Odd that Mick Schumacher hasn’t been offered the second Alfa seat, I wonder why? Someone like De Vryes or Illot (no idea of spelling) would probably jump at a Haas seat

Sponsorship probably – Haas are reliant upon the cash that Schumacher brings, albeit to a lesser extent than they do Mazepin snr’s dosh.

I’d love to see some musical chairs though, Schumacher in an Alfa next to Bottas would be a good start.

Speaking of Mick, if you’re planning on watching the Schumacher documentary on Netflix, make sure you have a tissue handy when Mick says he’d give it all up, just to have a chat with his dad. Poor lad

team boss Szafnauer says that the Canadian is one of the most talented drivers around.

“Lance is one of the most gifted drivers in modern Formula 1, and to that raw talent he is now adding serious racecraft,” he said

Who knew?

I think it’s fair to say that when you see an article entitled “Analysis: Why Aston Martin have opted to stick with Vettel and Stroll” you can assume that at least half the content has pretty much written itself 😉

I just don’t get all the mocking of Stroll. Yes, it was money that got him into F1 but I feel that he has now justified his place there, with a pole and several podiums he is turning into a pretty decent midfield driver. He’s clearly not going to be the next Lewis Hamilton but he’s doing a good job against some pretty decent team-mates.

I just don’t get all the mocking of Stroll.

Way to go Lance, you must have drove really well this season to keep you seat in Daddy’s team 😉 😀

In all seriousness a better way to frame it would be to look at the performances of No 2 drivers in similar teams.

If we accept the midfield teams are all the teams excluding Merc / RB / McL / Ferr at the top and Haas at the bottom then Stroll is actually doing a pretty good job. You could only really point to Ocon as being better, and that’s skewed by his win in Hungary

Off the top of my head I think Stroll is probably 4th in the overall ‘people who got a shot at F1 because of their dad’ – Villeneuve and Hill would probably be 1 & 2 cos WDCs, Max is still 3rd until he wins one, but I’d put Stroll ahead of the likes of Andretti and Schumacher and streets ahead of Latifi and Mazepin. He’s done enough to justify being there, and I expect his dad has set some pretty clear boundaries for what he needs to do to keep the seat. Stroll Sr may be rich but he’s a businessman and wants to get a return from the team so if Lance was 2s /lap off his team mate I doubt he’d be kept around for long.

Yeah, he’s a decent driver and deserves his place on the grid. It’s kind of unfortunate for him to be stuck with this situation. He’s no Mazepin, for sure (though Mazepin’s issue is less about being slow and more about being That Guy at the office night-out karting who’s the dickhead wannabe hard man and thinks he’s at the bumper cars).

Andretti was an odd one: Michael was a worthy driver and wasn’t just in F1 because of Mario, he just couldn’t make the switch to the cars and culture of F1. He wasn’t alone in that.

and I expect his dad has set some pretty clear boundaries for what he needs to do to keep the seat. Stroll Sr may be rich but he’s a businessman and wants to get a return from the team so if Lance was 2s /lap off his team mate I doubt he’d be kept around for long.

Yeah tbf to Stroll Snr (not that he gives if a shit if i’m being fair to him) he does come across as not being in F1 just to keep his sons hobby going. Still, would be interesting to be a fly on the wall if Lance ever gets binned by the team!

Off the top of my head I think Stroll is probably 4th in the overall ‘people who got a shot at F1 because of their dad’

Where do you rate Rikky von Opel?

I watched the Schumacher documentary last night, it’s well worth a view.

One of the things that we didn’t fully get about Schumacher at the time was that he came from a working class background without huge amounts of money being thrown at him from rich parents. There’s parallels with Hamilton there if you look hard enough.

There’s fascinating insights into Schumacher’s character away from the track, the interviews with Rolf, Corinna and Mick were a bit of a tear jerker.

(though Mazepin’s issue is less about being slow and more about being That Guy at the office night-out karting who’s the dickhead wannabe hard man and thinks he’s at the bumper cars).

😀 😀

And then won’t shut up about how much karting he’s done, how he won the last time easily, but when you go out he spins at the first tricky corner and ends up getting lapped.

Yeah that guy!

Whitmarsh joins aston https://t.co/gOpXUp6h4w

— Joe Saward (@joesaward) September 21, 2021

LOLZ. Wonder if their next step is to hire Sam Michael as head of engineering.

😂

LOLZ. Wonder if their next step is to hire Sam Michael as head of engineering.

I hear Paddy Lowe is available at short notice

There’s fascinating insights into Schumacher’s character away from the track

Yeah clearly heavily influenced by the Schumachers though. Part of the appeal of him to me was the very obvious dual nature to the man. I’ve personally experienced how warm and approachable he is. (bizarrely in an Indian restaurant in Brackley on GP weekend) but at the same time capable of being a right cheating bastard on the track when it suited him.

They brushed over the Spa incident in the rain with Coulthard, the ramming of Hill, the loss of all his points against Villeneuve, didn’t mention at all his parking at the end of qualis at Monaco..and on and on in ways that no past or present driver even comes close to. As Alonso points out simultaneously the very best and very worst driver … wasn’t entirely balanced I thought.

Just wasn’t very good I thought – wasn’t really one for the enthusiast? There was barely anything in depth to do with any good/bad/indifferent event, just a quick mention then skip on. Seemed so focused on his “must win everything” approach that they couldn’t even mention trying to help Irvine win the champs after the leg break (did they even mention that he broke his leg in the Silverstone crash? Don’t think they did). No mention of the France 4-stopper. No mention of the Barcelona race where he was stuck in 5th.

If anything, the most interesting part was hearing Hill’s view these days

Not sure if I can watch the Schumacher documentary – I think it will cost me a new telly when I throw the remote at it! 🙂

I’ve personally experienced how warm and approachable he is. (bizarrely in an Indian restaurant in Brackley on GP weekend)

Were you the forumite who went for a curry with Schumacher’s entourage one weekend?

They brushed over the Spa incident in the rain with Coulthard, the ramming of Hill, the loss of all his points against Villeneuve, didn’t mention at all his parking at the end of qualis at Monaco

It’s a difficult call to make when the subject is very obviously neither dead nor there to defend themselves two decades on – Senna was a complex character, known for being uncompromising and also for punting a rival off the track – but being a posthumous documentary with the hype and martyrdom around Senna, some artistic license was allowed for the sake of entertainment. Because we saw Michael Schumacher in family shot footage and through the lens of his own immediate family, there was less scope to explore his on track transgressions.

Shock – Massivespin retained by the team his dad is bankrolling. And Mick Schu.

That’s sad news for Mick, another season pedalling that not-russian-state-sponsored-at-all shitbox around at the back.

That’s sad news for Mick, another season pedalling that not-russian-state-sponsored-at-all shitbox around at the back.

It could be a good mid-field car next season! 🤣🤣🤣

Why do I get the feeling that next years Haas is going to perform like they forgot to add the ground effect bits?

Mazepin in his own words, interviewed for Beyond the Grid.

Mick has to prove that he can get to grips with a difficult teammate, not just in terms of racing but to gain a psychological advantage within the team, I suspect that if he indeed manages this, his stock will improve considerably.

Odd that Mick Schumacher hasn’t been offered the second Alfa seat

Haven’t Alfa/Ferrari just changed it to a one year rolling contract? Does that mean they they are thinking of moving on? If so having Bottas on board makes sense because his Mercedes connections would be very useful.

Were you the forumite who went for a curry with Schumacher’s entourage one weekend?

Yeah probably, there’s a curry house in the top end at Brackley (the Kushboo) that was popular with both the Schumachers. Was in there once and he invited us (me and then partner) to join him at his table (they were quite loud and they pretty much had taken over the place). Michael, Ralf, and various team members. They were both friendly chatty and normal…It was weird as ****.

I think it’s fair to say that when you see an article entitled “Analysis: Why Aston Martin Haas have opted to stick with Vettel and Stroll Schumacher and Mazepin and and what it means for the last seat open at Alfa Romeo” you can assume that at least half two-thirds the content has pretty much written itself 😉

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.analysis-why-haas-retained-schumacher-and-mazepin-and-what-it-means-for-the.217JfUHjb8vYmOCExcPVsV.html

I haven’t read the “analysis”, but here’s a guess:
1. Mazepin’s dad has lots of money.
2. Schumacher has support from Ferrari, is famous, and has easily beaten Mazepin so far.
3. Schumacher won’t be driving an Alfa Romeo next year.

4. Schumacher signed a two year deal, this gives him time to learn F1 without any expectations

5. The Haas of 2022 is expected to be a better car than the current one.

5. The Haas of 2022 is expected to be a better car than the current one

That’s pretty much guaranteed unless they fit the wings upside down and put the gearbox on backwards.

I really hope next years regs deliver what’s promised but have a feeling we’ll still see one or two teams who get it sorted and so appear to dominate. That’s generally been the case since I’ve been following F1, even back in the DFV days there weren’t many times when the whole field was close on pace but back then reliability played a bigger part so results were a bit more varied.

I thought the Schumacher documentary just about rated a Quite Interesting – as mentioned, lots of unsavoury stuff rather glossed over, but interesting and poignant to see all the personal stuff. Adding to the list of things they missed out are his bike racing, the way teams were totally formed around him to the active detriment of his team mates and that Mrs Schumacher is Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s ex. And why in the name of all that’s holy do they put the wrong sound to some of the footage? People are ALWAYS gonna notice – really annoyed me that they did that about Senna, too.

I really hope next years regs deliver what’s promised but have a feeling we’ll still see one or two teams who get it sorted and so appear to dominate.

I think that might happened too. Rules stability generally sees the field close up as they all get the hang of what works. This year is pretty close, two teams a little bit ahead, but two others have won races and, with the exception of Haas, no one is out of contention for podiums, or would be if Giovanazi didn’t keep wasting some excellent qualifying performances.
It’s not quite as exciting as 2012 but I do think they are risking the close racing by changing the regs.

Breaking news? Why such a media hype about Max starting at the back of the grid? Why is that so special? We do that every **** race! 😠#F1 #RussianGP 🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/cjizRPgtcH

— Günther Steiner 🤬 (@BanterSteiner) September 24, 2021

Well, when was the last time we had a McLaren, Williams, and Ferrari fighting for pole position?

Absolutely chuffed for Norris, Russell really is some driver too.

That was a cracking Q3, me and the lad (age 3,big Lando Fan, Orange car!) were loving it.

Lando and Mclaren on an absolute roll, Zak and Andreas seem like good leaders and the whole team is on fire.

And Russell continues to impress!

So now Merc have given Bottas a new engine. He’ll start ahead of Verstappen. Will be interesting to see if Merc sacrifice him to hold Verstappen up.

Mercedes fit a new engine to Valtteri Bottas' car. He will start, it is believed, 17th, still ahead of Max Verstappen. It's a tactical decision, hinted at by Toto Wolff on Saturday. Mercedes say it gives him another fresh engine in the pool and should have little points impact

— Andrew Benson (@andrewbensonf1) September 26, 2021

How weird to see Williams Mclaren and Ferrari at the front of the grid!!

In other news I hear that Mercedes have chosen to swap Bottas’ engine. relegating him to 17th on the grid. They’re just gaslighting RB now.

17th? Bottas, LeClerc, Verstappen. Who else is at the back?