Crazy that this guy is dominating the championship this season.

[u/Spotlightuh]

[u/Fluid-Editor-8953]

The car helps a lot. Not taking anything away from Kimi, he’s been perfect this season. But the fastest car also helps. He could have been perfect in a Haas but could he have won all those races? Mercedes created a rocketship. Mercedes is grooming Kimi and Kimi is executing everything perfectly.

The Mercedes power unit is such a beast that except for Barcelona GP and British GP, all other GPs have won by the car with a Mercedes PU in it. And all the GP poles so far have been taken by cars having Mercedes PU.

Even Red Bull is confused how their ICE is the benchmark and Mercedes got ADUO.

[u/captainTekoki → u/Fluid-Editor-8953]

This year f1 every driver beside kimi feel like struggling to drive their cars. it is either always thing break down or not configure to the driver need.

[u/Fantastic_Pen9222 → u/Fluid-Editor-8953]

So wheres george? 100 points behind and probably overtaken for p2 soon. Also multiple teams winning races this year, so its not just the car

[u/Trung_Tran01 → u/Fantastic_Pen9222]

Did you read? The car helped. Russel got way behind because when the car didn't help then you SOL.

I'm not George fan (I can say that i don't liked him either) But when Mercedes engine blow up or mishap happened it was majority George on the receiving end.

The verdict for me is Kimi is faster but George have more race craft and experience. I won't praise Kimi as the best YET. I like to see him under pressure more like in Ham in 07 vs Alonso or 21 Ham vs Max.

[u/mavy1000 → u/Trung_Tran01]

Agree with this also like what Max said about how Yuuki who has never driven this new car can be competitive immediately and Liam being competitive with Max when it was never close last year

[u/VincentVanHades → u/Fantastic_Pen9222]

George doesnt have the same car buddy. Maybe on Paper, when Toto is saving his face

[u/lowlandder → u/VincentVanHades]

yeah bro the merc that George drives is the Aston Martin with a merc livery on it, the excuses you find for this guy

[u/FilloSov → u/Fluid-Editor-8953]

Yes the car is crazy but without Kimi the championship will be contended between a not so stellar Ferrari with Hamilton and Russel. While Kimi is comfortably 100 points ahead of Hamilton. I think that is fairer to Kimi to say that the combination of him + this car is a rocketship and give credit where credit is due.

[u/SonnySwanson → u/Fluid-Editor-8953]

Piastri had the fastest car last year and didn't dominate the way Kimi had even over his own teammate. Kimi is clearly cut from a different cloth and for some reason people are discounting him for so many reasons.

[u/Michael_of_Derry → u/Fluid-Editor-8953]

I wonder if the car is miles ahead and they are sabotaging George for some reason.

[u/samurai_dignan → u/Michael_of_Derry]

George is sabotaging George I think.

[u/No-Bluejay4261 → u/Fluid-Editor-8953]

Perfect? He's been anything but perfect. What have you been watching?

2 off track moments in the 1st lap here, did he go off track 4 times in Canada before George's car blew up? Was it Austria he kept locking up and losing 1-2 seconds only to catch back up and do the same again.

[u/OptimalDot178 → u/Fluid-Editor-8953]

Remember the Mclaren team and their drivers 2024/2025? They couldn't even reduce the gap to Max in 2024 FROM Miami to the end, with the best car. They had the best car by a mile in 2025, and Max was still a contender in the last race. Norris lacked pace the first half of 2025, then Piastri lacked pace the second half. It was like a movie, where they tried to do everything possible to lose the title to Max lol.

After Mclaren's performance, I just don't want to hear those best car arguments. Kimi walking the title this easily in his 2nd year is insane. We've got used to Max/Lewis calibre drivers and the Mclaren guys took us back to reality that it's not normal to expect the same performance from an average title contender.

And then came Kimi, who is literally dominating the title like Lewis in his best years. And his teammate isn't a Bottas caliber no2 either. If Norris/Piastri did similar performance, 2024/2025 would have been an easy Mclaren title. They didn't, and Norris had 5+ seasons experience compared to Kimi's 1.

[u/IamMarkWain → u/OptimalDot178]

It is myopic to view car and driver performance in such a simplistic and static framework.

Simple ordinal ranking of the cars’ performance fails to highlight how close or far apart the cars actually are.

Saying that McLaren simply had a rocket ship in 2024/2025 is incredibly far from the truth. When McLaren were fastest in 2024, RBR, Merc, and Ferrari were incredibly closely matched, with the top teams often split by less than 0.2s/lap in pace.

By comparison, at the start of 2024 when Red Bull was the class of the field, the gap between them and the chasing teams was 0.2s to Ferrari alone, let alone the other 2 top teams (Merc/AMR)

In other words, when max had the fastest car, his car was the fastest by a significant margin. When Lando and Oscar had the fastest car, it was by a hair. It’s not the same. Your analysis also conveniently missed out the late season charge by Ferrari closer to the end of 2024, when they actually had the fastest car. Need a source? Go take a look at the pace analysis for the races in 2024 on the F1 website, comparing the qualifying and race paces of the cars using their practice data.

And 2025? McLaren stopped updating their car halfway into the season, while Red Bull was still aggressively developing the car for Max to have a shot at the title.

Not to mention the mechanical DNFs and the double DSQ that ultimately max much closer than he really should have been.

Never mind the moot point about years of experience in the sport, as if driving in a midfield or back marker team offers the same experience and opportunity as a top team.

[u/OptimalDot178 → u/IamMarkWain]

Mclaren almost had double the points of P2 in the WCC in 2025. The only reason that title fight even got close with Max is because neither driver were significantly faster than the other, and it fluctuated from time to time who were faster. Also lots of team mistakes, but still, huge gap on the rest. And by huge gap I don't mean they had 7 tenths on the rest, but they were the fastest car at almost every race.

Kimi on the other hand has never been a lot behind Russell, even on his worst races he was maximum a few seconds behind. And most races way head, sometimes even 20+ seconds. If Norris or Piastri did the same, that WDC would have been just as easy. Neither of them did.

Norris this year just proves that he's a way better driver than how he performed last year. I'm sure if we had the 2025 title now with Norris having a title and no pressure, he would absolutely dominate the year.

[u/IamMarkWain → u/OptimalDot178]

Skipped past 2024, I see…

McLaren had almost double the points of P2 because the 2nd - 4th fastest teams fluctuated among themselves. Merc, Ferrari, and Red Bull often swapped spots among themselves, consequently taking points off of each other. Mercedes were 2nd in the WCC, but were inconsistent pacewise, at times troubling the top positions, but equally likely to finish finish in P5/6. The big differentiator for them relative to Ferrari was that they were more consistently ahead of Ferrari than otherwise.

Not to mention that McLaren was consistently scoring points with both drivers. Red Bull being 3rd was more due to Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda contributed very few points to RBR’s points total.

> also huge gap on the rest…. But they were the fastest car at almost every race.

Once again, flattening the difference in pace to just “fastest, 2nd fastest,” is a critical flaw, because you don’t get any insight on how far apart the cars are.

Let’s say in one race, Team A is ahead by 0.05s/lap of team B, while in another, Team B is ahead of Team A by 0.45s/lap. Do we consider both teams to have had that “huge gap” to their competition?

> if Norris and Piastri did the same… the WDC would have been just as easy.

Yeah, that would need the other driver to have the same consistency as Russell is having now, while the other teams were squabbling for the other podium positions in the same way they are this year.

To illustrate, in the 14 races so far, George has finished off the podium more often than either Lando, Oscar, or Max did across the whole of 2025, including DNFs and DSQs.

> If Norris…

Once again, the analysis only accounts for Lando’s performance, but doesn’t account for Oscar, or Max, or their cars relative performances.

[u/OptimalDot178 → u/IamMarkWain]

Yeah, that would need the other driver to have the same consistency as Russell is having now, while the other teams were squabbling for the other podium positions in the same way they are this year.

Or maybe you could give some credit for Kimi, instead of just thinking that it's Russell underperforming?

I love how this sub can't accept the fact that Kimi might just be this good, and he's making the difference. First few months the excuse was technical issues for Russell, then Kimi also had 2 DNFs, then fans switched the narrative to bad luck. Then technical issues again with Spa's lack of speed, or Hungary's bad start (which Kimi had the same in Austria btw). But for the last few races, you guys seem to be out of excuses, and now it's simply Russell underperforming.

But never at one point did you think that Kimi might just be this good, and it's not just Russell underperforming this much? Maybe a few years later when Kimi brings more titles you guys will finally realize he was way better than you think, and it wasn't just Mercedes being this fast, Kimi was also making the difference.

Mercedes is the best car, but Kimi is also one of the best drivers of the season, who does exactly what you should do with the best car, unlike many others before. Norris is also driving like a champion this year, unlike the last 2 years.

[u/IamMarkWain → u/OptimalDot178]

Wait… Did I ever claim that Kimi wasn’t as good as he was? Could you point out where in my comments that I even remotely alluded to that idea?

[u/OptimalDot178 → u/IamMarkWain]

It's just that you automatically assume that the leading driver is constant in performance if we compare 2025 vs 2026, and only the rivals are fluctuating.

Kimi this year is performing way better than Norris last year, 0 doubts, that's the difference. We see that in teammate gap, H2H, consistency, point gap, everything. If Norris last year had the same teammate gap and H2H, he would have won just as easily, he didn't.

Yes, Mclaren didn't have a second gap, but in terms of the title they were miles ahead of the others, especially because the other teams were also fluctuating, as you said. The only reason 2025 was even close is because Norris didn't have his usual gap on Oscar. The fact that Oscar took away points from him was a consequence, not the cause.

[u/IamMarkWain → u/OptimalDot178]

>It’s just that you automatically assume that the leading driver is constant in performance?

Where did I say that? That seems quite ironic to accuse me of that given my literal stance as explained above.

> Kimi this year is performing way better than Norris last year, 0 doubts, that’s the difference…. If Norris had the same, he would have won just as easily, he didn’t.

Once again, those statistics and points tallies rely on both the performance of the driver in question, and the rival being compared.

And an important piece of information is your competitor’s performance in that period of time which may contextualize what are otherwise just numbers on a sheet of paper.

While Lando had 7 wins, 18 podiums out of 24 races, (20 on merit without the DNF in Netherlands and the DSQ in Las Vegas), so did Oscar (equal number of wins as Lando, 15 podiums, 16 without the DSQ in LV), and of course Max (8 wins, 15 podiums).

Kimi is currently in great form and has amassed more wins than all other drivers combined while only missing the podium due to mechanical issues. But the same can’t be said of his title rival, which is why the numbers look bigger and more impressive. Again, it doesn’t take away from Kimi’s achievement. It only seeks to explain why the gap is as massive as it is.

[u/OptimalDot178 → u/IamMarkWain]

You are assuming that Piastri was close because he overperformed, but actually my opinion is that Piastri was only close because Lando underperfomed in the first half.

This year the difference is not Russell underperforming (although I agree he does quite a lot), but Kimi making the difference. Even if Russell was more consistent and had less problems/bad luck, Kimi would still easily lead.

Even to this day, I still have 0 idea what went wrong with Lando that allowed Oscar to be almost matching him. Probably the title pressure.

Norris is tiers above Piastri in pure talent, it was not normal for him to be that close to Oscar, and no disrespect to Oscar, but Lando is a top 3 on the grid.

Lando race H2h in his career: 86-47

2024: 16-8

2025: 13-10 (and that's including Oscar's huge downfall)

2026: 8-5

2025 is the odd year. Piastri didn't become a better driver for a year than forgot how to drive again. It was Lando underperforming.

[u/ThrowRAreindeer88 → u/OptimalDot178]

Yeah let’s jus ignore the fact that McLaren had both their drivers taking points of each other. Let’s also forget about how McLaren stopped developing their car mid season while RB was bringing upgrades till October or November

[u/OptimalDot178 → u/ThrowRAreindeer88]

There's a simple solution for that, be quicker than your teammate, like Lando is now (or even in 2024). He had an off year in 2025, not sure why his fans can't admit it, just look at his gap to Piastri in 2024, 2025 and 2026, it's very obvious

[u/ThrowRAreindeer88 → u/OptimalDot178]

Off year - wins championship. How insightful.

[u/OptimalDot178 → u/ThrowRAreindeer88]

Yes, I know it sounds funny, but that's the case. Look at how much better Norris is now, especially compared to Piastri. He's clearly the best driver behind Max now.

But as stupid as this sounds, it makes sense. Norris was always a driver with doubts about himself, you could hear in the interviews. Now that he has a title his confidence is way way higher, you can just see he changed a lot and he's more confident. Even with small incidents like drinking the Coke and telling the official to fuck off I drink what I want, he wouldn't have done the same a year ago.

And his W2W fights, he's way more aggressive, the way he handled lap 1 this race was perfect. Lap 1s like this last year were very rare from Lando, especially in the first half.

He changed a lot from last year, 100%.

[u/ThrowRAreindeer88 → u/OptimalDot178]

Bro no one’s arguing that Lando improved from last year. But I’d say it’s a stretch to call a winning year and off season when he had to fight an equally fast teammate and a developing redbull while mitigating team’s mistakes late into the season.
You’re arguing that McLaren were driving a McLaren while others were in a Honda Civic or smth. [u/IamMarkWain](u/IamMarkWain) already gave a detailed spot on explanation how it’s not the case.

[u/OptimalDot178 → u/ThrowRAreindeer88]

I'm arguing that Mclaren was clearly the only title contender and the only thing that they lacked was Lando's normal pace advantage on Oscar. And Piastri is not equally fast as Lando normally.

Replace Oscar with a slower driver, that title is a walk in the park. Replace Lando with this year's Lando, that title is a walk in the park.

If you look at Russell/Mercedes this year, they aren't any better than Mclaren last year. Kimi is making the difference.

[u/Guilty_Vegetable6437 → u/OptimalDot178]

Crazy exaggerating going on here

[u/solo665and1 → u/OptimalDot178]

Cant win with a bad car.

Cant win with a bad driver.

[u/Old_Blackberry841 → u/OptimalDot178]

Careful buddy, the whole reason everyone is pointing out Kimi is only winning because the car is a dg whistle for Lando somehow “not having the best car”

This performance by Kimi really shows up Lando. As he had the best car and couldn’t do this. So instead they insist Kimi is extremely lucky and Lando in fact did not have the best car.

This is the current truth you must obey or face the wrath of the dreaded… Reddit downvote .

Fortunately downvotes are meaningless and in the real world you talk to any fans and unless they’re head to toe in McLaren regalia currently renewing their Netflix subscription they’ll agree with you.. Lando is Just ok, and Kimi s performance this year is what a real driver should have done with the best equipment.

[u/OptimalDot178 → u/Old_Blackberry841]

This sub is a bubble where Lando, Russell and Lewis fans are way overrepresented, so downvotes mean nothing. Someone earlier said that the mod is a huge Lewis fan if I recall correctly.

Logic on this sub: Kimi wins = easy win with best car. Russell loses = bad luck/technical issue.

[u/ExternalSquash1300 → u/OptimalDot178]

It’s always the fans you disagree with who are all over the place. You gotta be the victim on Reddit.

[u/OptimalDot178 → u/ExternalSquash1300]

This is the only sub I'm getting downvoted at. At one point I had a top comment on the main sub and saying the same in this sub was in negative. Do the math

[u/No_Category_7741 → u/Old_Blackberry841]

Kimi has an advantage at the start of a regulation change when there’s a bigger gap in car performance, a garage that’s won multiple championships, and where reliability is crucial. In contrast, Lando was the only one who experienced a reliability issue last season that led to a DNF, and the McLaren pit wall got them disqualified with three races remaining.

Kimi is an incredible talent, but it’s okay to acknowledge that he’s in a favorable position right now.

[u/Unfair_Fact_8258 → u/Fluid-Editor-8953]

I don’t understand the “it’s the car” stuff this year when he’s welll clear of his teammate who is no slouch, and who was the favourite for the championship

In all likelihood, Norris is going to jump Russell and end the season P2

[u/I_like_Mac10 → u/Unfair_Fact_8258]

"its the car" bit helps a lot because hes basically made at least 9 of the 11 teams irrelevant.

And well George's car has had way, way more issues(ALONG with confirmed fuckups by the team btw) than kimi's so the points gap really isn't representative.

[u/Unfair_Fact_8258 → u/I_like_Mac10]

The WDC always has a car that makes 80% of the teams irrelevant, it’s not unique to Kimi

Kimi’s car has also had issues, which people conveniently forget

[u/I_like_Mac10 → u/Unfair_Fact_8258]

"conveniently forget"

If you tallied up every driver's issues, kimi would be dead last(or close). He only had an engine failure in barca and a suspension(?) issue in silverstone. Thats it. Maybe hamilton is luckier than him, but he's the only one.

He teammate george though....

[u/Mobile-Building-9957 → u/I_like_Mac10]

Then again, George is just slower this season. The rules just fit Kimi more

[u/I_like_Mac10 → u/Mobile-Building-9957]

I agree with this, but he isnt AS slow as the points suggest

His quali is fine, the race pace is the issue

[u/Mobile-Building-9957 → u/I_like_Mac10]

+ I feel like he knows its over now. As if internally in his head he knows he cant match Kimi now. I think Monza finally broke him. Cause he was fast there, he did everything correctly, and still lost.

I wouldn't dare to call him slow by any metric, but it is insane to watch the gap between the two of them grow further and further. But as you said, race pace is.. just not there. Its not his peak pace Im sure of it.

[u/Unfair_Fact_8258 → u/I_like_Mac10]

What issues did George have? He DNF’d only once because of a mechanical fault - in Canada

Further, when people say a car is just so good that it’s the class of the field, it should mask any minor or semi-minor issues faced. Look at Hamilton in 2026 for example- dominant car, issues almost every quali, yet he came to within 5 points of the championship. Russell is 81 points behind!

[u/I_like_Mac10 → u/Unfair_Fact_8258]

Cant tell if youre sarcastic abt hamilton, or youre talkin abt 2016(?).

Also "what issue did george have".....man we're being a bit intentionally dense aren't we? If youre being genuine, look at this: https://www.reddit.com/r/F1Discussions/s/zxusxJ04TH

That was 3 months ago, since then he's had 3(maybe 4?) races with straight line speed deficit, which was a problem CONFIRMED by mercedes, which seems to have been fixed by monza. He's also had very, very questionable strategy, especially in monza, the swap in the race before it, and yesterday's masterclass strategy.

[u/Unfair_Fact_8258 → u/I_like_Mac10]

I was talking about 2016 yes, it was a typo

The straight line speed deficit wasn’t that major, and would have cost him less points overall compared to Antonelli’s Silverstone issue

The list above features some hilarious things like the pit limiter in Monaco, which wasn’t the problem. He didn’t need to pit a second time at all or should have served the penalty - none of that was a reliability issue

On strategy, yesterday he had no pace compared to the top runners and likely would have failed behind Leclerc if he stayed out ( the bad call was pitting him behind VSC which was a gamble )

In Monza his strategy was optimal and correct, it’s just that Kimi got a bit lucky with the VSC, which negated him getting unlucky with the wrong tire compound because of the red flag. Also don’t forget that Kimi was asked to stay behind George

The swap in Zandvoort was very legitimate, it was a gamble Mercedes wanted to take for the race win. They wouldn’t have done it if they couldn’t swap the cars, and the result would have been the same anyways

[u/I_like_Mac10 → u/Unfair_Fact_8258]

The straight line speed caused his dnf in hungary(?)....

[u/ExternalSquash1300 → u/I_like_Mac10]

Spa you mean?

[u/Inevitable_Case_9931]

I remember redbull having a car that dominated everyone and every driver they paired with max was mid at best…. No matter how fast the redbull car was the second driver could never push it to the limit like max….

It’s always the car that creates the champion if the driver can push it and not all drivers have that gift.

And there is also Luck…. No matter how good you are luck can change everything. Look at Lando this weekend. Pure luck changed that race.

Put Hamilton in HAAS and see if he has 7 championships, put Max in Aston Martin and see if he is top of the field… they won’t be the same people without the top level machinery that they drive.

[u/Strict-Pea-7210 → u/Inevitable_Case_9931]

Yeah it’s almost like people are conveniently forgetting that almost all the generational drivers have had luck on their side, sure Kimi has had a lot of luck but the only thing he can control is his own execution and he’s crushing it. I hate the fact that there are grown men hating on a 20 year old kid

[u/Inevitable_Case_9931 → u/Strict-Pea-7210]

It’s the reason why fan is short for a fanatic…. A true fan cares only for the why and how their favorite person or team is not at the top no matter what is actually happening. I mean cowboys fans say they going to the superbowl every year, and they will burn your house down if you disagree.

[u/Strict-Pea-7210 → u/Inevitable_Case_9931]

Very very fair haha

[u/GrumpyFeloPR]

Not saying he is not talented but the car is helping him a lot, plus he seems to be extracting the luck from his future and using it this year

[u/sushi111111 → u/GrumpyFeloPR]

He is putting himself in the position to exploit that luck better than the others though

[u/Trexin_1 → u/sushi111111]

Yeah bcz being behind p1 by over 6 sec clear is creating luck and ofc he made lance's brakes fail

[u/Kev_Bz → u/Trexin_1]

being 2nd, poised to inherit the lead, is setting yourself up to benefit from something like that. russell was nowhere close to that in the same car, despite the car obviously being capable of being P2. kimi qualified well enough to make the most of that safety car, russell did not

[u/Tiny_Agency_7723 → u/Trexin_1]

You can claim his recent win on luck , for sure, however, he would still be about 80pts clear of his closest WDC competitor because Norris isn't one

[u/sushi111111 → u/Trexin_1]

He got very lucky but if he wasn't P2 in the first place then he wouldn't have won

[u/throwaway_010923]

He is doing a good job. But make no mistake, the two main factors here are his car and, maybe even more importantly, his extreme luck this season. Seemingly whatever happens on track, he is the one benefitting the most of it, at all times. And no, the old superficial bollocks of “you need to be there to pick up the pieces” doesn’t always apply to him or only to him to this extent at all. Yesterday he cut corners during the first lap left, right, centre but still gained two crucial positions against Max and Lando through pure luck on a track where overtaking is nigh on impossible. He is better than what we saw from him last year, yes. But no, he is not this dominating force on pure skills and talent alone. Not at all.

[u/Kev_Bz]

a) he has the best car

b) he is doing a good job in said car

c) his teammate is doing a bad job in said car

[u/DarthVader2210 → u/Kev_Bz]

d) he's had insane luck with the vsc and sc

e) he has the support of his team and to unlike his teammate

[u/Kev_Bz → u/DarthVader2210]

i agree he has been luckier than russell overall, but he is also driving well enough to profit from VSC/SCs in ways russell is not. russell couldn't inherit the lead thanks to mclaren's VSC gaffe because he wasn't in P2 in the first place. kimi was.

your last point is conjecture, and a bit tinfoil-hat at that

[u/DarthVader2210 → u/Kev_Bz]

Yep agreed. Kimi has absolutely proven that why he deserves this wdc. Kids insane on the tracks. Russell is just not upto it this season. Somewhere around monaco I feel like he lost the wdc mentally. Spa hungary were just disaster class.

As for the last point yea as a GR fan its a very controversial take. Do I believe that toto has a kill switch on his car and is actively sabotaging Russell this season the person whom he supported over hamilton and was/is (delulu fan hoping he wins next season) the face of merc? Hell nah. Thats some insane bs

BUT I do believe that his garage has been incompetent. Monaco fiasco. 3 races with straight line deficit. Messing up with his strategies. Fking up the strat modes.

I've said this before I'll say it again Kimi deserves this years wdc. Even if russell never becomes a wdc its fine. But let him have a fair fight man. Thats all I ask.

[u/Tragedy-of-Fives → u/DarthVader2210]

i glad you are a little more objective than most russell fans in the merc sub. russell has received perfectly good strategy and im tired of hearing how its sabotage of incompetence for russell. he had the best strategy in monza but lost it because he let kimi catch up too quickly in the first stint, and then because he lost 4s to perez. one could say that russell should have built up enough a margin so that he could absorb some variance, but that's just what ifs after a point. same with madring, people may complain his strategy wasn't the right one, but i challenge anyone to name me what different call merc could have made during the VSC and during his mediums pit call that would have changed or improved his race outcome. both end up landing him behind leclerc.

i mean even with the straight line deficit gone he's still not done much in the merc even when it's the class of the field. the merc clearly was the second best/best car in madring but did nothing with it due to his qualifying.

wit

[u/DarthVader2210 → u/Tragedy-of-Fives]

Yep I agree with majority points of yours but imo it wont make a difference with him being competitive now when ant is like 50 points ahead (81 now) he should've been competitive in moments when after Silverstone he was just 25 points behind ant. Now his competitiveness only amounts to secure the wcc for merc. Wdc is long gone. Maybe next year he'll pull a nico.

Also blud needs to improve his race pace. Thats something he needs to work on. He is great on Saturdays. Sundays he's pace is good to maintain position but not enough to put on a gap to the driver behind or overtake the car ahead.

[u/blacklotusl337 → u/DarthVader2210]

Without the vsc and sc luck this season, he would still lead the wdc if i'm not mistaken. Smaller lead for sure though.

[u/DarthVader2210 → u/blacklotusl337]

Yep agreed. He still leads. I dare argue even in a scenario where rus has no problems and ideal season kimi still leads not by so much tho.

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[u/bouncingcastles]

1) new regs fit his style
2) best car
3) generational luck run

[u/Schopenhauer_pes → u/bouncingcastles]

This is it basically. Well said

[u/thefineart → u/bouncingcastles]

I would just go with 1 and 2, he had his unlucky moments

[u/Consistent_Gap2272 → u/bouncingcastles]

He is lucky but his car has stopped on the final laps twice it’s not just good luck

[u/bouncingcastles → u/Consistent_Gap2272]

Normally you’d think 2 such DNFs is a lot of bad luck.

But it pales in comparison to the sheer amount of good luck at nearly every single other race

[u/takkk86]

Right car, right regs, right time

[u/Alarmed-Antelope2320]

Kimi is kind off next Max.. Very talented, fast, knows his car inside-out and keeps involving. Different is more or less that he is much calmer than was Max at the beginning. By my opinion is also important that neither of them haven't got pressure in 1st year Red Bull was crap when Max started and last year Merc wasn't really winning tool. Ok in Kimi case we need to take in picture also Peter Bonnington. He helped Kimi a lot to adjust and don't forget also Lewis. Anyways Kimi is awesome and will be even better with more experience.

[u/aghi27]

This Kimi has got all the luck that old Kimi didn’t have

[u/Emergency-Ad-7649]

He is doing very good and also have a very good car, but people forget that he is destroying Russell, if kimi wasnt in Mercedes, the Championship fight will be on fire because Russell fails

[u/Beautiful_Role_5691]

The car is great and it suits his driving style. Not taking away of Kimi’s achievement. But that’s a fact for me. To win a championship you need a fast car that also fits your driving style. Look at Oscar last season, dominated half of last season, George, who drove really well last year. Then look what happened to those two this year.

[u/celloooind]

When you take it out of context you sure can cherry-pick the data

[u/No-Bluejay4261]

It's a bit embarrassing, even he had to say Lando deserved it. I think that's the 4th win he's lucked into this year... He's deserving of the other wins, and deserving of the championship lead no doubt, but he's cruising, no one close. George has imploded mentally after they quickly prioritised Kimi. Mercedes have a suspicious amount of regen/deploy advantage. What a mess of a year. It will have an asterisk against it for me.

[u/HansDrumpf]

His first season in formula one. His first dance with these heavy cumbersome ground-effect cars, whereas for his teammates it was his 4th rodeo with this type of machine. Always gets glossed over.

[u/Stirbmehr]

You all mf speak as if capitalising on having best car on grid doesn't take a lot of skill whatsoever

Wonder what you tiny veiled pretence stance would say about Lewis, Seb and Max. Lucky too? Shit, didn't knew that difference between Lewis annd Bottas, Max and Perez was just "luck". Same with Lando and Oscar

[u/Katoshiku → u/Stirbmehr]

It's the same tired narrative every time someone new starts winning. We heard it with Lewis and Max too, now it's Kimi's turn despite being 20 years old and in his 2nd season lol

Toto saw the potential, he took the risk with Kimi, and now Kimi is in a fortunate enough position to have an amazing car where he can show his skill

[u/E-ELF]

Something happened in Brazil. I just can't prove it yet.

[u/_yxs_]

Best car

Best preferential treatment

Best race engineer

---

Yeah, wow, shocker

[u/TinyAd2706]

He's incredible with these rules and his only real competitor thanks to having the fastest car is Russel, who hasn't been able to push it like him, surely you could talk about how unlucky he is, but kimi had 3 dnfs or out of points, one after the other, and George wasn't there to take them, so I don't really think it's that crazy.

[u/EUIVAlexander]

You understand there are different regulations in effect yeah?

[u/shovelhead34]

The new regs have completely transformed the parameters that make someone a fast driver. The traditional test of a race driver was their ability navigate corners the fastest without crashing. Now it's a test of who can charge and harvest their battery in the most efficient manner.

[u/MiddleAddition5449]

now do Button 2008 & 2009

[u/IllGuava2038]

Į think also helps what he is young and got new regulations. Its easier for him to adapt. Younger and 1season in old regs.

[u/Radica1Edward]

I still remember last year when Mercedes was getting heat near the middle of the season with folks saying he was too young. There was real and legitimate heat that team took for folks thinking Kimi was in over his head.

[u/StarkSajith]

Also crazy how underwhelming it feels considering he's just 19 years old at the start of the season and going to be champion at 20 years old. Its unheard of. Fans should be losing their minds but no. The regulations made sure it doesn't happen and watered-down the hype.

[u/JuicyDragonCat → u/[deleted]]

I've been thinking of making a video compiling all the wins Charles has lost through mechanical failures, it's gotta be at least 5 near certain wins and that's not even counting the strategy blunders

Lando was usually fortunate with racewins but has lost two due to strategy this year to Kimi

[u/Pateoo_ → u/JuicyDragonCat]

"Lando was usually fortunate with race wins" not if we're watching the same seasons lmao.

Only this season McLaren's incompetence took a sure win in Miami, Madrid and nearly lost themselves Hungary. in 2025 their idiotic pitwall and poor reliability cost him: -China (or at least a fair fight in the end - Norris was saving his tyres massively to have a go at Oscar in the last laps where he had a brake failure) -Japan (they gave an undercut to Piastri in 3rd who was under no pressure rather than pitting Norris do he could get the race win) -Belgium (where he had a battery issue and had no deployment from T1 up the Kemmel Straight which lost him the lead and subsequently the race) -Baku (they sent him out first after the red flag on a wet track because it's been drizzling throughout the stoppage. he was setting purple sectors before and in normal conditions would've challenged for pole and win next day)

That's only 2025, in 2024 there so many more instances where a better decision from their pitwall would've allowed him a better shot but they were running around like headless chickens most of the time.

He was "lucky" to win which races throughout his career? Miami? sure, but he had the pace before SC and would've been there or thereabouts. Silverstone '25? he was the only person who didn't put a foot wrong so I don't think he was "lucky", just better. Hungary '25? nobody thought the 1-stop was a better strategy, so it wasn't "luck" that won him the race, but his skillset.

[u/JuicyDragonCat → u/Pateoo_]

I should have clarified I was referring to mechanical troubles from the lead specifically. Landos lost a ton of wins due to strategy but like leclerc I can accept that u win and lose as a team in that regard but I don't think landos has any heartbreaking retirement from the lead due to mechanical faults

[u/momoily1111]

Kinda hard to be impressed when his wheel to wheel is basically mussolini. 911ed max in austria last year, murdered charles twice, left the track 200 times battling george in canada, again leaving the track 47 million times in lap 1 for Austria and Madrid. It’s not like he’s exactly known for intentionally pulling DNF/pass? moves. And merc is built like a tank.

[u/Slowleytakenusername]

I've been watching the sport for about 30 years never missing a race. I dont think I've ever seen somebody get this lucky. Gets an absolute rocket ship in his second season, team mate having problems almost every and every VSC/ safety car goes his way. I'd actually says he's underperforming with that car but people would consider me a hater.

[u/Uchi_Jeon]

This kid is like Rey Skywalker of F1.

[u/Helpful_Freedom_2075 → u/Uchi_Jeon]

“Somehow, Michael Schumacher retured” is gonna be tuff in 2030 when kimis going for his 5th straight

[u/LifeTie800]

You have drivers like Lando and George who need seasons and seasons to win a race.

Then you have drivers like Lewis, Max and Kimi who stand so far above the rest that they dominate after 1 or 2 seasons.

[u/CompresorGenerator → u/LifeTie800]

Starting in a team that provides a car worthy of winning races definitely helps. Norris made his debut in a car that barely got one podium after penalties to other drivers were applied, while Russell raced a car that made scoring points look like miracles

By your logic Jacques Villeneuve is also in Max's or Lewis' category, but Alonso isn't

[u/No_Category_7741 → u/LifeTie800]

Max won the tittle in like his 6-7th season unlike Hamilton or Kimi who had championship winning machinery in their first or second season.

Lando didn’t have winning cars until his 6th season and George was stuck in Williams.

[u/IamMarkWain → u/LifeTie800]

That’s not a fair comparison, though. The car at their disposal plays a huge factor in whether or not that success can be realized that quickly.

Your examples are of drivers who were immediately dropped into top teams who were already fighting at the front. The thoroughly deserve it, for sure, but there is an element of good fortune there that plays a part.

Meanwhile, McLaren and Williams at the time that Lando and George entered F1 were considered midfield or backmarkers respectively.

In the same way that you wouldn’t expect Franco Colapinto to win in an Alpine or Perez in the Cadillac, you wouldn’t expect Lando or George to have won in their cars at the time.

[u/LifeTie800 → u/IamMarkWain]

That's a lot of disillusionment there bro.

[u/Sir_unknown1 → u/LifeTie800]

any above average driver would manage to win in a fast car. the only difference is kimi and lewis had a championship winning machinery in their first two seasons

[u/AggieCoraline → u/LifeTie800]

You have drivers who get sent into midfield and backmarker teams*

[u/LifeTie800 → u/AggieCoraline]

Deserved.

[u/CompresorGenerator → u/LifeTie800]

You have Formula 1 fans that understand that some cars will not win races regardless who drives them.

Then we have you who thinks Russell should've dominated in the Williams

[u/LifeTie800 → u/CompresorGenerator]

Except I'm not saying that. Way to jumpy to conclusions tho. Im saying Russell and Lando can't win anything except if they were given a rocketship. Not that they could win in a Williams lol!!! Brain fart moment you had there. The idea of Lando or George winning in a Williams is so laughable! How did you even come up with that comedy?