#catalunya gp 2023

[princemick]

lewis finishes p2 during the 2023 catalunya gp!!

[schumigrace]

hope this helps

[superm4ks]

Spain, 2023. The machine, and RB19. Og shots by Mark Thompson and Dan Istitene.

[dutchgp]

Carlos Sainz - Post Race Interview at the 2023 Spanish GP

[m4xlesbian]

ROUND 8/23 ⸺ barcelonian grand prix ✩ 04.06.2023

maple's rating: ★★★ (7.8/10)

☁︎ click read more facts, highlights & experiences ☁︎

✩ facts

this is max's third grand slam in his career

max now has 40 wins! one behind ayrton

max has had the most consecutive finishes for red bull ever (26)

red bull racing leads every lap of the last three gps, which hasn't happened since 2020 mercedes

1-2 4433 for the 35th time

lewis' last seven podiums have been p2

george's podium is his first of the year

and makes this the first double podium of mercedes for the year

mercedes is now ahead of aston martin in the constructors

lance beats fernando for the first time this season

nevertheless, this is fernando's best finish on home soil since 2014

✩ raceweek highlights

alex off in q1

valtteri off in q1

fernando off in q1 (what was happening)

horrid traffic in q1 from pierre…

hulkenberg p1 in q1 for a while LOL

CHARLES FLOP Q1 (p19)

nyck > max in q1

checo in the fucking gravel q2

BRITCEDES FIGHTING Q2

CHECO OUT Q2

Max triple ourple

hulkenberg qualifying p3!

max has his usual fuckass final quali lap BUT

max gets pole!

carlos tries to overtake in turn 1 but… doesn't work out

lando gets damage bc lewis had to back out bc of the ferrari of carlos (not putting blame on anyone)

max is the only one on mediums

george attacking fernando

strong merc weekend!!

george going craaazyyy this race man

lots of overtaking for the barcelonian gp lol

nyck and pierre having a midoff (touching)

george sexilly overtaking carlos

charles awful race

the little fernando esteban fight lol

yuki driving zhou off the track and the resulting penalty

max grand slam for the third time in his career!!

24 second gap :)

max saying something incomprehensible after the race: bdkdh very lovely as alwayskjfjdn sjna (whadda scallop he saying)

✩ maple's diary

[milflewis]

not lewis leaving nico on read in front of god and country and live tv

[lewishamiltonstuff]

There will never be a man as fine as Sir Lewis Hamilton.

[lestappenparadisee]

Listen. Charles Leclerc is one of the most talented, or more so, skilled driver on the grid and that is undisputed. People might say that good drivers can make do with an above average car..which,true to some extent, provided it is one which DOES NOT FALL APART UNDERNEATH THE DRIVER, provided that the team ACTUALLY LISTENS TO THE FEEDBACK OF THE DRIVERS AND TRIES TO *IMPROVE* and doesn't blatantly disregard it and also, provided they have engineers and strategists who don't fuck over their drivers every.single.time. Needless to mention, Scuderia Ferrari lacks every single one of these, and I have the utmost respect for Charles for achieving what he is with...that thing.

It's so so heartbreaking to see how many wins,podiums and achievements he's missing because of Ferrari's clownery. I mean, 90% of his problems are on Ferrari and What The Fuck?! Brakes, engines,every goddamn thing failing and people might think such a prestigious and reputed brand could make a decent car. Expectations too high, it seems. Ridiculous.

Charles has such a deep attachment to Ferrari due to a multitude of reasons, and I cannot blame him for it. His father, Jules, Ferrari is all he has seen and dreamed of. It runs in his veins. However, circumstances force me to think that Ferrari is deeply aware of Charles' emotional attachment to that team, and thus, is exploiting him because they KNOW the likelihood of Charles leaving them is very slim. However, I fear that if Charles does not make a decision soon, it might cost him his career, or atleast his prime years. If it was me, I would give them one more season, and if this continues, gtfo of there. But in Charles' position, I can understand how it would be hard for him to give this up, how it would feel like a betrayal to his loved ones and more. But personally, I feel like everyone, on earth or up, would understand why he did it and fully support him. I hope he gets the courage to take the necessary decision soon , or at the VERY LEAST give a "I'm gonna leave fuck you" scare so that Ferrari can fix their shit. The only thing I want is for Charles to be able to get the results he deserves and be able to RACE, really. Scuderia Ferrari was an emotion for me, but it's quickly turning sour I'm sad to say.

[lewisarchives]

LHFW: Spanish GP 2023

Media Day

Day 1 (Free Practice)

Day 2 (Qualifying)

Day 3 (Race Day)

[oneblckcoffee]

omg hiii🥰

[princemick]

happy pride month from our favorite ally will buxton

[mmfpeg]

aleix espargaro had the chance to do the funniest thing in motorsport history

september 3rd, 2023. motogp grand prix of catalunya. aleix espargaro is approaching the timing line to finish his penultimate lap, leading his aprilia teammate maverick vinales by a second and a change; a gulf in motogp terms. the aprilia has been good all weekend, and aleix especially has been on top of the bike and the track. the perfect marriage; which is funny because the _other_ perfect marriage, dominant defending champion pecco bagnaia of ducati, was taken out of the race in a lap 1 highside. there are virtually no probable roadblocks that can get in the way of aleix winning this race and aprilia making history. what history? and wait did you say "funny"? what's so funny about this situation in particular? to understand, we need to rewind

(how about that secret base impression. (pls hire me))

the modern aprilia rs-gp lineage started from 2015, with aprilia partnering with gresini to create aprilia racing team gresini. it was dogshit. it was a motogp career end bike. through the revolving doors include alvaro bautista (now sbk rider, heyy he won the 2022 championship with ducati; more on ducati later), stefan bradl (now honda test rider), marco melandri (now retired), and michael laverty (now commentator). it was a bike competing for the low teens places in the championship, year after year. but then, in the covid-riddled 2021 season, aprilia decided that, you know what, we're done fucking around. they got a podium in silverstone (inadvertently becoming a part of history where six different factories occupied the top six finish; last time that happened was yugoslavia 1972), the bike looked like it finally had an upside, and they took over operations, leaving gresini and becoming aprilia racing. gresini, now without factory support, became once again an independent team, using the previous spec ducati for their 2022 season, in effect pretty much replacing esponsorama racing's entry, even taking on one of their riders to boot. how did they do? eh. they just. won 4 races and took 3rd place in the riders' championship with enea bastianini. it's alright.

the ducati is fast. ludicrously fast. it's the fastest motogp bike in a straight line; has been for a decade plus now. and yet, for the longest time only casey stoner was successful in taming the bike convincingly: you see, _it didn't turn_. which is a bad thing. because motogp races on tracks that. have turns. motogp legend valentino rossi couldn't even get on terms with the bike in his disastrous spell with the team, turning the italian dream team into italian nightmare (that doesn't involve putting fries and tuna on pizza). the situation had been improving year after year, with the andrea duet of iannone (later in his career also an aprilia Victim) and dovisiozo regularly competing for podiums, but it's the sport-wide switch to aero-focused concepts in the late 2010s that finally opened the door for ducati: the bike _turns_ now. meanwhile, japanese factories yamaha and honda, stuck in their old ways, ignored the aero development and are currently Eating shit. their last gasp came in 2022, where reigning champion fabio quartararo ran out of cinderella magic midway through the season, and his yamaha bike with basic aero and currently-inferior inline 4 engine concept crumbled from underneath him; the championship battle from that point on becoming a comical battle between ducati's pecco bagnaia and... himself, suffocatingly fast but prone to crashing. but in the end, pecco managed to upend fabio's 91-point lead, taking the 2022 world championship. italian dream team is back on the menu.

it's 2023 and ducati's obviously the best bike on the field. in the sachsenring race, the top 9 included _all_ of the ducati riders, with ktm's jack miller in 6th the odd man out. it was so good that there are rumours going around about 8-time champion and motogp alien marc marquez angling to leave his honda, a bike that has claimed a few prime years of his life, 2020 world champion joan mir's entire confidence, and alex rins' "that boy nice" 2022-2023 stretch; leaving _the slow bike that crashes_ for a _gresini seat_. with the previous spec ducati. alongside his younger brother alex. buying out his massive, massive honda contract. it's a baseless rumour (marc's now. pretty much resigned to becoming a development driver for the last years of his honda contract, switching up his riding style so that he stops crashing; being sad and fighting for 15th with fabio on the yamaha), but you get the idea. the domination was so bad that after the austria race where pecco put 5 whole damn seconds on 2nd place man ktm's brad binder, fabio quartararo dropped the V-word (...verstappen), drawing a parallel between this and red bull f1's invincible combination with max verstappen. although, unlike f1, it's not _all_ ducati. the aforementioned brad binder Passed some Fucking Bikes on his way to a sprint victory in argentina. and, recently, aprilia showed massive signs of life, making a big "we're here." statement with a win in silverstone (they love this track, huh), in typical british summer weather (torrential rain on quali day, cold and damp on race day); aleix espargaro making a gutsy pass on pecco bagnaia after copse on the final lap.

and there's our other side of the harmonious marriage, the talismanic constant presence during the tumultuous years, having been on the team since 2016: aleix espargaro. for the longest time he compared unfavourably with his younger brother pol: the latter a moto2 world champion, and was lucky enough to land on faster bikes. rather than rue his luck, aleix kept his head down and was/is lauded for his chops in developing a bike. his luck finally turned in the 2021 season (funnily enough simultaneous with pol's luck turning for the _worse_; he landed on... honda), getting the aforementioned silverstone podium. now in his 30s, taking on a leadership role, finally in a competitive bike, he finally started to get his flowers. and he gets a cute nickname of "the captain" to boot.

so, the ducati is the best because it's fast and it turns now. but you see, the aprilia turns better. it turns so good, it turns by itself. hyperbole aside, it _is_ very good at corner-heavy tracks like silverstone and barcelona, and it does require an idiosyncratic riding style by current motogp standards. a style mastered by the man who has been there all this time. spending years, years, and years patiently working and developing. it was paid by the silverstone win, and it looks to pay more in catalunya too: taking the sprint win from second on the grid, overtaking pecco bagnaia into turn 1, and in the race... there's not even a pecco bagnaia to overtake.

let's go back to 2022 for a bit. the aprilia were good at catalunya in 2022 too. taka nakagami of honda went bowling into turn 1 at the start, taking out alex rins and damaging pecco's bike in the process, taking him out of the race. it was a horrific crash which saw nakagami's head getting run over by pecco's bike, crushing his visor. thankfully, nakagami didn't suffer any serious injury and was back racing for the next round at germany. but, with pecco out of the race, quartararo, still with that magic supply at that time, dominated the race. a frustrated aleix espargaro banged his bike with his hand, unable to mount a challenge from second, on the last lap. he went to the outside of turn 1 to celebrate because, well, a second place is still a good haul of points.

on the last lap.

he saw people behind him still hauling ass and going past him, and the horror on his face was palpable even from behind the visor.

aleix "salvaged" a 5th place finish in the end. he sat on his bike motionless on the outside of turn 1. the exact place where he celebrated a lap ago. absolutely broken.

in the 2023 edition of the race, pecco bagnaia is out of the race due to a horror highside, which saw him ending up lying sideways in the middle of the track and getting his legs run over by brad binder. the race was red flagged due to the combination of that and an unrelated turn 1 crash involving his teammate, now-ducati factory rider enea bastianini and four other bikes. on the restart, the aprilias of aleix and maverick vinales now lock out the front row, and after fending off a jorge martin spurt, top gun maverick and captain espargaro were line astern in p1 and p2. after hanging back for a bit, aleix finally made a move with 5 laps to go into turn 1, taking a deserved p1.

no matter the combination of drivers, aprilia were on the verge of an entry on the record books: it's gonna be their first double podium, let alone a p1 and p2. but, isn't it much sweeter that it's aleix? the man who stuck with the team during the bad times. a true heartwarming story where devotion does pay off. and a chance for redemption for the previous year to boot. with the dominating reigning world champion gone, clear track ahead of him, only one obstacle is left.

will aleix remember that it's the final lap

welcome to a moment in history.

[goldenboots1]

I don’t know what to say 😂

[dutchgp]

Max Verstappen wins the 2023 Spanish GP

[mo0nchhild]

omg nico rosberg about to interview lewis hamilton? oh boi

[milflewis]

he’s insufferable