#can have the same or similar issues as pit bulls

[dilemmaontwolegs]

Not A Verstappen: Sibling Rivalry {1}

Pairing: F1 drivers (platonic) x fem!reader Summary: A little crack!fic as a driver!reader who is Max's little half-sister. Warnings: 18+ only, lots of bad language, protective big brother, sibling antics, daddy issues. WC: 2k F1 Masterlist NAV: Sibling Rivalry One || Two || Three NAV: Gridlocked One || Two || Three

There was nothing that irked you more than being called a Verstappen. Yes, you were Max’s sister, but that was where the relationship with the name ended. Your sperm donor, as you publicly referred to Jos, had never been a part of your life and that was one blessing you were thankful for. 

Somehow the bastard's genetics had won and that stupid racer’s blood ran in your veins. You liked to go fast. Your mother said that you could run before you could walk and the same went for driving. At 17 years old you had your super licence before your drivers licence, making it legal to drive at 200 mph around a circuit with insane corners but not 30 mph on the street.

Something about that seemed…odd.

It was worth it in the end. You could still remember the look on Jos’ face when you signed for Alpha Tauri. Oh, how the bastard had tried to credit himself with your achievement. But there were more similarities that you shared with your half sibling than you were willing to admit. One of those shared traits was brutal honesty. And you had let your honest thoughts fly when Jos opened his mouth.

Three years later the sperm donor was still bitter. He would surely have to get used to it, especially since you had just been named as a Red Bull driver, alongside Max.

Round One - Bahrain 2022 “This is a historical first, siblings racing together on the same team,” Ted Kravitz said as he walked along the pit, stopping outside Red Bull’s garage. “The two Verstappen's will be fighting each other for the Driver Championship, once again, while simultaneously working together to win the Constructors Championship. A very, very exciting season ahead I can already tell.”

You had been pulling your helmet on, about to climb into the RB18 when you heard the comment. The short temper you were well known for flared and you sauntered into the pit lane. “Hey, Ted Crapitz,” you called out as he stood writing in that little notepad of his.

He looked up a little stunned and his eyes darted at the camera that was always following him around. “It’s, uh, Kravitz.”

“Oh, my apologies, I thought it was just normal to make up offensive surnames. No?” you asked as you arched an eyebrow at him. “Because Verstappen isn’t mine, so don’t ever call me that again.”

“S-sorry, my mistake,” he stammered, but you were already shoving your helmet on and grabbing the halo to climb into your car. “A bit of a slap on the wrist for me there.”

You had no doubt that the video would go viral and the comments would call you a bitch but you didn’t care. Jos was a piece of shit and your mother didn’t raise you all on her own, working two jobs to pay for your karting years, just for you to be called a fucking Verstappen.

There was no better feeling than pulling out of the garage and heading to the track. The finely tuned car purred beneath you and you could feel the restrained power of it just waiting for you to pass the pit marker so you could push the throttle and free the beast you had worked hard to control.

“Radio check,” your engineer, Nicholas, ordered through the headset.

“Tell big bro to keep his mouth closed during the race. It can’t be healthy to eat my dust.” 

“Understood.”

The jeroboam size bottle of Ferrari Trento looked enormous in your hands as you shook it up and sprayed Charles and Carlos back after drenching you first. You may have been on the bottom step of the podium but you celebrated as if you had taken 1st place. Turning the bottle on the crowd, you spotted Max at the front with a wide grin on his face as he cheered with the rest of Red Bull. 

It was a little disappointing that he had DNF’d but there was always next week to battle it out again. In the meantime you enjoyed the adrenaline of the podium finish and the image of Jos standing to the side with a face like a slapped ass. It was a feeling you could definitely get used to.

Round Eleven - Great Britain 2022 The leaderboard changed almost every week, flipping like hotcakes between you and Max. It was labelled as sibling rivalry, and for once the media got it right. Though you hadn’t grown up with Max there was an innate need to know who was better, who could push the limits harder and who could get away with it. Some weeks it was you, some weeks it wasn’t. It was all part of the fun. 

Fun. Now that was something that came in spades. The camaraderie that came with the competitiveness was always something you enjoyed moving up from F3 and F2 before reaching F1. With only 19 other people sharing the same experience with you, it was impossible not to grow close to them. 

“Can you let Max in front today?” Lando asked as you walked along the grid. “Please?”

“Why would I do that?” 

“Because he’d rather look at your ass than Max’s, if he can hold third place.” You turned to the other McLaren driver to see a grin splitting the Australian’s face. 

“Aww, Lando, the real English gentleman,” you tutted sarcastically as you pulled your balaclava off your shoulder and snickered when it slapped Lando across the back of his head.

“Unnecessary violence, Spitfire,” he gasped before muttering under his breath, ���I know who you get that from.”

A growl pulled back your lips and you punched him none too softly in the bicep, which was a double edged sword because it was far harder than you were expecting and you felt the hit in your knuckles. 

“Oh, Lando, Lando, Lando,” Daniel chuckled as he walked off to his car. “When are you going to learn?”

“You know the car goes faster with less weight,” Lando said as he rubbed his arm.

“Yeah, so?”

He shrugged sheepishly. “All that baggage you carry is weighing you down.”

“Well, that’s just stupid, metaphors weigh nothing...” You pulled your balaclava over your face as you walked from the second row to the front where the two Red Bulls were parked side by side. 

“Hey Lan,” you called out as you turned back with the urge to lighten the mood after he had looked crestfallen. “Don’t get too excited when I warm up my tires, that’s not me shaking my ass for you.”

You could see the corners of his eyes wrinkle with a smile that was hidden by the balaclava he pulled on. “A lad can dream, Spitfire.”

You had earned the nickname of Spitfire from dog-fighting your way to the front of the pack and it was one you were proud of, it certainly beat being called a bitch day in and day out. 

“Just keep it to your dreams, yeah? I’m already paying too much for therapy.”

“You can talk about your daddy issues later,” Max interrupted, tossing your helmet into your waiting hands. “Get in your car, zusje.”

You grinned to yourself as the formation lap began and you started weaving across the track to warm your tires. All Lando would be able to think about was your ass as the rear wing swayed side to side and the thought of made you laugh since you lived to torment the guys on and off the track.

“Radio check.”

“I can’t wait to show everyone the upgrades.”

“Understood.” There was a pause before Nicholas returned. “Uh, you weren’t scheduled for any upgrades.”

Your start was terrible as Max flew away at lights out and then you were nearly clipped in the first turn by Lando, the swerve you took to avoid a collision letting Charles slip straight past.

“DRS activated this lap.”

You passed the starting line on the heels of Charles, Lando close behind but not close enough to use DRS just yet. The Ferrari was quick but he was out of Max’s DRS range and your straight line speed was far superior, it was only a matter of time before you reached the first DRS zone and made your move to overtake. 

“Did you just use indicators?”

You laughed as you hit the buttons on your console before pulling out of the slipstream, the rear wing opened to reduce the drag, and flew past the red car. You hit the new button the electrical engineer had rewired before pulling in front of Charles and laughed as you saw the replay on the big screens around the circuit.

“It’s only polite to indicate when overtaking. Have you never read the road code?”

“I’m more worried about the FIA regulations than the road code.”

“You worry too much, Christian can afford a little fine.”

“£150,000 for a laugh! Are you taking the mick outta me?”

You tried to keep a serious face as you faced Christian but one look at Max’s amusement had a smile cracking through. 

“No, you don’t get to laugh about this,” Christian snapped, pulling your attention back to him. “You too, Max. It’s like having a couple of fucking children around here.”

“It was nothing to do with me,” Max argued. “I would never pull a stunt like that.”

“You have something on your nose,” you said as you pointed and he wiped at it. “Nope, still brown.”

His lip twitched before he snickered and playfully shoved your shoulder. 

A heavy sigh of disappointment filled the private room in the motorhome and you both looked at Christian. “With Max winning last year we are going to be under even more scrutiny, and this sort of behaviour isn’t going to earn us any favours. Cut the shit out and pay the fucking fine.”

You started to open your mouth to point out the fine was charged to Red Bull not you but a sharp elbow from Max had you clamming your lips closed again. 

“She’ll be better behaved,” Max promised with a glare that warned you to stay silent to save yourself from lying.

“Fine, get out there before the interviews are finished.”

You were never a fan of the post-race interviews but you left Christian’s office like it was lights out, racing ahead of Max to get to the media pit. 

You skidded to a halt at the side of the stage and Charles patted the empty space between him and Lando just as Max arrived. The other space on the couch was at the end beside Lance and you looked at Max with narrowed eyes before making a break for the better seat. Lando had to jump aside as you slammed into the seat just before Max but it didn’t stop him from planting himself on top and you groaned at the weight.

“Second place again, Max Emillian,” you wheezed as you tried to push him off and looked at Charles. “A little help?”

“Sorry, there are universal rules: we can’t interfere with sibling rivalries,” he said with an apologetic smile.

“Arthur’s my favourite Leclerc.”

Max took full advantage while you were distracted, staring daggers at Charles, and shoved you aside to take the cushioned seat with a smarmy grin. “Remember, best behaviour,” he warned as he got comfortable and accepted the microphone handed to you.

He should have known that the challenge couldn’t go unanswered and so you stood up, but you weren’t admitting defeat. His smile fell when you sat down on Lando’s lap, much to everyone’s surprise. 

“Hands off my sister, Norris,” Max quipped, but Lando’s hands were still in the air from where he froze, not knowing what to do with them or where to put them.

“This is quite comfy,” you noted as you wriggled around. “Maybe this can be my spot every week.”

“Fuck, fine,” Max growled as he stood up and walked down the line to sit with Lance. “Take the fucking seat.”

Charles laughed as you slipped into the seat and he held his fist out. “Everytime.”

You bumped his fist and smirked as the interviews finally got underway. “Every damn time.”

Click here for part two.

[charles-leclerc-official]

2024 Imola Grand Prix Race Analysis

My analysis of the Imola Grand Prix. This race on the surface was as some have claimed "boring" however when you dig into the data a different story emerges, one that promises more competition this season.

Table of Contents Race Overview Ferrari - Qualifying - Charles - Carlos - SF-24 Upgrades Red Bull - Max: vs Lando - Sergio Mclaren - Lando - Oscar Williams Mercedes VCARB Aston Martin Data Analysis Final Thoughts

Race Overview

This race was interesting in the terms of what we learned about the Ferrari and Mclaren upgrades as well as the RB-20. However the race as a whole was mostly uneventful. To put it simply this race was decided in qualifying. Especially at the top of the field. Max’s race was decided there, same with Lando, Charles, Carlos and Oscar. They were close enough in pace that had any one of them been ahead in qualifying that would have likely meant they kept that higher place, or had the win. I’ll go into a little more detail in the team sections, but overall this race was the one where qualifying mattered the most so far this season. 

Because the top three teams were very close this race in terms of pace I wanted to just lump the data analysis into one section instead of making it team specific, that way it’s just easier to read and it didn’t make sense to split it up because one comparison is informing another etc. So team sections as usual, and then data for all of them at the end.

I want to emphasize just how close the top three teams are. Especially Ferrari and Mclaren(again more in data section). The results may not feel like they reflect this, but trust me, the margins are finer than they have been all year. One team is not poised to run away with all the top points. Even Red Bull, while Max is still Max, Checo's performance and the overall performance of the RB20 this weekend showed that the car is not as dominant as previously thought.

Ferrari

Charles qualified P4 and finished P3(after Oscar’s grid penalty) so he started the race in P3 and finished there as well. Carlos qualified P5, moved up to P4 on the starting grid after Oscar’s penalty, and finished P5.

As I predicted the Ferrari strategy this race was pretty straightforward. Charles was supposed to try to catch Lando, while Carlos held off Oscar. It went smoothly and while Charles was not able to catch Lando because their pace was very similar, Carlos did hold off Oscar the entire medium stint. He only lost that place to Oscar when he was undercut in the pits. And even though he did lose the place there that was important because it kept Oscar from putting any pressure on Charles early on. So overall Ferrari strategy was good and they made the correct calls. It just was unlucky with the pit timing. That happens. So overall I am happy with the Ferrari strategy this race.

The biggest thing for Ferrari is now Charles is P2 in the WDC standings, it is early in the season but that is still exciting. This is due to him out-qualifying Checo, which apparently wasn’t that hard to do this race, but we take the win on that. Ferrari and specifically Charles’ consistency is really paying off both in the WDC standings and the WCC. 

Qualifying

Ferrari had issues of getting up to proper speed in qualifying, a problem that was especially costly in Q3. Many have claimed that this was a result of failing to warm up the tyres on the outlap. However that isn't the whole story. Ferrari had a different power deployment approach compared to Mclaren and Red Bull, and that was the cause in the lack of speed going into the lap. Lower speeds would affect the driver's tyre prep. So yes their tyres were not in the right window, but it was not due to the previous warming issues we have seen from the SF-24. Both drivers also struggled with speed on the outlap. Carlos had more issues but Charles was also affected. Ferrari have identified where they made a miscalculation in this area and seem confident they can improve and avoid this in future races.

Now the team has not been very specific about this with regards to the power deployment. So there aren't a lot of answers to be had there. But the statement from Fred and Charles suggest this wasn’t an issue with the upgrades or tyre warming directly, and as I said they seem confident it’s an easier fix.

Impeding during qualifying rumors: I have already discussed the possibility that Carlos impeded Charles’ Q3 outlap thus compromising Charles’ Q3 run extensively on this blog. I will recap quickly because I do not want to re-hash everything again. So I am going to keep it short. There is no evidence this happened. People made the claim and it spread. Charles and Carlos were not close enough on the track for impeding to be possible. If anyone has any real proof I’d be interested in seeing it, but I have been sent a lot of fake proof already and I doubt that is about to change. Don’t believe something just because everyone is saying it, ask for evidence.  Yes they both were noted for failing to keep proper deltas in the same outlap, but that is not proof that the cause of that for Charles was Carlos.  And I have seen the claim it cost 3 tenths. I don’t know where this number came from, but again, I am not seeing where in the data this assumption is coming from.  Charles would have mentioned something in post qualifying interviews if the outlaps were a problem. He might not have pointed at Carlos, but when asked what they could have done better he at the very least would have said they could have done a better outlap etc. He didn't, he said that was all they could get out of that session and that the appearance of qualifying looking lackluster was that the others were faster, not that his outlap was compromised.  I understand some people do not like Carlos and will not give him the benefit of the doubt but this was so far beyond insane. I am by admission not his biggest fan, but I need to see proof that he made an error to properly critique it, otherwise it’s just a conspiracy theory.  I find that this kind of thing spread so widely and so many people believed the claim at face value without seeing any kind of proof to be far more concerning than the claim itself. Ask for sources, look to see if any footage supports a claim, and if there is no proof then it should not be spread. Period. You can think what you want privately all you want. The next time something like this happens please think critically, I am begging.  If new evidence on this issue comes to light I will address it, otherwise it’s past time to move on.

Charles

Charles ran a clean race. He didn’t have the extra pace to be able to catch Lando. They were very close in pace, so it was not going to be possible. I’ll discuss more in the data section. But Charles held the podium spot which is what we wanted to see. First podium for Ferrari at Imola since 2006, so it was a very special moment for the team.

Carlos

Also ran a pretty clean race. He was less comfortable in the car all weekend, especially during the race, however he was still able to hold off Oscar. So I am very happy with his performance and role in the team strategy this weekend. He didn’t lose the place to an overtake, he lost it in the pits and that came down to being undercut by Mclaren, not much he could have done. So as far as driving goes he was solid and did exactly what he was supposed to do in terms of the team strategy. 

SF-24 Upgrades!

The most exciting thing this weekend was that Ferrari finally brought their first upgrades to the SF-24. These upgrades were aimed at improving pace, and targeted some issues the base SF-24 has been mitigating. These upgrades were overall a good step forward and continue to take Ferrari in a competitive direction. 

I will say that this track wasn’t the best for these upgrades and I think we need a few races to fully judge the true performance of these upgrades, so understand that there may be issues or more more gains that we didn’t see this weekend. I suspect that there is more pace in that car. 

SF-24 Upgrade Improvements:

Tyre warming: the upgrade did target and significantly helped the tyre warming prep issue we have seen give very mixed results in terms of qualifying and even some races. 

Low speed corners: Ferrari are now faster than Mclaren on low speed corners, and previously Mclaren were faster in this area. A very positive sign. 

Comfortability for Charles: This is important as he is ahead in the standings and he is the future of the team. They said the upgrades would target his driving style and it seems they have.

Reduced downforce for better straight line speed: The reduction in downforce did improve our straight line speed, that isn’t as clear when compared to Mclaren who have taken a bigger step forward in that department, but this was an improvement on the base we had.

Areas Ferrari Still needs to Target:

Ferrari are in a good place. They could change nothing about the race pace of the current upgraded car and with track position it would very likely be a win. However there are always things to improve beyond just qualifying. 

Biggest thing is still qualifying pace. We took a pretty good step forward in this area, but Mclaren did as well, so we didn’t feel the gain as much as we might have otherwise. However I think we are much closer to getting this worked out. It isn’t so much a tyre warming issue as it is a settings issue. The upgrades mitigated a lot of the tyre warming, it was there yes but nowhere near what we’ve been seeing in earlier races. 

Straight line speed: It’s good, and in some places it’s competitive or right on pace with Mclaren, however ideally we want to be faster, so that is an area to target for improvement. Improved straights would also lead to better high speed corner performance as well. Make no mistake the car did take a step forward in this area, but Mclaren did to so the improvement doesn't feel as significant when looking at the results.

These two should be the primary focus, as well as any adjustments for Charles to get the car to a point of balance that he likes. 

“The upgrades were bad Carlos said he wasn’t comfortable”: Ferrari has made it clear from the beginning that upgrades and the direction of the team would favor Charles. This isn’t surprising and is expected since Charles and Carlos have very different driving styles and preferences. Carlos still was able to keep ahead of Oscar as needed so even less comfortable he was able to do his job. It is not possible to have these upgrades suit both drivers, Charles is the one they are focused on. You can feel however you want to feel about that, but these results in terms of different feedback from the drivers goes support exactly what Ferrari have said they would do.

“The upgrades were bad, we weren't fast”: No, the upgrades added pace in key areas and directly helped issues the base SF-24 had. Mclaren also upgraded their car so that doesn’t mean the Ferrari isn’t good.

“Ferrari promised more pace”: We saw about 2/10ths added in pace this weekend. However this track was not suited to the car overall. I think we need to see a few races before we can accurately judge how much pace was actually added. This much on a less than optimal track is encouraging. 

“The upgrades didn’t do anything”: They did, I’m sorry they didn’t add 20 seconds to the car and make it start flying, that’s not how this works. We saw tangible improvements. There was more at play in the race results, so you cannot judge if the car is good or bad based on that alone. 

“I am disappointed and feel misled by Ferrari about these upgrades”: The upgrades were never a magic bullet, they did a lot of what they promised and it’s the first race with them. Give them some time.

“Tyre warming was a problem again”: No, in fact Charles confirmed this himself in one of his post-race interviews. The problem was more connected to power deployment on the out lap, and this caused the tyre prep to not be as good, but it was not the tyre warming issue we have been seeing in the first 6 races.

Overall a good race for Ferrari. Excited to see what the SF-24 will do in future races!

Red Bull

Red Bull had a very mixed weekend. Between Max not being fully comfortable in the car, and still not having great settings come race day, to Checo getting knocked out of Q3, this weekend showed quite a few cracks in the Red Bull armor. Max still won, and in sub-optimal conditions for him in that car, so even if the RB20 is not perfect for him he proved he can still put it on pole and he can still win. Which of course is going to mean that Red Bull are still competitive even if the car itself isn't the fastest on the field.

Checo's performance was his weakest thus far. That was the worst qualifying performance we've seen from a Red Bull all year. It was out-competed by Yuki in the junior team car. And again this is what cost him P2 in the standings to Charles.

Now on to the main thing everyone is talking about as far as Red Bull's race goes.

Max VS Lando

The big question at the end of this race “Was Lando going to catch Max?” In my opinion no he wasn’t. And even if he had caught up, I do not think he could have actually passed Max. Being fast is only one piece of the puzzle, to actually pass a top driver you need to be good at overtaking. Lando has yet to show me a quality overtake this season against one of the competitive cars in the field. In my opinion Max would have been able to hold him off, yes even struggling.

So was Lando matching Max on pure pace? Was it due to his speed? In part. There were three factors at play that led to him making some gains on Max in the final 10 laps.

The Mclaren upgrades have added good straight line speed

Lando was pushing at an unsustainable rate. He said so himself over the radio that he was at the limit.

Max was struggling with his tyres

So even with Max struggling with his car and the improved Mclaren Lando was unable to catch Max. If Max hadn’t been struggling that gap would have been larger. I do not think this means he will be seriously competitive with Max in every race they are close. If he couldn’t take Max in sub-optimal conditions for Max there is no way Lando is catching him when Max does have his car in the right window. 

I cover this more in the data section. But while he did make good gains on some laps by the final 5 he was not continuing to close that gap, which is what he would have needed to do to catch Max.

“But if Lando had a few more laps he would have caught Max”: I don’t think he had enough in the tyres to keep pushing at the rate he was to close the final gap. And as I said, I am not convinced he would have been able to overtake even if he’d closed the gap.

“Lando was better than Max”: I missed the part where he passed Max then I guess? He had to push to be faster and still couldn’t overtake a car on struggling tyres. If he’d had track position he probably would have stayed ahead. But since this race was decided in qualifying more than anything, and he did qualify behind his teammate(pre-penalty) he didn’t have the qualifying lap to get that place. He had a solid race, that’s good enough.

“X was better than X”: With the top 3 teams being so tight, especially with Charles, Lando, and Max being close on pace this isn’t really a helpful statement to make. Now there are moments when one was stronger and stood out? yes, but on overall performance it’s not clear cut. 

Lando was fast in that final stint and some of that was due to early good tyre management on his part, but the other part was that he was pushing hard. He didn’t have much left and I think if we’d had a few more laps the gap would have stayed the same or he would have dropped off on pace. It wasn’t sustainable. Nice to see a driver push, but you only push like that to make a pass quickly, it isn’t the kind of thing you can keep up forever until you catch another driver. 

Mclaren

This was Mclaren’s best result thus far for both drivers. They have had better positions, however a P2 and P4 is better than the 3-4 from Australia. And of course While Lando won in Miami, Oscar didn’t finish in the points. So as far as placement for the team as a whole goes this was best.

Now it wasn’t perfect. The results and speed I think were a little deceptive and made them look more competitive than they are in reality compared to the other top two teams. The success was mostly due to the straight line speed that their upgrades provided. Oscar seemed like he was the faster of the two with the full upgrade package, which would track given his performance in Miami with only the partial package. But again we didn’t get to see him with that front row start. I do suspect this trend will continue.

Lando

Lando qualified P3, jumped to P2 when Oscar was penalized, and he finished P2. Same story as the other top 3. 

Lando’s race was pretty standard until the last 10 laps of the race when he was pushing to try to catch Max. I explained above my opinions on that match-up, and will be covering the data in the data analysis section. 

It was a strong showing for him. But ultimately he did not have enough pace to fully close the gap to Max and I don’t think he would have given more laps. He was pushing too hard to sustain that pace and he was starting to make more mistakes. Max on the other hand was not.

Oscar

The biggest thing that affected Oscar’s race was the three place starting grid penalty he received for impeding Magnussen during qualifying. It was very clear, so a cut and dry penalty. His time qualified him P2 but he was dropped down to P5 behind Carlos. 

The impeding was really a failure of his team to let him know that Magnussen was coming. Unfortunate to see. Mclaren really fumbled that because they would have had their faster driver starting behind Max. 

And yes between the two Mclaren drivers I do believe Oscar is better suited in terms of overall racecraft to have made the pass on Max. He’s shown he can do it, and with these upgrades he is faster than Lando. We’ll have to see after a few more races if this remains to be true, but he has been more competitive this year when it comes to overtaking. 

He gained a place on Carlos in the pits. His pace was almost identical to Carlos', and Carlos was able to keep him behind. I am not sure how much of trying to avoid a repeat of Miami played a role in this. Carlos has shown he will fight to prevent a pass and that may have been in the back of Oscar and Mclaren’s minds. 

I have more on his pace comparison with Carlos in the data section. 

Williams

Another not great race for Williams. This time the car was slow, and also Alex’s pit crew messed up his pit stop, and didn’t properly attach one of his tyres. The team was penalized for this with a 10 second stop and go penalty for an unsafe release. By the time they had served that time Alex was two laps behind so they opted to retire from the race. 

Logan came in P17.

I don’t have much to say beyond that this season Williams as a team has repeatedly failed both their drivers costing them results. The car is as we have seen by now, not good. Alex is a good driver and is struggling in that car, and it has been so hard to judge if Logan has improved because the car hasn’t been helping us see that. 

Mercedes

The Mercedes upgrades do seem to have improved the performance and reliability for both drivers. Lewis especially seems to be far more comfortable in the car. Lewis started P8 and finished P6. Tied with his best finish for a Grand Prix of the season. George started P6 and finished P7. He lost one of those places to Lewis in the pits. 

Lewis and George were matched on pace on the medium tyres. But on the hards Lewis was noticeably more consistent on pace compared to George, who started losing pace on the hards after 10 laps. He did pit before Lewis. However Lewis maintained better pace on the same age tyres where George started to see a drop in performance. So Mercedes was right to keep Lewis ahead, he was the one with better pace this weekend. Overall they were very close, but Lewis had the edge especially on the hards.

Mercedes still is lacking quite a bit in the competitive speed category but they do seem to have taken a step forward, and Lewis is quickly making up points for the rocky start to his season. 

VCARB

Yuki had a great weekend. He qualified P7 in a very competitive field. And in the race he finished P10, losing places to Lewis, Lance, and Checo. Which was expected, especially the pass from Checo. Yuki is having the best season of his career and the fact he is closer to competing with top teams than the rest of the mid-field is impressive. He has been getting extra performance out of that VCARB car and is carrying his team in the standings. 

Danny started P9 and finished P13, losing places to Checo, both Haas cars, and Lance. Losing places to the Red Bull and Aston Martin were pretty expected. Would have liked to see him more competitive against the Haas cars. He’s going to need more points compared to Yuki to keep up with the team. 

Quick look comparing Yuki to Danny and Checo. You can see Checo was on pace with the two VCARBS during his first medium and his hard stint. Then on the second medium stint he flew away on pace again.

And comparing Danny and Yuki directly. They aren't so far off in overall speed. However what put Yuki ahead and kept him ahead was his consistency. Even his slower laps were less slow than Danny's. And Yuki was slightly faster, by multiple tenths in several places. They are matched on straight line speed(with Danny even being a little faster there) but on a complete lap Yuki was simply more consistent.

Aston Martin

Aston Martin did not have a great weekend. After a FP3 crash, and then losing grip in Q1 and doing a long run into the gravel he took damage and had to start the race from the pitlane. He started P20 from the pits and finished P19 and that was due to the fact Alex DNFed. So he didn’t make up any places. The Aston upgrades do not seem to have been a step in the right direction, at least for Fernando, and that isn’t going to be good for them in the standings as he is their stronger driver. 

Lance had one of his better races. Starting P13 and finishing P9. That’s fewer points than the team want to see in that car. The current competition for the team is VCARB and with Yuki’s performance they cannot just get by with 2 points this race. 

I’ll be interested to see if the team can further upgrade the car, because that qualifying pace was not great and the race pace is middling. They have the potential for a more competitive car but I am not convinced they are going to get it there. 

Data Analysis

And now the part everyone has been waiting for. Just how close are the top 3 teams?

This is going to be a lot of pace comparison. That was the name of the game this race for our top 3 teams. It’s the reason the race was “boring” by some people’s standards. Because they were all so close on pace no one was quite able to catch anyone else to make a pass.

Before we get to the data bear in mind a few things. 1. This was one of Mclaren's stronger tracks 2. This was one of Ferrari's weakest tracks 3. Red Bull was struggling on car settings for this race weekend So these results are going to be skewed in Mclaren's favor and it's not necessarily going to be accurate for future tracks. I think the margins are even closer(at least between Ferrari and Mclaren than this race and the resulting data suggest)

Max Vs Lando

First the full race pace. It’s pretty clear Max was faster on the mediums and then was close to Lando on the first half of his hard stint and then in the second half of his hard stint he dropped in pace. Max noted that it didn’t feel right, likely an issue with the car setup for the weekend, or a combination of the specific deg of the track and the temps and car not being ideal. I think the Mclaren was in a better performance window all weekend so that was reflected here. 

The thing that is most important here is those last few laps where Lando was fastest but the gap wasn't closing. He was dropping off in that faster pace at a similar rate to Max, which does support my claim that he had already gotten everything out of those tyres and with more laps his chances of catching Max were not as good as many sources have claimed.

Fastest Lap Comparison

This is where it gets interesting. We saw this same gap in straight line speed against the Ferraris and it’s present here too. Ferrari said that Mclaren were doing something “weird” to boost their straight line speed and yes, a gap like this raises questions. I don’t have an exact explanation. It is likely linked to engine settings and power unit/battery usage. The point is that this is not Lando being faster than Max, it’s very much the car doing that for him.

All of the points where Lando made his gains to Max were on the straights and high speed corners.

Track dominance to show that this is in fact all the straights and the high speed corners. The losses to Max were in the mid and low speed corners.

Now I want to point out that Lando was on older tyres compared to Max for this fastest lap comparison. He did drive early to preserve his tyres and then was seriously pushing on that lap when he tried to make gains to Max.

In equal tyre age Max was about 1/10th faster. His issue was with deg and grip at the end compared to Lando.

I will be interested to see the actual source of this new straight line speed(it may be they have sacrificed a lot more in downforce than we thought). A jump ahead this big is interesting. However it does mean that most of the Mclaren pace is coming from that straight line speed so on tracks with fewer straights and high speed corners they won’t fare quite as well compared to the Ferrari’s and Red Bulls because they are not faster on the low and mid speed corners, and weren’t all weekend. Every gain they made they lost in the corners. It is one of the reasons Max was able to stay ahead and Carlos was able to keep Oscar behind.

For all these fastest lap comparisons I am less interested in the actual lap time, and more so in the track dominance because that is where we are getting the story of where these cars are more competitive against each other.

Just to be fair here is the lap 38 track dominance for both Max and Lando, and here it is for lap 54 so that we are seeing both their best laps and seeing them on similarly aged tyres. And again we see the same pattern of the Mclaren being faster in the straights and the Red Bull taking the corners.

And again this is what I think matters most. Even on a lap where Lando was almost a full second faster than Max he still was not faster on those low speed corners, even with Max struggling. So I think these laps really serve to highlight where the speed and losses are coming from on both these cars.

It is safe to assume that on tracks that rely more heavily on mid to low speed corners and more frequent changes in direction Mclaren will not have the same advantages in speed we saw on this track.

Charles VS Lando

First race pace comparison

The medium stint is almost identical. And the beginning of the hard stint Charles is faster by a few tenths those first 15 laps after pitting. After that Lando gets a slight edge. Charles was pushing, and so was Lando. As you can see they were close. Closer on pace than Max and Lando. Again this really came down to track position. Lando wouldn't have caught Charles if he was ahead, and it's also why Charles couldn't catch Lando.

Fastest lap comparison

Note that Charles was on much newer tyres. Again I think what this really does is highlight key differences in the car performances. And this is most easily seen again in the track dominance map. The straight where Charles is faster here was due to DRS so ignore that.

But I want to compare their laps right out of the pits to account for tyre age, so here is the track dominance for both on the fresh set of hards. And also looking at both their lap 54 track dominance(this was Lando's fastest lap, and not that Charles also got DRS on the straight there)

On the new tyres Charles still has it on the lowest speed corners, and there are more points on the track where they are straight up equal. And again on lap 54 Charles again has those corners compared to Lando.

Now let's look at over all pace between Mclaren and Ferrari as well as fastest laps

You can see that there is no standout fastest car, the amount of overlap here is considerable. (Also the website made Carlos and Oscar both white lines, I know it's confusing but the website would not change it)

The slowest was Carlos and you can see him falling off the most at the end of the hard stint. But the thing I am really interested in is that medium stint overlap is crazy, especially between Charles, Lando and Oscar. And again we see almost identical pace in the first 10-15 laps on the hards.

Full track dominance. Again the biggest thing here is that Charles is ahead on those corners against both Oscar and Lando. Carlos also getting some good straight line speed coming out/going into the low speed corners which again is very promising.

Fastest lap comparison.

Charles and Oscar both had DRS at the start of the lap. The only thing here is just to show how close Charles is to the Mclarens. Even not having that top speed he is still there.

Quick comparison of Charles VS Oscar because I think this will come up in the future. While Oscar had the better qualifying lap his race pace was slightly worse than Charles almost the entire race. Charles was better on the mediums and the hards. There are some areas where they were close, but Charles also had a sizeable gap for a good chunk of laps especially on the hards.

Oscar is fast but he needs to work on his race pace if he wants to be able to catch cars and also not lose places, because looking at this Charles might have been in the window to overtake Oscar had Oscar been ahead.

Top 3 Comparison

So we have looked at teams and individual battles. However everyone has been talking about a triple head to head of Charles vs Lando vs Max. I think that's a bit overexcited. However I do want to look at the top three to see how close it is.

Race pace. Here Max is clearly ahead on the mediums. Then on the hards Charles and Lando are better. The biggest thing here is just the amount of overlap and the margins are very fine.

Again fastest lap. The tyre ages are very different. But again I am more interested in seeing the fastest laps these cars produced and where they did well compared to the others in terms of speed. Sector 2 is where Max started losing to both Charles and Lando, and sector three that gap increased more.

And what is more interesting is the track dominance.

This is what is promising when it comes to actually taking the fight to Max. This track was not great for overtaking, in fact it is a problem at Imola. On a track where overtaking is easier we are going to see more battles if this keeps up. Like the performance of the Ferrari and the Mclaren were better. The difference was Max in that car.

And to compare the same laps to Max's fastest lap we still see the same pattern.

And again corrected for tyre age.

I think this one is also interesting because it still shows that the Ferrari and Mclaren were by far the most dominant. And in all cases the Mclaren had most of the straight line speed, and the Ferrari had the low and mid speed corners but especially the low speed corners.

Now you could do this for every lap, and there are outliers. I picked laps I thought would show the trends we are seeing in these cars. It was difficult to correct for conditions. But you can see that there is a pattern here across multiple laps that's really the takeaway rather than any one lap in particular. Again I really think it was less about the drivers and more about the cars this weekend in particular.

So the big conclusion from this section is we learned something about all three top cars performance parameters. All teams have areas to improve. And the margins are fine. At this point in the season it is going to come down track position and skill.

I think that these next few races will likely reveal more pace or issues on all of these cars so this is really just the beginning. To see things competitive even when conditions were not great for Ferrari or Red Bull is exciting.

Final Thoughts

While there was minimal overtaking this race showed us some key information about the top three cars. And the rest of the season is looking more competitive with every race. It truly feels like we are on the brink of something this season.

That’s all I got, see you at Monaco!

[f1]

Home favourite Piastri on the Daniil Kvyat connection behind his previous visit to Albert Park

Oscar Piastri is gearing up for his first-ever race at Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit this weekend, but while he has never tackled the Australian Grand Prix venue, it will not be the 21-year-old’s first experience of F1 Down Under. Piastri, who grew up near the circuit in the suburb of Brighton, explained in Thursday’s driver press conference for his home event that he was selected as a ‘Grid Kid’ for the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, the year in which he raced to third place in the KF3 Australian Kart Championship. READ MORE: Home hero Piastri describes ‘special feeling’ ahead of maiden Australian Grand Prix Daniil Kvyat, then driving for Red Bull, was the driver Piastri was paired with ahead of the race, only for a gearbox issue to prevent him reaching the grid – and thus meaning no exchange between them. Sharing some memories from his previous visits to Albert Park, Piastri said: “I was here last year as reserve driver [with Alpine], and I was here [in] 2015… I was a Grid Kid, actually, for Daniil Kvyat. “I was holding Daniil Kvyat’s flag and he broke down on the lap to the grid, so I never actually got to see him! It’s pretty special to have someone holding my flag this time, but hopefully I have better luck.” Piastri has been busy meeting and greeting fans ahead of his first F1 race on home soil He added: “The last time I raced in Australia I was still in go-karts, I think it was seven years ago now, so it’s nice to get out on a race track in Oz.” As for what Piastri can achieve at home, the former F2 and F3 champion took confidence from his performance last time out in Saudi Arabia, which included a run to Q3 in qualifying. BEYOND THE GRID: Oscar Piastri on his F1 debut, dealing with the pressure and bringing back McLaren’s glory days He was keen, though, to avoid the first-lap drama that saw him pick up car damage and dive into the pits for a new front wing, with team mate Lando Norris having to do the same after running over the debris. “I think compared to the previous two tracks, here should be more like Saudi, I hope. The tarmac is quite similar, the layout is a bit more similar to Saudi compared to Bahrain, so hopefully that is good for us,” he said, with McLaren one of two teams – alongside AlphaTauri – yet to score a point this season. “I think in Saudi we showed we can get into Q3 and fight for the back end of points on our good days, so hopefully we can just have a clean race and my front wing doesn’t wipe out Lando this time! We’ll see what we can do.” Piastri and Norris were both caught up in Lap 1 drama in Saudi Arabia Norris was also keen to focus on the positives after McLaren’s point-less start in 2023, saying: “I should have scored points in Bahrain and I should have scored points in Saudi. “We’ve been a little bit unlucky with certain things like the debris in Saudi, but if I didn’t make my mistake in qualifying [when Norris hit the Turn 27 wall] I wouldn’t have been in that position and I wouldn’t have hit any debris. ANALYSIS: McLaren hit the reset button in a bid to revive their F1 hopes “Some ‘shoulda’, ‘woulda’, ‘coulda’, type of things, also reliability hit us in Bahrain, so definitely not as bad as everyone, [the] media, headlines are saying. “I have confidence that if we have a clean weekend and perform to where our performance should be at, we can score some points.” via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

[formulamelia]

2023 Bahrain Grand Prix - Race Report

First of all, hello again, everyone from the 2023 Formula 1 season for which we have been awaiting and even counted the days for over 160 days after a looooooooooong winter break. The Bahrain Grand Prix has been good for all of us motorsports fans, as we have missed the action. It was a great race, despite some unexpected events taking place. So what happened during this race for which we have counted the days? Let's take a look together.

Raining Penalties For Alpine and Esteban Ocon!

As you would remember from the last season, everyone was annoyed by the FIA's decisions: from Red Bull fans to Mercedes Fans, Ferrari fans to Haas fans. Unfortunately, nothing seems to have changed for the 2023 season. As the French driver Esteban Ocon made a millimetric mistake on his grid spot, he was quickly faced with a 5-second time penalty as the FIA cited the reason as ''incorrect starting position''. Alpine and their young driver Esteban Ocon opted to serve the given time during their pitstop; they were shocked by a 10-second penalty. This time the reason cited by the FIA was ''penalty served improperly''. As the young Frenchman served this penalty during his 2nd pitstop, he was hit with another 10 seconds, this time for ''speeding in the pit lane''. As a result, despite having a reasonably lovely qualifying, Ocon couldn't have a lasting advantage. We are extending our support to the young driver.

None Can Stop Super Max!

Red Bull & Max Verstappen's well-known team-driver compatibility continues to elicit admiration and jealousy from fans & opponents. As he is the ''defending champion'' for the 2nd time in 2023, Max Verstappen seems to have his eyes on the 3rd championship in a row. As confidence in himself and his car and aggressive driving style continues to elicit admiration and hate from others, the young champion seems to have vowed to show the same mesmerizing performance. Max opened the season with a victory as he was 12 seconds ahead of his teammate in 2nd place. We congratulate him and wish for the continuation of his success.

What Happened To McLaren?

McLaren, a team loved by many racing fans, made an unlucky start to the season. The team that added the 2021 Formula 2 Champion, young Australian rookie Oscar Piastri to their lineup next to the young Briton Lando Norris; had to pull their rookie out of the race with a steering wheel issue while they saw the chequered flag in only 17th place with Norris also having similar troubles. We hope that these troubles are soon gone for McLaren. Looks like the new technical regulations caused a prominent disadvantage for some of the teams. As we mentioned are affected by the new directories, it would be a shame on our end to not have mentioned Mercedes, one of the most successful teams in the history of our sport. As Mercedes made an unexpected start to the last season (2022) but later developed great for the 2nd half, they made an unlucky start for the 2023 season. While they are experiencing some aerodynamic issues currently, we are sure they will handle it as soon as possible and return to the front of the grid as they should. We wish them the best of luck.

Aston Martin, Alonso, and an F1 Fairy Tale!

Undoubtedly, the surprise of the race and the season is Fernando Alonso in Aston Martin. Aston Martin made an AMAZING start to the season, giving the fans a fairy tale. After adding Dan Fellows, trained by Red Bull's Adrian Newey, to their lineup of engineers, the team appears to have made a strong car. The ''sly old fox'', 42-year-old Fernando Alonso, opened the season with a podium in 3rd place.

Get Well Soon & Congratulations Lance Stroll!

We continue our report with Aston Martin. The young Canadian driver of the team, Lance Stroll, had a horrific accident on his bicycle before the race. Despite having platinum plates placed in his hand with a surgical operation, Stroll was present at the race and saw the chequered flag with points. We hope that he gets well soon, and we also extend our congratulations to him. Let's see what he does with Aston Martin's strong car.

Ferrari & Frustration, AGAIN!

We talked a lot about Ferrari's unfortunate mistakes throughout last season. Unfortunately, the Red team made an unlucky start to the season again. Young Monegasque Charles Leclerc had guaranteed 2nd place throughout the race when on the 41st lap, his engine lost power, and he came to a halt. Since Leclerc is deeply frustrated, strong rumors of a team change for him are circulated on social media. We are curiously following him and wishing him the best of luck.

Red Bull Opens The Season with Bıg Victory!

The successful team Red Bull, having secured a constructor's championship after 9 years in 2022, opened the 2023 season with a double victory after Ferrari's young Monegasque stopped on the track and Sergio Perez snatched the 2nd place. Red Bull is cited as a favorite to take 1st and 2nd places frequently. We congratulate the team and the 2 drivers.

In summary, while raining penalties marked the race, Red Bull drivers saw the chequered flag in 1st and 2nd place. On the other hand, Aston Martin completed the podium with Fernando Alonso in 3rd place and made a surprise start to the season.

With that, we say goodbye for now, and looking forward to seeing you in Jeddah :)))

[rainbowloliofjustice]

What do you think of the fifth estate’s documentary on pit bulls?

I haven’t seen it fully, but honestly it comes off as fear-mongering. 

Yes, pit bulls can do serious damage with their bite... any large dog can. 

Yet the bans are only focused on pit bulls. What about german shepherds? or rottweilers? Chows?

It doesn’t help that the media and documentaries often use “pit bull” as an umbrella term to cover around 5 different breeds of dogs and upwards of 50% of dogs in shelters that get labeled as pit bulls are just lookalikes. Given that pit bull can refer to the American pit bull terrier, Staffordshire pit bull terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier, and American Bully. 

Are we going to end up banning any dog that can fall underneath what just gets labeled as a pit bull? When they’re banned, what are we going to do next? Start banning the next highest breed of dogs that cause bites?

Not to mention, pit bulls, like any dog, need to be trained to not be aggressive, need to be properly socialized, etc. just like any other dog. Of course, it isn’t helped by the fact that the media (and documentaries like this) only care about when it is a pit bull. 

Labs made up 13% of bites according to a 2008 study. pit bulls came in second at 8%. Yet people want to ban pit bulls but not labradors?

When it comes to personal injury claims of delivery workers, german shepherds, bull terriers, labs and border collies were among the most common to bite. Yet pit bulls are the only dangerous ones on the list?

And the documentary uses one man whose child was killed due to the babysitter leaving the child unattended with the dogs and that’s just like ??? that’s why you never leave children unattended with any dog that the dog is not familiar with. 

Not to mention, BSL only focuses on pit bull and pit bull-type dogs, but what about german shepherds and labs who make up a significant portion of bite statistics? Small dogs like chihuahuas that can exhibit high amounts of aggression if not properly socialized?

ya know how many times I’ve had someone’s lab growl at me and snarled despite the owners saying they were friendly? A lot

The documentary even shows dogs that are chained up and acknowledges that one person sees many pit bulls living in puppy mills and backyard breeders who sell them as status, guard, or fighting dogs... And mind you, dogfighting is illegal because it is animal abuse but then contrasts that with a woman who worked in/with a shelter that basically tried to sell dogs that they knew may not be good fits for certain homes or families. So when you have ill-bred and ill-trained dogs by people somehow the solution is to ban the breed rather than coming down hard on irresponsible owners?

And yet it’s the breed's fault and the breed should be banned for shelters deciding to lie and be deceptive about how well a dog may fit within another family? So because a shelter, run by a group of people, decided to lie about a dog’s history or past... that means it is the dog's fault and they should be banned? What logic does it make to ban a dog or dog breed when shelters and people decide to intentionally be deceptive about it in order to just rehome them? You basically have someone in the documentary who admits to being irresponsible and negligent yet... ????

Like, this lady admitted to working in a shelter that would be deceptive about a dog’s temperament, but then went on to blame the breed. 

It is only after someone dies or is bitten by a pit bull that people want to try to discuss BSL or banning them... but there was a woman, about 2 years ago, who got mauled by a pack of dachshunds yet there only concerns with pit bulls? people say one attack against people is too many yet... almost every dog breed in existence has attacked at least one person or animal. If you are banning breeds because they attack people, you’re going to be banning a lot more than pit bulls. If it is based on whether or not they are capable of killing someone, you’re going to be banning almost any medium to large size dog. 

It’s almost no secret that toy breeds are known to be very aggressive due to the way they’re often treated and pampered... Chihuahuas rank fourth in breeds that have bitten children and even though their bites aren’t comparable to pit bulls or larger breeds, if the issue is the severity of the bite then... any large breed dog should be banned because any large dog can produce a severe or fatal bite. 

Dogs are bred by people... if aggression is an issue, you can selectively breed that out the same way that certain dogs were selectively bred to be able to run or be as small as possible. If pit bulls get banned, what is going to be the next breed on the list? German Shepards? Dobermans? Chows?

Why are we coming down on breeds rather than irresponsible shelters that are deceptive about a dog’s temperament and backyard breeders that abuse and neglect dogs? Ofc when a dog comes from an abusive or neglectful situation, they’re going to have behavioral and temper issues... so that is somehow the fault of the breed itself?

The documentary ends by basically saying pit bulls are dangerous and it is a matter of public safety...By a surgeon that basically says no one will miss them after a while because there will be fewer fatalities even though other large dog breeds can cause fatalities, a woman who admitted to working for a shelter that would lie and intentionally be deceptive about a dog’s temperament in order to get them out the shelter, a father who lost his child and a baby sitter that was too irresponsible and let the child unattended with two large dogs who basically say “tell me which one is and isn’t going to attack” which can apply to literally any dog and then one pit bull lobbyist that they just portray as selfish and crazy.

Like if you show me two pictures of a chihuahua... I’m not going to know which is going to try to maul my hand. If you are banning pits, why not extend it to german shepherds, mastiffs, chows, etc.? They’re also large dogs that can cause fatal/severe bites. Why not ban chihuahuas, they’re the ones most likely to bite? is it only based on severity/fatality? If so then bye-bye to most large dog breeds. 

Yeah totally not a biased documentary at all. 

[f1notebook]

I watched dts last year before i watched my first f1 race, i know you asked about 2022.. but i was so confused when someone told me seb and charles don’t actually dislike each other lmao cant wait what it will be this time

Hello Anon !

Well my request wasn’t only about this year DTS (as I haven’t seen it) but in general, and drivers rivalry are actually a big issue in the show.

This is going to be long, very long, so take a seat and enjoy my essay.

To understand this issue, we have to go back in time : in the years before (I would say before 2010 but especially in the 70-80-90-2000) F1 drivers were seen as “bad asses” they were “viril” in whatever the words means, though, emotionless. It was actually bad seen for a driver to express his emotions, his struggles or his doubts. A F1 drivers was seen as someone out of common.

In this context, actually they weren’t a lot of friendships between drivers, at least not when they were competing (once they retired they could actually become friends) but a lot were just : “I don’t have friends here” this actually transfers to some drivers now, and they “were used to hear it”, so it’s their response now even if they don’t feel like it.

In the other side, F1 is know as : “you biggest adversary is your teammate” I even believe it’s one of the first sentence we hear in the very first drive to survive season. And well it is partially true, your teammate has exactly the same equipment and resources than you, but we often forget F1 isn’t an “individual” sport.

It seems strange first, but F1 is actually a very strong team sport. You don’t build the car yourself, you don’t win races by been on your own, you need people. And for a long time, there was this mantra that F1 drivers were alone which isn’t true.

If we look back, for example to Ferrari Michael era, he was helped by his teammate, Rubens Barrichello, this is a truth. Even if, talent speaking, Michael was superior to him, I am not sure he would have won 5 championship in a row without the help of his teammate. Same goes for Lewis, especially in 2018, without Valtteri I am not sure he would have won it. And in the other years, he could have won it but not as easily as he did.

Teammates are essencial, even if you want to beat them, you have to work and walk as a team.

Let’s put an example :

Imagine, last year, Lewis had a new teammate, let’s name him Kim, he comes to F1, great talent, in testing, Mercedes is quicker than Red bull (imagine), but, very early, Kim and Lewis don’t get along (imagine a scenario similar to Lewis and Nico in 2016), Red Bull have a slower car but it’s a very marginal difference, but in the other side of the pit lane, Max and Sergio get very well along.

Now, what would possible happen is just Max and Sergio seat down together and just thinking: “These guys have a faster car, they have better strategies but they hate each other, so we have a card to play, because we get well along, so when they are going to battle each other, we are just going to help each other.”

That goes way behind the factory and building the car, yes, the sharing set ups and helping each other with the car behavior is important, but just imagine, Lewis and Kim are in different strategies (like what happened in Paul Ricard with a Red Bull) Kim is asked to let Lewis by, because they aren’t in the same tyre, the target is different, and as they don’t like each other, Kim refuses, slows down Lewis and it’s a potential points lose for Mercedes.

Even if we can argue that race engineer and strategist are there to prevent that, that isn’t actually very true, remember Seb with Mark and the Multi 21, Seb directly disobey an order from the team and I don’t believe he had any really consequences.

Now imagine they just crash each other (Max/Daniel, Lewis/Nico) are the biggest example. A team that is directly fighting with another team don’t have the luxury of just throwing away 25 points, because you don’t score those points ( any really) and you allowed your biggest adversary to score them.

Another factor, is that now, drivers who become F1 drivers, most of the time grew with each other (Pierre/Charles, George/Lando) they are just part of the same generation who are competing in the same categories for years and years, what wasn’t exactly the case back then.

And we all know, when you are a kid, you don’t care about rivalries, you just want to have fun out and in track. You can just crash into each other and play football in the same team 5 minutes later. Children don’t have the same perspective of problems and conflicts than adults. So it creates a scenario for them that is absolutely possible of having a “rivalry” on track and get well along.

If you opponent works 12 hours a day to become better, and you just work 10, you might think “I have to do more” rather than “I hate him”.

So this is the scenario that the new generations grows up with. Charles, Max, George, Alex, Lando, Carlos, Mick, Nicholas and all the new generation are part of this. So, yes this their reality.

Seb as been in the sport for a long way, he know how it works, so he knows my first point of “you have to work as a team to succeed” is true. And Charles knows my second point “You don’t need to hate each other” is true. So in this context, they don’t need to hate each other, and they have personalities that can fit each other. Seb is a very kind and polite man who already prove everything he had to, and in the opposite, Charles is a very genuine guy. They don’t really have personality traits that could make them hate each other.

Whatever to know that you have to follow them since a bit, seeing them in every kind of occasion (up and downs) to see how they react in the heat of the moment.

Of course this isn’t an absolute truth, of course there are teams that just don’t get along, and it’s normal, but from “don’t get along” to the “absolutely hate each other” that Netflix will tell you there is a big difference. They might not been the best friends of the world, but they are adults and know it’s a job, and their teammate is a colleague before anyone else.

Concerning Seb and Charles, at the end of they day you could see Charles ready admired Seb for everything he accomplished, and Seb respected Charles a lot and was very aware that Charles is a pure talent. Most of the drivers really respect each other but of course there is some contradictory examples.

For example de Mick/Mazepin relationship wasn’t healthy, and that is because of the very first point, Mazepin couldn’t understand they needed to be a team, for him there was one part of the garage, Mick’s one that he didn’t needed to be involved with, and the other part was for him, just “colleagues” and a job. It’s very important to understand that people in the garage work with you and not for you, and they have your faith in their hands. Mazepin didn’t got that and when things started to get bad, he just put the fault on Mick and Mick’s side of the garage, without putting himself in question. He wasn’t there to work with Mick but to beat him, that way the relationship wasn’t that.

It was kinda of long but I think is important to realize that teams relationships are of the crucial point in F1, there is not such thing as : wining for a team that hates you. And a healthy relationship is indeed the most important thing in a winning team, I still think is one of the reasons it took Redbull so much time to fight for the championship, indeed Toto Wolff himself said he didn’t want anymore an atmosphere like the one he had with Nico and Lewis, because he knows if the cars wasn’t as dominant that it was (most of the team factory work) he would win that many championship.

You too, send me an ask of points you wanted to be explain about Drive To Survive narratives, points that chocked you, or points that weren’t real, or even situations they turned to fit their narrative. Let’s explain to the new public what is F1 about, and that DTS it’s just a show

[edie-baby]

Les Fleurs du Mal Chapter 1| Pierre Gasly

Summary: Sava Dvorakova had big dreams for Formula One. An opportunity of a lifetime comes around, so she takes it and runs. She proved just about everyone wrong, and is awarded a very controversial seat on the F1 grid. There’s smiles and grins, hugs and kisses, love and laughter. There’s tears and sobs, fights and break ups. There’s evil where you least expect it, hidden in the garden of eden. The Flowers of Evil.

Warnings: a lot of swearing, shitty parents (they’re a recurring theme), sexism, i ignored a lot of actual f1 rules because i couldn’t be bothered writing it into the story tbh, yuki is fcking adorable, a lot of smut eventually, like a lot.

There were hundreds, thousands, maybe even a million girls who have dreamed of making it into Formula One. It is the pinnacle of motorsport, the highest calibre and the most competitive of its many engine-based counterparts. Many women over the years have tried to make their way into the sport, but as each season becomes more competitive, it seems as though the women of motorsport keep slipping through the cracks. Perhaps it’s a timing thing - they weren’t in the right place at the right time - or perhaps it’s a sexism thing, or maybe the female drivers just simply are not at the same level that a lot of the men are at.

Sava Dvorakova feared being one of those women. One that would try their hardest, but were still unable to make their mark on a sport they had very clear passion for. The seventeen year old had been karting since her fifth birthday, progressing through the levels the Czech Republic had to offer before she moved onto European championships. Nearly every weekend of the year, Sava was in her kart, racing against boys three years her senior and thrashing them each time. However, she didn’t get the opportunity to progress into single-seaters for many years.

It was September 2020, just like any other race weekend when it happened, Sava piled into her kart as the marshalling for her heat was called. Her uncle patted the top of her helmet for good luck, a tradition the two had kept for about twelve years at this point, and she made it out onto her starting place - pole position as usual. Sava pulled clean moves the entire race, defended her position without being reckless or desperate, and had perfect pace. As she pulled back into the pits under her team’s marquee, she spotted her uncle speaking with an older man in a button up and slacks, something quite odd for a normal karting weekend. Sava hopped out, practically ripping her helmet and balaclava off as her footsteps increased in pace to get to her uncle. He scooped her up into a hug, spinning the girl a few times and congratulating her on another victory for the season.

“Bunny, this is Doctor Helmut Marko, he’s the director of Red Bull Racing. He’d like to speak with you about a driving opportunity.” Sebastian, her uncle, stated clearly, his excitement spilling into his eyes as he stared at his seventeen year old niece. Her dyed-pink hair sat matted to her forehead, the majority of it spun into Dutch braids down her back that would be tucked into the back of her race suit before the next race, her cheeks were flushed red, and her bottom lip was cracked in places from how much the Czech nibbled on it on and off track. Sebastian almost laughed at the situation she had ended up in.

“Dr Marko, it’s lovely to meet you. I have an hour until my next heat, so if you would like to speak urgently, there is a small cafe about a hundred metres from the track. If you’d like less of a time constraint, I will be completely free after 4pm today.” Sava told the man in front of her, Czech accent so thick the Austrian could barely understand her.

“It should only take about 10 minutes, so if you’d like, I can buy you and your uncle a coffee at the cafe while we speak.” Dr Marko offered. Sava nodded calmly, her uncle much more vocal about his excitement. Sava excused herself to change into less sweaty clothes, returning in a halter-neck singlet and a pair of ripped skinny jeans. Her trusty combat boots stepped over all of the tools, debris, and shit that was scattered around the pits as she made it back to the two men.

“So, Sava, what is your goal in karting?” Dr Marko began almost immediately after the trio had sat down in the cafe.

“To make it into formula one and win multiple world championships.” Sava responded confidently, barely a second between the question and her reply as it was something she had thought about for a very long time.

“So why aren’t you already driving in single seaters?” Dr Marko questioned further, and from the corner of her eye, Sava could see her uncle tense up.

“Because no one’s willing to give me a chance in the big leagues because they know I’ll do a lot better than half the boys on the grid.” The seventeen year old replied. Helmut seemed impressed with the rapid fire, confidence laden responses he was receiving.

“Well, I’m willing to. Jehan Daruvala, a Red Bull junior currently driving for Carlin in formula two is unable to attend the last three races of the season because of health issues. I want you to take his seat for those races, and if you’re as good in a single seater as you are in that kart, I’ll make sure you have a seat for next year.” Helmut laid out, and Sebastian audibly choked. Sava smirked at her uncle’s reaction, and stared into the eyes of the man offering her a fast track to her dreams.

“I’d love to. When and where is the next race?” Sava chuckled, her uncle’s recovery from his choking fit was slow, and Helmut looked on in amusement. He had seen many similar reactions from the drivers he was propositioning, but it seemed as though this duo had reversed the normal roles.

“The weekend begins on Thursday in Italy. You’ll be racing in Mugello.” Helmut told the pair dryly. Sebastian began coughing once again, Sava simply rubbing his back soothingly while she nodded.

“I’ll need to make arrangements with my school, but I presume you’ll make travel and accommodation arrangements from Prague to Mugello?” Sava continued her calm conversation, though she could feel her natural bubbliness and excitement ready to burst through.

“Yes. There will be a Carlin race suit and boots in Mugello when you arrive, as well as a helmet and teamwear. You’ll have a personal assistant for the time you’re in Jehan’s seat, to keep up with the media and to navigate the paddock. I’ll have all of the relevant information forwarded to you tonight, and there will be a contract for you to sign upon your arrival in Italy.”

“Then I’ll see you there, sir. I best be on my way, I’ll need time to change back into my race suit before my heat is called in about half an hour. It was lovely to meet you, and I look forward to meeting and exceeding your expectations.” Sava concluded, standing up to give her new boss a handshake before she turned on her heels and practically sprinted out of the cafe. She speed walked back to the track and into the changing rooms before letting out the ear splitting squeal she had been holding in since she won her race forty five minutes ago.

It was easy enough to sort out her absence with her school, as there were no assessments due and Sava was already miles ahead of the rest of her peers, so her teachers had no qualms with letting their champion out to represent the country.

The issue however, was with her parents. Her father, a man she had been emancipated from for over a year, decided he would give her grief for throwing away her education to take someone’s spot for a few weeks before they would inevitably drop her once they realised how bad she was. Her mother wasn’t much better. As her legal guardian, she technically did have the right to stop her daughter from going into the F2 seat, but after a gruelling discussion and many threats from Sava to emancipate from her mother as well, she conceded.

So, on a very sunny, very early Thursday morning in September, Sava hopped onto a plane with an overnight bag to begin catching her dreams. Unfortunately, Sebastian had work during the week, but would be flying out to Italy on Friday night to watch his niece’s races on Saturday and Sunday. But, Sava arrived in Italy as bubbly and excitable as ever. Her pink hair was split into her iconic high pigtails, a white crop top, and pastel pink pleated skirt and trusted combat boots covered her form, black duffel bag thrown over her shoulder with some clothes for the weekend, and all of her travel documents. The PA standing with her name printed on a sign was very confused when a very small, very pink teenage girl bumbled over to her and said ‘Hi, I’m Sava. But everyone calls me Bunny’.

“I’m sorry, I expected someone a little more gritty.” The twenty-something woman spoke, her blonde hair in a high ponytail with a Carlin shirt and dark wash jeans. Sava guessed the PA expected someone who looked more like herself.

“It’s okay, I get that a lot. Most people don’t recognise me out of my race suit, so I definitely don’t expect someone who’s never seen me to anticipate my looks. What’s your name?” Sava’s Czech accent, combined with her hyperactivity meant she talked extremely fast, and often it was all nonsense, and she simply spoke for the sake of speaking. The PA took a few seconds to process the words Sava had spoken before finally replying with a simple ‘Amelia’. The two made it to the car that was waiting and travelled to the track in silence, Sava taking in the sights, and Amelia tapping away at her phone. When they got out, Amelia handed Sava a paddock pass, explaining the importance of it and demonstrating how to use it at the gates. They walked through to the Carlin garage, one half working away excitedly, while the other side seemed rather dead.

“Everyone, can I have your attention please? This is Sava Dvorakova, she’s our reserve driver for the rest of the season. Make her comfortable, and make sure she feels welcome!” Amelia yelled, very quickly causing silence to spread over the entire garage.

“Hi! I’m Sava, but most people call me Bunny, so feel free to do either! Or if you’d like, Dvorakova works just as well, but it’s a bit of a mouthful so I understand if you mispronounce it. I’ll also probably respond to ‘hey you’ so anything works. I’m really looking forward to working with you all and giving you some good results this weekend!” Sava giggled at the end, her fists clenched in front of her chest as she gave a small cheer with her hands and the entire garage remained silent for a few moments before breaking out into whispers, their eyes trailing over the teenager’s body. The anxiety in Sava’s belly bubbled, and she began playing with her hands until she was approached by a boy who was a little taller than her with a friendly smile on his face.

“Hi, I’m Yuki. I drive the other Carlin. It’s nice to meet you Bunny.” Yuki introduced with a smile and fist bump. He was unbelievably pleased to meet a driver who was smaller than him, though he supposed that her being a girl wouldn’t ease all of the teasing he got from other drivers on the grid. The two chatted about their background in racing, and Yuki gave Sava a few pointers on handling the car she was about to drive for the first time ever.

“Sava, I have all of your race gear to try on, and later on you’ll need to do a seat fitting as the mechanics are just going to modify one of Yuki’s seats since you two are similar height.” Amelia stated, breaking up the conversation between the two youngsters. Sava apologised to her new friend before practically skipping behind Amelia. She received a few weird looks from others in the paddock, including a few F1 drivers she recognised from TV and her Instagram feed. She wasn’t sure why they were in this paddock, but supposed a few of the younger guys had only recently come out of F2.

When she got into a Carlin motorhome, race overalls and her flame-retardant undersuit were thrust into her hands by Amelia, and then pointed toward a tiny bathroom within the motorhome while the PA continued scrolling through emails, updating social media, and answering calls. Sava pulled the suits on excitedly, and though it was a bit tight in the hips, thighs and chest, she thought it looked pretty damn good.

“So, I think this was definitely made for a guy with less boobs and smaller hips, but the fit is still really good.” Sava joked to Amelia when she stepped out, only to see Helmut Marko standing alongside her new assistant. She went red instantly, her shoulders tensing and sliding up toward her head.

“Yes, well, we can certainly fix that before the next race, but right now, I believe you’re needed for fittings in the garage, so throw on your helmet and get down there.” Helmut ordered. Sava quickly snatched up her balaclava and helmet, threading the two onto her arm as she began undoing the pigtails to braid them on her way back to the Carlin garage while Amelia and Helmut stayed behind to talk.

If Sava thought she was getting weird looks on her way to the motorhome, she was getting even weirder ones on the way back from it. From what she could tell, it seemed more like mechanics, engineers and other personnel from other teams and she couldn’t see any drivers she recognised before she slipped into the Carlin garage, one braid half finished, and her helmet banging against her head every time she moved her arm. Yuki laughed at her struggles, ambling over to thread the helmet and balaclava off her arm while she held the half finished braid precariously. Sava thanked him with a quick smile and continued braiding, her tongue occasionally poking out the side of her mouth in concentration. One she was finished, and the long braids were tucked into the back of her suit, she pulled on the balaclava and helmet in record speed, and then was ushered into the F2 car to begin the tedious process of trying and changing one of Yuki’s seats to suit her height and posture. 

After about an hour of fiddling, she was allowed to take the helmet off, and was beginning to doze off in the cockpit while a few of the employees debated different ways of measuring and fixing the seat nearby. Amelia came into the garage to find the new driver fully asleep in her car with everyone still talking around her. She took a photo and uploaded it to Carlin’s Instagram story, tagging the driver and writing a quick word about the reserve driver they hadn’t officially announced yet. She giggled slightly, and when two of the mechanics came back over to lift the seat out of the car, they accidentally lifted the driver out with it. Amelia took more photos of the seventeen year old comfortably in her race suit, curled in her seat while two mechanics held the entire ensemble up above the car.

Suffice to say, Carlin’s Instragram was flooded with adoring new fans, angered stans, and a few cheeky formula one drivers on private accounts. 

[maranello]

Fio my dear! How we feeling about Ferrari this weekend? I wasn't able to watch practises and quali so I need your opinion 🙏

RACE: Turkish Grand Prix of 2021

TIFOSI MOOD OF THE WEEKEND: feeling good! but we must manage our expectations. 

THUS FAR:

Carlos has to take a grid penalty for PU4 so he is starting at the back of the grid no matter what.

PU4 is good, but, as all members of Ferrari have said to interviewers: it is not a gamechanger. Aka, we cannot expect them to be fighting for wins just because they have a new engine that works well. 

We had a really good Friday. Charles was P3 and P2 in the practice sessions. Carlos focused on race preparations and did a lot of aero set-up testing in FP1 (rather similar to 2022 regs...). Data showed performance gain. Perhaps we got happy too quickly because the Red Bulls were struggling a lot with set-up.

Saturday rolls around. Charles P4 and Carlos P5 in free practice 3. Red Bull is back up. I think this is more realistically where we are expecting to be. The pace still looked good, but I think everyone got a bit stir crazy from yesterday so they found Ferrari underwhelming and lacking pace today in comparison. 

Qualifying was pretty fun for us. Carlos went through to Q2, gathering some good data for the team and also pushing out Daniel in the McLaren out of Q2 which is good for constructors P3 fight reasons. Charles’ Q1 and Q2 was not the easiest of time, and he had me worried on a number of occasions. Charles was struggling on the mediums (which we want to start with) with the downforce he had and also had some issues with traffic. Ferrari had a massive brain moment where they sent out Carlos just to give Charles a tow to ensure that he makes it to Q3. Charles put out a banger of a lap at the very end of Q3 to jump up to P4. After Lewis’ penalty, it means Charles will start P3. 

THOUGHTS:

I have a good feeling about the team this Saturday. Despite not having that same amount of pace that got my hopes up, I am very encouraged by the teamwork!! I think they really sat down and learned from Sochi. Not only did they find a solid brain cell, the collaboration between drivers and engineers was going a lot better imo. Xavi was responsive to Charles’ input, and I think the communication is improved. I don’t know how to say it right, but just. I think the teamwork process this weekend has been improved, and it bodes well not just because they have a better chance of making the right calls to balance between the pit wall and the drivers but also learning from mistakes. This is a good feeling for the long-run is what I’m saying. 

The performance of the car is improved by PU4. It is a quicker engine and gives us more power, but it doesn’t solve all the problems we had with the car. It does give us a boost though! I think it can help us be more consistently ahead in the mid-field, and when the time calls for it, I think we may keep up more pace with Red Bull and McLaren in a race. Not to say the PU has what it takes to beat those, but I’d say our odds look better now if it came to that, and that in certain situations and metrics, we can definitely keep up. (Especially with how Charles really somehow manages to wring that extra bit of pace out the car often.) Our pace looked consistently good over one lap and race simulations in the practices, so I think that’s still a step forward. Maybe not as much as I really want to think, but still. Good for us. 

Shoutout to the work that the engineers and mechanics have done! Both at the factory and at the track. We came in with a good baseline to work with and they’ve been good since! Quali might look like a bit of a step back, but I think it’s because we’re focusing on the race and also the conditions were very not ideal with the possibility of rain looming. Tomorrow should be dry though, and we know we were quick on Friday.

Starting P3 doesn’t guarantee a podium in Turkey, but as long as nothing goes wrong, I am expecting a solid haul of points for Charles and think Carlos has a good chance at making it through the pack and into the points! 

I’ve felt pretty good going into this weekend even before we saw the cars on track ngl....so take that as you will. 

[dogduocatquartet]

@kung-slinger i genuinely almost don’t know what to say to this reply, it reads as if you didn’t even look at my post before responding. i specifically said very clearly that i don’t have anything against pit bulls and nowhere did i imply anything about violence being a need for that or any other breed of dog.

dogs will more often than not prefer to avoid fighting, they have a complex language which in large part consists of navigating around conflict (similar to wolves, since you bring that up, since they’re both social species and good communication skills are essential for functioning in groups). there are many breeds of dog that, due to a number of factors, have weaker or less clear body language than others (language between dogs is also in no small part learned, so socialization is also a factor here). pit bulls are generally considered one of these breeds, which makes a lot of the signals they send out disappear or get misunderstood, leading to heightened stress and may accidentally end up in a fight/bite even though the pit bull may have been trying to signal “i need some space”. the exact same could be said for a retriever with poor body language due to lacking socialization. a lot of owners also punish dogs’ ways of communication, such as growling (“leave me alone”), unintentionally leading to their language growing even poorer and instead of a ladder of escalating signals, the dog in question may end up jumping straight from “this is starting to become uncomfortable” to biting, rather than modifying their language accordingly and having opportunity to remove themselves from the situation. none of this is exclusive to pit bulls, but a higher tendency of conflicts CAN be seen in breeds that have poor body language, just as with dogs that are poorly socialized with other dogs.

if the word “aggression” makes you uncomfortable, let’s call it “stress” instead. a stressed dog may engage in behavior we consider aggressive, so these often overlap or are basically interchangeable anyway. some breeds are more predisposed to stress around either other members of the same sex as them or just other dogs in general, though again there are many factors to consider as to why this is. it’s been a while since i read up on this specifically, so anyone is free to correct me on this, but breeds with same-sex stress often have a higher production of hormones, making them more “competitive” with members of the same sex. for wolves, this can be a useful trait if they break off from their original family group (that’s generally what wolf packs are; two parent wolves and their children) to mate, establish their own territory, and create a new familial group (aka pack). akitas, frenchies, shibas, and st. bernards are some other dog breeds that have a relatively high occurrence of same-sex stress. terriers, guarding breeds, and herding dogs tend to have this in higher degrees than hunting or companion breeds. but again, ymmv.

stress, aggression, fights etc. between dogs are also often triggered by resource guarding. any dog can have issues with resource guarding, but breeds that have typically been bred to guard often have a higher tendency of this, and may be quicker to escalate the situation, because that’s what they’ve been bred for. dogs that have been bred to be independent and guard the home also have a higher tendency to “deal with” conflicts on their own, than dogs bred to be more handler-oriented. again, these are things to consider when getting a dog. for some people, these traits are desirable, for some they’re a downside that other traits weigh up for, for others it’s a dealbreaker. all of these are fine, and should honestly be encouraged more, because, as i said, not all dogs are suited for any person, and not all people are suited for any dog.

the reason pit bulls are often overrepresented in discussions of shelters/rescues is partly because it’s more of an umbrella term than a very coherent breed, referring to bull-type terriers and mixes thereof. there technically IS the american pit bull terrier, though this is not a breed recognized by the FCI or the AKC. regardless, a lot of different dogs often get lumped into the same category, especially when the history of the dog is unknown and it kind of looks like a bull-type terrier breed. ive seen plenty of “pit bulls” that probably have more pinscher or molosser/mastiff in them than bull-type terriers. so just on that alone, you have a huge span of dogs with varying temperaments and historical uses, and that’s before you consider more “immediate” factors like genetic lines and socialization (or nurture, if you will). there’s also the fact that due to their appearance, history, and reputation, there are a lot of terrible bull-type breeders out there, who breed for unethical reasons or for profit, which in turn produces a higher amount of dogs with poor backgrounds and poor parentage, which in turn makes a lot of these dogs end up in shelters (good breeders will commonly take the dogs back if there’s an issue or the owner has to surrender it, so more bad breeders = more dogs in shelters). this is not the dogs’ fault, obviously. in my experience, huskies and border collies are also breeds that make up a big chunk of shelter populations, because they might be cute when they’re puppies, but they often end up being more demanding than someone just wanting a family dog can handle. no amount of nurture can change an individual dog’s energy level or need for stimulation. what you CAN do is meet the dog’s needs. this is not the same thing as nature vs nurture. i cant love or train away a husky’s energy level, but i can let it use its natural resources by taking it for longer/more frequent walks/runs, maybe do some sledding/pulling/packing with it, making it a happier and more well-adjusted dog.

i recently saw a family with a staffordshire bull terrier who was very sweet with them and all around a great dog, but who would bark and pull incessantly whenever he’d see another dog. they had no idea how or why this happened, as he was otherwise really nice and they’d tried to socialize him a lot as a puppy. turns out, what they’d done when the dog was younger was let him meet every single dog they saw or walked past on the street, which created an expectation which created stress which ended up in very strong “stay away from me!!!” signals (barking, showing teeth, leaning forward). this is extremely common for dog owners of all breeds and it’s honestly both annoying and saddening, because no dog needs to befriend every dog they happen across, and it’s often counterproductive and create stress instead, especially since leashes limit a dog’s body language. your dog can hate every other dog in the world, but as long as they can walk past them without acting out, it’s literally not a problem. some dog breeds are less inclined to get along with other dogs, and that’s fine! they don’t need to hang with other dogs to be happy and if you train them to walk past other dogs it’ll likely never be an issue. like i said earlier on, dogs will almost always try to avoid conflict when they can, so you’ll be doing you, your dog, and other people and dogs a favor if you stop trying to “socialize” your dog that doesn’t like other dogs with said other dogs, and instead focusing on walking well on a leash. which is something that all dog owners should be aware of, not just owners of breeds that aren’t generally sociable with other dogs or people outside its family, which are typical traits of bull-type terriers.

and just to sum it up and really spell it out: i don’t think any dog is born “aggressive”. i think genetics, socialization, instincts, and training all play a role, and sometimes you can do everything right and still get a stressed dog that may lash out. dogs have also been selectively bred for all kinds of purposes by humans for thousands of years, so dogs of different breeds and origins may have very different behaviors, reactions, and instincts that we’ve often deliberately created. it’s bizarre and just plain wrong to state that all dogs and all dog breeds are born essentially with the same configuration and everything else is just “nurture”. pit bulls are often singled out or used as examples like in the post i reblogged because of their high density in shelters combined with their bad reputation, media sensationalism, and stereotypes. they’re not inherently worse or better than other dogs. they’re similar to rottweilers to me; fine dogs, can be great family pets, but you should know what you’re getting beforehand because they’re big strong dogs that may possess strong prey drive, same-sex stress, or guarding instincts + for which there are a lot of shitty breeders. id say the same for poodles or retrievers honestly; they can be high energy and were originally hunting dogs, so you should do your research, as with any other breed. i feel like over-defending and figuratively “defanging” pit bulls may end up doing more harm than good, even if the intentions are good, because downplaying a dog or breed’s potentially negative traits and specific needs will likely just result in the dog ending up with people who don’t know what they’re doing and who were expecting, like.. a bichon in terms of temperament and drive. how about we all just have a normal, neutral, informed approach to these breeds instead of this insane, eternal discourse where both sides can be equally fanatical? thanks

[zebrabaker]

Paris Stands Alone; Part 13

Part 12

This chapter’s art is...

As always, HUGE credits to @gajer-1226​ , for her amazing art!

Marinette groaned from her spot on the couch. Mullo had come down from relaxing in the sunroom a while ago, and the trio was sprawled out on the couch, cuddling under a blanket and watching a news report on the current Mayoral elections. Monsieur D’Argencourt was running again, despite having lost so many times in a row. His opponents were a strict woman who had been on the city council for years and was very conservative, and a man who was far more liberal but had little experience. She’d need to keep an eye on things politically, things like this always led to stronger Akumas, be they the politicians themselves or angry citizens.

Right as she had begun to debate with herself whether or not she should go back to bed the whole house shook, and she heard screaming in the streets.

“Son of a bitch…let’s go.” She rolled off the couch with a heavy sigh. “What are we betting on this time?” She asked, stretching and rolling her neck gently.

“Oh! Animal!” Mullo squeaked, perking up. She and the Kwamis had invented a game of betting on what the Amoks would be, winner getting to pick what game they would play on the household game night. If there was a tie, they would do a coin toss.

“I imagine after this morning they’ll go for inanimate.” Tikki yawned. “Ready whenever you are, Marinette!”

“Spots on!” She cried, smirking when she saw a portal appear a few feet away from her, put of sight of the windows. Leaping through, she let loose a battle cry as the world sharply shifted.

X0X0X

The Amok was a rampaging, canine beast, with massive fangs and glowing red eyes, and a hissing, spitting cobra for a tail. It looked like a terrifying mix of a pit-bull and a Doberman pinscher. Nightmare had taken to the rooftops, opening a portal that Ladybug leaped through with a mighty cry. She flung her yoyo at a flagpole and yanked it tight, swinging towards the beast feet-first. She slammed it across the snout, making it whine and stumble. A figure dropped from another portal in the sky, this one swirling blue and white, the figure indistinguishable.

“No way!” Teacup squealed, bouncing in place.

“What is that?” Batman asked, drawing a batarang.

“That is someone we don’t see very often.” Cat Sidhe muttered.

“Who?” Wonder Woman asked, fidgeting with her lasso.

“Bunnyx, the wielder of the Rabbit Miraculous. Her Miracle is called Burrow, it allows her to transverse the timestream with ease. She only visits on important occasions, or if she needs to warn us away from something. She’s the one who sent Jade Turtle out on patrol the night he died saving that girl from the disgraced one. Let’s go say ‘hi’, everyone.” Yellow Jacket was smirking as she took off running for the edge of the building. Right as she reached the edge, she grabbed a dagger from her boot and flung it at the beast at the same time as she flung her trompo at the same flagpole Ladybug had swung from. The dagger nailed the beast (presumably an Amok) in the eye, and it howled in agony and rage. It thrashed and stomped it’s feet, which were the size of minivans. It managed to take the corner off a building, making the civilians evacuating along the sidewalks scream.

Snapping Turtle dove into action, drawing their shield in a fluid motion and shouting something lost beneath the sound of the monster’s howls. A green semi-opaque dome made of hexagons appeared, surrounding a small family and the hero in question from the rubble raining from above. The shield didn’t even flicker or waver, merely protecting the small family as Snapping Turtle scooped one of the three small children up and prepping the family to move.

Vixen, standing on the rooftop, drew her reedpipes from her belt, and slowly began to play a haunting tune. Cat Sidhe, picking up on some hidden signal, made a series of gestures with the hand that bore his ring, before uttering a word that made the Americans shudder. It was dark and dank, this feeling, like the paranoia of being out late at night with shadows looming and every sound inducing panic.

From the ring began to emerge a shadowy figure. It morphed itself slowly into a humanoid figure, dressed in all white, with features that seemed to whisper ‘not right, not human, predator!’ in the ears of all who saw it. It was the unnatural smoothness of it’s skin and features, the inverted colors, with white pupils and black irises, hair that started pure white and faded to dull purple. It seemed to be a doll, unmoving, until Cat Sidhe spoke.

“Distract the Amok for me.” He ordered, and the inhuman thing melted into a pool of shadows, before the puddle seemed to dart away towards the Amok.

“What was that?” Nightwing asked uneasily.

“That was his Grace’s secondary ability, Nyx. It creates an inverted clone of pure destruction energy. You don’t want to be around when it self-destructs, that’s for damn sure.” Roi Singe sighed. “I’ll stay back this time; I don’t want to throw you guys off.”

“Alright. I’m off. Vixen, you good?” The fox, who was still playing her pipes, which were emitting a light orange mist, nodded slowly. The mist was descending to the streets below, and Cat Sidhe went running towards the edge of the building, going into a diver’s position as he plummeted towards the street below. Barely twenty feet above the pavement, the cat hero drew his baton and extended it, slamming the end into the ground so hard that it dented the asphalt as he vaulted towards the Amok, which was now biting and snapping as Ladybug and Yellow Jacket darted around it’s head. There was another heroine, this one in blue and white with roller skates on her feet, moving too fast for anyone to properly see her.

The orange mist, which now filled the entire block, suddenly blew towards the Amok, whirling around it as if being held by a tornado. A glance at Vixen proved that her fingers were dancing over her pipes faster than ever, and Batman felt on edge. He’d never been a fan of magic.

The mist rapidly coalesced into a large, feline shape, similar to the Amok in it’s unnatural size. The feline let out a powerful yowl, and swiped with massive claws at the Amok. The Amok (Who Yellow Jacket insisted on calling ‘Fluffy) growled and pounced at the beast, only to be entangled in the wires of Ladybug and Yellow Jacket’s weapons as the illusion dissolved into mist once more.  As the wires pulled taught around the Amok, Cat Sidhe’s Nyx reappeared before the beast, darting every which way and holding it’s attention. The beast, desperate in it’s rage to attack the tiny unnatural thing in front of it, thrashed and wriggled, trying to get itself lose, and only succeeded in tightening the wires. Slowly, Cat Sidhe snuck up behind the Amok, right hand raised in front of him as if he was trying to smack a fly. Right as the Amok snapped it’s jaws closed around the clone, Cat Sidhe slammed his hand into a thin red collar around Fido’s neck. The dog let out a startled, pained yelp, and was encased in a squirming mass of dark blue bubbles, which hissed and popped as the Amok shrank. Ladybug stood, waiting, and yanked on her yoyo string, which came zipping back into her palm. It wasn’t until the mass was barely any bigger than an American football that a peacock feather appeared that she acted, gently swinging her yoyo to catch it. When she had the feather secured, she flung her yoyo high into the air, crying out a string of words that felt like pure safety.

It was after the loveliness had faded that the final bubbles faded away, revealing a small, emaciated puppy, who’s bones showed through it’s skin, and it seemed to shiver as it looked up at all the heroes surrounding it. It snarled and snapped, cowering from the heroes around it.

“Wait, that was the eight-story tall monster that just did at least half a million in property damage?” Nightwing asked, walking up behind the Court members.

“This is why Hawkmoth and Mayura are so dangerous, they turn even the most innocuous, innocent little thing into something that can kill hundreds.” Vixen explained, landing behind them lightly, as if she hadn’t just jumped ten stories.

“What will happen to the poor thing?” Wonder Woman asked, watching as the puppy shied away from Ladybug’s hand as if expecting to be hit.

“Well, Fidel already has several dogs. They naturally love her, and Yellow Jacket has been talking about setting up a sanctuary for stray dogs. This one, however, seems to have developed a liking towards her Ladyship.” Roi Singe chuckled, watching as the small dog pressed it’s head into Ladybug’s palm.

“And lord only knows that my Melody could never turn away an animal in need.” Cat Sidhe said, approaching them casually. “Thanks for staying out of the way back there, it could have been bad if someone got hurt.”

“You’re in charge here.” Batman said gruffly.

“Still, we might have an issue. I have some stuff that needs me back home, so I was thinking one of my brothers could come over and help you guys out.”

“We’ll talk about it more tomorrow, for now we all need to split before the press starts getting pushy and Vixen, Bunnyx, and I transform back.” Ladybug said, holding the small dog in her arms. The canine was cuddled up close to her, soaking in her body heat. “Ready, love?” She asked Cat Sidhe, who nodded and sent a glare at a woman with pinkish hair who was coming their way, a camera crew behind her. “Bug out!” Ladybug said, winking to the cameras and flinging her yoyo (which should not be able to go that far) at a flagpole on a nearby building. Cat Sidhe began to extend his baton, before letting it fall, vaulting off down the street.

X0X0X

Nadya watched as Ladybug and Cat Sidhe left the scene, and the various Court members disappeared to the rooftops. This was perfect! And yet, right as she approached, Batman drew a grappling hook from his belt, fired at a gargoyle on a nearby building, and went flying off, and Wonder Woman barely waved to the camera before flying away. At least the remaining hero, a young man dressed in black and blue, took a moment to smile and give a dramatic bow before somehow climbing a brick wall. These heroes were ruining her poor ratings! Well, she still had that Ladyblogger girl’s number…

@krispydefendorpolice​ @ficsforthestars​ @multifandomscribette​ @legendaryneckjudgestudent​ @ash-amg-blog @bee-wrecker​ @dawnwave16​ @the-supreme-ace-queen @politelyvicious​ @stonestridernerd​ @justmdj​ @stingrowl​ @damianette-is-life​ @miraculous786​ @mjisntme​ @hauntedfreakdeputyhero​ @miraculousdisapointment @lesscooltodoroki @bb-basbusa​ @isabellemasen​ @sassydepression​ @imspectralboiii​ @spicybelladonna​ @moonystars14​ @frostymoon11 @worlds-tiniest-spookiest-pastry @spartanxhunterx​ @fandoms-run-my-life​ @chocolateherringtacofan​ @imburningneon @fandomsaremylifeline​ @risingmoonyue​ @zotinha456​

[meaningofmotorsport]

Hungarian Grand Prix Review

Apologies for not producing any content over the weekend, I was away with family, and I thought that missing Hungary wouldn’t be that big, as it turns out though, it was the worst weekend to miss!

What a race for Alpine! Absolutely bonkers result, that was undoubtedly lucky, but you have to make the most of your luck, and they certainly did that! Ocon made his way out of the Lap 1 chaos in 2nd, behind Lewis, and when Mercedes slipped up, he took the lead, and held off Vettel brilliantly, despite being in a slightly slower car! Does this make up for an otherwise disappointing year for the Frenchman? Not quite, but either way it will be an amazing feeling to achieve your first win, and could boost him for the rest of the year! An equally incredible drive may go to Alonso, who held off a storming Hamilton for around 15 laps, which was crucial in allowing Esteban to get the win! That battle was perfect, with both drivers pushing the limits without going over it, as Lewis said after the race! For Alpine as a whole, this will be an injection of hope for the team, who have fallen back recently, and could secure their future in the sport for the longer term!

It was another topsy turvy day for Mercedes, as Bottas made a slight error into Turn 1, which had massive consequences! Behind the dirty air of Norris, he couldn’t brake as well, so ploughed into him, who then hit Verstappen. Obviously, it was not on purpose, however, with contract renewals on the horizon, that could hurt his chances of staying in the team! After that 1st Turn, it looked as though it could be the perfect day for Hamilton, yet one slight error in not pitting on the formation lap for the restart, meant it was a fighting day for him from there! He drove well, picking his battles, and finishing 2nd after all of that, should be satisfying for the team! Through circumstances, mostly caused by Mercedes, they find themselves back in the lead of the championship, however, Red Bull have a very strong car under them, and will come back strong!

Leclerc was unlucky to be caught up in the chaos at the start, as he was in the ideal position to capitalise on this kind of day! Despite Sainz getting on the podium, Ferrari will likely feel they should have got more from today, as they had better pace than Alpine. The crash for Carlos in qualifying really hampered his progress in the race, although you could argue if he had been with Charles, he could have been crashed into too! With McLaren basically out of the running, they needed to maximise the day, but being stuck behind slower cars, such as Tsunoda, rather ruined their day! The same can be said of Gasly, who was best of the rest in qualifying, but went to the outside in Turn 1, which was very costly. The drive back up to 5th yet again shows how well he is performing right now! The decision to swap the drivers when Pierre closed on Yuki, may not have made much of a difference today, although it shows the teams mindsight right now, with Tsunoda still not able to get the most out of the car! This double points score will be a real help in the championship for them!

There are two types of teams in this race, those that maximised the day, and those that missed out on a huge opportunity! Another team that maximised their day, and may be happier even than Alpine, is Williams, who got 10 points from a single race, to solidify themselves in 8th in the constructors! For a while it looked as though, yet again, it would be Russell’s teammate who scored points for the team! That being said, Latifi showed some great qualities in that race, and had equal pace with George! However, with Verstappen and Ricciardo struggling to climb through the field, and then the DSQ for Vettel, it meant it was a fairy-tale for both sides of the garage! George tried to be naughty in the pitlane on the restart, by overtaking some parked cars, which he wasn’t allowed to do. Russell’s weakness is still the starts, and if he is to be brought up to the main Mercedes team, he will need to sort that out! Either way, this could be the start of a great new era for Williams!

Been a very difficult two races for Red Bull, although what happened this weekend, could be seen to be karma for their words and actions after the British Grand Prix, in some people’s eyes! There was nothing Max could do about the crash with Norris, it was just one of those things! Surely the luck will turn around soon! Having lost all of his right side bargeboards, the race from there was pretty much lost, at least in terms of big points! He did all he could, and 2 points limits the damage done by Lewis! Perez didn’t even finish the 1st lap due to the damage, so it was a demoralising day for the team! They need to reset over the next few weeks, the car underneath them can win the title, their main issue is how they cope with adversity. The aftermath of Silverstone was pretty bad for the team, and showed weakness, which Mercedes will pounce on!

Kimi was able to pick up the final point, once Vettel had been DSQ’d. It was still a net loss though for the team, who have dropped behind Williams in the constructors. It will not be easy for them to get 7 points over the rest of the season, and finishing 9th will be underwhelming for a team of their quality! Haas couldn’t get near points, even with all the chaos going on, Mick has been doing well in previous races, but in Hungary he struggled more. Mazepin was unlucky with the pitlane incident, which was not his fault at all!

McLaren had a disastrous day, as Norris was punted into Verstappen at Turn 1, ending his race, whilst Ricciardo got caught up in the incident with Leclerc and Stroll. Daniel was in a similar position to Max after that, so did well to keep up with him during the race! On the results it looks very similar for Aston Martin, but it could have been so different. Vettel was pressuring Ocon all race, and was faster, yet just couldn’t find a way through. He and the team didn’t nail the pit stop, which halted any chances of overhauling Alpine! Then, the much bigger error, was in using too much fuel during the race, and so not having enough to provide a fuel sample post-race, leading to a disqualification. It may be harsh, and I wish he had kept it, but the rules are rules, and this one has been around for ages, it is a very silly error to make! Meanwhile Stroll, much like Bottas, misjudged his braking on Lap 1, and despite taking evasive action, could not avoid hitting Leclerc, ending both their races!

2021 is turning into a classic year for F1, I just hope that this summer break doesn’t halt all the action we have been seeing up until now! Red Bull will likely come to Spa still angry about these two races, and if they can channel their anger into speed, it could be hard for Mercedes to hold them off! In the here and now though, it is awesome to see a driver who we thought may have left F1 for good in 2018, come back and climb to the top of podium for the first time ever!

-M

Thank you very much for reading this article! To keep up to date with when they go out, and to see my reactions to races and other news, follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/MeaningofMotor1

Also, if you want to support me, I have a Patreon Page at: https://www.patreon.com/meaningofmotorsport

[hazard-and-friends]

i watched the first episode of canine intervention tonight, here’s some uncensored liveblogging featuring my spicey dog training takes:

“my dog training system is known all over the world" mhmm. lemme google this guy.

by clicking through his in person training site to his online remote training course, i found a whole lot of big red flags: "Establish pack leadership" dogs don't have pack leaders. anyone who wants to make you a leader is not using a good understanding of dog behavior "Time your praise and corrections" the times when i use corrections are when i'm the least on my game. my goal is NEVER to use corrections/positive punishment. why should i? it's concerning that he uses it as a core part of his method. "Exercise and reinforce your leadership as a way of life" more leadership bullshit.

fancy letters are not the end-all-be-all, and there are trainers i seriously respect who have none of them. but they don't talk about leadership and corrections. it's concerning that he talks about his sports team as a kid, where he went to high school, and his celebrity clients, but not his mentors and education in training.

back to the show

why does his facility have enough dogs to keep them in kennels? how does that teach aggressive dogs how to be safe in a home environment?

not all of the dogs in the first shot of a class (~1:38) have two collars on but a lot do. that's not a red flag (i worked sydney in two collars [her flat collar and a martingale, because syd was very gear smart and it was nice to tell her that we were doing heeling now]) but with what i saw on his website? it's quite likely that one of those is the dog's normal flat collar with tags, and the other is a prong, choke chain, or electric collar

also: "I help the dogs that no one else will" is a flat out lie

if you're willing to take on any human aggression cases, generally you’re willing to take on all of them. now, some of these cases may generally lead to a recommendation of euthanasia. but that's in the best interests of the dog and owner

oop class shot where it's clear that they're wearing prongs

here's two points not about this guy specifically: 1) it is hard (impossible?) to do humane, ethical dog training in a 45 minute episode slot. it's not good tv. it's slow as hell. there's no drama. the aggression trainers i know? have never been bitten. many have never been CLOSE to being bitten. no tv value. 2) the positive dog training community is OVERWHELMINGLY white and middle class.

it's also full of racists.

"Nearly a million dogs are euthanized yearly and over 40% of them are pit bulls" i've calculated that first statistic myself, but it's important to put it in context: this is USA specific, and that's down from 3-4 million 20 years ago. the second one, i would love to see his source.

he's right that it's important to understand where aggression comes from

anyway back to those two points, at the same time that it's really, really hard to do compelling TV with ethical dog trainers, it's also really REALLY important that the positive dog training community be working on being anti-racist. and it's really, really important that low income dog owners and people of color are getting good dog training.

alright first case! he's had her 3 months, 3 bites in that time. 10 attempted attacks. she's a young adult bully breed mix who had one front leg amputated after being shot. owner walks her in a muzzle which is a) too small and b) not bite proof.

"I see what we're working with" he says, after approaching a dog in her crate. hazard responds similarly to someone coming in, but he's not a bite risk. that's not a good evaluation.

he is correct about lady macbeth's motivations: this is a dog who's scared as hell and making herself really big and scary so that everyone leaves her alone.

okay he's also right that playing with her around strangers is really, really good for fear aggression

"frenzied just chaotic state" yeah no

reality check for y'all: i am not an aggression specialist and i have seen more freaked out dogs

she was on edge! she was unhappy! but holy shit was she not even remotely close to what dogs are capable of

"she just bit me!" she nipped your cheek, not breaking skin. that's a level 1 or 2 (of 6). that's not NOTHING but it's well within normal for a dog who's being restrained when she wants to be somewhere else.

[note that at no point in the episode was the owner ever given any sort of indication that lady macbeth is not this horribly aggressive Pit Bull TM. nor was there any discussion of a bite scale.]

"The only option we're gonna have is to [board and train] for 3 weeks" "I have no choice but to take her back to my facility back in San Jose and work daily with her" no!!!!!

[15 minute break]

lmao sorry i had to go yell at gf about how much this board and train is not necessary and in the process penny decided to cause Drama again

ANYWAY, the b&t is not necessary because all of those aggressive incidents bar the first could have been avoided if the owner was on the ball. this is not JUST a lady macbeth issue, this is ALSO an owner issue. both of them need to relearn how to handle new people.

as a bonus, lady macbeth needs to learn to trust her owner, which she categorically cannot do in a b&t

"The box is an important training tool to teaching new behaviors. It's also a first step in establishing pack leadership" ok this is new to me

and new is not a good thing here

text: Obedience depends on a dog's trust and respect for their pack leader calculus depends on your trust and respect for your math teacher! if you respect them a lot you will magically be able to do calc!

I WAS HOPING. I WAS TRYING.

i was HOPING that his training for her fear aggression would be based in toy play.

instead he's got a fake arm and he keeps reaching out to poke her, and the owner says "no!" and does a leash pop (leash wrapped around her neck) every time she tries to bite.

"She doesn't know it's not his hand" it smells like plastic what would she THINK it is

also funky that we're 19 minutes into the episode about an aggressive bully breed mix and the trainer's childhood bully breed mix who killed a dog, and like. not a single mention of what these dogs were bred for.

let's go back to "how are you teaching aggressive dogs to live nicely in a home, if they are spending most of the day in a wire kennel"

for shits take, high school doesn't teach you how to handle your emotions! why should obedience class teach your dog the same?

and then like, every time she breaks the down he yells NOPE and leans over her??????

dude you're scaring her into being obedient. while you're talking about how it's important to treat her fear.

text: Fear based aggression can be reduced by desensitizing the dog to strangers you're right! it sure can! THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU'RE DOING HERE

you've got a dog on her side with one hand over her, the other on a skinny check chain on her neck. every time she does anything but lay flat, the leash is popped and you say no. you are flooding this dog and creating learned helplessness.

jo summed it up well with this: he's good at seeing the behavior, he knows what he's looking at, he just can't change it. he only knows one method.

jo and i are now trying to figure out if "dog training but marie kondo not cesar milan" is a viable tv show

jas correctly stops the friend and changes how he approaches the dog, that's a good response

i'm laughing bc after a 3 week board and train which is not going to be less than $4k, he's giving the exact same "how to meet new people" directions that i would give to a similar client--at the start of our time! not at the end!

"I can't imagine imagine a dog having it too much worse than she did, the fact that she took a gunshot, the fact that she had no security for years of her life" alright dude a) think worse, this PALES to abuse cases b) let's not? shittalk? the care that people without reliable housing give to their dogs (and occasional cat!)?? because what they do for their pets is incredible, and it isn't necessarily connected to her opinions on strangers

so yeah still laughing bc like. that "happy ending" would be my first session with a client. that's how you START handling stranger danger. and for this the owner paid thousands.

[redhawtriot]

Caught in the Act: You and I (Bakugou x Reader)

Tip Jar ☕- Not expected but always appreciated💞

Hiiii bbys

Back by popular demand: The Sequel to Caught in the Act!

This story shifts perspective like a mother fucker so take some pepto-bismal and enjoy the ride. 

PS: You and I both have the same name

HnM 💕

What… just happened? You turned back around to face the door and placed your hand on the knob. You let it sit for a moment before you slowly retracted it, cursing under your breath. His soft, sad smile replayed in your mind over and over again as you stared at the handle—each run through of the scene causing you to fall deeper into uncertainty.

You had never seen him smile like that before. You had, of course, recently been exposed to a new, vulnerable side of him—raging and begging like a caged animal as you struggled to separate yourself from him, yet you had never seen him accept his defeat so solemnly. Actually, you had never seen him accept defeat in general. 

Your face settled into a hard expression.

Was he really going to be okay? Did he finally crack after everything? Maybe you should turn back around, just to make—

“Y/N!”

You jumped at the sudden voice before a set of familiar, firm hands were pat down on your shoulders, “Sorry! I am so sorry!” It was only Kirishima. You relaxed from your tense stance as he continued, “I didn’t know Bakugou had left the hospital, I swear! I would have never sent you here!” You whipped your head toward Kirishima’s frantic expression as he profusely apologized, clasping his hands together and praying for your forgiveness. His sudden appearance sent a jolt of realization into your being: Katsuki cheated on you—that’s why you left him.

That’s why he was feeling the way that he was now-- why you were feeling the terrible way you were now. 

No matter how much you wanted to make sure that he was okay, you needed to give yourself that pleasure first. You owed yourself at least that much after dealing with his bull shit for the past months.

You shook Kirishima off of your shoulders, startling him slightly; however, you sent him a reassuring smile, “You have to take care of him...” you didn’t mean for your voice to break toward the end of you sentence.

“W-what?”

“I…” You cleared your burning throat in an attempt to save your voice from cracking again,  “I can’t-- won’t take care of him anymore, so I need you to, okay?”

“O-okay. Well—uh. I-uh… I was not expecting that,” he nervously laughed—breaking himself off mid-chuckle to search your eyes for any distress signals, “You okay?” He had an eyebrow raised.

“I’ll be okay. Thank you so much Kiri,” You once again smiled at him before you made your way to your car.

“N-no problem, I guess… You are really not okay right? I feel like that is what I am gathering from this situation,” his eyes continued to dance across your expression in an analytical matter. 

“Don’t worry about me. You’ll have…” you signed a load of air that you hadn’t even realized had been stored within your heavy chest, “...a lot on your plate,” you finished before turning around to walk towards where you had left your car.

You could only manage a few heavy trundles before you felt strong arms wrap around you, “You’re solid, Y/N. I am so sorry you had to go through this, but if anyone can handle it, its you,” he whispered into your hair before placing a light, friendly kiss on your forehead, “Love you,” he bid his farewell as he pulled himself from you.

Kirishima watched as you made your way to your car to make sure you made it safely since it had grown dark outside. He noticed the tired way that your shoulders drooped as you walked. The dense man was never thought to be the most perceptive of the bunch—he knew this, but he swore that somewhere within your somber stance, was a hint of relief. It was as if your drooping form was due to a sudden weight being lifted off of you. You were only contoured to the emotional baggage that had weighted you down and soon, like the resilient, wonderful woman you were, you’d eventually mold back into yourself.

Kirishima felt the corners of his lips tug into a warm-hearted smile as he watched your car pull off—exchanging one more wave to you before you left.

It was bitter-sweet for sure. After all, who knows when the next time he’ll see you will be?

Never mind that though; He’s got another buddy to worry about right now. The man’s red eyes uneasily shifted to he front door of his crisp, worn down apartment, wherein he knew a train wreck resided.

Would Bakugou even listen to him after all that they had been through that day: the tree villain, the argument, the fire? 

‘That night, you told me that you didn’t want her to leave us. There is no us, you delusional bastard. It is me and her.’ Bakugou’s words rang in Kirishima’s ears worse than any one of his explosions had ever managed to. Obviously, there was still some unresolved issues between them, so what chance would he have in being the comforting friend that Bakugou needed in that moment?

Kirshima suddenly shook his head in a crude attempt to get rid of the swarm of doubt infesting his mind, and pushed his chest out strongly as a man should,

“Here goes nothing,” he muttered under his breath as he opened the door to the home, “Bakugou?! Bro? You in here?” He knew very well that he was, but it felt right to give him some sort of alert to his presence. He read that about feral bears once when he used to hike with Bakugou a lot. It seems as if it could apply in this situation a well he guessed…

“Come get your crap,” the sudden rough voice shook Kirishima out of his his wandering thoughts. He looked up to see Bakugou holding a large plastic crate, “I only brought two bins, so make sure not to pack like a dumbass.”

“Huh?” Kirishima was expecting him to be much more of a... mess. The dull shine that your hazy eyes had held a few minutes ago was very similar to those of shell shocked veterans, yet this scene in front of him was far from war-- actually pretty domestic for Bakugou standards.

Bakugou’s expression hardened as he slammed the crate down in front of Kirishima. It sounded with a loud clang as he spoke up once more, his pressing voice just as booming, “We are going to Racoon Eye’s aren’t we, dumbass??”

“Uh-- right, yeah!” Kirishima found himself being distracted by a glint of something else in Bakugou’s angry expression, “You’re… okay with that now?” he questioned as he moved around the apartment, searching for salvageable items to bring with him. 

Mina was the first and only one of their friends to come visit them at the hospital that evening, only because they were hospitalized for just a few hours and she was so close by.

She obviously offered to house her two friends until they got back on their feet since she had plenty of room in her duplex; however, before she could even get the words completely out of her mouth Bakugou had already begun protesting with “I don’t fucking need your help,” and “I’d rather live on the street than live in your garbage can house, Racoon eyes!”

The explosive man was now singing a different tune, “Well it’s not like I have much of a fucking choice now do I?” The blond man currently grumbled to himself as the two packed up their belongings. 

Kirishima simply shrugged in return-- a slight smile on his face. Bakugou seemed to be doing much better than he was when he left the hospital. Maybe he was afraid for him for no reason. 

The two men continued packing as a thick sheet of uncomfortable silence engulfed them. Kirishima didn’t mind though. He would much rather have this than have Bakugou explode the apartment again. Besides, the two were soon enough, finished packing up and Bakugou went to go “take a piss” one more time before they departed for Mina’s apartment.

As Kirishima placed his final item in his bin, a sudden gleam from Bakugou’s crate caught his attention. It was honestly nothing too vibrant or spectacular, yet something inside of the man told him to go investigate it. He shuffled the tightly packed items a little to uncover more of the object and turned it slightly to its side to unvcover its shattered face when suddenly—

“Don’t fucking touch that!” Bakugou roared, snatching Kirishim’a arm and tossing it away from the bin, but it was too late-- Kirishima’s eyes told that he had already seen what it was. 

“That was the sports festival picture of you and Y/N from high school…” Kirishima reported with a concerned expression.

“I know what the hell it is, you idiot,” he gruffly replied as he snatched up his bin and began marching toward the exit.

Kirishima hurriedly grabbed his own and followed Bakugou’s actions, “I... saw her leave when I came in,” he wasn’t sure how to start this conversation, but this seemed neutral enough. And it actually piqued the blond’s interest.

His eyebrows slightly furrowed in surprise. Kirishima hadn’t come in for a long while after you had walked out of the door. Were you really waiting out there for such a long time? What the hell did that mean?

“She looked a little upset, but not like usual.” well recently. Kirishima could only internally add that,  “You got the closure you needed, didn’t you.”

“Are you gonna just run your goddamn mouth all damn night??” Bakugou suddenly snapped, but upon seeing his friend’s worried expression a pit of guilt settled deep within his stomach. An awkward air of silence filed in between the two friends once more as a big Taxi van pulled up in front of them. Bakugou blew out a gust of hair as a pout rested on his face.

He would never say this out loud but maybe he would apply his new found methods of care to his best friend as he had planned to with you. It was no secret that Kirishima had pretty much been the only thing holding him together for the past few months, and he honestly didn't deserve all of the thrashing that Bakugou dished out toward him-- no matter how thick his skin was. 

The blond didn’t know what he would do if Kirishima left him alone like you had.

“I kissed her... I kissed her a lot actually,” Bakugou grumbled under his breath. Kirishima’s jaw dropped in shock as Bakugou continued, “It felt like good bye, but also really good,” His cheeks crept into a slight blush at the recollection of how amazing your body had felt on top of his. He shook this light feeling away as the Taxi trunk lifted open, “So it can only mean goodbye for now. I’ll get her back one day—if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll have her be my wife,” Bakugou knew that he wasn’t saying this fully because he believed it, but as Kirishima as his witness, he would be held accountable for his winning or failing. No. Fuck that. For his winning.

Surprisingly, Kirishima ate up Bakugou’s determination and made it his own, “Sounds like a plan,” his eyebrows tensed as his expression folded into a proud smirk,  “Just don’t do any thing irrational, these things take time.”

Bakugou grabbed the other man’s bin from him to load it, “Do you think I’m and Idiot or something?! I know that! That’s why I sent her out.”

“Wow…” Kirishima’s heart began swelling up, “That was really manly of you. Mature too! I am proud of you, bro.”

The other man simply rolled his eyes, “You haven’t ever even been in a real relationship, shitty hair. I don’t know what the hell makes you think that you’re better than me at this shit,” A sudden dull pain ripped through Kirishima’s chest at Bakugou’s words. He knew that he hadn’t meant it with more malice than typical, but for some reason, these words had reached him in a sore spot in his heart.

As Bakugou finally finished packing his final objects into the taxi, he slammed the trunk down, snapping Kirishima out of his wandering thoughts. Finally, the two made it back to Mina’s just as the sun had begun to rise again.

They walked up to her apartment, but just as Kirishima raised his hand to knock a loud screeching of metal could be heard from next door. A fumbling voice cursed under her breath before a face peeped out of the other half of the duplex. 

“You must be Mina’s new house guests! Sorry for scaring you! This door is stupid loud! It just needs some oil, but honestly, I like to call it my homemade alarm system,” Kirishima gave hearty laugh at the woman’s passing joke, while Bakugou only glared away.

“Yep! We’ll be hanging out for a little while! I’m Eijirou Kirishima!” the red haired man excitedly greeted, “And this is my buddy, Bakugou.”

“Nice to meet you Bakugou—Kirishima,” the way that his name rolled out suddenly made Kirishima’s blood pool into a hot mess near the surface of his cheeks.

I studied the two of their faces and gauged them with my serial killer/freak/pervert radar and found nothing too alarming, “I am her landlord, Y/N,” I continued with a smile as I made my way fully out of the apartment to properly greet them-- eyeing the light shade of pink dusted across the cute one’s expression. I was obviously too infatuated to notice that the other man’s face had crumpled considerably at the mention of my name.

“We didn’t ask,” the ignored man spat instinctively, causing my eyes to sharply snap in his direction. He looked almost hurt. I honestly have seen a lot of hurt men in my day—not because I’m some kind of heartbreaker or anything, but because my apartments are usually dirt cheap. The inevitable divorce that happens with two people are fed up with one another usually sends the male party packing, and guess where the sad saps end up?

My duplex apartments—or some other crappy place like them.

So, what’s this ‘Bakugou’s’ story? I looked to him with an intrigued expression; however, he still hadn’t found the resolve to look me in the face yet.

“Bro! Can you stop that!” Kirishima instantly reprimanded his friend. He was completely embarrassing him in front of the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen, “I am so sorry for him! He’s just had a bad day.”

I don’t even entertain that bullshit as I keep my eye’s steadied on the angry, obviously broken man in front of me, “Uh-huh… So anyways,” I finally looked back toward the cute red-head, “Here’s the keys Mina wanted me to give you. She’s got a early shift today so she won’t be around, but I am always here... sadly,” it was true. Being a landlord was pretty much my only gig. I really should pick up a damn part time or something.

Yeah right. And miss out on sad sap soap operas like this? I stifled a laugh at my thoughts before walking back to my apartment.

I sharply turn around catching the red-head’s eyes lingering on my form, “Holler if you need anything, but don’t holler if you don’t because nobody likes a noisy neighbor, got it?” I wink at him before making my way into my apartment.

Bakugou finally averted his gaze from the metal rail that he had been glaring at in the distance and snatched the key’s out of Kirishima’s frozen hands, “You’re drooling, dumbass,” he snaps his friend out of the trance that I had left him in as he roughly shoves past him toward Mina’s front door. The blond felt his heart ache begin to creep up on him again.

 I just had to have the same name as you did. Who knew Y/N was such a popular name?

On the other side of town, you had only just returned home as well, “Todoroki?” you called out softly into the dark house. No reply came and you weren’t sure if you were relieved or upset. Your feet were still heavy from earlier as you tiredly shuffled into the living room and plopped down onto the couch, a huge sigh being released from your being as you threw your head back.

You sat like this for a moment, unable to feel much as a numbness began spreading throughout your aching body. Your eyes peeled open to stare at the ceiling above you. You forced your heavy head back up and took in the mess of papers scattered throughout your home from yesterday evening’s transgressions.

“Y/N,” The sudden voice made you jump, but your tense body was soon engulfed in Todoroki’s tight arms, “I was so worried when you didn’t come home last night! I--” the man found himself trying to calm down. He took a short breath and restarted his approach once more as he looked into your eyes, “You were stress driving again, weren’t you? I don’t like how we left things, Y/N. I can’t have you leave upset like that ever again. I love y-“

“Katsuki and I hooked up,” you abrupted his oncoming confession. You had to let him know. You were the mess of a human that ruined Fae’s love and stomped on Todoroki’s as well-- god!

A well of tears pooled in your eyes as you stared at the man who loved you-- the man you were definitely destroying. “W-what?” his stoic demeanor completely shifted into a zone of hurt. 

“Katsuki and I kissed. A lot,” you corrected, “God Todo, it was like melting back into home-- into what I am supposed to be! I-I am no better than him!” your voice finally cracked as your first tears began falling. You moved your body to walk away from him, but he tightened his grip on you just enough to hold you in place,

“You’re nothing like Bakugou. You’re caring and honest and considerate and beautiful and I don’t take back what I said. I do love you. I still really do,” regret began filing into his expression as his pursed his lips, “Maybe I shouldn’t have waited so long to show that. I know that actions speak louder than words,” His eyes flickered down to your lips.

He had wanted to wait thing long to give you the time to properly heal, but that approach was obviously was simply letting your emotions simmer and crust over. Maybe the Todoroki would have to take a more direct approach in showing you your worth.

“How I feel remains the same,” his breath reached your face in a warm blanket as he wiped away your tears, “Y/N, I’d like to know if you feel the same way,” he leaned in closer to you and waited. He needed you to close that last centimeter of distance, then he could fully show you how much you meant to him—No reservations.

“I... do...” you weren’t sure if you sounded too sure, but to Todoroki’s ears, he’d never heard anything so certain! Taking initiative Todoroki disappeared the final distance between you as his lips slowly found their way towards your own. He passionately pressed his mouth against your own as if he were desperately trying to erase any trace of Bakugou.

Fuck that bastard for hurting the woman he loved and then having the gall to keep you entranced in some sort of spell. He was going to erase that fool from your life no matter what...

“Achoo!”

“Damn, city flowers!” The sun was at full mast as Bakugou made his way back toward Mina’s apartment after his “hike.” Mina lived pretty much in the middle of the city’s most urban area and there was practically no tree’s in sight. What was supposed to be a refreshing walk was turned into an aggravating extra shift at work as he came across multiple attempted muggings, an assault, and even a flasher.

The man huffed.

It wasn’t like he had shit else to do. He fucking wished that he could be like Kirishima, sleeping like a baby. He was going on 40 hours without sleep, after all. The past two days had been, in lack of better words, a complete shit show.

But things were about to look up for him. He had a plan in place to get you back. All that he needed to do was follow that plan and nothing in heaven or hell could stop him from—

A feminine shriek snapped him out of his thoughts, “Get you damn hands off of me, prick!”

Bakugou growled in frustration. He was gonna explode the hell out of whoever this was he swore to god. 

The man angrily marched toward the bickering voices. They were near the base of Mina’s duplex. 

Bakugou paused as he walked straight into one of my frequent arguments with my on-and-off dick of a boyfriend, Ty. 

“Baby, you know that I love only you,” his voice hardly sounded believable. In, fact I was sure that I have heard toddlers be more persuading, “It shouldn’t matter what happened in the fucking past. Can’t you just let bygones be bygones?” A half-laugh, half-snort love child tore out of me as I rolled my eyes at the bag of dicks in front of me. 

“You’re full of shit, Maybe that’s why your breath smells like ass all of the time,” I tried to turn to walk back into my apartment, but he suddenly snatched me by my shoulder and roughly whipped me around toward him,

“Dammit, Y/N!” the sound of yours and my name caused Bakugou’s heart to race as his nervous system suddenly went on edge. An intense mode to protect suddenly activated within him as the man that I was arguing with continued, “If you’d stop being such a bitch for five seconds and let me explain!” he roughly snatched my face in his hands.

“GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!” 

Should Bakugou interrupt this lover’s quarrel? Or ignore the couple’s arguing and go home?

YOU DECIDE!!

Follow this link to cast your vote

[formula365]

The Greatest of All Time - Imola Grand Prix review

It’s Christmas in 2004, and Maranello is a happy place. Ferrari has just crushed their opposition, winning 15 of the 18 races to claim a sixth consecutive constructors’ championship. And it wasn’t just another title: this was one of their most dominant, the F2004 a car so quick that in their first test at their private track in Fiorano they thought something was wrong with the track sensors. This hadn’t quite been the same level of dominance as 2002, when they scored as many points as all the other teams combined, but was pretty close.

Going into the next season, everyone expected Ferrari would be fending off challengers but staying on top. Just as in 2003, the competitors should be closing the gap a bit, but the Scuderia should remain the team to beat. Such was the quality of the 2004 car that the team led by Ross Brawn decided to evolve the car to adapt to the regulations tweaks of 2005, rather than work on an entirely new design.

But as the cars hit the track in Melbourne, it became clear the competition had more than caught up. The 2005 car was only supposed to make his debut in round 5 in Barcelona, but given the poor results in the first two races, its debut was brought forward to round 3 in Bahrain. It didn’t matter: plagued with aerodynamics issues, a gearbox too big and Bridgestone tyres that were losing the performance battle to Michelin, the F2005 won a single race, and only because all the teams using Michelin refused to race in the now infamous US GP, due to safety concerns.

At the time, it seemed impossible such a downturn in fortune could happen. The all-conquering Ferrari, the first team ever to win 6 championships in a row, had fallen off a cliff, finishing a distant third in the standings. No one had seen that coming, least of all those running the team itself.

What does this have to do with this weekend’s race? Obviously, everything. As expected since pretty much the first round of the season, Mercedes has just confirmed their seventh consecutive world title with four races to spare, beating Ferrari’s record, while reaching performance levels similar to those 2002 and 2004 titles. Just like Ferrari, they are at their peak, but the difference is that they show no signs of slowing down or becoming the c-word: complacent.

Ferrari’s 2005 season is a cautionary tale for any team dominating their sport: don’t take anything for granted; this is exactly what Mercedes have always done. Through every regulation change, they have continuously pushed the boundaries on every single level, taking every defeat as a chance to improve, and turning every setback into an opportunity. In what team principal Toto Wolff has described as a relentless drive to perfection, they keep on pushing when most, convinced their superiority would keep them ahead, would have relaxed.

A good example is the improvement made to their engine in this off-season. Clearly beaten by Ferrari in 2019, the team led by Andy Cowell worked to get back on top, not knowing that the only reason the Ferrari engines were so ahead was due to some shenanigans that weren’t entirely legal. The result is that the Mercedes engine took a leap forward in 2020, while Ferrari’s moved backwards, making the increased performance on the back of the Silver Arrows look even more impressive.

There is regular debate among F1 fans about who is the greatest driver of all time; now that Hamilton is beating pretty much every meaningful record, this debate is hotter than ever. But there is less debate about which is the best team, and that is because there are very few arguments left against this incarnation of Mercedes. It’s not just that they make the best car: it’s also that they keep winning even when they don’t have it. There were periods throughout 2017 and 2018 in which Ferrari had the best car on the grid, but due to driver performance or strategy calls, Mercedes would end up winning races that, on paper, it shouldn’t have won.

To me, there is no doubt that this is the best team F1 has ever seen. Through regulation changes, personnel departing and adversaries’ improving, they have kept pushing, onwards and upwards, relentlessly searching those marginal gains, those milliseconds that keep adding up to big advantages. Once this phase is over and someone else is spraying the champagne, we will have the time to really appreciate what they have achieved. But we are not there yet, and their records will keep improving, their chunk of F1 history becoming larger and larger.

Nothing lasts forever, especially if you don’t work hard to keep it going; this is particularly true in F1, where nothing stands still for long: blink, and someone has replaced you on the top step of the podium. That’s what happened at Maranello when preparing that 2005 car. That moment is still to happen to Mercedes, but no one is betting on it happening just yet.

Talking points

•  The rookie class of 2019 has been having a torrid time of late, and if Norris at least got himself on the points after three scoreless races, the weekend was far less kind to his friends. Russell had a first points finish within his grasp when he crashed, in P10, behind the safety car. He will pick himself up and be better for it, but right now it has to hurt. It’s not the first time either, as he lost opportunities at Hockenheim last year and at Mugello. He really needs to take his first points to get this monkey off his back.

Albon, on the other hand, is running out of opportunities to show Red Bull he deserves another year in the senior team. He spun at the restart and ended up at the back of the field, but even before that he was not capable of making a dent in the race. Granted, overtaking at Imola is not easy, but this was another lacklustre weekend from him. Even those like him who hope he does get the nod are finding it hard to come up with reasons why Red Bull should keep him.

•  Could Daniel Ricciardo be wondering if he made the right call in choosing McLaren over Renault? While the papaya team are moving backwards, Renault are improving by leaps and bounds, and this weekend saw him score his second podium in three races. The French team are probably now the favourites to claim third in the championship, which might make him wonder if he should have waited for a few races of 2020 before making this decision.

•  This podium was ultimately thrown away by Racing Point’s decision to pit Perez behind the Safety Car, when the Mexican was running third. To be fair to them, it was a hard call, since they had no way of knowing what those behind them would do. If Perez had been the only one staying out, he would have been vulnerable and would all be criticising the team for not pitting him. In any case, the only reason Checo was in contention anyway was the brilliant strategy to run long on the medium tyres, that had allowed him to leapfrog pretty much the whole midfield.

•  On the other side of the pink garage, Lance Stroll is in dire need of a reset. His Monza podium is looking like a curse, with the Canadian driver scoreless since then. To add injury to a dismal weekend, he even hit a mechanic in his second pit stop.

•  First double-points finish of the season for Alfa Romeo, with a rocket start from Giovinazzi and another steady race from Kimi. Their are winning the battle of the backmarkers, and it will take a miracle for Haas to take P8 from them now.

•  I wrote in my preview about drivers about to drop off the grid for 2021 and hoping they can enjoy and give us some good memories. That was exactly what Kvyat did: as his unlucky teammate was forced to retire from P5, the Russian had a fantastic race, clinging on to the back of Leclerc and Albon’s cars, and then using a fresh set of soft tyres to beat them and Perez at the restart. For a moment it seemed like he could even challenge Ricciardo for the podium, but, as it was, P4 was a brilliant result. Helmut Marko all but confirmed he would lose his seat at the end of the year, but if that is to happen, this is an impressive calling card for his job search.

•  So much talk about track limits, weekend after weekend. To me, this is the simplest of debates: the track limits are the white lines, and if you are going over them, you need to brake earlier. Done. Drivers who want to not have to worry about this should probably be considering moving to IndyCar.

•  McLaren are still in the fight for third in the championship, but not by much. They continue to maximise their results almost every weekend, but this time around they didn’t seem to be able to compete even with AlphaTauri. The development of the car has brought them backwards, and this must be a big concern for Andreas Seidl. With the cars remaining largely the same next year, they need to start making progress on this front sooner rather than later; otherwise, losing P3 in 2020 will be the least of their concerns.

•  Can Esteban Ocon get a lucky break? His return season has been underwhelming, but his luck with reliability has been abismal as well.

•  Oh, and while we are at it, can Vettel get a lucky break? Fantastic race from the German with a broken front end plate, only to be wrecked by a pit stop 11 (eleven!) seconds slower than normal. 2021 can’t come soon enough for him.

[eldritchsurveys]

1046.

Do you ever find yourself worrying about things that probably won't happen? >> The thing is, the things I worry about are things that can happen. I know because I’ve already experienced those things happening. It’s the likelihood of the thing happening that may or may not be skewed in my imagination, not the thing itself.

Has your imagination ever made it hard for you to sleep? >> I don’t think so.

Have you ever had a weird dream and obsessed over what it might mean? >> I’ve had plenty of weird dreams, but I didn’t obsess over their possible meaning.

Or do you usually forget about your dreams? >> Nowadays, yeah, I don’t remember my dreams too consistently.

Do you know your heritage? If not, would you ever try one of those DNA kits? >> I know enough, I suppose. I would definitely not do one of those DNA kits, for multiple reasons.

Which languages can you speak? >> Only English with any fluency.

Which language do you speak the most and why? >> ---

Which languages do you wish you were fluent in? >> ---

With films in languages you do not speak, do you prefer a dub or subtitles? >> I greatly prefer subs. I like listening to different languages. Plus, I find that a lot of the times, the dub actors don’t match up well in my opinion.

Which cuisine do you like the least? >> ---

Are there any foods you dislike because of the texture? >> Absolutely.

Which type of chocolate do you like best? >> I only eat dark chocolate.

Do you have a favorite kind of dog? >> Pit bulls, I guess, but I really just like dogs period.

Do you let your pets sleep in your bed? >> I would not.

Do any of your favorite musicians ever write music for/with other artists? >> I mean, probably.

What is your favorite collaboration between two different musicians? >> I can’t think of a favourite collaboration.

Who are your favorite songwriters? >> I don’t have any.

Do you like any of those oldies groups (like the Four Seasons)? >> Yep. I grew up listening to them and I still love a lot of that music.

Do you know who Bernie Taupin is? >> He writes with Elton John, don’t he? They’re associated somehow, anyway.

What are your favorite one-hit wonders? >> Meh.

What celebrities, if any, have you seen naked? >> I mean, whichever ones did nude scenes in movies I’ve seen.

Have you ever seen anybody naked by accident? >> Not necessarily by accident, just... not by my consent. Living in shelters, you see a lot you don’t necessarily want to see.

Have you ever wondered what somebody looks like naked? >> In an idly musing sense, sure.

Have you ever had a sexual fantasy about a celebrity? >> When I was younger.

Have you ever changed your clothes in the car? >> I don’t think so, but maybe.

About how quickly does your hair grow? >> Too quickly for my liking, considering how often I have to buzz it.

Do you have to/choose to shave anything unusual? >> No.

Do you groom (wax, pluck, or thread) your eyebrows? >> No.

Most unusual thing you have worn in public? >> I don’t know?

If you wear makeup, what are your preferred brands? >> I don’t have any preferred brands.

Do you use flavored lip balm? What about tinted lip balm? >> Nope, just regular coconut-oil lip balm, thanks.

What is your favorite swear word? >> ---

Are you afraid of fireworks or other loud noises? >> I’m not afraid of them, I just have sensory issues and an exaggerated startle reflex. My responses are similar to fear responses, though, so it’s all the same shit at the end of the day, I guess.

Do you make your own iced tea, or buy it in jugs/bottles? >> I buy bottled iced tea.

Have you ever made sun tea? >> No.

Do you use sugar or honey to sweeten your tea? >> I use honey sometimes, but most of the time I drink it as-is.

Do you ever put milk in your tea? >> Not usually. It’s good in chai, but I just never think about it. 

Do you prefer powdered or liquid coffee creamer? >> ---

Did your school have somewhere for girls to get emergency pads/tampons? >> ---

Did you have to wear a uniform for gym class? >> ---

Did you have to take showers after gym before going to your next class? >> ---

Were you in any extracurricular activities or clubs in high school? >> ---

Have you ever picked up and kept a rock because it caught your eye? >> Yeah.

Have you attended any rock (literal rocks, not music, lol) shows? >> No.

Have you ever laughed at a scene (TV/film) that wasn't meant to be funny? >> Oh, absolutely.

Do you think they should make a movie about Hatshepsut? >> I don’t have an opinion on this.

Do you think books are better adapted as movies or TV series? >> I think TV series are better if you want to actually delve into more of the book’s content.

Any great books you would recommend? >> ---

Any great movies or TV series you would recommend? >> ---

Were you disappointed with Fox's version of the Rocky Horror Show? >> I don’t care about Rocky Horror.

Have you ever seen the original Kinky Boots movie? What about the musical? >> Never seen either.

Have you seen any Hannibal movies other than The Silence of the Lambs? >> I’ve seen Red Dragon, Hannibal, and Hannibal Rising.

Have you read any of the Hannibal novels? >> Not yet. I’ve considered reading Red Dragon, since Francis Dolarhyde is my fave, but eh. Maybe one day.

Do you like any Indie movies? >> I mean, yes.

Have there been any movies you had fond memories of, but upon a rewatch didn't like as well? >> Absolutely. Tastes and needs evolve over time.

Do you like to go to the movies alone? >> I do, I love it. I especially love it when I go to a weekday matinee a couple of weeks after a movie’s premiere and the theater is empty of anyone save me. It’s the best feeling. I had so much fun watching Venom in an empty theater :)

When you watch movies/TV with people, do you find yourself making sarcastic remarks to each other? >> Well, that’d depend on the people, I guess. And what kind of mood I’m in. And what the movie/TV show even was.

Have you ever dried down any flowers to keep them? >> No.

What is your favorite thing that you have made by yourself? >> ---

Do you like your natural accent (everybody has one)? >> I’m fine with how I speak.

What accents do you find most pleasant? >> ---

Does it bother you when an actor in a musician biopic lip-syncs to a recording of the original artist, or is it better that way? >> I don’t have an opinion about this.

Have you ever read about Dennis Nilsen? >> No.

Do you ever go on murderpedia.org to read about murderers? >> No.

Have you ever read about the Black Dahlia? >> No.

Any other unsolved crimes you find fascinating? >> No, that’s not really something I’m interested in (although I don’t mind hearing other people talk about it).

Do you care what color your socks are? >> Of course I care.

What about your underwear? >> Yes. I won’t wear most colours of underwear.

What part of a man's body do you find most attractive? >> ---

What part of a woman's body do you find most attractive? >> ---

Do you think guys look good in makeup? >> ---

Do you like using clay and/or peel-off masks for skincare? >> I don’t use them. They mostly seem like sensory hell to me.

Have you ever had an asymmetrical haircut? >> I had a wig that was cut asymmetrically.

Have you ever made your own pillow or blanket? >> No.

Have you ever made a pillow out of an old T-shirt? >> No, but Sparrow has.

Have you ever tried lucid dreaming? (Where you can control your dreams) Would you ever want to try? >> I’ve not given it a serious attempt, no.

If you want to be cremated, do you want your ashes scattered anywhere? >> I don’t want to be cremated.

Would you ever have a deceased pet stuffed? >> No.

Would you ever have a pet cremated? >> No.

What is your favorite sci-fi series, if any? >> I have a few. The Stargates, for example.

Do you believe in the existence of parallel universes? >> Yep.

If you could run your own business, what kind of business would it be? >> I really would rather not.

[mybookcold]

Fighter Dog Training - How to Do it Right

With their trimmed ears and etched head, the profoundly conspicuous actual credits of the fighter dog make this breed perhaps the most dearest of dog breeds. They are additionally insightful and loose, making these perky little guys an incredible dog to have around the house. Simply don't go into possession imagining that, since this current dog's temperament is this side of patient and cordial, that you don't need to consider the correct sort of fighter dog training. There are a few tips you can follow in quest for this.

Much the same as meeting somebody unexpectedly, you need to set aside the effort to acquire experience with your fighter. Long before your dog has been gotten back to turn out to be important for your family, find out about the breed itself. This simply bodes well, as each breed carries with it its own arrangement of propensities and temperaments. As said above, fighters are keen and amusing to play with. They are likewise faithful to the family that embraces them, and remain so consistently. This faithfulness has an influence in appropriately training them.

On the off chance that you will claim a fighter, go with a pup as opposed to a grown-up fighter. Why? Since fighters can be difficult with an iron will. Additionally, you would a lot of rather potty train your fighter at a more youthful age, to make it less distressing for you, and submission training would be simpler too. Regularly, on account of their facial appearance, fighters are erroneously placed in a similar class of animosity as pit bull terriers. This couldn't be further from the real world. Boxers are perhaps the most energetic of all dog breeds. Try not to allow this pleasant attitude to trick you, however. Recollect their faithfulness. This loans fighters over to being wonderful watchman dogs. This implies that it is significant for you to train your fighter to perceive forceful conduct in others, just as different issues that, while guarding your home, your fighter would need to keep steady over.

As referenced above, you need to begin your fighter dog training from the get-go. As right on time as could be expected under the circumstances, yet unquestionably before they are close to a quarter of a year old. You will perceive the need to begin when your fighter pup gives no consideration to you when you advise it to quit eating your shoes. On the off chance that you don't tell your fighter who's manager immediately, you will end up in a troublesome spot. Dogs are, all things considered, pack situated like the wolf, and all packs have a pioneer, known as the alpha male. Try not to allow your fighter to think it is the alpha male.

As fighters are energetic, make certain to restore the perkiness. Leave your fighter alone remembered for family parties, to allow them to feel part of the family. Allow them to associate with others and different dogs. This will ground them in their patient, non-forceful demeanor. Probably the best movement to do with your fighter is running. Take your fighter for a run in the recreation center, along the shoreline, or any way that will allow it to shoot its energy. Additionally, remember the frisbee or the tennis ball.