#Formula 1 data analysis

[aoimeru14]

I know I'm just a nerd with a dream but:

What if, in preparation for the next season, we start a technical/analytical F1 (or Motorsport) community here on Tumblr?

Like, it can be a safe space to learn and share opinions/articles/cool facts on strategy, tyres, telemetries, rules and so on!

It can also be a safe space for anyone who wants to share an unbiased opinion, nerd on raw data (I'm looking at you, engineering graduates) or just help new fans catch on the sport!

Or just be a cozy place for seasoned fans who want to learn something new (I, for one, still need to learn A LOT of technical aspects of this sport) either for having a better understanding of the races/strategies or just for making more plausible fanfictions (I know you would like that, you FF writers!).

Also... I got this idea while yapping with another user recently and I really liked that! (You know who you are, thank you for the great time!)

That's why I got brave and asked. 🧡

In conclusion, what do you think? Would you like that?

[charles-leclerc-official]

2024 Japan Grand Prix Race Analysis

My analysis of the 2024 Japan Grand Prix. Table of contents below detailing the order of the post. We have a lot to cover as this was an eventful race so I am not going to waste time making introductions.

Table of Contents  Ferrari – Race strategy: qualifying and tyre management – Charles: his qualifying and his race – Carlos: his race – In depth data and pace analysis Mclaren – Race strategy – Tyre management/Charles – Pace VCARB – Yuki: his race – Daniel: his crash with Alex Red Bull Mercedes Williams – Logan: his race – Team car problems Stake Concluding Thoughts

Ferrari

Ferrari had Carlos start in P4 and finish P3. Charles started P8 and finished P4. They both further secured Ferrari's lead for second in the constructors as well as keeping the WDC and WCC still competitive against Red Bull.

This race highlighted some areas that need to be improved on the SF-24 but more importantly it also showed some of the massive improvements that Ferrari has made in development and that is what made this race very exciting for Ferrari fans.

Once again the Ferrari strategy was great. It would have actually been good to mid if it were not for Charles having the skill and confidence to go for the one-stop strategy. But this is another race where I don't think they could have done anything better.

As it was with the starting grid positions Charles was looking at maybe getting P7 or P6 with a 2 stop strategy. And that strategy was most likely given the track and how much deg there usually is at Suzuka.

The reason Charles made it to P4 was because of his superior driving and tyre management, and Ferrari listening to him when he said he wanted to go for the one-stop strategy. They listened and it was 100% the right call on Charles’ part. 

Charles outperformed what should have been possible. If you don’t believe me just look at what Max, Lando, Oscar, Checo, Mclaren, and Red Bull are saying about his tyre management. Charles in the SF-24 was the only one who could have pulled that one-stop off. Seriously, the fact that Max didn’t think he could have done it is really all you need to know. They saw that and were genuinely impressed not only by the car but by Charles, because we saw that with Carlos he was struggling more with tyre deg and that was with a two-stop approach. 

So not only was this the best strategy to maximize points for Charles this race given his starting grid position, it was also just a truly phenomenal drive from Charles himself. 

And once again we are seeing incredible strides being made at the Ferrari pit wall in terms of timing and strategy. The pit stops for both drivers were on point. They listened to Charles and went with the strategy he wanted and it worked! 

Everything I saw this race was so promising for the trajectory of Ferrari and Charles’ season, and beyond into 2025 and 2026.

Charles: Race, Qualifying, and Free Practice

Charles ran a truly insane race. The only reason he gained all of the positions he did was because of his choice to do the one-stop and not only that but making it work! He gained every position it was possible for him to take and then some. His tyre management on this high degredation track was borderline supernatural.

Charles pulled off zero to negative tyre degradation on both sets of his tyres. (Negative deg is when faster laps are set as the tyres age) This was without question the best tyre management performance we have seen from a driver in 2024. It is something that no other driver could pull off (either due to skill, driving style, or machinery) and that is why Charles is Ferrari. 

Have I waxed on long enough about Charles and his tyres? Just wait till you get to the Mclaren section.

I also have a lot more to say about his pace and tyres in the data section.

For now let's move on to some of the questions people might have about what happened to Charles in qualifying and FP3.

Charles qualifying position was decided in free practice. I want to try to be brief, so here is a quick timeline of why Charles’ didn’t have the optimal setup for qualifying (this also applies to Carlos because both Ferrari’s underperformed in qualifying, there was a difference of 1/10th between them so it really was just a matter of the field being so tight)

Suzuka is colder during the day than any race we’ve had so far this year. With the SF-24 being so good with tyre deg that is actually a problem because it means that getting the tyres to warm up takes longer. 

The loss of all of FP2 due to rain was a big blow to Ferrari and especially Charles.

Charles has been having more issues getting his qualifying settings right to manage the tyre warming issue. This is due to his personal setup choices and driving style. Being gentler on the tyres in a car with less deg is leading to him underperforming in qualifying. 

So we lost valuable time when Ferrari really needed to understand the SF-24 behavior in the colder Suzuka temps. 

FP3: Charles and Carlos both got in some race sim laps, but only got to squeeze in 1 or 2 flying lap tests at the very end. Charles especially was frustrated by this. I believe that this came from not having the time to complete all of the program they had outlined to prep for qualifying and the race. 

Going into qualifying Charles didn’t have enough data to guide his settings for Q1. They went with a certain setup they hadn’t gotten to fully test and it didn’t work. Which led to them having to send Charles out again in Q1 with a different setup on another set of softs to try to set a better lap in Q1.

In Q3 Charles only had 1 set of softs remaining to set his best lap. It was okay but not enough. I do think that over qualifying he did get settings better on the car and if he’d had another set of softs he might have made it up to P6 (possibly P5) the middle of the field was very close so I don’t think this qualifying placement and time was as bad as it looks. It certainly isn’t great, but compared to his teammate and the rest of the top teams it wasn’t so concerning. 

So the lack of enough free practice to figure out the best qualifying setup for Charles in the colder temps is really what cost them here. I think this is why we saw Charles very frustrated at not having the time to do more flying laps during FP3 and Fred also not happy with the program they ran during all free practice sessions.

All of this does apply to Carlos as well. We’ve seen him qualify better in 2024 too so this was just a matter of the SF-24 settings on flying laps given the colder temps and the track. 

This is a current issue for the SF-24, but it is something that can be developed and I think there are certain upgrades that will address this. It is better to have a car base that is too gentle on the tyres than the other way around. The SF-24 tyre treatment is a good base to work with. This weekend just highlighted areas where improvements need to be made. The unfortunate part was the loss of FP2 because that was going to be important for colder temp data gathering.

I want to once again now take the time to shut down some narratives about Ferrari's race specifically relating to Carlos' lap 46 pass on Charles:

The reason Charles and Ferrari let Carlos pass was because Carlos was on newer tyres and thus had overall faster lap times.

It’s insane to expect a team to keep the car that has faster pace behind. I could see it if it was a difference of 1/10th or something or if it was the last lap of the race, then it’s up for debate. That wasn’t the case here, Carlos with the tyres that were 10 laps newer was almost 1 second faster. Keeping him behind would have not only compromised his race but also possibly Charles’. We don’t want a car just hovering behind the other. As we heard on the radio the main concern was keeping Lando behind. As far as gaining significant placement this race goes we always knew Lando was going to be Charles' competition. If the cars were fighting over pace with this big of a discrepancy in the pace we would have seen disastrous results. 

Charles knew this and this is why he let Carlos by. He was never intending to race Carlos(he literally said this in interviews after). With the way they started on the grid it was not going to be in the cards this race. Charles said as much and he isn’t upset about it. 

“Carlos overtook Charles”: No, Charles let him pass because that was strategically optimal for both Ferrari drivers. 

“Carlos’ pace was better”: No, he was on a completely different tyre strategy, the only reason he was faster is because he did two stints on mediums and then finished on newer hards. Charles overall race pace and tyre management was better. This is just a result of 1. Different starting positions and 2. Different tyre strategies. It’s very hard to do a driver-to driver comparison with blanket statements when they are on different strategies.

“Ferrari gave the order to switch with Sainz”: No, they just didn’t do that, I don’t know what race you were watching.

“They should have told Carlos to defend”: That would have been a bad strategy choice for both drivers. There is a lot more than current track position that goes into strategy calls.

"Ferrari strategy screwed Charles over again": No, Charles chose his strategy(and it was the right call). Ferrari did great in supporting him.

I don't understand why people want to run this narrative that we keep getting Silverstone 22' level strategy calls when that is just not happening.

Now Charles radio after the race may have sounded disappointed and in the heat of the moment he probably was. However in interviews after the race he was very happy with the car (I think he realized just what a good performance he put in) but also I think his big takeaway from this race was that Ferrari have given him a strong base to work with(finally) and he has been only saying more positive things since then.

Ferrari did amazing supporting both drivers. Especially Charles because it was his call to do the one-stop and they listened to him and supported him perfectly throughout running that strategy.

Carlos

Carlos ran a clean race. He gained the one position which is about what we'd expect from the car he was in and his starting position. His performance also gave us really good baseline data for the SF-24.

His race was mostly decided in qualifying and also the fact that Mclaren struggled far more than expected on this track. Ferrari initially thought he might have to fight Lando more for that position but Mclaren's struggle was Carlos' gain.

I also think that just this race in general from him and his driving style was really good data for the SF-24 to inform development and that is awesome!

I don't have a ton to add, it was good, got those WCC points for Ferrari and that's exactly what we want to see from him.

In Depth Data Analysis

The name of the game here is tyre wear. The SF-24 (especially in Charles' hands) has had phenomenal race pace and that is due to the fact that this car is so easy on the tyres. However Charles is the driver who has been able to pull this feature out of the car due to his driving style and tyre management skills.

We are going to look at a comparison of Charles' and Carlos' data to highlight exactly what was so interesting about Charles' pace. And then also adding in Max, because as the driver to beat he is a good benchmark(as well as showing the top performance of the RB-20)

Here is a comparison of lap times between Charles and Carlos, corrected for tyre age(because they were on different strategies)

For the medium tyre I used both their first medium stints. Carlos did two stints on mediums, I used his first stint for comparison because it means both tyres were subject to the same time of day and track temps and conditions. 

Now the lap times themselves here aren’t as important. Carlos and Charles were in different spots on the track and Carlos was in much cleaner air even on that first stint. The real thing to look at is the way Charles lap time stays consistent, and even gets faster as the age of the tyres progresses, while Carlos starts off with his best speed and then gradually gets slower. Carlos’ pace here is an example of what we expect to see - as tyres age they get slower so his pace on these tyres is perfectly normal, by the time he got to lap 14 before he pitted he’d lost more than a second of pace on those tyres (which is normal and expected). Then we can then look at Charles who is getting almost the exact same lap time out of his 11 lap old mediums as the first lap. Where Carlos has lost more than a second, Charles has lost nothing. Furthermore you can see multiple instances of an increased speed on his previous laps, which indicates negative tyre degradation. This goes against general tyre wear behavior and can only be attributed to Charles’ skill in extending the pace of his tyres.

I want to add that both driver’s pace was excellent and that both their performances would not have been possible without the massive leap Ferrari has made with the SF-24 and race pace tyre degradation. 

Again looking at the hards the actual lap time is not important here, Charles and Carlos were running very different strategies at this point. Charles was racing to extend the life of the tyres to pull off a one-stop and Carlos was trying to regain position near the front. What we are looking at is once again the way the lap times increase for Carlos steadily, and just don’t for Charles. 

Charles once again was pulling essentially the same lap time on 11 lap old hards, while Carlos had lost a full second. The sheer consistency here is what is scaring the other teams. 

I want to note here that none of this is meant to make Carlos look bad. I think his runs and tyre treatment were pretty good overall, but when your teammate is defying the laws of physics in the same car it can even make a good drive look not as great. But I have no issues with how Carlos managed, he gave a good example of what I would say is the base deg for the SF-24.

Now I want to compare Charles’ pace to Max’s, again correcting for tyre age. 

This is helpful because this is where we can get a look at match-ups for the future, the strengths of the SF-24 compared to the RB20. 

Here is where it gets interesting. Max on the hards was managing degradation amazingly, right on par with Charles. 

The big difference is on the mediums. After 11 laps Max had lost over a full second of pace on the mediums and Charles had not. 

This gap is where we are going to see big results come in from the SF-24 in the future. If I were Red Bull I’d be worried about this. And this is why they are also specifically worried about Charles, because we see that the SF-24 in Carlos hands is behaving as expected as far as tyre deg goes, the real threat based on the data is the combination of Charles Leclerc and the SF-24. 

Deltas Δ

Now let's take a look at what the change in pace lap to lap looks like for Charles, Max and Carlos. Again using those first 11 laps on the mediums.

Lap deltas are the change in lap time lap-to-lap, and this is a metric that shows if a driver is keeping pace, gaining pace or losing pace. Positive numbers mean a loss of pace, negative numbers are a gain. This is calculated by the equation of (Lap time B - Lap time A = change in pace or the delta Δ) So it's just the time difference lap to lap. This is how we can take a look at the actual pace and correct for lap times (which are not important here)

On it's own this doesn't look like much, yes Charles is managing best, but Carlos is also ahead of Max. This is showing where the SF-24 is better than the RB-20. The fact that of these three drivers Max is the worst on this metric is notable.

However the impressive part of Charles' tyre deg is not in these first 11 laps. Because after these laps Max and Carlos had to pit because they were losing time and their tyres were done.

Charles kept going.

Here is what Charles' full stint on the mediums looked like.

Charles continued to achieve faster laps and negative deltas well into the life of the tyres, and that is what is setting him apart from Carlos and Max.

Not only was Charles achieving negative deltas, he was doing it more consistently as the tyres aged.

For comparison here is Carlos' and Max's data overlayed on Charles full medium stint.

While the first graph on the mediums shows that both Ferrari's were outperforming the RB20 in terms of deg(or at the very least Carlos was on a very similar delta to Max), this is where you see the difference in the drivers. Because Max and Carlos had to pit because they were rapidly losing performance on those tyres(see above time sheets) Charles was not, and he only improved. He more than doubled the life of his tyres in comparison to the other two.

This is the graph that really matters because it shows what each driver was able to do with one set of mediums. And as you can see it's not even close.

This is where you can see the impact of the negative deg over time. Compared to the normal deg we see with Max and Carlos it serves to highlight exactly how outside of the norm Charles was operating.

Charles only continued to improve well beyond the other two. That's what was insane about his tyre management.

Neither Carlos or Max were going to be able to continue their pace (hence the pit)

I feel like the data really speaks for itself. Max and Carlos are good comparisons here, Carlos is a good driver in the same car as Charles, and Max is the current top driver on the grid and is known for his tyre management.

I want to finish this section with the sentence that is chilling the blood of every other driver and TP on the grid: Charles set his fastest lap of his race on 25 lap old hards.

Mclaren

So what happened to Mclaren?

A lot of people were expecting Mclaren to be the second strongest team on this track. And qualifying certainly made it look like that might be the case. With Lando being ahead of Carlos in P3 and Oscar being ahead of Charles in P6 on the starting grid.

So why did both Mclarens get easily defeated by the Ferraris?

I think there are 2 main reasons.

The Mclaren car is not even close to the SF-24 when it comes to tyre deg, that car loses pace much faster so it just cannot fight when a Ferrari comes up behind it.

Charles 1 stop strategy really messed up the team's pit strategy with Lando. 

In Mclaren’s defense no one thought anyone would be crazy enough to try a 1 stop around Suzuka, let alone have zero tyre deg on a high deg track. 

They seemed to be managing their pit strategy with Lando under the assumption that Charles was going to pit twice, and I think they were very worried about an undercut in the pits (after they didn’t get away with it in Australia I think they were very keen to make sure they kept their position)

But Charles didn’t do a 2 stop strategy. He stayed out and his pace on the hards was unbelievable. 

There was really no way for them to see that coming. It’s kind of hard when your main competition decides this is the weekend he’s going to challenge the laws of physics.

(And you thought I was done talking about Charles’ tyre strategy)

Here is a graph of Lando vs Carlos. That was the spot he lost, and you can see that the pit strategy is really what cost Lando the spot. Carlos came behind him on much fresher tyres and by then he'd lost the pace. He pitted too early, and that was due to Mclaren not understanding that Charles is on another level.

His pace was okay on newer tyres, but once they age the drop off was pretty bad. So the Mclaren car needs to improve in the tyre deg department if they want to see either of their drivers beat a Ferrari any time this year.

Furthermore Oscar once again struggled more because he is still the weaker of the two Mclarens when it comes to tyre deg, and on this track that really showed. 

But I think the fact that Mclaren kept trying to figure out when Charles was going to pit for his second stint and then he just didn’t really threw them off and had them making some weird pit calls. 

VCARB

Yuki

Yuki ran what was in my opinion the second most impressive drive of the race. He qualified P10 and finished P10. However to keep that position he pulled of some truly perfect overtakes. He was fighting to finally get that home race point. I was so excited seeing him put on that good of a show for his home fans.

In this race he became the first Japanese driver to score home race points since 2012, and that is just so exciting for Yuki and his fans. It really made that single point mean a lot. I don't think I have ever been more excited for a P10!

Yuki has really been showing what the VCARB car is capable of and it looks really promising. He seems comfortable and I think we will be seeing a lot more points from him this season.

Daniel: Crash with Albon and DNF

Going to be covering Alex and Daniel's crash this section.

On lap 1, Daniel and Alex made contact going into turn 3, resulting in both cars going off the track and ending up in the barriers. Both drivers had to retire from the race.

To me this looked like a result of crowding into that turn in the mid field with neither driver at significant fault. I don't think Daniel was trying to push Alex wide, and I also don't think that Alex mistook that corner. The FIA and stewards agree and Alex and Daniel's story of what happened make sense.

Going into the turn Daniel had the outside line, and he was trying to give room to the Aston Martin(Lance) on his inside. He didn't see Alex on his outside and his wheel made contact with Alex's front wing, causing his car to spin and pushing Alex of the line and into the gravel.

Alex thought he had the outside line to overtake and was in the process of attempting that when Daniel went to give space on the inside, this resulted in the contact and Daniel forcing him wide.

This crash really just was a result of crowding in that corner, Daniel was trying to give space to one driver and inadvertently crowded out another. There wasn't space so he was kind of in a lose-lose situation there.

I agree with the stewards that no penalty for either driver was warranted and that this was the result of midfield crowding, and some bad luck for both drivers. It wasn't a result of bad driving on either Daniel or Alex's part. Even if Daniel had seen Alex I am not sure what he could have done if he also needed to give room to Lance.

Ultimately I am glad both drivers are uninjured. Hopefully they have some better luck in future races.

Red Bull

I don't have a ton to say about Red Bull. My comparison in the Ferrari data section is what was most interesting about this race from the data standpoint.

They didn't do much, the Red Bulls started ahead and finished ahead as expected. Max and Checo both ran a really clean race. Again showing the power of the RB-20.

I will add that this was a really good race for Checo(probably his best this year), and it was nice to see him have redemption after Suzuka 2023.

Nothing terribly exciting to add. Max won again, well done Max!

Mercedes

Mercedes didn't have a great race, but considering that both their drivers DNFed in Australia it was good for the team to get some points. Lewis started in P7 and finished P9, while George started P9 and finished P7. So they swapped positions.

It seems that the Mercedes car might be better on those qualifying laps than the race pace (and even then it's qualifying has been inconsistent)

The most notable thing about Mercedes' race was when Lewis asked if he should let George pass when George came up behind him, and George did in fact make the pass. This was done simply because George's pace was better. Lewis knew this so it was best for the team.

I think that so far we have seen that the W15 is struggling in a lot of areas, and as far as drivers go George has been more comfortable in the car(could be driving style, setup, a combo of the two) than Lewis.

Both are solid drivers, and hopefully they can guide Mercedes into making improvements to the car to get them closer to top points. At this point the car Mercedes has made seems to have fallen short of expectations. Make no mistake though, Lewis and George are both drivers who are much better than the car they are in at the moment.

Williams

I covered Alex's crash with Daniel already so we are going to talk about Logan.

Logan honestly did about the best he could do in the car he had. After damaging both his front and rear wing in free practice and still using the repaired chassis from Australia his car was not in the best shape already going into the race. Additionally the Williams really struggled with grip in the rears and has been all over the place. Suzuka especially seems to have not been suited to it.

Yes on lap 41 Logan went off track into a gravel trap, but that was on a corner that had given more skilled and experienced drivers trouble this weekend so I am not going to fault him too much for that in the car he had. Better cars were having problems there too.

He did have a really strong first stint and was pulling some overtakes. Most of his positions were lost when he did get undercut by some pit stops, and then of course losing time to the gravel trap.

The win is that he finished the race and the car is intact. That may not seem like much, but given the state of things at Williams it's important.

There were some highlights for his race and I will say in terms of raw performance he has not been far off Alex this year. That car of Williams is really hindering both drivers.

Stake

Stake actually had pretty good pace overall. The car is not as bad as it has looked on paper. The main issues has been their slow pit stops (caused by incompatibility between the bolters and the tyre covers apparently) Zhou and Valtteri both showed some pretty good pace and were in positions for overtakes.

Zhou unfortunately had to retire his car due to gearbox issues.

Stake has really been a mess and we have not seen what that car can actually do in terms of performance overall, or what what their drivers are capable of in that car.

They are making attempts to address the pit stop issue and I think if they do that, then we will see both drivers picking up some P10 points at the very least.

Final Thoughts

I think we can all agree that Suzuka was the best race of the year so far from a pure racing standpoint!

Whew, that’s all I got on this race, so I will leave you with this final thought. 

This race was a warning shot from Ferrari.

[j0shm0]

Lewis Hamilton All - Time Race Record

Right before the start of the summer break this year between the Britan and Hungarian Grand prix F1 posted this image on their twitter profile which showed Lewi's 1, 2, 3, P4-10, outside top10, DNF, DSQ since he started in 2007.

From which point I possed the question of "how intersting would this look if we do it in order and not color stacking", to which no one replied...so I decided to just do it myself.

I changed it up a little bit and instead of counting p10s before they were points finishes; I switched it up to be 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Points Finish, Outside of Points, DNF, DSQ.

In order, 2007 - 2024 (top to bottom) and races per year (left to right)

Counting all from 2007 to 2024 Winner (First): 105 times [Gold] Second: 57 times [Silver] Third: 40 times [Bronze] Points Finish: >2010 = (4th – 8th) | <2010 = (4th – 10th): 106 times [Purple] Outside Points: >2010 = (8th – 20th) | <2010 = (11th – 20th): 14 times [Dark Gray] Did Not Finish: 32 times [Red] Disqualifed: 2 times [Blue]

2019 was the most dominet year lewis had, with zero finished out of the top 10 and 17 podium finishes. Followed by 2020 even though it was a shortned year due to covid.

[f1]

[techdriveplay]

Getting Into Kart Racing

Kart racing is a highly thrilling form of motorsport that serves as the gateway for many aspiring racers into the world of competitive racing. At its core, kart racing involves driving small, open-wheel vehicles known as karts around a track. These machines may look simple at first glance, but they offer an intense racing experience that requires skill, precision, and a deep understanding of…

[bth3cowboi]

love conjeture, lh44 x reader

masterlist

pairing: lewis hamilton x mathematician!reader

summary: sometimes algorithms win championships, other times they help find love. (social media au)

mercedesamgf1

liked by yninmath, georgerussell63 and 879.301 others

mercedesamgf1 This year we want to give a special thank-you to Dr. Yn Ln! With the creation of her new algorithm focused on data analysis and her extensive collaboration this season our view in analytics evolved to unimaginable levels. We are forever grateful for her contributions and what they mean for the future of Formula 1. Thanks again Dr. Ln, and good luck with the thesis! 😎💻

tagged yninmath;

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yninmath thank you for the opportunity🫡💙 it was an honor to work alongside this great team

mercedesamgf1 👏💙

user1 omg work girlll!!

user2 just googled her and im going crazy like how do you have 3 phds at 27😭?

user3 graduated super early too shes kind of a genius lol

lewishamilton thank you miss yn💙

yninmath your welcome sir champion🥹

user4 ok this is cuteee

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georgerussell63 Outstanding!🙌 Make sure to come back Dr. Yn

yninmath oh but the travelling😮‍💨

lewishamilton nah you’ll make it back

yninmath if you say so haha

yninmath

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yninmath currently picking up trash couches, writing thesis and remembering the friends ive made along the way 🤓💘

on a serious note, if anyone is interested in reading about topology feel free to read my new paper abt it (link in bio #influencer)

tagged bestfriend, roscoelovescoco;

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roscoelovescoco working’s hard🐾😵‍💫

yninmath or hardly working🤔

bestfriend surprised the couch didnt bring rats or something

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user3 suspicious…

user4 what? they cant be just friends?

user5 I thought she worked for merecedes, what is this?

user6 she was only there to develop part of her thesis tho still won them another championship

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f1paddockgossip

liked by pierregasly and 903.443 others

f1paddockgossip BREAKING! Lewis Hamilton was caught while vacationing in France with mathematician and Mercedes’ collaborator Dr. Yn Ln. The pair are rumored to be in a months-long relationship already, starting in the middle of last season.

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user1 NOOOOO

user2 isnt she like way younger than him? weird

user3 shes literally a grown woman lol she can be with whoever she pleases

user4 no cause they actually look really cute🥹 so happy for them

user5 right! she seems super nice

user6 i just know that man is confused everytime she talks numbers lmao the curse of dating a stem girlie

lewishamilton

liked by yninmath, f1 and 3.478.139 others

lewishamilton congrats on the finished thesis miss yn😉💙 love you

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yninmath love u and ty for the championship😘 would have failed otherwise

lewishamilton 😂😂

lewishamilton anything for my girl

yninmath 🥹

yninmath

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yninmath you best believe he sat on the #trashcouch #dearlordwhenigettoheaven

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bestfriend did it have fleas lewishamilton?

lewishamilton no but I was worried

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bestfriend just buy a new one please

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——

a/n: ty for reading and i hope you enjoyed🩷 maybe ill be writing more for different drivers soon, so if anyone is interesed keep that in mind!

[alltoomaples]

Speed of Science🧬💻💌

I'm dating a STEM girlie and you're not (F1 Edition)

a/n: and im baaaaaacccckkkkk (like anyone even missed me lmao) with the long overdue request! life of a postgrad StEm girlie here and the struggle is really realll af. but besides that, I'm writing this down as a headcanon for the drivers requested on this poll i had posted long back here. I've always wondered how there's soo minimal povs/ocs where they are a scientific researcher, analyst, etc. sooo i dedicate this one to all the STEM F1 girlies out theree <33

alsoo quick shoutout to my girlieee @smoooothoperator for inspiring and motivating me to get back at writing!🥹🫶🏼 check out her lastest ongoing work 'What Was I Made For? ' its amazing and thats a FACT!! do check her works! its absolutely amazing❤️

check out my works: until i found you masterlist | other works

Scientific Art Illustrator - Charles Leclerc

As a Scientific Art Illustrator, you specialize in creating visually captivating and scientifically accurate illustrations that depict complex biological, astronomical, or technological subjects.

Charles first discovered you through your works at an exhibition where their stunning illustrations of Formula 1 cars caught his eye. Impressed by their attention to detail and artistic talent, they struck up a conversation about their mutual love for precision and creativity.

During a peaceful weekend afternoon, Charles suggests a spontaneous visit to a local art supply store. Excitedly exploring aisles stocked with vibrant paints, fine brushes, and specialized papers, the two of you engage in discussions about artistic techniques and innovative tools. Amidst laughter and shared enthusiasm for creativity, you bond over your mutual appreciation for the intricacies of art and science, making the afternoon a cherished memory of their shared passions.

After being away from home during race season, Charles always finds a framed series of sketches by you for the races you couldn't make it, capturing his most memorable racing moments. Each sketch is intricately detailed, depicting not only the speed and intensity of the races but also the emotions and determination etched on Charles' face. Touched by the thoughtful gesture, Charles hangs the sketches in his study, a constant reminder of your support and admiration for his passion.

...

Data Scientist - Lando Norris

A Data Scientist specializes in analyzing large volumes of data using statistical methods and machine learning techniques to extract insights and make data-driven decisions.

You and Lando first connected through a mutual fascination with racing data at a technology symposium focused on sports analytics. Your presentation on advanced predictive modelling in motorsports caught Lando's attention for its innovative approach to enhancing race strategies.

During a cosy evening at home, Lando playfully challenges you to a friendly data analysis competition using real-time telemetry from previous races. Their banter and shared excitement over dissecting racing data create a lighthearted and memorable bonding experience.

You two would watch old races and analyze historical racing data together, playfully debating optimal pit stop strategies and analyzing driver performance trends, their shared passion for racing and data fostering a deep connection and mutual admiration.

...

Oceanographer/Marine Biologist - Oscar Piastri

An Oceanographer or Marine Biologist studies marine life, ecosystems, and ocean processes to understand and protect marine environments and resources.

You and Oscar crossed paths during a research expedition to study coral reefs in a remote location. Your expertise in marine biology and passion for conservation impressed Oscar, sparking their connection.

Amidst the hectic F1 season, Oscar surprises you with a weekend getaway to a coastal retreat, where they explore tide pools and participate in a beach cleanup together, reaffirming their commitment to environmental stewardship.

You gave Oscar a custom-made charm bracelet featuring miniature charms of marine animals they've discussed during their beach walks and conservation talks. Each charm represents a meaningful moment in their relationship, from their first discussion about oceanography to their shared admiration for marine life. Oscar wears the bracelet during race weekends as a reminder of you and all the love and support you give, both on and off the track.

...

Mechanical Engineer - Daniel Riccardo

You are a passionate Mechanical Engineer, specializing in advanced automotive design and performance optimization.

Daniel first encountered you at a technical conference organized by one of the team sponsors where you presented groundbreaking research on aerodynamic innovations that caught his attention.

Often, while you meticulously draft engineering schematics at their home office, he makes sure that you have your "engineering emergency kit" beside your workstation, which is a tray of snacks and their favourite coffee – ensuring they're fueled for their late-night brainstorming sessions. For when he's away for races, he stacks them up with small cute notes.

Before Daniel heads to a crucial race, you surprise him with a meticulously crafted miniature replica of his race car, complete with detailed decals and a personalized message of encouragement engraved on the base. Touched by the thoughtful gesture, Daniel proudly displays it in his motorhome, a reminder of the reader's unwavering support both on and off the track.

...

Statistician - George Russell

A Statistician specializes in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting numerical data to help organizations and individuals make informed decisions.

You and Russell first crossed paths during a university seminar on advanced statistical modeling in sports. Your insightful analysis of Formula 1 race data caught George's attention, sparking a lively discussion that led to mutual admiration for each other's analytical skills and shared passion for racing statistics.

During a particularly demanding race weekend, the reader surprises George with a meticulously prepared statistical analysis report highlighting his strengths and areas for improvement based on recent race data. This thoughtful gesture boosts George's confidence and motivation, showing the reader's support in his pursuit of excellence.

During a weekend getaway, you guys stumble upon a local go-kart track. George, always up for a challenge, suggests they have a friendly race. Knowing George's competitive spirit, you secretly calculate his optimal strategy and surprise him by winning with a perfectly executed last-minute overtaking maneuver. George is impressed by the your strategic thinking and playfulness, and they share a lighthearted and joyous moment celebrating their shared love for racing and friendly competition.

...

Astrophysicist - Logan Sargeant

An Astrophysicist studies the physical properties, behavior, and evolution of celestial objects such as stars, planets, galaxies, and the universe as a whole, using principles of physics and astronomy.

Logan and you first crossed paths during an expedition to study a rare astronomical event—a comet passing close to Earth. Both passionate about astrophysics, you found yourselves sharing a telescope at a remote observatory, marveling at the comet's beauty and discussing its celestial significance late into the night. Their shared awe and intellectual connection sparked a mutual admiration that grew into a deep bond over their shared passion for exploring the wonders of the cosmos.

During a quiet evening at home, Logan excitedly shows you a new telescope he acquired for stargazing during race weekends, expressing his eagerness to learn more about the cosmos together and sharing their enthusiasm for both racing and astrophysics in equal measure.

Before a critical race weekend, the reader surprises Logan with a personalized star chart that maps out the night sky above the upcoming race venue during the race weekend. Each star on the chart is marked with a heartfelt message of encouragement, reminding Logan of their unwavering support and belief in his abilities on and off the track. Touched by the thoughtful gesture, Logan treasures the star chart as a symbol of the reader's love and encouragement throughout his racing career.

...

Climate Scientist - Lance Stroll

A Climate Scientist studies climate patterns, environmental changes, and their impacts on Earth's ecosystems, using data analysis and modeling to understand and address global climate challenges.

Lance crossed paths with you at an eco-friendly racing event where Lance was advocating for sustainable practices in motorsport. Being a respected climate scientist, you caught Lance's attention with your insightful presentation on the environmental impact of racing and innovative solutions for reducing carbon footprints in the sport. Their shared passion for sustainability sparked an immediate connection and admiration for each other's dedication to making a positive impact on the environment.

One weekend, Lance surprises you with a homemade dinner featuring sustainably sourced ingredients, proudly showcasing his culinary skills while discussing ways to reduce your carbon footprint. His earnest commitment to sustainability and your shared vision for a healthier planet melts your heart, making this a cherished moment you both treasure.

You, being deeply involved in climate science, often spends late nights analyzing data or writing research papers. One evening, Lance bring him a cozy blanket and a mug of your favorite hot beverage, quietly sitting beside him as he works. You look up from your laptop, touched by his thoughtfulness, and pulls him into a warm embrace, grateful for his unwavering support and understanding of your demanding but vital work.

...

taglist: @lndonrris @thatgirlmj @lwstuff @dannyramirezwife-f1dump @moonypixel tysm for your suggestions! apologies on taking this long to write😅🫶🏼

a/n: hope y'all enjoyed reading this! this was my first time writing a headcanon and for f1 drivers beside charles and lando so hope i did justice to all.

i'm being wanting to read some good domestic bliss, sweet, adorable and lovey dovey blurbs, fics of lando (i talked abt it here) soo maybe i'll work on some drafts at some point cause i'm currently in the middle of project work of my masters degree soo don't know when i'll be posting soo until next time, see yaaa and going back to read mode 👋💓✨️

check out my works: until i found you masterlist | other works

[mecachrome]

your post made me so emotional, bc you're so right! i'm just so amazed how good and consistent their season was. oscar finished every single lap and lando is only 7 laps behind and they literally both scored points in 23 of 24 GPs. and they are the youngest driver pairing to ever bring home the wcc! impressive stroke of luck they are both at the team at the same time.

🧡🧡🧡 oscar's record is so impressive considering how close it got at certain points... and each time they failed to score points they were running at the front before unfortunate timing/incidents (miami + austria LOL)

anyway i think........ again, a lot of people willfully misunderstand the dynamic landoscar have had since 2023 because it's not as narratively rich as other teams on the grid and now that mclaren have a fast car it stands to reason that they crave tension and artifice to cheapen the team's success. the thing with landoscar is that they're both very raw talents in different ways, and therefore not at all like red bull or mercedes, who coming into the season already had multi-wdc winning drivers, or even ferrari who had one driver marginally in a championship fight and another with plenty of experience across the grid, from tr to renault to mcl to fer... with george too there's a very specific kind of hunger to him because he was held back at williams as long as possible (which very well could have been oscar's fate in another timeline... 😫), and was promoted only to watch merc's development fall off a cliff — these are all well-established drivers, winning drivers, drivers who have bounced from team to team, drivers with meticulous images, etc. etc. that don't align with lando's experience in formula 1

lando meanwhile is someone who has always been and will continue to be underestimated and misunderstood, which is a fact of life, but coming into this season he was 1) winless and 2) didn't have the flashy resume to speak to his clear and obvious consistency. because of oscar's complicated history and the ambiguity (to the naked media eye, divorced from real data analysis or objectivity) of lando's success, the overarching notion was basically (as lando had previously done with dr) eat or be eaten — that oscar could only be immediately better or worse than lando, perpetually, and that cherrypicked results spoke to the totality of each driver's potential.

and really... the reality is that they work because while lando maybe wasn't a prodigious talent à la 17 y/o max, he IS vastly experienced for his young age, and he has proven himself against older drivers his whole life, and even if oscar isn't so experienced he's still adaptable and clear-headed and mature and not what was made of him at the onset of his career. and we can see that lando and charles are desperately loyal in very similar ways (whether that be to their detriment or not), yet none of their previous teammates have ever come in and managed to work with them with the same drive and hunger and level of cooperation that oscar has proven this season. like people will watch mcl through the lens of wanting one to be washed, wanting oscar to immediately show up lando, etc. but they held their heads down and even through the papaya rules of it all proved that they could communicate, that they were willing to give each other points and wins back without fanfare, and that most of all the team held more worth than any momentary, fleeting individual glory....... and that comes from a shared understanding few driver pairings are capable of maintaining. so idk 🧡 maybe sometimes a team literally just isn't toxic. sorry

[runariya]

Drive to Survive (JJK) • Chapter 1 "Can't slow me down"

pairing: F1driver!Jungkook x female race engineer!reader genre: colleagues2L, formula1!AU, racing!AU, drama, kind of fantasy/cyborg!AU story rating: 18+, MDNI warnings: none word count: ~ 3.410

a/n: This work is purely fictional. All characters and events are entirely imaginary and do not reflect reality. Content errors related to the sport of Formula 1 are not excluded. Please do not use this story as your own. No translations are allowed without permission. Thank you for understanding! 💕

🎵 MIRANI, lilBoI, GroovyRoom, VALORANT - Can't slow me down 🎵

series masterlist • 02

Standing alone at the deserted pit stop of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, two days before the start of training for the eighteenth race out of twenty-four this weekend at the Hockenheimring in Germany, you can't help but exhale deeply. This moment marks the culmination of your ambitions, a goal you've pursued tirelessly since childhood.

Growing up in a motorsport family, you were immersed in the world of high-stakes automotive and racing enterprises equally surrounded by their high-ups thanks to your father. You admired everything about cars, particularly Formula 1. Every training session, qualifying round, and race became your passion and study material. Often, you found yourself in VIP lounges, observing the action alongside your father.

Your teenage years were a series of hard work and academic excellence, especially in STEM subjects like Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science. These achievements earned you prestigious positions in robotics and engineering clubs. While others spent their free time socialising and partying like every normal and healthy teenager would, you dedicated yours to assisting smaller racing clubs with car setups, data analysis, and strategy planning.

In your late teenage years, you had the opportunity to accompany your father to a race once more, this time with the goal of making your own connections. You were on the brink of completing your bachelor’s degree as one of the youngest graduates in the world, with additional majors in automotive and aeronautical engineering. This combination was designed to secure your future and fulfil your aspiration of becoming a race engineer. Despite facing constant belittlement and pushback for being a woman—a feminine woman at that—and having few friends besides a handful of aspiring F1 drivers and some girlfriends of family friends, your social skills remained intact, thanks largely to your mother’s unwavering support and guidance. Her words were engraved into every cell of your being: „It’s okay to have your own passion.“ she said one day after you were again bullied at school for being the only girl at the robotics club, „There’s nothing inherently feminine or masculine about it. Wanting something in a male-dominated field doesn’t mean you have to shut off your feminine side or stop embracing who you are. It’s all part of you, so be proud of it—so am I.“

Meeting Toto Wolff, the team principal of Mercedes, and Mattia Binotto, team principal of Ferrari, was a dream come true. Their genuine interest in your future within their teams was a validation of your hard work. That day also marked your first encounter with Jeon Jungkook, a prodigious new talent under the Mercedes team and son of a former, now retired F1 driver. After enduring his lingering gaze for several uncomfortable seconds, the lame flirting that followed ade you turn away silently in mild disgust. You had no desire to entertain such behaviour, something you had grown accustomed to dismissing as one of the few—and even fewer attractive—women in the field.

Years flew by as you completed both your bachelor's and master's degrees with flying colours, nothing able to slow you down. Your relentless pursuit of your dream resulted in an offer from the Haas team for a race engineer position for the upcoming season. Although not your first choice due to reservations about their team principal, you saw it as a stepping stone in your career.

A week ago, you received a call from an unknown number late at night. You frowned, debating whether to send it straight to voicemail, as you were never a fan of calls, especially from someone not in your contact list. But something—a deep feeling in your gut—made you pick it up at the last second. Your heart rate spiked and stopped several times during the call when Toto himself offered you the position of race engineer for their first driver starting next week even though the season was in full swing. You tried hard to keep your tears of happiness from being heard through the receiver as you accepted and thanked him. The next day, you signed the contract sent via email, and after consulting with your father and lawyers, you sent it back. Then, you called to decline Haas' offer, which had yet to be formalised with a contract or any other written confirmation.

Now, here you stand at the starting line of a new chapter in your life, ready to embrace the challenges and triumphs that await. As a reminder pings on your phone, alerting you that it’s time to head to the Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Stuttgart for your first in-person briefing and introduction to the team and driver, you leave the premises of the ring with a smile on your face that illuminates the way to your car. A gentle breeze captures your hair, and the sunny day is filled with the sound of birds chirping—a symphony soon to be drowned out by the roar of engines.

As you arrive at the headquarters of Mercedes-Benz, you're granted access to the premises with an access card sent to you by post. Your own smiling face greets you from the card as you hang it around your neck. You drive towards the imposing glass building, its sheer size both awe-inspiring and commanding. Turning into the designated section of the underground garage, you park your car and make your way to the escalators. The ascent is smooth and swift, leading you up to the floor where the meeting room awaits. 

You are dressed in a modest, yet professional dress that strikes the perfect balance between formality and approachability. From the outset, you made it clear that you would not conform to the typical attire of the men—dress shirts and pants. This choice has been met without objection, thanks to the variety of coats and accessories available from the merchandise shop for the team while on track. Your attire, though different, fits seamlessly into the polished, modern and dynamic environment of Mercedes.

As you make your way to the meeting room, you pass several acquaintances of your father, exchanging quick greetings in the process. The building exudes an air of opulence and cutting-edge modernity, a testament to Mercedes-Benz's commitment to excellence. The walls are adorned with intricate technical drawings and striking photographs of every car model the company has produced, each piece telling a story of innovation and precision. 

In various corners, you notice miniature sculptures, meticulously crafted to capture the essence of the brand, alongside occasional pieces of abstract artwork that add a touch of artistic flair to the high-tech environment. These thoughtful touches elevate the space, creating a perfect blend of functionality and aesthetics. The glass front of the building provides a breathtaking view of the training grounds of the local football club, a team that competes in the national first league. You take a moment to appreciate the seamless integration of sports and engineering excellence, both striving for peak performance. 

Turning the last corner, the meeting room comes into view where you see Toto, the technical director James Allison, George Russell's race engineer Song Joongki, George Russell himself, and Jeon Jungkook waiting for you. Walking confidently towards them, Jungkook is the first to notice you, his expression shifting from surprise to confusion, then realisation, and finally settling on repulsion within seconds. Internally, you sigh; professionalism, it seems, might be a stretch for him today.

You softly knock on the open door with a friendly smile, making eye contact with everyone as you greet them. Toto is the first to stand and quickly walks over to you, prompting everyone else to rise except for Jungkook, who only stands after George nudges him and whispers, "Don't be a dick."

You shake hands with Toto, a moment you had long dreamed of in this setting. "Good morning, __. Thank you for being here."

As Toto turns around and introductions follow, the room reveals a spectrum of reception, from warmth to evident boredom, particularly palpable in Jungkook's demeanour.

„Please have a seat.“ He motions to the empty chair beside him and Joongki. To your right, at the head of the table, are Toto and James, with Jungkook directly in front of you and George beside him.

Undeterred by Jungkook's thinly veiled hostility, which is a familiar challenge throughout your career, you settle in, extracting your tablet from your purse as Toto initiates the proceedings.

„Today, we’re introducing our new race engineer for Jungkook, ___. ___, welcome to the team.“ 

„Thank you, it’s great to be here.“

The encouraging voice of the James catches your attention. „We’re glad to have you onboard. You’ll be working closely with Jungkook, and I know you bring a wealth of knowledge that’ll compensate for your lack of experience.“

„Yeah, welcome to the team. And if you need any help settling in or understanding our processes, feel free to ask.“ Joongki smiles kindly your way, toying with his pencil.

„Thank you, I appreciate that.“

Toto continues, ignoring Jungkook’s scoff beside him. „As you know, our team philosophy revolves around meticulous preparation and strategic execution. Let’s discuss what you’ve been focusing on since joining us a week ago and how we’ll integrate your approach into our existing strategies.“

Now it's your time to shine. Every previous conversation in this field has been off-track and informal. Now is your chance to prove you are worth their trust and the right choice for the job. „Certainly. I’ve been reviewing the recent race data and simulations, especially focusing on Jungkook’s driving style and preferences. I’ve also been familiarising myself with our car’s setup and the team’s historical performance at this circuit.“ 

As you mention Jungkook's name, you glance briefly at him. He stares back at you without blinking or moving, his reaction unclear—whether positive or negative that you mentioned his name. 

„Good to hear. Jungkook has specific preferences regarding car balance and feedback. Have you had a chance to discuss these details with them?“ James asks further.

„Not yet, but I’ve prepared a setup proposal based on our simulations and historical data. I plan to discuss it with Jungkook later today, if he’s free.“

Jungkook's eye twitches at that, his face showing clear signs of displeasure. Nonetheless, he nods his head once.

Sensing the awkward atmosphere, George interjects casually with a warm laugh to ease the tension, „Jungkook prefers a more stable rear end through the high-speed corners, just a heads-up. He’s very particular about it.“

„Understood. I’ll make sure to incorporate that into our setup options.“ you note it down immediately.

„Our drivers rely heavily on trust and communication with their engineers. Building that rapport is crucial for success on the track. How do you plan to approach this relationship?“ Toto challenges you, making it clear everyone in the room senses Jungkook's hostility.

You are certain that the job requirements themselves will not be the most challenging aspect; rather, it will be establishing a stable relationship with Jungkook. His approval and cooperation will ultimately determine whether you can secure your position and succeed in this role or face immediate dismissal.

You met Jungkook's gaze directly, intent on conveying your sincerity. “I believe in open communication and transparency. I aim to build a strong working relationship with Jungkook based on mutual trust and respect. I’ll be proactive in seeking their feedback and ensuring they feel fully supported.”

Your words seem to have struck a nerve, evidenced by Jungkook's growing irritation. There’s a short silence until George discreetly kicks Jungkook under the table. Jungkook coughs, masking a wince from the kick, and replies with a forced smile that doesn’t reach his eyes, “I appreciate that approach. Communication is key during the race weekend, especially with strategy adjustments and car performance updates.”

You are slightly startled by James' clap. “Perfect. Let’s ensure our focus remains on optimising our performance for the upcoming race. ___, if you need any additional resources or support, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re all here to ensure both drivers have the best possible setup and strategy.”

“Thank you. I’m excited to contribute to our team’s success.”

“Excellent. Let’s continue our preparations. We have a packed schedule ahead of us. ___, welcome once again. Let’s make this a successful weekend.” Toto's words do little to soothe the burn of Jungkook's scrutinising stare.

After one and a half hours of intense briefing, Toto finally adjourns the meeting. The next session is set for Friday morning at the track, with every staff member involved in the training scheduled for that day.

As the room begins to empty, George turns to you with a warm smile. “Okay, let me properly welcome you to the team. I’m super excited to have you on board.”

“I’m very honoured, thank you, Mr. Russell.”

“Oh, please, call me George.” Out of the corner of your eye, you notice Jungkook rolling his eyes and throwing his head back while George approaches and embraces you in a short, welcoming hug.

“Oh wow, you’re taller than I thought,” you say to George after pulling away, Jungkook faking gag sounds. 

“And you’re so tiny.” George ruffles your hair which earns him a playful glare. “Anyways, I’ll leave you both to it. See you tomorrow.” He winks and heads out. After a moment, his head pops back in. “You,” he points to Jungkook, “behave.” And with that, he's gone.

A silence stretches between you and Jungkook, both of you locking gazes in a challenge you didn’t realise was happening until you blink and Jungkook bursts out, “Ha! You lost.”

You blink again, slower this time, perplexed by the absurdity of it all. “Okay, now that that’s settled, let’s get down to business, shall we? So, the Hockenheimring was dropped from the calendar for the last few years, so it’ll be not only new to me but also to…”

Jungkook interrupts, “Why are you so obsessed with me?”

You slowly turn your gaze from your tablet to him, blinking as you compose yourself. “We should obviously review the track. I’m sure you’re aware of its tight hairpins and long straights. Also, I’d like to know your preferred tires so the technical sectors don’t…”

Jungkook scoffs, clearly not having listened to a word you said. His arms are crossed, his look equal parts challenging and condescending. “It all makes sense now. You’ve been obsessed with me since the first time you saw me. Doing everything in your power to work with me. Even graduating ridiculously young and declining the offer from Haas.”

Your irritation reaches a boiling point. “I think it’s funny you’ve kept tabs on me for all those years.”

“No, I haven’t. It’s common knowledge. You’ve always wanted a piece of me. It’s flattering, really.”

“I can assure you, my interest has always been in the job, not in you. And it’s flattering to know that my vitae seems to be common knowledge to you.”

“Sure, sure. You don’t have to play coy. It’s perfectly natural to be drawn to someone as experienced as I am. But let’s keep things professional, alright?”

“Fine by me.” You smile at him, relieved that he seems to be cooperating. “So, yes. The tires you’d prefer to…”

Jungkook interrupts again, and you slump defeatedly into your seat, looking at the ceiling. “It’s just that your enthusiasm to work with me comes off as a bit… personal. But don’t worry, I can handle it.”

Having had enough of this kindergarten behaviour, you counter with a flat tone. “If anyone’s having trouble handling things, it seems to be you. Your comments suggest you’re projecting your own feelings onto me.”

“Projecting? That’s a bit of a reach. I’m just stating what I’ve observed.” Jungkook acts surprised, an exaggerated hand on his chest.

After spending the first hours with Jungkook in this room, you knew you’d have to set boundaries and make your intentions clear. It’s well known in the media that he’s a flirt, and sometimes his success goes to his head. But you’re trained and prepared for this kind of behaviour. It’s not your first nor will it be your last rodeo.

“What you’ve observed is likely coloured by your own assumptions. I’m here to work. If you feel uncomfortable with my presence, perhaps it’s your own obsession that’s the issue.”

Jungkook’s ears tint red. “My obsession? That’s absurd. I’m perfectly professional.”

And for good measure, you push further. “Yet you seem fixated on making this about something other than work. It’s almost as if you’re trying to convince yourself of something.” You can’t suppress the twitch of your lip.

“I… No, that’s not it at all. I’m just pointing out what I’ve noticed.” He shifts uncomfortably in his seat, the red tint slowly spreading from his ears to his cheeks.

And because you’re a little bit petty because of his behaviour in the hours prior, you make him squirm a little bit more. “What you’ve noticed is a fabrication of your own making. Let’s stay focused on the race. If you can’t handle working with me professionally, that says more about you than it does about me.”

“I’m completely professional! It’s just… Look, let’s just get this done.” Jungkook is clearly embarrassed.

“Exactly. Let’s focus on the tires for now and leave personal assumptions out of it, hm?” The smile you send him is plastic.

The atmosphere in the room is thick with tension. Jungkook's eyes dart away, his earlier bravado crumbling. He clears his throat and finally sits straight up, pulling his own tablet in front of him.

"Fine, let's talk about the tires," he says, his tone grudgingly compliant.

You take a deep breath, trying to reignite the professional spirit that this meeting was supposed to uphold. "The Hockenheimring has a mix of high-speed straights and tight hairpins, so we'll need a tire that offers a balance between grip and durability. What’s your preference?"

Jungkook’s expression becomes more focused, the professionalism shown for the first time. Something you only heard about. “Mediums for the practice sessions, hards for the race. We can test softs during qualifying.”

You nod, noting down his preferences. “Good choice. The mediums should give us the flexibility we need for adjustments. Now, about the strategy for turn six. It's notorious for causing understeer. We need to adjust the front wing angle…”

As you delve into the technical details, you notice Jungkook finally paying attention. His eyes are on the data, and he’s engaging with the information. The earlier hostility seems to fade, replaced by a shared focus on the task at hand. 

“This setup should help mitigate the understeer,” you continue, showing him the adjustments on the screen. “It’ll also improve stability through the Parabolika.”

Jungkook nods, his demeanour much more serious now. “That makes sense. I’ve had issues with that turn in the simulation. If we can nail the setup, it’ll give us a significant advantage.”

“Exactly,” you say with a genuine smile in your face, feeling a small sense of accomplishment. “And for the long straights, we’ll need to optimise the downforce. It’s a tricky balance, but I believe we can find the sweet spot.”

The conversation flows more smoothly, the professional exchange slowly bridging the gap that had earlier felt insurmountable. By the time you wrap up the discussion, there’s a mutual respect in the air.

“Alright, I think we’re set for now,” you say, shutting off your tablet. A smile now permanently on your face, you notice Jungkook's motions falter a bit as he packs up, his gaze meeting yours. He seems taken aback by your joyful demeanour, having not noticed the shift in your expression since the conversation turned serious some time ago. “I’ll finalise these settings and we’ll review them again on Friday.”

Jungkook stands, looking somewhat still not fully convinced of you but also more cooperative. “Thanks for the detailed rundown. I appreciate it.”

Still, you offer him a genuine smile, hoping this marks the beginning of a more collaborative relationship. “No problem. Let’s make sure we’re both on the same page from here on out.”

He nods, and with a final, respectful glance, he leaves the room. You watch him go, feeling a mix of relief and cautious optimism. It’s been a challenging start, but you’re determined to make this partnership work.

As the door closes behind him, you take a deep breath, gathering your thoughts. The road ahead is long, but with focus and determination, you’re confident that you’ll both rise to the challenge.

series masterlist • 02

a/n 2: lmk what you think in any way you like! please send me a message, ask or comment if you would like to be tagged for upcoming chapters 💕 also - character asks and drabble requests are open

Like what you read? Check out my other work here!

All Rights Reserved © @runariya 2024

[livelaughghoul]

Max Verstappen - Birth Chart Analysis

Disclaimer: This is for entertainment purposes only, nothing observed or taken away from this should be considered fact. As a reminder, I know fuck all about Formula 1, I just like fast cars and have a dumb amount of knowledge of astrology and tarot. 

Max has a really interesting chart, it’s actually one of the most interesting charts I’ve looked at. There are definitely a lot of conjunctions that caught my attention, but that was about it for the aspects. 

His chart is dominated heavily by the eastern and southern hemispheres, which from what I’ve seen and learned about him makes a lot of sense. When a chart is eastern hemisphere heavy there is a lot of breaking of the mold and setting your own path. The southern hemisphere brings a lot of career orientation, which really checks out. 

His big three is so interesting to me because I see so much of the moon and rising signs, but the sun placement feels more subtle than any of the other placements in the chart. I had a lot of fun taking a look at this one though!

THE PLANETS:

Sun - Libra

I genuinely love this placement, because it feels so leftfield for me, like I never would have guessed this man is a Libra, but again this could easily be that I know nothing other than what has been sent to me and listening to him go at it over the team radio the other day. When it comes to a Libra sun I expect there to be an overt elegance and an appreciation for the finer things in life, and he isn’t necessarily afraid to show this. There is a fine line between the Libra charm and narcissism, and I think Max walks that line. I think that there is a desire to always be admired, and a need for respect and control. Yes, Libra is about partnership, but I think that this is an area of difficulty for Max. I think that when it comes to being a team player there is a lot of struggle because he is such a huge personality and has a tendency to be egotistical at times. Max likely has a lot of trouble with balance, between his own happiness and pleasing others. I get the sense that he is a people pleaser, and it isn’t the right people that he is working to please at this point. 

Moon - Virgo

I love a Virgo moon because it truly is one of those placements that aren’t afraid to say what is on their mind, call people out, and be unapologetic. It tells me that this man is incredibly intelligent as well like there is a wealth of knowledge beyond the surface level on things that he is interested in. With this intelligence though I think that there is a tendency to overthink and question the words of others. Max definitely has Virgo stubbornness, and while I don’t think he has the pessimism that can come with this placement, I think he definitely has a clear view of the world and the reality around him. 

Rising - Sagittarius

Every person I know with this rising placement are actually the most dedicated workers and fiercely independent people. We see a need for independence and freedom, and I think a lot of that comes from the perceived lack of this in childhood or early adolescence. We see a lot of pressure that is placed on the self, a drive to be the best and a natural talent at whatever the challenge is. I think that Max really has some of the best aspects of this placement, we see it through his dedication to his career, himself, and in a roundabout way, his team. Unfortunately with this placement, there is a lot of impulsivity and recklessness, which makes me think that this is a huge point of conflict between himself and the team. 

Mercury (Planet of intelligence) - Virgo

This placement absolutely fits, because I have no doubts that this man challenges whatever person is giving him the data he needs during a race. He absolutely wants to know as much as possible to be able to be a part of the conversation and decision-making, I think that is something he values. This placement does have some super toxic traits to it, like there is almost an impatience with others that he perceives as wrong or challenges him without anything to back it up. The funniest part of this placement is that it’s usually seen in a lot of creative arts, so like, I like to think that Max is secretly into crafting, like I dunno, scrapbooking or something. 

Venus (Planet of love and pleasure) - Scorpio

This is such a toxic placement, and I think it makes me toxic that it’s one of my favorite placements. It’s such a consuming and dominating placement, full of this almost obsessive compassion and dedication. It’s a placement that can be really challenging to deal with in terms of the relationship aspect of this placement. Max wants to consume his partner essentially and can be pre-disposed to a lot of jealousy. I think in romantic relationships, there is a lot of reassurance that is needed, I don’t think he would take it well if his dominance was challenged.

Mars (Planet of physical energy) - Sagittarius

I get the sense that he definitely has ADHD tendencies like he absolutely gets distracted over the smallest things. There is a lot of passion behind this placement, so there is no half-assing anything. He puts his all into everything that he does, likely to an unhealthy level. There is again this insane talent in pretty much everything that he does and puts his mind to. When it comes to physicality in relationships, there needs to be an emotional connection first and then the physical connect comes and it comes quick. 

Jupiter (Planet of luck, optimism, and success) - Aquarius

Max has no problem making friends, once they get past the abrasive and kind of narcissistic personality. There is an incredible sense of success and longevity in this placement too, but I think that he needs to be careful to not get bored with it. He needs to make sure that there is some aspect of his career that remains challenging, this is going to ensure that he continues to be a force of nature. Aquarius brings a lot of luck to others that he surrounds himself with, and I think his abrasive nature is a defense mechanism of sorts. 

Saturn (Planet of responsibility)  - Aries

Saturn is at a disadvantage when it’s in Aries, so this is a little rough. I don’t think that this is much of a challenge though, because Max has so much stubbornness and dedication through his chart, if anything, this delay is likely beneficial. I get the sense that Max has already overcome a lot of obstacles with this placement, and it’s likely led to some difficulties in forming interpersonal relationships, because he may see them as an obstacle before anything else. I think that the one big struggle that this placement will bring to him is the tendency to isolate. 

Uranus (Planet of change and originality) - Aquarius 

Again, Max is incredibly intelligent and challenges those around him on an almost academic level. I think in terms of change, there is a lot of potential for change, in many things. I think that it is a huge possibility that there is a significant change to his career, but it’s going to be one of those things that is so planned out, it won’t really be a surprise. 

Neptune (Planet of mystery and illusion) - Capricorn

Max is definitely not on the spiritual side of things and instead is very much into the practical side of things. While there may be some religion or spirituality, it is not something that is really emphasized. I think that with everything in his chart, he really values the scientific side of things and answers. He wants data, he wants proof, and he wants answers. 

Pluto (Planet of death and rebirth) - Sagittarius

We see it under Neptune, but it is really solidified here. Max wants the truth and he wants the information behind everything. He wants the data, he wants the supporting information, and he is going to get it one way or another. I get the sense that he definitely is the one that will hold your secrets close to his heart and isn’t one for airing out others' shit. 

THE HOUSES:

First house (house of self): Mars and Pluto 

I love Mars here because it again tells me that there is an impulsive nature to Max’s personality. He can be a loose cannon and definitely challenges everyone around him who offers any sort of advice. Pluto on the other hand is more about the personality than the behaviors. Pluto brings in this intense and magnetic personality, he is able to draw people in with ease, but also values his own personal alone time. 

Second house (house of possessions): Neptune 

This is so funny to me because I know he has no cohesiveness to his interior design, he thinks something is aesthetically pleasing? Perfect, he wants it. While he values aesthetics more than anything, I think that there is also an emphasis on the sentimental side of things. I think that there is a need to hold onto the good, in order to put some of the “bad” out of mind. 

Third house (house of communication): Uranus and Jupiter 

Uranus and Jupiter are actually so funny to me here because they bring the worst out of each other when it comes to communication. Jupiter has this incredibly optimistic outlook on things and an emphasis on keeping busy, whereas Uranus has this need to be independent and carve his own path. I think that the two placements while bringing out the worst in each other, work really well for Max. I think that there is a huge benefit to this because I think Uranus brings the optimism of Jupiter down to a more realistic level. 

Fifth house (house of creativity and sex): Saturn 

Does Max know how to have fun? I think that when he does allow himself to relax, it is only on a physical level. I think that he is not able to turn off the mental side of work and planning. There is a struggle to find the line between turning off work completely. When it comes to relationships and love, I think that this is one of the most important things to him, but if he feels that he has lost the respect of those he loves, it causes a spiral. 

Tenth house (house of career): Moon and Mercury 

I love that the Moon is in the tenth house because it’s seen in very public-facing careers. Obviously, as a professional athlete, his career is going to be incredibly public-facing, and I think there is a huge boost to this. Mercury also points to the need to rely on a team, and being able to handle changes within this team as well. Obviously, professional athletes are going to deal with a lot of changes in terms of their professional teams, but I think that Mercury is the perfect placement because he can adapt to the changes with a lot of ease…as long as they don’t challenge his position. 

Eleventh house (house of hopes, wishes, and friendship): Sun 

I see clips of Max yapping at everyone, like with ease. I think that this placement is absolutely telling of this. He is able to make conversation with just about everyone, about anything. I think a lot of this comes down to his intelligence, he is able to connect with pretty much everyone because of this. In terms of hopes and wishes, there is definitely a tendency to set HIGH goals, and really strive to be the best and accomplish the most. 

Twelfth house (house of self-undoing): Venus 

This placement is rough, I think that it’s possible that there is a struggle with finding a balance between a romantic relationship, privacy, and feeling fulfilled. I definitely see the struggle with his emotions and his almost analytical personality and intelligence. 

THE ASPECTS: 

Conjunctions - 

Mars and Pluto: His nickname is Mad Max, right? I’ve heard that a few times now. With this conjunction there is a quick and almost violent temper, it’s easy to set him off, and it can be difficult to calm him down. 

Mercury and Moon: Again, Max is a certified genius. He has so much intelligence, but I don’t think there is a lot of emotional intelligence. 

Jupiter and Uranus: When Max feels trapped in something, he gets restless, almost violently so. I think that he needs to have a strong support system in place to talk him through some of those moments when he feels trapped. 

Uranus and Neptune: This conjunction happens every 171 years, fun fact. It screams of originality, carving his own legacy, and rising above what is imaginable. 

Venus and Mars: Max has found a way to balance his natural charm with his natural dominance. It can be overwhelming, but I think that’s beneficial because it works as a defense mechanism. 

[velocitysedge-if]

"Velocity's Edge" dives into the riveting world of Formula 1, following the journey of you ,an enigmatic young driver, as they navigate the twists and turns of the racing circuit. Fueled by a mysterious past and an insatiable desire for victory, your rise to prominence is punctuated by intense rivalries, unexpected alliances, and a series of heart-pounding races that push both the limits of the track and the depths of your own character.

As the adrenaline-soaked story unfolds, secrets are unveiled, loyalties are tested, and the pursuit of the checkered flag takes on a life of its own, propelling the characters toward the finish line which is only the beginning of the ultimate race.

⚐ Customizable MC: choose your name, nickname, appearance, gender, and pronouns.

⚐ Romance: 5 males, 4 female, and 2 possible poly route.

⚐ If you don’t want romance, you could just make friends with everyone, or the opposite.

⚐ Win the race...that's all that matters.

Kieran "Kie" Patel

- Age: 27

- Nationality: British-Indian

- Role: Data Analyst

- Description: Kieran Patel is a brilliant British-Indian data analyst who plays a crucial role in analyzing race data and optimizing strategy for your racing team. His expertise lies in deciphering complex telemetry data and providing real-time insights to help the team make informed decisions during races. Kieran's calm demeanor and analytical mindset make him an asset in high-pressure situations. His unique perspective as a data-driven thinker often leads to innovative strategies that give his team a competitive edge.

Elena "El" Petrova

- Age: 25

- Nationality: Russian

- Role: Motorsport Journalist

- Description: Elena Petrova is a passionate and determined Russian motorsport journalist who covers Formula 1 races for a popular international publication. Armed with a deep knowledge of the sport and an insatiable curiosity, Elena strives to capture the human stories behind the races. She's always on the lookout for exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes glimpses that provide fans with a deeper understanding of the drivers and the sport. Elena's engaging storytelling style and dedication to her craft make her a respected voice in the motorsport journalism community.

Diego "Flash" Ramirez

- Age: 28

- Nationality: Brazilian

- Role: Social Media Manager

- Description: Diego Ramirez is an energetic and creative Brazilian social media manager who handles the online presence of your racing team. He's a master of crafting engaging social media content that connects with fans on a personal level. Diego's enthusiasm and knack for viral marketing campaigns have significantly increased the team's online following. He's known for his quick wit, pop culture references, and ability to turn even the most mundane moments into captivating social media stories. Diego plays a vital role in shaping the team's image and engaging with fans worldwide.

Mia "Pitstop" Reynolds

- Age: 29

- Nationality: American

- Role: Chief Mechanic

- Description: Mia Reynolds is a skilled and resourceful American chief mechanic who oversees the pit crew for your racing team. She's known for her lightning-fast pit stops and impeccable attention to detail. Mia's journey to becoming a chief mechanic was marked by overcoming gender stereotypes and proving herself in a male-dominated environment. She has a no-nonsense attitude, a strong work ethic, and a deep passion for getting the team's cars back on track as quickly as possible during races.

Jean-Luc "JL" Dubois

- Age: 45

- Nationality: French

- Role: Veteran Commentator

- Description: Jean-Luc Dubois, commonly referred to as "JL," is a charismatic and knowledgeable French commentator who has been covering Formula 1 races for decades. With a distinctive voice and a knack for providing insightful analysis, JL has become a beloved figure among fans worldwide. He's known for his catchphrases and colorful storytelling that bring the excitement of the race to life. JL's passion for the sport is infectious, and his commentating style adds an extra layer of excitement and engagement for viewers tuning in to the races.

Alex "Ace" Walker

- Age: 28

- Nationality: British

- Role: Formula 1 Driver

- Description: Alex Walker is a talented and charismatic British Formula 1 driver known for his incredible racing instincts and daring overtakes. He comes from a modest background and had to fight his way up through the ranks to reach Formula 1. He's known for his quick wit, sense of humor, and unbreakable determination. Ace is deeply passionate about racing, always seeking the thrill of competition and constantly pushing his limits on the track. His signature move is a fearless dive into the inside line during tight corners, earning him the nickname "Ace" among fans and fellow racers.

Sofia "Slick" Martínez

- Age: 26

- Nationality: Spanish

- Role: Rival Formula 1 Driver

- Description: Sofia Martínez is a fierce and calculating Spanish driver who is considered one of the main rivals to Alex "Ace" Walker. She's known for her strategic racing style, which involves preserving tires and fuel to make a late-race surge. Slick comes from a family with a rich motorsport history, and she's determined to continue their legacy. Her quiet confidence and ability to remain composed under pressure often unnerve her competitors. While her relationship with Ace starts as a rivalry, it evolves into a complex dynamic as they gradually gain respect for each other's skills and determination.

Max "Maxy" Nguyen

- Age: 24

- Nationality: Vietnamese-American

- Role: Up-and-Coming Rookie Driver

- Description: Max Nguyen is a young and enthusiastic Vietnamese-American driver making his debut in the Formula 1 scene. He's known for his fearless approach to racing, often pushing the limits of his car's capabilities. His eagerness sometimes leads to impulsive decisions on the track, but his raw talent is undeniable. Nitro's bubbly personality and infectious energy make him a favorite among fans and media, and he quickly becomes a rising star in the sport.

Isabella "Izzy" Williams

- Age: 32

- Nationality: Australian

- Role: Team Principal

- Description: Isabella Williams is a former Formula 1 driver from Australia who retired due to a career-ending injury. After her retirement, she founded her own racing team, determined to lead it to victory. That team is yours. Izzy is known for her strategic thinking, meticulous attention to detail, and unyielding dedication to her team. She's a respected figure in the paddock, often navigating the challenges of team management in a male-dominated industry. Her strong leadership inspires her team to constantly strive for excellence.

Luca Moretti

- Age: 50

- Nationality: Italian

- Role: Veteran Race Engineer

- Description: Luca Moretti is a seasoned Italian race engineer with decades of experience in Formula 1. He's known for his encyclopedic knowledge of race tracks and car mechanics. His calm demeanor and deep understanding of the sport make him a highly sought-after engineer. Luca has worked with numerous legendary drivers over the years and now finds himself mentoring Max "Maxy" Nguyen as the young rookie's race engineer. He often provides valuable guidance and insights both on and off the track.

____________________________________

ASKS WELCOME

[charles-leclerc-official]

2024 Monaco Grand Prix Analysis

At the beginning of this season Charles said that his was a dream that writes itself in red, well this weekend that dream wrote itself in red and white on the streets of Monaco. 

In these analyses I like to break down a race, share numbers, graphs, really dig into the technical elements of the sport. But I write these analyses to get my thoughts down about the sport I love.

This is going to be a lot more, let’s say, emotional than my usual style of analysis. Because analysis does go beyond just the numbers, it’s about the people behind the wheel, it’s about understanding the story of a race, and this race has a particularly special story. 

Because for the first time in Formula One history Charles Leclerc won the Monaco Grand Prix.

Table of Contents Race Overview Ferrari - Charles: win, qualifying, data, strategy - Carlos: strategy - Data Analysis Mclaren - Oscar - Lando - Data Analysis Red Bull - Max: qualifying - Sergio: qualifying, crash - Data Analysis Haas Alpine Mercedes Williams Final Thoughts

Race Overview

So, there were other cars on the track this race, and they did in fact do things, so as much as I’d like to write only about Charles, I still have to talk about the race as a whole, because this race was revealing on the data side of things. 

Before we get to Charles’ story this race, let’s set the stage.

This race really had two key components. The first being qualifying, it’s always crucial in Monaco, and that was no different this year. This race was largely decided in qualifying and we will look at the data there to see where it was won and lost. And second the red flag allowing teams to fulfill their mandatory pitstop after lap 1, which made this a race of tyre management and pace calculations. Teams put on hards, planning on them lasting the remaining 77 laps, because strategically not pitting and thus not risking losing track position was strategically optimal for everyone in the points. 

There were really three races all happening simultaneously. The race at the front that involved Charles, Oscar, Carlos and Lando. The race in the middle involving George, Lewis and Max. And the race behind Yuki, involving the rest of the field. The timing gaps put these drivers all on different strategies, different pace management, with different goals.

While it may not have produced the most thrilling racing on track, there were a lot of moving parts to this race and a lot of skill was shown from all of the top drivers to get their results both in qualifying and in the race. 

First Lap

On the first lap of the race there were 3 separate incidents. And these are all key to the rest of the race.

Kevin hit Checo resulting in a massive crash that took out his teammate Nico as well. This brought out the red flag and required a standing restart of the race. Fortunately all drivers walked away with no major injuries.

Carlos tried to pass Oscar, and in doing so they made slight contact, a bit of the carbon from Oscar's car caused one of Carlos’ tyres to puncture. It appeared as though his race was over, but because this puncture happened after the aforementioned red flag, he was able to keep his position in P3 on the race restart. 

Esteban and Pierre had a collision, when Esteban tried to make a very dangerous pass on Pierre going into the tunnel. This was 100% his fault and resulted in him retiring from the race. 

Fortunately with all of these incidents no drivers were injured. Checo, Nico, Kevin, and Esteban all retired from the race. 

Finally note that Monaco is a very unique track and can produce outlier results. Teams that got good results here may continue to struggle on other tracks, and conversely teams that struggled here will likely fare better on other tracks. Teams that have been strong and were strong here are just continuing a pattern of strong performances from their car and drivers. However there are some things that this track can and did reveal about certain cars, that will carry through to future races.

With all that said, let’s get to the only real race that mattered this weekend. That being Charles in his scarlet SF-24. 

Ferrari

Charles

Are curses real? That may seem a strange thing to ask in a race analysis, but for the past 6 years curses sure felt real. From a failing car, to a failing team strategy Charles’ luck in Monaco became infamous to us all, and at a certain point bad luck starts to feel like a curse. 

Curses aren’t real. 

And if they are, then they are made to be broken.

It started with a red car racing on the streets of Monaco, and a boy watching that red car. It has continued with that same boy, now a man, racing in that red car, winning the streets he’s always called home.

So let’s look at how exactly Charles won this race. 

Charles is the first Monegasque driver in Formula One history to win in Monaco. Louis Chiron was the only other Monegasque driver to win this home race in 1931, before Formula One was officially established. It’s a small country, and the chances one of their own would even make it to Formula One, let alone bring home the win were slim. Charles does like beating the odds. So this isn’t just a meaningful win to one man, it’s special for an entire country, and will now be entered into their history books. 

To say this was a meaningful win would be an understatement. Because this track is one of the crown jewels of Formula One, conquering it is putting your name alongside the greats. Conquering it as your home race is to make history. 

Monaco

I have seen a lot of people not understanding Monaco as a track. And to really put anyone's drive this weekend into proper context, understanding this track is essential.

Put simply, Monaco is the most technical track on the F1 calendar. With tight corners, big speed changes, and the narrowest margins for error this track is one where a driver's skill can really shine. To drive it well is challenging, and it often sorts out the strongest driver between two teammates. This is why qualifying is so exciting, seeing drivers run on a razor's edge trying to get that perfect lap. The reason driver's love this track is because it allows them to really prove their skill to themselves and to their team.

It is also a track that involves unique race strategy.

The main component is that this is the most unforgiving track in the entire calendar. One move that is slightly too far off and you've hit the wall.

To put in a good lap and a good race around Monaco is a testament of a driver's skill. I am impressed with every driver who is able to pull this track off, and do it without error.

Qualifying

Monaco is a race that is usually decided in qualifying. And that is partially true. To win the Monaco grand prix you must put together a flying lap around one of the most challenging tracks in Formula 1, a track that offers next to no margin for error, and then you must complete 78 more laps around this technically demanding track, all without significant error, without losing focus, without letting what few opportunities for overtaking there are be your downfall. 

Starting on pole in Monaco is crucial to having a chance at winning the race. The field this year is closer than it’s been in the last few years. This year Charles’ pole lap most certainly poised him to win the race. 

Here is Charles’ pole lap from qualifying compared to Oscar who qualified P2. And this lap really was a lap of just superior speed and skill on Charles’ part. The little details mattered and that was where Charles brought out the extra pace, putting together a truly masterful pole lap. 

There are quite a few details that set Charles’ lap apart from Oscars’.

Taking those corners at a higher speed, in a higher gear, using that early braking to be able to exit the sector three turns with more speed are what made the difference. It all really did just come together. The reason he could operate in a higher gear was because of his excellent application of the brake and the throttle with millisecond accuracy, as well as the SF-24 being solid on this track in terms of the grip and overall settings. 

Oscar lost pace in areas where these little details that come with experience and skill to get those additional tenths matter.

Charles was ahead in all sectors. There were a few points where Oscar had the edge, but those were very brief. The gap between them really came down to skill on key areas of the track. We know the Mclaren has good top speeds, so it isn’t an issue in that area. 

I think the real story of where exactly the difference between these two laps came is in the throttle and brake application. 

Charles has a signature early braking, followed by a slight jump in throttle application. This allows him to lose less speed in those turns and leverage more control of his grip and exit speed. Rather than braking once for longer, in a few places we see him hit the brake several times quickly, again followed by a short burst of throttle. This is a point of fine control on those turns and allows for a more refined racing line. 

Also because of this he was able to stay in higher gears earlier or for longer. Not only that, his gear management was smoother. Rather than jumping from 3rd gear to 5th like Oscar did on the straight going into turn 12, Charles increased to 4th then 5th, and this actually does give a little more control in terms of grip on the straight as well as the turn. 

A lot of the differences we saw in their laps came down to these little details, where Charles' approach to the entire lap was just more refined and that put him consistently ahead and is the reason he was able to put this all together in a single lap.

Simply put this was a near perfectly refined lap. Pure speed does not put together a fast lap in Monaco, skill does, and Charles was on it in that department this weekend. 

Oscar did put together a good lap as well, do not get me wrong, but it was clearly not as refined as Charles’ and that’s why he qualified P2.

The thing about qualifying at the front was that Charles was not ahead by a fine margin, it wasn’t by a few hundredths, or even just a tenth. It was by a little over 1.5 tenths(0.154s). And compared to the gaps the rest of the top of the field had to each other this lap was impressive, especially with how competitive Mclaren were. The next 6 cars behind Charles all had less than 1 tenth separating them from the car behind(ex Oscar was less than a tenth ahead of Carlos, who was less then a tenth ahead of Lando and so on)

The Race

Qualifying ahead is half of the equation, the other half is managing the following 78 laps with no errors. This race was interesting because it was a battle of pace control and tyre management.

Let’s look at the Charles' race pace graph. No one was driving for fast pace, so this isn’t quite like a lot of previous races we’ve looked at. Those first 10 laps they were feeling each other out, after that it was determined by whatever pace Charles set. And the final ten laps revealed just how well they had managed their tyres.

And as I have been saying all year, if it comes down to a tyre management contest, Charles will win. No one in the top 5 has been better in terms of tyre management all season. And once again Charles gave us another stellar performance in tyre management. This was really clear in those final laps when he was able to push for speed, and Oscar(who tried) wasn’t able to. Oscar managed his tyres well, but he didn’t have enough left to be able to really push for faster laps in the end compared to Charles. I will say I think by the final 3 or so laps Oscar stopped trying to push. Same goes for Charles. At that point the race was decided and everyone’s tyres were spent. 

Here you can see where Charles slowed to artificially keep things at the right pace for the tyres and the time strategy for cars further behind. This wasn’t a race of who has faster pace, it was who can control things and who can keep their tyres in the best shape for the end of the race. So most of these lap times are going to be identical, and that’s just a symptom of the strategy.

But it was lap 66 when Charles started to really pick up the pace where actually being faster came into play. He was able to do this because he’d won in the area of tyre management, and so when he wanted to push he could get way more speed. I think he decided to push here because he wanted to win with a gap to second, mostly to assure there was no doubt about who won this race. He didn’t want it close. I also think he may have been attempting a fastest lap for that grand slam. It wasn’t necessary, it was more just a show of skill, which is what Monaco is for. 

Oscar did push in those later laps as well, I think to see if he could keep up with Charles, not to pass but just to see if he had it. He didn’t. His tyres were worse off than Charles’ and this was reflected by their fastest lap times. Charles' fastest lap of his race was 1:15.162 on lap 70, and Oscar’s fastest was 1:16.281. So a full second off Charles, that second is really reflective of the tyre management from both of them. This was further highlighted by Charles finishing 7 seconds ahead of Oscar. That was a gap that reflected their tyre management over the race. Charles was able to push to get that gap(I think he wanted to win by a pretty good margin) Oscar did push, especially at first to try to keep pace with Charles but he did not have it in his tyres. That final gap is the real reflection of the difference between the two on their tyre management over the race. 

From the start of the weekend to the checkered flag, Charles made it clear that he was the best driver this weekend, in multiple facets of technical skill. He put together a stunning qualifying lap, and followed that up with his superior tyre management and fine control of the SF-24.

Now on to the only real strategy concern of Charles’ race. The possibility of Lando pitting if the gap between George and Lando became great enough that Lando would be able to pit without giving up any places. What was the risk here, and would it have affected the outcome of the race if Lando had pit? The risk was that Lando would get fresh tyres, and with a field of cars all operating on old tyres that’s an advantage, and that he wouldn’t have to give up track position to do it. So he’d come out behind Carlos on fresh mediums. The concern would have been that he’d be able to overtake Carlos and then Charles would have two Mclaren’s behind. But Oscar couldn’t pass Charles. We saw Charles late in the race had the pace to be able to defend if he’d been seriously threatened. And this would have required Lando to pass Carlos, which we saw Max couldn’t overtake George when Max was on much fresher tyres, so I highly doubt Lando was getting past Carlos, and I further doubt that Oscar would have let Lando by to attempt to attack Charles.

I think it’s very likely that the moment Lando pit George would have increased his pace and possibly taken the spot. So it’s possible this would have just compromised Mclaren’s race and there was no real threat to Ferrari at all. The gap was fine so a little pushing from George was all it would take. 

One argument was that both Mclaren’s could have pushed Charles to go faster, and Charles would have had to wear his tyres more, but we saw in the data that Charles was managing best, so he’d likely have been able to respond to this. And again this is all acting on the assumption that Lando would be able to overtake Carlos which I really do not think was going to happen. Carlos has shown he can defend against a Mclaren. 

Also Charles was the one controlling the pace of the entire race. His pace was the one affecting Lando the most, not Carlos’, as Carlos pace was again dictated by Charles. That’s one of the key strategic advantages of getting pole in Monaco is that you get to set the pace of the race. Charles was the one in control of all 4 cars behind him, and the main car controlling both Mclarens. Carlos’ was making the smaller pace adjustments to both Mclarens to further refine the strategy and work off the control Charles was already exerting. Again excellent teamwork from both of them on this. But make no mistake about who was in the greatest amount of control and keeping Mclaren’s pace in check 

The biggest risk Lando posed was to Carlos’ race, not Charles’. And even then that is a big if. 

I fully believe that even if Carlos had been made to retire from the race, or had started further back Charles would have won. Oscar was faster than Lando and he tried putting pressure on Charles in the few places it was possible to do so, Charles defended and made it clear Oscar wasn’t getting by. Lando was not going to fare better than Oscar here, especially since his speed wasn’t as good as Oscar’s on this track. 

Make no mistake, I do believe Carlos played a key role. His work against the Mclaren’s allowed Charles to stay focused on his tyres and getting his pace just right instead of having to worry more about the cars behind him. I think he could have managed anyway, but not having to worry about all of those factors because his teammate was covering him is the kind of teamwork we want to see. But Carlos is not the reason Charles won, Charles won because he was fastest, and also made the fewest mistakes on this highly technical track, and also had the best tyre management. 

Now I will just take a moment to go over a few narratives forming around Charles’ win and performance. 

“Oscar was faster than Charles”(in reference to qualifying): No, if you put together all of Oscar’s fastest mini sectors they add up to a faster lap than Charles’. But that isn’t actually fast, mini sectors don’t mean anything if you can’t string them together into one lap. It takes skill to not only be fast but to be fast over one lap for qualifying in Monaco. Oscar was certainly fast, but he wasn’t the fastest. 

“It was a gifted win”: Monaco is often won in qualifying, the man who qualified the best, by a good margin is the one who won, that’s a win based on skill and speed, far from gifted. Also one’s team helping get a win isn’t gifted, that’s literally what a team is supposed to do. If you don’t understand that qualifying is a big part of winning Monaco I can’t help you. 

“Charles got lucky”: He won Monaco the way it’s usually won, by putting together the best qualifying lap. Luck had nothing to do with it. He didn’t gain any positions based on luck, he wasn’t faster based on luck, he didn’t run the cleanest race of the weekend based on luck, it takes skill to pull that off. 

Carlos

While this was Charles’ best performance all year, this race was also in my opinion one of Carlos’ best drives as well. Yes he’s had better results but the driving itself I think was better here. He really pulled off some great driving and was a key part of the team strategy to bring both Ferraris onto the podium. The only issue was in the first lap he would have been out on that puncture without the red flag, and that was in part his fault(he was the one attempting the pass so I place a little more responsibility for the contact on him) but after that his driving was quite good and he played very well into the team strategy. Not only that he did put together a very solid qualifying lap. 

In terms of team strategy Carlos’ job was to keep Lando behind, and also to put pressure on Oscar so that Oscar couldn’t ever fully try to attack Charles(especially in those early laps) However the key battle for Carlos was against Lando. Keeping Lando back, and at the correct pace was crucial as if it had been too much or too little Lando may have had the opportunity to pit which could have compromised Carlos’ race(unlikely but not impossible).

There are a few key moments I want to highlight where Carlos was really pulling it all together in this strategy. 

First was him holding off Lando in those early laps. The best opportunities for this race to overtake would have been the first 10-15 laps, and the final 10(depending on how a driver managed their tyres) , that is when they could afford to push the most, the middle of the race was all about keeping a certain pace. 

The second was in the final 10 laps when Carlos essentially ping ponged between lap times to keep a little pressure on Oscar while holding Lando back by the correct margin to prevent any chance he’d have to try to sneak a pit stop. The team helped Carlos manage this quite well and he did great here. 

He was mostly holding off Lando. Very rarely was he putting real pressure on Oscar. 

The data reflects this quite clearly.

The swinging lap times in lap 55 -67 are the ones where Carlos’ exerting his control over Lando, and the rest of the pack’s pace is most apparent. Other laps in the middle of the race also reflect this. Faster laps were to be sure to remind Oscar that he could apply pressure, and to prevent things from slowing too much, slower laps were to keep the pace correct, he didn’t want to give Lando the chance to take more control of the pace of the cars behind. Great strategy from Ferrari, and good pace control from Carlos to pull this off. 

I will say I am not sure about that attempt to get past Oscar on lap one that resulted in the puncture. On the one hand I get wanting to take the position, but also that’s so risky. I am not sure if that was a Ferrari strategy or if he made the move himself. I am doubtful Ferrari would risk something like that when both cars were already positioned so well, it was best to hold and manage from there rather than attempt the overtake which yes would have allowed full control of the front, but it also could have resulted in a collision which is more likely here, and that easily could have compromised Charles’ race as well. So I am unsure. I can see both approaches. I prefer the less risky one given Carlos was already in a good spot for himself and the team I don’t think it was worth the risk, and I mean I was right, it didn’t work for him. But fortunately he did get that bit of luck with the timing and his race after was really clean. 

Now let’s just cover a few narratives that have formed around Carlos’ race. 

“Carlos got lucky, he should have been out on that puncture at the restart”: No, the ruling that allowed him to keep P3 is consistent with previous rulings. He got a puncture after the red flag that triggered the race restart. Other teams, including Mclaren who are the main source of this complaint benefitted from being able to work on cars before the race restart as well, but it’s only unfair when Carlos benefits? 

“Carlos keeping the position was unfair”: No, it was consistent with the rules. It can feel unfair all it wants, but I wouldn’t claim it’s unfair, if this were to come up again and benefit a different team I suspect people would be saying something different. It was consistent with the rules, and that’s what we want to see, regardless of who benefits and who loses. 

Mclaren were the main team to claim that Carlos being allowed to start in his original position after the race restart was unfair. They aren’t reliable in this assessment, of course the rival team that stands the most to gain from Carlos being out is going to say this.

“Carlos got lucky”: Getting a tyre puncture at a specific time is a weird type of luck, but if you want to think that’s lucky I can’t stop you. If you are referring to him being allowed to keep his place that just came down to timing, and yes there was some luck with the timing there.

“Carlos should have been penalized for impeding during qualifying”: No, Carlos didn’t impede, Monaco is a narrow track and he got out of the way as soon as it was possible to do so. 

“Carlos should have been penalized for contact with Oscar in lap 1”: The contact wasn’t solely his fault, it was a result of hard racing on both their parts, and since it was lap one this isn’t penalized. 

“Carlos is the reason Charles won”: No. Carlos 100% aided in Charles’ race, as expected, he’s his teammate that’s what he’s supposed to do. But I am extremely confident that Charles still would have won without Carlos in P3. He helped, I detailed that, but to go this far is beyond a reach. 

Carlos' result combined with Charles put Ferrari firmly in P2 for the WCC and only 24 points behind Red Bull, and kept a healthy lead to Mclaren. And this result obviously put Charles even more firmly in P2 in the driver’s standings, 31 points behind Max, and 25 points ahead of Lando who is now in P3. All in all Ferrari is in a strong position in both standings, and with the direction the team and car are going I think this trend will continue. 

Monaco was yet another very strong finish for Ferrari. The fact both our drivers did well on this track is promising for what the SF-24 can do on street circuits. Monaco is a highly specific track but we did get some key takeaways about the strengths of our car this weekend, as well as the consistency of our drivers. 

I want to finish this section with some fun statistics about Charles and Ferrari in relation to this win. Because of the technical achievement and historic importance, Monaco poles and wins are always something teams love to highlight in their legacy. 

Ferrari has been on pole 13 times in Monaco. Of those 13, 3 of those poles were taken by Charles, making him responsible for 23% of Ferrari’s poles at Monaco. 

Charles is the Ferrari driver with the most poles at Monaco with 3, the second most is held by Michael Schumacher with 2 poles with Ferrari at Monaco (Schumacher holds a total of 3 Monaco poles including the one he achieved with Bennetton)

This pole was the 250th pole for Ferrari as a team. 

This was the 11th Monaco win for Ferrari. The last time Ferrari won in Monaco was Sebastian Vettel in 2017

This was Charles’ 6th career win, all of which he has achieved with Ferrari

Forza Ferrari

Data Analysis 

I covered Charles’ race and qualifying versus Oscar in his section, as that was key to understanding the story of his victory. This section is going to cover teammate comparisons as well as Ferrari to Mclaren comparisons. 

Here is a look at Charles compared to Carlos in qualifying.

Charles was ahead in every sector. Carlos was off Charles’ time by 2.5 tenths. The real difference came in the more technical areas in sectors 2 and 3. Carlos’ later braking style was not as suited to this track and it did cost him time on many key turns. He also did not achieve the same speeds on other turns and straights. It’s not a bad lap, again it’s a good showing, but this further highlights how good Charles’ lap was. 

And a full comparison of Mclaren to Ferrari in qualifying. As we all saw this was the real qualifying battle. Mclaren and Ferrari were the clear front runners during qualifying, the order was the only real question. And it seems that Ferrari had a slight edge, and that edge I will attribute in part to the car and in part to the skill of our drivers, because yes I think Charles and Carlos are better at Monaco than Lando and Oscar. And the qualifying results seem to reflect this. 

Carlos and Lando were extremely close. It came down to hundreths. And really Lando was on pace for a faster lap but a slight error into the final turn and lower speed on that final straight was where he lost that time to Carlos. It really came down to very tiny details. It was Lando’s P3 to lose, and well he lost it. Carlos put in a good lap, but Lando was going to get that P3 position if he’d been able to keep up the pace he’d set. 

Looking at them all the thing that stands out is Charles early braking, especially in the medium and low speed corners of sector three. As well as his better top speed on the final turns and straight, and higher speeds in a few key areas throughout the track. 

Mclaren

Another repeat of Mclaren’s best result so far this season with a 2-4. This time with Oscar getting his best result with that P2. 

Oscar

Yes Oscar took some damage due to his contact with Carlos on lap 1(that did get at least partially repaired during the race restart) however, I do not believe he would have been able to make the pass on Charles, or have produced enough pace to keep the pressure on for much longer than he did. The damage didn’t affect his race that much, so I don’t think without this damage his results would have been any different. In fact Mclaren said as much. He didn’t have the pace to be able to pull an overtake in Monaco, that’s a very tall order and wasn’t likely even in the best of conditions. And in spite of the damage he ran a very clean race, and this was a good learning curve for him in tyre management. 

Oscar was really showing that he’s the faster of the two Mclaren’s, or trying to make that point. I will be very interested to see if he can keep that up. Since he was faster on this highly technical track he has my attention(he already had it, but that lap was impressive)

Oscar made one real attempt at overtaking Charles, going into turn 10 around lap 8. He tested the possibility, and Charles responded very quickly. I think after that he didn't seriously consider risking it again.

Lando

Lando's race was mainly to put pressure on Carlos. The main point of interest for him strategy wise was whether or not Mclaren were going to try to pit him at a certain point for fresh tyres if the gap between him and George(who was about 17-18 seconds behind in P5) This pit possibility would have put Lando behind Carlos on fresher tyres.

However I actually do not believe Mclaren were seriously about to try this. It was considered, but given they had two good track positions I think it wasn't worth the risk. Lando wasn't going to be able to overtake Carlos even on newer tyres. The chances of that were slim to none, so it really wasn't worth the pit, which might have risked George upping the pace to try to pass while Lando was in the pits.

Would Lando have been able to put pressure on Carlos if he'd had fresher tyres? Yes. Would he have been able to pass Carlos? Highly unlikely.

"Lando was a threat to Charles' race": Not really. The worst he was going to be able to do was threaten Carlos and even that wasn't a massive concern. He wasn't going to be passing Carlos and Oscar and then catching Charles. This is Monaco, it isn't like other tracks where a much fresher set of tyres would equal being able to pass.

"Lando was going to be able to pass Carlos": Again highly unlikely. We saw something similar with Max on fresh tyres behind George. Max got within less than a second of George and couldn't make the pass. Lando wasn't getting past Carlos, who has been very competent defending against Mclarens.

Data Analysis

Continuing the theme of qualifying being key at Monaco let’s compare Oscar and Lando’s qualifying laps. 

Oscar was faster by a little over a tenth. I think that what this shows is that overall they were very close. The place Oscar was consistently better was sector 3, that’s where Lando wasn’t catching him. On the slows Lando was clearly better. And the rest it came down to little things. Oscar didn’t brake for as long in a few key areas, but on others he was more conservative than Lando on the throttle. There are a few points where Oscar was clearly faster, and the finer points of sector three where his braking and throttle application are what put him ahead. Oscar’s speed and the spots where he was braver on the brakes and got the timing better are what set him apart from Lando. But Lando’s experience also came through in a few areas, especially on how to handle those slows best. Overall a great lap from Oscar. I think in another year he will be even better here. 

I also think this highlights that the two Mclaren drivers are very close, probably the closest teammates on the grid right now as far as pace and speed goes. There are areas where Oscar is stronger and others where Lando has the edge. It’s going to be track and condition dependent that makes the differences between them this year. 

I also want to note that the fact Monaco is a low deg track played to Oscar’s favor. He is still getting mixed results in higher deg conditions, so this weekend was a good show of his skill without having to contend with high deg. 

Solid race for Mclaren. Oscar really showed his skill after several races where luck was not on his side. I think we will be seeing him on the podium quite a few more times this season.

Red Bull

So what happened to Red Bull this weekend? Because this is the first weekend when real weaknesses in their car are becoming a real problem. The most shocking thing was Checo qualifying P18(bumped up to P16 after the Haas DSQ, but to get an idea of the speed issue compared to the other cars the P18 is relevant)

Last year Max talked about one of the few weaknesses of the RB19, he mentioned this quite a lot, on tracks and post season; the issue being the car was not as strong on street circuits, especially when it came to the grip, taking curbs, and overall reliability for him. I think that because Red Bull was so dominant last year most people didn’t think much of this complaint, seeing it more as a nitpick rather than Max giving real serious insight into a problem with the car concept. Well, this year the field have caught up to Red Bull very quickly, and what was a minor problem last year compared to the rest of the field, is now far more significant. I don’t think these results are from the RB20 taking a step backwards, it’s more that Ferrari and Mclaren are catching up, and they don’t have the same problem as Red Bull on these street circuits. So now what was something Red Bull could manage is a genuine weakness that is becoming more highlighted by the rest of the field. 

What shocked me was not just that these are Red Bull’s weakest results for that car all season. It was also the gap between Checo and Max.

I think that the gap between Checo and Max in qualifying is likely the result of a gamble by Red Bull. They probably went with two different setups in qualifying, hoping one would pay off. Because they tried so many setups during all free practice sessions and nothing really worked. And it seems that Checo's was probably the more extreme and thus was either going to pay off for him or fall completely flat. Given the results and his reaction to qualifying we know how that gamble paid off. I think with Max they probably played it to whatever he wanted and also the setup where they got the closest to some good speed. It seems with Max they chose more stability and speed and lower ride height

That many places off indicates an issue in the setup, and not just Checo being that much slower than Max. Max is faster, but that’s the biggest gap there’s been between them I think ever? Especially without any damage. So that many places off is a symptom of something beyond Checo himself. Checo is a solid driver and he has been fast in that car. 

The problem isn’t aerodynamic. It’s mechanical. The relationship between the suspension and the required ride height for the curbs on this track. All weekend they tried different setup to mitigate the issue and nothing worked. The suspension being too stiff prevents it from absorbing the impact of bumps which leads to all that force being directed to the chassis. Which in turn leads to that bouncing. Every time they hit a curb they lost time, and every time they had to run a little wide to avoid a curb they lost time. It was a lose-lose and no amount of setup was mitigating enough. 

This is a track specific problem that upgrades likely will not be able to solve this season. We will probably see this again, likely on more street circuits as well as circuits with higher curbs and curbs that require a certain camber on the tyres. Since it was a problem in Singapore last year chances are we see Red Bull have issues there again. 

Max

During qualifying Max was on pace to actually place closer to Oscar’s time, but he hit a wall and that cost him the attempt. So he actually did have the potential for a top 4 if not a top 3 time. I think at the very least he’d have placed ahead of George. That error cost him, and it was very much due to the instability in the ride of the suspension. So he ended up qualifying P6, and that’s the position he held the entire race. 

The only thing interesting about Max’s actual race was when he pit for medium tyres, and came up behind George who was still on old mediums. There was a chance to maybe attempt an overtake. So why didn’t it happen? Well I think the reason is pretty simple that the reliability of the RB20 on this track wasn’t good enough to be able to attempt an overtake in Monaco. I think Max would have been able to make the pass if he’d had more faith in the car, he very likely had the pace, but being unable to handle corners well, when those are areas overtaking can be done really made it impossible for him.  (edit: originally said George was on old hards, when he was in fact on old mediums)

Sergio

Because the Haas cars were disqualified from qualifying, they started in P19 and P20 from the pit lane. So they started behind Checo who originally qualified P18 and started P16 because of the DSQs. On the first lap Kevin made an attempt to pass Checo on the outside and clipped Checo’s rear, causing him to spin and slide down the track and along the barrier shredding his car and slamming into the barrier. This crash also resulted in both Haas cars being damaged and having to retire. 

Thankfully the safety features on the car protected Checo and he was able to walk away relatively unharmed, no major injuries reported. 

However there was an injury that resulted from this crash. A photographer who was behind the barrier Checo crashed into had to be taken to the hospital after sustaining injuries from debris that was essentially blasted through the barriers. This raises a very serious safety concern. The amount of debris that made it through could have resulted in worse injuries, and the opposite side of the barriers should probably be improved to prevent a bystander from being injured again in the future. The photographer is alright the injuries were minor. But a bystander being injured at all is of serious concern as far as track safety goes. 

Checo had the racing line in this incident. He was not at fault. Kevin was the one attempting to make the pass and the one who made contact. He didn’t have enough room and tried to force his way by on the outside anyway. His front wheel made contact with Checo’s rear wheel and a bit of his suspension and that is what caused him to fully lose the rears and spin across the track.

Checo was on the inside, he moved to the middle, all while ahead of Kevin, and by the time Kevin had put his wheels next to Checo the gap between Checo and the wall was less than a car's width. Additionally with Valtteri directly ahead there was nowhere for Kevin to really go had he made that pass. He didn't have the racing line, he didn't have room, and he didn't have space after Checo. This was all information that he had before attempting that move. It was beyond bold, it was reckless and sloppy.

I think it’s very clearly Kevin’s fault. So why wasn’t he penalized? Well, the stewards felt it wasn’t anything bad enough in terms of the driving to warrant a penalty, and since it was the first lap they attributed it to hard racing. But is this just hard racing? What is the limit of what they will permit before it gets penalized on lap 1. I am usually a proponent of “let them race” in lap one, but this was way too far. I do not want to find out what the limit is if something like this goes without penalty. Checo is very fortunate that he wasn’t injured. It could have been so much worse. 

Data Analysis

The data is pretty clear in reflecting Red Bull’s struggles. Here is Max vs Checo’s qualifying laps.

Max was just able to achieve better top speeds. And had better racing line through the areas where the curbs were an issue. As I stated above I also think this gap is due to a significant setup difference between the two. But it’s still interesting to see where the differences are under that assumption, one setup was clearly better than the other. I also think that Max’s ability to mitigate the issues was much greater than Checo’s.

What really highlights the problems Red Bull were having with the reliability and control around this track is comparing Max to Charles.

Here the control Charles had on the corners really highlights where the problems were with the Red Bull on those same corners. Max was braking much later, and I think that’s a result of him having to go around the curbs more. Also Charles in the Ferrari had better top speeds on most of the straights. But those straights are where the Red Bull made up some time. The car was still fast, it was the corners and the fine control this track demands where the car was struggling. 

Red Bull still have a strong car. But it is far from perfect, and with other teams improving rapidly in key areas, the RB20 is going to become more track specific for performance. Which isn’t good for their reliability in the standings, but highly promising for anyone looking to beat them. 

Haas

This was Haas’ worst result of the season. Worst result in the season for any team period. From getting both their drivers disqualified from qualifying because they didn’t have the proper rear wing measurements and thus were flagged for a technical violation, to both cars DNFing due to the fault of one of their own drivers, this weekend was a failure by the team on multiple fronts.

Haas failed both their drivers for failing the ensure the rear wing was in technical compliance. I don’t even know how they made that mistake. But this was no fault of the drivers. Both Kevin and Nico had to start the race from the pitlane and their qualifying results were deleted. 

Then on the first lap Kevin attempted a pass on Checo and this led to him not only crashing with Checo and ending his own race, the crash was big enough it took out his teammate as well. Kevin was at fault here. Checo had the racing line, there was not enough space on the outside for that pass when Kevin made that attempt. Checo was under no real obligation to move. Kevin went for it anyway and the resulting crash was extremely dangerous for both drivers. 

I explained above why the stewards didn’t give Kevin a penalty for this. His actions fell under “hard racing” which they are far more lenient on in lap one. However I think there is more to this. I think that this incident was too far to be considered “hard racing” especially when the fault is so clearly skewed as well. We had another lap one incident that was clearly one driver’s fault that did result in a penalty with Esteban. So why not Kevin?

I suspect that the stewards were more reluctant to issue the penalty because it would have resulted in a one race ban for Kevin, and they did not want that to be the outcome. That isn’t something that should be considered when looking at individual incidents, but I think that wanting to avoid him getting that ban was a reason for more lenience here, which to me is unacceptable. This is speculation on my part, so take it as conjecture, but to me it makes sense. 

Overall bad weekend for Haas. 

Alpine

There are two things worth noting about Alpine’s weekend, first Pierre got their best qualifying result all year coming in P10 and also secured his first points of the season. Big for this team that was struggling heavily at the beginning of the season. It’s looking like they will be at least challenging for some more points in the future. Great result and driving from Pierre, that qualifying lap he produced was extremely solid.

The other thing of note was the lap one collision between Pierre and Esteban. Esteban qualified P11 right behind Pierre in P10. Right before the tunnel he tried to pass Pierre on the inside and then in doing so pushed Pierre wide, on a track like Monaco the only place for Pierre to go when forced wide was into the wall, so he rammed into the back of Esteban, damaging Esteban’s car and his own. Esteban had to retire from the race, Pierre was able to race upon the restart having take minor damage. 

This collision was 100% Esteban’s fault. Apparently he was told by the team not to attempt a pass on Pierre, and on a track like Monaco risking both cars for an overtake like that was just reckless. 

Now it has come to my attention that while yes this incident was Esteban’s fault there was more leading up to it than him just doing this randomly. There had been more back and forth with him and Pierre earlier in the lap and also Esteban was getting squeezed by other cars before he tried that pass on Pierre. So this was in part from some crowding, it wasn't just he decided to barge past his teammate randomly or purely out of ego, there was a little more there. I do still think that this doesn’t excuse the move. He had room and should have stayed back instead of attempting a pass, and the degree to which he forced Pierre wide was also unacceptable, especially on a track with no runoff. I wanted to be sure to be fair and note that there was more context than the pass and resulting contact that has been making the rounds in coverage of the collision. 

Esteban was given a 10 second penalty that was increased to a 5 place starting grid penalty in the next race since he did not race on the restart, his car had sustained too much damage to be ready in time for the race restart.

So a mixed weekend for Alpine, good results for Pierre, and more than a few issues with Esteban.  

Mercedes

Mercedes actually had one of their best races in terms of results. George started P5 and finished P5, Lewis started P7 and finished P7. That P5 is the highest GP finish they’ve had since George came in P5 back in Bahrain. And Lewis was higher here so overall good result for the team in points. Lewis also set the fastest lap of the race, and this lap was actually significant because it was another record broken by him. With this fastest lap scored Lewis Hamilton now holds the record for the most fastest laps scored for a single team with 54 for Mercedes, just beating Michael Schumacher who scored 53 fastest laps with Ferrari. 

George was solid at controlling the pace of the cars behind, including keeping Max off, even after Max had pit for fresh tyres. Lewis maximized his points given the position.

I think that Lando pitting was something Mercedes were almost hoping for. They also played a role in creating that gap. Because there was a chance that if Lando pit George could speed up and take a place. I suspect this is very likely because it’s one of the few possibilities the entire dynamic of the race would have presented to take a place like this. So this strategy may have been an attempt to tempt Mclaren into pitting. 

All around a good weekend for Mercedes. Their car seemed to be better suited to this track. The upgrades seem to be paying off in some capacity because both drivers were at least competitive in qualifying and free practice. 

There is still something odd going on that Lewis pointed out between the car in free practice vs qualifying, he said it just is almost a guarantee of losing 2 tenths of pace. Which this is likely due to a larger car setup issue. Unsure of what or how they might be able to go about fixing it. But the car does have some more potential than we saw at the beginning of the season. And both drivers do seem to be more comfortable. Yes George noted a lot of bouncing, but he also tied for his best result so clearly something was working. 

Williams

This was Williams' best race. Alex qualified P9 and finished P9 bringing Williams’ first points of the season. And on the Monaco track to boot, that’s a really solid performance from Alex. 

Logan also showed improvement from his Monaco performance last year. Of course the big upset was the fact he did out-qualify Checo in the Red Bull, this was certainly a symptom of something very off about the Red Bull and less to do with Logan's speed, but still that result had to feel good from his perspective. And after the Haas cars were both disqualified he was bumped up to P15 from his original position in P17. He finished in P15. This was his second best grand prix result of the season, after his P14 in Jeddah.

I also want to note that Logan ran with Williams 2023 rear wing, because apparently they didn’t have enough parts. I really don’t know how this keeps happening. He did well in spite of this, and clearly that still was a better setup than whatever Red Bull did with Checo’s car. 

Anyway, the Williams upgrades do seem to have finally yielded them some results.

Final Thoughts

The question everyone had after this race was “Do we have a title fight?” And the answer to me is yes. In the constructor’s Red Bull is in trouble, especially when it comes to Ferrari. Checo having a few mid to bad results, and Max not being on the podium have left the standings much closer. 24 points, that’s all there is, and if Charles and Carlos keep putting in the reliable top performances they have been, that gap will continue to close. 

Okay that was the constructors, but what about the driver’s championship, do we have a title fight there? Well the gap to Max is a bit wider. I think that in a few more races we can make that call. If Red Bull continue to struggle on the car setup and Max doesn’t start pulling in consistent wins like he did at the beginning of the season then we will have a title fight on our hands. I think also with more Ferrari upgrades coming in Silverstone this will also possibly put Ferrari more ahead. If those upgrades add more speed, as they are aimed to do then Charles will have a car that he can consistently challenge Max in. So there’s more at play for the WDC title, but we are close to it being a real possibility. 

This race was a career highlight for Charles. And a privilege to get to watch live.

Monaco never going to forget this grand prix. Ferrari isn’t going to forget this race. And Charles is always going to remember this win. History was made.

That’s all I have, see you all in Canada!

[j0shm0]

Points Theory post "HEINEKEN SILVER LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX 2024"

I want to start off by saying contragulations to Max for getting his 4th Championship and tying Seb for the redbull conscutive record. There was a lot of us that assumed from day 1 testing in Bahrain that the season was over, but the fact that it dragged out to the 22nd race of the season with the top 6 all winning multiple races and multiple 1-2s is mind blowing as a newer F1 fan.

Further on a weekend where Mercedes came alive out of nowhere, huge props to ferrari to keep the constructors battle going, and pushing mclaren even closer to the breaking point this year.

As for the rest of the drivers standings, Yuki did good to qualify in the points and not fall off during the race; Alpine has a horrid weekend after such a strong Brazil, and poor peirre blowing out part of his side pod from the sheer power of the tow from Yuki on the strip straight. Further sucky weekend for Williams after the chaos that was Brazil and potentially not having a car for Vegas, and then Alex having to retire the car....making this the 4th race he hasnt finished since Franco joined the team.

In this Points to 12th model Zhou was close to gaining another point with a strong 13th place finish for him in the Flame Sauber. Everyone else just solidified their postions more.

With this Points to 20th model it shows how close Lando, Charles, and Oscar are to eachother. Further showing how well Nico, Fernando, and Valtteri have been driving across the year. This model to me still does the best to represent and relate to what we see on the track performance and not just who gets to be in the top 10.

[umgeorge]

What Does an F1 Driver Do Between Races?

A racetrack might be the natural habitat of a Formula 1 driver, but making the most of the time away from the asphalt is also crucial when it comes to maximising performance. From debriefs and data digging, partner days and downtime, there's no time to take your foot off the pedal. We spoke to George to find out everything he gets up to between Grand Prix weekends. "The racetrack is the tip of the iceberg. The work that goes on at the factory is so vitally important. That's where everyone is aware of the car's performance," he explains. There's no gentle ease into the week. Drivers will often head straight back into the simulator, not to look ahead to the next race, but to go back over the previous weekend and see what did and didn't correlate between the virtual and real world. It's a schedule that doesn't always agree with a driver's sleeping pattern, either. "Take Australia as an example," says George. "I landed back in London at midnight. But I'll stay on a more Eastern time schedule, rather than shift back to GMT and then do nine hours to Japan in a couple of weeks." Win or lose, the best time to debrief will always be as soon after the event as possible. Sitting down with the team and talking about what could have gone better and how to ensure things will be different at future races is the priority. It's not all about screens, numbers, and data. It's a chance to come together and bounce thoughts and ideas off of a wide range of team members, be that the latest developments in the wind tunnel or an honest discussion with an engineer. "We'll always sit down and have breakfast and lunch together," George adds. Data analysis can take a few days to be completed. When it has, usually around Wednesday or Thursday, post-race weekend, there's a deep dive to be done. This is a full-blown catch up that allows a driver to truly digest the numerical facts and figures behind race performance. Formula 1 is a constant development. Dwelling too long on the past isn't an option and it's important to know as soon as possible what you're looking to try at the next event, but building a picture of what to try at the next race often starts during the race before. Drivers are so in tune with being on a racetrack that they may notice a performance trend at one circuit that will work well at another. "You may have just completed a quali lap somewhere, and you realise that what you have learned might be good to try at a race later in the year," reveals George. "In the world we live in, eyes are always forward." In between, the physical exertion doesn't relent. A driver will mix between gym sessions at home or at the factory. And it's not light work. "I'll usually do a double session every day when I get home, right up until the Monday of the next race week. From that point of view the week goes by pretty quickly," says George. More often than not, there may be some time on set behind a camera, carrying out important filming or marketing days with our partners. And what about downtime? Switching off while the engines are off is so important. Disconnecting from the world is a crucial part of a high profile athlete's itinerary. Whether it's a walk or just a catch up with friends or family, the importance of stepping outside that motorsport bubble for just a few moments cannot be underestimated. By now we're back into a race week. Prep done, the adrenaline and anticipation of racing is slowly building. A return to the racetrack beckons, and a Formula 1 driver can feel truly at home once more.

[absolutebl]

Hi ABL!! This is more of a data question then anything but it might not actually be answerable.

How does the world of BL define a successful show? Is it money made on ads revenue? Streams? Trending hashtags??

Granted in North American media I also couldn’t answer this question, but I could gage based on…article reviews or critical acclaim. Or something.

I see soooooo many people saying something flopped or was massively successful, but truly. How on earth are we making those benchmarks?

I figure you might have at least a tiny sliver of insight into how this works! Or at least a key word I can take to google LOL. Thanks as always!!!!!

Hum.

Well for GMMTV et al, it's YT views. So that's easy. We can see those eyeballs outright.

The streaming platforms obfuscate data (that is one of the reasons SAG is still on strike) but we can see things like where it's ranked on their internal leader boards (what's "popular on Viki" for example). How many reviews something has. How many collections and lists it's on. How many people on MDL have it listed as "currently watching"

More key is how much chatter a show is getting. How many comments. But also...

Literally when you do a Google search for that IP:

How are the hit returns?

How many top spots does it hold above the fold on Google main (using private or incognito mode).

Are people blogging about it? Think pieces?

Are there reaction vids?

FMVs?

Reddit chatter?

BTS's?

Interviews with actors?

The amount of fan content generated around an IP tells you a lot about the number of viewers - since it is all a numbers game. Commenters (those who visibly/trackably react to content) are more common than (content) creators. Ghosts (passive consumers) are more common than commenters.

There are those in EntDA working on formulas for predictive fan base numbers sourced in the ratios of these.

Lemme try to explain...

In other words, the fans who create content for IPs (fanfic, art, meta analysis, FMVs, etc...) are the rarest. Those who interact with the content, leave star reviews, comment on the above fan-made content, engage in discourse, leave YT comments, are the second rarest. Those who tend to do nothing more than ... well, ghost (maybe have a subscription, maybe save the vid to a playlist or on MDL, maybe read this on Tumblr but don't react to it). They are the largest contingent but hardest to track.

If we could get a good handle on the first 2, there's usually a predictable ratio that can be drawn for the fan base as a whole, the largest number 3 - ghosts.

For example:

For every 1 creator there are 100 commenters and 1000 ghosts. Something like that. However the nature of this ratio is dependent on venue and vocality of the fan base (often a generational thing). So like, most Kpop stans are vocal, but 4th gen stans tend to be more noisy online, even though 3rd gen groups tend to have bigger overall fan bases. (Superstars, like super hits, are non-viable non-predictive outliers. There can never be another KP, or 2g, and we can't use their numbers to predict anything. Just like Taylor Swift or BTS can't be used to predict/estimate the success of a new pop venture).

back to the BL fandom

Here on Tumblr you can tell what's popular by which ones are getting the most gifsets.

That's how we know Only Friends is out performing Dangerous Romance. (I mean I could check the numbers on YT but I don't really have to.)

Also, I bet you good money Kiseki is garnering more eyeballs than You Are Mine. Again, I can say that with confidence just based on the content that's being created for that IP in this one venue.

On a practical level, in the ET industry, if there is chatter about a BL outside of BL circles (as happened with KP) you know it's gotten HUGE (by BL standards).

The moral of this story, incidentally, is if you like a thing, doesn't matter how shy you are, if you want it to continue, get a second season, whatever, you gotta NOT JUST WATCH IT BUT TALK about it. Online, where careers are made and broken. Squeaky wheel and all that.

Entertainment is about attention. More money is always thrown at the thing getting the most attention.

Just like politics.

Okay, I done now.

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