WorldClassAccidentFree Member
When I did some work for Benetton F1 while Ralf drove there, the engineers I spoke to didn’t like him much – as a person or a driver

Ralf never drove for Benetton 🙂

Ralf never drove for Benetton 🙂

Maybe that’s why they didn’t like him?

I still can’t believe Eddie Jordan was Adrians manager, let alone that he has pulled this off

Yeah, it never even occurred to me before the recent coverage that designers would have managers—let alone EJ 😂

Here’s the thing, though…

That deal must have taken some sweat to negotiate. And why go to that effort if Adrian plans to retire? Seems to me that it all but confirms he’s going to Ferrari.

That Senna thing on Netflix looks interesting

Shame Ferrari didn’t go full blue

Ferrari’s red-and-blue Miami Grand Prix livery revealed

Yeah, that looks utterly crap. The wheel covers remind me of the cheap plastic cars from my dad’s 1960s Scalextric set.

Andretti has got the US Congress fighting his corner now!… 🙂

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/us-congress-members-demand-answers-from-liberty-over-andretti-f1-block/10605498/

Andretti has got the US Congress fighting his corner now

Well, that’s a slight exaggeration….he’s got 12 of them, out of 486 🙄

Did you want me to copy and paste the whole article and list all the members of congress involved? It’s just a link to an article that may be of interest.

Yes please 😂

Shame Ferrari didn’t go full blue

The red with blue highlights is a nod to the team colours of Ronnie Hoare’s Maranello Concessionaires race team.

Andretti has got the US Congress fighting his corner now!

They’re just showboating. The article doesn’t way which members but my guess is some backbenchers who just want 30 seconds attention.

Edit: Yes, led by a Republican from Michigan, so trying to get campaign contributions from G.M.

Rep. John James, a Republican from Michigan where General Motors is based, is leading the fight. The letter is signed by 11 other representatives — both Democrats and Republicans — from Texas, North Carolina, Indiana and Florida.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/members-congress-demand-answers-mario-andrettis-rejection-f1/story?id=109838108

F1’s rejection of Andretti is such a farce. They’re just making themselves look like a spoilt child not wanting to share their sweeties. All their ’emphatic’ reasons for rejecting the Andretti bid are so flimsy, it’s startling obvious that the only conclusion you can draw is that they just don’t want to dilute the prize-fund to an 11th team.

Although I doubt enrolling US representatives to write snotty letters is going to do much for Andretti’s cause either.

it’s startling obvious that the only conclusion you can draw is that they just don’t want to dilute the prize-fund to an 11th team.

Well given that this is the first time in history that all of the teams are financially stable then I can’t blame them for this at all.

sure, then just say that. All this guff about them not being competitive when Stake can manage to change a wheel, and Williams don’t have a spare chassis, or not being able to accommodate an 11th garage when they did exactly that for a fictional team for an Amazon film makes them look like idiots.

WorldClassAccidentFree Member
When I did some work for Benetton F1 while Ralf drove there, the engineers I spoke to didn’t like him much – as a person or a driver

Ralf never drove for Benetton 🙂

You are right! I guess they were just talking about their experiences of him then. I had assumed from the way they were talking that he was one of their drivers. My mistake

I just checked Wiki and it was Michael S and Jonnie herbert driving for them when I did my work for them. I guess Ralf may have visited to see his brother.

The Ferrari looks like a dog’s dinner. Plenty of opportunity to look at it with Charles **** up in fp1. Could make sprint qualifying tricky for him.

Norris clearly influenced by the election results – car wants to turn left rather than right 🙂

Looks like Sergeant’s days are numbered:

The FIA has received a request to grant Andrea Kimi Antonelli a Super Licence under special dispensation – he does not turn 18 until August 25.

FIA is looking into it – it requires multiple parties and commissions in voting process due to the regulations.

From Imola onwards apparently…Will Buxton says the request is from Williams

I was thinking to myself earlier that maybe Newry had already agreed to go to Ferrari, and that’s why Hamilton went, or vice versa, or maybe they negotiated together.

That doesn’t read well but you know what I mean. And then YouTube algorithm gave me this

McClaren will be a bit pissed off with that qualifying, they looked on course for the first couple of rows after SQ2. Good drives from Danny Ric and especially Leclerc after missing pretty much the whole of practice.

I’ve been a doubter for too long now, but I’m pretty pleased to see Ricciardo in fourth.

I would *love* to see Lewis in a Newey designed Ferrari for the new regs

Any antidote to the Verstappen show is welcome, but Newey showing his genius would top it all

Any antidote to the Verstappen show is welcome, but Newey showing his genius would top it all

You mean we’d be rid of this awful, prolonged really boring domination by Verstappen, and instead get….. an awful, prolonged really boring domination by Hamilton… again.

Seems interesting that a lot of people only seem to not be bored when their preferred driver is winning constantly.

Seems interesting that a lot of people only seem to not be bored when their preferred driver is winning constantly.

why would someone be bored of watching their favourite driver winning? Or food ball team? Or cyclist? Or etc?

I don’t have a problem with one team dominating as long as they allow their drivers to compete. Mansell, Piquet, Prost, Senna, Hamilton, etc. all had competitive teammates who were allowed to fight for wins. Having Hamilton and Leclerc fighting it out over a season would be fantastic.

And then YouTube algorithm gave me this

I’d already inferred the same thing from this article a couple of days ago, but actually watching the press conference does rather cement it 🙂

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/hamilton-admits-it-would-be-a-privilege-to-work-with-amazing-newey-at.7dRoNJtKD0n4MlpdV2EnXH

Mansell, Piquet, Prost, Senna, Hamilton, etc. all had competitive teammates who were allowed to fight for wins.

Yup, in fact it’s only Schumacher, Verstappen and to some extent Vettel that come immediately to mind where that wasn’t the case. You could argue, though, that 1993 was the first time (well, in my memory at least) that we saw a world champion engineering themselves into a dominant position by way of controlling the second seat.

For all of the other years, even though history says one driver had a run of championships, each individual race was far from predictable.

To be fair, I think the only veto Prost insisted on was over Senna, and that was pretty understandable given their history. Ironically, Senna himself had veto’d other drivers taking the seat alongside him at Lotus long before he was world champion. 🙂

Aye, true.

Anyway… seems we may have a race (or even two) on our hands this weekend. That upgraded McLaren is looking punchy—fortunately no-one’s going to be touching those soft tyres in the race 🙂

Jeez, it seems the more they change that Merc, the slower it goes.

They really have been masters of their own downfall.

Having 4 customer cars ahead of them must also smart a bit! 🙂

why would someone be bored of watching their favourite driver winning? Or food ball team? Or cyclist? Or etc?

of course thanks to a critical iPhone typo, that was meant to say ‘not winning’.

of course thanks to a critical iPhone typo, that was meant to say ‘not winning’.

I relish the prospect of a competitive food ball season.

Not a good start for the Astons and Norris!

Anyone else think Red Bull have some sort of launch control? They never seem to fluff a start.

#tinfoilhaton

I relish the prospect of a competitive food ball season.

Magnussen is a dirty sod!

never mind 10 second penalties he should be banned from the race for driving like that.

Actually entertaining for a sprint race! 😀

I think if I were at a race I’d rather watch a sprint race followed by qualy than FP3 + qualy.

“Let’s see what they [the FIA] decide, I guess they won’t decide anything because he’s not Spanish,” Alonso told DAZN and Fox Sports Mexico after the Sprint in Miami in reference to Hamilton.”

Alonso confirming what a pr**k he is 😒