#helmut marko i will get u

[raceweek]

Hey what happened in the 2020 season with Alex? (Sorry new fan and still learning)

omg you never need to apologise to me for not knowing things i literally know nothing

the 2020 season from the alexnation perspective was like being in a hamster ball being hurled around for 5 months straight basically but here’s the breakdown:

so for context 2019 was really really good for alex he was promoted as a rookie and he shunted a fair few times and most of the time wasn’t on maxs quali pace but red bull were the third quickest team so he wasn’t expected to win or anything. alex ultimately beat pierres points tally from his 12 races in the red bull within 7 as a rookie so like. whilst it was insane behaviour for red bull to promote him in the first place he did perform phenomenally

then we turn to 2020 pre season testing. mercedes was dominant as per (dreamy sigh) and the red bull was quick but looked. edgy. for both alex and max but ferrari were fucking nowhere so it was still like really positive for red bull bc it was basically two extra places gained and then. global pandemic. and then as a footnote to the whole you know. global pandemic. sebastian vettel was dumped from the love island villa (ferrari (everyone gasped))

and then! triple header one and the first race in austria had max running an upgraded front wing and none for alex and it was like understood i think like it wasn’t a big deal at the time

and then everything that could have possibly happened. happened. in the race and alex and lewis…yeah. but the world did in fact keep spinning!

and then alex got p4 in the second austria race (altho. significantly off of maxs pace in p3 for sureee) and everyone was like if only max had a rear gunner (wistful) which in my opinion is an insult to lewis and the w11 but whatever. nothing else really happened here other than horner and marko making kissy faces at seb during this time but that’s just contextfkdkd

so then the next race in hungary alex qualified p13 and even though max only qualified p7 and it was the third race of the season alex was getting eaten alive and george was on live tv like red bull are making him look like an idiot and he’s not an idiot and they need to fix it for him and it was like fucking hell what is going ONNN we haven’t even made it to the third race yet (like imagine anyone coming out and declaring this after australia quali this year like. wild scenes)

so then one week break and then triple header two started and during the races at silverstone they start talking in the media about when the best time to demote alex is even though the only times he’d finished outside the top six was brazil 2019 and austria 2020 which. pls consult youtube if you need further info here

they also changed alexs race engineer in silverstone so More turbulence altho completely welcome this time (simon rennie come back we love u, ur so sexc haha x)

then during the final triple header 2 race in barcelona he gets put on the most ass strategy known to man like with context this was criminal behaviour actually

and then one week break and then triple header 3 starts (do you feel like a hamster yet) at spa and unbeknownst to us all at the time but later confirmed by will buxton and dts horner is in the mf pitlane in spa propositioning seb like one more year and then you can come home which. have some decorum alex is behind you in the garage. but anyway in the general media everyone was gagging for pierre’s red bull return so there were bigger fish

anyway. SPA. they did this to my boy

and alex made the best out of it but as per the comeback kid episode of dts that everyone loves (���) alex was made out to be useless and it was like. wtf did you expect

THEN between spa and monza helmut marko was like oh btw alex hasn’t actually had the same parts as max for most races this year okay bye and alexnation was like…wtf. but then no one else really cared and it was like UMMM OKAY

and then monza happened and alex was in a first lap sandwich involving pierre and then second lap crashed into grosjean (alexs fault - live laugh love x) and had a huge chunk of his floor missing so finished p nowhere and then. pierre won and good for her i guess but then ex drivers were on live tv demanding alex step down for pierre which like no one has ever done this in the history of the sport as far as im aware so it was fucking savage especially when this was the first race alex had finished outside of the points for red bull in (with the exception of the two aforementioned events)

and then mugello wooooooooooooo!! alexs first podium!!!!!! i was gassed at the time but it was sort of sad looking back like if you listen to his team radio across the line from getting p7 in canada and then compare it to his first podium in mugello it’s. yeah! we were enduring it!!

and then sochi happened in its own weird bubble and alex was nowhere really got caught behind carlos hitting the wall at the first corner after a poor quali and that was that

then. triple header number four starts with horner giving alex an ultimatum of we’re backing you but we want results in the next three races or ur finished hunny which. okay

then first race of the triple header max ends up blocking alex in his quali run (live laugh love 2.0 x) and then:

YEAH

nurburgring was the they race me so hard incident. available to view elsewhere bc god knows im not reliving that!!

imola was again nightmarish. red bull media team said alex was working with a mental coach (patrick his trainer had got mental health qualifications basically) and was supporting him etc which. here comes paul di resta live on air laughing about how max wouldn’t need mental support. it was once again. brutal. especially bc he was getting a load of xenophobic abuse online already like fuck off

back on the track alex basically spun on his own but thought he had been hit and no one thought to tell him before he went into the media pen that he hadn’t actually been hit so it was fucking awkward and yeah twitter was brutal again

then istanbul happened. red bull looked promising but both max and alex finished well off so it was just whatever really lewis did a madness no one really cared about red bull

then final three races of the season started with the grosjean crash in bahrain which ended with alex on the podium and then checo won sakhir and alex wasn’t really there and then we were at the final race in abu dhabi where red bull officially signed checo (as confirmed by will buxtons analysis of the curtains. god i can’t believe this season was real)

but alex didn’t find out for like two weeks later when the season was well and truly over and was taking drinks to the factory for everyone and it was heartbreaking and then he didn’t have a seat and spent the next year saying it killed him so. yeah…TA-DA

[superm4ks]

In honour of Max's old tweets, do u have some max lobbying at merc lore? <33

Yess omfgg idk if its new 'lore' because its been talked about so often especially lately wid m£rc's flop era and max leading red bull into truly insane levels of dominance, but its definitely a canon event im obsessed wid. Like u cud not interfere 😭. Its just s0 fitting that not only he told merc 'no' but also telling rbr 'yes' required a move so unethical and unconvential FIA immediately stepped in and made it so it cud never happen again. That brother the only reason we even got a super license system. Max started reshaping the sport before he even made his debut, before he even drove his first race. U look at pictures of that bright eyed lil bug testing for then-toro rosso and u wonder how that was even allowed to happen in the first place. The answer to that, like a whole bunch of hate crimes, child trauma and prolly mankinds suffering, is helmut marko. Max had been closely monitored by the big players since karting, like most f1 superstars. But unlike most f1 superstars, truly unlike any driver since, a jump from f3 to f1 went from 'ridiculous' to 'inevitable' once he won two triple headers in Spa, under mixed conditions, wid pace that outmached anything ever seen from a junior driver. Whatever lil bro did in that circuit it was so profoundly exceptional 2 weeks later at the 2014 german grand prix the Verstappens sat down wid Helmut Marko, then Niki Lauda, and one of them put an f1 seat on the table just so the other one wouldnt get a signature. Like we're talking literally. Autosport.com writes, 'following discussions wid red bull at the team's motorhome in Hockenheim, Verstappens management was immediately approached by Mercedes boss toto wolff and niki lauda and invited for talks with them.' It was widely reported that Max wud sign wid Merc and move into the GP2 feeder in 2015 up until that happened. A common myth is that M£rc wasn’t able to offer a seat, but they did, just a reserve one. Its important to c this as a failure because it highlights todays success as a chain of events that started wid Merc not being able to properly secure their future, but also the giant, almost unconceivable risk Max and his camp took by biting Markos bullet and throwing a kid who had only driven f3 for less than year inside a development meat grinder. What Max was able to do wid it, the type of headaches he gave veterans, how he took a program renowned for its cutthroat nature and turned it into an asset, as a kid, that is important too. In 2015 Brundle was calling him ‘the hottest property in F1 that is not an established race or championship winner’. Lil bro was in a Toro Rosso. I think I've used this metaphor before but like. Max was a lil fish thrown into a tank full of sharks and he swam out of it covered in blood that wasnt his. And that cud've never been a m£rc driver lmfao. Like that was a red bull promise

[blamemma]

see my thing is like... what on earth was even the segway in daniel's brain from "make more babies" to "we have great chemistry" because the fuck?

this is why i think and stand by the theory that was the first interviewed that was filmed yesterday !! daniel had not yet inserted his 'no homo' filter so when max said make more babies daniel was like yeah. great chemistry between the two of us 🧑🏼‍🔬. that's normal👨🏻‍🤝‍👨🏼. making more babies on my perth farm 🫄🏼 and then by the time he got to the second interview he was like hold up✋🏼 just friends 🚫 because blake had sat him down and said look buddy if we're getting u back in that seat then u've gotta start acting normal around max ok helmut marko wont survive the two of you

[georgegraphys]

Anon, think twice before you type stupid stuff. Ask yourself these questions

A. Does George scores points?

B. Does George qualify outside of Top 10 often?

C. Does George crash every race?

D. Does George has ZERO connection?

E. How can George negotiate himself an 18M salary raise from his previous 8M, making his salary on par as world's top footballers?

F. Does George get beaten by Lewis Hamilton 100-0?

G. Why did Mercedes pick George over two other junior drivers if it wasn't for his talent? Why did the Boards themselves choose to back George and give him 10273837 PR chances, boost his brands and names and many others since 2017?

H. Who makes McLaren sweat their ass due to their pace from P18?

I. Who stops Charles Leclerc from overtaking even when having fresh tyres and faster car in Singapore and Spain?

J. Who made the Christian Horner and RBR team gagged in Spain 2024?

K. Who made RBR sweat their ass in Spain 2022 due to the W2W and pace that he showed?

L. Who kept on leading Brazil even with a water leak?

M. Who qualifies P2 in a fucking William and trash one Red Bull, two Mercedes, and two Ferrari around?

N. Who wins GP3 and F2 with 3 all time records and 11 wins in total?

O. Who got pneumonia in Abu Dhabi but still got a podium?

P. Who drove 2x recovery drive after the team sabotaged his race in Sakhir?

Q. Who steps on the break only by his toes but still wins British F4?

R. Who beats BMW professional DTM driver and beat Mercedes and Audi's time during the first time out in a DTM testing?

S. Who do you think beat Sebastian Vettel's circuit lap record by 0.6s and beat Kimi Raikkonen in an F1 Testing when he was still in F2?

T. Who got a special message from Marcin Budkowski, asking him to call Marcin if he didn't get a seat?

U. Who is the driver, aside Max Verstappen, that Christian Horner and Helmut Marko collectively agree on recruiting?

V. Who leads Williams Racing back to podium and to the back-mid table again?

W. Who pushes Nicholas Latifi to be competitive during his time to be a team leader?

X. Who laid the foundation for Hitech GP to be a championship contending team just in the first year they joined the team?

Y. Who does Fred Vasseur rate highly and even admit that he is wrong about his judgement on said driver?

Z. If you have finished answering these questions, do you still think George Russell is a dozen skill issue driver that will lose his seat in a state where he has made his statement drive and have gained recognition from numerous retired drivers, experts, team executives, and more about his chances as a future world champion?

[fortheloveofaussiegrit]

just stumbled across this gem: https://peterwindsor.com/2013/11/24/marks-mates-mate/

mark looking back on things, some funny quotes to see now with hindsight. talks about seb + nando + christian but my absolute fav bit is him talking about helmut marko 🤭

oh my god! thank you for this… we will have a little delve

‘i still dont really know his role in the team’😭😭😭 im crying one reason to love mark is that he hates helmet and completely understandable

Fernando Alonso

🤭😭he’s ur man and he said so much ahhhhhh

Sebastian Vettel

i mean he was kinda right with the 50-odd thing but like fast forward a few years to 2015. ‘too much thats gone on between us’ screw the racing, they broke up. thats why theres bad blood.

Ann Neal

Adding this because of the Ann discourse the other month. ‘Did we do everything perfectly? Of course not.” Can say that again!!!

Mitch Evans

He wrote more about Mitch than he did Seb!! But ‘i get a lot of pleasure in helping mitch’ and ‘he’s very mature’ where have we heard that before? and ‘bottom line? i wouldnt be getting behind someone i didnt believe in.” i bet u wont. u and ur generational talent twinks

<333333

[starpiastri]

FIRSTLY i do not know how i hadn't seen your ao3 before now and i'm losing my MIND i'm about to read it all bc i just read casualty of you and now i'm SCREECHING secondly... the fic writer questions: 11, 4, 30, 49! x

FIRSTLY AWAHHHH THABK YOU SO SO MUCH!!!! i hope u enjoy <3333

secondly gonna stick these answers below the cut!!! just because i started rambling ehe

11- Are you partial to a certain character/pairing or are you more equal-opportunity? If you are partial to any character/pairing, why do you think that is?

oh absolutely pairing-wise it will always be sebmark for me… i think i am just entirely struck by the different phases of their relationship? 2009 is an entirely different vibe to 2013 who is an entirely different vibe to 2017 and that makes fic writing them sooo fun for me its never a chore to write sebmark. beyond this teammate rivalries are just absolutely compelling to me i think the dynamics and intricacies are so so interesting, especially gaining more insight on that from marks book was just eeeee i loved it (fuck u helmut marko for everything you ever do). personality wise too they both suit each other well in terms of rpf and they dynamics that i’ve always written and like writing.

character wise i love writing seb. i rlly hope i do him justice because i just love his voice and his humour and his mannerisms. he’s my love ever and i love him so any pairings with him in i am always heart eyes over.

4 - What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of?

i’m gonna take this as any fic i’ve written so! i think anything in good men die too verse i am hugely proud of. i did a bit of research for crush about street racing (a lack of in thoroughfare which i often get annoyed about but oh well) and so i think i got the car types right. either way it sounds professional so shrug!

an unreleased fic i have a bit of detail on is my siren!seb fic, its entirely unfinished but i did some research about mythology surrounding mermaids and sirens and think it’s pretty good in that!!!

30 - Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

oh boy most of my ot3 fest fics (i have three fulfilled hopefully! haha 3) were quite a new experience. i won’t spoil a ton but writing threesomes is hard man. lots of limbs

49 - What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

ehehehe. its a another fucking sebmark au! heir to father’s business seb nearly gets assassinated and his driver mark (annoying, gets in the way, keeps making fun of him) saves his life and thus is made his bodyguard in order to protect him. he hates mark already but this really pisses seb off, a constant shadow. also it’s called bad for business yes like the sabrina carpenter song

it’s going to be my first multi chapter and i’m anxious as balls about it and i really kind of hate the tone at the minute so it needs reworking. first chap is basically done but want three written before i post anything just for my own sanity. but here’s a little snippet of them winding each other up

+

Why has Britta put the medicine on the top shelf, for fuck’s sake, she knows he’s not that tall. He gets on his tiptoes, but the box is pushed further back by the tips of his fingers, rather than grabbing it.

“Let me, Mr Vettel.”

And then, the lean body of Sebastian’s driver against the back of him, reaching up to the shelf with zero effort. His fingers dash against Sebastian’s, and it’s a much more successful retrieval, bringing down the box of pills to his height.

Sebastian turns, putting his back to the countertop, the bare skin under his hoodie just brushing the cool marble. He’s close enough that he can smell Webber’s cologne - sharp. Masculine. Like the rest of him, ever predictable.

Webber takes a short step back, probably assessing how abnormally close they were. He puts the box into Sebastian’s open palm. The pills shake inside upon impact. He’s pleased, but through gritted teeth, like a dog finally being allowed a treat.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

+

so yeah!!!! i rlly hope i do finish it and get it out because the idea has been brewing for months.

thank u so much for all the questions and ofc the love for casualty of you <33

[landhoe-norris]

no no I actually hope one of the days liam isn't there but daniel is, red bull needs a fill in. this may be bitter as hell for me to say but I would love for him to get the chance to show that his race craft is now shit (like sorry, he got dotd from his delusional fans for taking another driver out of a race), I would pay to have the chance for red bull to be like "ehh ... yeah, this was a fun little experiment while it lasted, but it's time for u to go now," i don't even like helmut marko but I would pay to have him talk a little shit. all the while staniels cry because he got a race-winning car and still couldn't do shit with it (especially in comparison to max, who they're still delusional enough to think he could still match/beat). give me some more quality entertainment this year pls. as long as it isn't carlos he takes out of the race and as long as nobody gets hurt in any way besides their overinflated egos, this is my biggest fantasy.

omg wouldn't that be something??? i am eagerly waiting this now, you got me hoping and wishing for checo to get sick or smth and liam to not be available just to see dr and max go head to head in equal machinery again 🤭

[seboobies]

no but i think it’s so funny how some seb fans HATE rbr when rbr literally made sebastian just like sebastian made rbr

if they hadn’t backed him up since karting and then feeder series he might never get to f1 just like if he didn’t go to rbr they wouldn’t have the titles and prestige they have today

like it or not rbr always supported his career and seb always respected them

do i like horner and marko? not at all, esp after they tried to put him down to favor max

however

it is still the team seb got his 4 titles with the brand that sponsored him and gave him a seat every time he needed and that still had their doors open for him when 2020 happened

so really I can’t not laugh when you all go crazy with marko PRAISING sebastian and saying that maybe he would enjoy a position there IN THE FUTURE after he enjoyed his free time and all

[wulfhalls]

not austrias largest public broadcasting company bringing on the the great-great grandson OF THE LAST EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA as an expert and commentator on racing and motorsports for their f1 broadcasting to then have him go try fries to fill air time or make him hold microphones while interviewing people 😭😭😭😭😭

[ricciardhoes]

Smh u hater, that's def what I wanna see in the tag directly after a shitshow race: Sir Lewis going down on y/n. Hope y/n is a therapist so we get two birds with one stone 🙏🏾 mental and physical release u feel me?

Falling down the order like I fall down on you — LH44

Word Count: 103,345

Summary: You are Y/N Marko & Helmut is your dad but you are dating Lewis Hamilton. Lewis is sad after George throws a grenade at his car during the final stages of the Dutch GP so he tries to eat your kitty cat but instead you tell him you’re pregnant with Horner’s baby.

A/N: Sorry this took forever to post, my Dad got kidnapped by the Orange Army and I was in hospital with an infected ass blister for 3 years.

[princemick-archive]

My only irl f1 friend is a big verstappen fan (mainly because Dutch) and I'm now at a point where I've convinced him that everyone around mv0 sucks (red bull in general, Christian Horner, Helmut Marko, Jos) but he still thinks verstappen can't do anything wrong. I won't give up the fight.

You + me = horny committee of Dutch people against max verstappen

we have to stick together bestie. we start this trial the way you are convincing everyone RBR is shit bc im doing the same.

my designated mv0 friend loves horner and I was like '???u know hes misogynistic right' and she was like '...??no ugh' and I showed her that DTS quote and she was so annoyed by it. in slowly getting there.

[superm4ks]

nyck experiment?

Mind you this is just my opinion. I’ve given a lot of thought to helmuts decision to put nyck in the alpha tauri the way he did. the rb junior program is prolly the most brutal out the big 4 ((Ferrari, mclaren, rb and of course, merc)) and most of that comes down to man in charge. Helmut is old OLD school, very impulsive, minimal eye test, and u either get wid his program or u fuck off and die. Hes literally f1’s logan roy -1 eye. In a way nyck makes sense because its very 🤢🤢alpha sigma🤢🤢 helmut marko 🤢🤢type of why not headassery to throw an f1 seat at a man who was fast once without 0 commitment just vibes and verstappens name drop. HOWEVER. I think some of it was done to yuki’s benefit. Lemme explain. Yuki been TESTED in that alpha tauri bro, and when pierre, the alpha tauri of f1 drivers 😐make of that what u will .. leaves, helmut is like oh okay. it is wack a doodle time. it is wack a doodle time!!!!! and he gives yuki this teammate who by all means could be fast and experienced but in theory, and turns out in practice, has no actual dawg inside. His dawg competition wid yuki is non existent. Helmut knows that, expects nothing else. The good side of markos absolutely deranged and outdated boy auction process that if he sees it in u that’s it. Ur his boy. He’ll get it done no matter what. Idk how but he’ll get it done. That’s the type of old white people power yuki can count on. That 2028 rb seat is branded and it’s for the boy that bites the most. Don’t get it twisted . Marko has never had a plan for the future that didn’t lead Yuki to it

[vro0m]

Max has always said that he doesn’t like to discuss his mental health publicly because he will be ridiculed for it and as much as I hate that that’s the way society is, he is not wrong. To be honest I don’t think that Lewis or Mercedes themselves would have ‘weaponised’ anything if Max had been 100% open about his emotions during the season but the media most certainly would have. After AD Max cried in a Dutch interview whilst he reflected on his career and he got a lot of shit for it online. I think that the responses to this tweet (https://twitter.com/espnf1/status/1472270768314753029?s=21) are a perfect example of why any sportsperson would be completely justified in choosing to be closed off and invulnerable when asked about their mental state. Countless people were mocking him for crying and I think that, regardless of your opinions on that last lap, is pretty disgusting. You can easily criticise his racing standards or the decisions of the FIA respectfully and yet so many people used his displaying of emotion as ammunition to push their own agendas.

Respectfully, I feel like you're mixing up a few things here.

First of all my problem was not the fact that Max didn't speak about his mental health to begin with. My problem was the fact that they spent all season saying they were fine and now they're saying they weren't and we're suddenly supposed to feel compassionate and get hate when we point out the fact that they're contradicting themselves and thus we don't feel like being all that sympathetic. Imo it's dubious to do that and then ask for empathy instead of taking responsability for the narrative you've pushed all year long.

I would also like to point out that I said in the original post that if someday Max opened up about what that pressure was like for him I would applaud him for it. Now hear me out, I'm not bringing this up to make myself look good but to point out that from the start I've also been aware that said statement didn't come from Max himself. Hence, my issue is not with Max, but with the team. As it generally is.

But let's talk about Max, then. He doesn't have to talk about his mental health openly necessarily. It's a difficult thing to do, even more so when you're a public person. However there's a world of possibilities between repeatedly saying "I am absolutely relaxed, I feel no pressure at all, suggesting that I do is absurd" and talking about your state of mind in depth. Max ridiculed the idea that he could have felt any pressure at all. I understand that he was (or he thought he was) protecting himself by doing so, but then you can't backtrack when it's more convenient and expect people to commiserate. (Again, as of now, he didn't. Helmut Marko backtracked for him and his fans asked us to commiserate.)

Then, I read a bunch of the answers to the tweet you linked. I saw no one make fun of him for crying per se and many people pretending like he was crying because in their opinion he didn't deserve the title, which isn't the same thing as ridiculing someone for showing emotions. That's just a whole other problem, which is that people do tend to be assholes, especially in fandoms. I don't endorse it personally.

I'm not saying he wouldn't have received any backlash if he had been completely honest about how he felt during the season, because he probably would have. First of all, reactions are never 100% one thing or the other, and second of all, as just stated, there's a lot of asshole fans. But as I said before all that anyway, I never expected him to open up about his mental health to begin with, just maybe admit that it wasn't as easy peasy as he pretended it was and/or his team not to make a U-turn about it later on and/or his fans not to then expect everybody to feel sorry for them all when they did.

All I'm saying is they have to pick one version and stick with it, or don't expect me to suddenly care and not bring up the inconsistencies when they decide to change the narrative.

[jedivszombie]

HI! For f1 asks - 5 (+9 if you could give me some recs), 12, 13, 23, 28, 32, 33 sorry if its kinda a lot you dont have to answer all of them!!!

HI ANONYMOOSE! Thank you for the ask, I hope you see my answers and I apologise for replying a few days late! I once again ended up writing essays so you will find my answers under the cut! I hope you enjoy them!

it’s hump day: let’s talk about F1 baybee

5. Are there any movies or documentaries you would recommend to understand F1 better?

So I actually have not watched loads of F1 films or documentaries but I have watched a few that I think give an interesting and varied perspective on some things. 

Grand Prix (1966), this is a film and a very good film at that! It has a lot of drivers from that era who make cameos and comprise the background drivers - so it’s really cool to see them. The story is interesting and the direction and cinematography is top notch! It gives you a really good idea of what older cars and circuits and safety used to be like, albeit in a dramatised way. There are also a lot of nods to how teams like Ferrari etc used to be at the time. 

Race to Perfection (2020), this is a recent documentary mini series that is made up of a bunch of different episodes that cover different aspects of F1 and its history. There’s stuff about how the cars have developed since the 50s, there’s episodes about Schumi and Ayrton and all sorts. Also a lot of ex drivers and people who were involved with teams are interviewed so it’s interesting to hear from them about how situations unfolded or to reflect on some of their glory days. It is worth mentioning though that some of the people being interviewed have a vested interest in coming across a certain way (I’m looking at you Ron), or are choosing to remember things in a certain way. BUT it’s a great starting point for a good overview of different aspects of the sport and how it has evolved. 

Grand Prix Driver (2018), is a really good insight to McLaren starting to rebuild under Zak Brown. It follows Fernando and Stoffel during the 2017 season and gives some interesting insight to how one of the most successful and well known teams in the sport started to change their image and rebuild to how we know them now. 

I would also recommend trying to watch as many Ted’s Notebooks and Weekend Debriefs as you can find - Ted Kravitz hosts both of these shows and they cover a lot of interesting aspects from races that have happened and explain a lot of technical and complex concepts in a really accessible way. They talk about the drivers abilities, the way the cars are developing, the politics of the sport and other very interesting and key aspects of F1 to be aware of if you would like a broader understanding of the sport outside of just the racing and drivers personalities. 

There are definitely loads more documentaries and things you can watch but these are the ones I have personally watched and enjoyed. I have a few more on my list that I would like to watch, such as Grand Prix: The Killer Years and the McLaren doc about Bruce McLaren. 

9. Could you recommend anyone?

I think this is related to F1 YouTubers? I pretty much only follow Chainbear on YouTube in terms of F1 YouTubers. Out of Context F1 has a lot of good little clips and snippets of older footage from drivers - a lot of it is more on the meme side/funnier side but there are sometimes interesting clips from interviews there as well. 

The other F1 YouTube content I look at is the team’s socials or the stuff from F1 itself and older interviews/features with drivers etc that I can find. 

12. Which was the first driver you supported?

The first driver I supported was Schumi - my Dad is a MASSIVE Schumi fan and I have been watching since I was very very small and Schumi was very much involved and on a climb upwards. 

The first driver I actually chose to support myself was Fernando Alonso, it was my minor act of rebellion when I was a child. I still loved Schumi of course but for some reason I latched onto my man Flonso. I also absolutely loved Jenson too, but again so did my entire family. But those are the first three that I supported and remember supporting. 

13. Which was the first team you supported?

Ferrari baybee! Once you’re in, you can never leave!

The first team I chose to support was BAR Honda though - thank u Jenson.

23. Is there a driver that you think is underrated?

I have written a very long answer to this question here. 

28. Do you have a least favourite team? Which one and why?

Yes I do have a least favourite team. Red Bull is my least favourite team. I mean no shade to the engineers and mechanics and people working for the team because they are doing their jobs and doing their best. BUT I do not like their management in the slightest my god. I could rant about Red Bull for days but my main issue is the extremely toxic duo of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko. A lot of people talk extensively about the long list of Red Bull Juniors they have fucked over or passed over for the next big thing or not given proper chances to or actively fucked over (e.g. Buemi, Hartley, Sainz Jr, Gasly, Albon). But really you only have to look at the insane treatment that Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat endured during their time there. JEV was hospitalised trying to keep his weight down. Marko actively trashed him in the press and said he was lazy. There were jokes and comments about Daniil being on ‘shoelace watch’ after his demotion from Red Bull. Sure, if they drop you from the F1 team they will usually still sponsor you in your other series or help you find somewhere to land or even keep you on as a development/test/sim driver but at what cost? 

I know it’s F1 and I know the sport is brutal and to an extent there is always someone getting fucked over in teams or by the sport. I don’t expect drivers to be coddled but I do think more should be discussed about drivers mental health and the ways in which teams either help or do not help with that. Personally I would rather the guys behind the wheels of the super fast cars are actually feeling comfortable in their position in the sport and not super desperate because that’s hella dangerous for them and everyone else on track. BUT with Red Bull it’s more than a worrying pattern, it speaks to an entire culture and is downright neglectful at best and abusive at worst. 

Also fuck Haas, they fall under a similar toxic culture from management in my opinion. 

32. Which one is your favourite team principle and why?

I wrote my answer out in a previous ask here.

But I also just wanna do an honourable shout out to my man Franz Tost, he’s been putting in the work with the Red Bull Juniors and managing to nurture quite a few of them to success over the past decade and keeping a rather chaotic ship running - sure he’s not perfect but he’s been doing a pretty dope job, their treatment of Daniil aside.

33. Do you have a favourite team principle duo or ship?

I also answered this question here.

[callumilott-archive]

hi! so u said u could write a whole other essay abt the 2019 championship in your juri post so i have come to humble rrequest the essay pls id like to know your thoughts if u have time thank you have a good day

OH yes this is one hell of a distraction thank u skdjfkg let’s go! i’m mainly focusing on juri and marcus here since i really only paid attention to the both of them (in f3 at least) up until spa.

disclaimer before we start: my memory is bad and it is possible i remember some things wrong and finding sources on the messy f3 website is a PAIN so some info might be inaccurate

so the 2019 championship kicked off in barcelona, which was a mess in true f3 fashion. 2 guys hit each other on the way to the grid, i think one started from the pit lane and the other had too much damage?? boys, the race doesn’t start until lights out smh. this was also the race where christian lundgaard crossed the line first, parked his car at the 1st sign and then it was cruelly taken from him because of a 5 second penalty for virtual safety car infringement and no one told him until he was already out of his car skdfjsg it was sad but also kinda hilarious and a goddamn mess. i remember reading it on the f1 website at the time bc i didn’t watch f3 at this point. juri did alright here, think he got a podium in race 2. the premas were already pretty dominant but christian was up there as well.

season progresses, juri gets his penalty cancelled in france (icon, really. who else can say that) and apparently does not have a good time in race 2. he also did a kimi impression somewhere on the radio (’leave me alone’). marcus didn’t like france either bc he stalled at the start, got back up front, got tapped around and still finished in the points both races. f3 france = mess. spielberg brings my favorite top 3 of any f3 race ive seen so far. marcus starts on pole, so far the only prema who hasnt won a race yet, max fewtrell p2 and juri p3. somewhere during the race marcus and juri swap places and max minds his business in p2. great podium, dont remember this race at all sjdfgks. race 2 still has me cackling even tho it probs wasn’t that funny, but marcus and rob were arguing over the lead and they collided (on the final lap, i think), sending marcus off with a puncture and rob actually still won but got a penalty which demoted him to second. rule number 1 of motorsports, lads. rule number 1. do not hit your teammate. would’ve loved to be jehan in that team debrief. 

at this point, juri is considered a title contender. he will be considered a title contender until monza. more on that shitshow later. he knocks it out the park in silverstone (race 1 win, pole) and talks start up about juri to toro rosso 2020 (i mightve been one of them). this, of course, all depends on juri getting enough super licence points. budapest, marcus’ first win in f3. don’t remember much else tbh, wasn’t that eventful i guess?? aaaand then we get to spa. saturday is fine for them since they race in the morning as opposed to late afternoon for f2. robert’s still in the lead by far, jehan and juri following but since there’s only 2 rounds to go after this so mistakes are costly. juri learns this the hard way in spa race 2 but i cant blame any of them for mistakes made in spa and monza one week later, or sochi for that matter. i think marcus won that race and dedicated it to anthoine but im p sure i didnt see much through my tears this day. juri scores no points, damages his front wing somewhere and gets a black and orange flag to come in for damage repairs. monza, also a disaster. also do not blame them. both marcus and juri did not have a good time, i remember juri launching himself into space over the rear wing of another car and marcus got p2 in race 1 but was penalised heavily for one thing or another, and ended up p21 and far outside the points. 

juri’s no longer a contender for the title, neither is marcus. the title will be decided between jehan and robert in sochi, at that point p2 and p1 respectively. sochi was also a mess for juri, considering he spun christian around in a low speed corner while the safety car was ending. to this day i have no idea what on earth he was doing but it does make for great banter between juri and christian. with the penalty following, juri drops from p3 to p8 and misses valuable points. robert wins the championship, marcus wins the race. jehan has a terrible time in the last race and gets demoted to p3 in the championship because marcus said sayonara and fucked off with another podium and a fastest lap. juri is p4 and is 17 points short for p3. not enough super licence points. he does win the final race of the season, tho his face says he knows hes about to have a very uncomfortable conversation with helmut marko. still pains me. 

to conclude, it all got away from juri in spa and i think thats very understandable considering the circumstances. it started out very promising but just. ended up falling short. he was the only driver to even remotely challenge the premas last season tho, in terms of championship. and this is why same spec racing is so exciting! we’ve seen it again in f3 this year with a very very tight championship. one bad weekend can throw your entire season off. 

[formulatrash]

U said Lewis Hamilton got dropped for not winning multiple times and my brain broke a little bit. If you get dropped in a system like that do you get picked up straight away next time you win? How do drivers manage to cover the costs when they’re not factory sponsored in that case? I thought Hamilton almost got dropped his first year of f3, why did he NOT end up getting dropped because of that? (Sorry for so many qs this stuff reallly confuses me - they dropped Lewis?!)

So Hamilton was backed by the McLaren young driver programme almost all the way up the junior ranks. Almost. 

Backing is a bit of a vague concept and means they pay your race fees, find you a place at a team etc but don’t necessarily pay for much beyond that. And sometimes it’s really just a name to convince a team principal that you should have one of their cars.

McL’s programme used to be one of the better funded and more structured ones - like Red Bull but mildly less evil. Or well, I’d probably credit Ron Dennis with being a better person than Helmut Marko, even if that bar is subterranean.

Anyway, Lewis got picked up and they helped him out up the ranks after he won the BRDC award - but support is fickle. He got dropped twice when he was in Formula Renault and had to find funding to finish one season - I think his parents remortgaged their house because he never really had any sponsors.

(that stayed true until he won a world championship, now Lewis is the most desirable driver to have your name on...)

McLaren re-signed him every time they dropped him and yeah, it’d be off the back of a win or good results. He actually didn’t move teams very much so would be dropped but still in the seat, a sort of soft drop if you don’t consider the financial chasm that it’s into. 

Williams nearly signed him at one point but BMW (who were their engine suppliers then) refused. In the end, Ron would always swoop in at the 11th hour and pick him back up. But it must have been inconceivably stressful - there’s a lot of points, during a junior career, when the whole thing can just stop. Obviously, for lots of people that’s what happens; there are many regional F4 series and 44 top single seater drives. 

So yeah, if McL hadn’t picked him back up those few times there’s every chance he would have had to stop. It’s part of the problem of the way grassroots motorsport runs - which Hamilton has sort of addressed a few times. You absolutely can run out of money and support long before you’re out of talent.