#f1 mid season review

[acrosstobear]

mclaren Part 1 of our ‘little half term’ celebrations. 🥳

[vro0m]

"Just thinking about the time they tried to apply the "drivers must race unaided" rule to the radio comms makes my blood pressure spike."

the what now

Okay so. Perfect timing because I have nothing to do at work and it's too early for lunch.

There's an article in the rulebook that says that "drivers must drive the car alone and unaided". Nowadays (and for most of F1 history) it mainly means the marshalls can't touch the car when there are issues on track and such things.

However, mid-2015, the FIA enforced a radio ban that was then made way stricter in 2016. Basically they decided that the drivers were getting too much info from the pit wall and that wasn't driving "alone and unaided".

The list of what was banned was so complicated (and changing!) that the teams had it taped on their pit walls to try to avoid mistakes.

It led to some absolutely ridiculous situations with drivers facing car issues mid-races and their engineers being unable to tell them what the problem is and especially how to solve it.

You can read such an example in my 2016 European GP review.

Then drivers were given controversial penalties in Silverstone and Hungary for receiving help in the race and some teams suffered DNFs because of it so of course everybody was LOUDLY complaining.

Mostly they said the cars were too complicated for the drivers to figure out how to debug them mid race. The FIA answered that if the cars were too complicated to drive alone and unaided then the teams had to make them simpler. The teams patiently explained to the FIA that the FIA were the ones making the regulations on how to build said cars.

Anyway they gave it up mid season and decided to only enforce the radio ban during the formation lap.

[boxboxblog]

F1 Politics: The Driver Market

Hello, Thought I would dive into more info about the driver market/ silly season. It's a very fascinating public yet private aspect of F1, and the decisions made during this time can be highly controversial. Enjoy! Also, some info about why certain drivers are chosen over others can be found in my post about Junior Academies or my post about The Path to F1.

What is The Driver Market?

So when I talk about the driver market what I am referring to is the continuous process of recruitment, hiring, and endless contracts that surround F1 racing. Many people think that silly season (time of the year when most contracts are finalized/negotiated) is the only time when it is a big deal, but the driver market rotates and shifts constantly. Throughout the entire season contracts are rebuilt, new drivers are added to the interest list, reserve drivers shift around, and much more. There are phases of the driver market however,

Pre-Season: the most stable time of the year, usually contracts are fully formed and settles on by then. They often are not looking at any changes this close to the beginning of the season, but curve balls have been thrown in there before. For example, Haas in 2022 had to quickly look for a new driver after the Russian Invasion of Ukraine meant they had to axe their major Russian sponsor and driver.

Mid-Season: This can be from right after the first couple races to the summer break. It is the time when driver performances are reviewed and the rumor mill starts swirling. Often what teams gather in this time, if negative, could turn into a mid-season driver change. We saw an example of this with Nyck de Vries in 2023, who already had discussions about being swapped out whispered in Monaco.

Silly Season: This very comically named part of the season is usually during the Summer break, when a lot of announcements are made in regards to contracts. This is also often when a new driver comes in for a mid-season swap, when teams let the public know the next year's line up, and any extensions. For example Williams, Alpine, and Aston Martin all announced their finalized lineups for the 2025 season during this time.

Latter Half: This part of the season is usually when lower series drivers test for F1 teams. We see a lot of F2 or F3 drivers doing FP sessions, which can indicate a teams interest in them for the future. Well not really a part of contracting, it leads to a lot of speculation about future drivers. It can also sometimes have major decisions and announcements. For example, Sauber just confirmed Gabriel Bortoleto for the 2025 season, a very late announcement.

Post Season: This is when moves and lineups are officially officially finalized and announced. There can often be major surprises during this time, like last minute contract terminations or very unexpected signings. For example, most people now expect VCARB to make their decisions for next years lineup right after the season ends pending Liam Lawson's performance.

Typical Contracts

So, most F1 contracts vary wildly depending on the driver or the team. For example the length of the contracts differs a lot (although teams lean toward 1 year for rookies, 2 years for newish drivers, and multi year for established and skilled drivers). While things like that may differ, they often all at least provide clarification and insurance on the same topics.

Base Salary: Teams must guarantee drivers a certain amount. This varies a lot, especially depending on results and time in F1. For example, Max Verstappen reportedly made an annual base salary of $45M in 2023, while a rookie like Oscar Piastri reportedly made $2M.

Performance Bonuses: Most teams have additional income based on number of points, podiums, wins, or if they get the championship or not.

Expectations: This can be anything from media requirements, performance requirements, hours of work, etc. There can be expectations from both sides. Sometimes teams will have a clause that they can release a driver with no pushback if they have not achieved a certain level in the standings. Sometimes a driver can have a clause that says if the team does not deliver a decent car, then they can do the same. Usually it is the championship winners like Hamilton or Verstappen that can do that, though.

Status: Some teams or drivers have very specific requirements about the assigned roles. Teams may require a designated 1st and 2nd driver, and have it in contract that someone must be the 2nd driver. Other times a driver will have it in the contract that they can't be the 2nd driver, or that team orders are not allowed.

Technical Input: Drivers can negotiate how involved they are allowed/ need to be in car development

Termination Clauses: Much like the expectations section, this is all about what can cause a contract to be legally void. You see, in F1 you need to stick to the contract and can receive massive financial demerits if you do not. These clauses allow both driver and team to protect themselves from unmet expectations or poor treatment.

Exclusivity: This is set to prevent drivers from participating in other series without permission. There have been cases in the past where drivers have signed two contracts in two different series, and there was legal disputes over which one to follow when the clashed. Teams do not like this kind of conflict, so they almost always make drivers sign an exclusivity aspect. This is true for sponsorships as well.

Obviously that is not everything, but these are the major aspects to a typical F1 contract.

Historical Contracts

Michael Schumacher 1996 : This Ferrari contract reportedly made Schumacher the highest-paid driver of all time during this period, and many saw it as a massive shift in how contracts worked for drivers. It included extensive control over car development and team strategy.

Kimi Raikkonen 2012: This Lotus contract was incredibly lucrative for Raikkonen and almost bankrupted Lotus. He agreed too a low base salary and a huge bonus for points scored. Apparently Lotus did not expect Raikkonen to get that many points, but he scored 208 points in 2012 and 183 in 2013, earning himself many millions of dollars.

Charles Leclerc 2020: This Ferrari contract was major because of the length and youth of the driver. At the end of 2019, Leclerc's first year with Ferrari, they signed him to a five-year deal, the longest is Ferrari's history.

Max Verstappen 2023: The highest base salary in F1 history, Verstappen earned a base of $45M in 2023, not including his performance bonuses ($25M). Astounding, especially compared to what other drivers make.

Alright so that is a little overview of the driver market and contracts. i hope this was informative.

Cheers,

-B

[charles-leclerc-official]

I get you about the DTS Singapore episode, but I also want to share some other thoughts: I'm sure to some degree they will bias it towards Carlos doing an 'amazing' job because he ended up winning and for non-f1 fans who don't know the drivers well I guess it works for the drama to show someone winning in between Max's domination.

However, in the last season DTS actually did really well to show behind the scenes bits of RB talking about how Ferrari were fucking over Charles and how Charles should be the priority, and in the Silverstone episode they made a point of showing that Charles got screwed over and Ted saying 'What a day for Ferrari, but they won with the wrong car.'

I think the DTS producers do care about and support Charles. And the producers have said that they look for certain drivers to be the 'face' of the show. Mainly they mean having someone charismatic and funny like Daniel was, for marketing purposes, but of course thinking of the storyline and the drama of the show, it makes more sense to focus more on the drivers who will have a good arc, i.e. might win a championship one day. I definitely think they are following Charles more for that, because they can see he has more 'potential' for interesting content for the show than other drivers.

Like remember Netflix supposedly filming Charles ice climbing last January? We might see that clip in this upcoming season. They definitely seem to care a bit more about Charles. I expect there will be some clips showing the positives to Charles' year.

You are absolutely right. I do agree that if it's a Ferrari based episode then there is a lot more room for nuance(it will still hurt me personally)

Given the fact it's been clear the Ferrari are making Charles the future I'm sure you're right that DTS want to follow him as the main thread for the Ferrari narrative.

However I see so many people misinterpret that race from a Ferrari, RB, Merc and even a Mclaren perspective. There were so many fuck ups, and weird stars aligning. My worry is that any nuance will be sacrificed to make it more dramatic for the newer fans that the show is bringing in. Especially since that was such a big complaint about this last year, that the sport got "boring" (which I completely disagree, if watching Max make F1 history is boring then we are all truly lost as a sport) So I can easily see them make it a mid season episode to give the idea that Red Bull struggled more than they did? I don't trust DTS not to pull something like that.

I would also be okay with an episode focusing on the behind the scenes at Red Bull and more info about why that race was the odd one out, where they struggled etc. Like give me Christian and the team frustrated and Max's feedback about what's off about this race.

But given that the large narrative is going to be Red Bull domination and Max's insane season, I fear they may fall into the trap of overplaying the only non-RB win.

It has the potential to be a great episode because it's actually a VERY interesting race from an analytical standpoint, but I just see people run the wrong direction with it all the time.

I am hoping that we are going to see them laying the groundwork for Charles and building towards the next steps for Ferrari this season.

I will say as much as I am dreading Singapore, I am jumping up and down for Vegas because I know they are going to talk about it and hype Charles up(overtake of the year, and one of the most positively reviewed races as far as fans being excited about the actual racing)

[h-c-u]

Toto Wolff’s Mid-Season Review: F1 2023

[f1]

F1 NATION: Red Bull on a roll as Piastri shines through the gloom it's our Belgian GP review

The record run continues for Red Bull, as Max Verstappen picked up his eighth straight victory at Spa-Francorchamps with a commanding display from sixth on the grid. He might have swept all before him, winning the Sprint as well, but the Dutchman's performance wasn't the only thing of note from an action-packed weekend – as the crew from F1 Nation discuss. Joining Tom Clarkson and Natalie Pinkham is Dutch F1 journalist Erik van Haren of De Telegraaf, with those three discussing all the talking points from a sodden Spa, as the first half of the F1 season drew to a close. READ MORE: 6 Winners and 5 Losers from Belgium – Who mastered the ever-changing conditions in Spa? Christian Horner and Helmut Marko are on hand to reflect on what has been a record-breaking season so far for Red Bull, with Verstappen seemingly heading towards a third straight drivers' title and Sergio Perez second in the championship and back on form. Ferrari's Team Principal Fred Vasseur discusses how the Scuderia have gone in his first season in charge, and what they can achieve after the summer break, with Monza on the horizon. Alpine have had some management changes, and their new Interim Team Principal Bruno Famin explains more about what can be expected from the French outfit in 2023, off the back of a strong weekend with both their drivers picking up points. Mike Krack knows he has work to do after Aston Martin's early season podium success has given way to slightly less impressive results, but Fernando Alonso delivered a decent drive in the race to climb up to fifth at the flag. MONDAY MORNING DEBRIEF: How the mid-race rain rescued McLaren's Sunday in Belgium Yuki Tsunoda is also on hand after scoring his first championship point since Azerbaijan, and Lando Norris' Dad Adam also pops by to discuss McLaren's recent climb back to the front of the field. Tune into the Belgian Grand Prix review episode of F1 Nation by hitting go on the audio player above – or by clicking here to listen via your preferred podcasting provider. Want to get your question answered by the F1 Nation gang on a future episode? Simply record it as a voice note and email it to F1Nation@F1.com. via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

[racingliners]

F1 Re-Watch 2013: Round 2 - Malaysia

Happy Multi-21 Day to all who celebrate!!

Fun fact about me, I’ve never watched Malaysia 2013 in full. Until today. 

For all the newbies who started following me over the winter break, my abridged F1 story is that I grew up watching F1 with my Dad, then stopped when he passed away in 2007, then started watch it again mid-way through 2013 thanks to one of my high school friends. The first race I watched after my hiatus was Spain, then due to the BBC rights deal where they only had half the races live, the next race I saw after that was Canada. Which Seb won, and I felt bad that people were booing him, so I decided to start supporting him as a result.

I was filled in on the whole Multi-21 drama later, and have since seen the highlight reel in my 2013 season review DVD. But in honour of the race’s tenth anniversary, I’m watching the race in full. So, this may or may not be agonising (live blog under a read more to avoid clogging up your dashes!)

Worth adding, I’m not going to discuss in detail who was right or wrong or whatever, this is simply a record of me watching the Great Red Bull Civil War of March 2013. (with snacks to stress eat obvs)

This liveblog is once again brought to you by F1 TV Access, truly one of the best purchases I’ve made all year.

Anyway I’ve put my big girl trousers on and pressed play and THE OLD F1 INTRO I MISS YOU SO. Proper core memory right there.

Also also Sepang is a banging circuit and I miss her :(

It rained half an hour before the race???? oh jeez

Seb on pole, about to go and commit crimes

AHHHH JENSON!!!!

also remember when Checo drove for McLaren??? wild times.

I do really want to re-watch the 2013 season in full since there’s races from the first half of the season I missed, but that’s for a later day today is dedicated to the drama

Helmet watch: Seb’s blue chrome helmet is super pretty

[Formation Lap]: Everyone on inters bc of the aforementioned rain. Malaysia 2013 really was going for the That Bitch title of 2013.

ayyyy Toto sighting

“This should be a cracking motor race” Oh Brundle, if only you knew what was about to unfold

[Start/Lap 1]: Seb keeps P1, Mark into P2 bc Fernando got a little too frisky

oh rip Fernando’s front wing

Jenson into P5. Yeah that feels good.

Fernando re-took P2, I don’t think he knows half his front wing his hanging off.

[Lap 2]: Oop there she breaks.

Ah, not telling your driver they have a broken front wing. Just Ferrari things.

[Lap 3]: Did not notice Lewis getting up into P3 as a result of Fernando’s DNF.

Meanwhile Rosberg and Jenson are having a little fistfight. Nico won P4.

The supposedly fun part of watching this race for the first time is that I know exactly what happens between Seb and Mark, I just have no idea when. It’s like jaws and a jack in the box combined.

oh man I do not miss the old graphics of having the grid on the bottom of the screen, and waiting for your driver to come back up and hoping they were in the same place

[Lap 5]: ROCKY!!!!!!

Rocky team radio, feels good feels organic. (Don’t make me pick a favourite Seb engineer I love them all equally)

oh Kimi’s gone rallying on the apex of one of the corners.

[Lap 6]: Seb pits for mediums! First onto the dry tyres

oh jeez he just lost three places between corners bc of how slippery the track still is

[Lap 7]: RBR: Mark stay out it’s too wet in sector 1!! Meanwhile 5 or 6 cars come into the pits for slicks

Seb up into P7, which becomes P6 as Lewis pits.

dfaeguighush Lewis drove into the McLaren pit box 🤣

I lowkey love it when drivers do that

“Felipe Massa is now the fastest man on track” 2010s F1 intensifies 

Live Nicole Scherzinger reaction to Lewis�� pitstop

[Lap 8]: Hiiiiii Bono!!!

Gotta take all the nice crumbs before the race turns round and stabs me

[Lap 10]: oh wow James Vowels was already head of Merc strategy at this point.

[Lap 11]: ANYWAY, after the pitstop shuffle Mark is in P1 on hards, Seb in P2 on Mediums. I’m anxious.

The race has calmed down now it’s dry but I am not calm as I’m now waiting for the jump scare to happen.

[Lap 12]: Meanwhile Lewis is a second faster a lap than Webber. Drama.

Rosberg sets the fastest lap, while munching on popcorn probably.

“They’re telling Webber he will not be challenged from behind by Sebastian” Oh. Oh no. It’s coming.

It’s only Lap 14

*chuckles* I’m in danger

[Lap 15]: Rosberg continuing to set fastest laps. Mostly unbothered.

Mark is 2.2 secs ahead of Seb who’s 2.1 ahead of Lewis.

I’ve also finished my snacks.

[Lap 16]: And Kimi gets past Perez for P9.

Aaaand a Romain Grosjean fastest lap.

[Lap 17]: Still all quiet on the Red Bull front. I’m still anxious.

I’m pretty sure there’s one maybe two more rounds of pit stops to go

Seb’s now 2.5 seconds behind Mark and 2.7 ahead of Lewis.

[Lap 18]: Livery watch: as much as I’m a black Merc apologist, I miss the silver livery with Petronas green sidepods, it’s soooo pretty

Back in the good old days when team could actually have full liveries and there wasn’t all the exposed carbon nonsense we have now :)

[Lap 19]: “Paul needs to establish himself” Don’t worry Brundle he’ll be your colleague at Sky in a few years

[Lap 20]: And Mark pits for mediums.

Imagine telling an F1 fan in 2023 that Mark only did 11 laps on a set of hards at a race in 2013, there certainly is something to be said for Pirelli I’m just not sure what.

[Lap 22]: And Lewis makes his second stop for more mediums. He drove into the proper pit box.

[Lap 23]: Seb pits for hards! He stays in P2.

Still no signs of violence yet.

Meanwhile Jenson is still in P5!!!

“They [McLaren] can see bright skies on the horizon, and challenge Ferrari in China” yeah lol that didn’t happen. 

[Lap 24]: “3 second gap, save your tyres” Seb is two seconds behind Mark dfvdsvsgig

[Lap 25]: “If he’s saving his tyres he’s producing a muck quicker lap time with it” Seb’s barely a second behind Mark at this point I’M VERY ANXIOUS

[Lap 26]: The gap between the RBRs is 6 tenths of a second. Mum please pick me up I’m scared.

Meanwhile Lewis is just over a second behind Seb.

Rocky telling Seb to save his tyres, I don’t think he’s listening.

1.8 seconds covering the top 3 cars. oh boy.

[Lap 27]: Seb still 6 tenths behind Mark. *distressed yelling*

If there’s a big gap between laps it’s because I have my hands over my face in distress.

[Lap 28]: Jenson still in P5!!!

“Mark is too slow, get him out of the way” oop there’s Bastard Seb.

Gap now up to 1.4 seconds.

*half race distance klaxon*

Jenson in P5 while all of this is unfolding, an unbothered King.

[Lap 31]: Lewis makes his third and I’m guessing final stop for Mediums

“Look at Nico Rosberg” Must I?

[Lap 32]: Mark now in for his final stop for hards

JENSON IN P2 STOP THE RACE!!!

“The biscuit barrel is not just full of custard creams” Crofty???? That was meant to be an analogy about teams doing different strategies but I really don’t know man.

[Lap 33]: Seb pits for hards. And he’s in P4 behind Lewis now and barely in front of Rosberg.

JENSON’S LEADING!!! STOP! THE! RACE!

[Lap 34]: Lewis already being told to lift and coast to save fuel. oop.

“Button leads” INJECT IT!!!!!

Malaysia 2013 giveth and Malaysian 2013 about to taketh away.

[Lap 35]: And Mark gets past Jenson into turn 2

Hulkenberg and Kimi racing each other coming out of the pitlane svheghaeugh

And Jenson pits. It was very fun while it lasted.

NOOOOOO unsafe release his tyres aren’t properly on 😭

[Lap 36]: Oh yeah Ross Brawn was Merc TP in 2013, I always forget that. Toto joined Merc as his deputy I think before taking over in 2014.

[Lap 38]: “Sebastian Vettel the meat in the Mercedes sandwich” fic writers start taking notes

 Meanwhile Hulkenberg and Kimi are still fist fighting over 8th and 9th

[Lap 39]: Seb up into P2.

[Lap 40]: “Sebastian Vettel has just reduced the advantage Mark Webber has by 8 tenths” There’s jaws music playing my head now fwiw.

Niki sighting ❤️

[Lap 41]: Now Rosberg is closing up to Lewis for a double serving of teammate on teammate violence

[Lap 42]: Oh Lewis pits again, that’s a fourth stop

Man if a driver has a four stop race in 2023 they’ve had a shit show but it seems perfectly normal aeogvaheoh

Meanwhile Seb is still catching Mark

[Lap 43]: And Seb also pits again for Medums, as does Rosberg. Seb stays P2 and Rosberg stays P4.

Livery watch: the glossy soft metallic blue with the purple accents is the superior RBR livery change my mind.

[Lap 44]: And Mark pits for hards.

And he barely came out the pits in front of Seb.

ahhhhhhhhh I think we’re in violence territory.

HELP

[Lap 45]: The gap between them is about half a second dvbaheuhs

(For anyone wanting to watch the race back for whatever reasons, the Civil War starts at around 1hr 26mins)

Presidential alert THE MERCS ARE FIGHTIIIIIIIING

and cut to mildly distressed Merc mechanics

Love that the internal Merc drama was completely overshadowed by Seb and Mark, truly no one was doing it like them

[Lap 46]: AH SHIT SEB AND MARK ARE WHEEL TO WHEEL

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Seb into P1. idk if there’s actually been the Multi 21 call yet. bc comms aren’t calling for Seb’s head as of yet.

Man that replay is yeah... violence

[Lap 47]: oop yellow flag, fits the mood perfectly.

Oh it was for Maldonado.

Live Adrian Newey Reaction.

and Live Ross Brawn reaction to the Merc on Merc violence.

[Lap 48]: Wait this race was on Ted’s birthday??? HBD TED!!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉

[Lap 49]: Still no Multi-21 name drop... was this something that came out after the race??? bc I’m sure there’s an actual Multi-21 radio message.

“Pastor Maldonado with an attack of the gravel rash” Thanks Crofty.

[Lap 50]: Massa passes Kimi for 6th

Yeah Seb’s 4 secs ahead of Mark now so surely that’s it????

so where’s the drama???

I can’t have zoned out bc comms would have yelled if Seb got past

[Lap 51]: Oh Rosberg asked to get past Lewis and Ross Brawn straight up said no. oof.

[Lap 52]: Yeah comms are dissecting the Merc drama but not Seb and Mark so I think they didn’t hear the Multi-21 radio call aeughaeuhg

Oh I wish that were me

[Lap 54]: Man Nico and Lewis are still nose to tail it’s like the precursor to 2014-16

Was there something in the water at Malaysia or did the racing gods just wake up and choose violence

Ted sounds so sad about Jenson’s mechanical DNF, a whole mood

[Lap 55]: Seb a whole six and a bit seconds ahead of Webber.

Perez pits????

Oh he had a 30 second gap to P10 nvm

Rosberg is still around half a second behind Lewis. Britney be bitching.

[Lap 56]: Will Lewis have the fuel to finish the race though???

[Finish]: SEB WINS. IT’S OVER.

Lewis P3, Rosberg P4. Cut to some eerily silent RBR and Merc pitwalls.

I don’t think Crofty knows about the Multi-21 message he hasn’t said anything about it.

😳

Did I zone out and miss it?????

Yeah Crofty thinks RBR are mad because Mark and Seb nearly took each other out not bc of the Multi-21 call OH BOY

Oop here’s the cool down room.

Bastard Seb is hot. sorry not sorry.

dbshbuhgru Seb and Adrian just chatting tyres. Still no Mark yet.

I’m watching this with very nervous laughter.

“Multi-21 Seb, Multi-21″ OOP THERE IT IS.

There’s so much tension in the cool down room it has its own gravitational pull.

ah the German anthem my beloved. 

The Austrian anthem my belothed. 

There is not a single smiling driver on that podium this is so awkward aevheugh

Okay there’s one (1) thrilled Merc mechanic, good for him!

“But was he [Seb] told to hold station?” Yeah they didn’t play the Multi-21 radio during the race.

God this is the most awkward champagne spray I’ve ever seen.

The drivers left the podium aeiihgaeghs

Oh they’re back.

Mark flung away his podium cap into the crowd jeeeeez

Tag yourself I’m Brundle trying to fill the conversation with fluff bc he can pick up the awkward tension a mile off

“It was very close wheel to wheel racing” YOU DON’T SAY SEB

Mark meanwhile looks seething. 

“So you were surprised when he came passed you” YOU’RE TELLING ME BRUNDLE DIDN’T KNOW UNTIL THE PODIUM INTERVIEW ABOUT THE MULTI-21 CALL????????

Welcome to F1 the drama never stops.

Live Nicole Scherzinger reaction 2

Lewis saying nice things about Nico. That feels weird post-2016.

Well. That happened. ngl it felt less stressful knowing that they seemingly didn’t play the Multi-21 radio call on the global feed. Honestly the actual race itself was pretty dull until the RBR/Merc infighting.

Still I’m going to got for a lie down now.

[airsoftaction]

AIRSOFT ACTION ISSUE 159 IS OUT NOW!

The 2024 show season is well and truly underway, and as we prepare for IWA at the end of this month, in this bumper issue of AIRSOFT ACTION we’re very pleased to bring you a HUGE report from our team of Boycie, L’il Stu and new guy Steve as they track their Las Vegas adventure for this year, and report in on the things that caught their eye at SHOT SHOW 2024! Boycie also leads off with our headline review of the all-new CZ P-10C GBB created under licence by ASG, followed up by both Bill and Stewbacca heading into “comp territory” as they look at the EMG F1 FIREARMS SBR AEG and CZ SHADOW 2 ORANGE respectively. RED CELL really get under the skin of a couple of the long-term test MID LENGTH AR AEGs as they update on FIFTEEN models, and Stewbacca leads us inside BOLT AIRSOFT to see what makes them tick. On the gear side we update the latest additions from VIPER TACTICAL and Bill looks back on a camo pattern that sang loud and then went a bit quiet… KRYPTEK. The team as whole this month carry on their usual banter as they discuss simple maintenance tips for both AEG and GBBs… And of course we have our usual coverage of events and games both at home and abroad; Bill gets with the guys behind OP SCORPIO to find out the latest on this ambitious UK airsoft event, Miguel reports on a very special game in Portugal, and Stewbacca tells us all about a new airsoft/training venue in Taiwan! So, stuffed to the max again with reviews, updates and stories from all over our wonderful airsoft world, and with a bit of something for everyone no matter what your personal taste of airsoft may be… get stuck in, and we hope you’ll enjoy ISSUE 159 as always! Airsoft Action is FREE TO READ on the Airsoft Action website (www.airsoftaction.net), plus all of these digital publishing platforms: Issuu: Yumpu: Flickread: PocketMags: PocketMags+ (All You Can Read subscription service): Readly (All You Can Read subscription service): Magzter: You can also grab the FREE Airsoft Action app and take your entire library with you, to read whenever you like, wherever you are! Airsoft Action iOS App: Airsoft Action Android App: Read the full article

[dear-ao3]

alright several of you have asked so we have an update on F1 Silly Season 2024. ill do this to the best of my ability, feel free to peer review me.

update: february 1, 2024

several things have happened:

number one, gunther steiner: at the beginning of january, gunther steiner, team principal of haas (the shit team) was more or less fired by gene haas, the team owner. not really confirmed exactly Why but it seems like gene was pissed that gunther was trying to get the team more money and blamed the failing of the car on gunther for the last several seasons. gunther was kind of the whole identity of haas and the paddock meme and funny guy (after danny rics) so now they're kind of just There. he was replaced by ayao komatsu, who had already been working at haas as the trackside engineering director (so he was already working on the cars). unclear if this will really change anything about the cars themselves especially because haas basically said that they didnt have enough time to develop their car this year so it'll probably be bad again.

number two, charles leclerc: he was the first driver to sign a new contract in mid january. he re-signed with ferrari, literally no surprise there. it was not announced how long his contract with ferrari is but we know its multi-year. like i said originally, he will likely not leave this team.

number three, lando norris: also not surprising, but lando norris re-signed a contract extension with mclaren. what was surprising was that his current contract is not up in 2024, hes officially signed with the team until 2025. so, slightly odd that he would sign an extension with them now. when he was asked about it he said something along the lines of "its not something i wanted to have to worry about in the future" and theres also the whole bit of him basically growing up at the team because hes been associated with them more or less for several years now. again, we dont know how long his extension is for, but we do know that mclaren will at least have the same lineup (norris and piastri) through 2026. this puts them in a very good position because well they're kind of the only team with confirmed drivers at this point.

number 4, sir lewis hamilton: in the absolute biggest surprise career move of the century, even bigger than when danny rics left redbull to go to renault in 2019, sir lewis hamilton signed a contract with ferrari. this is surprising for a great many reasons:

hes mercedes's golden boy. their guy. hes won them 6 drivers championships. hes been there for ten years. we all thought that he would stay in a merc

his contract was not up in 2024, it was up in 2025

charles leclerc is the other confirmed ferrari driver. charles is ferrari's golden boy. they call him il presedentio. its been confirmed by ferrari that he is the priority. he wants to win in a ferrari. hes been their #1 driver for a few years now. theres no way in hell hes going to tolerate being bumped to secondary driver at his own damn team

lewis hamilton is a 7 time world champion. he wants to win his 8th one (he should have already but thats a different story). he will not tolerate being the #2 driver when hes been the merc #1 driver for so many years.

basically this is going to be worse than the brocades civil war. that ended with nico rosberg retiring.

toto wolff, mercedes team principal, re-signed as the mercedes team principal earlier and was like "yeah i want to win another championship with lewis" can i get an L in the chat

ferrari has kind of been all over the place. the pit stops, the strategy, everything. charles and carlos basically did their own strategies towards the end. mercedes might have gone downhill but they at least have had their shit slightly together. lewis is either going to make ferrari better or he is going to have his spirit broken

again, NO ONE SAW THIS COMING

we dont know how long his contract is, but its multi year (likely 2)

the mclaren boys are all going ham on twitter about this and it’s fucking hilarious.

number 5, carlos sainz: lewis signing at ferrari has knocked carlos sainz out of a seat for 2025. we knew that his contract negotiations with ferrari weren't going well, but we still had some hope. no one knows where he will end up. audi is interested in him, but they wont be an official team until 2026 so he could either sign with another team for a year, sign with stake f1 team kick sauber (which will turn into audi) or be a reserve driver. any way you look at it, he seems to be at the end of his career now after getting booted from ferrari (unless mercedes signs him but thats unlikely)

number 6, the mercedes seat: so now theres an open seat at mercedes. this is notable because there wasnt supposed to be an open mercedes seat until At Least Next Year and we still have 13 drivers who need to renew or sign new contracts, plus all the rookies and reserve drivers who want into f1. so mercedes have their fair pick of drivers. it could be alex albon, who is at williams and did a damn good job in a bad car last year. plus, williams has a mercedes engine so he is already somewhat associated with the team. he was favored to replace carlos at ferrari but that’s clearly not happening anymore. could be carlos. could be anyone. my personal favorite is fernando alonso because he would make totos life hell. so basically. silly season just got sillier. this does explain tho why lando re-signed with mclaren a year early, because he was probably approached by mercedes about driving there.

thats all for now. the car launches start tomorrow and i can assure you its only going to get sillier from here.

Sorry i tried to scroll past but, i know nothing about f1 other than max verstappen is fast, my dad doesnt like lewis hamilton, fast car goes in a loop and sometimes expodes. Could you give me a crash course in f1 drama? Im very intrigued. Whats the tea as it were?

a terribly loaded question, but i will do my best. i’ve talked about some of the drama before like the red bull second seat and the chronicles of haas but allow me to briefly try my hand at explaining the nightmare that is the upcoming silly season

under the cut we go

silly season is when the drivers go through contract renewals, extensions and switches. usually it’s confined to the first half of the season (march-july) but it has been known to extend all the way to the last race of the season and they like to switch people around at random sometimes. driver contracts are complex, there’s a lot of money involved and basically You Are The Face Of The Team so if you have a shit season then you make the team look bad. but at the same time you could have a shit season because you have a shit car. it’s sticky stuff.

so. there are only twenty seats in formula 1. 10 teams. each team gets two drivers. (there’s also reserve drivers but we’re not going to get into that). who ends up with a contract is largely up to the teams, they can pull the contract out from under people they can also cut you mid season. they’ve done it before.

of the 20 drivers on the grid, 14 of them have contracts expiring at the end of the year. yes. 14. you see how this could get complicated.

so let’s meet the teams.

red bull racing. they came first this year (and last year) in the championship. like aggressively first. like they won the championship by over 350 points. they are definitely the team to beat. but if you end up with a seat at red bull, you do have to deal with max verstappen being your teammate and he won all but three of the races last year. he’s the golden boy. red bull are also notoriously silly when it comes to contracts and famously swap people mid season who aren’t performing.

mercedes. merc is home to 7 time world champion lewis hamilton and they have won the championship a great many times, though not since 2021. they are kind of in their flop arc and their car the last 2 years has been pretty garbage, but they have still made it work because they were able to come in second last year.

ferrari. god help the poor little meow meows with a ferrari contract. ferrari is a notoriously great team and they’re trying to get back to the top again but their strategy every single time has fallen short. to the point where their drivers are the ones doing the strategy in their cars while driving. they came in third last year and have been decently consistent at getting first in qualifying and then getting beat by max verstappen on race day.

mclaren. they’ve definitely worked their way up over recent years. they ended fourth last year and have had some championship wins before but not nearly as many as say merc and ferrari. their team ceo (owner? director?) is a little interesting and their car started out a pile of flaming hot garbage at the beginning of the year but they did manage to get their shit together.

aston martin. they are owned by canadian billionaire lawrence stroll, father of lance stroll (one of the drivers for the team). they’ve undergone several name changes over the recent years (force india, racing point, etc). they positively slayed at the start of the season and then one day they sucked. they finished fifth in the championship.

alpine. the frenchest french team. they’re (i think?) still partially owned by the french government. both of their drivers are french. (their drivers also hate eachother but we’ll get to that. just know they’re in the middle of a modern french civil war). they had the opportunity to have a good rookie driver (oscar piastri) this past year but in a thrilling twitter battle, he publically flamed the shit out of them and went to mclaren instead (and slayed). they're usually solidly middle of the pack. they ended sixth in the championship.

williams. williams has been one of the back of the grid teams for the last many years but they have finally started to get their shit together and don’t quite suck as much as they used to. all of the points this year were scored by only one driver though (except one but we’ll get there). they came in seventh.

alpha tauri. they are the sister team of red bull. so technically redbull owns both teams (meaning they can swap drivers between teams. they like doing this.) they’ve just kind of been There for awhile but they did slay towards the end of the season when one of their drivers led the race for several laps. basically tho, this team is the gateway to redbull. they came in eighth.

alpha romeo. recently renamed to stake f1 team (but sometimes they are going to be called kick sauber. this is a whole other drama post and i’m not getting into it). they’re also just kind of there. generally unproblematic. seems that really great drivers who get ixed out of a contract for a younger driver end up here or young drivers who are in their early years are here before they go to a better team. they ended ninth this year.

haas. oh haas. goofy team. they suck. point blank they suck. they keep loosing sponsors because they suck, they don’t win ever (one time they came first in qualifying last year). they cursed themselves in australia in 2018 by not tightening their tires and its been downhill ever since. they came 10th. their team principle got let go (fired?) who’s to say today.

so those are the teams. it is important to note that:

-there is a cost cap. each team is allowed to spend no more than 135m per year.

-not all cars are equal. some things are standard. they all undergo the same testing. but the cars are all very different. so you can be a good driver but stuck in a shitty car. which makes it impressive if you are doing well in a shitty car.

let’s meet our drivers!!!

starting with the guys who’s contract is not ending in 2024:

max verstappen. 3 time world champion. 26 years old. general beast on the track. he dominated the whole season. he’s currently racing for red bull and has a contract with them through 2028.

lewis hamilton. 7 time world champion. 39 years old. he drives for mercedes. he will not leave mercedes until he retires. he really really wants to win an 8th world championship and is willing to stick it out a few more years as long as merc still believes in him. his contract expires in 2025.

george russell. the other merc driver. 26 years old. hes aggressively british and says thinks like blimey unironically. walking meme. got his merc seat in 2022 right when they entered their flop arc by getting his tractor of a williams to finish second in qualifying in the middle of a rainstorm. his contract expires in 2025.

lando norris. mclaren driver. 24 years old. he has notably never won a race in his five years of formula one (mostly because right when his car finally was good enough max verstappen was 20 seconds ahead of anyone) but he is regarded as Very Good. he has only ever driven for mclaren. and even though there is another year left on his contract there is mass speculation that he will not renew his contract with mclaren after it expires and he may move up to one of the top teams (red bull, merc, ferrari) (tho i think he doesnt hate himself quite enough to go to ferrari). his contract expires in 2025.

oscar piastri. the other mclaren driver. 22 years old. this was his rookie season and he positively slayed. like people compared his rookie season to lewis hamiltons rookie season. he also had the positively funniest start to his rookie year because alpine announced that he would be driving for them (he had been their reserve driver and in the alpine academy) and he posted a tweet that basically said yeah thats false i never singed anything with you and im going to race with mclaren instead (he dodged a bullet) and then alpine tried and failed to sue him for $4m USD. he signed a contract extension with mclaren this year and his contract expires in 2026.

lance stroll. aston martin driver and son of the aston martin owner. hes doing ok, tho there was conspiracy that he wanted to quit and have a tennis career awhile ago. but basically since his dad owns the team it seems that hes guaranteed a seat for as long as he wants one.

so now. moving onto the good shit. the people who have contracts expiring in 2024. hold onto your hats people.

charles leclerc. (everyones favorite slutty little soup can). 26 years old. he is currently at ferrari and he has been since 2019. notably, he was given the longest contract in the history of ferrari after a stellar rookie season at sauber (renamed to alpha romeo, renamed to stake f1) where he got the tractor of a car consistently into the points. having the longest contract in the history of ferrari was a flex at the time, but now its likely how he will introduce himself at therapy sessions. ferrari have fucked this man left right and center up the ass with a plastic lunchroom spork. hes talented, he can drive, and he can drive well. but the strategy that ferrari has absolutely sucks. either something is wrong with the car (see him blowing out his gear box on the formation lap in monaco, his car completely crapping out and spinning into the barrier in brazil before the race even started) or they fuck up his pit stops or put him on the wrong tires and honestly its just frustrating. but will he leave??? likely not. you'd have to pry ferrari out of his cold dead hands and at this rate that might be where this is headed though there has been some minor speculation of him going to another team like merc or red bull, but merc doesnt have any open seats and red bull is a whole other dumpster fire of drama. ferrari are going to have to pay him a boatload of money to make him stay.

carlos sainz. the smooth operator. 29 years old. ferrari driver. previously carlos was at toro rosso (renamed to alpha tauri), renault (renamed to alpine), and mclaren before signing with ferrari. he has been at ferrari since 2021 and has voiced that he would like to stay with them for however long he can. there is speculation that lando might replace him at ferrari (but landos contract is not up until 2025) and there is also some speculation that alex albon might replace him. while charles is clearly the golden boy at ferrari, carlos is slightly slower but also definitely consistent. he was THE ONLY non red bull driver to win a race this past year, in Singapore after max verstappedn was knocked out of qualifying by alpha tauri reserve driver liam lawson (more on him later) and because he basically came up with his own strategy in the car while he was driving.

sergio perez. aka checo. red bull driver. 33 years old. and oh boy here's where we open the can of worms. checo was previously at racing point (renamed aston martin) and it was very near the end of the 2020 (?) season and he was out of a contract. he had a bonkers race where he was knocked to the back of the grid and then overtook everyone and somehow ended up winning (there is more to that story but just trust me) and christian horner, red bull team principle, mr ginger spice and definite disney villain called him and said congrats sir you have a seat at red bull! well. fast forward. hes been causing problems. problems as in crashing a lot, generally not doing great and pissing the crap out of red bull. it is basically guaranteed at this point that he will not be getting a contract extension. there was actually talk this year of him losing his seat mid season to one of the alpha tauri drivers, because remember, red bull owns both teams and they can switch them whenever they want to (and they have!) but ultimately this did not happen. even though checo has a seat at red bull until the end of 2024, its mass speculated that he is going to get switched with an alpha tauri driver, probably daniel ricciardo (more on him shortly) mid season because there is a speculated clause in daniels contract that says that if checo isn't performing well in the first few races daniel is getting his seat.

daniel ricciardo. 34 years old. alpha tauri driver. man oh man what a guy. outside of being the prankster of the paddock, he has one of the most batshit careers of anyone currently on the grid. he started out at red bull and was showing real talent and skill and was on track to win things (and was!) and was there until the end of 2018 when max verstappen (his teammate) started getting preferential treatment and also red bull started having a lot of problems with their engines (which were being outsourced from Renault (now alpine) and another team on the grid) and well very very long story short he made the surprise move of the century and decided to sign with Renault (which makes no sense they're the one with the engine problems) and was there for 2 years before moving again to mclaren where he was reportedly not treated very well and had a hard time driving the car so they mutually ended his contract with them early and he basically retired at the end of the 2022 season and became a red bull reserve driver. then halfway through the 2023 season alpha tauri ixed one of their drivers, nyck de vries, because he wasnt doing well and promoted daniel back up to a full time driver at alpha tauri (which we know is only a step down from red bull) but then he broke his hand in a crash in zanvort (?) and then he was replaced for a few races by formula 2 driver liam lawson (who we will also talk about) and then he came back to finish out the season in alpha tauri after he was cleared. daniel has admitted openly that he never should have left red bull and he was given bad advice to do so. hes towards the end of his career at this point and its well known that he Really Really wants to finish out his career at red bull again. he and max have already been teammates before and they do work well together and daniel is great driver (see his comeback in texas (or maybe it was brazil?) this year). so. Pretty Sure that daniels going to get either an extension at alpha tauri or go up to red bull. thats what we all want. get this man in a red bull we need him there biblically.

liam lawson. now technically liam is not actually a formula 1 driver. hes a formula 2 driver, but he was daniels replacement for five races and there has been some speculation and some confirmed news about him so hes getting included. when he was racing for f1 he was at alpha tauri. hes 21 and looks like he belongs in the movie grease. no one was expecting him to slay in formula 1 and he positively knocked everyones socks off. the scene: Singapore. which, if you'll recall, is the one race that a not red bull driver won. this was largely because liam lawson slayed the absolute game in qualifying. the qualifying part of racing determines what order the cars start in on the grid for the race and theres three parts, the first two parts the bottom 5 drivers each time get knocked out and then the top 10 complete for the last 10 spots. liam lawson knocked BOTH max verstappen and checo perez out of qualifying in the second round by going very slightly faster than them, effectively fucking up red bulls race and allowing carlos to win. and he also scored points in that race, which no one was expecting. now thats all fine and dandy, but here's the speculation: hemlut marko (im pretty sure) (who is somehow decently involved in the decision making at red bull though i couldn't tell you how) said that he thinks that liam lawson will be in an f1 seat no later than 2025. meaning that he will probably get offered a contract this year. and hes already raced for alpha tauri. red bull have sunk a good amount of money into him. they clearly want him. so if he gets offered an alpha tauri seat in 2025, that means theres a good chance danny rics is going to red bull. do you SEE how the plot here is THICKENED

yuki tsunoda. age 23. currently at alpha tauri. and fun fact, the only alpha tauri driver to race there the whole year. he had three separate team mates. he is slaying and hes often slept on. he has a bit of a temper and likes to shout on the radio and also hates working out (they had to force him to move to italy or something to work out, long story) but hes been kinda killing it. he led several laps in the abu dhabi race this year and hes decently consistent. people think theres possibility that he could get moved up to red bull on account of the fact that he is younger than daniel and clearly has more years in him,, but there is also possibility that he might not because red bull like to make stupid decisions. and if he doesnt get moved up to rebel, will he stay with alpha tauri? we don't know.

alex albon. age 27. currently a williams driver. alex albon is another one with a batshit career. he started out his rookie year in 2019 at alpha tauri then got moved up to red bull halfway through the year when red bull decided that pierre gasley wasnt doing a good enough job (more on him later) and stayed with red bull for a solid year and a half until he lost his seat in 2021 to checo. he has been with williams for the last two years and is basically carrying the team. like. williams as a team scored 28 points this year. and alex albon scored 27 of those 28 points. and as we know, williams is still kind of in their shit arc (though they are doing much better. they didnt score any points for a solid 2 (?) years. so this is an improvement.) and if you can get a shit car to perform you catch the eye of bigger teams. now, alex has already been a red bull driver. and he was on the cusp of podiuming two separate times when lewis hamilton ran into him. this (among a few other things) basically killed his chances at getting resigned at red bull because he wasnt ""performing"" and red bull are bitches who love to win. but some people think that red bull should give him another shot. like daniel, hes already been max's teammate and he can definitely drive. but theres also talk he might go to ferrari because ferrari think that he might compliment charles's driving style (or something). but going to ferrari at this point is kind of suicide. so.

logan sergeant. age 23. the only american on the grid. the other williams driver. he just finished his rookie year. he scored a grand total of one single point this season, in texas, and it was because charles leclerc and lewis hamilton both got disqualified because the floor of their car had more wear (by literally less than millimeters) than it was allowed to, bumping him up from 12th to 10th. he has never done better than alex albon. he was also the very last driver to get a contract for 2024, with williams waiting until i think december of 2023 to announce his contract extension. clearly, hes on thin ice. but people have also said that he needs time to get used to formula 1 (other people have pointed out that oscar piastri slayed his rookie season this year and this statement about needing time is largely false). where logan ends up next year though will largely depend on how well the 2024 season goes for him.

fernando alonso. 42 years old. many people like to point out that oscar piastri is actually younger than fernando's racing career. he won tiktok creator of the year (somehow) and is also a 2 time world champion. he retired a few years ago, just to show back up again and slay. during the first half of the season when aston martin had a zoom zoom car he killed it, and then they had problems on top of problems and he didnt do well. except for that one race in brazil where he came in third, beating checo by literally .05 seconds. he hasn't really made any hints about retiring a second time and he is kind of carrying aston Martin right now (he scored 205 points this season, coming in 4th and tying in points with charles leclerc, lance stroll only scored 74 points this year.) and they did have their best year yet this year. (though they are relatively new).

pierre gasley. 27 years old. french. drives for alpine. the french team. previously he raced with toro rosso (now alpha tauri), then got promoted to a red bull driver in 2019, then halfway through the season they decided he wasnt doing a good enough job and he got demoted back down to alpha tauri. then he won a race with alpha tauri just to stick it to red bull. after the great oscar piastri contract twitter war, he was signed as alpines second driver, with Esteban ocon being the other driver (more on him soon). estie bestie and pierre (both french) were childhood friends and now hate each other for unknown reasons and basically feuded on the track for most of the season. french civil war at alpine. he scored 62 points in 2023 and came in 11th. not really sure where he will end up, it is possible that he will stick it out at alpine.

esteban ocon. 27 years old. also french. currently driving for alpine. another one with a silly bonkers career. he started out at force india and had a baller few seasons there but his teammate at the time was checo, and checo didnt really cooperate with him too much and caused some drama that cost estie bestie some places and some points. max verstappen also beat him up in the garage once. thats not really relevant but it did happen. anyway, after the owner of force india was arrested for .... i don't remember what maybe it was embezzlement or bankruptcy or something money related, the team was backed by lawrence stroll and became racing point. but all of that happened mid season and lawrence was basically like look ill back you guys for now but next year my son gets a seat (lance) so one of you two (checo and estie bestie) have to go. and ultimately they let estie bestie go even though he was more consistent because checo had more sponsors and they needed money. so he was out of formula 1 for a few years (but was a merc reserve driver) and then went to Renault, which then became alpine. he did come in 12th though overall this season, just behind pierre. so. will alpine keep both him and pierre and keep the civil war going? whos to say.

nico hulkenberg. 36 years old. haas driver. in his 200+ f1 races he has never been on the podium and he really really wants to be on the podium. unfortunately this will never happen in a haas because haas fucking sucks. and everyone knows it. he is getting towards the end of his career though. though! stake f1 will become the mario Andretti and audi team in 2026 (don't question it) and they have supposedly voiced interest in nico. so we will see if he hangs on that long to end up at audi. for now tough, hes definitely hating it at haas. though, haas are going to have a different team principle next year so maybe that will change things. i have a sneaky feeling through that haas will probably end up with another 2 rookie drivers because everyone else is smart enough to not race for them.

kevin magnussen. 31 years old. haas driver. hes another deeply interesting character. he has had one podium. in his rookie season. in his first race. and none since. kevin started at haas in 2017 and then left at then end of 2020 when he basically got kicked off because the team needed money and they wanted to bring in drivers with more sponsorships. these drivers were mick schumacher and nikita mazepin. so kevin basically was forced to retire after the 2020 season. this went decently well for haas. until russia invaded ukraine right before the start of the 2022 season and, well, nikita was Russian and it was never distinctly proven that his dads company (who was sponsoring the team) wasnt also funding the invasion. so nikita got fired and they were literally like 2 weeks out from the start of the season, down a driver. who are you gonna call? kevin magnussen! and hes been back ever since. but hes clearly getting annoyed with haas. there was one great clip from this year where his car caught on fire and he kind of just stared into to, clearly hoping it would burn for a long time. so the likelihood of him extending his contract is looking slim.

valtteri bottas. 34 years old. currently a driver for stake f1 (alpha romeo, kick sauber, whatever you wanna call it). previously, he was a mercedes driver and notoriously helped lewis hamilton win a great many championships, until he lost his seat to george russell in 2022. there was a rather awkward part of the 2021 season where valtteri knew that he was out of a merc seat the following year and kind of just chose violence. he slayed. then he went to alpha romeo, grew a mullet and made a calendar of his ass. quite the glow up if you ask me. hes also very interested in cycling. honestly though, i have my own personal speculation that hes going to retire at the end of this year.

zhou guanyu. 24 years old. driver for stake f1 (alpha romeo/kick sauber, etc etc). hes doing alright. he just finished his second season, in his first season he was majorly out qualified by valtteri but this past season he managed to out qualify him a good 6 times. which is decently good for the tractor of a car hes driving. its possible that he could get a contract extension, but like logan, its probably going to depend on how the 2024 season goes for him.

and thats all the drivers. theres also a few others i didnt talk about, like some other f2 drivers who want seats and mick schumacher, who is currently a merc reserve driver, all of which could be contenders for f1 seats. but one things for sure. this is going to be the silliest fucking silly season.

feel free to add on and peer review me

[usasportsworld]

F1 2022: The best and the rest

F1 2022: The best and the rest

The 2022 Formula 1 World Championship didn’t feature the engrossing title fight of 2021, but it had many intriguing aspects that deserve recognition across all 10 teams. For those of you who saw my mid-season review, you might be familiar with my attempts to find something good (and bad) in every team, and as we prepare to say goodbye to this year I thought it was about time to look back on the…

[acrosstobear]

mclaren A big day at the MTC today! 🏆🧡

[vro0m]

ok I'll bite c'est quoi le drama du jour kessisspass

Je te la fais en anglais pour des raisons pratiques

So the F1 circus is in Australia. There's this team, Williams, they've been struggling for a while, they don't have much money. As all teams they have two drivers.

Alex Albon has been in the game since 2019. He started in Redbull's junior team, Toro Rosso, but he was promoted to Redbull mid season because their then second driver wasn't performing well enough. Just like his predecessor, he found himself struggling massively against his teammate, now 3 time world champion Max Verstappen, in an insane car that only he could drive. It was so bad in fact that he had to sit the 2021 season out because he couldn't find someone to hire him. Then he came back in 2022 at Williams and had a very solid season in 2023 despite the car not being good.

Meanwhile Logan Sargeant is a baby. It's only his second year and he's been struggling. Mind you it's very difficult being a rookie. There's a massive difference between F2 and F1. Still, overall he was far behind Alex last year.

Now they did 2 practice sessions while Europe was mainly sleeping. And it just so happens that Alex crashed. He crashed so bad actually that he broke his chassis. Unfortunately, Williams, not having much money, didn't bring a spare. So they can't replace the chassis. They initially tried to repair it but it's not an easy task. Eventually, they had to come to terms with the fact that they would only be able to use one car for the rest of the weekend.

But who do they put in the car? Alex, who's continuously outperformed Logan but is the reason why they only have one car to begin with? Or Logan, who's not performing as well, but didn't crash his car?

Well James Vowles, Williams' team principal since 2023, who is explicitly trying to entirely review and reform the way the team operates to bring it back to its former glory (they have 9 constructors title and 7 driver titles, all won over two decades ago), decided it would be Alex.

Most people seem to agree it's pragmatic, but awful for Logan.

[alianoralacanta]

I got Takuma's height from F1 Racing's interview with him in 2004 (a couple of months after the podium), when it said he was 5 foot 2. It's possible the writer or sub-editor may have been exaggerating the shortness for effect, I suppose (there was a comment in that year's mid-season review that it's a good thing that, as the Japanese proverb says, it's the size of the fight in the dog that matters…) Tatiana's struggles in GP3 are how I found out junior series are less flexible (due to regulations limiting placement). But F1 teams would definitely adapt if you were (somehow) allowed to go straight there.

Takuma Sato got on the podium of a F1 race despite being 5 foot 2 inches (155 cm). If you're fast enough, you're tall enough - at least in F1, where they'd probably thank you for being light enough to let them put some extra ballast in your seat (which is faster).

i also forgot to mention that i'm also oscar's age and that it's way too late for me to start a career in motorsport lol. best i could do is be an actor in a motorsports film. so if they're looking for a body double for yuki tsunoda, i'm your guy /j

either he podiumed when he was younger because i just checked his height which is said to be 5'5, so either he's lying about his height or he grew (doubtful, since he was 27 when he got a podium in f1)

tatiana calderon is 5'4 and she struggled with GP3 series cars because of her height, and i'm assuming formula cars are quite different from 2016 GP3 series cars, as 5'3 short king yuki managed to breeze his way through F3 and F2 before hopping into F1 and having to drive a modified car built around his average height french teammate lol

[race-week]

Race-Week's Mid Season Review

I mean what a start to the season we have had. I have to admit at the start of the year I was expecting Mercedes and Lewis to walk away with both titles easily and I've been pleasantly surprised to get to see the wheel to wheel battles that we have had this year.

I have to admit I have terrible memory, so I've gone back and watched all the race highlights to help me out.

Its a long post and as such it'll be under the cut, feel free to share your opinions - I'd love to hear what you think.

Top 3 Best Moments

Esteban Ocon's win in Hungary, what can I say, I'm a sucker for a first time winner and I have been following Esteban's career since GP3 and he's always massively impressed me. How he was able to stay calm with Sebastian hunting him down I'll never know, but I definitely think this will stay in my highlights of the season. He never made a mistake and that was insane.

Fernando's defensive driving in Hungary - this literally was incredible to watch, my dad and I were literally screaming at the screen and it was definitely a moment that showed that Fernando has still got it.

Sebastian Vettel's P5 at Monaco; this is way more spectacular than either of his podium drives, because he and the team absolutely nailed the strategy. This was the first race I would say since possibly even Hockenheim 2018 where we saw the old Seb back and he looked comfortable in the car and it looked like things were turning around.

Top 3 Worst Moments

The Silverstone crash, well not the crash itself but the reaction from fans and the teams afterwards. Especially the drama over the radios and the comments and blatant racism on social media. I've said it before that did not make the sport look good at all and also as fans we were robbed from what would have been an incredible battle, that likely would have lasted race long. But my main comment on this and the reason why it is top of my worst moments is the fact that the outcry afterwards was despicable and not a good look for the sport

The tyres at Baku, that just made the sport look really bad. If the tyre manufacturer can't produce a tyre or chose the right set of tyres for Baku, how could you expect them to produce suitable tyres for the rest of the season. Then with the aftermath of Pirelli refusing to take blame and instead implying that the teams weren't complying with the rules but still bringing more robust tyres later down the line. It was all a mess and we are very lucky that neither Max or Lance were seriously hurt, with such high speed failures in such dangerous places.

Daniel Ricciardo lapped by Lando Norris at Monaco, out of all the drivers that changed teams Daniel seems to be the one that has struggled the most and especially with all the media and the fans before this season saying that Daniel was going to annihilate Lando and then that happened at Monaco no less, it was definitely a rough moment.

So who has improved on points 11 races in compared to last year and who has lost out?

3 Biggest Surprises

Fernando Alonso - I think everyone was kind of expecting Fernando to not quite be his old self, I was kind of expecting to see a repeat of Michael Schumacher at Ferrari, still a really good driver but not his prime, but Nando has come in and knocked it out of the park. Bahrain (until the wrapper killed him) was so impressive, the last 2 laps at Baku was insane, the Silverstone sprint race, Hungary in general. I don't think that Fernando has a prime, the man could probably keep racing into his 50s, hes finished 8/11 races in the points and 6 of them are in a row.

Lando Norris - he has been massively over delivering this year, the McLaren package is strong but Lando has almost taken on the role that Checo used to have, where he was the midfield driver that was there if anything was to happen usually lucking out with a P4/5 or even a podium. He has massively impressed me this year, especially in Imola, Austria and Silverstone where he just got on with his race and for him to still hold 3rd in the drivers midway through the season is ridiculously impressive.

Carlos Sainz - I would say that Carlos has always been a driver that consistently delivers but in an under the radar way. I was expecting him to do well at Ferrari but he has massively exceeded my expectations, hes currently 3 points ahead of Charles and was probably the quickest to adapt to a new team (the extra testing paid off).

Top 3 Let Downs

Daniel Ricciardo - this one hurts me to write but unfortunately it's true, whenever the McLaren video on Sky Sports comes on with Daniel saying he expects podiums and wins from himself this year it hurts me. He's only been in Q3 5 times out of 11 races and in Portugal he was out in Q1. The McLaren should be easily in Q3 every week. I think Daniel may just be a slightly less adaptable driver than some of the others, he had similar issues with his first year in Renault, but I have to admit that I expected more from him this year and hopefully its just an adjustment thing and he'll be stronger in the latter half of the year.

Yuki Tsunoda; there was a lot of energy around Yuki preseason and at the start of the year, especially with him scoring points on debut, but since then there hasn't been an awful lot to back this up. He's often getting kicked out in Q1 which when the Alpha Tauri is often the 5th best car, that shouldn't happen. Tyres seem to be a big issue with him and that's a major component of F1 and as a driver who in F2 was proclaimed to have great tyre management there's a discrepancy. I don't know if Red Bull are going to be patient enough to help him develop.

Valtteri Bottas; it does pain me to say it but Valtteri has had a rough start to the season, he's currently on his greatest points deficit to Lewis, 11 races in than he has been their whole time as teammates. 5 P3 finishes and 1 P2 so far. Realistically he should be easily 3rd in the drivers and yes he's had his fair share of bad luck this season, but there's been cases where he just doesn't trust the car.

[vettely]

11 for the season ask 👀

11. One early prediction for next season?

rbr will drop checo mid season

2022 f1 season in review asks

[f1]

'It was painful' Norris describes McLaren's straight-line speed struggles after surprise P7 finish in Belgium

Lando Norris admitted it was a “good surprise” for him to find himself finishing seventh at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, after a “painful” afternoon behind the wheel of the MCL60 struggling for straight-line pace. Norris started from seventh on the grid, but his struggles saw him lose places early on, as he dropped outside the top 10. A switch from the mediums to the hards didn’t see much improvement, before going on to the softs dropped him to the back of the field. MONDAY MORNING DEBRIEF: How the mid-race rain rescued McLaren's Sunday in Belgium However, he managed to make his way back up the order before holding off the late challenge of Esteban Ocon to take seventh place. And after the race, Norris explained why McLaren struggled so much compared to their rivals. Asked what had happened with the car, Norris said: “Nothing, I was just barely making eighth gear, we were that slow in the straight. I just couldn’t defend, I couldn’t attack. It was impossible to overtake; I didn’t overtake one person on the straight today. We were too slow. This feature is currently not available because you need to provide consent to functional cookies. Please update your cookie preferences Norris hails McLaren strategy for vaulting him up into the points from ‘not far off last place’ “I think I only overtook two or three people today and that was all in the corners. It was painful. The beginning was so painful, but we tried and to go on to the hard and we got done over again. The hard was not a good enough tyre. “So, we had one thing left to try and that was put a soft tyre on. This was already on Lap 24, 25. So I was expecting to box again for another soft at one point. But we were somehow in seventh, we undercut like 10 cars, I think, which I was pretty surprised by. Good surprised of course. FACTS AND STATS: Win 12 for Red Bull heralds most successful season start in F1 history “I thought I was going to be boxing again, and they were like, ‘Okay we are going to try and go to the end.’ I pushed the tyres so much in the beginning, I thought my race was going to be over again and I was going to start to struggle too much. “But we kept the tyres alive and still managed to finish P7, stay ahead of Esteban, who was closing quite quickly in the last couple of laps, so I’m happy.” Norris struggled for pace especially in the early stages of the race in Belgium Sharing an example of how much he struggled in the straights – with Norris receiving a number of conciliatory pats on the back from his fellow drivers in the pen – Norris said: “Everyone was overtaking me before the DRS activation zone. Honestly, I had a run on Alex [Albon] out of Turn 1. I was coming at him out of Turn 1, I had new tyres, he had old tyres, and I think by the end of the straight, he pulled, like, three or four car lengths on me. READ MORE: What the teams said – Race day in Belgium “This was me with DRS, using overtake. It was just painful. I actually could not overtake a car on the straight today, no matter how good my exit was. We got it wrong; I think we've admitted it already. “We got it wrong, we were way too high on downforce, and it didn’t help us in pretty much any way, so we’ll review and make sure we do a better job next time.” via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com