I keep hearing that Checo Isn’t performing well.
I see it this way: so far this year, he has had 2 wins, 5 podiums, 2 pole positions, 2 fastest laps, and a 1st and 2nd in sprint races.
With the exception of Monaco, he has finished in the top 6.
Sure, he’s no Max Verstappen, and the team knows that, but he is putting his Red Bull towards the top pretty consistently. He gets screwed sometimes in qualifying, but he makes it up and scores good points for the team.
He’s second in the driver’s championship pretty handily as well.
Maybe I’m missing some context, so I’d like to know what the rest of you think about it.
This is why they should be hard on him. They have an advantage but for how long. Although it seems they are focusing on next year already (did Red Bull bring any upgrades to the car this year, I feel like there was only one), this still can become tight if there are a couple of DNFs for Max/Checo and others bring upgrades that close the gap significantly…especially if Checo does not return to his prior form and keeps getting knocked out q2/q3 and not finishing in top 3.