikelevy: LOL. Max is like, "Oh look little bicycles with squishy things on the ends called shocks. That's adorable."

 @mybaben: In this case, you’re only getting stoned to death if you’re British.

 @mybaben: Max trains on bikes. He understands our pain..

 @ExMxEr: True, I think it's against the law in the UK to like Max.

 @mybaben: It’s the only time death by stoning is allowed..

 @eugenux: Crashstappen isn't really up to date anymore though is it. Maybe 5 years ago sure. I never miss a race, never watched the netflix show, not his countrymen, dude is a fricken beast. Best driver in the paddock.

 can't stomach him, I meant..

 @eugenux: O please saying people aren't real fans because they don't like the driver you like makes you a massive knob hole

 @eugenux: I'm his fellow countryman (that is, The Netherlands, not Monaco which is where I think he now resides) and I don't see why I'd like him. He won the "sportsman of the year" title. The was this other guy called Niek Kimmann who was nominated too. Niek crashed into an official during training at the Olympics in Tokio. Niek cracked his kneecap yet immediately went back to check how the official was doing. He then squarely and fairly went on to win gold. Now you have Max. He lands his car on top of his direct competitor which ends the race for both of them, yet doesn't even care to check how his competitor was doing. Not sure who was in the jury for that sportsman title thing, but I think I just have a different perception of what sports (and sportsmanship) is all about.

Not necessarily saying Niek should have taken that title. A close friend of his was also nominated. He was a good BMX racer too but dislocated his shoulder(s) a bit too often and had to switch to track cycling. He has been racking up good results including a couple of Olympic gold medals. His name is Harry Lavreysen. You can watch the interview he did with Niek here, back when he made the switch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_5rdl7r3vc. But yeah, Niek's reaction of going back to care for the one caused the collision, compared to Max' ignorance in a similar situation, that's what does it for me.

As for his dad Jos Verstappen. It's been a while and all I remember is that they set his car alight during a pitstop as they had been messing with the fuel system (to be able to refuel quicker). But it doesn't make sense to judge Max on that.

Either way, sad for the British if they're being stoned to death for liking Max, as I as a Dutchman much prefer Lewis Hamilton over Max for his ethics.

 @eugenux: Jos never had a prime

 @jimmythehat: I did cheer for him and for Frentzen back when they were in the Arrows.

 @vinay: 100% - Hamilton (and Vettel for that matter) have spoken out for what they believe, Verstappen has only ever spoken out to defend his own aggressive driving, and to defend Piquet Snr, his racist father-in-law.

I feel for the F1 paddock in general, sure the drivers get paid well, but there are thousands of people working across teams and volunteering as marshals etc. doing what they love doing. All the time they are being tarnished with the reputation of F1 being in bed with the world's worst regimes, organisations and people.

Let's hope post-Ecclestone they continue allowing the drivers a voice and move in a different direction.

 @vinay..nice story with Lavreysen. Never been into bmw or track cycling but, tough kid who didn't give up in front of real adversities. Thank you for sharing it.

As for Verst, the Monza jump on Ham's head sealed it for me. The guys who came to f1 from netflix do seem to enjoy what he did.. so, there's that.

 @Steventux: HAM almost killed VER on Silverstone last year, then he celebrated the win as if he won the WC. VER got over it and moved on, but HAM had to mention it again this weekend. As if VER did anything wrong last year. He was the one that got punished. And looking back at the footage of last year and this year it isn't VER of LEC doing anything different.

 @tommynator: Ver should of given more space, just like Leclerc did last week. He would rather crash than back down, racing incident

 @jimmythehat: The marshalls do not agree with you: they punished HAM. LEC did the exact same thing as VER did last year.

 I don't really care about who was right or wrong. Split second stuff, mistakes and misjudgements happen. Thing is, if you collide in a way that ends both your runs, you don't have much better to do than make sure everyone is fine. If you leave someone behind in a situation where chances are fair that he's injured or in danger, you're an ass. I'd say having your competitor directly under your car is such a situation.

 @mikelevy: True about Max, but I think Daiel Riccardo, one of the McLaren drivers is actually a big mountain biker himself.

Could try giving him a shot for an interview in their off season.

 @AntiGrav87: came to say this. Isn't he shown clearing doubles in his garden at the very start of the first episode of F1: DTS?

 @tommynator: you mean the stewards, like they’ve been proven to be fair or have a clue about racing

 @jimmythehat: take a look at the pictures of the overtakes at corpse. Hamilton missed the apex completely last year and hence hit Verstappen. This year, Ham hit the Apex so he didn't hit Leclerc.

 @jaame: haha good one

 @tommynator: This is the first thing said today that wasn’t BS. That was attempted murder by Hamilton!

 @alexhyland: YES!

 @tommynator: That's racing I guess.
My point being, one of them is using their position to try and elevate the sport above the cesspit of reactionary and empiricist attitudes and practices.
The other one is defending their racist father in law.

 @Steventux: Wow. Beautifully stated! Your point is irrefutable! Bravo..

 @Steventux: But VER did not defend his father in law. VER said: "I believe that it is a clear cut case. The word that he (Piquet) used - even when taking cultural differences into consideration and that it were things they said when they were kids - is wrong. Let this be a lesson for the future that these words are not to be used. It is very offensing." He also said that the way he knows Nelson Piquet is he does not believe that Piquet is a racist.

 @vinay: when VER left the car HAM was not under him any more. Because HAM tried to back up the car to continue the race. So I guess VER knew that HAM was ok. Unlike HAM when he was partying after his Silverstone win and VER was actually in the hospital after a crash with a 51G impact! HAM did not bother to check if VER was ok then. But I guess for VER's PR it would have been better if he had checked on HAM.

 @tommynator: So he acknowledges the quote attributed to his father in law as being racist in content, but then goes on to defend his father in law as not being racist....

Uh-huh, so does didactic reasoning work differently for racing drivers / ex racing drivers?

Also that Bolsonaro chauffeur gig Piquet did, probably fine.

Unrelated motorsport quiz question: 14 F1 drivers took the knee at the start of the 2021 season, guess who was in the list of those who didn't?

It's fair enough to have a favourite driver here in terms of the racing, I think Max is a very skilled driver, arguably one of the fastest, though he has some work to do to match Lewis' records.
But all that is just the F1 circus. The legacy they leave, the mark they make on their sport as incredibly privileged participants will matter a lot more in the long-run.

 The Silverstone debacle from last year is simple imo, Lewis and Merc took advantage of Max's dirty driving, Max shouldnt have turned his car into Lewis the way he did, Lewis and Merc saw how Max took that corner with a car on the inside during the Sprint and predicted he was gonna do the same during the race so Lewis didnt back out and let Max DNF himself. Both sides are at fault, one for dirty driving, the other one for taking advantage of that, not caring about Max's safety.

 @Steventux: LEC didn't take the knee. RAI neither. Why? Because in their culture taking a knee has a whole different meaning and not doing so does not get in the way of the message they all stood for: stop racism. You can not judge everything through your English world view. Not everybody is from there and even though people took the effort to learn another language so you can understand them. They are not like you.
Same with MTB: when you guys come over to the Alps in summer you do not bother to learn French (or German), book with local guides (and when you do you expect them to speak English) or rarely stay at places that are not owned by people from England. It would be nice if you'd aknowledge and respect cultural differences more and stop nitpicking if somebody did or did not do what you English expect them to do even though the message was all the same.

 @vinay: Max looked in Hamilton’s car and rear tires and saw him trying to drive out of it. I’d say he’s good..

 @tommynator: well put. It's difficult for people who only speak English, and even moreso for ones who have never lived anywhere else, to understand that people see things in many ways, from many viewpoints, and that there is not one "right" way.
I wouldn't take the knee. God knows what's in my heart. Taking the knee doesn't prove one is not racist any more than saying "the N word" while rapping along to Biggie Smalls proves one is.
What the world needs is people to make positive efforts to live their best life, positively influence those they come into contact with, and treat all people fairly and respectfully. If everyone did those things, we would all be a lot better off. What we have now is a lot of cynical name calling, pre judgement based on media propaganda and other kinds of shit f*ckery. Focus on yourself. Live your best life for you. That's the key to happiness.

 @jaame: Wow, now that was righteous! Solid response.
Focus on yourself, but maybe take the time to glance at your fellow human. He/she might find you upside down in a tree someday. With a bike hanging from one clipless shoe..

 @ExMxEr: I make a point of trying to positively interact with everyone I meet in real life. I truly do.
The only time I do the opposite for my own amusement is when commenting on Pinkbike. I confess, I do write things to stir the pot at times.

 @jaame: If it’s a pot worth stirring, I’m in!

 @tommynator: Hamilton merely mentioned racing Leclerc through that corner, no mention of Verstappen. Max is a brilliant racer, but behaved with entitlement, with regards to track positioning. That prompted normally clean drivers, such as Lewis, to go extra aggressive with him, hence the coming together at Silverstone in '21.

And Lewis has had massive support from the Silverstone crowd, during his EIGHT wins there, which is why he drapes himself in the flag, etc. (*note: he was told that Max was fine, & that his hospital visit was purely precautionary, at that point)

 @tommynator: I'm not English, though I do live in the UK. How would you know if I spoke french or not? Very quick with the generalisations this one.

 @jaame: You're right, not taking the knee is not an indication that someone is racist. It is a missed opportunity though.
Likewise saying something racist when you're a privileged old racing driver might not mean you believe in racial superiority, you may just be living your best life and saying racist things with goodness in your heart. And only god can judge that.
We do go on appearances way too much

 "The car is 100% broken"

 @Crossmaxx: a bit of an exaggeration, but the floor was properly trashed and he still finished 7th. Almost, but not quite, as impressive as winning a downhill race without a chain.

 @Mac1987: Floor counts for so much now. Charley lost a front wing endplate and appeared to give zero cares, but I think Max's damaged floor probably made the car a handful. Hell, Mick would have had him in a Haas if there was one more lap, so it was probably costing home more than a second a lap. Nasty.

 @Mac1987: I think what Max probably meant with that was "There's definitely something broken with the car, it wasn't the tires", not that the car is at 0% performance

 @mikelevy: I think it’s time Ferrari lets Charles make his own tire strategy calls. Monaco, now this..
If he had fresh softs, I bet he could have battled to the win from third on Sunday!
Sorry, is this a Mtn bike forum? My bad..

 @ExMxEr: Yes, Ferrari need to seriously overhaul their Strategy Team or something.... Super exciting to see Carlos break through for his first, but as a team they need to rethink some shit...

 @mybaben: Woah, wait a sec... So you're saying Ferrari has a strategy team?

 @Crossmaxx: HAAA!
What's really sad is that both my favorite teams are having issues this season! Ferrari with strategy and McLaren is struggling with putting together a car.

 @mybaben: I don’t wanna sound like a jerk here, but I think Ferrari is having the best season for a long time..
I want to believe Ferrari is back, but I’ve been hurt before…

 @mybaben: Ferrari seems incompetent!

 @mikelevy: Amazing how a wounded Redbull was then a lower midfield car. That might have been the drive of the race- hard tires, and huge loss of downforce. And he looked slow on the straights.
Some drivers would have ditched that thing into the pits and called it a day. Not Max “Still We Rise” Verstappen!

 @mybaben: Abso-freakin-loutely to all of the above!!

 @ExMxEr: There's truth there for sure. Perhaps most accurate would be to say they're having a great season DESPITE some serious team strategy issues, and also, some earlier reliability issues, which I'm still worried about...

 @BlindMan77: Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.. That’s how Ferrari spells “incompetent”.
That guy brought that team up in the Schumacher years, and destroyed it for many more after Michael’s departure.
Binotto needs to have more faith in Charles, but not at the expense of Carlos. Carlos is a damn good driver. For my money, Charles is better.

 @mybaben: I want Charles to take the championship this year.
There, I said. Hope I didn’t just jinx it.

 @mybaben: And what the hell is going on with Ricciardo? Yikes.. Effectively a two time winner of Monaco!

 @ExMxEr: Yea he can't seem to adjust to the newer cars, even though other older drivers like Alonso and Vettel seem to be able to do it. Norris is doing fairly well with the new cars so Riccardo better step up or this could be his last season in F1.

 @ExMxEr: LOL. I like Charles. He's maybe in my top 5. It would be fun to see him win. I don't think Carlos will do it this year...although shit could get crazy and mathematically it could happen.

 @ExMxEr: I have to just say it now, I really don't like DR. He's not my thing, and what's funny is my intuitive feel is that Lando doesn't like him much either. Anyway, I don't know what's up with him. It's sad to watch. Two years in a row in two totally different cars and he's still having a hard time. Lando has been the opposite...

 @Bomadics: Well the thing is, he struggled a lot last year too, so it's two years in two different cars...

 @mybaben: I don’t think Lando thinks much of him at all.
So weird. If Lando couldn’t drive that McClaren I could understand. But, yikes..

 @ExMxEr: Yep, I think things are going to get stressful over at ML for Danny this season...

 @ExMxEr: Charles seems to consistently have more pace than Carlos,

 @ExMxEr: You just killed any chance he had. lol

 @BlindMan77: …I know

 @BlindMan77: Charles, Sergio, Lando, Fernando, Max and George.Those boys can race cars against other cars. The others and world class “drivers”.

 @FuzzyL: I forgot Vettel. Lewis can’t race inside of a group of cars racing over the edge. He showed that last weekend by waiting for Sergio and Carlos to take each other out, only to get passed by them both.
Lewis is a championship winning driver, just not as good racing inside the dogfight.
That’s been said about Lewis for years, not just here and now.

 @FuzzyL: Jolyon Palmer just said it himself in the 2022 Silverstone GP analysis- Lewis wasn’t as aggressive as he needed to be. He had fresh softs and a good car, he should have won.

 @FuzzyL: He’a also known as Fernando. It’s his first name. On my list. He’s might be the only driver that can drive “in his mirrors” like the time he held off Lewis to give Ocon space to win the race.
..he may still be the best

 @ExMxEr: Lewis is by far the best driver in the field. And of course he can also fight for positions (drove through half the field last year in Saudi).

He was already driving the car far over it’s limit last weekend there simply wasn‘t anything left for him to do. Red Bull has a car that‘s a second faster than the rest, if Lewis was in the RB he‘d dominate even more than he did in the Mercedes a few years ago.

 Sorry, meant Brazil, not Saudi, obviously.

 @Bomadics: Makes me wonder if the designers of this brand new car had a choice of which driver to bias the car towards. Shades of Schumacher and Nico Rosberg..

 @Crossmaxx: And still he drives it to the end!

 @ExMxEr: I don't think the overall design is towards one driver, but each has his own driving style, and set up. The sign of a good driver is the ability to adapt to different cars, but also the ability to work with the engineers to set up the car to match their induvial driving style, shades of Niki Lauda.

 @Bomadics: Why Max is so impressive, early in the season Perez was running similar qualifying times as Max, Now, Perez is nowhere close to Verstappen's pace.

 @BlindMan77: I think he is just one of those drivers that adapts quickly, and must have a razor sharp focus to get the most out of these cars, they sound like one of the most difficult to drive ever. When I watch the in car feeds it's hard to imagine the subtleties needed to get through the corners at speed and at 5 g's faster than anyone else.

Someone like Riccardo doesn't seem to adapt well, he had some good results, but only when he was in the most dominant car on the track. Look at what Alonso has been doing with a mid pack car, that dude has skills!

 @BlindMan77: Exactly! Max improves. Champions don’t rest on their laurels.
I expect George Russel to finish this season well ahead of Lewis. George is a force of nature, he may be the future of F1.

 I wanna see him slam one of those after that session in the two seater.. No cheating- not just a Red Bull water bottle with water in it. ..and no puking!

 LOL!

 

 @mikelevy: Hey dude, I’ve used a Trust Message fork on my new ‘21 carbon Tallboy. It’s like a full rigid fork in the wrong situation. I’ve come up with a solution. Something like Buttercups.. Will follow up when I have feedback.

 Yeah, partially because someone insisted on putting the noise of a V10 over the top of any shots not from car mounted cams. Sounded pretty silly to me!

 There is some overlap but it's also different. On the track you want to delay as late as possible then smash the breaks for two reasons - 1. to slow the car down and 2. to load the weight up front to get more tire footprint on the tarmac so when you turn the wheels they will go where you want them to. On a bike too much front loading is problematic in many cases. Thinking about Yoann's vid with Christina - we have to use gravity so the goal is to bite the brakes earlier then let go so you can have some acceleration going into the apex to gain exit speed. In road racing having to work the throttle before the apex is usually a sign that you braked too early. Turning the wheels also acts as braking so a really good driver brakes hard but is still carrying good speed initiating the turn then the speed dies at the apex and then on the throttle past the apex. You can see it if you watch in car stuff - you'll see hard braking then off the brakes and turn it at say 90mph - no brakes and apexing at 70mph then on the throttle - this is always so much faster than hard braking before turn in then getting on throttle before the apex. At least that's been my experience. So when I watched Yoann coach Christina on those cornering skills it made a lot of sense.

 @swellhunter: As an ex off road motorcycle racer, I was all about weighing the front wheel going into a corner. With 12” of travel, you have to!
Now I set my Mtn bike up like that. Even with 5” of travel! Highest token count in the fork, with relatively low psi.

 @ExMxEr: Seems like with low PSI you would be bouncing off the mid-stroke during fast repetitive hits.

 @BlindMan77: It was just a super progressive set up It was a Pike. Famous for running high in the stroke. I hated it, until I did that. Then it just simply felt like more travel. Big air psi spike at the end of stroke kept it from blowing through the travel.

 @swellhunter: If anybody here streams F1TV they introduced a pedal cam in Londo Norris's car during the practice sessions at Silverstone. It really illustrates the brake technique of immediate slam, then modulating out.

 @ukr77: That was badass..

 @ExMxEr: I asked my buddy that raced motorcycles on the track and he said yes but we both agree braking into corners is different on an mountain bike. I think if you did the physics of a WC downhill racer and a GT Cup driver you'd see they both need to get on the brakes hard but I'd argue for the DH rider it's earlier than the GT Cup racecar driver - factoring in relativity. The DH rider needs to start using gravity to get acceleration and speed out of that corner but has the gravity as an aid pulling him through the corner so he/she can brake earlier (like Yoann showed Christina) whereas in my car I don't have anything "pulling me" towards that corner so whatever "minimum speed" I need to be at must occur right at the apex so I can get on the throttle.

 Right.
I set up all my bikes for neutral handling on flat ground. Like, drop that thing hard into a fast corner and both ends grip equally. Without staggered tires.
Getting there isn’t straightforward. Tire psi, bar position, spring rates, spring preloads and more. All have to be addressed.
Simply put, my 2015 Tallboy was balanced, but would still wash the front end through some corners. It wasn’t until I went with all tokens, epoxied the negative space on the last token (drilling the center hole) and then dropping to 48psi that I had a bike I could trust.
I couldn’t believe it myself, and it wasn’t a cure all, but the washed out front end was over.
In my Moto racing, I won many a race simply by racing short straightaways other couldn’t see. On it 100%, then on the front binder with the back wheel in the air.
I have a fifth all time DH on Strava at a practice trail in Downiville on a demo bike with a non Moto lever set up. Not ideal..
It was fast straights leading to tight switches. I outbraked everybody I assume. Even the pros.

 The BiDonut

 DoubleDonut?

 @Mac1987: the grim Longjohn

 Source: trust me bro.

 @ruckuswithani:

I used to work in a gym near Silverstone (UK). Some of the drivers would come in periodically and yes, the sort of work they would do for their neck strength was astonishing. Mika Kakkinen was in one day and essentially doing side planks between his feet and head - for 30 secs plus!

 @Mfro: Back in the day I was plastering houses by myself, and was no slouch.
Though after shaking Heinz-Harald Frentze’s hand at the 2000 Indy F1 race, I was taken aback!
Those are little dudes that are unreal strong for their size.
Mika Häkkinen looked like a child walking by!

 @ExMxEr:

Haha! Funny thing is I thought Mika was a guy I used to go to school with except had neck muscles like a couple of baby’s arms!

 @mybaben
BRING BACK BIKES WITHOUT ENGINES

 @initforthedonuts: LOL! Agreed. You mean bikes?

 @mybaben:
Yes! Bicycles! Pedaled by humans!

 Seemed like they dubbed in some old V-10 sound on a few of the overhead shots. Sound was different on the Go-Pros attached to the car.

 @Snowytrail: Yeah, the audio was a little interesting in that vid. Not sure what to make of it...

 yeah not a fan of the V6s - is anyone?

 @swellhunter: Not that I know of...

 @Snowytrail: that two-seater is running a V10, it’s an old car from the early 2000s (if my memory serves me right) when V10s were the formula.

 @Crossmaxx: Or at least the V8s right?

 If it is a V10 in the two seater it’s definitely not singing along they way the overhead shots suggest. Sounds like a V8 to me but I’m not sure.

 NO!! Now that would be utterly terrifying.

 Better yet, one of those side car bikes they race at the isle of Mann. I can't imagine being on that side car

 @pdxjeremy: yeah those guys are amazing and insane all at the same time. Back there moving around side to side blindly and not even strapped in LOL.

 @pdxjeremy: I have done it (at Willow Springs, not IOM). It is an absolute blast.

180 MPH going through a corner and you are just holding on. All fun and games until you come out of T9 and your hand starts to slip and you start falling off the back (a perfectly timed shift let me fix my grip).

 I made the Indy F1 race in 2000, then 01. That was sound..

 So true. It was so nice to hear that old, real F1 engine. First year after V10 (and V12) was so awful to watch even from tv. Nowadays I have used to current engines but memories get back mind while watching this video.

 Maybe Fabio could put Max on the back of a tandem Mtn bike and show him how to downhill?

 @ExMxEr: Think Max has a better option! No one of his standing wants to be seen dead riding a Penny Farthing.

 @ExMxEr: that would be something for Claudio

 @Mac1987: LOL!

 @MattP76: Max has quite an ego.. Don’t know if he’s step away from a challenge like that. Probably wouldn’t do it. I don’t think Redbull would approve!

 @ExMxEr: He just wouldnt want to ride a fad Mullet Bike. #pennyfarthing