#that was one hell of a quali lap (as usual)

[il-predestinato]

Charles Leclerc | post-qualifying | 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 📸: Dan Istitene

[f1-birb]

and this is not to take away from oscar at all, but deciding lando is washed over jeddah has never been wise. they tried it last year and we all saw how the remainder of the year proceeded. it is not at all a representative look at his speed or skills. hell, ricciardo did outperform him pretty majorly in the actual race in 2021 - based upon that, you'd think they'd have at least been close the remainder of the year, but no. 2022 it was one of the few tracks ricciardo was right with him at - ricciardo, who was regularly .400/seconds off him in qualifying that year. we all know what happened in qualifying in 2023. so let sky and the haters talk their shit, as a lando fan, i am personally beyond happy with this result based on his usual performance at this specific track.

it's not even just Lando's performance, 5/6 is brilliant when you look at last year, and it's still not a track that suits us AND our car is ass in a straight line

ALPINE are faster in a straight line than we are and they had a double Q1 knock out!!

Oscar had an extra set of soft tyres for quali as well while Lando has another set for the race (though @dizzyduck44 posted more on this, a good little read)

again, not taking anything away from Oscar at all, but fuck me you'd think it was a second and half the way sky and some people on here/f1twt are going on about it

I haven't seen it myself but if anyone is trying to call Lando washed over 0.043 between their final lap times they're just dumb

[vro0m]

vro0m’s rewatch - 161/310

2015 Singapore GP

Okay so irl it's been about 3 weeks since I've watched the last race so I hope I can remember where we're at in this season, my apologies if it seems a bit disconnected but I think we'll be okay.

Oh wait what. What the fuck. Simon opens by saying it was the most surprising quali session of the season. Seb is on pole and Lewis is ONE SECOND AND A HALF BEHIND?!?!?! What the absolute fuck happened.

On the driver's truck Natalie says Toto said they went backwards that weekend. She asks what they'll do to go forward now. He says it'll be tough but they'll give it their best shot. Apparently they had tyre issues as he says it's a bit cooler and it might help. She asks if he knows what went wrong with the tyres. He makes a face "we have no idea." he chuckles "I have no idea."

He says they haven't figured anything out. (Is he bluffing or is it true?) She says the balance of the car is as competitive as ever, he's as competitive as ever, so if he's able to make the tyres work they have a race on their hands. He says he's going into it to race and to win for sure. They won't know until they're out there but he'll give them hell. She says he's got as much support as usual there. Singapore is celebrating their 50 years of independence. She asks what he loves about the place. He says he likes the weather and street circuits are always the best (lmao absolutely fucking not). 

Okay wow we finally see the grid positions and huuuh. So Seb on pole, then Daniel, Raikkonen, fucking Kvyat is ahead of Lewis Jesus Christ. Then Nico is right behind Lewis, ahead of Valtteri, Max, Massa and Grosjean. 

Okay so it's not really Ferrari doing particularly well, it's Mercedes absolutely bombing this quali. Worrying for the race. But on the good side of things it's Seb's first pole for Ferrari. Natalie interviews him and he's in an excellent mood. He's wearing a cooling jacket and she asks if it's working. He unzips it a bit and asks if she wants to come in. He's driving me feral. Why is he such a flirt for no reason. 

Also Lewis is one win away from equaling Senna now. But I guess it won't happen here then.

Not many interesting things in this build-up. 

We're on the grid. 

And what the fuck. Nico is having issues. He's in the pit lane and can't seem to get his car going. Ted reminds us that in 2014, he couldn't start the car and had to give up, remember? Is it happening again? He thinks he just stalled. Apparently he's on the way now? No he's not. He's still stuck there and now being pushed back. He's apparently on the radio saying he didn't do anything different as the journalists wonder if it's his mistake or something wrong with the car. Apparently the engine has died anyway and they're walking him through a different start procedure. Now the engine is on and the wheels are spinning and they're about to drop him back down. Here he goes. Finally. 

Natalie asks Niki what was wrong. He says it's fixed and it works. He says it's impossible to overtake in Singapore so it's gonna be a difficult race for them but he still hopes for podium finishes. "But a hope is a hope, let's wait and see." 

It's time for the race. 

Formation lap. 

Here they go! 

There was some very very close racing but the order at the front stands. Yellow flags are already waving and Max and Grosjean are out of the top 10. Perez just almost collided with team-mate Hulkenberg! Oh Max is being pushed back from the grid. Did he not start? Loads of lock ups. Max leaves the pits but he's a lap down now. 

Alright so it's boring, just as Niki predicted. Seb is 4.8 seconds ahead of Daniel on lap 10, and the order still hasn't changed since lap 1 : Raikkonen, Kvyat, Lewis, Nico, Valtteri, Massa, Hulkenberg, Perez. People are starting to pit, the supersofts being obviously short lived here. Now Kvyat and Massa pit, Hulkenberg has pitted, and that's a crash! Massa, just out of the pits, makes contact with Hulkenberg who's coming from the pit straight and sends him in the barriers. That's gonna be a Safety Car, surely? VSC. They should pit now. Hulkenberg's car is smoking white and he's struggling to get himself out of the cockpit for some reason. That's making me nervous but here he is. Out and safe. Daniel and Seb indeed pit. Lewis has stopped. Nico pits. Jenson, very very slow… They can't get the front right on. Catastrophic. Anyway the stops don't even change much to the standings, apart from the fact that both Mercs are ahead of Kvyat now. Very very bored. And now we have an actual Safety Car. They go again. Nothing happens. Sainz loses his engine and then finds it again. 

It's lap 20. Seb, Daniel, Raikkonen, Lewis, Nico, Kvyat, Valtteri, Perez, Nasr, Grosjean. Bono says they have to look after this set of tyres. They had to stop earlier than they wanted and they're gonna have to make it last. Now the top 3 are within one second of each other and DRS gets enabled. Lewis notes on the radio : "Vettel's backing up Ricciardo, I think." something might still happen. Hulkenberg gets a penalty I've never seen before in the middle of a race : 3 place grid position for the next GP. Severe. "These guys ahead are driving really slow," Lewis says again. "Or at least Sebastian is." Ricciardo is told to look after his tyres as Seb is obviously not pushing. They're all looking after the tyres, because as we said, they had to pit earlier than they wanted. 

Oh fuck no come on. Lewis says he's lost power. Bono says they're looking into it, they see the issue. "Quick guys, quick!" he says. "We're working on it, we're working on it," answers Bono. He's dropping fast, Nico gets ahead. Kvyat is not far behind, and now also ahead. Lewis is still dropping. Valtteri gets ahead. They give him things to try but he says it's not working. He's calm though. Niki looks baffled. Ted says he thinks it's a KERS problem because of the noise he heard when he went past him in the pitlane earlier. I love Ted for being able to diagnose cars based on noises. "OK Lewis so we see the throttle not going to wide open throttle. Is it the pedal? We can't see anything electrically." But Lewis says he's accelerating to full throttle to no effect. He lost two more places. I'm about to give up on this race and go to bed. "Come on guys, how do I reset the throttle?" He's still calm. "So try HPP driver default zero one, HPP driver default zero one." "That doesn't work," he says moodily now. I can literally hear him pout. "OK so we’re just looking into it, we’ve got multiple issues." He's down in P10 by now. 

It's lap 30. For some reason Massa just went through the pits like he had a drive through but he didn't. He said he was in neutral. What that has to do with it, no idea. He's called to retire the car. Like clockwork, Lewis asks to retire his car as well. "Guys, we might as well save this engine, I’m falling further and further back. It’s impossible now." Bono starts to answer but he continues : "For all we know this driving could just be killing it more. We might be able to recover it." Bono says they're discussing it but they don't believe it to be a risk and are still looking at the opportunities. Shortly after : "It’s really getting a lot worse now, I’m slowing right down. You need to stop me. Brakes are getting cold and everything, I can’t–" "Yeah affirm Lewis. Okay copy that. We see it's all dropping off. Okay Lewis. Box box. Box box." He's down in 17th. This race sucks. He's in. They do a practice pit stop. Kvyat pits, slow stop. Merc still hasn't retired the car. They want to power cycle the car, Ted thinks it's useless. Alonso retires? Out of the blue. Lewis is finally officially out of the race as well. Perez pits, Nasr pits. McLaren think Alonso had a gearbox problem. Perez overtakes Grosjean in what I think is the only overtake that has happened so far. Ah and Kvyat overtook Jenson so maybe not. And there's a Safety Car? 

WHAT THE AVRUAK FUCK WHAT WHAAAAAATTT

THERE'S A MAN ON THE TRACK

HE'S WALKING THERE JUST WALKING

ALONG THE WALL OF THE TRACK 

IN SHORTS LIKE

I CAN'T 

WHAT THE FUCK

Seb frantically signals him to his team : "There's a MAN on the track" he says. It's terrifying actually can you imagine? You don't know what he could do and it's so dangerous. Fuck. We see him hoist himself over the barrier through a hole in the fence. 

What the fuuuuuuck. 

Seb pits, Daniel pits, everybody pits. Raikkonen, Nico, Valtteri, they're going to the end on these tyres now. And so the Safety Car is out but the dude is in so it's. Yeah. Idk. Valtteri takes to the radio to congratulate his team for the good stop which is genuinely cute. Seb asks his team to tell the Safety Car to go quicker. 

On lap 41 they go again. Seb in the lead, then still Daniel, Raikkonen, Nico, Valtteri, Kvyat, Perez, Grosjean, Maldonado, Jenson. There's been contact in the midfield, it was bound to happen, too close too narrow. It was Jenson and Maldonado. Jenson pits with front wing damage. Max overtakes Maldonado for P9. We see Lewis walking into the media pen and tap Massa on the shoulder. Max overtakes Grosjean for P8. (BTW remember he wasn't able to start his car at the beginning of the race and went out one lap down so that's quite remarkable). 

On lap 50, Seb, Daniel, Raikkonen, Nico, Valtteri, Kvyat, Perez, Verstappen, Sainz, Grosjean. Lewis is talking with Natalie, and he's smiling. She asks him if he thinks he had the pace and strategy to win. He stutters and sighs. "I was feeling super optimistic in the car, I really was," he says with a shrug. The guys in the front were on different tyres and he was easily keeping up with them, he explains, so he thought they might be able to race. He says the balance was really nice, and he was just waiting for the moment to push and see what the car could do but he lost power. He hoped they might have a quick fix, "but it never came." She asks him what it felt like for him, when did he realize it was terminal. He repeats he lost power and they told him to make all these changes but none of them worked, and he knew he was about last when he got overtaken by the Marussias and so he knew winning was definitely out of the question. Then he saw them pulling away and he knew that points were also out of the question.��

10 laps to go. After all the trouble he had in this race, Jenson is told to retire the car. McLaren really suck at the moment. 

Anyway it's the end of the race. 

Seb, Daniel, Raikkonen. 

Postrace, the journalists are already saying Mercedes is in a downward dynamic which is retrospectively even more funny than it must have been at the time. 

We also get a compilation of all the times fans invaded the track during the race. In 2003, during the British GP, an Irish man ran down the length track, in the middle of it, while the cars were racing. They're meters away from him and it's terrifying. He had white cardboards with a message on it I can't read. Then in the 2000 German GP, a dude covered with a white sheet except for his head also ran across the track while the cars were coming. He was clearly not trying to get hit but a better way to avoid that is to stay behind the barriers. Oh and did I miss that? Some guy also ran across the track during the 2015 Chinese gp. Did I not see it happen or did I already forget? Well anyway I read on Wikipedia that Seb said this one took a picture : "I hope it was a good one at least. I hope it was in focus." It was a 27 yo British citizen who was taken to court the next Tuesday and offered a 15'000S$ bail that he couldn't pay. He was eventually sentenced to 6 weeks in jail. 

Hulkenberg later accepted his responsibility in the crash with Massa even though he first said it wasn't his fault and apologised to him by text message. 

Also one thing that I didn't notice happening because I wasn't paying attention anymore is that Max was asked in the last lap to let Sainz ahead for 8th place and he refused and didn't let him through. He was backed by TP Franz Tost who said they wanted to swap the cars because they thought Sainz was faster with his new tyres but it wasn't the case and he couldn't catch up. Well. The same thing happened with Lewis and Nico not so long ago right? So it would be hypocritical to criticise Max for doing the same thing.

Anyway there’s not much interesting content in the postrace given Lewis wasn't on the podium for once, but we still get the end of the earlier interview. Natalie says he doesn't seem "hugely phased by it" even though it was an "uncharacteristically difficult weekend". She asks if it's a new approach for him or if that's how he felt all year which doesn't make much sense as far as questions go. Then she adds "because you know that you've got a good car to come back". He says neither of those. "I feel content with the job that I did this weekend," he says with a facial expression that's like "what are you even talking about". He says he got here early, trained, drove the best he could, qualified ahead of his team-mate, was quicker than his team-mate in the race ("it's always a good thing" he adds quickly) and he was feeling good in the car.

He says he thinks everyone did a good job and even though the last couple of races weren't the best for his team, they'll bounce back. She asks if he feels like it just wasn't meant to be this weekend. "Definitely, yep." But he's hoping they'll be able to rectify it for the next race.

[justaredheadf1fan]

It's almost upon us...

Morning there!

I'm beat but here I am ready for my personal double header of the weekend: FP2 and FP3 one right after the other, plus Quali at lunch time.

For now I'm watching FP2 while I get my breakfast ready. I'm still processing the comments against Spendstappen and RBR yesterday, because Lobato was adamant that what happened at Interlagos last weekend was not okay at all. Impressed.

Not much going on, as usual in this session. Mick having some problem with the floor, Lewis coming too close with Kevin, a slippery patch at the McLaren pit stop point, Giorgio getting into some traffic, but that's about it for now.

Poor Charles can't have a decent weekend nowadays apparently 😩 I truly hope Binotto gets replaced, a team like Ferrari can't have such a useless Team Principal who can't even see a problem that his own team has created and therefore won't even seek solutions. Because all that's happened has been all Ferrari's doing, not Charles' or Carlos'.

----------------

Now I'm watching FP3 quite a bit late, I thought it started at 12pm but apparently it started a while before so I'm just starting it.

First thing I notice is Charles' Danke Seb sticker on his helmet 🥹

Antonio Lobato is still on fire today criticizing Fraudstappen again for not being as good as a person with all the excuse and lies. Amazing, seriously.

Nothing up until the point Pierre lost some piece of the car and the session gets Red Flagged. Now apparently Lewis overtook Norris and a Haas (not sure which one) while on a Red Flag, but if you check the images the light panel doesn't really show a Red Flag, it looked like a double Yellow Flag, at that point until the actual Red Flag is waved by a Marshal. And some time ago it was stated (obviously, when it came to Costappen) that the waving of the actual flag took precedent. So I don't truly see the problem, and he apparently braked considerably when he saw the double Yellows.

It's ridiculous that they investigate it after the session when there's not really proof that the Red Flag was being shown at that point.

Even the Spanish commentators that it's NOT a Red Flag, and these people are all happy to go against Hamilton, but it's too clear to pass up.

Many drivers are having trouble around the track today too. Time's up in FP3 and now I can go do my life until Quali in less than 2 hours from now.

Let's see what Quali brings us on the last race weekend of the season.

---------------

Good thing to start Quali with the news that Lewis isn't getting a penalty because the stewards for once saw no wrongdoing.

What are al those cars doing there!?!?!? AND STILL SEBASTIAN VETTEL MAKES IT TO Q2 WITH A HELL OF A LAP!!! AND MICK TOO, THIS IS FANTASTIC!!!!

Daniel and Yuki are there too, this is amazing. So happy I made it to watch it on time 🤩

I'm truly enjoying this while having lunch for a change. Checo's fired up this weekend, I see. Understandable, but I hope it comes to nothing, I need Charles in second.

I don't know what's going on with the cars stopped on track, Jesus Christ and again with Sebastian. STOP DOING IDIOTIC THINGS!!!!

FFS, 3 tenths to Checo? What's this guy on today???? And Seb is on fire, he's enjoying this!!!! And again with fucking Checo stopped on the last corner!!!! The FIA really should penalize this.

It's a shame Mick didn't make it through on his last weekend 😩 Danny and Seb did so it's something...

I had forgotten about Fernando's helmet. Similar to Seb's and this weekend Mick's also. Nice gesture from him, honestly, I have to give it to him.

NORBERT VETTEL. THAT'S IT, THAT'S THE COMMENT.

Finally, turn for Q3 let's see what's cooking.

SEB GOES P7 AND DANIEL P8!! And of course the illegal cars will come out first. No surprises. Without penalizing Costappen when he very clearly put the car off the track limits, but whatever, nothing new.

Anyway, so happy for Seb for making it today into Q3, I really hope he stays up there too to finish properly.

We'll see what the final lap brings us.

Peace out!

[imthebadguyyy]

Hi. This is mine request

Y/n is a teammate of max verstappen, they are in a relationship, y/n crashes and max is worried about her, and he is gonna visit her in the hospital, and when she is released he takes care of her, with a lott of fluff thanks

You Scared Me To Death !

Pairing - Max Verstappen x Reader

Fandom - F1

Summary - When you get hurt, Max realizes just how much you mean to him.

Warnings - mentions of injury, fire, explosion, violence, angst, crash details.

75 laps. That's all that you had to do. Drive for 75 laps. The Bahrain Grand Prix had always been one of your favourite races of the year, and you were so excited. But that excitement had soon ebbed away, after you had missed qualifying because your car wasn't ready for the quali session. The RedBull mechanics had apologised and you had brushed them off, buy you would be lying if you said you weren't angry. It hadn't helped when your teammate and boyfriend Max qualified P1, beating the Mercedes by mere tenths of a second. You had swallowed your hurt and congratulated Max, forcing yourself to feel happy for him.

All it had done was made you determined to win the race tomorrow, even if you had to fight 19 other drivers to do so. Starting P20 on the grid sucked big time, but as Martin Brundle said, "If anyone can fight back from the back of the grid to the podium places, its Y/N L/N" and you had done it before, at the German GP the previous year, fighting back from P19 to P3, winning Driver of The Day as well.

But this race was different. There was a building intensity in the air, you felt it in the air around you. You felt tense and nervous, and you were never nervous. It scared you, but you were going to be damned if you let it show on your face. In your drivers room, you paced back and forth, trying desperately to stop your hands from shaking. Was this what anxiety felt like? you wondered, shaking your head as your heart started hammering against your chest. Far to consumed in your own panicked thoughts, you didn't see your boyfriend walk up to your door, and open it to walk inside.

Max walked into your room, expecting to see you vibing to some R&B music, or something by Rihanna. But you weren't. You were pacing, your brow furrowed and he could see the irregular rise and fall of your chest. He walked up behind you silently, before wrapping his arms around your waist, like he normally did. What he wasn't expecting was your reaction. Usually, you would giggle and let your head fall onto his shoulder, and he would kiss your neck and you two would share a moment. But not this time. This time, you jumped, and nearly fell over onto your bed. "Woah schtaje ! It's just me' he said, eyes softening in concern. "I'm sorry I didn't see you and I shouldn't have jumped, I'm sorry I'm just so klutzy today and I'm also so nervous I-" your nervous rambling was cut off by a pair of warm lip pressing onto your own, as Max's hands cupped your face, instantly calming down your nerves.

You stayed like that for a moment, before pulling away softly, and letting him press his forehead down to yours, fingers gently tracing patterns on your hip. "Why are you nervous mijn geliefde ?" he asked, as he moved his lips to your neck, pressing little kisses along the sensitive skin. "I don't know" you confessed, tilting your head back to give him more access to the expanse of skin, while he stopped at a pulse point to suck at the soft skin, earning. soft moan from you. "Then stop stressing" he mumbled against your neck, word muffling against your skin. "I can't" you replied, struggling to keep the lump in your throat fro growing. "Well," Max said, biting down onto your neck and licking the spot to soothe it, 'Let me help you calm down"

--------------------------------

20 seconds to lights out.

Your heart was thumping so hard against your chest. God, were your hands always so clammy? Was the car always so stuffy ? Was the space always so confined? Was your helmet always that tight?

Your thoughts were muddled. You knew your goal. It was simple. Get to the podium. Except, right now, that goal seemed somewhat impossible. Before you knew, the first red light was flashing, and then the second, and the third and the fourth and the fifth, and then it was 'lights out and away we go!' you sped off, immediately overtaking Magnussen in the car ahead of you. Then, you overtook one of the Williams, but you could feel your breath wavering, and your heart threatening just burst out of your chest. And before you knew it, you were overtaking Giovinazzi in his Alfa Romeo, and the sight of Grosjean's Haas came into view, "And it looks like L/N has already taken over 4 places, making her P16, and we are on lap 2 of 75! It looks like we're going to see her on the podium after, all, but all we can do is wait and see- and oh! that's a terrible, terrible crash!"

It happened so fast. One moment, you were going round the outside of the Haas, and the next the back of the Haas was hitting your front, sending you crashing into one of the barriers, your car spinning a full 360 in the process. The impact as you crashed into the barriers was so intense, you felt yourself blackout for a few seconds.

"That was a horrible crash, between, the RedBull of Y/N L/N and the Haas, I believe of Romain Grosjean. This race has been red flagged and -oh no!' The cry summed it up. Your car had just burst into flames.

------------------------------------

In P1, Max was unaware of the chaos at the back, until he looked in his rear mirrors to see something enveloping into a ball of fire. "Holy shit, whose car is that?" he asked, watching as the flames grew higher. "Um.. Max, I need you to stay calm, but its Y/N" "Are you fucking serious?!" his angry voice burst through his race engineer's headphones, making him flinch. "Is she okay?! Tell me she's okay, damn it!' "Max, I need you to come into the pit lane. We have no information on her yet. Come into the pit lane"

As the 18 other cars came into the pitman, everyone knew better than to park in the way of an anxious Max Verstappen. He jumped out of the car, running to the garage upto Christian, who was watching the screen with his eyebrow furrowed. "Is she alright? Tell me she got out?! Did she get out?!" he was practically spitting the words out, and his engineer and his trainer had to physically restrain him from going to shake Christian. "She hasn't got out yet Max, but the fire Marshalls and the medical guys are there-" "What do you mean she hasn't got out? verdomme, blijf hier niet zitten! doe iets!!"

As his race engineer manoeuvred him to his chair, he yelled at whoever was around, eyes desperately searching to screen for some sign that you were still alive. Outside the RedBull garage, the other drivers were pooling around the garage for some sign that Y/N was okay. The panic had been evident in all their radios.

Charles - "Fuck, fuck, fuck, who was that? Y/N?! Tell me she's okay!"

Carlos - "Joder, ¿quién era ese?" I just saw the car go into flames, tell me they got out okay.

Lewis - oh shit, that was a big crash, fucking hell, is she okay?

Checo- oh no, that was a big one, I hope everyone is okay!

---------------------------------

Back in the car, you felt dazed. Since when was the track this hot, and since when when was your car red ? Were you driving for Ferrari ? No, you drove for RedBull, alongside Max. Your boyfriend Max. Why wasn't he here?

And why did you feel like you were sitting in a sauna? As you begain to regain your consciousness, you felt a searing pain on your hands, and finally clearing the fogginess of your mind, you became fully aware of what was happening. This was your RedBull car. But it was on fire. Almost instantly, your body went into survival mode, ripping the half burnt straps holding your body down, and forcing your limbs to stand up. Looking down you could see your racing gloves glow before they seemed to disintegrate into black dust before your eyes, the flames licking your hands. A scream started in your chest, only to be jammed in your throat, as you opened your mouth to gasp. Big mistake.

The smoke filled your mouth and lungs, and you choked, clawing at your race suit, begging some higher power to help you. Finally, using some courage and adrenaline you didn't know you had, you pulled your body up, bare hands coming in contact with searing hot metal, as your eyes filled with tears of pain. As you jumped out of the car, you became vaguely aware of 3 or 4 people signaling and screaming at you. Too exhausted to even think, you used whatever remaining adrenaline you had to stumble to the barrier and collapse into the first pair of arms.

"Can you hear me? Are you okay? Can you tell me if you're hurt?" The questions were hurled at you from all directions, but you couldn't speak. The head marshall walked up, bracing your body, and checking for injuries. In a hurried voice he asked for the stretcher, but you shook your head. The exhaustion was setting in but you knew you had to let the others know you were okay. But he insisted, and you found yourself sitting on the stretcher instead of lying down, as a medic gently removed your helmet and peeled off the remaining burnt glove, and pressed some ice gently against your burn. Mustering up your remaining strength, you turned to one of the broadcasting cameras and flashed them a tight smile and a thumbs up.

"And as you can see, she has managed to get out of the wreckage, by God's miracle. Thank God she's walked away from that, but how, I cannot comprehend! She went barelling into the barrier and burst into flames and she walked out alive! And I can hear the cheers of the RedBull team, and I think her race engineer is in tears. I can't begin to imagine how Max Verstappen must be feeling"

------------

Max Verstappen wasn't sure how he was feeling either. He had felt fear, anger, anxiety, more fear, devastation and dread in the longest 15 minutes of his life. But you were alive. And he felt like breaking down, but he had to be strong for you. He watched your tired form on the screen, feeling giddy with relief, and ignoring the others around him, he ran to the medical hospitality center. No one stopped him.

As the white building came into sight, he heaved a sigh of relief as Michael Masi appeared in front of the cameras to give the anxious fans an update. "Y/N is alright. She's currently in recovery, and I can inform you that she is okay. She has minor burns on her hands, and is exhausted, but she will be okay. 2 weeks healing time for the burns, and some proper rest should be fine for her. That's all I know, and I would ask the media, press, social media fans, and others to give her the time she needs to cope and recover. What she has been through is traumatizing and I hope you will respect her privacy at this time. Thank you"

Seeing his hesitation, the nurse turned to the driver, "It's okay. She's fine now. She's on some painkillers and I've cleaned her burns and dressed them. She will be fine, and you can hug her or whatever you want, she won't be hurt. I've kept some painkillers on the table, she should take some again in 2 hours or so" All Max could do was nod, suddenly feeling a lump grow in his throat. With a smile in your direction, the nurse walked out of the room, leaving you alone with Max.

Max turned to nod at the race director, before hurrying through the brown door that led to the medical room you were in. When he walked in, his entire body relaxed. You were alive and safe. Seeing you sitting up in bed, a bottle of water by your side as a nurse wrapped your burnt hand in a white bandage. Looking, your tired eyes met his blue ones, as a tired smile made his way to your face. "Y/N",he said breathily, "Thank God you're alive" he said, practically running over to you, but he stopped himself from hugging, unsure of if it would hurt you.

"Hey baby". All it took was two words for him to rush towards you, gently wrapping his arms around your form, burying his head in the crook of your neck, as a gasping sob left his mouth, and you could have sworn you felt your heart shatter. "I'm okay baby, I'm okay. I'm not going anywhere, and I'm okay" your mantra of "I'm okay" was soothing, as he sobbed into your shoulder. "I thought I'd lost you, you scared me to death!" "I know my love but I'm here and I'm okay" "I thought you were gone. When I saw the flames behind me I didn't even know it was you in the car. When they told me it was you I swear my fucking heart stopped, and all I could do was pray to whatever higher power exists to save you, because I'm nothing without you. If you hadn't made it, I wouldn't survive. You make me better, you help me love, and you let me heal. I love you, and I never, ever want to see you in a situation like that again"

"I love you too" you said, your eyes filling with tears as you listened to him speak. "I love you too" you repeated, gently lifting his chin so his eyes could meet yours, his tear stained cheeks and red eyes breaking your heart, as you tilted your lips to meet his. He returned the kiss with desperation, he needed even more proof that you were alive, and feeling your lips on his were a reminder that you were alive and weren't going anywhere. He kissed you with fervour, hands moving to your hair, one cupping your cheek as his thumb traced your cheekbone, your hands clutching his broad chest.

"Ouch" the soft cry made you two break apart, as you rubbed your stinging hands. "Did I hurt you?" He said, his eyes filling with worry. "No its just the burn. It'll be fine" you replied, shifting in your bed and patting the spot next to you. After a moments hesitation, he climbed in, raising the sterile white sheet and tucking the both of you in. You snuggled up to him, arms wrapping around him as you rested your head on his chest. He rested his chin on your head, one hand running through your hair, the other keeping you stable on his chest. Within seconds, you were asleep.

Looking down at your sleeping form, his eyes lingered on the white bandage covering your burn, his eyes filling again as it stood out against your skin. He hated it. It was a reminder that you had nearly died. He had nearly lost you. His train of thought was cut off by his phone ringing, his mum's caller ID flashing across the screen.

"Hi mum" "Is she okay?" His greeting was pushed aside, his mom far too concerned about Y/N. "Yes she's alright now. She's sleeping now, Yeah I'm with her now" "Y/N's mom is with me too, I'll let her know she's okay" "Thanks mum" "Don't forget to rest as well Max" his mum said, knowing full well that her son would forget about taking care of himself when it came to his love. "I will"

And he cut the line. He looked down at you one more time, pressing his lips to your forehead, and swearing to himself that he would protect you for all his life. He let his eyes close, the exhaustion finally getting to him, all his adrenaline and energy draining out his body, and finally content that you were going to be okay, he let his eyes close.

You were going to be okay.

[ferrarigays-moved-to-ferrarism]

okay now that the 2020 season is over and we know kinda nothing about the 2021 season, it is a perfect time for me to make a Predictions List.

Disclaimer: I am basing this entirely on the opinions I have formed while watching f1 for a solid month and a half and listening to some fans who may or may now know what they are talking about. This is also based on a purely racing point of a view, not necessarily what I want to happen but what I feel like will.

also done under the assumption that lewis continues with merc. the list to be updated when we hear more news on f1 in general. after winter testing probably.

anyways let’s go hard or go home

general thoughts

lewis hamilton 8th time world champion

max verstappen will outscore bottas

one very wild race w/ an odd podium

charles leclerc will do some of his quali heroics

he will also do at least one (1) stupid first lap deep dive

fernando and esteban will lead the way with dramatic rivalries

max verstappen to have one (1) very immature moment

someone will punch he-who-shall-not-be-named

people will expect miracles from mick and that will be a constant talking point

somebody will protest saudi arabia. dunno who but someone will.

team names will be forgotten and talked about interchangeably

team specifics

Mercedes

Lewis is on his best form. Will outqualify Bottas, will win WDC.

Bottas will have a sort of comeback at the beginning of the season like it was with Valtteri 2.0. Not confident that he will have the consistency though and he won’t.

Lewis will perform heroics with his tyres after we heard him say that they were gone 28736363 laps ago.

Mercedes will continue to be black.

Red Bull

Won’t be close to Mercedes in the beginning

Max will be 2nd in the WDC

Checo will adapt to the car and fight with Max

I feel like qualis will go to Max tho but in races it will be a fight

RB will have a chance at constructors

At least one team order that suits Max so that RB’s driver policy will be glaringly obvious

This or all of it will go to hell, the second seat is cursed, RB is unreliable and it’s struggle ™️

McLaren

A close quali battle with Daniel and Lando, Daniel will have the edge over Lando

Daniel will have a good season but bc it’s his first in the McLaren, will struggle a bit at first. But not a lot and will have a faster comeback than with Renault.

Lando to be outscored by Daniel but not by a lot

Lando to go on with his trajectory of better and better, more consistent performances

They are gonna take some odd podiums here and there

Lowkey I feel like they are gonna be fast and maaaaybe challenge RB in some races?

Fight for the third with the following...

Aston Martin

Seb will perform better and get his mojo back

Seb to outqualify and outscore Lance but not the most outrageously

Lance will have a better, more consistent season and grow even more into a solid midfield driver

The car will look good

Gonna take some odd podiums here and there, once/twice

Alpine

Yeah it’s gonna be Renault for everyone

A close battle with Esteban and Fernando but I think that Fernando will do better

Questionable strategies and team choices, chaos, would do better if it weren’t for the team

I feel like Fernando is going to perform quite well

Esteban will have a better season than 2019 though.

A podium is not impossible if there are really wild races and others struggle

Ferrari

Either gonna have a strong comeback to the top of the midfield or be disappointingly slow, a bit faster than 2019 though so more points finishes

Charles will outqualify Carlos

Probably going to battle and the interteam bs is going to hurt the team’s overall strategies

Carlos will at some points be better than Charles in races and it will lead to questionable choices by the team

Charles will outgrow some of the mistakes he made this season and have a better season overall

Something dodgy and illegal in the car, I can feel it

(0 braincell videos from the ferrari account)

the car will look hot tho, as ferrari always does

AlfaTauri

Some really solid performances

I feel like Yuki is going to be quick and have a battle with Pierre

Pierre has fights with Esteban

Probably also going to fight with the Ferrari and in best times with the top of the midfield

Q3 appearances regularly, but from one of the drivers usually

Pierre has a solid, consistent season

Yuki is gonna do well

Alfa Romeo

I don’t see a lot changing

Battles with Kimi and Tonio, Tonio probably will outqualify Kimi

Although I don’t see Tonio doing a lot of improvement

And Kimi is there just as a hobby so

They will still appear in Q2 though at times

Haas

With this trajectory, I don’t expect a lot

With the car and the fact that both drivers are rookies and not known to do ~amazing showstopping speedy~ performances right at the beginning, I don’t see a lot better happening

Mick will have an okay season and do better than the other one

The other one will get disqualified somehow and will get penalties for stupid driving

Mick does his starting heroics and will get some points

Williams

Will have a better season and get points

George is probably going to get those points

George will outqualify Nicky and do it quite obviously

Less mistakes from George

In a crazy race (with many retirements), will both have points

Nicky will be again there, I’m sorry but I don’t see a lot of massive desvelopment happening. But a point finish, let’s say that?

Upwards trajectory

[mistressemmedi]

So, settle down and enjoy the saga that is: Kimi and the mistery vacant seat at Ferrari.

Usual disclaimers: sources are not confirmed, all rumours, bla bla, take it with a grain of salt.

Begin your read under the cut:

It all starts with Marchionne. If you've read articles from places like Autosport and such publications, there have always been rumours about how much Marchionne loved the Alfa Romeo brand and Charles Leclerc.

If you remember from last year (fairly sure I've reposted some of the articles myself) there was a running joke about Marchionne bringing bad luck to the team, and the fights that him and Arrivabene would have over the team performance. If you also remember, it came down to Marchionne publicly criticizing the team and especially Kimi, to the point where Maurizio Arrivabene had to basically state multiple occasions that the team (read: fuck what Marchionne thinks) has Kimi's back and didn't consider him "old". Proof came when confirmed him again for another year.

Nevertheless, Marchionne rebranded Fiat-Chrysler and made it into the succeful business that it is today, bringing it back from the edge a bankruptcy and failure.

His plans was to to do the exact same with Ferrari. The team needed rebranding, needed a boost of fresh energy. Enough with the "old model" of the race team, clearly it stopped working for them around the time Fernando joined them and Lewis started taking names on the grid. Also, right around when Schumacher (who had been with Ferrari for so long) showed up to help out Mercedes get started and eventually became the powerhouse that it is today.

Let's be real, even if nobody knows what the hell F1 is, they definitely know who Ferrari is. It's a symbiotic relationship, there's not one without the other. But the truth is, the sport moved forward and evolved. Ferrari didn't.

So, time for some drastic changes. The original plan was to have Jules Bianchi spearhead that change. For obvious reasons, that didn't happen. So the team development stalled.

Until last year, when Marchionne had his way and fired a good chunk of the team, replacing them with "in house" promotions. The right ideas weren't getting at the top, because the team had this stupid ass (and I can confirm, very Italian) notion of "It's worked for us thus far, why change it". Tensions came to a breaking point when Allison left. But we saw snippets of it, when Ruth Buscombe left Ferrari. And let's be real, she's relatively young in the field. Who in their right mind leaves Ferrari to go first to Haas, a baby team, and then Sauber, a clear backmarker? Talk about suicide of your career. But imagine how bad it was for Ruth to have to leave. Or Allison to be kicked out.

So, Marchionne wanted change, Arrivabene didn't. Remember, he's a team principal now but he was Ferrari's "cigarette man" (we all know who's the main sponsor) before that and had an old school mentality.

So while the technical staff issue was partially solved, the problem of the drivers remained.

In comes Charles Leclerc, a child prodigy basically. Didn't skip steps like Verstappen, and delivered results constantly in junior categories despite life's hard blows, remaining level headed.

Perfect candidate, but everyone has seen the story of the "young prodigy driver" in the junior categories, only for them to graduate in F1 and completely tank it.

So, in comes the Alfa Romeo-Sauber project: final step of the rebranding of Alfa, allows Ferrari to experiment and for Charles to test the waters without too much pressure.

What people weren't expecting, was Charles to do so well in such a short amount of time.

Marchionne had the inkling that it was going to happen, so he started to push for Leclerc to join Ferrari at the end of the season, or at least fast-track his promotion.

Remember, Marchionne also knew he had limited time.

Unfortunately Marchionne passed away, but John Elkann, who saw it very much like him, started to push for the team to finish what the deceased CEO wanted (along with other’s within the FCA circle - it was time for a changeee)

Problem was, Camilleri. New big boss at Ferrari. Why? Massive friend of Kimi. And a massive fan.

While all of this was happening, as a side note, Kimi was told from the start “Yo this is Sebastian’s year. You’ll race, we’ll let you win and at the front if the situation calls for it, but you are a clear second. But the contract states you get to race the full season, so off you go. Don’t worry about the replacement rumors”. At the same time, the tech staff at Ferrari basically built a car around Vettel. Like... For him basically. But we all knew it at the beginning of the season.

Anyways, in comes this weekend in Italy. This was supposed to be a triumph, Ferrari 1-2, Vettel on the top step, Kimi the sidekick and who the fuck cares about the third spot.

In comes John Elkann - Spa didn’t go exactly... Smoothly as hoped. The championship has not been a winning smash as hoped. Sebastian is in danger of not winning it again, the constructor’s championship will most likely be dominated by Merc, again. The Seb-Kimi combo is not getting the results promised, despite it all, and Marchionne was probably right.

The only constant, is Leclerc blowing everyone away with his results (Verstappen who?)

Here’s where it gets hazy: a conversation happened between Elkann, Camilleri, Raikkonen and his manager on Friday - the bottom line? Kimi is out. Charles is in (this conversation was also reported by Autosport - I wonder who spilled the beans on that, mhmmmm....)

Let’s be real - had Marchionne been around, this would have happened after Monza’s win. Imagine it, just how it would have been spun “We thank Kimi for his hard work, for his contribution in Italy, at home. Amazing asset for the team, couldn’t have done it without him etc. etc. But it’s fair he enjoys his retirement, and we move forward with Charles etc. etc.” It would have been sad, but it would have been a triumph and all that.

Marchionne is dead, so Kimi is told that he will stay. Until he is not. Elkann doesn’t approach it lightly, he simply says “Soz man, time to go”

(I’m not sure if he was going to be kicked to Haas, highly doubt it. But the point being Charles would go to Ferrari, Giovinazzi to Sauber).

Now, imagine being in Kimi’s shoes - you’ve been jostled around all season, you’re treated as “second” always, because that’s just how it is.

So he’s upset, his manager is upset, and most importantly? His side of the garage is upset. Remember this, they LOVE him.

So, around comes quali. Vettel was supposed to get pole. That’s just how it was planned. Until, Kimi’s side of the garage had enough, went against orders and sent him out to clock a faster time and not help out Vettel.

Result? Kimi sets fastest lap, gives a massive fuck you to Elkann and Vettel is furious because that was his pole and Kimi is out there with an advantage over him and that was not team orders.

Remember his radio? It wasn’t about the slipstream, it was about that side of the garage defying team orders.

In comes race day - fine Kimi has had his moment, but he’s been told EXPLICITLY to work as a stopper to Lewis.

(We all made a bit fun of him about how crappy he is at starts, Vettel getting the lead as usual etc.)

Only problem being... Start comes around, and Kimi jumps Vettel and blocks him for a few seconds as well, leaving him in dirty air.

Vettel sees red (ahahahaha), can’t focus and we see how that went. A mistake, which HE KNEW he couldn’t afford, yet makes it a bit like a rookie.

Kimi is past giving a fuck, Ferrari is literally scrambling for strategies because that’s NOT how it was supposed to go, and falls for the undercut like a goddamn sack of potatoes.

A distaster, and Lewis comes up on top because him and Merc were simply better. And Bottas acted as a sacrificial lamb (LEAVE THIS FINNS ALONE FFS).

Where does this leave the team? Kimi’s manager showed up with Raikkonen’s contract, basically stating “Good fucking luck trying to break this”, Kimi is 100% done with this shit, and Vettel?

Vettel realized at the start of the Italian GP, that it’s no longer about him vs another driver: it’s now his vs two drivers, Lewis and Kimi. And he doesn’t have a support of a second driver any more.

So, Ferrari has two weeks to fix these fucking political issues, because now they have two sides of the garage actively working against each other. Which leaves an easy win for Merc.

Edit: I thought this was a bit far fetched, embellished etc. But an Italian publication (y’all can do your own search) came out with a similar story I just wrote, late in the evening today. Which means people are talking, and you bet your ass that it is people who are on Kimi’s side.

Fin.

[llantrisantscc]

Classic GT Round 2 - 28th March 2018

Some tired bunnies after the DiSCA 24Hrs Oxigen Le Mans race last weekend, and one very stressed racer who had been stuck behind an incident on the M5 on his way to club! Nevertheless, spirits were high, particularly as one member drove to club in his own 1:1 car for the first time since passing his test. An obligatory spin around the block was in order to show off a very clean example.

Lee got quali under way in Yellow with a great last lap putting a smile on his face. There were the usual groans when Craig launched with the fastest lap up to that point, but the middle of the field was tight, 5,6,7 & 8 having almost identical intervals in the 0.05s range!

New boy Karl was racing with a Parma 35ohm and a loaned P68 this week, Leon was using his Wales and West P68 to keep his eye in for the championship, and Lee was running his Mk IV. Everyone else had a variant of the Lola T70, tinned or topless.

So as Karl became familiar with the new car and controller in Red, Heat 1 became a battle of the outer lanes. Lee got a great start in Yellow, with Alan paying close attention to the rear of Lee’s Ford. The two circulated very closely, which allowed Alan the opportunity to ease ahead on L12.Lee hit the dirt on L13, but fought back to retake the lead. Another set of consistent laps from Alan saw him edge ahead again and hold on for the win.

Leon screamed off the line in Red to start H2, Michael just a smidge behind in Yellow and Russ in Blue. Michael chased Leon down and was through into the lead by L4. The guys raced side by side for the next 7 laps until Michael slid off (no contact, honest guv!). Michael recovered quickly and was able to keep Leon’s lead to within a second, edging tantalisingly closer till the end where he had managed to close the deficit to under half a second.

H3 was one of those “games of two halves, Brian” with the Jones’ duking it out in the outer lanes (Steve in Yellow, Craig in Blue) and Martyn and Seb doing similar in the middle lanes. Seb (Red) got some distance on Martyn (Green ) in the opening laps, a double off on L8 saw Martyn take 3rd from Seb. The stubborn old codger had his second doff on L12, but managed to just stay ahead of the young gun and hold on for 3rd at the flag. Meanwhile, the Jones’ were their usual placid selves, barely uttering a word as they battled for an early advantage (if you’ve ever seen them in action, you will understand there is likely to be a fairly high fib quotient in that statement). Steve was away fractionally quicker but by the end of L1 Craig was a hundredth or so ahead. Steve got by on L2 and was edging away until he binned it on L9 – immediately after his fastest lap so far. You know what they say – fastest lap usually followed by an offski. Craig was flying in Blue with times we rarely see in a sidewinder class, but Steve was relentless in his chase. He crossed the line to complete L16 Steve was 3/100ths ahead. Both continued putting in strong laps to the end of the heat, but Steve was just getting that little advantage each lap until he ran out to a comfortable P1 some 3 seconds ahead.

Alan had just one blemish on an almost faultless run in Green, as he took a comfortable win in H4, as Lee and Karl traded places in his wake. Lee took an early P2, but a few fumbling laps allowed Karl a little bit of breathing space which afforded him the luxury of getting to know the new car and throttle. A few laps in and he seemed quite comfortable, whilst Lee was having an uncharacteristically bad time out in Blue. He calmed down and got a much better second half of the heat under his belt. Important to calm the nerves if you’ve overdriven an early heat in Blue.

Looking at the chart for H5 you wouldn’t think that L1 to L7 was a metaphorical knife-fight between Russ and Leon (Green and Yellow). An off for Russ on L8 put paid to that, but an off for Leon on L19 gave Russ a glimmer of hope. Sadly, it was a case of too little too late. Tonight’s class liked yellow, these Classics were flying in that lane, so Russ’ recovery was unfortunately to no avail. Meanwhile, Michael was busy trying to beat Blue, and came home in P3.

H6 provided a much more varied chart, with Seb grabbing an early lead in Yellow, only to falter on LLs2,3 & 4, dropping him a position each time. As Craig (Green) inherited P1, he saw his opportunity and scarpered, with Martyn (Red) right up his chuff. This challenge also faltered on L5 as Martyn decided to park up for a moment, allowing Steve to get a bit closer in Blue. A couple of stinkers for Martyn on LL12 & 14 nallowed Steve to close right up, then pass him to take P2. Due to the speed difference between Red and Blue and some pretty sharp marshalling,  Martyn was soon able to slide gently away from Steve. P2 was safe, as a wobble by Martyn was matched by one from Steve.

No tea break tonight, we were supping on the hoof!

A little stumble for Alan on L1 of H7 saw Lee slip by in Red for the lead, but a lap later Alan had Green mastered and swiped the lead from the early charger. Karl was out in Blue concentrating furiously on beating the lane and leaving the guys alone. And that was all the passing that happened! The guys were all concentrating furiously on their own races and I must say looked like they were really enjoying hitting and beating their personal targets. The heat ended Alan – Lee – Karl.

Russ hit the front in Red at the start of H8 and just got faster and faster as the heat progressed, as Leon set off 2nd in Blue with michael bringing up the rear in Green. But as in the previous heat, the one big overtake happened on L2 as Michael started to build momentum and open up a good gap on Leon. And once more, that was that!

By comparison, all hell was unleashed in H9. Craig took the lead in Red, Martyn following in Yellow, with Steve Green and Seb Blue in tow. An off for Craig in L2 saw him hit the back of the field, just as the other three struck a good rhythm. Another off two laps later slowed his recovery a touch, but that was one of only three laps out of the 7s bracket for Craig – look out lads, he’s got a charge on! Seb succumbed to the pressure on L6 as Craig set off after Dad. Steve wasn’t hanging about mind you – it took until L12 to catch him, then another before Craig fought his way up into P2. Martyn wasn’t in the mood to roll over either – lapping between 7.7 and 8 dead made Craig work hard as he mounted his charge to get back to the front. Bailing out on L21, Martyn made Craig’s charge a little easier as they pelted around at breakneck speed – Craig edging nearer and nearer (okay lads, you can quit the “Jaws” theme right now!). As they crossed the line at the end of their 23rd tour, Martyn was a whopping 1/1000th in the lead. Next time round he was in P2 – Craig had done him on speed. It was 2 or 3 tenths for the next few laps until the unheard of happened, Craig had an off whilst leading. Martyn took the open goal and settled for his only heat win of the night. He was a bit flustered, but managed to stay on his feet and wasn’t quite as damp as the swamp donkey gets in these close quarters battles.

Alan did his usual – he dashed away from the line in Yellow to go flag to flag in H10. However, the other two lads (let’s call them the “New Boys” just to build their characters ;o)  ) were going at it in Green (Karl) and Red (Lee). Lee had the upper hand for the opening three laps, after which Karl took advantage of Lee having two mishaps. The guys stayed in tight formation as they had a right royal old dice, Karl just having the edge as Lee got nearer, dropped back a touch, then mounted another counter-attack. The lads were having fun – the lead swapping three times until DISASTER (say it like Taggart saying “there’s been a MURDER!”) Lee popped a bearing. It was a shame, as the New Boys really were having great fun chasing each other in this heat. If that could have held out for just three more laps the guys could have finished their night on a real high. Always next week lads.

To wrap up proceedings for the middle group Russ had a single off as he went flag to flag in Yellow, Michael had a flawless run in Red to take P2 and a solitary off for Leon saw him take P3. Sorry I couldn’t make that more exciting. You had to see their various facial ticks, fancy footwork and trigger bending endeavours to appreciate just how much efforts the group put in to their laptimes. Perhaps some video footage next time, eh?

The Grand finale was also a little short of drama, though I think the lads had had quite enough 3 heats back, thank you very much. Craig took the hint from Russ’ H11 and went flag to flag in Yellow. Steve fancied a bit of that too and was flag to flag P2, some 5.5 seconds back. Seb (Green) and Martyn (Blue) rovided the one glimmer of entertainment as they swapped Ps3 & 4 on L2, Martyn getting the upper hand and trailing steve home by 10 seconds, with Seb bringing up the rear.

To some extent, tonight saw one or two lads who you would normally expect to be jockeying for 2nd or 3rd weren’t able to get up to speed tonight, but I’m not complaining, I snuck a cheeky third in! Next time out, it’s F1 Policars – woohooo, these things are great to drive and produce some good close racing. See you on the 4th April!  Wow, just realised writing this report took all four sides of the album Physical Graffiti by that popular beat combo The Led Zeppelins – thank you Spillers Records for keeping me entertained.

[f1-birb]

he did his post-quali interviews about how it was such a silly mistake he made, he was happy with the team and the upgrades and it was all him who messed up overheating his tyres, etc. etc. and people are using that as an excuse to shit on him and claim it was a "bottle job" instead of like Zak and Andrea both explained a tyre issue that was mostly on the team.

like GP was literally on the radio during max's sq3 lap telling him he had to slow down and such, lando had none of that. he had literally one lap from fp1 to gather data from in a brand new car. hell, if you've seen his onboards it took some real talent not to straight up lose it and crash with as much snapping as that car was doing. but instead noooo everyone is shitting on him for losing pole on his own lmao.

luckily i'll be working for both the actual quali and the gp but idk. i think i'm just taking a step back because it doesn't matter how well i curate all of my socials, these losers at this point think they look cool for coming to lando fans and harassing them for even supporting him.

literally not even surprised he bailed them out like that 🙄 still annoys me how people then don't look at what Zak and Andrea (especially) say

I saw a couple of onboard clips and winced, so god knows how it felt actually being in the car 😭

the important thing at least is we know what we're cooking on the medium and hard tyres and I am still in awe of his one and done P1 in SQ2 because it was sooooo hot actually

I don't blame you, it does get really tiresome so if you need the break take it, and good news is there's a weekend break before Imola too and that's back to a regular weekend (and Imola also usually treats Lando pretty well 👀)

[f1-birb]

i need lando to stop taking the blame for all of mclaren's mistakes this year because if i have to read one more "classic lando bottle" from some smooth-brain i'm going to lose it.

same with "oMG second driver oscar beating lando with only 50% of the upgrades" like ... do people not understand that mclaren basically brought another bspec car for lando? even in fp1, they experienced completely different difficulties with the car. like fuck offffff. oscar only having 50% of the upgrades probably saved his ass. and even then it's not like the position differences are massive 🤷‍♀️

i'm so tired i genuinely hate miami to begin with and think i'm just going to stop watching this weekend like personal life is hell right now but god forbid any lando fan have any fun at all watching f1 even when things are going somewhat bad with 1,000 comments from his haters and teammates' stans about the wrong driver getting the upgrades (yeah, we all remember what happened when the team gave oscar the upgrades first last year, and the way lando was sliding around, probably would have been the same case this year, but by all means, lets give the less experienced driver the upgrades first to see how it goes) (this isn't hate on oscar but like. do his fans even watch the races at this point. do they know what goes on with him. or do they just focus on lando), him not able handle pressure, him always making mistakes when it counts, etc. like fucccck off

the only thing I will say is that Zak did say it was mostly on the team for not having the tyres warmed up properly, and Lando's post quali radio message, he literally started with "I don't need to say it, we all know"

I haven't actually seen anything post quali interview wise other than that thing from Zak so I could be missing if Lando's shouldered any blame (wouldn't surprise me if he's just phrased everything very very nicely like he usually does..)

ultimately they gave them both an hour to bed in upgrades before a hot session, it was asking a lot to get things perfect, and Lando was driving what was practically a new car - add in that he was asked to bail on his soft tyre lap at the end of practice after limited running of said soft tyre... it sucks yes, but also goes to show people don't pay full attention to things. even Sky, whose job it is to commentate, didn't say anything about the fact Lando aborted his lap

onto the rest, I know it's easier said than done but getting to where you just ignore (or block where appropriate) what you see makes it all a hell of a lot easier to deal with

if you see a take that's as you say "smooth-brain" or dumb or asinine or clearly shows they didn't watch or don't know what they're talking about, ignore it. close it. walk away. roll your eyes and call them a name and keep scrolling

equally, life is way too short to not do things that service you positively and if stepping away from the weekend will bring you peace then do it, no shame in it, it doesn't make you a bad fan or whatever, sometimes you need the break