Yeah but have you seen what the red bull lot get as a company car?
I knew someone who worked for Red Bull 15 years back. She got a company car. It looked exactly like that. Not joking.
There are plenty of rules I’d change…
I think now that there's a cost cap, I'd sweep away as many of the rules as possible. Have min/max sizes for cars and aero stuff and engine displacement (even make everyone have the same engine if you like) and pretty strict rules about driver safety and let them have at it otherwise.
I think now that there’s a cost cap, I’d sweep away as many of the rules as possible. Have min/max sizes for cars and aero stuff and engine displacement (even make everyone have the same engine if you like) and pretty strict rules about driver safety and let them have at it otherwise.
Like Indycar then?
It's currently more interesting than watching F1.
But no, not what I had in mind, I think Indycar, errrr, cars are essentially the same car aren't they? Minor engines swaps aside, I'd be a bit more generous, as long as the car conforms to the (pretty loose) aero rules and car size, and engines rules, they can have anything they like, 6 wheels, fans, anything they can think of within the budget.
It seems weird that they would leave such a successful team for one with such a patchy record, though
I dunno, from the outside your making that judgement based on emotion and their record for winning (or not). If you were an employee though, you probably value the specifics of the role you are offered and the culture more.
Especially with the cost cap meaning it doesn't matter to Newey whether he's at RB or Alpine, he'd be working with the same budget unlike before where RB would have been the fun sandbox for him to join.
[i]I think now that there’s a cost cap, I’d sweep away as many of the rules as possible. Have min/max sizes for cars and aero stuff and engine displacement (even make everyone have the same engine if you like) and pretty strict rules about driver safety and let them have at it otherwise.
Like Indycar then?[/i]
I read that and thought of the CanAm cars. Now that would be interesting for a few years
After the mention of the red bull company cars above I saw one today!
Can't remember ever seeing one before.
Just heard some new 'business jargon' that made me smile.
We have a team of people lined up and waiting to start a project that was meant to start last Monday. It was delayed for a week by the client for some admin reason. We have the team waiting to start on Monday and the client has just delayed again for another 'internal process' reason and it looks like we now won't start until after Easter.
The account manager told me that "The client is doing a KMag until they get their budget in the new financial year"
https://twitter.com/andrewbensonf1/status/1768711686146424842?s=46&t=EQoHg-RGok071Fjc15ZHKw
Horny Horners accuser to appeal.
He’s checked out of Mercedes!… 🤣
https://twitter.com/lh44updates/status/1768709215525208077?s=46&t=EQoHg-RGok071Fjc15ZHKw
He’s checked out of Mercedes
Hilarious!
Seems strange that she's left it so long to appeal.
As for Ham, just listened to the Back at Base podcast, definite bromance between Toto and George. Taking his kids karting
Just looked at the UK start time for the GP this weekend - unless I need a piss in the middle of the night I won't be getting up for 4am to watch it! 🤣
Which is a shame as getting up in the middle of the night to watch F1 was a bit of a tradition.
Pretty much every rule change that I can remember since the banning (and unbanning & postponed banning) of active suspension at Silverstone 1993, has been with the intent to "improve racing". I was on board with these new ground effect cars, with a reduced aero wake... I should've known better really.
Not sure that I can be arsed to emotionally invest in one of my favourite races of the season.
The problem with major rule changes is that it always opens up the chance that one team will find something the others miss. When that happens, it takes the others years to catch up, especially with engine freezes and cost caps. Ferrari took several years to catch up with Merc's turbo-hybrid engine, Renault never did, Honda basically had to scrap their first effort and start again. Now, after a decade of stable engine rules, the Honda, Merc, and Ferrari engines are all very close in performance and it's the aero and suspension package that makes the difference. Ferrari, Merc, and McLaren have all improved their cars from last year, but not by enough to seriously challenge Red Bull in races. If the current rules were frozen for ten years, it's quite likely that the other teams would catch Red Bull and you'd have a series of competitive championships. Changing the engine regulations for 2026 just makes it more likely that we will see one team dominate again.
unless I need a piss in the middle of the night I won’t be getting up for 4am to watch it!
One of the conundrums of being in your fifties, “Now I’m up pissing in morse code, shall I turn the Australian F1 on…?”
I watched this the other day (for the boat content) and was interested by the fact that AD was saying that he was going to have more time on his hands and was looking to do some long passages.
To me that sounds like he's stepping back a bit and is looking for a new challenge (as he knew 'nothing' about sailing at that point).
I watched that Adrian Newey thing....tbh I don't know why he made the film (or allowed it to be released). I'd be embarrassed to be saying "i dont know how to sail, but I'm buying a 5 million pound boat".
I’d be embarrassed to be saying “i dont know how to sail, but I’m buying a 5 million pound boat”.
You pay someone else to do the sailing bit - you just enjoy the ride.
Yeah, i don't see the point. But then, I can sail (i just can't afford a £5m yacht 😂)
Valtteri is a legend.
"You can rent it for free because I am very rich already" 😀 😀
How many people buying £5m + yachts can actually sail? I bet the majority are skippered by professional crews who know what they're doing when the shite hits the fan.
He's obviously got an interest in sailing as his America's Cup involvement a few years back shows.
F1 needs more Bottas's.
The Race do a post-race podcast and they've a long running segment called "Valtteri Bottas Sympathy Corner" where they generally bemoan his fate during the race either because the car breaks or some-one drives into him...They asked Valtteri to voice the intro and he agreed! They were commenting on the fact that not only is he rare amongst F1 drivers that he's OK to take the piss out of himself and join in on the joke, but to actually go ahead and record it for them.
He's one of a kind.
Has Mazepin started his comeback?
Wasn't he in the team because daddy paid for it? I think that along with his history of dubious social media posts probably makes him unemployable [by an F1 team], doesn't it?
I bet the majority are skippered by professional crews
Most stuff above 60-70' needs a skipper +1.
I think he's not just looking at the odd week here and there but fairly long periods of time on board.
Mazepin got his arse handed to him by Schumacher, who isn't fast enough to land a drive. The days of a no-hoper like Mazepin turning up with a big chequebook and getting a drive seem to be over, the teams aren't as financially desperate as they were five years ago. His father is still sanctioned, so getting money out of Russia will be impossible anyway. On top of which, Mazepin is widely loathed and will drive other sponsors away. No team will touch him with a barge pole even if he does manage to get financial backing.
https://twitter.com/susie_wolff/status/1770554247899226162?s=46&t=EQoHg-RGok071Fjc15ZHKw
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68615850
For all their pronouncements of their professionalism, and self aggrandisement of their business and sporting acumen, I've seen more probity and respectability in the WhatsApp chat groups of teenaged school-girls . What a shower of half-assed ****puddles they all are. I should waddle down to the bookies and place a bet on who gets fired first. I think my money's currently on Ben Sulayem
I do agree with the sentiment of what you are saying but have to ask what you are doing reading the WhatsApp chat groups of teenaged school-girls?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68604971
Not sure what to make of Mercedes new technical signing.
what you are doing reading the WhatsApp chat groups of teenaged school-girls?
Tell me you don't have a daughter, without telling me you don't have a daughter. Plus I work with GPs, it amounts to more or less the same thing
jimster01
Not sure what to make of Mercedes new technical signing
It's looking more and more like Lewis timed things just right 🤣
Plus I work with GPs, it amounts to more or less the same thing
Lol
FP2 is over -
1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 1:17.277
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
4. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
5. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
6. George Russell (Mercedes)
7. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
8. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
9. Lando Norris (McLaren)
10. Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
The ex- Mercedes driver Hamilton down in 18th.
I can't see anything from FP1, obviously the BBC weren't up to report it on their website.
