I’ve never worked out why the timing line for qualifying isn’t always the same as the finish line for the race. I’m sure it must make sense to someone, but not me.
Thanks @mashr
Do we think if pre-season testing goes badly he'll walk away?
I can't see him slogging through another season of mid-field racing.
I hope he wouldn't do that on potentially his final season... I think it's more likely Ferrari might try and do a bit of driver blaming/face saving and swap him with Bearman if it's going badly.
The wear on Lando's blocks was over the limit by 0.07 to 0.12mm - how can they measure a worn block to that accuracy?
The FIA have invested in some new kit to specifically improve the precision of their skid block measurements - previous exclusions had measurements quoted to 0.1mm resolution so this is the first issue detected by the new kit.
As for Lewis, isn't this the third or 4th season in a row where people have been expecting him to retire? I'm hoping Ferrari finally get their act together next year and build a quick car backed up by a sharp team but history suggests that's unlikely.
To say he's not looking forward to next season means he's...
a) seen nothing in the data to suggest next years car is any good.
b) driven it in the SIM and come to that conclusion.
c) he can't get Ferrari to listen to his needs.
d) really is past it.
or...
z) He's making a great double-bluff and it's the best thing he's ever driven!
The FIA have invested in some new kit to specifically improve the precision of their skid block measurement
Mick Schumacher will join Rahal Letterman Lanigan for a full season of Indycar, including ovals I think
Well, I knew he was crafty but I didn't realise he had that level of cheat in him. I'm not on Instagram but presumably someone somewhere has sent that to the FIA so they can investigate and reinstate Lando's points.
Been realising I’ve the last few days that the Mercedes social media people and quite witty, and that the McLaren counterparts are dull as dishwater 
And the new Aston Martin F1 team principal isn't Whinger Spice...
This is massive news. It will be really interesting to see how he gets on! I know he’s a legendary designer with a ridiculous amount of trackside experience, but team principle needs a whole range of skills, so I guess we’ll find out if he has them or not
I had the impression that Newey just wanted to be left alone with his drawing board and the engineering data. Maybe this is a different sort of team principal, more like the old version where it was more racing and less MD of 1000 person company.
Been realising I’ve the last few days that the Mercedes social media people and quite witty, and that the McLaren counterparts are dull as dishwater
And yet Pirelli have announced a 25 lap tyre limit for Qatar, which means at least two pit stops (for the main race)
Well I certainly didn’t see the Newey decision coming. Feel hard to predict whether that will be a master stroke or a complete misappropriation of his skills.
I must say I’ve never found the Stroll/Aston philosophy entirely convincing. There seems to be a lot of setting lofty goals for some time in the future and then throwing money and big names at it, with questionable success. Ambitious and absolute goals in competitive contexts are hard when you can’t control the performance of your competition. James Vowles’ approach seems much more robust.
team principle needs a whole range of skills
F1 teams don't have principles.
I must say I’ve never found the Stroll/Aston philosophy entirely convincing.
I think the issue is that Stroll is used to throwing money at problems, hoping for quick fixes for things that take time to build. The "Pink Mercedes" thing is an example - copying another team's car means that you don't understand why they designed it the way they did so you don't know how to develop it any further. Trying to expand from a small team to a large team takes years of building up systems and workflows so that everyone is contributing positively. Just hiring a whole bunch of engineers from different teams won't work if they don't have effective leadership and time to develop as a team. McLaren are a perfect example, they took several years before the benefits of their reorganization and new wind tunnel started showing up as results on track.
I had the impression that Newey just wanted to be left alone with his drawing board and the engineering data.
This, I always had the impression he liked being the one in the background, getting on with all the winning, rather than being the front & centre mouthpiece of the company/team at any given track.
Not sure this will end as well as his other projects, but guess this is paying for his retirement.
Does this close the door for Horner at Aston? If so the sex pest will be running out of options.
Adrian Newey has always struck me as a bit of a control freak if I'm honest. Every team he's ever been with has ended in him leaving because of management decisions he doesn't like.
Aston Martin is just the first one where i think he's had the clout to say right from the get go that's he wants to be in charge, and Stroll is happy to let him.
Leyton House - fired but had already decided to leave because it was being run by an accountant (ie not him)
Williams - Left because Williams and Head wouldn't give him more control
Mclaren - didn't get on with Dennis (which is fair enough TBH)
Red Bull - left when it all got political and it was clear that he wasn't going to be in the running to take over
I think it'll either be a huge success, or it will be massively dysfunctional to the point where the management of Benetton of the 90s looks like a well oiled and effective team by comparison
Adrian Newey has always struck me as a bit of a control freak if I'm honest. Every team he's ever been with has ended in him leaving because of management decisions he doesn't like.
I don't think that's a fair reflection on what happened. At Williams, he was promised that he would be consulted on major decisions but Frank Williams and Patrick Head broke that agreement. If they had just given Newey 20% of the team and told him to run it as he pleased, it would have dominated for 30 years. At McLaren, Ron Dennis's OCD behaviour annoyed Newey and he joined Red Bull. If McLaren had sacked Dennis and kept Newey, they would still be the factory Mercedes team and probably would have dominated the last 15 years. At Red Bull, corporate HQ decided that the F1 team had too much autonomy and wanted to clip Horner's wings. Why would he want to deal with that when every team on the grid would pretty much write him a blank cheque to join?
If McLaren had sacked Dennis and kept Newey, they would still be the factory Mercedes team and probably would have dominated the last 15 years.
You're forgetting the huge impact Dennis had at McLaren and took them from a typical 1970s garage independent to one of the biggest motor racing companies in the world.
You're forgetting the huge impact Dennis had at McLaren and took them from a typical 1970s garage independent to one of the biggest motor racing companies in the world.
Not at all. Dennis built the first superteam and his OCD was probably part of that. They dominated the late 80s, but the Newey designed Williams of the early 90s were a step ahead and losing the factory Honda engines was a huge blow for McLaren. They didn't recover until they had the Merc engines and Newey leading the design department. After Newey left, they seemed to just stagnate, the same way Ferrari stagnated after Brawn left. It took 10 years before it became obvious how far behind they'd fallen, but the rot set in under Dennis's watch. If they'd sacked Dennis and kept Newey, Red Bull would probably have zero championships and McLaren another eight or 10.
If Newey is Team Principal, what are the chances of Stroll Jnr being fired? 🤔
If Newey is Team Principal, what are the chances of Stroll Jnr being fired? 🤔
Zero, his dad still owns the team. The whole Aston Martin project is just a way for Stroll snr to make Stroll jr an F1 world champ
Zero, his dad still owns the team. The whole Aston Martin project is just a way for Stroll snr to make Stroll jr an F1 world champ
He’ll need more than Newey to make Lance a world champ
more chance platting fog
Zero, his dad still owns the team. The whole Aston Martin project is just a way for Stroll snr to make Stroll jr an F1 world champ
Zero, his dad still owns the team. The whole Aston Martin project is just a way for Stroll snr to make Stroll jr an F1 world champ
Hiring Alonso was a statement that he was serious about making the team competitive, even if it showed up Lance as a second tier driver. To be fair to Lance, I think he's a decent driver, not at the level of the very top drivers, but good enough to be a solid number two driver if the team can produce a competitive car.
Lance’s is a story of unfulfilled potential I think. He’s the second youngest person ever to podium (in his first season too, Max was 11 days younger, but did it in his second season) and did well in the junior formulae.
Be interesting to see what he does with a decent car.
Fred has said Ferrari switched really early for their 2026 car.
They'd better be cooking something awesome because I don't know who else to support! Every other driver but Lewis leaves me a bit meh and I don't really care about the result. I 'like' other drivers but not enough to drag me out of bed in the middle of the night.
I know Ferrari switched front suspension layout in prep for next season so hopefully they've learnt a shed load about how it's not supposed to work!! But knowing Ferrari they'll switch back to push-rod! 🤦♂️
Fred has said Ferrari switched really early for their 2026 car.
They'd better be cooking something awesome because I don't know who else to support! Every other driver but Lewis leaves me a bit meh and I don't really care about the result. I 'like' other drivers but not enough to drag me out of bed in the middle of the night.
I know Ferrari switched front suspension layout in prep for next season so hopefully they've learnt a shed load about how it's not supposed to work!! But knowing Ferrari they'll switch back to push-rod! 🤦♂️
I don't get how he's fallen off a cliff so badly. It happened around the time Elkann criticised him.
Are the team trying to force him out? Is there hidden damage to the car? Is he just in a bad mental state?
He qualified well in Mexico and finished the race well in USA, since then, terrible.
Just watching DC walking down the pit lane and wondering if the Red Bull team have arguments about "radio playing in the office".
I don't get how he's fallen off a cliff so badly
The car is definitely dog**** this weekend. I get the feeling LeClerc is having to pushing himself (4 times off the road inc one massive spin in qualifying is wild) as he’s thinking about his future. Hamilton has now reason to try and push himself like that.
Enjoying that the most entertaining part of this weekend is likely to be Max’s trolling of Norris. And, let’s face it, he’s right that he would’ve absolutely dominated if he was in that car this year
let’s face it, he’s right that he would’ve absolutely dominated if he was in that car this year
He may have done, but there wouldn't be a constructor's championship win in it, as he'd have followed his usual dead-end development approach to the exclusion of everyone else.
Wasn't it Chapman who said Jim Clark's genius that he could drive wildly different setups/cars and have them perform the same?
Remember when Schumacher's gearbox broke and he raced (quite effectively) with one gear? I wonder how many of the current drivers would have coped.
The issue at Ferrari is there's no Brawn/Byrne/Schumacher dream team - I wondered whether Hamilton was going to be championing that approach with year one being washout/form the team. Year two starting the build... But it doesn't look like it.
Wasn't it Chapman who said Jim Clark's genius that he could drive wildly different setups/cars and have them perform the same?
This has always been Alonso's genius, in my opinion. He just seems to be able to pick up any dog of a car and wring something out of it.
I also remember reading that Patrick Head said that Keke Rosberg sucked as a test driver because he'd just drive around any changes to the car setup and the engineers couldn't tell whether changes were helping or not.
So assuming the title isn't settled today what are the chances of Channel 4 being able to show Abu Dhabi live again?
I guess it’s going to be decided at Abu Dhabi then
This could be awesome when both McLarens pit on lap 25, but Piastri oddly struggles to find first gear…
Thank you, Kimi!
Someone check my maths...
If MV wins in AD, LN can still win championship if he finishes 2nd or 3rd
If OP wins in AD, LN can still win championship if he finishes 4th or higher
I’m assuming RB are lobbying hard for Massi to be allowed back for one race.
No need, we now know that McLaren don’t take free pitstops anyway
No need, we now know that McLaren don’t take free pitstops anyway
It's probably a moot point, but if MV saw OP pitting, Red Bull may have stayed out as an alternate strategy - I wonder how that would have played out??
For sure, McLaren should have split the strategy but I wouldn't like to be the person making that call...
It's probably a moot point, but if MV saw OP pitting, Red Bull may have stayed out as an alternate strategy - I wonder how that would have played out??
If he stayed out the lead McLaren would’ve won as they’d have come out behind MV with the safety car out and the jumped him as he jumped them.
Pretty sure it’s a Martin Brundle-ism, “you don’t give up track position”. Especially at a snooze-fest track like this
I could understand Oscar pitting under the safety car the lap after Max, if he would come out near the front. But not telling Lando to follow Max in was a shocking decision.
No need, we now know that McLaren don’t take free pitstops anyway
It's probably a moot point, but if MV saw OP pitting, Red Bull may have stayed out as an alternate strategy - I wonder how that would have played out??
For sure, McLaren should have split the strategy but I wouldn't like to be the person making that call...
Exactly
