#I think checo might be out at the end of the year

[maxillness]

╰┈➤Mafia AU, chap 1 || SP11

Warnings: 18+, unprotected sex, oral (f), fingering, slight sub!checo

Wordcount: 2k

I’m starting this new mafia AU series where there’s a different parring for each chapter. There isn’t gonna be a regular upload, but more when I feel like writing it and I don’t know how many chapters there’s gonna be

Masterlist

If she knew how this day would turn out, she had prepared some more, but in her industry, everything can slip out of plan, and into the soggy sink

That was all she could think about as she stood in the kitchen, looking down into the soggy sink ‘This could be my life in a matter of seconds’

“Y/N, my father would like to speak with you” She turned around at the sound of Lance’s voice. Her boss’ son

Her heart dropped to her stomach. Last time anyone in the house heard the words, they lost a member of their family

“Sure” She sighed as she stepped away from the sink

As she walked up the big stairs, she kept thinking about the soggy sink she just walked away from

Her breathing was heavy as she stood in front of the office door. She tried to calm down before she knocked on the wooden door

She heard a faint confirmation that she could walk in “Lance said you wanted to speak with me” She was visibly nervous, her hands shaking as her steps were uncoordinated

“Yes. Close the door and sit down” She did as told, sitting down in the chair in front of him “Anything to drink?” He asked which she shook her head slightly to

He poured himself a glass of something and put a few ice cubes in it, taking a sip of it. They held eye contact for what felt like hours

She hesitated to speak as she wasn’t given permission to, but the silence was killing her every nerve “What did you want to speak about?”

“I’m stepping down” He sighed, earning him a surprised look from the woman opposite to her “I want you to take over for me”

Her mouth hung slightly open, unable to get words out, she managed anyways “You want… me, to take over for you?” He nodded slightly “Me? Why not Lance? He’s your son after all”

“You’re the best there is, and you’re young, you have a lot of years ahead of you if you get this position, besides, Lance is…” He shrugged “Lance. Let’s keep him as our driver, no?”

“I might not approve of your so called interrogation method, but you’re a good at your job nonetheless, and I want you to take over for me. And I bet, after a short while, you’ll lay down Alonso, getting all his dirty secrets out” He had always spoke softly to her. She was the only he spoke soft to

“Okay” It was the only word she could manage to get out as she nodded slightly, taken aback by his sudden retirement from the industry

“Also because none from Alonso’s side really knows who you are, and if they do, they don’t have a face to associate with the name” He said leaning back in his chair

“Well… My method has always worked, no?” She chuckled, shrugging slightly, to which Lawrence agreed “When?”

“End of the week” He answered “I’m just missing a few boxes to pack”

“End of the week? It’s Wednesday” She scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest

“You can get the big bedroom?” He suggested “And you get this office”

“It is a nice office… Are you leaving the alcohol behind?” She asked cheekily

“You can keep the good stuff” He answered with a chuckle

Lawrence had some knucklehead hired to help moving furniture. Sergio or some shit, she didn’t really care

He was pretty though

“Can I keep him?” She asked, sitting down on the edge of the porch beside Lawrence

“Checo? Sure” He chuckled, taking a sip of his whisky “You gotta convince him to stay though, he’s an old friend, but you won’t have trouble anyways” He chuckled again

She clicked her tongue, shaking her head slightly with a soft smile “I’ll miss you” She sighed softly

“Don’t go soft. You got a family to protect now” He said, looking into the garden, watching as most of the family was in the pool, having fun

“Besides, if you have to take the Alonso family down, you need to be tough, Y’know” He said “And I can’t really get up from this porch by myself” He added with a chuckle

“Right” She smiled, standing up before helping Lawrence up

“First day tip; a bird told me Alonso is using George Washington University Hospital” He told her “And I’m guessing the rest of the family is too” He said, clicking his tongue twice

“George Washington you say?” She hummed “I’ll check it out… Tomorrow though. I’ll relax today” She chuckled

“Ma’am?” She looked up from where she was lounging in the sun bed, looking up at a sweaty Checo

“Yes?” She asked, biting her bottom lip softly

“Um… I got it all moved around. The bedroom and the office” He stuttered slightly, blushing softly

“Yeah? Let me see. Help me up” She said, giving him her hand so he could help her up “You got some soft hands” She hummed, feeling his hands

“Oh, um… Thanks, I guess” She smiled softly before she walked back into the house and up to the office

“Nice” She nodded slightly as she looked around the office “And the bedroom too?” Checo nodded, following her to the bedroom

She opened the door to the bedroom, seeing all of Lawrence’s stuff gone, and hers there instead “What’d you do to Lawrence’s stuff? He didn’t want it with him” She asked, stepping into the room, looking out of the window

“He wanted me to sell it” He nodded, walking up beside her, his side leaning against the window

“Sell it? Hm” She hummed “You want to stay for dinner?” She asked, her finger trailing down his chest, a cheeky smile on her lips

“Dinner? I- um. Lawrence wouldn’t want that” He stuttered, turning all shades of pink

“Lawrence isn’t here anymore” She smiled “Please, stay. It’s the least I can do for all the trouble, Y’know? Pay you back” She stepped closer to him, pushing him softly against the window, his head turned to the side

“Unless you want me to pay you some other way of course” She leaned further in, her breath panning over his neck

“D-dinner’s fine” He stuttered between heavy breaths

“No fun” She sighed but, gave him a short and soft kiss to his pulse point, earning her a slight whine

She stepped back “Dinner’s in 30 minutes” She sighed before turning around, but Checo had grabbed her hand, pulling her back against him

“I could use a tip though” He said, his lips brushing against hers “Don’t get paid a lot with this job”

She leaned in, kissing him softly, Checo kissed her back immediately, his hand on the back of her head

She tucked at his hair, pulling him away from the kiss “Don’t have time for that. After dinner though” She said, patting his cheek softly before walking away from him

Dinner was quick. Before she knew it, she had Checo pressed up against the bedroom door, mouths against each other messily

She stepped back, pulling Checo with her, pushing him to the ground as she sat on the edge of the bed

He immediately got to removing her pants and her panties, throwing them carelessly away

Checo kissed up her inner thighs, his hands tight on her waist under her shirt which she quickly got rid of

She pulled on his hair, pushing him closer into her, and he luckily got the hint, his tongue immediately working on her clit, his hand tighter on her waist

“Fuck. Just like that” She moaned softly, her head thrown back, her other hand grasping at the sheets beneath her

She started moaning a little louder as he pushed in two of his fingers, immediately starting to curl them upwards

She rolled her hips, moving against his tongue and fingers, her orgasm already nearing

“Fuck, yes. God. You’re good” She moaned, her thighs starting to shake slightly around Checo’s head

Her hand tightened in his hair, pulling slightly at the locks as she came around his fingers and tongue

He rode out her orgasm before he pulled out and away from her, standing up to push her back onto the bed, each of his knees on either side of her, his hands working on his belt

She took his hands into her own, stopping him “Stay. Come be a part of the family” She panted slightly

“What?” He asked confused, his accent slightly thicker than it was before

“Come on. I think you’ll be useful” She shrugged slightly “You’ll get your own bedroom and bathroom” She added

“I-I don’t know” He sighed, looking down at her

“Come on. Stay” She bit her lip slightly, her hands trailing down his torso, landing on his waistband, slowly undoing the button, his breathing hitching

“Okay, okay. I’ll stay” He said once she had finally gotten her hand wrapped around his cock, slowly starting to jerk him off

“Good choice. Come on” She said, scooting back into the middle of the bed, curling her finger to the tell him to come closer

He crawled further into the bed, his body placed in between her legs, his cock lined up with her entrance

She locked her legs around his hips, Checo’s hand on her back, unhooking her bra, throwing it to the floor

Her arms hooked around his neck, his own hands on her upper waist, slowly pushing into her, his face hidden in the crook of her neck

His hips started slow and soft, but quickly became faster and harder

Her nails dug into his shoulder blades, praises falling off of her tongue that made the Mexican whine and whimper

Her words were soon incoherent between her moans as she started feeling Checo twitch inside her, pulling her closer to her second orgasm

“You feel so good” She moaned softly, her mouth just by his ear

“Please. Can I come inside you?” His voice was mumbled against her skin and covered with a whine, but she understood him

“Yes. Yes, you can” She nodded, and not another second went by before he stilled his hips, coming inside her, his thighs shaking slightly

Another second went by before she came around him, her body shaking again, his name falling off her tongue softly

He collapsed softly on top of her, still buried inside her

Her hands caressed his sweaty back, nails ghosting over his tanned skin

“Will this happen again?” He asked softly, grunting as he slowly pulled out of her

“Probably not” She sighed “You can take a shower. I need to do something really quick” She stood up from the bed, getting her panties on and a night gown “You can sleep in here as well” She said before leaving the room

She walked down the hall, knocking on the door she knew was Lewis’. She heard a faint come in before she opened the door

She saw Lewis sitting on his bed with a book, and what looked like to be a sleeping Nico beside him

“Asleep?” She asked in a soft voice towards Nico

“Mhm. I take it he’s staying?” Lewis asked with a cheeky smile

“Yeah. For now. Tomorrow, show him what’s what?” She asked softly, making sure not to wake Nico

“Yeah. Of course” The Brit nodded “He’a not staying, by the way” He said, motioning to Nico

“Oh, I don’t mind. I know what Lawrence was like, but really. He can stay as long as he want and as long as he doesn’t get in the way” She whispered

“Thank you” He said with soft eyes, and a slight smile

“Of course. Anyway, good night” She said, walking out of the room, closing the door behind her

She walked back into the bedroom after her shower, seeing Checo in bed but not asleep

“Tomorrow, Lewis is gonna show you what’s what, and then I’m sending you out with him to get something for me” She said, getting under the sheets

“Lewis?” He asked confused

“The dark handsome one? He was at dinner? British?” “Oh, him. Yeah, sure. No problem” He answered

[rickybaby]

sometimes i wonder who is more delusional, us daniel girlies who believe he's getting the seat or other people who think he has no chance...

for the sake of contracts and legality lets just talk about 2025, why do they think redbull/at did all these things? just because they like daniel???? obviously is to suss him out/prepare him for the redbull seat, it's logical to me, they're not a charity

there’s no certainty in this sport so we might as well be delulu and have some fun with it but people just want to begrudge us for the fun we’re having 😌

you’re right, why would redbull go all out for Daniel if they’re not at least considering him for the seat in 2025. Helmut is a fickle old man but Daniel is definitely part of Christian’s plans because he’s the one who got away, he’s the one Christian didn’t think would leave. why else would he meet Daniel in a hotel room when he was still in the mclaren horrors and then have dinner with Daniel and tell him AT first and then we’ll see? And despite whatever everybody else might say about Daniel’s comeback, Christian’s definitely been appropriately impressed because quote unquote the man literally said Daniel’s ticked all the boxes performance wise in Hungary

and yeah if you’re redbull, who do you put in that second seat in 2025? Sure a lot of driver contracts end in 2024 but Charles or Carlos (redbull’s already despatched him to renault once, they’re not taking him back) or Alex are unlikely to go there. Would they put Liam in that seat when realistically he’d have only one year in f1 at that point when they’d done the mistake of promoting a driver too soon twice already? Would they put Yuki when Honda is leaving a year after and Honda seems likely to take him with them? Would they put Lando? Sure helmut has a hard on for him but zac brown has a bigger hard on for him and will pay him 80mil to get him to stay even tho he most probs would still be winless at that point (also helmut please tell me how a guy, who was crying over the radio last weekend for team orders to get past his rookie teammate, actually fit at redbull).

Daniel is realistically their only choice for 2025

[vivwritesfics]

Cowboy! Max Au

Okay so i got a request (that's hopefully out by the time this is) and this... is what came from it (goddamn i love a cowboy au) now let me just preface this by saying i am an english rider - i (used to) show jump and that sort of stuff. My cowboy knowledge is heartland

Max's roping horse is called Rocky

He trained Rocky himself, bought him as a two year old and brought him on

All of the local rodeos knew the Verstappens

Mostly they knew Max

Because he competed in most events

Roping, bull riding, steer wrestling

max did it all

he didn't need to do the rodeo events

most of his time was spent working with his dad on the Horner ranch

they were a bit like one big family

but the rodeo events made him happy

so he kept doing them

he might return home bruised and battered, but he didn't care

the local bar was usually full of cowboys

max was no exception

he stood in the corner with danny, nursing a whisky

(it wasn't his drink of choice, but what cowboy drinks a gin and tonic?)

suddenly someone was bumping into him

almost knocking his drink out of his hand

"What the fuck?" Max shouted over the cowboy chatter as he turned around

"Sorry!" she shouted back and max turned back towards danny

he didn't think he'd see her again

the next day he was taking rocky along the roads, heading to the far away paddock where Horner was letting his cattle graze

there had been reports of cattle thieves so max and his father were taking shifts with watching over them

she was there, walking along the roads

getting in max's way

"what the fuck are you doing here?" he asked as he trotted rocky in front of her, cutting her off

"I'm going to see family, if you don't mind," she said, but it wasn't as polite as the words might suggest

actually, it was rather aggressive

max let her go, he had better things to do

that night, while checo (another rangler that worked for horner) watched the herd, max and his dad had dinner with the horners

geri cooked

she loved ensuring they all had enough food to get through the day

the first thing max noticed was that the table was set for one more person than they were expecting

max thought nothing of it

maybe it was another ranch hand

but no

she came striding into the room and took a seat beside him

"max, this is my niece from england," horner said as they passed the potato salad around the table

"do you think you'd be able to show her the ropes while she's here?" geri continued

their niece sent max a sarcastic smile

"sure," he spat, because he couldn't say no to the horner family

okay so now we're at the end i might make this a series with this being the first part- if thats the case, i'll give this a proper title

[charles-leclerc-official]

China 2024 Sprint Race Analysis

I wasn't planning on doing a sprint analysis. However this sprint actually gave us a lot to talk about, and also finally gave an idea of what racing on this track will look like.

I have pretty strong thoughts on what happened between Carlos and Charles, that is at the end if you are less interested in the op ed reporting element.

Table of Contents

Sprint Start Max and Lewis DRS train: Perez Ferrari: Charles and Carlos - Ferrari Data/footage Analysis Fernando retirement Charles vs Carlos opinion Concluding Thoughts

Sprint Start

The only thing I want to note at the sprint start was Lewis' amazing start to take the lead almost immediately from Lando. Lando then lost grip going into turn 1 which cost him 6 places while he recovered the car. I think the reason he lost grip had more to do with the lack of traction on that turn(we saw many others have issues here) and Lewis taking the better line got the section with the best grip. His inability to defend against Lewis in that first turn cost him the track line and thus the grip and resulted in that big drop in the order. We saw Lewis lose grip in the same turn later in the race so I really think the margin of accuracy for grip on that corner is narrow.

Without the lost of placement so early Lando might have seen a better result, but that loss of grip was very costly.

If anyone knows how to defend a front row start it's Lewis, Lewis' skill really shone into that first turn.

Max and Lewis

Lewis had the lead of the sprint after overtaking Lando until the final corner of lap 9 when Max overtook him.

Max was lagging in the pack at the start of his race, part of the issue was with his battery power setting. Once he fixed that he was moving up the pack very quickly, it was only a matter of time before he was out front.

Max won the sprint with Lewis finishing P2.

Lewis' drive overall was the most impressive this sprint. The WB15 has had a lot of problems and he's been having issues finding the right balance in the car. It's the best result we've seen from this car all season and that is simply due to Lewis' skill on track. Great to see him near the top again. Hopefully this result will have informed a positive direction for Lewis and Merc as far as his car setup goes.

DRS train

The most interesting part of this sprint was the DRS train that went on for essentially 16 laps between Fernando, Carlos, Checo, and Charles.

I have my thoughts on Ferrari's part in this situation below, for now I want to point out that Checo had some really impressive driving here.

While Carlos and Fernando were battling, Checo slid past both of them on the inside of turn 9 on lap 16. This was probably the most impressive move the entire race, just a clean double pass on his part. Checo has been performing great in the RB20 but that was probably the best bit of driving we've seen from him so far this year. That was simply put some solid racing on his part.

Fernando also was not going to be able to battle two Ferraris and a Red Bull. All are faster cars than his own, but he did not give that position up easy to Carlos. He did concede to Checo though, which fair enough, I don't think that Aston could fight the RB20 as it stands.

Fernando unfortunately had to retire his car after a tyre puncture on lap 16.

Ferrari

Charles started P7 and finished P4, while Carlos started P4 and finished P5.

This is the first time this season we've seen what it will look like when Charles and Carlos race wheel to wheel, and it's not looking good(on Carlos' side)

I have more thoughts in the opinion section but having a teammate defend so aggressively against another teammate to the point of causing contact between the cars is unacceptable. Risking damaging both cars is not what any team wants or needs. And the footage makes it abundantly clear that Carlos was the one in the wrong and the cause of the contact.

Carlos had the center line going into 9 on lap 16. Fernando was on the inside but clearly behind. Charles took the outside for the overtake. Carlos then swerved more to the outside crowding Charles off the track. I want to be clear that Carlos had already given Fernando room, and then he moved to push Charles off. This contradicts his statement to the press that they were all fighting and it wasn't his intent. The driving tells a different story.

Charles overtook Carlos on lap 17 going into turn 1. Once he was clear of Carlos his faster pace became clear as he created an immediate gap that Carlos was not going to be able to close.

One thing we saw is that Charles' tyre management gives him the pace advantage over Carlos. If he is within range to overtake that is going to likely come up again in future races. Carlos was not even close at the end there. This overtake did give us a glimpse at what the real difference in pace between them means for the rest of the season.

After a few back and forth's between them Carlos should have conceded. It was clear Charles had the pace and it was just a matter of time before he'd overtake.

I want to point out that Carlos fighting Charles so much might have cost Ferrari a real chance to battle Checo. If he had let Charles pass Charles might have been able to stay within range of Checo and be within DRS. Because Carlos fought Checo was able to create a wide gap so by the time Charles did pass there wasn't a real chance to catch him. So this was not strategically optimal and it can be pinned 100% on Carlos' choices in that turn.

In fact you can see that Charles actually did have the pace necessary to stay closer to Checo. If he would have been able to pass is up in the air, but Carlos did cost Ferrari the chance to at least try to battle Checo for P3. If Charles had been able to get ahead of Checo he had the pace to keep him behind, or at least have a chance at doing so.

Also this serves to highlight that Charles' tyre management is on par with the RB20 or at least not far off, Carlos' tyre management is much further off the pace.

Charles finished P4 in the sprint with Carlos finishing P5.

Data and Footage Analysis

So the data is pretty clear on this. I wanted to show because it supports my argument later and it also demonstrates the difference in tyre management between the two drivers.

Charles' pace was better even in lap 16 when he was stuck behind Carlos. Once he is clear of Carlos after his pass on the first turn of lap 17 the real difference in pace between them becomes clear. Charles had more than a second on Carlos in all remaining laps. This is very likely due to his tyre management. The large difference here also highlights why Carlos should have let Charles pass because this pace difference is not something to fight over. Strategically Carlos should have let Charles pass smoothly, but Charles overtook anyway because his pace was not something Carlos could fight for long.

Note: DRS Charles got from Carlos at the beginning of lap 17 accounted for about 1 - 2 tenths of pace, the rest was all Charles increasing that gap himself.

Now I want to just look at the move from Sainz going into turn 9 on lap 16. He claimed he needed to give Fernando space. Charles said he was being too aggressive and forced him wide. Let's see who's version of events the actual footage supports.

Leading into the turn we can clearly see that Fernando is behind. Carlos has the inside line, Charles has the outside.

Here they are entering turn 9. There is clearly enough space on Carlos' inside for Fernando already. Charles clearly has the outside line.

Here you can see that Carlos has moved further outside. Now since he'd already given room to Fernando the only reason for this would be to fight Charles. And once again Fernando clearly behind. And I will say that some battling between teammates is acceptable. But what happened next did not fall into that category of acceptability.

Here is where Carlos continued to force Charles wide. Also where they got way too close and made some contact.

And here is the final result going into that turn. Carlos has forced Charles completely off the track, and he even has two wheels off the track. This was not about leaving space for Fernando. Does Fernando need the entire track? No. This was Carlos forcing a teammate who had better pace off the track because he could not actually fight his pace.

Either Carlos did this on purpose, which is unacceptable. Or he is telling the truth and didn't realize what he was doing, in which case he is admitting to extremely poor driving on his part.

Either version of events is not a good look for Carlos.

He was overtaken by Charles easily in the next lap. He just did not have the pace and should not have defended this aggressively against his own teammate.

Next I will be sharing my more opinionated thoughts on things relating to Ferrari.

Charles VS Carlos

I want to get into some of my thoughts on this whole battle we saw between Carlos and Charles because I think it was emblematic of the way thing shave been going at Ferrari and with their teammate dynamic on track.

This was unacceptable on Carlos' part. It's that simple.

I have listened to what both drivers have said about the overtake, and the battle we saw between them. I have looked at the footage from many different angles. And Carlos is in the wrong here. Not only that but I do not see how this kind of "racing" from him is going to be good for his career considering he still does not have a seat lined up for 2025.

The fact is Charles was faster. And that wasn't something Carlos was willing to accept.

And this level of battling a teammate, especially to the extent you cause contact and force that teammate off the track(to the extent that lap time had to be deleted) is not acceptable.

I will say that a little back and forth between teammates on track is fine. That wasn't what we saw. This was not only too much fighting of a teammate it was also poor sportsmanship(touching, and pushing off track)

Charles let Carlos pass because he was faster in Japan. Carlos does not do the same. It is this kind of thing coming from Carlos that is a prime example of why Ferrari did not re-new his contract.

Fighting to the point of causing contact between teammates is too far, you can see him move further to the outside even when it's clear he's given Alonso enough space. He was fighting Charles and caused contact. A driver who does not have the pace should not be fighting their teammate so extensively that they cause contact. They are on the same team, risking damage to both cars is again, unacceptable.

As seen above in the data Charles' pace at this point was significantly better than Carlos, he was really showing the difference between them in tyre management. If Carlos had the pace given he was in front after Perez passed then he would have had a larger gap to Charles and Charles would not have been able to catch him. Even fighting "dirty" he was unable to stop the inevitable.

When there is this great of a difference in pace between teammates, a pass is what should happen. Carlos would have been able to tell by the second time Charles caught him that Charles' pace was much better. That should have been his signal to move. He didn't.

Furthermore we hear on team radio exactly how frustrated Charles was over this. He wouldn't have been anywhere near as mad if this was a first time thing, it isn't, and again this display from Carlos is a reason that Ferrari are not keeping him.

I hope Ferrari make it clear that this is not the kind of thing that can be allowed to happen in the future. Risking damage to both cars is not something any team can afford, especially a top team when they are trying to seriously compete with Red Bull.

Charles did everything he should have done. He had the line, but was forced wide. He had the pace and was aggressively fought with.

Final Sprint Thoughts

This was actually one of the best sprints. Lots of action and we saw some really solid racing from a lot of top drivers.

I hadn't planned on doing regular sprint analysis, but if they are all packed like this I might have to. If enough noteworthy things happen in a sprint I'll do it again.

Thank you for reading and I'll be back with my China GP analysis soon!

[livefastdriveyoung]

This is Madness

Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari is huge. Few things;

First, poor Carlos, having to announce his own departure is brutal.

Second, if Toto really only did find out yesterday, why? Was Lewis afraid he would change his mind? Guilt? Is the W15 a disaster?

Third, Ferrari was the only other option. There was very little chance he would wind up at Redbull. Max is first driver, Christian Horner has admitted to not seeing a future with him.

Fourth, BONO?! He signed an extension contract. So the question is does he have an out clause as well? Will Lewis buy him out? Can he? Will Bono even choose Lewis?

Fifth, Team Loyalty is a big deal in modern F1, but that's the key, it's modern. F1 drivers used to change teams more frequently. We've seen it even now. Alonso has been on six teams total, with separate stints at different times for Renault and McLaren. Kimi drove for five teams. Seb drove for five teams. Checo, five, and so on. Hamilton's stint with Mercedes is unprecedented. 17 years total. Not something to scoff at, but unprecedented. It shouldn't be treated as some ultimate betrayal. He was the exception to the rule.

Sixth, I think Lewis implicitly trusts Fred Vasseur. Do I? No. Do I think that the rumors going around about poaching Red Bull staff and the fact that we don't know about Bono or Andrew could mean that Lewis's side of the garage is stacked exactly how he wants it.

Seventh, Charles is not going to be second driver, not really. Yes, you don't bring a driver like Lewis in to make him second fiddle, but I think that the hope is that Charles will learn what he's been missing, and I love Charles but there are definitely moments that demonstrated room for growth. Lewis has always talked about how much the sport has changed, and even though it is his complaints that make headlines, his positive enforcement of some of these changes is a good attitude to bring. Charles is the 'Il Predestinato' they just want to make sure that he's the best version of it they can get.

Eighth, The Mercedes garage is going to spin this season. Their PR team is going to work like never before. They're going to spin the narrative to George, they're going to isolate Lewis. He can't be in the future development meetings anymore, he's the competition. His colleagues of a decade can no longer trust him and that is sure to be lonely. They're not going to let that be the story. I think we might even be seeing some of it already. The question as to whether or not Toto knew in advance, coming out against the fact that allegedly Sainz and LeClerc have known for at least a couple weeks, is interesting and I'm intrigued at the level of truth.

Ninth, Whether you like Lewis or not, there were moments last season that the team shafted him. Prioritizing his teammate when he was in a better position, abandoning him on podium, etc. Lewis was so supportive of Susie and Toto, George didn't even bother to do anything other than repost the official statement. Lewis was Jack's hero, now all of a sudden, George is the one on vacations, and teaching him carting. The relationship has been slowly fracturing since Abu Dhabi 2021. Whether or not Lewis leaves on a good note at the end of the season will depend on if Mercedes will even give him the time of day. This could very well be Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren.

Finally, I don't think Lewis Hamilton has ever been the type to pull the rug out from someone without cause. He's always been a huge target in the F1 community and I think he's been ready for a change for a while. It's hard to make a change, especially when you're leaving something that once treated you so well. If it is true that he gave Mercedes no proper warning then hopefully he apologizes and explains. We're not entitled to know, but they are.

[marieshyperf1xations]

Oh wow, I had this idea in, like, April this year and it's been sitting in my drafts ever since. I figured the crossover between former One Direction fans to now F1 fangirls is so big, that I might as well share my thoughts on which 1D song I associate with each driver, with a little explanation. So here we go

F1 x 1D - Drivers as 1D songs

Max - Drag Me Down ("All these lights, they can't blind me // With your love, Nobody can drag me down -> he's basically been unbeatable the past few years and the love between him and his orange army is something else)

Checo - What A Feeling (“What a feeling to be a king beside you, somehow” -> next to Max kings of the top team) I made this post a while ago, so apologies for it not aging too well

Charles - You And I ("no nothing can come between you and I // not even the gods above can separate the two of us" -> his love for Ferrari) and Stockholm Syndrome (he gets two because goddamnit the relationship that boy has with his team is a tale of two hearts)

Carlos - Tell Me A Lie ("If he's the reason that you're leaving me tonight // Spare me what you think and tell me a lie" -> the entire painful divorce between him and Ferrari and them basically ditching him for Lewis, need I say more?)

Lando - Midnight Memories ("Now I'm at zhr age when I know what I need" -> it really feels like he's in the best place in his career (in and outside of the car) so far. Also DJ Lando anyone?)

Oscar - Ready To Run ("This time I'm ready to run // Escape from the city and follow the sun" -> he ran away from Alpine and towards his place in the sunshine at McLaren)

Fernando - Act My Age (this connection inspired this entire post, do I need to give any more context?)

Lance - I Want (sorry for the dig, but c'mon)

George - Diana (both are painfully English)

Lewis - Never Enough (the man has 7 WDCs, is 39 years old, still going, just signed with Ferrari for at least a few more years and keeps breaking his own records of which he has a shit ton, no more notes)

Daniel - Night Changes (all the teams he's been with over the years and the rollercoaster of results he's had)

Valtteri - Walking in the Wind (“We had some good times didn’t we?” -> his time as teammates with Lewis back in the days)

Zhou - Once in a Lifetime ("Once in a lifetime, it's just right [...] // Not even a landslide or riptide // Could take it all away" -> his moment as the first Chinese driver to race at his home race, no one can take that away from him no matter what)

Pierre - Spaces ("Who's gonna be the first to say goodbye?" -> leaving Yuki behind at AlphaTauri; yeah I kinda broke my own heart with that)

Yuki - Half a Heart (the Yukierre breakup again)

Esteban - Love You Goodbye (“It's inevitable, everything that's good comes to an end // It's impossible to know if after this we can still be friends, yeah”) -> the falling out with Pierre

Kevin - No Control (because at times this season it felt like Haas just let him loose on the track and he was a bit of an uncontrollable missile)

Nico - One Thing (his thing being a podium, finally)

Alex - End Of The Day (“All I know at the end of the day is you want what you want and you say what you say // And you follow your heart even though it’ll break sometimes”) -> he wants his seat in F1, he got heartbroken when he was dropped by Red Bull etc.

Logan - I Would (Galex and Landoscar, he's basically caught between two considerably popular ships)

Also shoutout to @blueberry-obsessed for encouraging me to actually post this, ilyyyy 🫶

[valyrfia]

I am VERY skeptical about the RBR Charles thing but they (see: Charles, RBR personell of all kinds) keep being SO WEIRD AND SUSPICIOUS about it

Yep yep yep. I go through cycles of being completely convinced and then calling myself delusional, but the fact remains that Max changed his tune on being teammates with Charles recently, Charles keeps talking about Max in interviews praising BOTH his performance and the car, Christian Horner is posting Max and Charles on Instagram as is the RBR account. I genuinely believe Red Bull are at LEAST trying to seriously poach him.

I'm still unsure as to whether they're working towards 2024 or 2025 (as Red Bull have proven with the recent talks with Lando, they're more than happy to buy out someone's contract), but I am leaning more towards 2025, and I believe that Charles at RBR is a real, serious possibility in 2025. Let me explain why.

First, Checo still has a contract through 2024 and while Red Bull aren't always great with honouring contracts, I think the recent popularity and love they've witnessed first-hand for Checo in Texas and Mexico might change their mind on letting him go early. Ultimately, Red Bull Racing is marketing for Red Bull, and Checo obviously brings in sales in North America, and them mistreating Checo might lead to a sales dip in that region. This is why I think, despite the media frenzy, RBR are highly unlikely to drop Checo for 2024. There is no way that RBR is renewing Checo's contract, but at least he can see it out and they can part ways without much damage to either of them at the end of the F1 2024 Season.

Charles's current contract with Ferrari is also up at the end of the 2024 season. Again, even though 2023 has been absolute dogshit for Charles and Ferrari, I don't see that contract ending early. For one, Charles has apparently been promised that the 2024 car will be developed according to his needs and preferences, and it is ridiculous to leave a team who has made you that promise, even if that team is as flakey as Ferrari. I think Charles is waiting to see if the team does change in 2024 before he pushes for contract renewal. It's important to note here that contrary to popular opinion, I believe the ball is completely in Charles's court here when it comes to renewal. He is the Ferrari golden prince, he is Ferrari in a way that no driver really ever has been before, I think it was evident in Monza this year most of all. Carlos drives for Ferrari, and Charles is Ferrari and you could see it in the way that the tifosi treated them. They love Carlos, they adore and worship Charles. This is how Charles managed to convince them to build a car for him in 2024, and it's how I believe Charles is putting off the contract negotiations. This is a key point. Carlos's extended media team and family have complained several times about Carlos not being able to begin contract negotiations because of Charles in some way and Ferrari unwilling to negotiate with Carlos until they've settled Charles (I think this is due to the fact that they only intend to keep one of them and they'd like it to be Charles, but that's an essay for another day). So Charles has himself in a position where he doesn't have to commit to the team unless he sees that it is going to grow in the way he wants it to.

To quote Charles, "I view it in a way that whenever I won’t believe in the project anymore, that probably will be the time when I’ll have to go away. Because it’s in these kinds of situations that you don’t get the best out of yourself, that you don’t help the team as much as it needs to be helped. But this is definitely not the case at the moment. I believe in the project as much as I’ve ever believed in the project before. Especially since Fred arrived. So for now it’s clear. Then it’s also clear that I want to win. But I believe in this project and I’m sure we are working in the right direction.”

So maybe 2024 happens and Ferrari brings a championship-contender car, in which case Charles signs with Ferrari, they get rid of Carlos and probably bring in Alex Albon as a n2.

But I'm not interested in that outcome, I'm interested in what is (in my mind anyway) the far more likely outcome, sheerly due to money and Ferrari internal politics (which again, whole other essay!) which is that nothing really changes for the better at Ferrari. Maybe Charles gets a win by sheer luck and a slightly better car, but overall the strategy continues to not favour him, and Charles in general loses faith in what he refers to as the project. And we know from Charles himself that when this happens, this is when he goes away.

So I've presented an argument for why Red Bull are going to let Checo see out his contract, I've presented a strong possibility for why Charles might be looking to leave Ferrari at the end of 2024. Now I'm going to try and convince you of why out of all the options it'll be Charles joining Red Bull.

First of all, from Charles's point of view regarding teams. I'm going to rule out Alpha Tauri, Haas, Williams, Alfa Romeo, and Alpine, either because they're junior teams or I don't see them willing to fork over huge amounts of money to get Charles onboard. This leaves Mercedes, McLaren, Aston Martin, and Red Bull.

Out of all the non RBR options, I'd say that Mercedes is the most likely, but both their drivers are signed until 2025. There is always a possibility that Lewis Hamilton decides its time to leave the sport and buys himself out of his own contract, but I think that's not likely to happen next year.

Similar to Mercedes, both McLaren drivers are signed until at least 2025 and both look likely to honour that contract. Red Bull have tried to poach Lando multiple times, and Lando doesn't seem too keen on it yet, so we can assume that he intends to at least see his current contract out. Aston Martin is slightly trickier because I see them as being willing to fork over the millions needed to get Charles Leclerc to drive for them, but on the other hand they don't look close to producing a championship car, and Charles Leclerc is not switching away from Ferrari to not win a championship.

So, this leaves RBR as Charles's best destination for 2025 were he to leave Ferrari. Not only do they have a seat opening up, but they also have shown themselves capable of constructing recent championship-winning cars, and outclass every other team almost every weekend on strategy at the moment. Now that we've established that Charles's team of choice would be RBR, the final point of the argument has to be establishing why Charles would be RBR's driver of choice over let's say, Lando or Daniel.

To me the answer is simple, as so eloquently illustrated by my great friend and scholar Nat (@tsarinablogs) in her The PR of Lestappen in 2023 Essay (also known as Lestappen Gate 2023), Charles is not just good at PR, he's brilliant, and Red Bull isn't a racing company, it's a marketing venture. Having Charles on board would be their greatest asset and Charles has done much to make himself desirable, from being personable in almost all fan interactions to building a solid digital following, to being sometimes sneaky and subliminal with his sponsorship messaging (him always putting on APM Monaco immediately after a race, even before the podium and interviews, hell even Charles and Privateplanegate yesterday), to signing with a literal US entertainment agency. I cannot stress enough how the timing of the WME signing is not accidental, this is Charles making himself be seen as a highly desirable PR asset. Charles has the second highest following on social media out of any current driver, second to only 7 TIME WDC WINNER LEWIS HAMILTON. That sort of audience, and the kind of exposure it can bring to your team and your brand is insane.

Also, as an addendum to Nat's essay using something she herself brought up to me yesterday: any PR for RBR is good PR because it means that Red Bull as a concept is sticking around in people's heads, which means they're more likely to notice and buy the drinks off the shelves. Extrapolating from this we can see that Red Bull signing Charles would ultimately be better marketing than Red Bull signing Lando just because of the absolute uproar it would cause. Whether you think that Red Bull saved Charles from Ferrari, or Charles betrayed Ferrari for Red Bull, or Charles saved himself from Ferrari, or Red Bull as the Big Evil Team poached the Prince of Ferrari, there's a compelling narrative in there and people will talk about it for years to come.

Finally, not to talk about the driving aspect of motorsports, but Charles is the best fit for Red Bull driving-wise as well. Him and Max have spoken in the past about how they both prefer very similar types of car (ie. strong oversteer, borderline undriveable to anyone else) which would make car development much easier for the team. Christian Horner has also been pretty candid about wanting two n1 drivers à la Lewis and Nico (although without the toxicity), and whether you believe that Charles matches Max in equal machinery or not, Charles's racing record is a lot stronger than Lando's or Dan's (the two other possible competitors for the RBR seat). Charles fits the bill, driver-profile-wise, of the complement to Max that Christian Horner is looking for.

So, long story short, I am watching Ferrari VERY closely these next few months. If the SF-24 doesn't make Charles happy, I am going to make a bold claim that we will see Charles Leclerc driving for Red Bull in 2025.

[spiderbeam]

I hate the condescending way some people talk about Colapinto in regards to his performance. From the beginning I saw so many people say basically "oh they're throwing this poor little nobody directly into an F1 car just to fail" , "He's going to fail so hard it will ruin his career" And then he showed up...and he is doing super well...

I can't help but sense that the condescending tone comes from a place of prejudice because Franco is Latin and some people can't catch the stereotypes they foster every single time they talk about him. How can you not see what it looks like to say "Oh they took our precious little meow meow Logan and they put this guy from Argentina and he's PROBABLY going to fail because why would he be any good" and say that and not catch how incredibly xenophobic you sound. I see it so often it's embarrassing I swear

yeah i agree tbh. the hate that exists towards franco DEFINITELY has some xenophobic/racist undertones, and it’s really sad to say that i’m not really surprised??? i mean checo’s been dealing with similar comments for a while now :/

i think i made a post a little while ago about this, but the rumors that franco only got into f1 because he was a pay driver honestly sounded so much like the rumors about checo only keeping his redbull seat during this second half of the season because of the mexican gp/sponsors. like isn’t it funny that people think that the two pay drivers on the grid happen to be the two latin american ones 🙂 like the racism is not even subtle at this point.

+ if i might add it also feels a lot like people are just waiting for the moment franco makes a mistake. like if you checked out the comments after franco’s crash in free practice you could just see people jumping on the opportunity to shit on him. and it’s apparently so easy to forget that franco:

previous to monza, franco had only done a total of 8 consecutive laps on an f1 car.

franco has never raced in baku before.

a year ago franco was driving for f3.

people were so quick to jump on the bandwagon that giving logan’s seat to franco would ruin him and that he would never make it, and yet he’s clearly succeeding thus far? even if he ends up p20 tomorrow, franco and his team have been repeating this time and time again: this is a learning experience from him. there is a learning curve.

finally!!!! i also wanna add a little something checo mentioned in an interview yesterday. he said that he had a heart to heart with franco because he knows that representing your country as a driver from latam is so drastically different from being a european driver. people tend to forget that the world of motorsport is so much more easily accessible to drivers that are from europe—i mean look at the grid—but also that drivers that are from latam that are currently making it have had to sacrifice so much to get there. that’s not to say the other drivers haven’t. but you see stories of franco having to sleep in factories when he was a teenager to cut costs. you see a teen checo having to live in a restaurant an ocean away from home, unable to make calls to his family because they were too expensive and sponsors wouldn’t cover the costs.

drivers from latam have their entire country—if not the entire continent—standing behind them. it’s why checo could break into motorsport in the first place. why franco managed to make it into f2. and honestly i am so sick of hearing racist comments about the two of them i just block people when it comes up. anyways.

you can rip them from my cold dead hands

[laura1633]

pulling up your fics for the much needed comfort after another bad race. when will it end : (

(i know it's objectively not "bad" but anything behind lando is bad to me <3)

Aww I hope they will provide a little bit of comfort 🥰

I know it wasn't great today and I feel like if Max had had the right set up he could have capitalised on Lando's poor qualifying position but honestly if you had told me that he would be coming away from Baku with only three points lost in the championship I would have taken it. The gap is not being eaten up anywhere near as quickly as it could be (or should be ) and taking 3 points away is actually a really poor result given how the cars have been comparatively.

I know Singapore might be another difficult week but the fact Checo was competitive today does give me some home. Apparently he had a different set up to Max so hopefully they can take some learning from that. Max actually seemed more positive than I was expecting post race, pointing out that he didn't lose out too much in the championship.

Then there is quite a gap between Singapore and COTA so hopefully Red Bull can do a lot more work on the car and set up (budget permitting). We can't keep relying on other people's errors. If they have a competitive car for the last few races then that is all we need, Max can do it. We have seen things turn around for teams so lets just hope Red Bull are figuring things out. I mean even by luck they should surely be able to figure something out the amount of goes they have had 😂

I know it's not nice seeing Max not winning but I would definitely choose the championship over race wins. He still has by far more wins than anyone else this year.

I am just thinking about Jenson's 2009 season. I think he won 6 of the first 7 races and then didn't win another race all season (sorry if I have that slightly wrong).. still won the championship though which was what mattered.

I just need to keep believing it will all work out!!

[sillystappen]

HELLO

i was wondering if you can do max as a singer and not a driver

i wonder if he can be MARINA and he interested in f1 and goes there to watch the races

HIHI!!!

Singer!Max huh? Ok I see you.

And mother of god did figuring the logistics of this AU hurt my brain :')

Ofc Max would retain his interest in F1 heck I might even make him kart when he was a kid but drop out for angsty lore reasons. Naturally this would make his relationship with his father very strained and almost nonexistent if it weren't for the fact Max still hasn't blocked his number. He spent most of his kid/teenage life with his mum and sister in belgium and thrived in music classes, having a natural sense of rhythm and being able to hear the layers in a song. He still watches F1 on tv and becomes a Daniel fan after Spain 2014 - Daniel's first podium, though he also is team Rosberg when brocedes happens (no reason other than I like Nico Rosberg)

As for his music type honest to god I can see why you would say MARINA as those lyrics can definitely be Max coded but genre wise and looking at her performing idk if that fits the Max vibes bc I wanna keep him from going too OOC. But not in a total stray from the idea of MARINA, I propose... Conan Gray. Still kinda indie vibes (and I love indie) and there's a lot of desiderium songs as well as full on pop bops and hopeless romantic stuff which give people some good emotional rollercoaster concerts. However these songs and albums release date will be manipulated to it my narrative because trying to align a calendar with an interesting plot and those songs just was too much...

For Daniel and any race settings, I am thinking of using the 2021 season. Which I'm sure you all are thinking: Silly, what would be the 2021 season without Max in it? Wouldn't it just go to Lewis without a fight? And I thought long and hard about it, looking through the grid and reserves to see who if anyone should take the seat that Max originally had and... it's Daniel. You heard it here first folks this baby is a Daniel never left Red Bull fic too. Using this Mr V's Garage's video, I borrowed the simulated 2021 season between Norris and Sainz and made it Lewis and Daniel (who will ofc win) with 3rd place going to Checo (because i like checo) and 4th Bottas. As for Abu Dhabi... there's no way it won't be controversial come on.

I imagine a meeting between Daniel and Max would be him getting paddock passes after saving up and ends up being recognised by Daniel at the Belgian Grand Prix. At this point he has he has had Kid Krow out for nearly 2 years after saving a crap load of money from royalties and a birthday gift from his sister he finally had enough money for a paddock pass over a grandstand ticket (but holy fuck those things are expensive). He meets Daniel who is like "holy shit you're Max Verstappen! Wearing my DR3 hat?" and Max feels like holy shit is very much correct because Daniel knows who he is?!?! Queue both of them having a fanboy moment and Daniel admitting he cried when he heard heather for the first time. But Daniel has to be pulled away so he gives Max his number and invites him to the garage (much to christian's chagrin but hey, number one golden driver championship contender privileges). Max totally nerds and Daniel thinks its cute and the mechanics are surprised by Max's knowledge.

They go on "friend-dates" to get to know each other properly and surprisingly (to them not to us) they click really well. Daniel invites him to GPs and Max invites Daniel to music video sets (they sneak Daniel into an MV and if you look close enough you can see him in the background) and a lot of trips to the recording studio. The internet being the internet picks up on this and are like AIN'T NO WAY OMG WORLDS COLLIDING all dramatic like that. There's even TikTok edits and a small tumblr community (hi) about them.

Then one day Max goes on an interview and is asked about Daniel. "He's probably the best person in my life right now, outside of work and family. Gosh, I've been a fan since 2014, and my sister will tell you I yelled pretty loudly when he won in Canada that year. But the Daniel you guys see in media is only half the story. He's kind and considerate and generous and a really comfortable person to be around and I am glad I bumped into him in Spa. He's been my rock as I work on my newest album."

Hashtag maxiel starts popping off a lot more mainstream and Daniel calls Max after the interview to tell him how sweet and lovely he is and as he gushes Daniel has the 'oh I love him' moment, like actually in love and not just a how a fan would. He doesn't say it, of course, but the penny has dropped.

For Max, the 'oh I love him' would be when they're back in Daniel's hotel room post race (that Daniel won ofc) and they're sat on a sofa in front of a quiet TV playing some sort of movie when Daniel falls asleep on Max's shoulder. Max looks down at him and just knows 'i love him' then and there. It's a quiet realisation, and one he is content with.

As for how they get together, it's one of the times Daniel is in Max's recording studio listening as Max sings, completely entrapped. When Max finishes and sits down next to him, he asks what Daniel thinks Daniel doesn't hesitate to say he thinks Max is amazing and that the song will be a hit, but suggests a few tweaks to the instrumental. Max takes this seriously and appreciates the honesty, kissing Daniel's cheek as thanks. It was the way Max looked at him and gently held his face that has Daniel sitting there for a moment before going fuck it and properly kissing Max.

They don't announce their relationship until Daniel after wins his second championship in 2022 but spend the rest of 2021 and the entirety of 2022 soft launching it and teasing. Daniel posts photos of Max hugging him in Abu Dhabi 2021 and lots of photos of them hanging out in winter and summer break. The F1 media catches Max in the paddock and Red Bull garage a lot and Daniel at the Superache tour in late 2022 (what about the tour? what tour? the early 2022 world tour? yh that didnt happen I'm just adding a couple songs from there into the superache setlist). Max also posts a video of Daniel lipsyncing to Overdrive whilst holding a deodorant can and standing on a bed.

The actual announcement spooks the F1 world more than the music one and at first it's a lot for them, the questions and the prying, the demand to know it all and of course the homophobia but they get through it all fine and dandy.

Oh and Jimmy and Sassy? They give Daniel the seal of approval the moment he shows up offering pets. And that was the only outside opinion that ever mattered.

{I may flesh this into a full on fic, but I also might not but I liked your idea anyway and wanted to put the concept I created into the world! I hope you like it.}

[dizzyduck44]

Why Hungary was so hollow

An F1 win is an amazing achievement. One of the pinnacles of a drivers career. As a fan, we remember the ones that carry real weight to them, that come with a backstory, a driver we have felt has been unfortunate in the past, a truly spectacular drive.

Most of the drivers on the current F1 grid fall into that category. Pierre’s spectacular drive at Monza, the sheer weight of emotion for Charles at Spa, the feeling of justice for Lewis in Canada, the absolutely fairytale nature of Max in Barcelona, after driving brilliantly for 3 years against the might of that Red Bull car we all felt Lando deserved that win in Miami and who can forget the spectacular last to first debut win of Checo in Sakir when he was facing the end of his career.

We cherish them because they were special, earned, deserved. It’s what makes people cry over this sport and watch it all their life.

And this is why what happened in Hungary makes me uncomfortable and goes against the nature of what makes this sport special.

Team orders are not new. Hell Valtteri is cracking jokes about them now. For me they came to the forefront in the Michael Schumacher Ferrari days. And they were not liked. They were booed on the podium and on one occasion even messed it up and had the wrong driver win on the line. However it became accepted that if you want to win a championship, you had to resort to it.

And my God did Mercedes and Red Bull resort to it!

However it was going on further down the field for constructors points. I’ve never hidden from the fact that Carlos and Lando’s first podiums for McLaren required team orders (and penalties for Hamilton). We have seen Kevin gain more penalty points than actual points this season carrying out team orders. I swear Fernando is in charge of Aston’s and previously Alpine’s team orders. Somehow it became the norm to apply team orders for any situation and that was never going to end well.

Dispute it all you want Monza 2021 was a race decided on team orders, (confirmed yet again last week by Zak Brown) and at the point maybe people should have sat up, took notice and realised this is a bit of a slippery slope we are on. But no it was 2021, the Max and Lewis show, so a lot of other things got ignored.

And so to Hungary 2024. Now this is not analysis of why McLaren pitted who when, or why they now admit it never occurred to them they might be under pressure from people behind (seriously McLaren. SERIOUSLY!!!). Or the radio messages 🤬🤬🤬 Or the fact that apparently Lando was the reason this all went tits up ?!?!?!?!? We are going to look at how team orders have now handed a driver their first win in circumstances almost impossible to justify and seemingly implying they are banking that favour for later in the season.

There are two things that are key to this. Firstly the start and then everything that happened around the second pitstops.

Oscar got the lead yes, but then Max took 7 laps to let Lando through and only when threatened with a penalty, gifting Oscar that lead.

However Oscar’s first little off road adventuring just before the second pitstop changed a lot in the race. Lando caught him up. Now that nice gap McLaren had to double stack had gone.

They called Lando in as Lewis was 9 seconds behind, in out, 2 laps later Oscar in, out. Up to now this its straight forward. Simple switcharoo, easy 1-2.

Then Oscar went off the track again. This puts him 3 seconds behind Lando and 7 seconds ahead of Lewis. He is now closer to Lewis than Lando was before the pitstops.

At this point McLaren should have gone into save the race mode, instead they were transfixed on what they thought was going to happen 5 laps ago.

And what resulted from this was embarrassing not only for McLaren but F1. Team orders resulted in a driver slowing down a nearly 7 second lead to give his team mate who admitted he couldn’t catch him, his first win. And like most people I sat there thinking, WTF!

We watch F1 for the racing, the intelligence required to predict the best way forward to win the race. The necessity of the perfect pitstop and keeping the car on the grey stuff. It cheapens it when team orders gets used so flagrantly.

I’ve seen McLaren do this before in 1997 with Mika Hakkinen) however difference being Mika was a driver that nearly died in a crash in 1995. He had been on the grid a while and when McLaren rocked up with their missile in 1997 the drivers made an agreement whoever lead into the first corner of the first race could have the win. Mika led most of the race and then misheard a garbled radio message (no digital back then) and came into the pits when he didn’t need to. Coulthard was asked to give the place back and did (and we know how that ended, see Hungarian commentary for proof). End result people felt that win for Hakkinen was deserved, earned.

Hungary didn’t have the same sense of fairness about it. It wasn’t the first or last race of the season, no championships have been decided, every point counts. Oscar yes had driven a great 2/3rds of the race. But tiny errors had put him in the position he was in. If it was merely the undercut then that would have been resolved quickly. It came down to errors and lack of pace at the end. If you can’t catch the leader, how the hell can you expect to lead?

I used to think Esteban had the luckiest win on the F1 grid with Bottas bowling 7 cars at the start of the race. Nope this now takes that honour.

Let’s remember currently this is not for a championship (people would argue it hinders the championship). This was team orders because they can. The first time Oscar had every found himself near a win and despite the fact in any other circumstances he would have to take those mistakes as lessons learnt, McLaren gave him the win, because they think they are going to need him to return the favour later in the season. (Which means we will be going through this shitshow again).

That’s what sours the win and makes it feel hollow. Yes at some point any driver in a front running team is going to be gifted a win but not their first and not so obviously. It cheapens the credit of an F1 win period.

And I feel for those drivers who put in years of work at teams with non competitive cars. Who drove brilliantly. Who when the time came had to fight for that first win, case in point Seb or Jenson. Or had their first wins taken from them by the team’s errors, think Lando and George. There is no sense of accomplishment for Oscar.

Lando didn’t spoil that moment for Oscar. It’s hard to celebrate a win that doesn’t feel like it was earned.

The worst part of this, we all knew Oscar would win a race eventually. This didn’t need to be done at all. This for me feels like Max’s first title. Will always be questioned because of outside assistance, was it earned or was it gifted?

Hungary 2024 is not a race F1 should look back on fondly.

[chussyracing]

what's been happening in the world of motorsports lately?

a long overdue summary which is not including absolutely everything but at least some important stuff. there is a lot, so i'm putting it under the read more button :)

Jack Doohan confirmed to partner Gasly in Alpine for 2025

Ferrari will be bringing upgrades for Monza (and Fernando had something to say about their performance over the next two races……)

after the court decided that Haas owes Uralkali they were told to send unspecified amount of money as unpaid sponsorship bid to them but their trucks were literally held hostage in Zandvoort (after Uralkali got help from Dutch court), not allowed to leave with the rest of the teams until the transaction was finalized and the money ended up in Uralkali’s account, but that is sorted for now so they don’t expect to miss out on Monza

Liberty Media are selling a share in F1 to have enough funds to get Moto GP

if you weren’t already tired of it, there is another rumour of Logan losing his seat mid-season, this time either to Mick or Liam Lawson that James Vowles apparently spoke to after Logan crashed in FP3 and ultimately broke the upgrades he was fitted with for the weekend (Wolff confirmed that Kimi won’t be going to Williams for the rest of the season but didn’t rule out Mick as he “offered” him to James… he might get sold to 1d you guys), there is also possibility for Franco Colapinto to actually choose from their own junior academy

Helmut Marko said that Liam Lawson will have a seat in one of their teams in 2025, Horner said he might be on loan to another team at the same time (choose your fighter)

Lewis’ current race engineer Bono (Bonnington) will stay in Mercedes and even gets a promotion as Head of Race Engineering after Lewis’ departure, while Lewis will inherit Ricky (Adami) from Carlos in Ferrari

also Checo’s race engineer is leaving for paternity leave, so they prepared a switch up to make his current performance engineer Richard Wood (sorry but you mean to tell me there is a guy and his name is Dick Wood????? in a world where Prince Albert is real well? ok) temporarily his race engineer

Toto had a lil Freudian slip and said that they had a small chance to get Max which has now passed but they are happy about their Goerge-Kimi line up for 2025

Kimi will also have junior outing in fp1 in Lewis’ car in Monza

there are rumours about a potential F1 race in Rwanda as Domenicali had more meetings to ensure that over the summer break, it should be a permanent track and not a street circuit, so I take this as a big win (now if only we took existing track and upgraded them instead of making new ones)

Lando’s gap between p1 and p2 was the biggest winning margin all season not as big as his ego though, knowing he said “simply lovely” after crossing the checkered flag as a dig at Max lol (Sauber drivers were lapped twice I think, as much for the cars being close in performance we thoughts we could see this year)

Alex was disqualified from quali in Zandvoort because his floor was outside of compliance of the rules, so he had to start from the pitlane although he got to p8 on merit

Liberty Media are officially under investigation for rejecting Andretti’s bid to become 11th team by the US Department of Justice’s antitrust division

Charles is on the new edition of Beyond the Grid podcast which is now also available in video form (all I saw about it so far is that he wants to win with Ferrari only and he believes they can do it, he name dropped Elon Musk ew and he said Leo pees everywhere)

Zak Brown refused McLaren would be signing Adrian Newey

Nina Gademan was the wildcard for Zandvoort’s F1 Academy race and she SLAYED

Isotta Fraschini ends in WEC before the season is done so you won’t see the only private team on the grid for the last three races

despite (or maybe because) being Ferrari reserve driver, Robert Schwartzman got a chance to have a junior outing in fp1 for Stake in Zandvoort

FIA officially banned asymmetrical brakes in fear it could bring advantage (in turns) – it can be either a reaction to someone’s grey area shady business this year or reaction to teams questioning the new technical rules for 2026 onwards

Oscar got his rib broken because of wrong seat/seating position and it happened around Austria/Silverstone, but he is fully healed by now

Audi is looking at Mick and Liam Lawson as some potential candidates for the seat (but also Valtteri and now apparently Robert Schwartzman and Guanyu too – Valtteri because he posted an Audi car with number 77 on it, Robert because of his junior outing in fp1 and Guanyu because of possible sponsorship deals)

Helmut Marko yapped about Seb Vettel and that it is no secret besides Red Bull he was asking one or two other teams if they have a free seat for him

there was also the one Kyle guy from??? Nascar I think? thinking he is overall better driver than Max Verstappen which is honestly just a bit funny

gentle reminder that the drivers now have to be way more careful on the radio about swearing and talking about stewards and race control, because FIA will now be penalizing such behaviour as misconduct (Ben Sulayem also linked it all to online abuse which is a campaign he focused on with his presidency)

Mattia Binotto will have “full responsibility” in Audi because they are apparently happy about how much experience he has, especially in the technical department

Peter Bayer said that if it goes like that Yuki will be considered for 2025 Red Bull seat

Peter Windsor said that one driver is doing rally testing in secret and doing good results among uncertain F1 future and that he won’t tell who it is but it’s not Max (and then Val was asked about it because he could be the one with uncertain future and he denied it)

Ferrari will be switching to pull-rod front suspension for 2025

Oscar started his own app similarly to Logan

Porsche said after they failed to partner with Red Bull, they closed the F1 chapter and don’t wanna pursue another entry into the series

David Malukas is no longer jobless, he signed multiyear contract with AJ Foyt in Indycar

Zane Maloney tested with IndyCar in Indianapolis

BBS won’t be supplying wheel rims after 2026 to everyone so it will be one of the parts teams can get from any supplier they wish

Domenicali wants more changes to the weekend structure in the future – probably more sprints and less FPs or none at all (or points for them), maybe even reverse grid

(not sure if I already wrote this down in previous round up but) Nyck de Vries will go to Super Formula starting round 5

Fionn McLaughlin and Scott Linblom joined Red Bull junior academy

the complaint against Horner has been dismissed (are you kidding me)

Marta Garcia debuted in GT racing in Ligier European Series JS2 R and lost podium from the first race due to penalty only to win the second race

Zak Brown is apparently trying to take away team’s veto/voting rights for the new Concorde Agreement that is being finalized for future decisions

Adidas is apparently in talks with Audi to become their clothing partner

Juri Vips was meant to drive an indycar race but I didn’t put enough effort into this to find out if he really did teehee :)

(Bonus from my fave gossipers: They are set on Newey going to Ferrari, the talks about Aston bring up his value though, something his manager Eddie Jordan is well aware of. Also there are talks about the Ferrari upgrades for Monza and that they will be black – deleted everything else because they already posted the black merch and suits so they were right about this lol)

[nyoomfruits]

For the fake title thing!! What would you do with Deja Vu for Lestappen 🤍

alsdfjasldk i had to ask eby for help on this one but she said 'the five times charles tries to kiss max and the one time he finally succeeds' and now i'm YELLING

like the first time they're only four or five and they're at a karting tournament and maybe max trips and scrapes his knee and charles is like "well when i fall my mom always kisses my forehead to make me feel bette" and max is like "thats so STUPID i'm not a BABY" and charles is all >:( about it

the second time they're like eight or nine and maybe they're at a race and its kind of awkward because they're not really friends but max keeps talking to him and suddenly charles is blurting out "my brother has a girlfriend" because lorenzo just told him like two hours ago and its been on his mind all day and he needs to tell SOMEONE and max is like "okay?" and charles is like "yeah, the KISS and stuff. have you ever been kissed?" and max scrunches up his nose and is like "no" and then charles very tentatively goes "... do you WANT to" and max thinks about it and is like "no thank you" and then they run off to play with their other friends

then they're sixteen, and they're at a karting tournament and they sneak out with a few other of their karting friends at night and they sit on a roof and someone's smuggled beer with them and somehow max and charles end up sharing one and thats the first time charles actually thinks about kissing max. for real. he almost does it, because the alcohol in his veins makes him feel brave and courageous and why the fuck NOT, but then max looks at him, and the blue of his eyes is bright bright bright, and charles ends up chickening out

charles is 20, and he's made it. he's made it into f1. three years after max, sure, but he's HERE and they're not going to get rid of him that easily. he doesn't do that well in the race, but it's okay, he'll get better. he's still RACING and despite the mediocre result, when he steps out of the car he feels EUPHORIC. max gets out of the car as well, and charles spots him across parc ferme, and for an insane second charles wants to run over there, wrap his arms around him, kiss him full on the mouth. annoyed by the fact he apparently STILL hasn't gotten over THAT stupid crush, he makes his way back to the sauber motorhome.

charles is 24 and he wins the 2022 austrian grand prix. he WINS after the worst fucking streak in history. he doesnt think he's ever felt more euphoric. max sprays him with champagne on the podium, and all charles wants to do is rip the bottle out of his hands and kiss him silly. he's made peace with his crush over the last few years, even though he knows it's never going to get reciprocated. but in an insane moment of winners euphoria and champagne showers, he lets himelf think it might.

charles is 25 and he wins monaco, after the worst start he's ever had. both max and checo had to dnf for it to happen, but he doesnt even care, he's won. max is there, waiting for him near the ferrrari motorhome when he finally gets back. he expects him to be annoyed, maybe. expects him to give charles a bland 'congrats' and fuck off.

what he doesnt expect is for max to pull him behind the motorhome, press him against the wall, and kiss the everliving daylights out of him.

[charles-leclerc-official]

2024 China Grand Prix Race Analysis

Here is my full analysis of the 2024 Chinese Grand prix. I already covered the sprint in a separate post here.

The important thing to keep in mind about this weekend is that the Chinese track was a very unique surface. It caused a lot of unusual grip problems for many of the top teams. I think as a whole that this race saw some outlier results as far as car behavior goes.

Table of Contents Stake - Zhou - Valtteri Ferrari - Start - Charles: his race, vs Lando - Carlos - Data Analysis Mclaren - Lando - Oscar - Data Analysis Penalties - Logan - Kevin - Daniel - Lance VCARB Aston Martin Red Bull - Checo Final Thoughts

Stake

Zhou

I usually start these with Ferrari. However this is a special occasion. So we are starting the analysis by celebrating Zhou and his performance this weekend.

This was the first Chinese Grand Prix in Formula 1 history with a Chinese driver racing on track. Zhou Guanyu made history and considering the car he's in he gave a good performance for the home crowd. Between qualifying 10th in the sprint, making some pretty good overtakes during the race, and carrying his team after Valtteri's DNF it was a pretty good weekend all around.

It was so nice to see all of the home support for Zhou. He was given an honorary spot at parc fermé after the race, and I am so glad they did something special to highlight this moment for him and the country he is representing in F1.

Zhou driving this weekend really was the highlight. This was only ever going to happen once in F1. Glad I was here to see it.

Valtteri unfortunately suffered a power unit failure and had to retire from the race. No damage to the car. This did bring out the yellow flag and a VSC. And when the marshals were unable to roll the car off the track quickly enough it upgraded to a full safety car(don’t worry we will be coming back to this)

He was looking pretty good in the car until that point, actually getting close to the points. I think we might see Stake in the points this year if they ever get their pit stops under control.

Ferrari

Ferrari's race was probably the weakest for the team so far this season. It wasn't really a surprise though. The cooler temperatures and inconsistent track surface were not ideal for the SF24.

Charles started in P6 and finished P4, Carlos started P7 and finished P5.

I do consider this not to be indicative of any downward trend for Ferrari. It was pretty predictable and it did not reveal any issues in the SF-24 we weren't already aware of (tyre warming)

Ferrari did say that they sacrificed more in qualifying in favor of a better race setup. And I don't think this was necessarily a bad idea. It's impossible to say if a different setup might have put them higher and if they have been able to defend with that setup. Going for a more race focused setup and relying on the better tyre deg to be able to allow for overtaking is a pretty good plan, especially if they didn't think they could get much more out of qualifying.

This did mean that we got to see some proper overtakes in the SF-24 from Charles and that is something we just haven't seen a lot of this season so far. So seeing how it handles in that regard was good.

So the big question is, why did Ferrari suddenly end up behind a Mclaren when Ferrari have been easily beating them all season?

Well there are a few factors:

- Ferrari struggled this weekend with grip and failed to find the best balance in the car to maximize top speeds. They did sacrifice some downforce in favor of speed during the race but I don't think it was enough. It didn't do enough to help the top speeds and it sacrificed grip so we ended up a weird middle ground that didn't optimize either problem. This track surface really made it so hard to figure out the right direction for setup.

- Mclaren(Lando) were stronger than expected. Lando was really the one pulling performance out of that car.

I will point out some key areas on this in the data analysis section as well.

Race Start

The most notable thing about Ferrari’s race was the start, when Carlos compromised his and Charles’ start by attacking right into turn 1. This forced Charles to have to defend(something he should not have to do right off the race start from his own teammate who started behind) and this resulted in them both immediately losing a place to Russell. This was a place they both had to fight to make up.

Again, this kind of thing isn’t good when compromising the results for the whole team is the result.

Footage Analysis

Just so we are clear about who is responsible for the loss of placement I want to show the footage from this start. This is from Carlos' driver cam footage as it most clearly shows what happened.

Charles starts P6 with Carlos behind him in P7. George is behind them in P8.

Into turn 1 Charles has the inside line, very clearly. Carlos has the outside line into the turn, this is fine. Charles is also clearly ahead.

Carlos pushes inside more, putting pressure on Charles. Notice how much closer Carlos got and how much space he left on the outside(another vulnerability he left open)

Charles pushes Carlos back(to defend which he has to do if attacked especially into a crowded corner like that a the race start)

Charles then took full position in front of Carlos, and this allowed George to slip past both of them on the inside line.

Because Carlos forced Charles to defend George was able to take that inside line that Charles had and passed both of them, dropping Charles and Carlos down a place.

Charles cannot defend both the outside and inside line on his own. He defended against the car that put pressure on him first. His teammate should not be the main one he has to defend team track position against.

Carlos compromised Charles' ability to defend position against George(which is the priority, he's on a rival team that is more important than racing between teammates)

Again if he is attacked Charles has to defend, why would he give up the place to the teammate he was faster than? Nothing would have happened if Carlos hadn’t pulled this move. Charles would have kept George behind and they might have been able to overtake earlier in the race and gain one more position, because they lost a full position to George this early they had to take that back before they could make progress climbing further up the field.

Carlos

This was Carlos' weakest performance so far this year. He compromised the race start for himself and Ferrari causing them both to lose placement immediately. Then he was unable to overtake. The only real overtakes he's pulled off were on cars with seriously compromised brakes.

He struggled with grip and tyres more than Charles. They both had issues in this area but it was more noticeable in his performance.

Charles finished 10.36 seconds ahead of his teammate who was directly behind him in the final 13 laps this race. And that gap can be explained by the fact Carlos was stuck behind Fernando for more laps(as well as a pit stop), however once he got into clean air he did not make up any time at all, his pace didn’t gain on Charles at all with the clean air. A gap in pace that big between teammates is concerning(at least for Carlos) It may be due to his personal choice of setup, or tyre management, or grip in the track. Given that he had more issues with grip on this track I am thinking that was a factor. He lost most of his time on turns 1, 5, 7, 8, and 10.

Edit: also Carlos did pit under normal conditions while Charles pitted under the safety car, this saved Charles some time(aprox 7-8 seconds), however the main point stands that Carlos did not make any progress closing the gap between them.

Charles

Charles' overtakes climbing up the field really saved Ferrari's race. Starting off by losing a position he climbed up places pulling some really clean overtakes and also helping his teammate through.

It was great to see him doing some overtaking in this car, he hasn't been in the position to do much of that due to track position etc in previous races. SF-24 looked good on that front in his hands.

Charles mentioned the lack of speed on straights, and this is due to the fact he wasn't able to gain on Lando in those sections(when he should have) this is due to the less than optimal downforce balance Ferrari went with this weekend(again I don't this is anything terribly concerning, this was a hard track to get that right on)

Overall Charles ran a really good race, obviously not the results he wanted but he extremely optimistic about the upgrades and that they will address some of the current limitations of the SF-24.

Data Analysis

I want to compare Charles and Lando's pace to highlight where Mclaren had the edge on Ferrari in this race. Charles was the fastest Ferrari this weekend and Lando was the fastest Mclaren.

First here is a breakdown of the fastest lap both driver's set.

Lando's straight line speed was really a big factor in keeping him ahead. That plus the fact he was consistently strong in sector 2.

And here is a look at the overall race pace between the two.

Ignore the mess in the middle, that curve is just correcting a slope for the outlier laps due to yellow flag and safety car conditions. It's not important here.

Lando had the edge on Charles almost the entire race. Until the end on the old hards.

What is important is that Lando had the pace on the new hards. Charles didn’t have the time to catch Lando once he managed to gain the places. He probably would have without the yellow flags and if track placement was better. The point being that Ferrari’s pace was off this weekend but it wasn’t as bad as it looked on track, there were other factors at play.

I think this result was a combination of a sub-optimal setup for this track on Ferrari's part on top of the fact this wasn't Ferrari’s strongest track, and Mclaren getting things right for Lando. Also some fairly solid driving from Lando.

Now I want to compare Charles' and Carlos' fastest laps and pace. This was the biggest gap in performance we've seen so far this year between the two Ferraris. Some of that I will attribute to the fact this track was weird as far as track surface goes, but such a big difference between teammates like this means it wasn't just the car or the track surface. While both were not great with grip or setup this weekend one outperformed the other by a decent margin.

Here is a look at Charles' and Carlos' fastest laps.

Charles having better straight line speed consistently and putting in a strong sector three is what put him ahead of Carlos and kept him there for the entire race.

Now here is the full race pace.

Again remember to ignore the weird lines in the middle that is just the graphing tool not able to create a good slope for all the safety car laps.

But you can see that Charles' pace was better the entire race, on both the medium and the hard tyres.

I don't think there was a lot more to get out of this weekend for Ferrari. It's possible managing the pits a little differently would have gotten Charles up to third but with the yellow flag chaos It was really difficult to gauge in real time when the best time to pit was. I think the pit management was good. We can look back and go "oh we could have gained a place here" So I have no issues there.

Hopefully that clears up some questions about Ferrari's overall race and car performance this weekend.

Overall this was still decent points for the constructors’ and we saw some good racing from Charles. I do fully believe we will be seeing Ferrari come back stronger in Miami.

Mclaren

Why was Mclaren, specifically Lando, so strong this weekend?

Well it's unclear.

They have had the clear #3 car so far this season. So I think that it's a combination of this not being a strong track for Ferrari and some conditions that favored their car that put them ahead.

No one, not even Mclaren expected this so I really think it seems like it comes down to this track being better for them than expected and Lando specifically being tuned into the track. Like after practice Lando was not feeling confident(his words) and the team were also not making any promises. I don’t think they were sandbagging, I think this genuinely all came together for them. 

Now it’s clear that Lando would have finished P3 behind Checo if it were not for the luck/strategy(a little of both they timed that well, but also had to get lucky with Red Bull timing) with the pits. Red Bull lost track position to Lando when they pitted Checo and they were unable to take it back. If Red Bull had timed their stop better Lando would have been P3 because his pace was not going to catch Checo if he was ahead.

So the P2 is due to some good driving on Lando’s part and Red Bull giving up track position and failing to recover it.

Oscar struggled more on this track. However he wasn't far outside where we've seen him in other races and for Mclaren in general. So he wasn’t under-performing, Lando was over performing. I also want to note that Oscar was slightly damaged during the crash between Lance and Dani, Dani's front wing tapped the rear of his car and there may have been a small amount of damage, important to note as he may have been compromised on pace due to this.

Data Analysis

Comparison of Lando and Checo’s pace

The first half of the race isn’t as important, the graph is very odd in the middle due to all of the outlier laps caused by the yellow flags, so that is not important. What I want to point out is that Lando was on the same pace as Checo(or slightly better) for those first 6 laps after the race started again when all the yellow flags were done, but after that Checo was faster until the end of the race. Not enough to catch Lando, but enough that Lando would not have been able to pass him if he hadn’t had track position.

Now here is a quick look at Lando and Oscar's pace.

There isn't a ton to dissect here, Lando was faster the entire race, by a pretty big margin on the hards especially. Given that a lot of drivers this race had issues managing deg on the hards I think that second stint gap really came down to tyre management, an area where Oscar is still improving.

Here is a look at their fastest laps to really see where Lando was making those bigger gains and where Oscar was struggling.

One thing that I find interesting is that Oscar's fastest lap had a section of DRS, Lando's didn't and Lando was still a full second faster. Just a really solid lap from Lando all around. His strength in sector 2 is what really gave him an edge all race.

Overall this was Mclaren’s best finish, but their strongest weekend overall so far this season is still Australia(because both drivers had a strong finish not just one)

Penalties and Incidents

Welcome to the “everyone gets a penalty!” section of the analysis. This was a mess to unravel. After reviewing the footage and reading the stewards judgements as well as the driver and teams statements I have come to a lot of the same conclusions as the stewards. 

The middle of this race was a mess. One yellow flag had just ended before another had to be brought out again. 

There were two yellow flags this race, the first after Valtteri DNF'ed and the second due to multiple incidents right after the end of the first yellow flag. 

My biggest critique is that the VSC was deployed weirdly late. They seemed about 10 to 20 seconds off in calling for one, and that is concerning. A driver on the side of the track is at risk, so it’s important to make sure a race is slowed immediately.

Logan: overtook under safety car conditions after the VSC was enacted when Valtteri’s power unit failed. Nico was coming out of the pitlane as Logan was coming down the straight, Nico managed to barely exit in front of Logan, but Logan’s faster momentum into turn 1 put him ahead of Nico, and thus he overtook under a yellow flag. Time penalty and license points is an appropriate penalty. I have no idea why his team didn’t get him to slow down more. They said they missed Nico, which I really don't know how. Lack of track observation. This was a failure of the team as much as it was sloppy on Logan's part. I think he would have slowed more had the team actually noticed this sooner.

Kevin: Kevin made contact with Yuki going out of turn 6 right after the race restart. He broke late and made contact with Yuki’s rear wheel and this led to a tyre puncture. Yuki had to retire from the race. Kevin was clearly at fault here, he failed to brake when catching Yuki.

Daniel: Dani was penalized for overtaking under a yellow flag and a safety car. He did this deliberately because Nico took a place from him and he thought it was okay to take that spot back. However he should have waited for the race to resume under green light conditions before doing that. He knows better. What happened with Nico is a little murky as far as why he took a position and why he did not get penalized. I think it's because it was right before the safety car but the FIA reporting on that isn't clear.

Lance: At turn 14 Lance rear ended Daniel after the first safety car had ended they were waiting on Max to restart the race. Max was leading the race and setting the pace until proper racing speeds could resume. Lance is at fault here, it’s that simple. This was seriously negligent driving on his part. I really have no idea what he was doing but no competent driver does this. I will agree with Oscar in the sentiment that everyone was crowded together, only one person crashed into another car in that scenario. 

“Yes, but not everyone decided to crash into each other.” - Oscar 

Lance argued that it was the concertina effect, and said the stewards should account for that. This is a weak argument at best. The concertina effect is to describe car behavior on track, it isn’t an excuse. Going into a corner a driver who is supposedly one of the best in the world should know how to account for that effect. The fact is that he was going too fast into that corner and not paying attention to the car in front of him.  

Furthermore his lack of accountability and attempts to blame everyone but himself for the incident is not a good look. He is very clearly in the wrong here. I think that the penalty he received might be on the gentle side of things as well. Personally I would have liked to see a 20 second time penalty for that, or a grid penalty. 

I agree with Dani’s statement that Lance should have only been paying attention to the car in front of him. He clearly wasn’t doing that, or at least not well enough. He appears to be looking at Max and Oscar waiting for Max to restart the race. But that is not where he should have been looking. Additionally Dani pointed out that Lance’s speed there was too much, he put half his car under Dani, that’s not the concertina effect, that is going too fast. 

Dani of course is heated, and I feel that for him, he DNF'ed because of the carelessness of another driver through no real fault of his own. I don’t think continuing to argue is good on either side, but he has every right to be mad, especially when the offending driver refuses to admit his fault. Two DNFs in a row is hard for any driver. Lance really cost him a lot. 

This isn’t just sloppy driving on Lance’s part, it's outright negligent.

VCARB

Quick note about VCARB. Dani was on track for his best performance all year this weekend. Which makes the DNF all the more upsetting. Yuki struggled with this track all weekend, seems he was not feeling this track or that car. I will say his performance seems like an anomaly compared with the rest of his season so far so I don’t think it’s cause for concern for future races. 

VCARB as a team were obviously the worst off this weekend with both driver’s DNF'ing at no fault of their own.

Aston Martin

I already covered Lance, so I want to just quickly mention that Fernando was on fire this weekend. He was defending, and had that car in places it really had no business being. His recovery from the close spin, the defending, the overtakes. He really is just continuing to show his skill and experience, and he overall had one of the best drives of the entire race.

Red Bull

Max won the race, and it was a pretty clean race for him, which is amusing due to the utter chaos happening behind him. First time he has won at this track, so that is another track conquered by Max. Well done Max!

Sergio

Checo’s race wasn’t actually that bad. He was comfortably in P2 until Red Bull gave up track position and he wasn’t able to recover the place from Lando. I already compared the pace between those two. But I think it’s pretty clear that he would have been P2 were it not for the pits. If he has position he has the pace to keep the spot. However he does not have the same pace Max has in the RB20 to take lost positions back if the car ahead has similar pace. 

I also want to note here that there were a few corners where it was pointed out that Alpine and Williams were outperforming Ferrari on. However taking a look at the data it wasn’t just Ferrari. Pierre was literally faster than Max in that corner consistently. What this tells me is that something about the unusual grip of this track was not suited to any of the fastest cars. So it’s not a Ferrari problem, or a Red Bull problem, it’s just highlighting an unusual quirk of the track that no one really figured out this weekend.

Here is a fastest lap comparison of Pierre and Max. Obviously Max is the best driver in the best car, so I think this just highlights my point about certain corners especially turns 1, 2, and 3. There was something off there that gave the edge to some midfield cars are far as grip goes. All top cars struggled for speed on those turns and I think it was due to weird track surface conditions.

Final Thoughts

This was the most chaotic race of the season. Hopefully we have a penalty free race next time.

See you when I return with Miami GP analysis!

[thearchercore]

about this post(fp1camera zoom and sainz to rb)

do you think it's possible for sainz to go there? and if not where do you think he might go. i don't know if you answered this but im just curious about your opinion

i think if carlos goes to rbr, max has to leave. i dont see them working as a duo (different car preference, politics etc.) will buxton recently mentioned that he thinks he may do the sauber-> audi move as he could be the clear #1 in that team once it rebrands. carlos usually struggles with grasping the concept of being the second driver (officially) so i don't see him going to mercedes (who i think will rather invest in alonso to make up for the loss of lewis or kimi antonelli in hopes of getting max 2.0). aston is also an option now if alonso leaves and he teams up with lance (i think there they have more equal driver status or he could even get some p1 driver treatment.)

someone also mentioned the possibility of RBR or merc buying out oscar out of his mclaren contract and carlos ending up there with lando but who knows, really.

after what max and his side of the garage said, i don't think him pairing up with carlos is an option they're actively considering. i think they much more prefer driver like checo who max doesn't really have issues with and who's very happy to focus on being the number #2. i think they may keep checo for another year, try out liam at RB next year (or maybe even driver swap this year? who knows) and if he's successful, then checo's seat could be his once the regulations kick in in 2026.

[livefastdriveyoung]

Takeaways from Testing Day 1

The RB-20 Maintains Status Quo - Max ended a full 1.162 (don't quote me but I think that's the correct math) ahead of Lando Norris in P2. The car did not appear to struggle under its 142 laps. It also remained consistent across majority of the runs. Checo will drive tomorrow.

Aston Martin is being underestimated - Fernando Alonso is a world champion, he started his session in P3. He stayed there for a great deal of the session. Even ending in P8 puts him in the points if this is a race. Additionally, Lance pulled through into the top five, taking P4 for a period of time. He's a strong driver, he shouldn't be underestimated. They both finished in the points, and had Lance not lost his mirror he could have pulled a fast lap.

Williams Car is the problem, not the drivers - I cannot reiterate this one enough. Alex Albon had a fuel pump problem, so entirely out of his control. Logan Sargeant has improved. Undoubtedly so. Not only has he built up his muscle and trained hard, he spun out and still managed to get back onto the track, and sit at P10 for most of the session before ending P11. Allegedly the reason he had a spin out was also because of a gearbox/transmission error. Whether it was the cause or the issue was the result, he held it together well. The car is having problems, not the drivers.

Mercedes Performance - We know that Lewis Hamilton is a strong driver. He's never been the best qualifier when there are competitive cars. Yes, George did not do as well as he could have, ending with P12, but he experienced at least two lock-ups. There's no guarantee that the issues don't exist in Lewis's car as well. We'll see what happens.

The complaint about their front wing design is interesting. F1 and FIA are separate organizations. Mercedes wouldn't blatantly violate the letter of the law, they would be the first team to be called out for it. They follow the letter and have the approval of the FIA. It has been approved. Whether F1's concern about the 'spirit' of the law being violated is something that could impact them, I don't know. I'm sure that the new rules will include a provision against this next year, but any immediate action, I doubt. Symonds is unimpressed.

Haas is not to be thrown out of the running - yet - A new team principal means that there are going to be changes. They straight out said the focus was on the Tyres and not on performance. While they are not a strong team, I think that throwing them away just because you might have preferred Guenther, or like to rely on what you already know, this isn't that. Yet.

Visa Cash-App Racing Bulls - Forget it, I'm calling them V-CARB. Anyway, Daniel Ricciardo, (LOL that autocorrected to all caps which is so funny) had minimal struggle with the car. His first few laps were not great,, but to end in P4 is wonderful. His statements about a podium in the beginning of the season being a dream not a reality is interesting, but I wonder if that is self-deprecation/spreading the party message from within Red Bull's house. Yuki finished P13, but, again, only had a morning slot. He was high up for a good portion of the day as well. I think this is going to be interesting. The narrative that they are not a junior team anymore seems to be accurate.

Stake did well - The C44 is worlds ahead of last year's model. Additionally, we forget regularly that Bottas was a Mercedes driver, he's won Gps before. Zhou is not a bad driver, I think this might be his last season to prove himself because I think Audi will keep someone who has a history of winning, and if the rumors are true, Carlos Sainz will be getting one of the seats. But that might motivate him. He's also young, 24 is below the mean age of the drivers (29) and if he can demonstrate improvements, they might keep him over Bottas.

Ferrari Fights - Buckle down y'all. I don't think that Carlos will do anything to sabotage Charles, he's not an idiot, but he's going to do what he has to in order to prove that Ferrari are losing out on a driver. He was P3 today. Charles is great, we know he can drive, his improvement is clear. I'm curious as to what that is going to look like.

if he's moved on from this, he's going to need to demonstrate to Audi that he can be a First Driver.

Alpine - Pierre pulled P5 right at the end. Ocon is toward the bottom. I'm not sure what's going on in house but nobody is happy allegedly. Guess we'll see.