#SAUBER

[f1archives]

The Stake team’s special race suits for Las Vegas

[tetheredbysin]

SAUBER YOU ARE RUINING A MARRIAGE HERE

notice how it's not "I'd like to go to audi" or "audi would be a great opportunity". no no, it's "nico really wants me to go with him". this is LOVE.

[coldarena]

2024 Grid as wildlife posters

prints here!

[n1ghttrouble]

I love living in Finland bc wdym valtteri is dressed as santa in the supermarket😭😭

[lina-corsa]

F1 Team history in visual form

More about teams in my 2024 season guide:)

[penaltyboxboxbox]

zhouguanyu24 Home together! 🐱🖤

[box-box-blorbos]

Formula 1 2024

[bees-latenight-blues]

And it hits me suddenly

After this season, there will be no more Zhou and Valtteri

What am I going to do?

Crying in the club right now

[leclercskiesahead]

The manifestation board

[hungriestheidi]

WELCOME TO THE WOMEN IN F1 TEAMS ACADEMIES SLIDE SHOW by @hungriestheidi

Hold on tight and enjoy the ride!

THANK YOU FOR READING! If you want to know more hit me up, my asks are open :)

[f1archives]

Valtteri Bottas shows off his new tattoo to the photographers - Las Vegas, 2024 (📷 Kym Illman)

[tetheredbysin]

I'm not interested in who these yellow flags, safety cars and red flaga benefit. We can talk about the biases and race-fixing another time.

But I am not about to sit by and watch the stewards set drivers in genuine danger because they aren't willing to call these things the way they should be. Nico being left on track during the sprint under yellows, yellows being kept out for an insanely long time for Lance on a wet track.

We don't want to see driver safety improved by handing out penalties for contact with no consequences. We want to see drivers at genuine risk being cared for. And yes, that means drivers other than the FIA's darlings who bring in the big engagement.

[f1feetlicker]

The sauber fan experience

[aviscarrentals]

f1 x textposts p2 (spamming the dash with silliness teehee)

[cutelittlefakejourneys]

imho the whole discussion about whether the drivers can swear on the radio (while driving at 250 kph and with high adrenaline) is completely unnecessary

It’s not the end of the world for people to hear max verstappen say fuck

[straightline-bow]

I know everyone is mostly joking with the whole ‘oh the GPDA should strike’ thing after their statement in instagram, but I really think we should be having a conversation about how actually, they can’t strike, and that lack of ability to use collective bargaining can be and may be incredibly dangerous.

The issue with the GPDA as a union is that it only covers the twenty current Formula 1 drivers. Now, many people see no issue with this - why would anyone else need coverage? - but this is what sort of hamstrings the GPDA as a union. Should the members go on strike, there would be backlash in the press, pressure on the FIA, FOM, Liberty and the teams - but there are other drivers, who have the super licences needed to drive an F1 car. And could you even blame them? We’ve seen how hard it can be for rookies to get a seat - Colapinto looks a lot like he may be able to get on the grid, either for next year or the year after, and that is a swansong MIRACLE that came out of nowhere for him. Lawson and Piastri had to wait on the sidelines, as did Doohan. The only Driver’s Academies that seem to be working are Ferrari’s (A Leclerc off to WEC, Bearman in Haas), Mercedes’ to an extent (They tossed Aron aside when he’s been doing fantastically, but Antonelli has a seat) and sort of Mclaren’s (Bortoleto was under them in F2, but he has now severed ties to sign for Audi.). And even then they CLEARLY have their failures. Can you truly blame young drivers for taking any and every opportunity handed to them when so few succeed at all?

A strike would be very easily defeated by the FIA and Co - and there would be no guarantee of contracts post strike, and although the WDCs and highest level drivers could probably weather the storm, there is no way the rookies and those from smaller teams would be able to, and they could likely lose their seats over it. Quite frankly, the only way for a strike to work in the drivers favour in this day and age would be for them to vote to include all drivers who have superlicences in the union, and then for all of them to strike together.

A reminder: every driver who has an official contract with a team entered into the F1 championship can apply for a superlicence, if they hold the other requirements (usually a certain number of points plus a driver’s licence pluse a competition licence plus a theory test on first sitting), which means drivers from IndyCar, WEC, lower formulas, Formula E and test drivers are all usually eligible, or can be. I think the official number is around 70ish drivers are eligible, plus any retired F1 drivers who keep up the fitness standard and 100km of practise across a year - so drivers such as Jacques Villneauve could potentially still have a valid superlicence, so long as he proved he did enough practise.

Aside from the sheer unlikelihood of the GPDA being allowed to vote to include all holders of valid superlicences - which could possibly lead to the core members facing severe consequences, possibly the same as striking on their own - there are a lot of drivers who would not strike for safety precautions, purely they don’t think they are necessary (Brundle on the halo) or because they know if they broke the line they could get a drive, and because the GPDA has so little political power it very rarely is able to intercede to set minimum wages etc the way other unions are able to, any drivers breaking the line would know they weren’t losing out on anything but a moral argument, and potential safety issues. Some people don’t think about safety until they need it.

The current state of affairs is just incredibly concerning, and I think that although it’s fun and fine to make jokes about it, we should definitely remember both the driver’s own lack of agency, and that even though some aren’t satisfied with the statement they put out, it is perhaps one of the only things they can do.