Formula 1 2024 – WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

Hamilton, Newey, Horner at Ferrari for 2025. The 2025 car will be a dog, but Newey will focus on 2026… which will also end up being a dog coz Ferrari. Then all 3 retire.

Hamilton, Newey, Horner at Ferrari for 2025. The 2025 car will be a dog, but Newey will focus on 2026… which will also end up being a dog coz Ferrari. Then all 3 retire.

It would be an ironic way for Hamilton and Newey to end their careers – kinda like John Barnard and Alain Prost joining Ferrari at the top of their games and failing, but with the dial turned up to 11.

Still can’t see Newey going to Ferrari – wherever he went it would take 4 to 5 years to turn round a design department (especially one like Ferrari!).

As I said I think he’ll stay with Red Bull, work as a consultant for Aston or go and play with boats again as he’s done in the past.

ffs the alpine livery is mostly bare carbon as well

Maybe bare carbon is the new black? 🙂

Any thoughts on the sprint weekend rejig? Opening parc ferme after the sprint makes sense, but any incident in the sprint could now ruin quali and so probably (except for max last year) the race as well. Overall I still don’t think it adds to the weekend.

**** Breaking **** New Gossip on the Socials! **** 🙂

Trouble at t’mill with the ‘stappens and Horner.

? | It is probably no coincidence that the Horner story was first leaked in the Netherlands of all places.

The personal relationship between Horner and Jos Verstappen has reportedly been badly damaged.

And Max Verstappen is considered to be a loyal person whose loyalty lies… pic.twitter.com/fqIdbdNBdY

— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) February 7, 2024

So there’s both a blue and a pink version of the black car for more BWT sponsorship presence at some races? How a small strip of colour on the nose classes as a livery is beyond me. This is just getting silly now. How long before there’s a mandated minimum paint coverage to put a stop to the ever-growing darkness?

With F1 Alpine we get black! With WEC Alpine we get…

So who’s the mystery female between the Verstappens and Horner?   She’s the one raising the complaint, would be useful to know.

Trouble at t’mill with the ‘stappens and Horner.

I know that Twitter link above is basically gossip, but Jos Verstappen and Helmut Marko working to get Christian Horner booted for behaving like a ****.

I did wonder, with this talk of ‘controlling behaviour’, when Jos’ name would come up…

when Jos’ name would come up…

I reckon this is all simply a ruse to get round the cost cap again. Just imagine the amount that Red Bull will be able to expense as popcorn.

It wouldn’t be the first time that Verstappen senior has fallen out with someone.

Odd that people are talking as if Horner can be ousted – isn’t he at least a part owner of the team?

No – just an employee…

With Mateschitz gone, ownership of the energy drinks company is now divided between his son Mark, who has a 49% stake, and Thai billionaire Chalerm Yoovidhya who has majority control.

…unlike Toto who owns a third of Mercedes F1.

I think the Red Bull F1 team is entirely owned by the parent company.

the-muffin-man

…unlike Toto who owns a third of Mercedes F1.

Maybe I was just confusing the 2 . . .

Thai billionaire Chalerm Yoovidhya who has majority control.

……who is said to be supportive of Horner.
As understand it, the investigation is by the parent company not by Red Bull Racing.

I’d suggest randomly posting the full names of women that work at RBR in conjunction with this probably isn’t something that they’d welcome 😳

It’s called Jigsaw Identification and you can get in serious trouble for it once legal proceedings are under way.

WTF, why are you listing all their names?!

Just a couple of quick Googles and what Reb Bull have put out there. Sorry if any offence was caused and I shall cease and desist….

Maybe remove the names then?

Absolutely bizarre and unacceptable post from @WorldClassAccident. Tried to use the report post button but could only do it on their follow-up post if mods see this.

Inappropriate, coercive and controlling behaviour.

I think the female employee is a smokescreen, it’s Michael Masi.

The screenshots are the story – knives are out…

A really good article that articulates what many of us know about the toxicity of Horner.
Apologies Rob, but I am posting the article on your post as you have many more followers than me who may not subscribe to see behind the paywall. pic.twitter.com/rPmT7IMAjQ

— Adriano ??? #46 ??️ (@creative_chaos2) February 8, 2024

Silverstone confirmed for another 10 years. Trigger warning for the video: high levels of cringe.

TEN. MORE. YEARS.

We're delighted to announce Silverstone will remain on the F1 calendar until at least 2034! ??

— Silverstone (@SilverstoneUK) February 8, 2024

That’s great news. Silverstone has accounted for about 90% of my race coverage related popcorn consumption over the past few years.

The screenshots are the story – knives are out…

That article just seems like an unnecessary hatchet job just as Horner is being investigated…”We must presume he’s innocent” it says, “But here are the ways in which he acts like a shit otherwise…” It’s as if an editor has said to the reporter “Give me a couple of thousand words on what a terrible person he is”

nickc

That article just seems like an unnecessary hatchet job just as Horner is being investigated…”We must presume he’s innocent” it says, “But here are the ways in which he acts like a shit otherwise…” It’s as if an editor has said to the reporter “Give me a couple of thousand words on what a terrible person he is”
Posted 17 minutes ago

Hatchet job or not, it articulates nicely how I feel about how he operates. I respect what he’s achieved with the team but that’s as far as it goes. Imagine working in an environment lead by somebody like that.

I think the female employee is a smokescreen, it’s Michael Masi.

Michelle Masi?

The new Torro Rosso livery looks fairly decent! (well, colourful at least!)

That car looks familiar somehow..🤔

Shame it’s stuck on a Red Bull – I’m currently stocking up on sausage rolls and pork pies ready – fingers crossed – for the best F1 news since Lewis joined Ferrari. F1 for me will be so much better if Mr Smug is not longer on the pit wall.

Shame it’s stuck on a Red Bull – I’m currently stocking up on sausage rolls and pork pies ready – fingers crossed – for the best F1 news since Lewis joined Ferrari. F1 for me will be so much better if Mr Smug is not longer on the pit wall.

I’d be amazed if we hear anything (one way or the other) today….tho i hope I’m wrong

Yes, unless it was serious criminal behaviour, I expect it will take weeks or months to be resolved and we might not ever hear the details. AFAIK, Horner is accused of “bullying”, which could cover a huge range of things. The meeting today is with Red Bull corporate lawyers to establish the facts. If there is criminal conduct, I would expect him to be escorted out of the building, but I doubt that it’s that serious. If it’s at the less serious end of the scale, it’s quite likely that he will be told to apologize, everyone at Red Bull will have to attend workshops on how to behave appropriately at work, and Horner will be monitored to make sure he doesn’t repeat.

Unless they offer him “resign or we fire you” cos it’s bad but not criminal…in which case he may “consider his position” over the weekend.
You have to think if they want him gone it’s going to happen before the new car launch next week.

RB might take a while to release the findings, but that doesn’t mean Horner will keep his trap shut… and then Ferrari announce his arrival on Monday

Times is reporting that they’ve been told not to expect any resolution until just before the first Grand Prix

Does he have a reputation for being unpleasant to work for? Outwardly he’s in the Simon Cowell mould of knobber I’d elect to engineer my career to not work with but that’s not the same thing. It’d be odd for him to step over the line from unpleasant and exacting knobber to outright unacceptable bully with one employee only over 20 years so either everyone else has kept their head down and this is the first whistleblower (maybe of many) or he’s found himself up against someone thinner skinned than usual for the industry. One person’s unpleasant and exactly knobber is another’s bully I guess. There is a certain whiff of Dominic Rabb about him.