Quote Originally Posted by keysersoze View Post
I'm a Perez fan, but even I have to admit that Sergio only beat Nico in the points. The Hulk may have got snookered on strategy--and had some bad luck in the races--but he beat the Mexican in qualifying. Perez is probably the better racer, but it's not by much.

To the OP, if you think a 19 year-old joining a team after the season was 1/5 over, matched up against one of the best in the world (Ricciardo), and getting a win, outqualifying him 7 of 17 times, is "overrrated," I think you are expecting too much. One can look to just about any race and see that Max is an outrageous talent, but I'll give you one in particular: Brazil.

Sainz is darn quick, but not quite the monster in races that Max is. The Spaniard is also the dirtiest driver on the grid--after Rosberg.

I thought the Mercedes battle was terrific. Their coming together in Spain made for some compelling storylines, as did Rosberg's crappy move in Austria (see previous comment).

Vettel's and Grosjean's raw soundbites were terrific, as were Hamilton's at the season-ender.
I have to agree with you, to say Verstapenn is overrated is ridiculous after Brasil. He did not warm to a lot of people with his dodgy defensive moves. And he still needs polish with his media interactions. But when the chap is behind the wheel he is very exciting to watch as he is sure to do something sensational.

The fact of the matter is, due to the poor {inter-teammate [wheel to wheel] competition} showing by Mercedes, the 2016 season became the Max Verstapenn roadshow.