#lucis race analysis

[charles-leclerc-official]

2024 Japan Grand Prix Race Analysis

My analysis of the 2024 Japan Grand Prix. Table of contents below detailing the order of the post. We have a lot to cover as this was an eventful race so I am not going to waste time making introductions.

Table of Contents  Ferrari – Race strategy: qualifying and tyre management – Charles: his qualifying and his race – Carlos: his race – In depth data and pace analysis Mclaren – Race strategy – Tyre management/Charles – Pace VCARB – Yuki: his race – Daniel: his crash with Alex Red Bull Mercedes Williams – Logan: his race – Team car problems Stake Concluding Thoughts

Ferrari

Ferrari had Carlos start in P4 and finish P3. Charles started P8 and finished P4. They both further secured Ferrari's lead for second in the constructors as well as keeping the WDC and WCC still competitive against Red Bull.

This race highlighted some areas that need to be improved on the SF-24 but more importantly it also showed some of the massive improvements that Ferrari has made in development and that is what made this race very exciting for Ferrari fans.

Once again the Ferrari strategy was great. It would have actually been good to mid if it were not for Charles having the skill and confidence to go for the one-stop strategy. But this is another race where I don't think they could have done anything better.

As it was with the starting grid positions Charles was looking at maybe getting P7 or P6 with a 2 stop strategy. And that strategy was most likely given the track and how much deg there usually is at Suzuka.

The reason Charles made it to P4 was because of his superior driving and tyre management, and Ferrari listening to him when he said he wanted to go for the one-stop strategy. They listened and it was 100% the right call on Charles’ part. 

Charles outperformed what should have been possible. If you don’t believe me just look at what Max, Lando, Oscar, Checo, Mclaren, and Red Bull are saying about his tyre management. Charles in the SF-24 was the only one who could have pulled that one-stop off. Seriously, the fact that Max didn’t think he could have done it is really all you need to know. They saw that and were genuinely impressed not only by the car but by Charles, because we saw that with Carlos he was struggling more with tyre deg and that was with a two-stop approach. 

So not only was this the best strategy to maximize points for Charles this race given his starting grid position, it was also just a truly phenomenal drive from Charles himself. 

And once again we are seeing incredible strides being made at the Ferrari pit wall in terms of timing and strategy. The pit stops for both drivers were on point. They listened to Charles and went with the strategy he wanted and it worked! 

Everything I saw this race was so promising for the trajectory of Ferrari and Charles’ season, and beyond into 2025 and 2026.

Charles: Race, Qualifying, and Free Practice

Charles ran a truly insane race. The only reason he gained all of the positions he did was because of his choice to do the one-stop and not only that but making it work! He gained every position it was possible for him to take and then some. His tyre management on this high degredation track was borderline supernatural.

Charles pulled off zero to negative tyre degradation on both sets of his tyres. (Negative deg is when faster laps are set as the tyres age) This was without question the best tyre management performance we have seen from a driver in 2024. It is something that no other driver could pull off (either due to skill, driving style, or machinery) and that is why Charles is Ferrari. 

Have I waxed on long enough about Charles and his tyres? Just wait till you get to the Mclaren section.

I also have a lot more to say about his pace and tyres in the data section.

For now let's move on to some of the questions people might have about what happened to Charles in qualifying and FP3.

Charles qualifying position was decided in free practice. I want to try to be brief, so here is a quick timeline of why Charles’ didn’t have the optimal setup for qualifying (this also applies to Carlos because both Ferrari’s underperformed in qualifying, there was a difference of 1/10th between them so it really was just a matter of the field being so tight)

Suzuka is colder during the day than any race we’ve had so far this year. With the SF-24 being so good with tyre deg that is actually a problem because it means that getting the tyres to warm up takes longer. 

The loss of all of FP2 due to rain was a big blow to Ferrari and especially Charles.

Charles has been having more issues getting his qualifying settings right to manage the tyre warming issue. This is due to his personal setup choices and driving style. Being gentler on the tyres in a car with less deg is leading to him underperforming in qualifying. 

So we lost valuable time when Ferrari really needed to understand the SF-24 behavior in the colder Suzuka temps. 

FP3: Charles and Carlos both got in some race sim laps, but only got to squeeze in 1 or 2 flying lap tests at the very end. Charles especially was frustrated by this. I believe that this came from not having the time to complete all of the program they had outlined to prep for qualifying and the race. 

Going into qualifying Charles didn’t have enough data to guide his settings for Q1. They went with a certain setup they hadn’t gotten to fully test and it didn’t work. Which led to them having to send Charles out again in Q1 with a different setup on another set of softs to try to set a better lap in Q1.

In Q3 Charles only had 1 set of softs remaining to set his best lap. It was okay but not enough. I do think that over qualifying he did get settings better on the car and if he’d had another set of softs he might have made it up to P6 (possibly P5) the middle of the field was very close so I don’t think this qualifying placement and time was as bad as it looks. It certainly isn’t great, but compared to his teammate and the rest of the top teams it wasn’t so concerning. 

So the lack of enough free practice to figure out the best qualifying setup for Charles in the colder temps is really what cost them here. I think this is why we saw Charles very frustrated at not having the time to do more flying laps during FP3 and Fred also not happy with the program they ran during all free practice sessions.

All of this does apply to Carlos as well. We’ve seen him qualify better in 2024 too so this was just a matter of the SF-24 settings on flying laps given the colder temps and the track. 

This is a current issue for the SF-24, but it is something that can be developed and I think there are certain upgrades that will address this. It is better to have a car base that is too gentle on the tyres than the other way around. The SF-24 tyre treatment is a good base to work with. This weekend just highlighted areas where improvements need to be made. The unfortunate part was the loss of FP2 because that was going to be important for colder temp data gathering.

I want to once again now take the time to shut down some narratives about Ferrari's race specifically relating to Carlos' lap 46 pass on Charles:

The reason Charles and Ferrari let Carlos pass was because Carlos was on newer tyres and thus had overall faster lap times.

It’s insane to expect a team to keep the car that has faster pace behind. I could see it if it was a difference of 1/10th or something or if it was the last lap of the race, then it’s up for debate. That wasn’t the case here, Carlos with the tyres that were 10 laps newer was almost 1 second faster. Keeping him behind would have not only compromised his race but also possibly Charles’. We don’t want a car just hovering behind the other. As we heard on the radio the main concern was keeping Lando behind. As far as gaining significant placement this race goes we always knew Lando was going to be Charles' competition. If the cars were fighting over pace with this big of a discrepancy in the pace we would have seen disastrous results. 

Charles knew this and this is why he let Carlos by. He was never intending to race Carlos(he literally said this in interviews after). With the way they started on the grid it was not going to be in the cards this race. Charles said as much and he isn’t upset about it. 

“Carlos overtook Charles”: No, Charles let him pass because that was strategically optimal for both Ferrari drivers. 

“Carlos’ pace was better”: No, he was on a completely different tyre strategy, the only reason he was faster is because he did two stints on mediums and then finished on newer hards. Charles overall race pace and tyre management was better. This is just a result of 1. Different starting positions and 2. Different tyre strategies. It’s very hard to do a driver-to driver comparison with blanket statements when they are on different strategies.

“Ferrari gave the order to switch with Sainz”: No, they just didn’t do that, I don’t know what race you were watching.

“They should have told Carlos to defend”: That would have been a bad strategy choice for both drivers. There is a lot more than current track position that goes into strategy calls.

"Ferrari strategy screwed Charles over again": No, Charles chose his strategy(and it was the right call). Ferrari did great in supporting him.

I don't understand why people want to run this narrative that we keep getting Silverstone 22' level strategy calls when that is just not happening.

Now Charles radio after the race may have sounded disappointed and in the heat of the moment he probably was. However in interviews after the race he was very happy with the car (I think he realized just what a good performance he put in) but also I think his big takeaway from this race was that Ferrari have given him a strong base to work with(finally) and he has been only saying more positive things since then.

Ferrari did amazing supporting both drivers. Especially Charles because it was his call to do the one-stop and they listened to him and supported him perfectly throughout running that strategy.

Carlos

Carlos ran a clean race. He gained the one position which is about what we'd expect from the car he was in and his starting position. His performance also gave us really good baseline data for the SF-24.

His race was mostly decided in qualifying and also the fact that Mclaren struggled far more than expected on this track. Ferrari initially thought he might have to fight Lando more for that position but Mclaren's struggle was Carlos' gain.

I also think that just this race in general from him and his driving style was really good data for the SF-24 to inform development and that is awesome!

I don't have a ton to add, it was good, got those WCC points for Ferrari and that's exactly what we want to see from him.

In Depth Data Analysis

The name of the game here is tyre wear. The SF-24 (especially in Charles' hands) has had phenomenal race pace and that is due to the fact that this car is so easy on the tyres. However Charles is the driver who has been able to pull this feature out of the car due to his driving style and tyre management skills.

We are going to look at a comparison of Charles' and Carlos' data to highlight exactly what was so interesting about Charles' pace. And then also adding in Max, because as the driver to beat he is a good benchmark(as well as showing the top performance of the RB-20)

Here is a comparison of lap times between Charles and Carlos, corrected for tyre age(because they were on different strategies)

For the medium tyre I used both their first medium stints. Carlos did two stints on mediums, I used his first stint for comparison because it means both tyres were subject to the same time of day and track temps and conditions. 

Now the lap times themselves here aren’t as important. Carlos and Charles were in different spots on the track and Carlos was in much cleaner air even on that first stint. The real thing to look at is the way Charles lap time stays consistent, and even gets faster as the age of the tyres progresses, while Carlos starts off with his best speed and then gradually gets slower. Carlos’ pace here is an example of what we expect to see - as tyres age they get slower so his pace on these tyres is perfectly normal, by the time he got to lap 14 before he pitted he’d lost more than a second of pace on those tyres (which is normal and expected). Then we can then look at Charles who is getting almost the exact same lap time out of his 11 lap old mediums as the first lap. Where Carlos has lost more than a second, Charles has lost nothing. Furthermore you can see multiple instances of an increased speed on his previous laps, which indicates negative tyre degradation. This goes against general tyre wear behavior and can only be attributed to Charles’ skill in extending the pace of his tyres.

I want to add that both driver’s pace was excellent and that both their performances would not have been possible without the massive leap Ferrari has made with the SF-24 and race pace tyre degradation. 

Again looking at the hards the actual lap time is not important here, Charles and Carlos were running very different strategies at this point. Charles was racing to extend the life of the tyres to pull off a one-stop and Carlos was trying to regain position near the front. What we are looking at is once again the way the lap times increase for Carlos steadily, and just don’t for Charles. 

Charles once again was pulling essentially the same lap time on 11 lap old hards, while Carlos had lost a full second. The sheer consistency here is what is scaring the other teams. 

I want to note here that none of this is meant to make Carlos look bad. I think his runs and tyre treatment were pretty good overall, but when your teammate is defying the laws of physics in the same car it can even make a good drive look not as great. But I have no issues with how Carlos managed, he gave a good example of what I would say is the base deg for the SF-24.

Now I want to compare Charles’ pace to Max’s, again correcting for tyre age. 

This is helpful because this is where we can get a look at match-ups for the future, the strengths of the SF-24 compared to the RB20. 

Here is where it gets interesting. Max on the hards was managing degradation amazingly, right on par with Charles. 

The big difference is on the mediums. After 11 laps Max had lost over a full second of pace on the mediums and Charles had not. 

This gap is where we are going to see big results come in from the SF-24 in the future. If I were Red Bull I’d be worried about this. And this is why they are also specifically worried about Charles, because we see that the SF-24 in Carlos hands is behaving as expected as far as tyre deg goes, the real threat based on the data is the combination of Charles Leclerc and the SF-24. 

Deltas Δ

Now let's take a look at what the change in pace lap to lap looks like for Charles, Max and Carlos. Again using those first 11 laps on the mediums.

Lap deltas are the change in lap time lap-to-lap, and this is a metric that shows if a driver is keeping pace, gaining pace or losing pace. Positive numbers mean a loss of pace, negative numbers are a gain. This is calculated by the equation of (Lap time B - Lap time A = change in pace or the delta Δ) So it's just the time difference lap to lap. This is how we can take a look at the actual pace and correct for lap times (which are not important here)

On it's own this doesn't look like much, yes Charles is managing best, but Carlos is also ahead of Max. This is showing where the SF-24 is better than the RB-20. The fact that of these three drivers Max is the worst on this metric is notable.

However the impressive part of Charles' tyre deg is not in these first 11 laps. Because after these laps Max and Carlos had to pit because they were losing time and their tyres were done.

Charles kept going.

Here is what Charles' full stint on the mediums looked like.

Charles continued to achieve faster laps and negative deltas well into the life of the tyres, and that is what is setting him apart from Carlos and Max.

Not only was Charles achieving negative deltas, he was doing it more consistently as the tyres aged.

For comparison here is Carlos' and Max's data overlayed on Charles full medium stint.

While the first graph on the mediums shows that both Ferrari's were outperforming the RB20 in terms of deg(or at the very least Carlos was on a very similar delta to Max), this is where you see the difference in the drivers. Because Max and Carlos had to pit because they were rapidly losing performance on those tyres(see above time sheets) Charles was not, and he only improved. He more than doubled the life of his tyres in comparison to the other two.

This is the graph that really matters because it shows what each driver was able to do with one set of mediums. And as you can see it's not even close.

This is where you can see the impact of the negative deg over time. Compared to the normal deg we see with Max and Carlos it serves to highlight exactly how outside of the norm Charles was operating.

Charles only continued to improve well beyond the other two. That's what was insane about his tyre management.

Neither Carlos or Max were going to be able to continue their pace (hence the pit)

I feel like the data really speaks for itself. Max and Carlos are good comparisons here, Carlos is a good driver in the same car as Charles, and Max is the current top driver on the grid and is known for his tyre management.

I want to finish this section with the sentence that is chilling the blood of every other driver and TP on the grid: Charles set his fastest lap of his race on 25 lap old hards.

Mclaren

So what happened to Mclaren?

A lot of people were expecting Mclaren to be the second strongest team on this track. And qualifying certainly made it look like that might be the case. With Lando being ahead of Carlos in P3 and Oscar being ahead of Charles in P6 on the starting grid.

So why did both Mclarens get easily defeated by the Ferraris?

I think there are 2 main reasons.

The Mclaren car is not even close to the SF-24 when it comes to tyre deg, that car loses pace much faster so it just cannot fight when a Ferrari comes up behind it.

Charles 1 stop strategy really messed up the team's pit strategy with Lando. 

In Mclaren’s defense no one thought anyone would be crazy enough to try a 1 stop around Suzuka, let alone have zero tyre deg on a high deg track. 

They seemed to be managing their pit strategy with Lando under the assumption that Charles was going to pit twice, and I think they were very worried about an undercut in the pits (after they didn’t get away with it in Australia I think they were very keen to make sure they kept their position)

But Charles didn’t do a 2 stop strategy. He stayed out and his pace on the hards was unbelievable. 

There was really no way for them to see that coming. It’s kind of hard when your main competition decides this is the weekend he’s going to challenge the laws of physics.

(And you thought I was done talking about Charles’ tyre strategy)

Here is a graph of Lando vs Carlos. That was the spot he lost, and you can see that the pit strategy is really what cost Lando the spot. Carlos came behind him on much fresher tyres and by then he'd lost the pace. He pitted too early, and that was due to Mclaren not understanding that Charles is on another level.

His pace was okay on newer tyres, but once they age the drop off was pretty bad. So the Mclaren car needs to improve in the tyre deg department if they want to see either of their drivers beat a Ferrari any time this year.

Furthermore Oscar once again struggled more because he is still the weaker of the two Mclarens when it comes to tyre deg, and on this track that really showed. 

But I think the fact that Mclaren kept trying to figure out when Charles was going to pit for his second stint and then he just didn’t really threw them off and had them making some weird pit calls. 

VCARB

Yuki

Yuki ran what was in my opinion the second most impressive drive of the race. He qualified P10 and finished P10. However to keep that position he pulled of some truly perfect overtakes. He was fighting to finally get that home race point. I was so excited seeing him put on that good of a show for his home fans.

In this race he became the first Japanese driver to score home race points since 2012, and that is just so exciting for Yuki and his fans. It really made that single point mean a lot. I don't think I have ever been more excited for a P10!

Yuki has really been showing what the VCARB car is capable of and it looks really promising. He seems comfortable and I think we will be seeing a lot more points from him this season.

Daniel: Crash with Albon and DNF

Going to be covering Alex and Daniel's crash this section.

On lap 1, Daniel and Alex made contact going into turn 3, resulting in both cars going off the track and ending up in the barriers. Both drivers had to retire from the race.

To me this looked like a result of crowding into that turn in the mid field with neither driver at significant fault. I don't think Daniel was trying to push Alex wide, and I also don't think that Alex mistook that corner. The FIA and stewards agree and Alex and Daniel's story of what happened make sense.

Going into the turn Daniel had the outside line, and he was trying to give room to the Aston Martin(Lance) on his inside. He didn't see Alex on his outside and his wheel made contact with Alex's front wing, causing his car to spin and pushing Alex of the line and into the gravel.

Alex thought he had the outside line to overtake and was in the process of attempting that when Daniel went to give space on the inside, this resulted in the contact and Daniel forcing him wide.

This crash really just was a result of crowding in that corner, Daniel was trying to give space to one driver and inadvertently crowded out another. There wasn't space so he was kind of in a lose-lose situation there.

I agree with the stewards that no penalty for either driver was warranted and that this was the result of midfield crowding, and some bad luck for both drivers. It wasn't a result of bad driving on either Daniel or Alex's part. Even if Daniel had seen Alex I am not sure what he could have done if he also needed to give room to Lance.

Ultimately I am glad both drivers are uninjured. Hopefully they have some better luck in future races.

Red Bull

I don't have a ton to say about Red Bull. My comparison in the Ferrari data section is what was most interesting about this race from the data standpoint.

They didn't do much, the Red Bulls started ahead and finished ahead as expected. Max and Checo both ran a really clean race. Again showing the power of the RB-20.

I will add that this was a really good race for Checo(probably his best this year), and it was nice to see him have redemption after Suzuka 2023.

Nothing terribly exciting to add. Max won again, well done Max!

Mercedes

Mercedes didn't have a great race, but considering that both their drivers DNFed in Australia it was good for the team to get some points. Lewis started in P7 and finished P9, while George started P9 and finished P7. So they swapped positions.

It seems that the Mercedes car might be better on those qualifying laps than the race pace (and even then it's qualifying has been inconsistent)

The most notable thing about Mercedes' race was when Lewis asked if he should let George pass when George came up behind him, and George did in fact make the pass. This was done simply because George's pace was better. Lewis knew this so it was best for the team.

I think that so far we have seen that the W15 is struggling in a lot of areas, and as far as drivers go George has been more comfortable in the car(could be driving style, setup, a combo of the two) than Lewis.

Both are solid drivers, and hopefully they can guide Mercedes into making improvements to the car to get them closer to top points. At this point the car Mercedes has made seems to have fallen short of expectations. Make no mistake though, Lewis and George are both drivers who are much better than the car they are in at the moment.

Williams

I covered Alex's crash with Daniel already so we are going to talk about Logan.

Logan honestly did about the best he could do in the car he had. After damaging both his front and rear wing in free practice and still using the repaired chassis from Australia his car was not in the best shape already going into the race. Additionally the Williams really struggled with grip in the rears and has been all over the place. Suzuka especially seems to have not been suited to it.

Yes on lap 41 Logan went off track into a gravel trap, but that was on a corner that had given more skilled and experienced drivers trouble this weekend so I am not going to fault him too much for that in the car he had. Better cars were having problems there too.

He did have a really strong first stint and was pulling some overtakes. Most of his positions were lost when he did get undercut by some pit stops, and then of course losing time to the gravel trap.

The win is that he finished the race and the car is intact. That may not seem like much, but given the state of things at Williams it's important.

There were some highlights for his race and I will say in terms of raw performance he has not been far off Alex this year. That car of Williams is really hindering both drivers.

Stake

Stake actually had pretty good pace overall. The car is not as bad as it has looked on paper. The main issues has been their slow pit stops (caused by incompatibility between the bolters and the tyre covers apparently) Zhou and Valtteri both showed some pretty good pace and were in positions for overtakes.

Zhou unfortunately had to retire his car due to gearbox issues.

Stake has really been a mess and we have not seen what that car can actually do in terms of performance overall, or what what their drivers are capable of in that car.

They are making attempts to address the pit stop issue and I think if they do that, then we will see both drivers picking up some P10 points at the very least.

Final Thoughts

I think we can all agree that Suzuka was the best race of the year so far from a pure racing standpoint!

Whew, that’s all I got on this race, so I will leave you with this final thought. 

This race was a warning shot from Ferrari.

[cyberits]

and if i say lost time is landoscar coded what then

[a-lone-heart-in-the-wild]

omg, the @charles-leclerc-official of superb race analysis fame reblogged my post?

[right-there-ride-on]

Lucy Steel, Karma, and 'the flow of fate': The flaw of the 'napkin philosophy'

I've stated before that Johnny, Gyro, HP and Diego stand out as the four main-ish characters of SBR. But that's neglecting to mention the true third protagonist of the part: Lucy Steel. Lucy's character is used to explore a lot of the heavier and more complex themes of SBR, including the nature of power, fortune, and even free will (as well as misogyny, to a lesser extent). I hope to touch on and elaborate what I think the text is trying to demonstrate with Lucy's story. Unfortunately there was limit to the panels I could include, so if you'd like to double check my analysis please reference the referred chapters.

Content warning for reference to events in the Both Sides Now chapters as well as Valentine's general attitude towards Lucy.

To understand what Lucy represents, we've first got to understand Lucy. So, let's take a quick look at her backstory.

Chapter 61: Both Sides Now (Part 2)

Born into a poor family, even from a young age Lucy was forced / expected to pay for the sins of her father. In those days it's no surprise that the life of a son was seen as more valuable than that of a daughter. Lucy's father decides that Lucy must be the one to pay for the family's debt. It's implied that Lucy does not protest this decision and understands her father's reasoning (even if internally she may be more upset about it than she appears). Lucy's go-to mechanism for dealing with the stress of the people around her is to 'look after them'. She repeatedly puts on a brave face in order to comfort them first. Only when she's alone does she allow herself to express her true feelings. Even the inciting incident of the Steel Ball Run race itself - a young Lucy comforting a hopeless Stephen - is demonstrative of how she always looks after the people around her.

Lucy has always been forced to bear the responsibilities of others, as the second eldest and the eldest daughter.

Chapter 61: Both Sides Now (Part 2)

Her father was either naive or unwilling to accept the consequences of what he'd done to Lucy by essentially selling her to the mafia. Stephen forces Lucy's father to recognize the reality of the situation - and as such becomes the first person we know of to demonstrably care for Lucy's well being. In my opinion, one of the reasons Lucy doesn't ever seem put off by the 'marriage' between her and Stephen is because she knows that without Stephen she would literally be dead. It was Lucy's kindness to Stephen that would influence Stephen to return to her family and save her life. This is the first (chronological) example of Lucy's complex relationship with fate and fortune.

Chapter 28: Scary Monsters (Part 1)

After witnessing Valentine's odd power in a previous scene she grows suspicious, and given the talk of murder at the time, likely worried for Stephen's safety. While attempting to assuage her suspicion she catches a glimpse of the corpse part Valentine possess, and from then on gets caught up in the larger machinations of the race. However, even this first encounter between Lucy and Valentine showcases what the dynamic will be between them as the part continues: Valentine, bombastic and ambitious, contrasted with Lucy. Lucy is meek, but her actions have an overt influence on the plot, even if none of the other characters realize her true importance until later. Her impact is subtle but pervasive, as she continually changes the entire course of the race despite never being acknowledged as a factor in play until the very end.

Chapter 36: The Green Tombstone (Part 1)

Lucy is a non-stand user, a normal person and a teenager at that, who realizes in this moment that her now peaceful life can be shattered again. Lucy is a normal person, but she is brave, and she is determined to protect the person she cares about at any cost.

Lucy clearly feels a lot of responsibility towards Stephen, and most of the time is quite a serious person. There's a lot happening internally that she can't or won't let others in on. In other scenes, we see that Steven often tells her to lighten up and act more her age, but Lucy can't let that sense of responsibility go. In the scene above, her serious nature is contrasted by her apparent flippancy towards her teacher. To avoid any questions on her intentions, she flips on the 'bored student / teenager' act - and it is just an act. As soon as she's alone, Lucy breaks down, because her strong face too is an act.

On a thematic level it's already clear that Lucy's character will be closely tied to the concept of 'fate' (most of the time represented through Valentine). Here, she is determined to avert what she suspects Stephen's ultimate 'fate' will be. She knows that she is not powerful, yet still she struggles against the overwhelming powers around her. Even with something as simple as learning lip reading, she's taking the initiative against Valentine, at a point when no other major character knows that it's Valentine they're up against. I also want to recognize her intelligence: she is totally overlooked by the President's staff (men) and uses that to her advantage to royally fuck up Valentine's plans.

Luck, or 'fortune', plays a notable role in enabling Lucy's escape from Valentine and Blackmore's pursuit. It's only by chance that Lucy is the one to look up and notice Blackmore first.

Chapter 37: The Green Tombstone (Part 2)

Lucy is forced to involve Mountain Tim in her escape - who just so happens to be in town and nearby the government building while all of this is going down.

Chapter 37: The Green Tombstone (Part 2)

We see here again Lucy's strong sense of responsbility, as well as her selflessness. Despite not knowing Mountain Tim very well, she worries for his safety. She takes burdens onto herself because she feels she must; she can't let anyone get hurt, because it's her responsibility to protect them.

However, the fickle nature of fortune is again evident in the next few scenes. As soon as Tim separates from Lucy, he's killed; meanwhile, Lucy has the good fortune of making it to the backbone before anyone else, as well as having the distance shortened for her. Even when Blackmore catches up to her, 'fortune' is again on Lucy's side, and she's able to take him by surprise and reclaim the corpse. Even this early on, the text seems to suggest that the corpse wants Lucy to posses it; in a sense it's manipulating even to ensure it's delivered (by her) to where it wants to go.

Chapter 38: Catch the Rainbow (Part 1)

Oh nothing, just Lucy being cool as fuck.

Chapter 39: Catch the Rainbow (Part 2)

Tim directed Lucy to Johnny and Gyro. They are the first people she ever asks for help (and politely, at that). Notice that Lucy isn't even necessarily asking them to help her. She's asking them, really, to help Stephen.

Chapter 39: Catch the Rainbow (Part 2) (Johnny already decided to protect Lucy <3)

Blackmore basically singles out Lucy to lecture her on 'sin' - which in this case is taking the initiative and daring to touch a corpse part.

Blackmore's monologue is based almost entirely on religious ideas, and we see again how misogyny ties into Lucy's character. Lucy is compared to an adult woman, 'Eve', and told she is the embodiment of 'sin' (often a metaphor for sexual temptation, and perhaps foreshadows Valentine's assault and views about Lucy as an object later in the part). Because she dared to do something about her situation and on her own initiative, Blackmore demands that she 'repent'.

Chapter 40: A Silent Way (Part 1) (Johnny: "Who'll come to her if she fails?" (you will mr. joestar)

Gyro, and to a lesser extent, Johnny, are unwilling to give up the race to chase after Valentine. Gyro asks Lucy plainly what she expects her life to be like if she runs away now, and if she will be happy to live the rest of her life in fear. Knowing that she will never be happy with such a life, Lucy agrees to put her life on the line and assumes the burden of stealing the corpse part from Valentine.

Chapter 48: Tubular Bells (Part 1) - as soon as Steven is out of sight she drops her brave face :(

Chapter 48: Tubular Bells (Part 1)

Lucy's intelligence is again demonstrated through her plan to get close to the President; namely, getting close to Scarlet first. It works, thanks to some outside help from HP (and I plan to do an analysis of their relationship in another analysis). However, during her conversation with HP, HP makes it clear that they are not helping her 'as a friend', but just as someone after the same goal. Lucy is, once again, on her own. HP's advice to her is to 'stiffen her resolve'.

The bottom line is that Lucy must take absolutely insane risks to get the happiness and peace she desires, and though she falters she does not stop.

Chapter 49: Tubular Bells (Part 2) - she wants out of this subplot

At the end of Tubular Bells, Lucy literally kills Scarlet (power move) and HP takes the fall for her. However, this leaves Lucy is a very precarious situation. It's during this section of the story that Lucy's connection to fate, fortune, and karma become most evident. It's through her character that the flaws of Valentine, in both his character and his philosophy, are brought to light.

Chapter 61: Both Sides Now (Part 2)

In Valentine's view, the one who acts decisively and 'takes the first napkin' is the one who will influence in the rest of the world. It's a one-way perspective; power goes outward. The one who takes the napkin determines the flow of fortune for everyone else; hence why he absolutely must be the first to take it.

Y'all know what happens in this section, so I won't go into detail. All you need to know is that this situation clarifies to Lucy is exact nature of the power she's up against, and how powerless she is in comparison. On the surface, she loses hope of 'changing fate' - though she doesn't stop fighting.

Chapter 62: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

After Lucy manages to briefly get away, she thinks to herself that Valentine is the 'Devil' - and yet despite that, ascribes the fault of the situation to herself, for her 'sin' in Kansas City (the 'sin' ascribed to her by Blackmore). While Lucy, like Johnny, thinks that Valentine might be unstoppable, she doesn't attribute that to the corpse (and thus fate / fortune) choosing Valentine; she attributes it to Valentine having evil incarnate on his side (and in a sense, he does, being gifted with a stand like D4C).

Lucy ends up captured, but in the process is 'chosen' by the corpse. Valentine takes this to mean that, because he was the one who collected the corpse, it has therefore chosen him - and that Lucy, as it's chosen host, must succumb to Valentine's interpretation of the corpse's decision. He takes away her agency and attempts to convince her that 'this is the way things are supposed to be'. Master manipulator and gaslighter. Lucy is a vessel for him to exercise his power on, via the corpse.

Chapter 71: Ticket to Ride (Part 1)

Allow me to briefly digress to talk about Tear Cutter as a stand. Some people joke that Tear Cutter is a useless stand, but the point is not that it can cut things - it's that whatever is cut is inflicted with karma. It's this 'karma' that represents Lucy's resistance to Valentine's 'napkin philosophy'.

Chapter 73: D4C (Part 6)

Valentine asserts that Lucy's only choice is to surrender herself to the 'flow'. To him, and to powers greater than herself (fate / 'the flow'). That is, Valentine's belief of what the 'flow' is. Basically, let him do what he wants and accept that she never had agency (because fate has always chosen Valentine, and it's her destiny to serve him through the corpse). This is Valentine's mistake: he sees power / fortune as a one-way flow, and believes that because he has 'taken the first napkin', he will not be subject to the power of anyone / anything else (including fate itself - because Valentine now controls fate, obviously).

Chapter 79: D4C (Part 12) - Love Train

Valentine insists that the corpse will allow him to turn even 'bad luck' into his ally - that is, to overcome the forces of karma. He's talking about karma and 'balancing things to zero', but he's still envisioning himself as someone in control of that power, and therefore as someone not subject to its laws. Through 'taking the first napkin', Valentine views himself as the one now in control of the world and puts himself in the position of God. The corpse does appear to 'ally' itself with him by incapacitating Lucy and manifesting Love Train; but is that really what's happening? Or is the truth that Valentine is just as despotic as the people he claims to hate, and has usurped her power for himself?

But as before, Lucy's resistance to the Powers that Be is subtle but impactful. But, although subtly, Lucy's 'good karma' overcomes Valentine's malintent. Her use of Tear Cutter on her skirt allows for Diego and HP, and consequently Johnny and Gyro to find her.

Chapter 73: D4C (Part 6)

Chapter 79: D4C (Part 12) - Love Train

I want to again point out the parallel between Lucy and Johnny here. Lucy too questions whether Valentine is the one that is 'just' - despite having herself called Valentine the 'devil' - because Valentine appears to be the one 'chosen' by the corpse. However, I'd like to note something: everyone in the race was after the corpse because they believed that, when completed, it would grant them the power to do whatever they wanted to accomplish. Personally, I think that perspective is the most accurate interpretation of the corpse's power. Everything Valentine says about being 'chosen' are his own delusions of grandeur.

Throughout the final act, Lucy is reduced to what Valentine sees her as: a vessel for his will, whether that be to carry his children or house the corpse. His will being imposed on her - though he claims it to be the will of the corpse - quite literally begins to tear her apart.

Chapter 72: Ticket to Ride (Part 2)

Chapter 74: D4C (Part 7)

However, although she has suffered immensely under the burden placed on her by Valentine and the Corpse, the 'good' that Lucy put out into the world (via her attempts to save Stephen) come back as 'good fortune' for her. Stephen manages to save Johnny's life by pulling Valentine away, and begs for Gyro to save Lucy from Valentine. Stephen recognizes the situation for what it is - should Lucy truly 'accept the flow' and surrender herself to Valentine, she will die in every way that's important. Karma, in the broadest sense, is again working against Valentine (though he believes himself above it).

Chapter 81: D4C (Part 14)

Stephen's actions seem to hint towards the truth - the farther Lucy is from Valentine, the healthier she gets, and the weaker Valentine becomes. What the narrative is showing is that the corpse is not a force meant to be owned by anyone. It literally kills the person it (allegedly) chooses as a host. Valentine exercising his will and power over Lucy via the corpse erased her identity and allows him to cheat, but the narrative proves that by doing so, he is committing evil and condemning an innocent girl (among many other innocents) to death.

Gyro's death is yet another example of the cycle of luck. He saved Johnny and cornered Valentine by allowing Lucy to ride his corpse, but at the same time essentially sealed his fate (because Lucy was on his horse). His fortune ran out as the corpse cycled it, taking away his 'goddess of victory'. I think this solidifies that, ultimately, there is no real way to sway fate and fortune to your side. Gyro and Valentine make up thinks like 'goddesses' because they want to believe they have some control over the outcome of events, when the truth is that the karmic cycle will affect everyone equally.

When Valentine is defeated, the corpse begins to separate from Lucy. Since we're shown that it can obviously exist without a host, this is, I think, another piece of evidence that it was Valentine's desire that caused the corpse to 'chose' Lucy. Valentine told Lucy to give in to him / the corpse several times; but Lucy's perseverance and determination won out, and Valentine's bad karma finally caught up to him.

The narrative concludes with Valentine's defeat, and tells us, without room for debate, that Valentine's belief in the 'napkin philosophy' is incorrect - because it is a philosophy that makes the assumption that an inequality of karma exists. The 'first napkin' is taken at a round table - i.e. the cycle of karma. The bad you put into the world will come back to you. If you do harm unto others, then you will inevitably have harm done unto yourself. It's the second part of the statement that Valentine rejects, and the second part of the statement that the narrative enforces by having Love Train ('one-way power') fail in the end, to the power of infinity (or, if you want to think of it another way, an infinite cycle...)

And in the end, separated from the corpse and wrapping up the last of Valentine's machinations, Lucy is able to take back control of her narrative.

Chapter 95: World of Stars and Stripes

This scene is not just Lucy reclaiming her independence and power, but the final emphasis on the nature of 'karma' and fortune (and fate). Because base!Diego pursued Lucy and the corpse, he died to Valentine. Because Valentine didn't want to lose, he brought AU!Diego to the base world. Because base!Diego died to Valentine in pursuit of Lucy, Lucy has the means to defeat AU!Diego. In a way, Valentine karmically inflicted this ending on himself, and I think Lucy understands that.

Chapter 95: World of Stars and Stripes

Please remember that AU!Diego never turns the key to the vault. Lucy does. Lucy echoes' Steven's theory, that someone need be 'qualified' to own the corpse. In my reading, I believe that the conclusion that Lucy came to was that no one can be 'qualified' to 'own' the corpse. No matter who owns the corpse, their 'good fortune' will run out - because karma finds everyone in the end. Lucy understands that the corpse cannot truly be an ally to anyone, because the corpse itself is a principle - the principle of karma. She's the one to lock away the corpse, and, almost as if in thanks for the good such an unselfish action will do for the world, Lucy finally gets her happy ending.

In conclusion: Lucy empowers herself to find happiness with her own hands. Even without a Stand, even without being chosen as an 'ally' to the corpse (and instead being designated as its vessel), Lucy succeeded. Maybe she wasn't 'qualified' - she demands no respect when she walks in a room, she doesn't exert her will onto others - but she realizes that she doesn't need to be 'qualified' to deserve a happy ending.

Chapter 37: The Green Tombstone (Part 2)

Girl of Steel ^_^

I hope this analysis is fairly coherent, it was a bit rough to put together. If you got this far, thanks for reading!

[eggiesins]

"(Maybe later we can get into a whole thing about whiteness being the standard for beauty in My Time games & how that's informed by contemporary attitudes)"

ur right and u should say it

Hoooooo buddy, let's get into it. This is probably gonna be a bit rambling but go off ig.

DISCLAIMER: Obviously, I love the My Time games and Pathea as well, but that doesn't mean that we can't also have meaningful, critical discourse surrounding those games. (I'm literally halfway through a massive Logan fic right now) Engaging with the media we love critically helps us to understand ourselves and the world around us better.

I'm focusing mostly on Sandrock here, as it's been a hot minute since I played Portia, but I will reference it here and there. Rambling below the cut :)

So when I say whiteness is the standard for beauty in My Time games and that it's informed by contemporary attitudes, what does that really mean? Well, consider for a moment all the different books and magazines you've read, music you've listened to, movies and tv shows you've watched. How many times have you seen blonde hair and blue eyes shoved to the forefront of the narrative, or highlighted as especially attractive? Now compare that to how many times you've ever heard anyone romanticize brown eyes. This is a small example, but once you start to notice it, you can't really un-notice it anymore.

We as a culture, have a tendency to value "white traits" as the standard for what we consider beautiful. Blue eyes, light or blonde colored hair, small noses, thin yet plump lips, and of course, pale complexions. If you want a more in-depth analysis on how colonialism has influenced beauty standards around the world, check out this thesis.

Obviously, since these games are set in a solarpunk, post-apocalyptic world, we can't go through and identify the ethnicities and races of characters with 100% certainty, so I'm not even going to try. What I'm looking at is the physical features alone, as well as which romance characters are given the most attention by Pathea, and then of course which are given the most attention by fans. It should be fairly well-established by this point that Pathea does take a lot of fan feedback into account & will actively shape their games around fan preferences, as we've seen so far with Evershine's development. So there's a lot of interaction between the global fanbase for the games and the creative minds actually behind them, meaning that I'm not here to point blame at any single party, or to really point blame at all. Ultimately, these games are just that: games, and while it's good exercise and practice to engage with them critically, if you find yourself upset by this, I'd recommend spending your time worrying about real-world action instead.

But onto the My Time games! Which characters tend to hold the most prominence here? The romanceables, of course. So let's break it down. In My Time at Portia, there is a total of 28 characters the player could possibly marry. 28!! Comparatively, Sandrock has 21. Of the 28 characters in Portia, we see a few discernible ethnic traits with the septuplets, Lucy, Mint, Petra, Sonia, Aadit, Remington, and Xiu. Of these more diverse characters, the darkest skin-tone we find is Petra's. Now, out of all these characters, which ones tend to get the most screentime and the most love from fans? Over the years, lots of names will pop up, but far and away the most popular candidates are Arlo, Gust, Aadit, and Mint.

Now let's look at Sandrock. I will say, Sandrock does a much better job with diversity, both in skin tone and facial feature variations. However, consider who gets the most romance content and screentime in the game: Logan and Fang for sure, followed by Unsuur and Nia, to the point where at times, it feels like the game is trying to tell you that either Logan, Fang, or Nia are the "canon" options. Which makes sense, but I also find it pretty wild that characters like Heidi and Justice - who, because of their roles, have arguably, just as strong claims to being "canon" but are not treated as such.

Consider the two architects we get to interact with across the games: Heidi and Gust. Of the two, Gust is the wildly more popular option with his blonde hair, blue eyes, and mean disposition. In contrast, Heidi is heavily involved in the Sandrock storyline, and without her, the town would never have been able to recover the way it does in-game. It would make sense, then, that Heidi and the Builder would share a much more profound bond simply based on the relationship inherent to their roles. In Portia, if Gust and Albert were not present, it stands to reason the town could probably still get on fine with just their builder. Not so for Sandrock. It's a similar concept with Justice. Without him as Sheriff, Sandrock doesn't survive. But if Arlo weren't in Portia, again, the Builder can fill in that gap decently enough.

Despite being so critical to the story and Sandrock's infrastructure, Heidi and Justice simply aren't given a proportional amount of screentime and romance content. Heidi is the architect who works with the Builder the most, and Justice is literally the Builder's Civil Corps superior and comrade. There's a lot of potential there for relationship-building and compelling dynamics. In short, they're not treated as viable candidates when compared to Logan, Fang, and Nia (also wild since Nia spends a majority of the game not in Sandrock). And it's not like they're not interesting characters either. Heidi, while friendly and fun at first, is also shown to be extremely competent and has a healthy temper (and the right hook to match, hoo mama). She's shown to be complex, trying to juggle her own sense of what is right with what her mentors have been telling her is right. Her story is about getting back to her roots and trusting her own instincts and judgements despite having better opportunities back in Atara.

Justice as well is an interesting character, struggling with his insecurities and trying to fill his old mentor's shoes while also trying to keep Sandrock safe on a shoestring budget. He's consistently shown to be incredibly resourceful and creative, with an incredibly strong sense of, well, justice. He even takes his own name upon joining the Civil Corps! (It used to be Maurice, thanks Viv). He's shown to have faults in his treatment of Unsuur as just some weird kid, and you as the Builder get to help him come to understand Unsuur better, which creates a really sweet moment in-game. (To all the fic writers who insist on putting Justice down to favor Unsuur, y'all can catch me outside)

But for all these qualities, Heidi and Justice just don't seem to resonate with fans, and it really begs the question: Would they be more popular if they were designed more like Logan, Nia, or Fang? If they had more "white" features, would they get more screentime from Pathea? Would they get more attention from fans? Of course, we can't say for certain if that would change anything, but judging by the way I've seen fans treat these characters (Justice especially in builder x unsuur fics) I'm inclined to think that yes, if they were whiter, they'd be more popular. Side note here: Yes I realize Fang comes from Seesai, the in-game analog to irl China so it's not like he's not ethnic, but look at his sperm donor. Blonde hair, blue eyes.

As we've established, there's a very reciprocal relationship between the fandom and Pathea. Fans got to vote for which characters will become core romanceables in Evershine, as well as which Sandrock characters would make cameos in the game. And which characters do we see absolutely blowing up across the Evershine socials? Avery, Ragnar, and to a degree, Stev. Hardly any news is coming out about Waylan, but until the game actually releases, there's only so much we can read into the romance options at this point.

My whole point with this essay is to show that, while characters in My Time games are becoming more diverse and well-fleshed out thanks to Pathea, we as the fans are also reinforcing a pattern of creation and storytelling that heavily favors whiteness as a standard of beauty. I think it's awesome to see Pathea taking so much fan feedback for the games, but as a creative myself, I think it wouldn't hurt them either to stand on business and make creative choices that favor a diverse, interesting cast of characters over which ones are the most fuckable according to horny people on the internet. (It's a similar phenomenon to what happened with Wyll's character in Baldur's Gate 3) We can all do better; we should all do better, and that begins with taking a critical look at the media we consume and the way we engage with that media.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk. I'd love to hear y'all's opinions on this as well!

[smieska]

aaa another year , another Dracula daily finished. This is the second year I've followed it and idk, the epilogue hit me especially hard this time around.

Maybe because of the addition of Re: Dracula that made the waiting all the more painful and stakes feel higher, or maybe it's also the second time of reading analysis and interpretations that made it feel more robust.

I just suddenly feel the heavy heavy burden they all held during October, the race against time, against the Count. Now that it's all gone, it's like I can't believe they went through all of that.

But also, yes, Van Helsing, I agree, the people who fought for Mina and how much they love her, BUT THIS WAS ALSO FOR LUCY. THIS WAS ALSO OUT OF LOVE FOR LUCY. I kinda wish Bram added that little bit.

All in all, good job everyone! Hit the showers, see you next year 👏❤️👏❤️👏❤️

[skepticalcatfrog]

My Secret Shanghai Playlist

Finally, the playlist is FINISHED! I gathered all the songs a while ago, the reason it took this long is because I wanted to make a nice cover for it, which I did! See above.

Click here for the playlist!

Now when I say "finished", I don't believe any playlist is ever REALLY finished. I may add songs later on, and if I do, I'll add them to this post! I'm also always open to suggestions.

As promised, under the cut I'll be putting brief descriptions of why I added each song! If you want a full, line-by-line analysis, I definitely encourage you to send an ask about any specific songs to my inbox!

~~~

Song List:

1. Chinese Satellite by Phoebe Bridgers - Everyone already knows my feelings about this song and OVE-era Benedikt (if they looked at this other post I made that is).

2. Stiletto by Billy Joel - Again, if anyone looked at this second other post I made they'll know why this is Roma and Juliette, but SPECIFICALLY from Benedikt's POV.

3. Killer by Phoebe Bridgers - This is Roma and Juliette, specifically in TVD/OVE (see also the drawing I made inspired by this if you so choose).

4. Salt in The Wound by boygenius - This is Rosalind and Dimitri to me, they may also appear again later in this list.

5. Eat Your Young by Hozier - I mean. I feel as though this is quite obvious if you've heard the song.

6. The Bomb by Florence and the Machine - See, as I said up above, this one is Rosalind and Dimitri once again.

7. Wish That You Were Here by Florence and the Machine - I've posted about this before too, not in as much detail, but this one is Benedikt and Marshall to me, specifically in early OVE.

8. Funeral by Phoebe Bridgers - This is on here for Juliette, I need to go in depth about this someone PLEASE ask me about it.

9. Please Stay by Lucy Dacus - If you read my fic you already know, this is on here for Benedikt and Marshall.

10. Abstract (Psychopomp) by Hozier - Honestly this one is on here for pure vibes, feel free to match it specifically with whoever you like.

11. Queen of Peace by Florence and the Machine - It's possible that this one may not fit EXACTLY exactly, but it just really gives Celia to me and there are enough lines in the song to prove it.

12. Dream Girl Evil by Florence and the Machine - Again, this is Rosalind and Dimitri, I know this is happening a lot but it's because I listen to just enough songs about messed up relationships.

13. This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race by Fallout Boy - This one is also on here for pure vibes, it just works very well.

14. Sedated by Hozier - This one is sooooooo FLF/FHH, I don't make the rules.

15. Broken Crown by Mumford and Sons - This is Roma to me, in the way I interpret this song and these lyrics.

16. No Choir by Florence and the Machine - I've also posted about this but I don't think many people saw it, this gives me sooooo Roma and Juliette after they flee the city.

17. Dinner and Diatribes by Hozier - Roma and Juliette. I have no explanation for this other than how antisocial Roma is and how absolutely horrendously they want each other throughout the entire series but specifically LVC.

18. Hospital Beds by Florence and the Machine - This song can be associated with so many things in these books that I will simply let YOU choose what it means.

19. Alone Together by Fall Out Boy - This gives me many feelings about the main four in TVD and where they all end up after the two books.

20. Fourth of July by Fall Out Boy - This one is for Roma and Juliette, specifically in OVE when their relationship has become infinitely more complicated.

21. The Calendar by Panic! At The Disco - This one is on here for OVE-era Roma and his conflicting feelings about Juliette.

22. Hungover in the City of Dust by Autoheart - Dear god this song is so good, and it's here for my beloved Benedikt, once again in his depression era.

23. Share Your Address by Ben Platt - I feel like this one could be very sweet for Rosalind and Orion, from his POV. I just like it for them.

24. New Invention by IDKHOW - If you like Orion Hong and you want to feel MISERABLE about him, this is the song for you I promise.

25. Guns for Hire by Woodkid - Another pure vibes one. Give it a listen.

26. My Immortal by Evanescence - This is another one that I feel could have a number of interpretations, but to me it is Benedikt Montagov (in early OVE, obviously).

27. Wouldn't It Be Nice by The Beach Boys - An unconventional choice, I know, but I put this here for Roma and Juliette, because wouldn't it be nice?

28. Romeo & Juliet by Peter McPoland - I mean. Come on.

29. Vienna by Billy Joel - Again, so many interpretations, choose your own adventure.

30. Francesca by Hozier - I don't know if this is more romajuliette, more benmars, more rosorion, or more olivercelia. Obviously I lean towards benmars (you know me) but there's evidence for all of them

31. I Love You Too by Peter McPoland - This one is for Oliver and Celia, in honor of that one scene in FHH. You know the one.

32. Back to December by Taylor Swift - Thinking about romajuliette to this song makes me incredibly sad so it goes on the playlist.

33. peace by Taylor Swift - Again. Romajuliette. I'm right.

34. Ease My Mind by Ben Platt - This is benmars to me and no one can change my mind.

35. Run Away by Ben Platt - Think of this as Roma and Juliette and if you don't become deeply emotional I don't know what to say to you.

36. Absinthe by IDKHOW - Pure. Vibes.

37. Bleed Magic by IDKHOW - I dare you to listen to this song and NOT think it's FLF.

38. I Wish I Was by The Avett Brothers - Something about this just feels like olivercelia to me in a way I can't describe.

39. Marjorie by Taylor Swift - Imagining this as Alisa after Roma “dies” made me very emotional so I had to add this one.

40. Just A Girl by Florence and the Machine (or whichever version you prefer, but this cover is my favorite) - I feel like if I say Phoebe Hong I won't need to explain more.

41. Things We Lost in the Fire by Bastille - This definitely gives OVE to me in a major way.

42. Mermaids by Florence and the Machine - Okay this song does reference England twice but if you just ignore that then the vibes are ON POINT for specifically TVD.

43. Out of the Woods by Taylor Swift - Chloe Gong herself said this is Benedikt, so I must add it.

44. Jump Then Fall by Taylor Swift - Same as above, but for Marshall.

45. mirrorball by Taylor Swift - Again, same as above, for Celia this time.

46. Murder in the City by The Avett Brothers - Just the very first verse of this is Marshall to me, but the rest of it (give or take a few lines) is very Roma.

47. Soon You'll Get Better by Taylor Swift - WHATEVER YOU DO, don't imagine this as Roma visiting Alisa in the hospital in TVD.

48. Hunger by Florence and the Machine - This is very very TVD duology Rosalind.

49. ivy by Taylor Swift - I know this song is about infidelity, but through another lens, it's actually about romajuliette.

50. Safe & Sound by Taylor Swift - This is here for TVD/OVE Alisa and her only.

51. Honest Man by Ben Platt - Sooooooo rosorion.

52. Agoraphobia by Autoheart - This song is Benedikt to me, not in any particular instance just in general.

As I said above, I 1000% encourage you to ask for more details about any songs you're curious about! I'm happy to discuss. Enjoy!

53. Impossible Year by Panic! at the Disco - This is really everyone at the beginning of OVE, but I put it here specifically for Roma.

54 (Addition #1). Love From The Other Side by Fall Out Boy - This is romajuliette in the TVD/OVE era.

[spencerreidswhore187]

Coming Soon:

Strawberry Wine (Penelope Garcia x Reader)

If the power had not gone down, you never would have met. 

You had been in the middle of a what type of cat am I? quiz, having just hit the results button when your laptop crashed. 

You tried switching it back on but nothing worked, not even aggressively shaking it over your head. 

“Again?” You muttered; technology and you did not exactly coincide.

That’s when the lights flickered off. 

You marched towards your apartment door and pulled it open. 

And then you saw her, the most beautiful girl you’d ever laid eyes upon. 

She was stood in what you assumed was her doorway, opposite yours, frantically typing on her phone. 

She hadn’t noticed you yet. Or so you thought, Penelope’s heart was racing the second she’d noticed you exit your apartment. 

She’d liked you for a while actually.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (Spencer Reid x Reader)

You didn’t know how you ended up sat overlooking the sea with that one guy you never really spoke to at work. 

Steven Reece, you thought his name was. No, no - Spencer. Spencer Reid. 

The tall, handsome and obnoxiously smart man from the Behavioural Analysis Unit. 

He worked on the floor above you at Quantico, and, despite your devastatingly brief encounters in the elevator every Monday and Thursday morning, you had never spoken before today. 

It’s quite strange, now that you thought about it, as his arm snaked around your waist, pulling you closer against him. 

Your head rested on his shoulder. 

You both stared forward, counting the stars in the sky.

“I’ve never seen the sky this clear before,” you remarked. 

Cassiopeia was above where you were sat on the old sea wall. 

In your peripheral you could see Spencer gently turn his head to stare at you. 

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” 

[mariacallous]

In late July, OpenAI began rolling out an eerily humanlike voice interface for ChatGPT. In a safety analysis released today, the company acknowledges that this anthropomorphic voice may lure some users into becoming emotionally attached to their chatbot.

The warnings are included in a “system card” for GPT-4o, a technical document that lays out what the company believes are the risks associated with the model, plus details surrounding safety testing and the mitigation efforts the company’s taking to reduce potential risk.

OpenAI has faced scrutiny in recent months after a number of employees working on AI’s long-term risks quit the company. Some subsequently accused OpenAI of taking unnecessary chances and muzzling dissenters in its race to commercialize AI. Revealing more details of OpenAI’s safety regime may help mitigate the criticism and reassure the public that the company takes the issue seriously.

The risks explored in the new system card are wide-ranging, and include the potential for GPT-4o to amplify societal biases, spread disinformation, and aid in the development of chemical or biological weapons. It also discloses details of testing designed to ensure that AI models won’t try to break free of their controls, deceive people, or scheme catastrophic plans.

Some outside experts commend OpenAI for its transparency but say it could go further.

Lucie-Aimée Kaffee, an applied policy researcher at Hugging Face, a company that hosts AI tools, notes that OpenAI's system card for GPT-4o does not include extensive details on the model’s training data or who owns that data. "The question of consent in creating such a large dataset spanning multiple modalities, including text, image, and speech, needs to be addressed," Kaffee says.

Others note that risks could change as tools are used in the wild. “Their internal review should only be the first piece of ensuring AI safety,” says Neil Thompson, a professor at MIT who studies AI risk assessments. “Many risks only manifest when AI is used in the real world. It is important that these other risks are cataloged and evaluated as new models emerge.”

The new system card highlights how rapidly AI risks are evolving with the development of powerful new features such as OpenAI’s voice interface. In May, when the company unveiled its voice mode, which can respond swiftly and handle interruptions in a natural back and forth, many users noticed it appeared overly flirtatious in demos. The company later faced criticism from the actress Scarlett Johansson, who accused it of copying her style of speech.

A section of the system card titled “Anthropomorphization and Emotional Reliance” explores problems that arise when users perceive AI in human terms, something apparently exacerbated by the humanlike voice mode. During the red teaming, or stress testing, of GPT-4o, for instance, OpenAI researchers noticed instances of speech from users that conveyed a sense of emotional connection with the model. For example, people used language such as “This is our last day together.”

Anthropomorphism might cause users to place more trust in the output of a model when it “hallucinates” incorrect information, OpenAI says. Over time, it might even affect users’ relationships with other people. “Users might form social relationships with the AI, reducing their need for human interaction—potentially benefiting lonely individuals but possibly affecting healthy relationships,” the document says.

Joaquin Quiñonero Candela, head of preparedness at OpenAI, says that voice mode could evolve into a uniquely powerful interface. He also notes that the kind of emotional effects seen with GPT-4o can be positive—say, by helping those who are lonely or who need to practice social interactions. He adds that the company will study anthropomorphism and the emotional connections closely, including by monitoring how beta testers interact with ChatGPT. “We don’t have results to share at the moment, but it’s on our list of concerns,” he says.

Other problems arising from voice mode include potential new ways of “jailbreaking” OpenAI’s model—by inputting audio that causes the model to break loose of its restrictions, for instance. The jailbroken voice mode could be coaxed into impersonating a particular person or attempting to read a users’ emotions. The voice mode can also malfunction in response to random noise, OpenAI found, and in one instance, testers noticed it adopting a voice similar to that of the user. OpenAI also says it is studying whether the voice interface might be more effective at persuading people to adopt a particular viewpoint.

OpenAI is not alone in recognizing the risk of AI assistants mimicking human interaction. In April, Google DeepMind released a lengthy paper discussing the potential ethical challenges raised by more capable AI assistants. Iason Gabriel, a staff research scientist at the company and a coauthor of the paper, tells WIRED that chatbots’ ability to use language “creates this impression of genuine intimacy,” adding that he himself had found an experimental voice interface for Google DeepMind’s AI to be especially sticky. “There are all these questions about emotional entanglement,” Gabriel says.

Such emotional ties may be more common than many realize. Some users of chatbots like Character AI and Replika report antisocial tensions resulting from their chat habits. A recent TikTok with almost a million views shows one user apparently so addicted to Character AI that they use the app while watching a movie in a theater. Some commenters mentioned that they would have to be alone to use the chatbot because of the intimacy of their interactions. “I’ll never be on [Character AI] unless I’m in my room,” wrote one.

[charles-leclerc-official]

2024 Monza Grand Prix Race Analysis

Charles brought home his second career victory at Monza with one of the most impressive drives of the season. Let's take a look at exactly how he pulled it off.

Table of Contents Ferrari - Charles - Strategy - Tyre Management - Data Analysis Carlos Mclaren - Team strategy - Oscar - Lap 1 overtake - Lando Other moments and drivers of note Final Thoughts

This analysis is goign to be very Ferrari and Mclaren focused, because they were the main teams of interest. There are a few other mentions, but the competition at the front of the field is where the bulk of this analysis is aimed at.

Ferrari

Ferrari brought a few upgrades to the SF-24 this weekend. The most notable of which was a new floor. The floor was meant to address some of the problems previous upgraded floor specs had introduced to the car in previous rounds. Given the results both drivers saw it is safe to say that Ferrari seem to be back on track with a competitive car. The Ferrari was very close to the Mclaren on speed this weekend. Which is looking promising for a competitive from field in the final races of the season.

Charles qualified P4 and finished P1. Carlos qualified P5 and finished P4.

Charles

It’s one thing to win at Monza once behind the wheel of a red car, but to do it twice? Well that’s called building an unforgettable legacy. 

Charles brought home his second career win at Monza, with one of his best performances this season and indeed another career highlight.

There were quite a few things that went into this win. From an excellent lap one overtake, to masterful tyre management Charles really reminded the entire grid what he's capable of with this drive.

There is a lot of strategy and data to get to, so we are just going to dive in!

Strategy

The strategy of both Ferrari and Mclaren were the deciding factors in this race. There are a lot of little details and key moments so I going to present this in a timeline of events.

First, Monza was hot, while ordinarily this race is a pretty straightforward one-stop, teams were anticipating needing to do a two-pit stop strategy going into Sunday, due to the high tyre degradation observed in the hot temperatures. Both Ferrari and Mclaren seemed to have planned on a two-stop as their base strategy.

Second, with George starting in P3 it was assumed he was not going to hold that position. The Mercedes was not handling the heat well, and he was not going to hold third for long. Ferrari and Mclaren seemed to both have assumed this. And this was a correct assumption.

With that in mind, it's lights out and away we go!

Lap 1

On turn 4 Charles took advantage of an opening Oscar exposed when he passed Lando. Lando didn't close the gap quickly enough and he was more focused on Oscar, so Charles had the opportunity to overtake. So right off the bat he made it from P4 to P2.

George also went off at turn 1 due to a lack of grip and that was where the other place came from.

Lap 15/16

On lap 15 Lando pit, undercutting Charles and gaining a place back up to P2.

On lap 16 Charles pit in response to this undercut. This was to try to save something against Lando who had just undercut him. It’s an automatic reactionary strategy call. Charles wasn’t pleased with this from the team as he felt the tyres had more in them. I think that the call to box here while not strictly necessary it wasn’t bad either as allowing Mclaren the chance to get further ahead on hards was not going to be good, given the rate at which the mediums were degrading.

This pit was really the deciding moment of the race though at the moment it felt like it wasn’t in Ferrari’s favor. Ferrari said they always had considered the possibility of a one-stop, they knew the car and drivers were capable, but with the temps it was a little iffy before they saw how the hards performed on race day. Charles making that early pass really set them up to benefit even more from this strategy.

The option for the one-stop was discussed on radio as early as lap 11. And I think a lot of the waffling over the radio after that first pit about strategy was running interference against Mclaren. Ferrari were trying to make sure they two-stopped while they stayed on a one-stop.

Lap 33

This was the lap where the race changed. This was where Mclaren revealed they were going to stick with a two-stop, and this was where Ferrari decided that Charles should one stop.

Charles was told to box opposite Mclaren. At this point in the race it was unclear if Lando or Oscar were going to box first, both were experiencing graining on the hards.

But then Lando pit. This gave away Mclaren's strategy, and also I think Ferrari were expecting Oscar to pit first. They were trying to trick Mclaren into pitting Oscar first over the radio, but Lando was struggling more and Mclaren are always reluctant to give up the lead of the race even for a bit.

On lap 33 Oscar was informed that Lando pit, and also Oscar reported the graining on his tyres was getting worse very quickly.

Charles was told to build on his delta by speeding up, I think to try to make it look to Mclaren like they were not trying to conserve and they'd also do a two-stop.

I will cover a little more on this specific stint in the data analysis section.

But the important thing to note is that this is the lap where the strategy was decided by both teams, and effectively Mclaren's fate was sealed.

Lap 39

On lap 39 Oscar pit and this was when Mclaren's chances were over. They couldn't stay out longer and had to commit to the two-stop even though it was clear that was going to lose them the race. Their car and drivers were not able to handle the graining.

This was also the lap when Ferrari reaffirmed the strategy choice for the one-stop with Charles.

Checkered Flag

Charles ran the remainder of his hard stint pulling off effectively perfect lap times for 38 laps. He didn't see any drop in performance in the tyres, and held the lead of the race comfortably after Oscar pit on lap 39.

This win came from three factors. 1) Charles' brilliant overtake on turn 1 gaining him several places up the field 2) Good strategy calls from Ferrari to effectively counter Mclaren 3) Genius tyre management from Charles to get the maximum out of the hard tyres in difficult conditions for tyre deg.

Now when it came to the call to make the one-stop strategy there has been some confusion about who made it and when. Some have asserted that Carlos somehow was the one behind the call to make the one-stop, which is not what happened, and also is not how strategy calls are made in the team. 

Here are the radio messages transcribed on the lap they occurred. Note that “Plan B” is the one-stop strategy

*note there are a lot of radios that I did not include as they were not relevant to the strategy call at hand, this is just for simplicity

The thing I think that has been misunderstood about these radios is that Carlos is speaking about plan B for himself. He was going over how to properly cover Lewis in the pits with his engineer, Charles was not mentioned at all. The info that Bryan shared about Carlos with Charles was because if Carlos felt plan B was possible they wanted to ask Charles if he felt the same. So this wasn’t Carlos putting the whole team on plan B, it was him making the best strategy call for himself, which is normal and it was the correct call, but to claim his choice made the decision for Charles is incorrect. 

It’s also important for the team to communicate to a driver if their teammate is going to be on a different strategy, as that was a possibility. It’s just information they need to have.

Note that Charles was already considering a one-stop on lap 11, and there was no mention of that plan to Carlos on his end. So this was a strategy Charles and the team were considering much earlier. With the undercut I think it led them to flip flop some on which strategy would be best, but then on lap 33 they locked it in.

However, listening to the full radios, I think that the final choice for Charles to be on the one stop was when they asked Charles to stay out on lap 33, and then asked about his tyres on lap 35. The message from Bryan to Charles on lap 39 was him informing that his teammate was also on the same strategy. This is also further evidenced by the radios in between being focused on building a good delta, setting the target lap time, which was the lap time needed for the one-stop, and also aiding Charles in managing certain turns for management. All of this happened prior to Charles receiving the message about Carlos on lap 39. 

Also a very important detail comes from Lando’s post race press statements. When asked when he was committed to the two-stop was when he boxed for the second time. Lando boxed on lap 33, the same lap where Charles was told to stay out. I think that seeing Lando box and confirming that Mclaren were on a two-stop that was when Ferrari locked in the one-stop for Charles. He was not told to plan on boxing again opposite Oscar or anything, which they also knew was coming. Lap 33 was the deciding lap of the race. 

I am not trying to discredit Carlos here, but the data/timeline backs that Charles was already on the one-stop strategy before Carlos even said anything. I think the team very quickly switched Charles on the one-stop around lap 33 when they decided not to pit. 

Fred

I want to include a few quotes from Fred on the team strategy as well as they confirm what I parsed over the radio as well as the behavior on track.

"It [the one-stop] was a good strategy. We had it planned from the start. We saw the high degradation at the beginning and were surprised, but we stuck with our choices. A bit risky, but it went well. The drivers managed the tires very well, without over-pushing. We made a good strategy like in Zandvoort, but here we also won."

So Fred is affirming that this was their chosen strategy going into the race. It makes sense at this has been a strength for Ferrari all season and Mclaren has not been able to counter the SF-24 and Charles on tyre management. It was especially optimal as most teams were thinking it had to be a two-stop.

"At one point, though, we thought we would go for two stops. Even if we didn’t experience any degradation in the second stint. However, Charles felt comfortable. When we realized that the worst-case scenario was finishing on the podium, we went for it. We said to ourselves: ‘Alright, let’s stay consistent with the lap times and go for it’. Everything went well. I believe Charles had everything under control; he drove perfectly."

This is reflective of the middle when they might have been considering that plan C option that included another pit, likely informed by the graining they were seeing on the Mclaren's and the Red Bulls. This would have been around lap 30-33.

They checked in with Charles on his lap times and he was just a machine on track not wavering, so there was no reason not to. After that it was mind games with Mclaren trying to get them to mess up their pit timing with Oscar even more.

Carlos

Carlos ran a solid race. I think as a final race at Monza with Ferrari this was a good drive. He kept things clean, also pulled off the one-stop, caused a little interference to help Charles at the front. All around a good drive and a good effort with the team.

I would have liked to see him make the podium of course, but with the Mclaren’s on a two-stop his chances of that were slim. Because with his track position he was going to get passed by them on newer tyres.

Carlos struggled more on the one-stop, as he did hit a wall with his tyres on the final laps of the race. Which really highlights Charles pulling off the consistent performance he did on 4 lap older hards.

In spite of all of this I think this was one of Carlos' strongest performances of the season as well. It was a challenging order to do the one-stop and he help his place with it.

Just adding this to be abundantly clear.

“Carlos came up with Charles strategy!”: No, Charles and the team already switched to the one-stop before Carlos’ radios, and also the car behind is not making strategy calls for the car ahead, that doesn’t happen. Carlos was simply communicating with his own engineer about the strategy that would suit him best in his own race, as he should.

Data Analysis

We have some excellent data to examine from this race. And it really informs what was an wasn't possible for certain teams and drivers.

First I want to do a comparison of Charles and both Mclarens, this is probably the most important data comparison for this race.

There are two things to note, first all drivers saw a drop off in performance with the mediums around lap 11. More important is that second stint on the hards. 1.23s as lap times was the target, for both Ferrari and Mclaren, it seems that target lap time was determined to be best for management and speed. So it's not like Charles was going any slower to conserve, no they were all going at the same pace on those tyres, and the Mclaren's just couldn't keep that same pace up without graining. About 15 laps in Lando reported loss on his front left, and Oscar reported the same issues. They were all on the same lap times, so it's not like Mclaren were pushing harder and burning through their tyres faster(that came later) They just couldn't sustain that pace.

I think that the first 10-15 laps of that second stint both teams were feeling each other out, they were trying to set a pace they could sustain if they needed to one-stop. Mclaren experienced graining about halfway through the stint and found that they couldn't' sustain the pace needed for the one-stop in the conditions. Both drivers confirmed this both on the radio and also in post race press statements. This was kind of a game of chicken. Both teams on one-stop pace, trying to see who would blink first and pit. Mclaren blinked, they pit and Ferrari ran away with it. I think Mclaren thought that possibly this was still a game of who could pull off the undercut timing, while Ferrari were trying to ensure Mclaren gave up the places at the front.

You can see in the second hard stint that the Mclaren's really pushed the hards, that is what pushing on them actually looks like. But again at the end of the stint Oscar kind of hit a small wall with them and couldn't keep closing the gap, and it was also too late to make up the final time he needed.

What this really shows is that Charles and the Ferrari were capable of the optimal strategy in the second stint and Mclaren were not.

Quick look at Charles vs Carlos.

This really just highlights the performance of the SF-24. You can see around lap 45 where Carlos had to contend with Lando and that was also around where he hit the wall with the tyres and started to lose performance compared to Charles.

Here is Charles' data on it's own just to highlight the consistency of those lap times, he didn't experience any drop off in performance and even had the tyres left for a little bit of pushing on that final lap. This is really a visual representation of the skill Charles showed on track. At no point was he losing the tyres.

Charles was told a target lap time and he set it for 38 laps straight without fail. And he had a little left in the tank for a slightly speedier lap for the victory.

And here is Oscar vs Charles

At the end on the final two laps you can see that Oscar's pace was good, it was faster, but it wasn't increasing, so he wasn't going to catch Charles. It's unclear if he really burned through his tyres too much to be able to keep closing the gap. But Mclaren needed to find the right balance of giving him enough time to try to catch Charles, but also a window where his tyres wouldn't give out. It may just not have been possible without more conservation, and on that final stint Oscar was not doing any conservation at all.

Ferrari pulled off brilliant strategy playing to their strengths both in their car and in Charles. Even if Mclaren had had better strategy they were not going to be able to effectively counter Ferrari. They had to hope Ferrari made a mistake. And that wasn't happening, not this weekend, not this car, not this driver.

All in all a brilliant race from the entire team. And remember, if it comes down to a contest of tyre management Charles will come out on top.

Mclaren

Obligatory disclaimer you are reading about Mclaren on a Ferrari blog, and you are reading about Monza on a Ferrari blog.

That being said I don't feel too concerned about bias as Mclaren fans are also not pleased with Mclaren's team performance, so it's not just me, the team is actually just not delivering.

Lando qualified on pole and finished P3, Oscar qualified P2 and finished P2.

Now, I will say that Mclaren really were in a no-win situation the moment Charles was on a one-stop. They couldn't do a one-stop themselves so they really were left with no real way to counter. That's just the way it goes when you are up against the best tyre manager on the grid.

However Charles being brilliant does not excuse the continued bad strategy from the team.

Team Strategy

"Papaya Rules"

I feel like everything that can be said about Papaya rules has already been said, but this is the obligatory section in this analysis to say that this is a dumb name and I am not sure how anyone is meant to take the team seriously with code words like this.

Now I have also been saying this constantly this season, but Mclaren seem to really like making me repeat myself.

Mclaren have had strategy issues all year. And this one is interesting because seemingly they started off okay. Lando lost a place to Charles early in the race, but he was able to gain it back with that undercut in the pits. Mclaren specifically have struggled to get their pit timings right with Ferrari. 

However. 

I think the biggest weakness in Mclaren strategy has been the inability to account for certain possibilities, and also the inability to change plans as the track evolves. They made a lot of assumptions about this race and that led to issues for them. They assumed Ferrari were going to do a two-stop, and didn’t change that assumption until it was too late (even though Ferrari and Charles have literally undermined them before in this same way) I will given them some lenience in that the team did ask Oscar about the possibility (when it was already too late) and Oscar confirmed that a one-stop wasn't viable on his end. But they were also making that determination way too late into the race.

I wouldn't go so far as to say this was Oscar's race to lose. It was Mclaren's race to lose, and as we now know with hindsight, their inability to one-stop really meant neither driver had a chance. I don't see this as a missed win for either driver or the team simply because Ferrari and Charles were just better, and there wasn't an effective counter to a strategy they couldn't replicate with their drivers or car.

Probably the most entertaining part of this race was Mclaren thinking they successfully undercut Charles with Lando to get P2 back. Well, look how well that went over. So even when they successfully undercut they still lose.

Mclaren pit wall: 0 Charles and Ferrari: 3

One Stop a possibility?

The short answer is no. The long answer is that Mclaren asked Oscar if he thought a one-stop was possible and Oscar said no. 

Put simply, they didn't one-stop because they couldn't. Neither of their drivers thought they could one-stop with the graining they reported. And they were on the same pace as Charles in that second hard stint. So it's not like they were pushing harder on those tyres, the team wanted to see if it was possible and it wasn't. They just don't have the car and the drivers for it.

Carlos, who is better on tyres than Oscar, and was on fresher tyres than Charles had lost his tyres by the final laps. He is better or matched with the Mclaren drivers on tyre management, and also in the SF-24 which for all the faults the car may have it is the best car on the tyres, and he was hitting a wall. So do we really think that Mclaren were going to fare better? I think not. 

Oscar himself said that he was seeing pretty severe graining into his first hard stint and he wasn’t going to make it. You might say “oh but Oscar was driving assuming a two stop, he’d have conserved more if he’d known he was going to one-stop” and this is true, however he was on a similar hard pace to Charles in the hard stint, and he had graining, if he’d have had to slow even more to conserve he’d have lost the place to Charles anyway. Lando also saw graining on the front left about 15 laps into the stint. Both Mclaren drivers reported that the graining they experienced was not manageable and they would not have been able to pull off the one-stop. The team even asked Oscar if he could one-stop and he said no. I think at that point Mclaren knew Charles was going to stay out and realized they were going to lose unless Oscar could somehow make his tyres last.

Furthermore, while a driver who is exceptional at tyre management could have pulled off a one-stop in that Mclaren car, neither Oscar or Lando are really the driver for that. And I have been saying all year if it is a contest of tyre management Charles will win. They might have stayed out lost their tyres before Charles and he passed them anyway. 

Oscar especially, he is not as bad on tyres, he’s been improving, but to expect him to have improved to the level that he’d be able to hold the lead of the race for that many laps in those conditions while the car was graining on the fronts at the rate they observed is beyond his capabilities at the moment. 

The fact remains that if it comes down to a contest of tyre management Charles will win, it’s just a matter of time. It’s very difficult to counter because they can’t even copy his strategy, he has the skill and a car to pull off something that the Mclaren car cannot. They just have to watch him do it unable to really do much about it. 

Oscar

Oscar ran a solid race on his end, and it might have been a race winning drive, if Ferrari had been on a two-stop strategy. Ultimately he didn't gain any places in the end result, but he did gain one on his teammate.

The most notable part of Oscar's race was on the first lap when he overtook Lando to take the lead of the race into turns 3 and 4.

I think the footage is pretty clear, it's a clean pass, shooting for a pretty clear gap.

Lando made a mistake. He relaxed after getting through turns 1 and 2 with the lead, he broke early and eased into the corner leaving himself wide open on the outside. So open that Oscar and Charles had the opportunity to get by. He was not on guard, and you have to be if you expect to hold the lead of a race. He even left that spot open after Oscar passed which was how Charles got through.

Lando also lost some grip into turn 3 and that did not help in his ability to defend against Charles.

Oscar's overtake was fair, clean, and one of his best so far this season.

"Oscar made contact with Lando he was not in compliance with the papaya rules!": No there was no contact, it would have been mentioned on the radio if it was significant in any way. Lando also confirmed after the race that no contact was made. They got close but didn't touch.

"Oscar shouldn't have attacked his own teammate": His teammate shouldn't have left a 2 car opening and gone slow on the entry into the turn

"The team should have given orders for Lando to be ahead": they specifically didn't do that. So that's not a priority.

"Oscar is a bad teammate he should have helped Lando": He wasn't told to, in fact he was told they could race. And if Lando wanted to be ahead he should have defended better. To win you have to beat your teammate too. I can't make Mclaren give Lando priority so unless they change that Oscar can race as much as he wants.

Now, as far as teammates racing each other go I am generally in favor, so long as it's clean. And that is what happened here so I take no issue. I am not a Mclaren fan, I don't care if they should have prioritized one driver over another. However, the team's reluctance to issue team orders is certainly interesting and will likely be a problem again in future races.

The rest of Oscar's race was determined by how he was faring against Charles and Ferrari. I already outlined in detail above how that was not going to end well for him. But he was asked if he thought he could one-stop, he said no he didn't think it was possible. He reported graining and losing the tyres about 15 laps into the stint, at that rate with Ferrari reporting none he was not going to make it to the end. He ran about as good of a race as he could with the strategy that was possible for him.

Was he going to catch Charles at the end? No. There weren't enough laps left, and he pushed the hards too much closing the gap down to 2.5 seconds. They didn't have it in them to continue that.

Lando

Lando's race was determined by 1 mistake, after that he was playing catch up the rest of the race to recover places lost. He lost the lead to Oscar on lap one, and that was due to his own driving leaving a gap exposed long enough for not one but two drivers to take advantage.

He got a good start into turn one for once, and immediately thought he was safe because he pulled it off, he was then easy on the breaks into turn 3-4 and opened up to a move from Oscar that realistically should have been a window for Oscar to take. And if Oscar hadn’t I can promise you Charles would have. He just does not have the ability to defend his position, and makes very rookie mistakes. He isn’t new to this, he’s been driving in F1 for years, that time is meant to be so when he’s in a championship fight he can pull it off, and the results from this year have been weak. 

If he can’t defend from his own teammate, who is the one who will race him the cleanest (you think Max or Charles would have been easier on him?) then he can’t defend against an actual rival.

He also lost a few seconds in the pit lane when he hit the sign. Which was just weirdly sloppy even for him. It may be evidence of how bad the condition of his tyres was.

I don't have much to add about his race. I don't think he would have won, as I stated above both Mclaren's were going to end up behind Charles with that strategy.

Other Moments and Drivers of Note

George: George went off on the first chicane because he lost grip. The Mercedes was not handling well in the heat and he was never going to hold on to P3 for long. He had both Ferraris which had better race pace and handled much better in the heat behind him. It was not a matter of if but when. The Mercedes car really struggled with the track and the heat.

Only 4 drivers pulled off a one-stop in the points: Charles, Carlos, Alex, and Kevin.

Drivers outside of the points who ran a one-stop were: Franco, Daniel, Esteban, Valtteri and Zhou. Again I would not take this as evidence it was within the cards for Mclaren.

Red Bull: the red bull car was having power issues and had to operate in a lower engine mode, which compromised the team's race. I think the heat being a factor was part of the issue. The car hasn't been cooling as consistently as past models. Max and Checo were therefore more limited this weekend unable to reach full top speeds.

Final Thoughts

This race reminded us that the season is far from over, Ferrari are back at the front fighting for wins. With 8 rounds to go a lot can change on the WDC and WCC front.

Charles delivered another legendary win, Mclaren are still unable to form a strategy. Would love to see this repeat until the end of the season.

That's all I got, see you in Baku!

[variousqueerthings]

wrote a big long text about people saying things about fix being a woman and passepartout being black in the dtennant around the world in 80 days as "forced diversity" or "straightening out a previously gay-if-you-squint white dude ship from the original text" or "inherently less interesting than the original dynamics" as... well, yes racist and misogynist, but differently racist and misogynist to people who throw around "woke" as a derogatory, and more racist and misogynist as in someone would gasp and be offended at the accusation and it's just personal taste, but mainly it's not understanding how a lack of actual curiosity and analysis in why choices are done makes you (perhaps accidentally) have low-or-highkey biased opinions especially when it comes to race, but also often often when it comes to women.

because why is your lack of curiosity manifesting like this, for these two specifically? and does that happen often enough for it to be a pattern? does it just happen to be that white men are more interesting in texts for some reason over and over again?

and how it reminds me of the way lucy liu was treated when she was cast as watson (forced diversity, "straightening" the watson-holmes ship, nothing interesting could possibly happen here, it's just my personal opinion).

anyway I have not posted that big long text, because it was quite big and long and honestly at this point people oughta pay me for my essays or at least tell me to log off tumblr sometimes. I'm right though.

the thing of course is that fix in the new iteration is partially inspired by nellie bly -- the first person to actually circumnavigate the globe post-reading-the-book (in 72 days no-less), and that passepartout gets to have an insiders opinion on what it means to be a non-privileged person moving through a series of british colonies + america in the late 19th century. it's... you know. it's a good choice. it's actively interacting with the text. it's an adaptation. that's what adaptations do.

I think btw that "forced diversity" has long been the more acceptable way of saying "woke" in a derogatory way. both of them give the speaker the apparent right to not investigate or have curiosity about the text, but the first has got that air of a disclaimer about it, which you're not really expected to poke at. a certain veneer of respectable opinion

[pinkacademic]

Themes, Context and Problems of Studying Literature

We’re dealing with old books written by old people who had old views, so pretty frequently, we’re going to come across attitudes and language that… well, I hope none of you agree with it… but that’s not a bad thing. We should challenge our worldview, we should learn how to debate it eloquently, learn the context of why people thought the way they did, and learn how to discern between good intentions with bad choices of language, and bad intentions even with good choices of language.

I’m going to be coming back to Dracula a lot as my go-to example text because we all have ease-of-access to it through Dracula Daily, even if we aren’t participating, and I think its fair to focus on one we could all be reading for free.

Common Themes

Themes that come up a lot in any analysis of literature are always the major political issues of the world at the time the text was written, and that still widely apply eg racism and xenophobia, feminism/sex and gender, religion, environmentalism, class… Then, on top of that, there will be motifs that are specific to the book in question. For example, Wuthering Heights, as the name suggests, has a constant refrain that takes it back to pathetic fallacy- which means weather-based metaphor. And actually, the storms which can often in literature be forboding, to Cathy and Heathcliff represent thw call of the wild drawing them home to the moors.

It begs the question that many of you have probably encountered in that cringe Facebook meme about the curtains being blue.

Sometimes the character likes blue and has blue curtains and that’s it- and it is worth knowing that that can be true- but sometimes the curtains are blue because everything is blue and has been since the character’s mother designed the house, and blue is the oppressive colour of an old attitude but the main character wants to live in a modern world of yellow. Maybe, as soon as the mother dies, the main character is going to redesign the house that felt like a trap for so many years and the curtains will be yellow.

More on symbolism, metaphors, and other methods next week!

Interpretation

So, what are you supposed to do with this information? Well, pick an angle and defend it with your entire being. Here comes the Dracula because firstly, do you feel like Jonathan is a sexist because he expects Mina to be in the kitchen cooking paprika hendl for him? Or is he a true romantic who is thinking of her always on his trip to Transylvania?

This is the importance of opinion. Answering essay questions has, in my experience, always meant picking a side and gunning for it to the death. You have the evidence for your case. Look at this asshole Van Helsing being so condesceding to Mina, he’s so sexist! Alternatively, look at this feminist icon Van Helsing treating Mina as the only one with the brain cell.

It’s up to you, and that to me is the value of studying literature because it forces you to think for yourself. And the thing is, you can’t be wrong if you back it up.

Context

I think it’s important to understand where the author was in their lifewhen they wrote their book when we’re analysing its contents. I think the content should be the dominant force in your interpretations, but understanding some of the context matters.

Taking our faithful companion Dracula, it is important to know that this story where the beautiful Lucy is viciously attacked by a creature of the night was written in 1897, and that the murders of prostitutes committed by Jack the Ripper were less than a decade prior. It is also worth noting that the predominantly English cast of characters were written from the point-of-view of Irishman Bram Stoker who supported Home Rule for Ireland.

It can be useful to familiarise yourself with the language of the time, particularly when referring to issues such as sexuality, class, and race, when looking at broad questions such as, for example “is Dracula racist?” Not really, it mostly just uses period-typical language, but Jonathan himself can be pretty xenophobic because he represents the typical Englishman of the day.

That is also one hypothetical interpretation- it’s not even necessarily what I think- so, always keep these things in mind too.

My point is, understanding the time period can help you understand the work in question.

Why it is Important?

Ok, girls, I’m about to start PREACHING! As I mentioned, I think the value of a literature degree is how much it forces you to engage with challenging material, understand the nuances of creativity, and messages versus enjoying art for art’s sake. I think the reason creative subjects and humanities are underfunded because (tinfoil hat voice) THEY WANT US STUPID!! But in all seriousness, take every opportunity to expand your media literacy, your worldview, and your understanding of what counts as art, a classic, literature, and something worth thinking about.

Ok, girlies, I’m leaving it here for this week. This is my absolute PASSION, so I could talk about it FOREVER, but I’ll stop now to focus energy on the actual study section for next week!

[wrongcaitlyn]

thoughts on i can fix him (no really i can)

sorry this isn’t abt the fic i have no more questions but your responses are so great 😭

DONT APOLOGIZE AT ALL I LOVE LOVE LOVE TALKING ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT like i honestly get worried that i talk about her too much a lot bc irl im always told i need to know how to have conversations about things OTHER than her so like knowing that y'all wanna know my opinions on these things is actually the coolest thing ever and i love it <333

first of all, i LOVE the vibes of it. i choose to try not to think about the source material of these things (i've never been the hugest fans of connecting songs to the actual artist who wrote them, idk it just feels invasive) so the entire time i was thinking abt lucy gray baird/coriolanus bc of a post that rachel zegler made months ago for tom blyth's bday with a tee-shirt that said "I can fix him" like idk i just KNEW the song was gonna be snowbaird coded AND I WAS CORRECT

the vibes seemed so cowboy like me like i was genuinely surprised?? the whole thing seemed like it was very taken out of modern society, and like, fugitive au, and i was recently just reading this 1870s small town au (had just finished it like the day before ttpd i think) and so i was SO HERE FOR THAT KIND OF VIBE

overall i just loveeeed the imagery in these lyrics. it's one of those songs where the production just matches the content so well and taylor is truly incredible at that!!

one of my FAVORITE lyrics (most def my fav of the song, possibly one of my favorites of the album was

They shake their heads sayin', "God, help her" When I tell 'em he's my man But your good Lord doesn't need to lift a finger

idk why but the way she said it, the lyrics, the "good lord doesnt need to lift a finger" like GOD it just scratched an itch in my brain so perfectly (the entire album, i felt like she was singing it perfectly, there were so many little moments where i was just like GOD THIS WAS SUNG EXACTLY AS IT NEEDED TO BE SUNG)

just reread the lyrics for this bc i wanna make a worthy response (if y'all EVER want an opinion on ANY taylor swift song or any other artist i've mentioned before like PLEASE feel free lyrical analysis is my entire life)

and like

i seriously have to stop with au ideas

bc just the mention of texas has me thinking OMG FUGITIVE NICO X COWBOY WILL SOLACE AU and im like STFU BRAIN YOU ALREADY HAVE TOO MUCH YOU'RE WORKING ON but like i mean its TEXAS

The dopamine races through his brain On a six-lane Texas highway His hand so calloused from his pistol Softly traces hearts on my face

and the way it just ends so suddenly with "woah maybe i can't" is just😭😭i cackled at that it was hilarious

conclusion: i haven't really re-listened to it bc it wasn't one of those songs that stood out to me in the first listen (i've been listening to the album on loop since it came out bc im still trying to process all the songs, but there were definitely some that i repeated over and over again bc they were my favorite). i don't really like ratings because i feel like every song has so much potential, and i just haven't understood it yet? like, particularly with taylor songs, i actually didn't like the folklore or evermore albums when i first listened to them. then when i did again, they become two of my favorite albums holding some of my favorite songs. so all i can say right now is that it isn't one of my favorites off the album, but i do love certain aspects of it!

[right-there-ride-on]

Sbr is only mildly morally ambiguous and that’s okay

okay so the title is misleading 🫣 this is just a short examination of Johnny v Valentine (and Johnny & Valentine) with a little analysis of the confrontation.

for me valentine’s defining character trait isn’t his patriotism but that’s he’s a massive fucking liar. excellent writing for a politician. the only promise he ever kept was the one he made to lucy not to harm steven. and even then valentine is also super vindictive, so even though he didn’t kill him he made sure to torture him a little. Valentine is not at all the magnanimous man he presents himself to be and the constant discrepancy between his words and his actions proves that. when he’s trying to trick johnny into ending the rotation he hits all correct appeals but johnny knows in his gut that this man is a liar.

sometimes ppl act like sbr proposes a huge moral quandary about valentine’s intentions and whether he was the one “walking the righteous path” all along. but there’s really not. that’s Johnny’s internal battle. Since nick’s death johnny believed himself to be a curse / burden / bad person, but through the race he undergoes several trials that end in self-improvement and learning to have grace with himself. by the end of the narrative Johnny has evolved into someone who does have the strength of character and integrity necessary to judge the actions of someone else, whether he believes it or not, and regardless of whether he feels the right to. So yes, johnny was right to kill valentine. there’s no ifs or buts about it. the true brutality and cruelty of Valentine’s ideal world was very clearly portrayed in the way D4C Love Train functions. the corpse appeared to ‘choose’ Valentine by granting him Love Train, but at the same time it was also healing Johnny. if we look at the corpse through the lens of it primarily being a tool used to achieve the collector’s desires, we see that it empowered both Valentine and Johnny and indirectly or not set them on a collision course with each other. Perhaps there was a question of who was ‘righteous’ for the corpse itself, but the narrative itself tells us over and over again that it’s Johnny.

look at it this way. Johnny, who for most of his life believed he was spiritually and later physically damaged beyond hope, was empowered through the corpse and ended the narrative with a new chance at life. Valentine, who desired a world where not just America would prosper, but where he would be the head of said prospering state, and embody the power behind it, was granted the ability to achieve that world. Yet during their confrontation, the callous cruelty and negative consequences of Valentine’s vision is made apparent over and over again. First with Lucy, then with the innocents killed ‘somewhere else’, and lastly with Gyro and Johnny. Valentine’s actions always betray the truth of his intentions; once he proposed the deal, should Johnny have accepted, he intended to backstab Johnny and kill him the moment he got what he wanted. If he had truly been the ‘righteous one’, he would have kept his word and left Johnny alone once the rotation was reversed. But leaving Johnny alive would have meant he was no longer the most powerful man in the room, and that idea is something Valentine can’t stand.

Valentine is not a good person with good intentions. He claims to care about America, yet throughout the story discards his men and citizens like bugs (consider the train engineer). His actions continually demonstrate the reality: Valentine is power-hungry, petty, vindictive, ruthless, and above all else, a manipulative liar.

Valentine’s patriotism is the motivation behind his actions, but his brutality and deceptiveness defines those actions and is evident in everything he does. The implicit reason Alt!Diego failed was because he believed Valentine. By the end of the story there shouldn’t be a question on whether Valentine or Johnny was in the right. Valentine was the villain and he needed to be defeated. His ‘righteous’ world was, unequivocally, wrong.

[lucithornz]

Luci for some reason I thought you were new to F1 and then I saw your blog and was like oh no she's been on this Ferrari shit for years

Love your race analysis and your fics. Hard to choose between them tbh

The phrase "been on this Ferrari shit for years" is taking me out XD

Thank you so much, I work hard on both and my Japan race analysis is my most read and quoted piece of writing ever, so that is something I guess.

Thank you so much for the support on both fronts <3

[strangestcase]

also as a white queer person myself I will say you are all wrapped up in scholars having bad takes re: sexuality but I never hear a peep about the racism in academic circles, barely ever see anything about race or class analysis in book fandoms, and certainly never NOT see YOUR bad takes in sexuality. “Ooooh all Dracula scholars think the stake is a penis” didn’t some you guys think the Lucy transfusion was a metaphor for rape. you’re just as bad and also the stakes do represent the penis.

tumblr classic literature enjoyers when you tell them that not all literary scholars are homophobic little cunts that can’t or won’t admit Gaysex McQueer the Obviously Gay Coded Guy is gay and that, in fact, they aren’t the first people in noticing Queer Text: The Novel has queer “subtext”