#albert fabrega

[ehcahache]

Translated with help from @vamossainz55 <3

I: We are here with Carlos Sainz. Carlos, how are you feeling? Because it has been really tense, this qualifying [session].

C: Yeah, it has been typical Monza qualifying. Very, very tight. Truthfully, from minute 1 the car has been much better than in Zandvoort the last race, and Carlos felt comfortable. He was fast in the FP1, 2, and 3 and then in quali too, no? But well, you have to deliver in quali and the last lap was a really good lap

I: It’s about working, fighting, and not throwing the towel. They knew here at home the result is important, especially for Carlos, not only to be in pole position but to be ahead of Charles Leclerc too.

C: Yes, in front of… to finish in quali in front of Max, of Charles, yes. It is a very good result especially being a Ferrari driver, getting pole in Monza has to be special, but now it’s sure that we need to move forward and focus on the race, try to do it the best way possible. We know that Max in the race and Ferrari’s degradation is a bit of a handicap, but we have to try, no?

I: This year we have experienced some situations during the race in which, whether it is for the strategy, or the indecisiveness of the engineer wall… We have experienced situations that have not favored Carlos. Whether it is for one reason or another. Are you scared that, despite it going well and being able to do his race…?

C: No, what I hope is that he does a good start and then the pace, well I hope he has pace and that he can fight for the podium, over anything try to win. But as I’ve been saying, unfortunately the experience with the (tyre) degradation… There has been a lot of difference between Red Bull, and last year it was in the race, Charles came out pole but there was no way to stop Verstappen, no? So, I think we have to, to push to the maximum. But with the experience from last year and this year’s experience, there is even more difference between the cars than there was last year, it’s going to be hard.

I: What advice are you going to give him tonight?

C: Advice? Well, the first thing I’m gonna do is congratulate him. Then, I’m telling him to have fun and do it the best possible way. To move on because qualifying has passed already and it doesn’t count, the points are made tomorrow and tomorrow has to be done the best way possible.

Spanish:

A: Estamos con Carlos Sainz, Carlos, ¿Cómo vas de emociones? Porqué ha sido realmente tensa esta clasificación.

C: Sí, ha sido típica clasificación de Monza. Muy, muy ajustada. La verdad que el coche desde el minuto 1 fue bastante mejor que en Zandvoort, la última carrera y Carlos se sintió cómodo. Fue rápido en el practice 1, 2 y 3, y luego la qualy, pues también, no? Pero bueno, la qualy hay que hacerlo y que la última vuelta ha sido una muy buena vuelta.

A: Son de trabajo, de luchar, de no tirar la toalla. Aquí en casa sabían que era un resultado importante y sobre todo para Carlos, estar no solamente en pole sino delante de Charles Leclerc también.

C: Sí, delante de... estar en qualy delante de Max, de Charles sí, es un muy buen resultado sobretodo siendo piloto de Ferrari, hacer la pole en Monza tiene que ser especial, pero seguro que ahora hay que pasar página ya y concentrarse en la carrera, intentar hacerlo lo mejor posible. Sabemos que Max en carrera y la degradación del Ferrari pues es un poco handicap, pero hay que intentarlo, ¿no?

A: Este año hemos vivido algunas situaciones en carrera en que, sea por la estrategia, sea por la indecisión del muro... se han vivido situaciones que no han favorecido a Carlos. Sea por una razón u otra. ¿Te da miedo mañana que, pese a salir bien y pueda hacer su carrera...?

C: No, yo lo que espero es que haga una buena salida y luego el ritmo, pues espero que tenga ritmo y que pueda luchar por lo que por el podium, sobre todo intentar ganar. Pero como digo, desgraciadamente la experiencia nos dice que la degradación... Hay mucha diferencia entre Red Bull y, el año pasado ya la hubo aquí en carrera, salió también Charles en Pole, que no hubo manera de contener a Verstappen, ¿no? entonces, yo creo que hay que intentarlo, empujar al máximo. Pero la experiencia del año pasado y la experiencia de este año, que todavía hay más diferencia de coche que lo que había la temporada pasada, nos dice que va a ser difícil.

A: ¿Qué consejo le vas a dar esta noche?

C: ¿Consejo? Bueno, lo primero le voy a dar la enhorabuena, lógicamente. Después, divertirse y hacerlo lo mejor posible. Pasar página porque la clasificación ha pasado ya y no cuentan, los puntos se hacen mañana y es mañana cuando hay que hacerlo lo mejor posible.

[alonsogirlie]

LIKE YOU CANT SAY STUFF LIKE THAT AND JUST DIP, TF??😭😭😭

[detroit-grand-prix]

[bezzplaining]

he had a new job

[f1]

[msmirrorball21]

Tu tu du du

🌊 Zandvoort GP by me

[summerblueringo]

kinda wild reading Seb blogs' posts about monza19, it really confirms everything I suspected 🫠

[rickybaby]

We keep talking about media literacy, but it's actually something very difficult to put into practice in this very overcrowded F1 media ecosystem, especially for new fans. I thought it would be a good idea to put together a list of reliable sources to hopefully make this year's silly season easier to navigate.

Publications

Auto Motor und Sport (more commonly known as AMuS) - the German publication is arguably considered as the most reliable source for F1 news. Most other publications will very often quote AMuS as source.

Speedcafe.com - Australia's foremost motorsport website. Mat Coch, their F1 editor, has access to Daniel's management and was one of the first people to seek clarification from Daniel's team when the rumour that he would be replaced by Miami first cropped up.

Other reliable publications: Autosport, Motorsport, PlanetF1 (caution to be advised with PlanetF1 because very often, it just quotes sources like AMuS or tends to have a lot of clickbait articles), BBC F1.

Journalists

Chris Medland - Chris is a freelance journalist with permanent FIA accreditation. He usually writes for RACER.COM. In my opinion, he is the most reliable from the whole cohort of journalists on twitter. He may not always be the one to break a story, but if he tweets out about a rumour or story, this is pretty much confirmation that the rumour or story is true.

Nate Saunders - Nate writes for ESPN F1 and is generally considered to be the Ricciardo camp mouthpiece. However, this does not necessarily mean he is, at all times, privy to insider information from Daniel's camp. Look out for him quoting 'sources close to ...'

Thomas Maher - Thomas writes for PlanetF1 and while PlanetF1 is not the most reliable of publications, I think Thomas is a good source to follow on twitter as he is pretty good at reaching out to his sources in the paddock when it comes to seeking clarification on a rumour.

Erik Van Haren - the Dutch journalist writes for the Telegraaf. He has the reputation of being close to the Max & Jos Verstappen camp and was the first one to break the Christian Horner SH story. Therefore, anything he writes about Max or Red Bull can be more or less be relied upon.

Albert Fabrega - he is a longstanding reporter with great technical expertise and is considered as the go-to source for the Spanish/ Spanish-speaking drivers, especially Alonso. Though, caution to be exercised after the whole 'I cannot believe what I have just been told' thing he pulled last year.

Lawrence Barretto - Lawrence is a presenter for F1. He is one of my favourites in the paddock and from time to time, he will have some insider information when it comes to Daniel. He was the first one to report on Daniel's best lap at the Silverstone being good enough for the front row.

F1 Pundits

There is a whole host of characters who act as commentators or guests across a variety of international broadcasts over a race weekend (or some of them just hang around the paddock). Think Martin Brundle, Crofty, Karun Chandhok, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, David Coulthard, Eddie Jordan, Ralf Schumacher ...

Their opinions are invariably given a lot of weight by virtue of most of them being former drivers or World Champions, but fact remains that many of them have no insight into what's actually happening within a team. However, that being said, a few of them still have close relationships with some of the teams, for e.g., David Coulthard with Red Bull or Mika Hakkinen with McLaren and whatever they say about these teams could potentially be relied upon.

Caution ⚠️

Joe Saward - Joe is rather notoriously known for his Green Notebook column on his blog. The column is supposedly meant to provide titillating insider information about F1, but it more often ends up being a regurgitation of the rumours that have been floating around that week. He has more misses than hits when it comes to rumours and anything he says needs to be taken with a generous dose of skepticism.

Will Buxton - if you see Will tweet something out, please lock your phone and walk away. This is not to say Will doesn't know what's happening in the sport - after all, he was the first one to give any indication of the Lewis to Ferrari story, but he is too committed to playing the game of shit-stirrer for engagement. The unfortunate thing is, we're all too human and we all invariably for his game and we end up going into a downward spiral of 'what does he mean???' when he tweets something out...

[race-week]

F1 Sources

I’ve been asked a few times about what F1 sources I deem as being reliable and here’s a mostly conclusive list

Some of these are particularly reliable for news about certain teams/drivers, and some are all rounders

Magazines/Media Outlets

- AMuS (Auto Motor und Sport), German Motorsport publication, personally my holy grail. Very good for reports on technical stuff.

- Canal+, reliable particularly for Alpine related stuff

- Sky Sports UK, typically don’t comment on rumours until they’re essentially confirmed but sometimes say the wildest shit with no real bearing

- Sky Italia, reliable about Ferrari

- Autosport

- Motorsport.com

People

- Chris Medland, honestly my favourite journalist, he won’t report on anything until it’s verified. Very handy during race weekends

- Giuliano Duchessa, great technical information and also really good for Ferrari news

- Tobi Grüner, AMuS journalist. Does tech stuff but also paddock news

- Albert Fabrega, credible Spanish journalist. Good technical source, especially for upgrades

- Craig Scarborough, excellent technical source

- Andrew Benson, BBC journalist pretty decent information

- Jolyon Palmer, very good technical information (but be aware he is employed by FOM so some things that he says may be influenced by that)

- Erik van Haren, this one is so-so in my opinion. Usually has very accurate news about Red Bull/Verstappen but also has occasionally been used in the past as a mouthpiece of sorts

Less reliable sources (imo)

- ESPN, a bit of a FOM mouthpiece (compared to other sources)

- Lawrence Barretto, FOM employee typically says/writes what they want

- Will Buxton, FOM employee typically says/writes what they want

- Joe Saward, used to be somewhat reliable but recently talks a lot of nonsense

- The Race, sometimes can have good information (particularly things written by Mark Hughes) but a lot is clickbait nonsense

[ehcahache]

A: … that is the Spaniard’s manager. Carlos, feeling goosebumps still, no?

C: Buah, incredible. Imagine, here in Monza where everything multiplies x1000, making pole, is… Fuck, is that, goosebumps, as you say.

A: And you were telling me that it hasn’t been the perfect lap, that it’s been an incredible second sector you told.

C: He’s done… The 1st sector was not perfect, the 2nd sector was absolutely terrific. He does both Lesmos very fast, specially the second one. And then in the 3rd sector, he is gone mad in Ascari and then Parabolica wasn’t perfect but he had done Ascari so well that it was enough.

A: You’ve been with him all these days, did you sense something special? Carlos felt comfortable here and more after yesterday, did he know?

C: He, since Zandvoort finished… On Monday he was only thinking “Monza, Monza, Monza” Talking about Monza. Engineers, calls, he always told me that Monza was going to be different, that it’s another circuit, another configuration, another rear wing and more. So, after he finished Zandvoort’s race, he has been thinking about this. They have prepared it thoroughly, eh… And well, here, with all the support from the people, it’s something so unique, and the extra concentration he is always here, you tell me. Achieving this here, well. But it’s not done yet eh.

A: That's what I was going to tell you, now the second round, tomorrow. Who is stopping Verstappen?

C: Well, let’s see, they have more downforce, which means they are faster in turns, but in the straights, with our configuration we are faster. It’s going to be very tight. Honestly, in race simulation we have similar pace, so may the best win.

A: Congratulations, don’t celebrate too much because you have to be ready for tomorrow.

C: No! We don’t celebrate anything on Saturdays! The points are given on Sundays and even if the photo is pretty the important thing is to be up there in the podium, preferably on the taller step.

A: Well said, congrats.

C: Thanks.

Spanish:

A: ... que es el manager del piloto español. ¿Carlos, piel de gallina aún supongo, no?

C: Buah, increible. Imagínate, aquí en Monza que todo se multiplica por mil, ponerlo en la pole, macho es... Joder, pues eso, piel de gallina, como dices tú.

A: Y me decías que aún no ha sido la vuelta perfecta, que ha sido increíble el segundo sector decías.

C: Ha hecho... El sector 1 no ha sido perfecto, el sector 2 lo ha bordado. Las dos Lesmos las hace muy rápido, sobre todo la segunda, y luego en el sector 3, Ascari se ha tirado a cabreo y luego en Parabolica no ha sido perfecta pero bueno, había hecho Ascari tan bien que con eso vale.

A: Tú que has compartido todos estos días con él, ¿notabas algo especial? Que Carlos aquí se sentía cómodo y más después de lo de ayer, ¿lo sabía? ¿lo tenía?

C: Él, desde que terminó Zandvoort, el lunes ya estaba solo “Monza, Monza, Monza”. Hablando de Monza. Ingenieros, llamadas, a mí siempre me decía que Monza iba a ser distinto, que es otro circuito, otra configuración, otro ala y tal. Entonces, él, desde que terminó la carrera de Zandvoort, ya ha estado pensando en esto, la han preparado a conciencia, eh... y bueno, es que aquí, encima con el apoyo de la gente, que es algo único y con la concentración extra que trae aquí siempre, pues imaginate. Ahora conseguir esto, pues bueno. Pero bueno, no está hecho, eh.

A: Ah, es lo que te quería decir, ahora viene lo... el segundo asalto, mañana. ¿Quién frena a Verstappen?

C: Bueno, a ver, ellos llevan más carga, con lo qual van un poco más rápido en curva, pero en las rectas, con la configuración que llevamos nosotros vamos más rápido, con lo cual va a estar ahí ahí. La verdad es que en simulación de carrera íbamos bastante a la par, entonces pues bueno, será una carrera, yo creo que a cara de perro y a que gane el mejor.

A: Felicidades, a celebrarlo poquito porque hay que dejar algo para mañana.

C: Que va, aquí los sábados no se celebra nada. Que no reparten puntos y la foto es muy bonita pero lo que cuenta es subirse al podium mañana y si puede ser en lo más alto.

A: Sí señor, felicidades.

C: Gracias.

[wejustvibing]

the real mercedes 🖤

[©albert fabrega]

[umgeorge]

george russell ls interviewed during the press conference on media day, monaco - may 23, 2024 (transcript under the cut)

Interviewer: "George, coming to you now, a lot of positive comments coming out of Mercedesa fter the race on Sunday at Imola. Where is the car better after this latest raft of upgrades?" George: "Yeah, the car's definitely more balanced through the lap now. We were struggling a lot, at the start of the year, balancing the high to low speed corners, and I think we have made progress. When you look at the gap to Red Bull, when you look at the gap to the rest of the midfield, we have moved forward, but I do think it's fair to say Ferrari and McLaren have moved forward at the same rate, so we need to keep on working, bringing those upgrades to the car, and the whole team are working flat-out right now to bring those upgrades as quick as possible." Interviewer: "You've finished fifth here for the last two years. Do you have the performance to finish higher than that on merit?" George: "As the guys have been saying, Monaco's so challenging. There's so many disruptions throughout the whole weekend, and you just need to find that sweet spot. The track's evolving so much, it's getting faster and faster; often up to three seconds quicker in qualifying than it is in a practice one, two. Even if you have a good Friday, you need to be ready to adapt moving into Saturday, and we saw today… I was in the engineering meeting and there was bright blue sunshine, and then I came out andit was pouring down with rain, so that could add some spice to things." Interviewer: "Do you think the low speed performance of the car will help you?" George: "I think we've known all season that we struggle to balance high to low speed. We can either get it quite competitive in the low speed and we struggle in high speed, or vice versa, so we are hoping that with relatively consistent corner speeds at this circuit that we should be slightly more competitive."

[time jump] NOT SHOWN: Journalist: "Albert Fabrega, ESPN Latam. Do you think that deleting the quickest lap time of a driver causing a yellow or red flag during qualifying, it could be a good system for a particular track like this one, for example?" NOT SHOWN: Esteban Ocon: "I think, if I'm correct, that's being looked at by the FIA. I think recently we've discussed that in some drivers' meetings, that a situation where a driver would cause a red flag would be monitored. So I think that should be something sensible to be doing, because we've seen in the past drivers causing issues and the others not being able to do a lap. Yeah, that should be something that the FIA monitors, I think." George: "Yeah, I agree with Esteban. We obviously have laps deleted all the time in qualifying for track limits. I think if you were to cause a yellow flag or red flag, you should probably have your best lap deleted. Yeah, nothing more to say there."

[time jump] Journalist: "Roldan Rodriguez from DAZN, Spain. A question to George: Last race your teammate said that he would prefer Kimi Antonelli in Mercedes in next year. I would like to know your opinion, who is in pole next year for Mercedes?" George: "Yeah, I think Kimi's a fantastic driver. Obviously racing in Formula 2 this year, but he's no doubt gonna be a Formula 1 driver in the future. And he's a fellow junior driver, as well, coming through the ranks as I did with the team, so I think it makes for a great opportunity for Mercedes, building into the future. But, as I said before, I'd welcome anybody as my teammate. I feel like I've got a pretty good teammate right now, as it is, so yeah, welcome anybody."

[slutforpringles]

Not quite the Ricciardo-spec VCarb upgrades we were expecting to see this weekend lol 😂😅

via: Albert Fabrega

[vettelsvee]

“Good to see you again Sebastian! Especially for such an authentic initiative as Senna Forever! Legend!”

seb with albert fabrega (spanish f1 content creator/journalist. tbh he’s the best!) on thursday

📸: albertfabregasu on ig

[f1]

[mistressemmedi]

Finance girlie here: there's a long read in the FT on Stroll and Aston Martin and long story short, I don't think he's selling either the team or the company.

Unfortunate. If anyone needs me, I'll be under Albert Fabregas' bed with a knife