For some reason they weren't playing the replay of Gasly nearly smashing into a random tractor on the circuit just hanging out. Sorry if I'm late to the party but been watching his onboard since his pit and it caught me off guard.
What in the actual hell is that doing there?
Alonso commenting on Lance's overtake confused me: how could he have known that?
Followed his onboard to see how he could have even known about that T1 move. Finally after studying each frame I found a random jumbotron in the corner of his vision on turn entry T11.
Subtle flex.
This is now statistically the most competitive dual in the history of F1 by nearly every metric.
No matter how fierce or farcical, DO NOT RUIN this incredible moment to appreciate 2 generational talents battle to the end with constant, petty fights w/other fans.
ENJOY IT FFS
Anyone who says Max didn't check on Lewis is lying to your face.
You can clearly see Max looks up at Lewis, pivots toward his car, then keeps walking when he sees Lewis trying to back out.
Avoiding a vid on this but no way around it if this stuff goes unchallenged. 1/2
Albon's engineer accidentally tells him he's P11 after that mega stint to a few genuinely heart breaking seconds of radio silence only to come back with the good news of the championship point he brought the team haha some wholesome stuff at Williams.
A solid 20 seconds elapsed after Max's crash before Lando arrived on scene giving it full beans on the straight at top speed.
Max still in the car.
Massive chunks of debris scattered.
He was totally unaware until he was literally passing. Yellows weren't even deployed yet.
Ferrari were fined $100k for this simple podium swap on this day 20 years ago.
Not only was this not needed as Michael had ~2x the pts as the nearest driver, but Barrichello only finished 1 GP that season (P2).
He needed this win. & Ferrari forced him to hand it to Michael.
On this day 16 years ago, DC told media that McLaren & Ron Dennis would have been better off if they had reigning GP2 champion Lewis Hamilton spend a season testing before diving into Formula 1 being paired with Nando as it might "destroy his confidence".
About that.
If you think Ferrari don't care about Vettel, just remember in 2012 at the USGP when Massa outqualified Nando so Ferrari broke Massa's gearbox seal on purpose to trigger his 5 place grid penalty.
This would promote Alonso to the clean side of the track.
That's all they wanted.
Top 5 drivers with largest quali delta vs their teammates this season thus far:
1. Pierre Gasly: -0.51
2. Mick Schumacher: -0.46
3. Max Verstappen: -0.45
4. George Russell: -0.37
5. Lando Norris: -0.33
A couple of these are pretty shocking tbh with 50% of the season done.
I've said it 1,000 times.
That Charles is a scary, scary man with a car that can win races.
Still quite a lot to really unpack. But Ferrari's pace appears to be close enough for more outside chances at victory, conservatively.
Winning a WDC requires countless things to go your way...micro-moments & decisions across 22 races. Some impacting a title more significantly than others.
Ted knows this FULL well.
We can improve regs & processes but never discredit a champion. Regardless of the flag they fly.
I don’t care how cheeky you think you are. There’s nothing clever about saying a driver got “Tsunoda’d”. Never make a meme of your own fucking rookie.
Do your job & maybe don’t have him destroying his tyre temps idling on track for 6 seconds to let Sainz pass just to tow Checo.
I will never understand how a circuit can lack a Grade A license by the FIA yet teams be scheduled to race there in 18 days.
Let alone the circuit not even fully built:
"...they're literally working 24/7 as they have been for quite a long time now."
What could go wrong.
In fact, Lewis was literally trying to drive away while Max was climbing out of his car. Hence the marshall backing away in this image.
Go to F1TV at 47:56 mark to check yourself.
& before any Lewis fans melts with rage, before the ruling I said if anyone is to blame, it's Max.
Verstappen really did drive out of his mind. No matter who you support, you can't ignore it.
Barring DNFs, Checo didn't best Max a single grand prix... that is unheard of.
The reg Masi does NOT want you to read (48.15):
"If the safety car is still deployed at the beginning of the last lap, or is deployed during the last lap, it will enter the pit lane at the end of the lap & the cars will take the end-of-race signal as normal without overtaking."
On this day 10 years ago, Sebastian Vettel accomplished something only 2 of the all time greats had ever done in the history of the sport:
2 consecutive Grand Chelems.
There have been many dominant cars in F1 but it says a lot only 3 drivers have pulled this off.
IMO one of the more criminal creative decisions I’ve ever seen in non-fiction production was how Daniel vs Max was covered in DTS season 1.
I don’t blame him.
This depiction serves as a foundation for how a large chunk of newer fans view them & it was egregiously misleading.
I've just been informed I have 10 days to remove all uses of the F1 word mark including but not limited to my logo & brand portfolio.
Still getting clarity & creating an action plan. Will keep you posted regardless but just a heads up should changes occur in quick succession
Hamilton had a better podium rate & more in-the-points finishes 14 years ago in his first season in Formula 1 partnered next to reigning champion Fernando Alonso than he does in 2021.
This is blowing my mind for some reason.
HOW? I don't understand HOW a human walks out alive. This is actually shocking. The back half of the car is +10 meters away.
If you look close, you can see that boss extinguishing flames off of Romain stepping out of a car fully engulfed.
FIA gets my love for today
#BahrainGP
By the time Ayrton Senna won a single race in Formula 1, 3 drivers on the grid today had already secured their first title at the same age.
Good luck sleeping trying to work that one out.
that is by far the worst crash I have ever seen in my entire life replay or live. The car is LITERALLY ripped in half and fully engulfed. How in the holy fucking hell is okay. The survival cell just saved a life today.
#BahrainGP
Not a SINGLE lap in the books but already the
#MiamiGP
is loathed.
Only in F1.
Here's a helpful gut check: If you can't even tell me how many turns there are from memory, probably keep your criticisms on a race that hasn't even occurred yet to yourself.
Wanting Masi fired will not solve the problem. His ruling was within the bounds of the regulations.
It may not have been the most reasonable decision. But he did not go rogue...
& that's saying something coming from me.
It's the language that allowed for that interpretation.
Since the inception of the Turbo Hybrid Era, Lewis Hamilton has never finished outside of the points, barring DNFs & 1 brake magic fluke.
The ENTIRE era.
Until Imola.
That's a +150 race streak broken.
An astonishing accomplishment. But also a potentially worrisome trend.
Spent a lot of time thinking on it.
I’m convinced the total number of fans upset about the championship ending under a safety car simply bc lapped cars couldn’t clear the leader is substantially greater than Lewis fans upset with how things actually ended.
Just an observation.
The fact that this man feels he must explain he only owes his team an apology is irritating.
Don't send hate messages to drivers simply bc it hurt your guy's chances. Let them drive the fucking car.
He's a race car driver. Sometimes they bin it. There's nothing more to this.
Honda F1 Technical Director Toyoharu Tanabe when asked if he regrets leaving F1 given Red Bull's performance vs the field:
"Personally, yes."
It's kinda weird seeing candor like that coming from a technical boss to public media.
F1 stewards should be full-time employees with season-long appointments.
Millions of dollars are on the line w/each decision.
You can decentralize command for more cohesive, agile decisions.
Have them study their own performance & race film.
Fine them for their mistakes, too.
For what it's worth, Max's engineer did tell him Hamilton took provisional.
Max was on pace to SMASH the best time, too.
Bins it in S3 final corner after this mini sector performance:
- purple
- purple
- green
- green
- purple
... you can't make this shit up.
"Many parts of the circuit are quite narrow and unforgiving, with the walls close to the side of the track. This could lead to a reasonably high safety car probability, affecting strategy."
This is the conservative Pirelli talk for "𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛".
I've been assured Nico won because of Ham's reliability in 2016.
but rarely that Alonso won 2005 because of Kimi's reliability.
Kimi lost 40 grid places to engine problems & if scoring didn't just change, he'd still have secured with 2 GP left.
Or am I not allowed to say that?
This is indefensible, unfortunately.
#1
: Never play "shoulda, coulda" with points.
#2
: Neither feelings nor entertainment value is governed by the FIA.
#3
: No driver "deserves" a single thing in this sport. You go & take what you can with what you have. End of story.
Make a mental note of the current rhetoric surrounding the title race.
Remember all that's being said...
All the Red Bull praises & note the Merc deficits. Idk if Lewis can pull this off. But I know one thing for sure...
If he does, not a single person can question his legacy.
Bit of an own goal when you consider that it is factually accurate the FIA deemed Lewis "predominantly at fault".
"Very sensible driver and clearly a lot different to what we experienced last year. In Copse for example, two of us went through there no problem." - Hamilton, 2022
What.
the.
fuck.
is.
happening.
Max goes full villain - what did I tell you about those conditions lol.
Ricciardo wakes the hell up.
And Russell wins over any doubters in 2:00.086 seconds.
"Don't worry about the DRS, Max. Let Checo through.
3s...
"Let Checo through"
5s...
"Max, let Checo through please."
...5s
"Max, what happened?"
MAX: "I told you already last time. you guys don't ask that again to me. Okay? Are we clear about that...?"
...silence...
Not too long ago I was clearly informed Mercedes had solved their porpoising problems & how dare I say the bouncing they were doing was still an issue.
Those same ppl are now talking about health problems stemming from Merc porpoising. Weird.
Merc CAN reduce it. At a cost.
𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙃𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙩𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚:
2014: Post-break he was 29 points off Nico. Still won by 67pts.
2017: Down 25 by round 6 & 14 entering the break. Still won by 46pts.
2018: 8 points off by round 10. Still won by 88pts.
We gonna talk about BOT beating HAM by half a minute or nah?
All the noise about his season... all the tweets, speculation, headlines, videos, etc. Then the man sprays champagne while the reigning champ watches and no one gives a shit. Not a peep.
Job well done today, Valtteri.
No one talking about Carlos.
Unreal drive from the Spaniard.
And the very fact I can say Spaniard and your first thought be Carlos right now is indicative of the year he's gearing up for.
The 2021 season has hosted a title battle where 60% of the time the % change margin is within single digits.
60%. Let that sink in.
This has been closer, by statistics, than Lauda vs. Prost.
I hope you're not taking it for granted.
8 years ago today Vettel's reign would come to an end. The 2013 Brazilian GP was Seb's 9th win in a row and would cap off a 4 year stretch of brilliance where no matter the shifting circumstances or changing regulations, he found a way to come out on top.
This weekend will be one of the most important races of Checo's career.
Depending on contract talks, same goes for Bottas.
Don't let the Verstappen/Hamilton obsession you'll see splatter across headlines all weekend distract you.
Sprint races will hurt F1.
Racing Saturday dilutes Sunday. To expand the sport, you need to differentiate them further.
Additionally, if people already gripe about the stagnation of results in this era, why would MORE 'racing' do anything but reinforce that?
𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙
If I'm Max I'd lose a little sleep tonight after that one from Lewis.
Not a single thing was in his favor at any point this weekend. This went beyond simply having a quick car. Morever, Bottas seems like he's prepared for war til the end.
We are spoiled this season.
People forget Schumi missed a full 25% of the 1994 season...
...yet he'd still:
- Win by 1pt (controversially) over Damon.
- Outscore his future outfit, Ferrari, by himself.
- Outscore McLaren, Jordan, & Tyrrell COMBINED, by himself.
- Score more than 2x every driver, less Hill.
Biggest takeaway for me is the fact that ZERO mistakes can be made if you want to win this year.
None.
These drivers are squeezing every single bit out of the car. & the teams were 100% on point today.
Remember this was without Bottas. & will Lewis need new turbo components?
On this day 14 years ago, Sebastian Vettel set a new record for youngest P1 start & converted this into his 1st race win all in front of the Tifosi.
This win was special not only bc it was in wet conditions..or in a Toro Rosso..but also it was in the previous year engine spec.
On this day exactly 7 years ago F1 made the monumentally dumb decision to award double the points at the finale.
2014 was much closer than ppl realize. The rule made it mathematically possible Nico could be crowned WDC despite HALF the wins with a P5 or better & Lewis scoring 0.
NEVER LET THIS DOCUMENT DIE.
Just in case the FIA's asset library starts deleting old 2019 files, save it. To this day, IMO, this is one of the deepest rabbit holes of modern F1.
Might have to frame it along with one of the greatest tweets in the history of motorsport.
If you were apart of the uninitiated who questioned whether Sargeant belonged, I think you've already found your answer.
Gap To Teammate:
Sargeant: +0.191
Piastri: +0.449
de Vries: +0.721
Who is the most "clutch" driver in history?
That is, when it was time to deliver, they got the job done. This isn't reserved just for world champions either.
We’ve gotta chill on judging a driver’s comms. I’ve listened to countless hours of team radio & HAM’s tone was child’s play.
Also drivers should demand perfection from the wall. They see & model EVERYTHING..have telemetry, fuel, etc. Ppl underestimate predictability power in F1.
F1 won't convert new fans into habitual watchers if they don't:
1. showcase more midfield battles.
2. highlight racing nuances: E.g., In Monaco, focus on onboards to stress driver precision.
3. create a content glidepath for new fans to acclimate to the complexities of F1.
I've remained silent on arguably the most WDC altering, split decision flashpoints in the history of F1 (& if you know me you know I don't take that description lightly) as there's CRITICAL information needed before I feel comfortable opining on such an important situation.
Funny how a driver can be DQ’ed & podium stripped post-race for a fuel discrepancy but another driver declare a fuel amount different than what they actually had in the car, be confirmed before the race, & STILL be allowed to race before being properly investigated.
Weird.
Context Matters - A Thread Re: Lando's Radio
Lando saying "Shut up" was NOT him going against his team.
It was him understandably annoyed being fed info not mission critical, that it was slippery, while he could barely keep the car on the road.
LN: "How many laps to go?"
1/6
F1 is peak engineering innovation yet can’t access all cameras.
How ironic.
Masi re:VER vs HAM:
“It was only the cameras that are broadcast, as I’ve said before, is what we have access to throughout. (The forward-facing camera) hasn’t been obtained yet. It has been requested.”
Best thing that could have happened to Bottas.
I'm confident his move to Alfa will awaken some pace that's been buried under constant contract pressures & the shear weight of Hamilton's shadow. Think Pierre plus a little extra.
Imagine if new regs open things up too.
On this day 29 years ago, Senna made a brilliant career move by testing a Penske PC-21 at Firebird Raceway West.
The FIA & F1 were still reeling from losing Nige to IndyCar. As fears of losing Ayrton mounted, he LIT UP the track which MASSIVELY boosted his 1993 F1 contract.
Removing the dislike button on YouTube further incentivizes "𝑌𝑒𝑠-𝑀𝑎𝑛" mentality & diminishes some levels of accountability.
Ratios were an important part of audience choice. Removing it disarms the viewer & erodes a key element that kept creators honest. Quality will drop.
By the letter of the regulations, IMO, that’s a penalty. But it’ll likely be called 1st lap incident.
Despite Ham’s radio, it’s not “his” line. At all. & unfortunately that could be used against him.
To establish dominant position the overtake needs to be 100% done. It wasn’t.
Whoever at F1 thinks that having an American driver will magically make more Americans watch is delusional at best.
US sports fans don’t view athletes like that. Lebron isnt “an American basketball player”…
He’s a Laker.
Tiger is a golfer.
You’ll still have to bridge the gap
Leclerc on pole. Shocking no one.
Except maybe Sam & the pre-event broadcast crew. This is why objectivity is critical and silly little jokes aren't so silly when you end up looking foolish on a poor prediction.
It's all good fun until it's your job to be right.
Doing some analysis for a post-mortem video on Melbourne & I had to share this image quickly.
What you are looking at is, more or less, the distance Carlos needed to cover to save his weekend.
If he covers that ground before Nando's Q3 off, he's on provisional pole.
On this day 12 years ago, arguably the most untouchable of Formula 1 records was set as 100% of the grid finished the race for only the 4th time by 2011.
The field was 24 cars deep on the street circuit of Valencia led by Vettel who went on to win his 6th GP in only 8 races.
I honestly am going to have to issue a trigger warning to certain fanbases before my season review is published.
Just a reminder far in advance - I have more of a personal investment & connection to the keyboard I am typing this on than I do any specific driver on the grid.
Rosberg won due to his ability to capitalize in 2016.
Through round 4, Lewis failed to win a single GP & only took 2 podiums. Nico hammered him here taking 4 straight wins.
When Lewis did win, Nico's worst result was P7.
More importantly, when Lewis didn't win, Nico won 9x.