#abu dhabi gp 2011

[lewishamiltongifs]

smile :)

[lewisarchive]

Sir Lewis Hamilton celebrates with his mother Carmen larbalestier (2011)

[totoochristianwolff]

ABU DHABI GP 2011 [📸Sutton Images] @vanillevs the way he looks so young yet exactly the same now 🥺

[brawngp2009]

Andrew Shovlin (GBR) Mercedes GP Race Engineer. Formula One World Championship, Rd 18, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Practice Day, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Friday 11 November 2011. Sutton Images.

[umseb]

lewis hamilton, p2, sebastian vettel, p1, and jenson button, p3, in parc ferme after qualifying, abu dhabi - november 12, 2011 📷 sutton images / motorsport images

[avida-heidia-5]

But here comes Sebastian “RRRRRRRING DING-A-DING DING DING DING” Vettel!

(Feat. Rocky!)

🤪🐸

[sebnameyourcar]

wait would you u want to explain the context of multi 21?

MULTI-21: A HISTORY LESSON

MODERN ASSUMPTIONS:

it has been over a decade since the 2013 malaysian grand prix. as the years have gone on, people have forgotten, or smoothed out, the minutiae of it.

when people talk about multi-21 nowadays, it tends to fall under three headings:

• evil supervillain seb was addicted to winning and didn’t care about his team. selfish emotionless robot. got booed for a year and deserved it

• cunty brat seb was a disobedient child and refused to listen to his team and faced no consequences ever because he was red bulls special little boytoy

• poor mark webber was betrayed by his team as he had been for five years. the win was his and seb stole it

but of course, nothing is ever so simple

BACKGROUND

by 2013, sebastian and mark had been teammates for 5 years, and part of the extended red bull “family” for 7.

when they became teammates in 2009, mark was the older, more experienced head. seb was the young wunderkind who already had a race win under his belt, more than mark had.

(ironically, mark won his first race in germany in 2009. seb wouldn’t win his home GP until 2013. seb has since called mark’s 2009 german gp win as one of the most impressive drives he’s ever seen.)

anyway. let’s go back in time. it’s japan. it’s 2007. and it is raining. it’s lap 45, under the safety car after alonso crashed out. the rain is TORRENTIAL, and mark (red bull) is running in 2nd. he’s so sick that he’s vomiting in his helmet. seb (toro rosso baby. 20 years old) was 3rd. hamilton was leading, and braked quite dangerously. seb was caught out by this, and crashed into the back of mark. both of them had been running in the podium places, and both had to retire. mark called seb a kid without experience fucking it up. seb cried in his garage. this is the first time they crash. mark later referred to it as the first time they made love on track because he’s a freak

fast forward to turkey 2010. they are teammates now, and have been for over a year. fuji 2007 had largely been forgotten. water under the bridge. they are fighting for the championship against ferrari and mclaren. mark got pole, but around lap 40 seb had caught up to him as mark had to save fuel. they “merged towards each other” (generous). mark didn’t give seb enough space, seb was too over-eager. people will have different opinions. unless you’re helmut marko, who will always back seb, since seb is a product of the red bull academy whereas mark wasn’t. mark went on to finish on the podium, seb had to retire. seb was PISSED! (sexy). this is seen as the start of the “rivalry” by many.

britain 2010. aka the mark-webber-slams-water-on-desk moment. seb was given the new front wing from marks car for qualifying because he was a better qualifier because his had broken in fp3. he would ultimately get a puncture in the race, whilst webber with the old wing came first, and graced us with the “not bad for a no.2 driver” radio message.

so, where are we by summer 2010 and spring 2011? fuji was no one’s fault really, turkey was six of one half a dozen of the other, but mark felt the team favoured seb. britain made that feeling CONCRETE in marks mind. then seb won the title in 2010 after not leading until the final race of the season. in the press conference before abu dhabi 2010, seb kept getting asked if he’d let mark past it if would win mark the championship, and he kept evading the answer. see, mark had been ahead in the championship, but he qualified 7th while seb got pole and won. so, come 2011, webber was convinced the team favoured seb. however, seb was by far and away the better driver.

so. britain 2011. an underrated moment of the vettel webber rivalry. mark qualified on pole, with seb p2. seb quickly took the lead in the race. later on in the race after some botched pit stops and drama, mark was close to seb. red bull told mark NOT to pass seb.

mark ignored this team order. he tried to pass his teammate, but ultimately failed to do so. it’s often forgetting in vettel/webber rivalry lore that mark was the first of them to ignore a direct team order. the difference was he just wasn’t able to make the overtake. here are two interesting quotes from just after the race:

and now. brazil 2012. another forgotten multi-21 backstory. it was the last race of the season, and seb was fighting for his third straight championship, only alonso could possibly beat him. mark qualified 3rd, seb 4th, and alonso 8th. seb had a rocky start to the race, which resulted in him being hit from the back & spun around. he pulled off the mother of all recovery drives to win the championship. alls well that ends well right? wrong. horner admitted a few years ago that seb felt that mark was to blame for the rocky start by forcing seb into the wall. horner even went as far as to say that this lack of teamwork was directly in sebs mind when malaysia 2013 came around. that that was seb’s revenge.

conspiracy theorists will say that mark forced seb towards the wall because he wanted his mate alonso to win the championship over his teammate. definitely possible but not confirmed.

so. here we are. malaysia 2013. it’s been 5 years of crashes, ignored team orders (mark), favouritism (seb) and finally an almost championship-ruining shove towards a wall.

seb qualified on pole, mark 5th. but mark took the lead after the first round of pitstops. around lap 46, seb was gaining on mark, who was on old hard tyres. team orders came through for seb not to fight mark. multi 21 literally means that car no 2 should stay in position ahead of car no 1. just as mark ignored team orders in britain 2011, seb ignored them here. the only difference was seb actually got past. mark was furious (“yep that’s good teamwork!”) seb, a bad liar, was hilarious (“i was really scared… all of a sudden he was moving… i had to…”) horner was regretting most of his life choices (“this is silly seb come on.”)

seb won the race. the most awkward of all cool down rooms ensued (“multi 21 seb. yeah? multi 21”) seb chugged an entire bottle of water. poor lewis hamilton just trying to disappear into thin air. underrated moment is you can see a clip of seb trying to explain something to mark and neither of them are having a good time. on the podium interviews after mark said “seb will have protection from the team as always” - harkening back to his long-felt belief that the team favoured seb, yet ignoring his own history of ignoring team orders, and ignoring brazil 2012.

seb would later apologise.

…

three days later seb would rescind that apology.

(“i was racing i was faster i passed him i won.”)

at this stage, seb had been the dominant driver for four years running and some crowds had grown annoyed at him, so used this as an excuse to boo him at basically every race for the summer swing of the season. seb spoke at the end of 2013 about how hard this was for him, and how he was thankful for the support of his family and girlfriend during the hard times. it’s important to remember that seb was only in his mid 20s when all this booing and controversy was happening. it’s a lot to shoulder, especially when you’re only doing what you’ve always done, what you’re being paid to do: winning.

mark would retire at the end of the 2013 season, though apparently he had already made up his mind before malaysia.

seb would stay at red bull for one more year before moving to ferrari.

when asked in 2022, seb said he wouldn’t change what he did in malaysia 2013. and in my opinion, he’s right.

unlike the mclaren clusterfuck of hungary 24, there was YEARS of history between vettel and webber before multi-21. grudges, crashes, hurts, pride, friendship, rivalry, championships lost and won. this was the cumulation of their entire careers to date, all of their mistakes and their motivations for better or for worse.

basically, it was never so simple as “seb ignored team orders because he was an arrogant brat” or “poor mark the team never liked him” it’s… well it’s all of the above. cheers for reading. fuck me i went on a bit

[charleszleclerc]

Timeline

June 21st 1997

Evelyn Martin is born to Elise and Hugo Martin who already have one son named Adrien.

October 16th 1997

Charles Leclerc is born to Pascale Leclerc and Hervé Leclerc who already have a son named Lorenzo.

April 2nd 1999

Elise and Hugo have their last child. A girl named Arielle. He completed the Martin family and both Evelyn and Adrien were happy with their new sibling.

October 14th 2000

Hervé and Pascale welcome their third son. Arthur Leclerc completes the Leclerc family.

2001

Evelyn starts ballet dancing at the age of four because she had seen it on tv and wanted to be a ballet dancer

2005

Charles starts go kart racing competitively he was eight.

He wins the French  PACA Championship in 2005, 2006, and 2008

Evelyn decided she wanted to be a professional ballet dancer when she grew up so she became more serious about her dancing and entering competitions.

2008

Evelyn fractures her foot for the first time when one of her jumps went wrong. She was out of dancing for awhile.

Charles won the French PACA for the last time

2009

Charles became a French Cadet Champion

Evelyn returned to ballet and won a few competitions. Her dancing outshone others and she was offered a place at a prestigious ballet school in Monte Carlo.

They both join the same secondary school

2010

Charles moved to the KF3 class where he wins the junior Monaco kart cup

Evelyn is having a hard time at the ballet school as none of the girls really like her but her love for ballet stops her from quitting

2011

Charles wins the CIK-FIA KF3 World Cup, the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy and the ERDF Junior Kart Masters

Evelyn joins her school’s photography group

2012

Charles partakes in Val D'Argenton track is hosting the second round of the WSK Euro Series season this is where max and he have their “inchident”

Evelyn attends the race with her family she meets max and they become friends

2013

Max and Evelyns friendship grows

Evelyns dream to be a professional ballet dancer and that’s all she cares about instead of school

Charles  won the South Garda Winter Cup and claimed sixth position in the CIK-FIA European KZ  Championship and finished second in the CIK-FIA World KZ Championship, behind Max

Evelyn and Charles meet at school and become good friends towards the end of the year

2014

Evelyn tears her Acl in January of 2014 and is told her dreams of being a professional dancer will never happen

Charles is there and supports her through it all. They start hanging out more.

Evelyn realises there is more to life than dancing. She puts her spare time into fashion and creating clothes.

In 2014, Charles graduated to single-seaters, racing in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps championship for British team Fortec Motorsports. During the season, he took seven podium positions, including a double victory at Monza, to finish runner-up in the championship behind Koiranen GP's Nyck de Vries

October 2014 Jules Bianchi crashes in Japan

Evelyn’s there for Charles immediately

Christmas day Charles and Evelyn decide to start dating

2015

Charles and Evelyn finish school at the age of 18

Charles joins F3

Evelyn applies to start a fashion design course

Their relationship is a bit rough when Jules dies but Evelyn stays by Charles side

2016

Charles and Evelyn’s relationship is stronger than ever

Evelyn decides to start teaching ballet to children to spread the love she had for it

Charles claimed three victories and took the title in his first year of the series, despite crashing out in the feature race of the season's final race in Abu Dhabi in the GP3 series

In 2016, Leclerc joined the Ferrari Driver Academy and he acted as development driver for Haas F1 Team and Scuderia Ferrari.

2017

Charles joined formula 2 for the 2017 season with the Prema racing team

Evelyn graduated and started working on trying to set up her own business  

Hervé Leclerc passes away

Evelyn is there for Charles day and night. Their relationship only grows stronger

Charles wins the f2 championship

2018

For the 2018 Formula One World Championship, Leclerc signed for the Sauber F1 Team as a race driver

Evelyn released her first clothing line

2019-present

Charles signed with Ferrari

Evelyn continues to release clothing items building her brand one step at a time

She also continues to teach ballet

Max and Evelyn’s friendship has continued to grow over the years

May 2024 Charles wins the Monaco grand prix

July 2024 Evelyn finds out she’s pregnant

December 2024 marked 10 years since they started dating, Charles has something to ask Evelyn

Here is a new post!! this is sorta a timeline and masterlist so if there is anything you would like a blurb/oneshot on send me an ask. I'm excited for this story but I am in college right now so updates might be slow. All the dates and events I took from Wiki so sorry if their wrong

[sigyn-l]

2009 Abu Dhabi GP🇦🇪

2011 Sao Paulo GP🇧🇷

[boxboxblog]

Driver Profiles: Max Verstappen

Updated December 2024

Name: Max Emilian Verstappen

Age: 27

Nationality: Dutch (grew up in Belgium)

Years in F1: 9 (Toro Rosso 2015-May 2016, Red Bull May 2016-Present)

Number: 1 (as reigning champion) and 33

WDCs: 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024

Driving Style: Aggressive, and fearless, Verstappen is known for his strong understanding and control of his car. Famously, drivers have stated that when Verstappen is behind them, its not about if he will overtake it is about when. He is also know for his late-braking on corners and the absolute trust he seems to have with the car to keep him safe, enabling him to take bold manuvers. Other drivers who have been in the same car as him have described his style of car as being highly reactive and 'sharp' in response to movement. This gives us a glimpse of how Verstappen races, as his preferred car shows he has precise handling and pushes to the limit. He does not drive well when he feels the car is not responding precisely to his instructions.

History: Son of F1 driver Jos Verstappen, Verstappen grew up in the public eye. He started karting when he was four and started competing when he was just seven years old. He dominated his national karting stages between 2005 and 2009, winning his home provinces championship, VAS championship, the Rotax Max Challenge, the Belgian Cadet Championship, and more. He was known to be a prodigy from a young age, and reportedly during races his father would tweak something about the cart to help him learn how changes feel. This helped develop a strong intuition for his future F1 cars.

(Verstappen, around 2010)

In 2010 he entered into the international karting scene, and finished second at his first KF3 World Cup after Alex Albon, but won the WSK World Series. In 2011, Verstappen won the WSK Euro Series. In the following year, Verstappen won the WSK Master Series in the KF2 class, and the South Garda Winter Cup in the KF2 class. He was the youngest driver taking part in the World Championship in KF1 class and finished eighth. In 2012 He finished second at the World Cup in the KF2 class. 2013 was his biggest year however, having progressed to the senior level KZ and KF categories. He was fifteen when he won three CIK-FIA championships in a single season: two European Championships and a World Championship, an unprecedented feat. He went only to only lose one of seven championships that year.

(Verstappen when he started single-seaters)

He debuted in single seaters in 2014, driving for the Florida Winter Series. He went on to drive in F3 that year for Van Amersfoort Racing, and at age 16 placed third in his first real single seater championship.

When he was seventeen, he drew the attention of F1, and drove his first F1 car during a practice session for Toro Rosso. In 2014 he officially joined the Red Bull Junior Program, and was signed for Toro Rosso's 2015 season. He became the youngest person to ever start an F1 Grand Prix at seventeen. He had an extremely successful first season, becoming the youngest person to score points, and regularly finishing in the top 10.

(Verstappen in his first year with Toro Rosso)

In 2016, Verstappen started out in Toro Rosso but by May he had been pulled up to replace Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat due to Kvyats poor performance. His first race with Red Bull was the Spanish GP, and astoundingly it was Verstappen's first win as well. This would set the tone for Verstappen's career going forward.

He had increasingly successful seasons as time went on, already fighting for the championship by 2019. But it was in 2021 that he won his first WDC, in a controversial race held in Abu Dhabi. After that Verstappen dominated F1, winning both 2022 and 2023. In 2023 he had perhaps the most dominant season aa driver ever had, and amazingly won almost every single race. In 2024, he started the season strong but midway his car seemed to lose its pace. While Verstappen is still winning the championship, it is possible there could be a major title fight in the last few races.

Key Races:

2016 Spanish GP - His first win and first race with Red Bull.

2016 Brazilian GP - A race in the wet, it is considered one of the best drive sin modern F1. He dropped down the order after a pit mistake, but through intense rain and dangerous conditions was able to take a podium place. Hailed as one of the most masterful rain races anyone has ever seen

2019 Austrian GP - Famous for a late-race move on Charles Leclerc that is often seen as controversial, this was his first win in 2019. It highlighted his uncompromising attitude toward racing and pure aggression.

2021 Monaco GP - Considered the turn around in Verstappen's 2021 season, he drove a flawless race and took the championship lead

2021 Abu Dhabi - Another controversial race, with Verstappen finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton and clinching his first WDC. Controversial due to safety car in last few laps.

Any 2023 Race but Singapore, Baku, and Jeddah - Verstappen won 19 out of 22 race this season, an excessively dominant display. he lost only to his teammate Sergio Perez and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz

Brazil 2024 - Perhaps the most masterful wet race in F1 history, Verstappen drove from P17 to win the race in incredibly tense and dangerous conditions. His overtakes were brilliant, his pace was stellar. No words.

Cheers,

-B

[fortheloveofaussiegrit]

@fortheloveofaussiegrit 's deep dive into Mark and his love of twinks...

Sebastian Vettel 

Where does one even start when trying to explain this... that's his twink of the past, present, and future— his forever. [first: debatable but the beginning of martian at the Fuji GP 2007 when Seb crashed into the back of Mark ruining both of their races, they were running 2nd and third. second: the day i lost my sanity, Abu Dhabi 2022]

Oscar Piastri

His twink of the present [i don't think i need to say anything... but photos above are from Mark's website from his blog post about Oscar winning the F2 championship and how Mark stayed in Abu Dhabi with Oscar after the GP for the young driver f1 test...]

Mitch Evans

Without Mitch we wouldn’t have got Oscar/Mark... (this is what oscarmark could’ve been but not sure i would’ve been able to handle oscar posting mark the way mitch did) Started in 2010, Mark then went on to manage him and Mitch even moved into Mark’s home in England, down the drive but point still stands [first: Mark Webber takes protege on birthday tour, 2010 (speedcafe.com) second: Mark embracing Mitch after he took maiden victory in Formula E, 2019 (📷Sam Bloxham) bottom two: from Mitch’s IG circa 2014] 

Daniel Ricciardo

i like that belt buckle mate [first/second: F1 Paddock 2013 (📷skysports.com) third: Mark & Daniel’s BBQ on the beach ahead of the Aus GP 2011 (📷flickr) fourth/fifth: Dutch GP 2022.]

 

Fernando Alonso

again do i need to say anything? i think this sums it up (thank you to @seafoampearlygirl for the screen shot and your help too, much appreciated!!

and this... [Jenson Button, Giancarlo Fisichella, Fernando Alonso & Mark Webber for Benetton Renault 2001 F1 launch]

Lewis Hamilton

If there's one thing about Mark that you need to know its his love of twinks with world championships... @mwebber​ has a post here on these two! Mark always loves talking about Lewis and the way they look at each other.. [first: Mark and Lewis during the post-qualy presser at the Spanish GP, 2010 (📷Sutton Images) second: during the pre-race presser at the Aus GP, 2013 (📷Hoch Zwei) third: Abu Dhabi GP, 2017 (📷James Moy)]

Nico Rosberg

from teammates at Williams to Mark snapping pics of the back of Nico in 2023… [first: Mark talking to test driver Nico Rosberg during the German GP, 2005 (📷Pakusch) second: Monaco ePrix 2023]

Max Verstappen

like i said... twinks with championships [first: ‘bumped into these two over easter and managed a few k on the trails’ Apr, 2018 (Mark’s FB) second: Hangar-7, 2019]

Felipe Massa 

yeah... [first: Brazil 2012, i think (📷sky-sports.com) second: Brazil 2013 (📷xpb images)]

Brendon Hartley 

he’s already featured a few times, but from rbr junior driver to teammate... yeah.. is there a pattern? [first: Spanish GP 2009 (📷DPPI Images) second: Brendon, Mark & Timo after winning the 6 hours of Bahrain and the WEC Drivers Championship 2015 (📷fiawec.com)]

Jenson Button

and finally we get to Jenson Button, who, yes, is younger than Mark so makes it onto the list... the ultimate twink on twink... you cannot tell me this wasnt a couples holidays covered up as ‘training’. you cannot tell me they were not fumbling around in their bedsheets at night. you cannot tell me— [redacted redacted redacted] — [pre-season training session in Lanzarote, Spain. 4 Jan 2001 📷Mark Thompson]

[hulknussen]

Love your work and analyses! I started watching F1 after Miami, so I'm still catching up. I wonder if you could share your thoughts on this:

During the Abu Dhabi 2024 GP, Nico Rosberg said that one reason for Nico's missed podium opportunities was because 'he wasn't the best socially and burnt some bridges early on in his career'. It's obvious that he missed out on going to Mercedes, but could Nico R think that lack of social intelligence was behind him sitting out in 2011, and the sudden swap to Sauber in 2013 before returning to Force India in 2014?

Also, I think in your earlier posts, you mentioned that Williams era Nico was quite shy and uncomfortable in interviews, then he cultivated this cool and uh, 'macho metrosexual masculine man' media persona, and made jokes and comments that can sound quite insensitive or mean. Even now, he still seems to be uncomfortable with them. That and not liking interviews are completely understandable, but do you think that this and his more insecure personality have affected his career? He's my favorite driver along with Kevin and I really want them both to succeed.

Thank you!

link to the article: https://www.planetf1.com/news/nico-rosberg-nico-hulkenberg-flaws-daniel-ricciardo-not-very-best

thank you, I'm happy to hear it can resonate with people

I saw rosberg's comment a while ago but never actually gave it much thought, so this is a prime opportunity. while it's always good to assign a certain amount of salt to statements like this (especially if coming from rosberg lol), I'm going to take him at his word for the sake of this. here is the article if anyone would like to read it themselves

of course we have no way of knowing, as I don't think there are any publicly confirmed falling outs he had with people in the motorsport realm. but what we can do is try examining his career critically with this in mind, and considering if something might have been a case of nico being a little bit socially challenged and mucking something up.

now, I think rosberg might be talking about stuff that happened really early into nico's career. there were certainly some ups and downs to that time. he had a lot of good connections in the likes of willi weber (formerly michael schumacher's manager), frank williams and flavio briatore. even if a lot of that came about through w. weber, he knew some big names in motorsport.

nico drove for williams in a test for them in 2007, which happened after w. weber failed to secure a test with renault & briatore. we don't know why he failed to get nico that test, but there is a chance w. weber & nico & briatore did not get on very well for whatever possible reason after this, and that it consequently closed some doors at renault for him/made him "get stuck" with williams.

then, w. weber and nico parted ways in 2011, the year nico was a reserve and out of a drive for the first time. at the time he often said he was happier without a manager, which to me reads as a passive aggressive jab at w. weber. on top of the obvious implications that come with parting from him in the first place. maybe if he had left those comments out a reconciliation would have been possible. it's hard to tell considering w. weber left f1 completely after 2012.

at first I also thought this year as a reserve might be a burned bridge because he decided to be force india's reserve and not williams. and of course there is the possibility he was upset with frank williams and really burned a bridge there while acting impulsively.

ferrari is unlikely to be a burned bridge because it seemed to have been a mix between sponsorships and nico's height making him harder to accommodate than alonso & massa, who were of similar stature and would therefore have similar needs.

mercedes is of course interesting because you would at least think that rosberg might have had additional insight, and that that's where this comment was born from. I believe the mercedes deal he missed out on is also the one with the least public knowledge regarding it. it's in my opinion likely he simply missed out on it because he was competing with lewis hamilton (duh), and nico rosberg (who was already an established part of the team at that point, and had previously come out on top against schumacher in the point standings all three years that they were teammates). but we can't actually know, and there is the possibility he fucked something royally with toto wolff--be that before that lead to him failing to secure that contract, or after, born out of hurt/insecurity.

I don't think you can consider force india and all that it became a burned bridge. he left and returned three times. they clearly liked him, unless you want to think they all hated each other but didn't have any other options. which, even that, at least once they turned into racing point and aston martin, would have been naught.

there is a chance nico did not depart from renault in 2019 on the most amicable of terms, and fucked it with cyril abiteboul, but we obviously cannot gauge the extent of that. as far as I'm aware, nico made some comments against cyril, cyril made some comments against nico, but that was kinda it. I don't even know if further relations with renault were ever on the table after he left, so this might even be fully irrelevant.

if we want to make this really depressing, though, we could look at red bull. he lost the battle against checo for the seat in 2021, and hasn't really been talked about since. there's the possibility that happened because rbr simply were never looking that closely at him, or that they considered that a closed chapter after they passed up on him. there is the possibility the reason he never got considered when checo's tenure at rbr started going sour is because they simply wanted to commit to their junior team and driver's academy. and there is the possibility he fucked something with them in 2021, and christian horner has since closed all doors there. I'm not very partial to any of these options, but I figure might as well mention it.

and before I forget them--sauber is probably not really anything either. yes he was with them for that single year, and did not commit to them like he maybe should have, but it's clearly not relevant anymore and likely wouldn't have been since peter sauber retired.

tldr; I think there is a good chance rosberg is talking about willi weber. if we consider that rosberg is speaking from a mercedes background, something could have happened with wolff. independently of where it's the most likely he actually messed things up, though, nico had a lot of opportunities to fuck things.

you are right that I mentioned nico being more uncomfortable in front of cameras when he was younger, and I do stand by that (as well as him deciding to lay it on thick in later years). but I can't really say how much it would have affected his career. before liberty media and smb it wasn't that important to be mass marketable, to be on social media, to have a presence like that. you can still see this in the driver's from that era.

I can't really say if he is still uncomfortable with them. on one hand I think after fifteen years he would have needed to get used to them eventually. but on the other hand he has gotten really good at treating all the media stuff as a routine thing where he picks one of his five dialogue options and leaves it at that. considering he also talked not too long ago about how he considers the majority of his f1 career not pleasant or entertaining, I'd say it's probably a mix of both. because yes, he likely thinks of his career like that because of the statistics and shit teams and forever midfield he got stuck in--but always being forced in front of cameras when you don't like them wouldn't be helping either. though I'll also say that we move far into conjecture territory when it comes to determining if a driver is comfortable or not with something. we can pick up vibes, but they're always going to be influenced by our own personal experiences and thoughts. personally; yes, I would say he is still not comfortable with them, but he has learned to deal with that, and has acquired the skillset to navigate this obstacle.

as for being insecure, that one is really hard to separate from his career. quite the opposite. the social problems rosberg thinks he had/has would have been intrinsically tied to this, if not born majorly from it. but I also believe that insecurity is entirely human, and as you get older you learn to deal with it, and learn to do things despite still being insecure. so it's probably not nearly as relevant as it would have been fifteen to twenty years ago.

thank you for the ask! this was a lot of fun to reflect on.

[racingliners]

has anyone asked you about favorite (underrated?) helmets yet? ive been drooling over lance's am helmets lately i feel like no one ever talks about them -fujispeedway

oh yes @fujispeedway we can 1000000% talk about underrated helmets!!!

I also absolutely LOVE Lance's Aston Martin helmets, the 2021-2023 designs are my personal favourites both for the all over British Racing Green and the big Aston Martin wings on either side. It's such a sleek design that's executed brilliantly. (Pics below are Lance's helmets from 2021, 2022 and 2023 - all a 10/10 for me).

Of the three the 2023 design is my favourite, but I love the creativity of the 2022 helmet in creating the Aston wings out of matte paint and neon lime accents. It's super clever!

I have an unbelievably silly amount of helmets in my helmet tag so I just know I'm going to forget some (and it's almost after half past 11 at night for me so my brain will not be braining as much - I will probably end up doing a part 2 for this).

Gonna put this under a read more to avoid dash clogging.

Lewis Hamilton - 2020 pre-season testing

Do I think Lewis was absolutely spot on in switching his helmet design to purple and black for the 2020 season? Yes. Do I miss what we could have had in this beautiful white and purple variant? Also yes. (Deep deep down, I do hope this is the route he goes for his first Ferrari helmet next year).

Purple just is Lewis' helmet colour to me, and the big splashes of white with hints of baby pink is just soooooooooo pretty. This helmet looked stunning with the silver W11 Mercedes livery and I think it would have looked gorgeous with the black livery too.

10/10 no notes.

Sebastian Vettel - Singapore 2017

Seb's Singapore helmet designs literally. never. missed. Sadly I think his 2017 design gets forgotten about because of... well... the events of the race start. But to move on very swiftly, I think this design does not get talked about enough. The reflective detailing is really fun and looks just as gorgeous as all the sparkly helmets under the circuit floodlights, and it gets a bonus point for the yellow to red to pink shift matching perfectly with both the German flag on Seb's helmet and the 2017 Ferrari livery.

Again, 10/10 no notes.

Michael Schumacher - Belgium 2011

A lot of F1 drivers do have very iconic helmet designs. But will they ever be Michael Schumacher wearing a helmet decorated with actual 21 carat gold levels of iconic? No.

(I do want to include a video about how this helmet was made bc it's just so mesmerising to watch.)

This design was created and ran in honour of Michael's 20th anniversary in F1, which he celebrated at Spa - the scene of his first ever F1 race and maiden victory.

And it's sexy as hell. 10/10.

Jenson Button - Great Britain 2014

In honour of his father Johnathan, who traditionally always wore a pink button up shirt on race days when supporting Jenson and passed away at the start of 2014, Jenson ran his helmet design in a bright pink colourway for the British GP - which also featured a pink shirt wearing Papa Smurf (a frequently used nickname for Jenson's Dad).

I was super lucky to be at Silverstone for the race weekend in 2014, and you could always know when Jenson was on track because the super bright shade of pink was impossible to miss. And it also looked gorgeous with McLaren's chrome silver and black livery that year.

As a tribute, it's very beautiful. And a helmet I always remember fondly.

Zhou Guanyu - Abu Dhabi 2022

I'm not kidding when I say that I think about this helmet design at least once a week. It's probably every two days at the very least.

It's stunning, it's gorgeous, it's beautiful. Guanyu always delivers on his helmets every single time.

again, 10/10 I want a mini version of this on my shelf.

Esteban Ocon - Great Britain 2022

So, I have the heart of a marshmallow. I am incredibly mushy and sentimental, therefore anything slightly mushy and sentimental makes me go all gooey and weepy.

Esteban's helmet for Silverstone not only featured the names of every single employee at both the Alpine factory in Enstone and and the Renault Powertrains factory in Viry-Châtillon - but the top of the helmet also included the co-ordinates of both factories. Very mushy, very sentimental. It's just lovely.

The blue gradient is also very pretty. 10/10.

(gonna end this here as it's now ten to midnight and I'm struggling to think of many more BUT I will 100% make a part 2 for this if people want).

reverse unpopular opinions: send me a topic and I'll say something nice about it

[alexi-01]

5 favourite races

oh damn that’s hard, this is in no order okay?

1. 1996 monaco gp - the definition of chaos

2. 2006 hungarian gp - jenson’s first win

3. 2016 spanish gp - max’s first win and brocedes divorce

4. 2020 austrian gp - lando’s insane fastest lap that led to his first podium

5. 2010 abu dhabi gp - sebs first championship and like 5 people fighting for that championship in the same race

honourable mentions for

1998 spa, 2021 imola, 2009 australia and 2011 canadian gp

[f1]

FACTS AND STATS: Red Bull end a long wait for success in Bahrain as does Alonso

Max Verstappen blazed to victory under the Bahrain lights in the opening race of the 2023 F1 season, in which Red Bull took a one-two to begin their season in style, and Fernando Alonso turned heads with a brilliant podium finish. The 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix offered up some very interesting facts and stats, as well... The winner of the opening race has been the championship runner-up every season since 2017. Max Verstappen has never previously won the opening race of the season. He won the Bahrain Grand Prix for the first time on his ninth attempt. READ MORE: Verstappen leads 1-2 in Bahrain season opener as Leclerc retires and Alonso takes final podium place in style Red Bull have only previous won the opening race once (Australia 2011), and have never finished one-two in the first race before. Red Bull have not won in Bahrain for 10 years (Sebastian Vettel in the last daylight race here in 2013). Red Bull qualify one-two and finish one-two in a race for the first time since the 2013 Abu Dhabi GP. Max Verstappen won the Bahrain GP on his ninth attempt, and won in Bahrain on his 10th visit in Formula 1 (counting the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix) Fernando Alonso scores Aston Martin's second podium finish in the marque's 50th Grand Prix start. Alonso scores only his second podium finish in his last 122 Grands Prix, and his first since Qatar 2021. Alonso is 41 years, 219 days old today. Only one older driver has been on the podium in the last 37 years (Michael Schumacher was 43 at Valencia 2012). Yesterday was the 22nd anniversary of Alonso's F1 debut (Australia 2001). Sunday was Aston Martin's 50th Grand Prix start – and Alonso took P3 Carlos Sainz took P4, having finished in the same position at the final race of the 2022 season. Lewis Hamilton's fifth place was his worst finish in Bahrain since he was fifth in the 2013 race. Lance Stroll in P6 matches his best result from the 2022 season (sixth in Singapore). Stroll finished in the top six despite not driving the car in pre-season testing. With Russell in seventh, the two Mercedes cars finished 51 and 56 seconds respectively behind the race winner. Eighth-placed Valtteri Bottas scored points in Bahrain for the 10th consecutive time. From 2014 to now, Bottas has scored points in Bahrain Ninth-placed Pierre Gasly of Alpine scores points from last on the grid for the second time in his career (finished 10th in Mexico City, 2018). Williams scored in Bahrain for the first time since 2017, when Felipe Massa was sixth, thanks to Alex Albon's P10. Zhou Guanyu finished 16th but took fastest lap for the second time in his career, having done so in Japan 2022. Lando Norris finished 17th having made six pit stops. Sunday was his second-straight non-scoring Bahrain Grand Prix. via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

[umseb]

lewis hamilton, p2, sebastian vettel, p1, and jenson button, p3, in parc ferme after qualifying, abu dhabi - november 12, 2011 📷 sutton images / motorsport images