Yup. It was clear to me that the Racing Point they had years ago (you know, the year they shamelessly copied Merc’s design) was the second best car on the grid, but neither Stroll nor Perez could properly take advantage of it. Call me crazy, but I reckon if Hamilton were in that car, he’d still have won WDC.

If Stroll were anybody but the team owner’s son, he’d have been gone long ago. I admire that Lawrence loves his son so much, though.

Yes. Although since RB appeared to be targeting McLaren and Mercedes, Ferrari also jumped on board, because why not.

slams

Reb Bull of all teams complaining about other teams’ wings that flex but pass the flex test is pretty funny, considering they absolutely blew their lid when they were accused of it not long ago.

Still, this is just the nature of being an F1 team principal. Bitch and moan about any aspect of other cars that you can.

I think Lewis’ analysis was spot on.

He said that McLaren pushed way too hard too early on (didn’t Piastri set like 5 fastest laps in the middle of the GP?).

When Bono was relaying lap time information of the cars ahead to him he thought “there’s no way the McLaren’s tyres will last, they’ve forced themselves into a 2 stop strategy”, which did indeed turn out to be the case, and it opened the door to Ferrari doing the 1 stop.

He sounded really really down after qualifying. Repeatedly saying he’s just plain bad at qualifying.

He was only 0.07 seconds behind George, who is arguably the best qualifying talent on the grid, though, so maybe he’s being overly harsh on himself.

Addressing the possibility of Schumacher joining the team, Vowles said: “I think we have to be straightforward about this: Mick is not special. He has just been good. I think he would come with a lot more experience than Franco does.”

Schumacher is a Mercedes F1 reserve, with Wolff criticising his former strategy chief Vowles.

“I’ve obviously known James for many years, he’s a strategist,” Wolff explained to Sky Sports F1.

"Sometimes he says things too straightforwardly, that was a statement he could have done without.

"Mick has won everything there is to win, from F4, F3 and F2, and then of course operated in an environment with Gunther [Steiner], who is brutally tough and that was perhaps not what he needed to develop as a driver.

I think I’m with Toto here. Not choosing Schumacher is fine. Nobody is entitled to an F1 seat. And maybe Mick really is a worse choice. But to then say “Mick is not special” is just needlessly rubbing salt into the wound. He didn’t need to insult one driver to defend his choice to go with another.

Some people love the ‘brutal’ part of being brutally honest a bit too much, I think.

What’s the opposite of nominative determinism?

Normative antideterminism?

Needs way more HP logos, ffs, are they even trying?

JV is the TP who gave him a chance in the first place.

You can’t really blame JV for getting rid of him. He had his chance, and he kept crashing.

JV is trying to turn Williams back into a proper team, rather than a non-serious steppingstone to a larger team. Logan doesn’t really fit into that.

It’s rough, but there can only be 20 F1 drivers. If someone isn’t good enough, they should be shown the door. I wish the likes of Perez and Stroll would receive the same treatment tbh.

KMag has always been this way.

Inb4

“I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year, this is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2025. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.”

Of course they could. But Liberty loves money, and they see the US as a growth market (a wealthy one too), so they’d probably capitulate.

It’s a bit complicated. Liberty Media is, Formula One Management (a subsidiary) isn’t.

I imagine they will argue that in the same way the US can’t regulate McDonald’s UK subsidiary, the US can’t regulate FOM.

However the US could say “ok well no more US races until you let more US teams join”

Silverstone. Skill and strategy won that. I’m still in awe at how good Lewis’ tyre management was on those softs while Verstappen was behind him on better tyres in a better car, getting closer and closer lap by lap. It was an absolutely masterful performance, and the suspense went on to the very last lap.

Lewis winning for the first time in ages, after so many times where he was so close. And the fact it was a home win adds to that and makes it feel all the more special.

Canada was also great, although I imagine the guy who’s been winning for years, particularly after last year when he had the most dominant F1 car of all time, winning again somewhat removed the shine for it for some people.

I view Alpine screwing with Piastri leading to McLaren taking advantage of it and hiring a great F2 driver to be a very, very different situation.

A driver and senior team person leaving and having RB react in this way is very different to Alpine deciding to be twatty with Piastri then come to regret it.

They also announced Seb going to Ferrari before Seb or Ferrari did.

Just strikes me as petty to your outgoing driver, and petty, perhaps even unsportsmanlike, to your rival team.

I don’t know of any other team that’s done this, certainly not recently.

Document 44

Oof. Adds insult to injury for Russell

Others did do a 1-stop. Alonso and Tsunoda I believe. They weren’t underweight.

I don’t think the issue is the tyres, I think it was a cockup from the garage.

Hamilton being above the McLarens is kinda crazy.

Actually, given McLaren’s strategy calls recently, maybe it isn’t actually that crazy…