#i will always be team spygate

[keepthedelta]

okay it's kinda specific but is there any brocedes fact that is often overlooked but you think that is essential (or perhaps gives a new approach) to the lore?

that's such a good question. i have several, i hope you don't mind

the first one is the "he'll always be my best friend in my heart" quote. i've seen a lot of people use it as a very earnest declaration etc. (or if they believe in the nico is obsessed with lewis shit as a sign of that) but it was actually nico making a joke when he was doing commentary (on the italian comms i think). he was asked a question about lewis and jokingly/sarcastically said "in my heart he'll always be my best friend", and then immediately clarified that it was a joke (maybe recognising the narrative that would be spun around it). i know this seems kind of anti-brocedes but i do think it is essential to the lore that people recognise nico is not a weird as fandom likes to make out. he's absolutely weird, and he's definitely not normal about lewis, but he's not obsessive, and he feels comfortable enough making jokes about them. when you contrast that with lewis who either refuses to say nico's name in conversations where he is the most relevant person (the better teammates than max interview) or brings him up unnecessarily and then panics about it (grill the grid), i think it changes the dynamic of who is yearning, who is "over it", who is winning the idgaf war (it's neither of them but the difference is lewis lost by playing and nico is open enough about giving a fuck that he's not pretending to play). i am biased, but i also think that if you look back at them during their careers, lewis was always weirder about nico than nico was about him, although again, neither of them can truly be described as normal about each other.

then there's nico beating lewis in the 2004 f3 series that they shared. the narrative of brocedes describes it as lewis always beating nico, lewis being the one to win and nico always being slightly behind. and largely this is true. but in 2004 they were both competing in the 2004 f3 european series, albeit for different teams. neither of them won, but nico narrowly beat lewis. now they were in different teams and nico himself has said that some teams had better cars and equipment than others and that made a difference in the end result. but, nico still beat lewis. he had nearly double the number of dnfs/dns (6 to lewis's 3) and triple the number of wins (3 to lewis's 1), finishing highest of all the entrants who eventually made it to f1 (nico himself, lewis, adrian sutil and robert kubica). but nico himself barely seems to remember this. the narrative of lewis always being better, always beating him, is something he seems to have internalised, even though it isn't quite true, or at least, not as true as people make out.

my third bit of lore is that mclaren wanted to sign nico for the 2008 season. following the drama of fernando alonso (affectionate) and spygate, mclaren had an open seat and ron dennis wanted to fill it with nico. he even offered to buy out nico's contract from williams, but frank williams viewed nico as their best hope and refused. the driver that eventually ended up replacing fernando was heikki kovaleinen, nico's gp2 rival and 100% finnish to his 50% (yes nico's national identity crisis does come into this). lewis ended up winning the championship that year. heikki took only 1 victory, and while i think lewis would have beaten nico, i think nico wouldn't have been a doormat for him like heikki, and would have won at least a couple of races, which would have allowed felipe massa and ferrari to succeed. in many ways i think an argument can be made that nico not getting that mclaren seat really helped lewis to win his first championship, in the same way that if lewis hadn't gone to mercedes, nico would have won three, or if nico had stayed, there is a very real possibility that sebastian vettel would have won 2017. their presence and their success dooms the other, and it always has.

my final thing is that they are the most successful teammate pairing in f1 history. it kind of links back to the last one, where the fact that they are each as good as they are hurts the other one, unlike a lewis and valtteri line up or a michael and rubens line up where there is a distinct number one driver and the other one is to be sacrificed for him. but, even though both of those pairs were together for longer (nico and lewis aren't even in the top 5 longest teammate pairings), it takes more than a number 1 number 2 driver lineup to be the most successful. it takes nico and lewis, who are both number 1 drivers (don't come for me on this, nico would have flattened the likes of valtteri, rubens, or mark webber and you know it). although they were only teammates for four years (and one of those was a sebastian vettel/red bull dominance year) they achieved more pole positions, front row lockouts, wins, podiums, and 1-2 finishes than any other pairing in f1 history. they were utterly, utterly dominant, and that's why they hurt each other so badly. they were the dream team, the absolute best f1 could come up with, but they weren't just competing as a team, they were competing against each other, and only one of them could win

[classicrubberduck]

need an alonso scandal primer BAD

Oh Lord, I am tired after work so I will just give a very quick summary:

The Really Big Ones are Spygate 2007, when McLaren were found to have possession of stolen technical information from Ferrari. Fernando had his own mini-scandal within this scandal, when he deliberately held up Lewis during qualifying for the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix (for which the FIA penalised McLaren and basically told them to get their drivers in line). The next day Fernando attempted to threaten Ron Dennis by sending evidence confirming McLaren knew about the stolen Ferrari information. Which led to Ron Dennis running to the FIA President, Max Mosley, to tell him that he knew nothing about the emails, which led to the FIA re-investigating the whole saga, which led to McLaren getting a $100,000,000 fine, the biggest in sporting history.

Oh, 2007 F1 Season you will always be famous.

Also in the 2007 season, Marc Priestley wrote in his book that Fernando was going around giving his mechanics brown envelopes of cash, which is, how you say, a wee bit scandalous.

Then there was the 2008 Crashgate scandal, when Nelson Piquet Jr deliberatly crashed in order to ensure that Fernando won the race. Who knows if Fernando knew about it at the time, but it's yet another weird scandal he got caught up in.

Then in 2010, there was the Fernando Is Faster Than You incident (yes that video involves Christian Horner being an enormous hypocrite but that aside) in which Ferrari gave a team order for Felipe Massa to move aside for Fernando, even though team orders were illegal at the time. And it was in particularly bad taste given that this was at the Hungarian GP, the race where one year earlier, Felipe had suffered a serious head injury.

In 2012, at the American GP, Ferrari deliberately broke the seal on Felipe Massa's engine in order to give Fernando an advantage on the by moving him to the clean side of the track.

In 2013, Fernando was asked at the Hungarian Grand Prix (what is it with Fernando and Hungary) what he would like for his birthday, and he replied "someone else's car" (valid tbh) and the boss of Ferrari called him on his birthday to yell at him.

Jenson has said that when they were at McLaren, Fernando used to pretend there were problems with the car and retire if Jenson was ahead of him in a race.

And then, when it was announced that Fernando was going to Aston Martin, Otmar said he hadn't spoken to Fernando because he was on a boat with no signal. Literally later that day, Fernando posted a selfie of himself in Barcelona, making it extremely obvious that he was just ignoring Otmar's calls because he wanted to.

I'm absolutely certain there's other things I'm forgetting, but those are the ones that came immediately to mind. As you can tell, not all of it is directly Fernando's fault, but the man's just a magnet for scandal and drama. It says a lot that I said this was going to be a quick primer, and I spent the best part of an hour writing and researching eight paragraphs worth of stuff.

[leclerking]

#2?

In no particular order

James Hunt used to throw sex parties and apparently bedded 5000 women

Ayrton Senna at 25 courted a 15 year old and the relationship lasted 3 years

Seb killed/shot Horner's wife's favourite bird

Spygate / crashgate

Alonso and Taylor Swift dating rumours

Prost left Renault because management blamed him for losing the championship but the apparent truth is more along the lines of getting the team principal's wife pregnant

The story of how a $430k diamond disappeared forever at the Monaco GP

This article where Felicity explains Alonso and her hooking up multiple times in detail

Brocedes lore

Pierresteban lore — apparently Esteban stole Pierre's gf and that was the origin of the feud

Hamilton has a feet fetish 😭😭

F1 circus was used to smuggle drugs in the 80s-90s (and probably still is) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ → F1 Racing had a piece on this once and noted that if you sat down to design a drug smuggling business it'd look a lot like F1.

Note; while compiling this list i realised Alonso is almost always involved 😭

[boxboxblog]

Is there any reason why fernando is potrayed as f1 villain even he seems to agree with it? I know about his involvement in big controversy in modern F1 history but isn't the only time he truly voluntarily get involved in it is spygate?

Also he's not as dominant as seb during his prime, in which I still don't understand why he often being compared to seb as F1 Villain

Hiya! Just wanted to type a quick answer in response.

It is a multitude of things that makes many people consider Alonso a villain. He is a rather aggressive driver, which people will always push back on, for starters. Alonso famously once said when battling Michael Schumacher that he knew Schumacher would back off because "he has a wife and kids at home", a rather chilling line when you consider the implications.

Another reason is that Alonso supposedly enjoys the metal games of F1 just as much as the physical drive. While obviously non-confirmable, apparently he tried his best to bring the McLaren garage onto his side via money when battling his teammate, Lewis Hamilton. Other teammates have reported that working with Alonso was rather stressful for them. Whether this is true or not, people develop an image based on rumors.

Perhaps the most factual reason is that Alonso was a quick team jumper. Many drivers move team, but none so swiftly as Alonso. The minute a team stopped producing a title contending car for him, he was out and on to the next team. While this isn't exactly the most villainous behavior, it did portray him as rather cutthroat and with an apparent lack of loyalty. You can think that is true, you can think that is false, but it added to his image as a villain. His involvement with two of the biggest F1 controversies in recent years definitely adds to his cutthroat image, but remember that he was never officially charged with anything and in fact the FIA declared that he had no part in either. It still added to his image, though.

The bottom line is that simply a lot of people didn't like the things he did back in the day, among both fans and the paddock, and labelled him as the bad guy, a title he seems to accept and maybe even relish. I think it was also partially made more........ explosive because of the way he never contradicted it.

But who knows. Us on the outside really have no clue what goes on inside the paddock. Perhaps there is information we do not yet know, or perhaps it really is just based on everything said above. Perhaps every rumor is false, even. We just don't know for certain.

Cheers,

-B

[cloutchaserkineme]

pre-2024 Brazilian Grand Prix astroweather 🇧🇷

9:44 a.m. Nov. 1 2024 at my phone

Very, very late post but considering The Work that permeates throughout November and a busy busy month ahead, it's a sign of total inescapable brainrot that I still want to tackle this.

Chart generated for the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix happening at the Interlagos circuit in São Paulo, at local time.

First things first- happy Solar Return to Lance Stroll, who has an unconfirmed birth time, as well as unconfirmed rumors that his girlfriend broke up with him during the break. I don't need to tell you that Water Sign men take it badly when they lose loves in their lifetime, but Scorpio has a derivative 12H in Libra, so losing any partner (but especially a romantic one) sets off a kind of undoing in a "do I even have anything worthy in me" kind of way, which doesn't happen with Cancers (who can flit off and find other distractions, would logic themselves out of hurt) or Pisces (who is being undone every other business day, and also the most likely to work through their emotional pain). I hope he has a clear head when he races, because that Sagittarius stellium squaring his natal Virgo Mars might prove tricky this weekend.

Now, two major things to look out for- the Grand Water Trine (by sign) is still there, along with the Mars-Pluto opposition, now exact at the anaretic degree (29°). The mutable square is out, as several planets have moved from Scorpio to Sagittarius, which will make this a better weekend for the Fixed sign girlies, and a world of chaos for the Sagittarius placements on the grid.

Lewis Hamilton (Capricorn Sun, Cancer Moon) won his first World Driver's Championship in 2008 riding for McLaren. He and his then-teammate Fernando Alonso (Leo Sun, Cancer Moon) were racing for McLaren, which had a Spygate scandal at the tail end of Pluto in Sagittarius.

A short explanation on the Anaretic Degree - The 29th (thirtieth) degree of any sign is a culmination of energy. It is the very last expression of any sign, the one with the most experience and momentum, and signifies a big end of something.

This is especially important because it shines light on the final moments of Pluto in Capricorn, which is a generational planet that has defined, among other things in the 2010s-2020s, a financial recession, a global pandemic, the disparity between generational knowledge and trauma, as well as revealing total mistrust in capitalist systems following the failure of traditional corporate institutions.

As for that particular transit's effect on Formula 1 The Event- Pluto moved into Capricorn in 2008, the year after McLaren's* spygate scandal. It unearthed, quite literally, corporate underhandedness within F1's working parts, which at the time also signaled a changing of the old guard at Ferrari (end of Pluto in Sagittarius, the centaur).

Fernando Alonso (Cancer stellium) and Nelson Piquet Jr. (possible Cancer Mars at 29°) were teammates in 2008, where Piquet revealed to the FIA that he was under team orders to crash into the wall in the Singapore Grand Prix to allow Alonso to pit and win the race, costing Felipe Massa (Capricorn Moon ruled by exalted Saturn Rx) crucial championship points.

Funny enough, found always at the scene of the crime is eternal rookie and Cancer stellium Fernando Alonso, who was crucial in finding out McLaren's little white lie in 2007's Spygate, and was a key player in 2008's Crashgate involving Renault.

This Mars-opp-Pluto transit in Brazil still has Alonso and Hamilton** racing, both in wildly different stages of their life and career despite being the only ones who could claim any longevity on the grid currently.

Mars hates being in Cancer. It is a passive aggressive sign, it can't flow and attack as well as it used to. It is watery when it would be more effective dry. The end of an era for F1 will be seen through this lens- and it will affect those on the track directly.

Placements of the current grid, minus the moon signs except for those whose names are highlighted. Oliver Bearman isn't bolded out considering he's a backup driver, but funny enough the astrology hasn't affected him as much too.

Mars in Cancer opposite Pluto in Capricorn ❗🐦‍🔥

Most likely to affect: Cancer-Capricorn personal placements on the grid, Cardinals (to a lesser extent)

Hamilton - It is a literal closing of a chapter for the only Capricorn-Cancer Full Moon person on the grid, Sir Lewis Hamilton, who won his first WDC as a McLaren driver after securing championship points in the same circuit in 2008, despite not finishing on the podium. Now, he is set to drive his idol Ayrton Senna's McLaren in the same circuit- which is now considered his home race, as he was given honorary Brazilian citizenship in 2022 (also during the tail end of Pluto in Cap, before it entered Aquarius briefly in March 2023). Aside from all that, the Sagittarius stellium is powering his own Mercury while squaring his Mars, his more active racing planet. I can't say whether it would be another fairytale win for him, because the "momentum" in this astrology is already tied up in his legacy, and I have some choice words for how next season will affect him.

Alonso - He would honestly prefer to be home instead of racing this weekend, and he should be at home considering his chart screams rest*** (Lord of his 6H of physical health currently in retrograde, and L12 alone in the sky ruled by a fallen Mars). There is also a good amount of people/planets in his 4H (home), which could indicate a good time outside of the race track in Brazil. As for movement and racing, probably not going too well for him.

Norris - He is going to try to pull a Hamilton in Interlagos, possibly might be good driving in wet weather, but won't be able to do so in a way that would be as memorable or iconic, considering he currently has a lot of planets in the derivative 12H of his Mars, which is indicative of hidden enemies and sleepless nights.

Sainz - His strategic mind will be working against him this weekend, as the ruler of his Virgo placements and his Moon falls in a sign ruled by a ditzy, scatterbrained Jupiter in Gemini. He will take note of a lot of mistakes too much at once and he will lose focus.

Bottas - Similar to Carlos, he'd be going through it as well, but it will also be bolstered by his Jupiter-Saturn (generational planets) in Cancer and Capricorn, staving off the worst of it. Will the older drivers have some sort of huge afterparty after the race? There's an indication of most of them feeling fulfilled and happy outside of the race, and getting frustrated while in it.

Sagittarius Moon, Mercury, and Venus ruled by Jupiter in Gemini

Most likely to affect: Sagittarius placements on the grid (especially Mars), Mutable dominant racers (to a lesser degree)

Verstappen, Leclerc, Piastri**** - This might be a stretch to predict, but when I say Norris is targeted this weekend I meant that there is going to be something going on that he can't see and these three, who have Sagittarius Mars, will come up behind him and zoom past. Unsuccessfully, I might add, but they will zoom past him. Piastri might put up a bit of a fight, considering he has a natal mutable square that will spread his energy towards a lot of places (quite possibly the same issues Carlos will face), and Leclerc will be coming for blood, but that's about it. Moon and Venus are not racing planets, and Mercury translates that energy (and does so poorly in Sagittarius too). Charles' chart is not as supported this weekend, but that also means he has no constraints on his racing, especially since the feminine planets are supporting his chart ruler Mars. Something about cutting to the heart of it. Mad Max has always been Mad Max, but now Mercury (and two non-racing planets) is perched in his 1H of self. He will, for the first time, try the politics game of F1 The Event instead of duking it out on the track. He will make a statement whether verbally or on track, he will tell a joke, but he would never tell a lie, and the general public will side with him- even though Norris still benefits from it.

Albon, Gasly - the Water trine is still helping the two of them out, but honestly Gasly would fare better once Mars is in Leo. Gasly is a bit slower this weekend compared to Albon.

Colapinto, Zhou - these Geminis are going to be in their own world, away from the mess of the Cap-Can placements, and supported by the fun times of the planets in Sagittarius. However, while I do see an element of play, considering Mercury is currently in bad shape in travel-loving Sagittarius, I kind of think these two will grease the old networking gears in Brazil. Colapinto more than Zhou*****, because he needs it.

Lawson, Magnussen - lesser degree. KMag has it better though.

Conclusion:

Alonso shenanigans, Hamilton significance (doesn't necessarily translate to a podium), possible car pileup or slippage in either final or sprint race (both will happen on different days, but which race is depending on which day it rains), really funny moment between Leclerc Family Front Row vs Norris.

*I need to find out what McLaren's inception chart is because they got a lot of scandals tied to Capricorn energy. Not to mention that they do have younger drivers compared to the others on the grid, while Ferrari and Mercedes (the former having legacy funding from F1, the latter being the biggest revenue-earner as of 2024) have confirmed rookies racing next year. It's throwing out sure earners in favor of new air, which is indicative of Pluto in Aquarius next year.

**Their synastry is so... cute to me. Alonso is Lewis' first teammate, and like Nico Rosberg after him, he also has Moon-Mars synastry with Lewis. Fernando respects Lewis as a competitor, and to this day Lewis is probably be the only one he would outright call a rival, since he doesn't consider anyone on the grid on the same level as him (though as a fatherly Leo sun, he admires the Air-dominant young ones' fighting spirits- see how he treats Liam and Franco). However, Lewis has never thought of him like that, because since he was young he has been in cahoots with (then later, a psychosexual homoerotic rivalry wringer with) Nico, who also has a Cancer stellium but, most importantly, major trines and sextiles, and a longer history with Lewis. Alonso never stood a chance. Nobody tell him that though. It might hurt him in a way he never thought it would. He's never cared about teammates, but Luminary-heavy people value external validation and fawning more than others- and the fact that he can't have even close camaraderie with the only guy on the grid who Knows Him That Long might suck.

***Not to speculate on an old man's health, but he must have contracted something a while back. Some transits in his chart are indicating a "viral" nature, which could either mean his Tiktoks/PR will be a hit or that he would literally get someone sick on the grid. I hope it's not Lance Stroll, considering the week he'd had, but honestly probably him. Lance and Lando both have an energy of being "alone" this weekend, but more targeted energy for Lando (as mentioned here) where "isolated" as in singled out, for Lance it's "isolated" as in abandoned, which makes me wonder if Nando will DNF.

****Checo Perez, also a Sagittarius Mars, is not included in here because he has been going through it already, this astrology won't change anything right now. He might be out of the danger zone surrounding the Fixed planets last week, but Aquarius placements are affected by bad karma. He must have done something in private, because he did not get off easy even when fellow Aqua-luminary Liam Lawson did a faux pas by flipping him the bird (shock among commentators and viewers who saw such disrespect to their elders, in his home race too! Not very fitting for the gentleman's motorsport, but Saturn likes his sons to fight, because then he could bring the hammer of justice down on them). However, Liam is indicative of the next generation attitude towards F1 racing- it is a new world of surprises and shocks. He'll be alright, him and Franco are not totally affected by this season's astrology. As for Checo, he only has Mercury in Capricorn in the Mars opp Pluto fight now, which meant that he'd be constrained in speaking what he really feels (Cancer Mars), but it won't affect much of what he's done. Last week was his test to pass, and uh. I don't think he passed it, folks.

*****The reason why there's not much media coverage on Zhou and Stroll is because they are sons of billionaires. They don't need the sponsorship from the mass media, nor will they flourish under the intense scrutiny of the press. Not that they're flourishing under the ignorance of the press either, but anyway. They are here for the sport. However, I don't consider either of them being bit by the racing bug despite probably not letting go of the sport any time soon, mostly because both of them refuse to rebel against something, whether that's the shit car they're driving or their own inadequacies. They're not fighting for the championship, which is what the racing bug wants.

[chussyracing]

they allegedly also have problem with the structure in maranello where nobody knows everything and there is a strict embargo on information (apparently there are different departments working behind closed doors to ensure they all have the same authority above, work independendly but towards the same aim and if anyone for any reason leaves the team or falls out of the structure, it doesn't hurt the team)

That structure (if true) is actually a pretty good idea imo. Participating in a sport where technical and engineering skills and knowledge are a huge component, this implies that if any team member threatens to leave. They can let them go without much fight if they don’t particularly want to retain them. There’s less threat of the member giving away valuable team secrets and even if they do, they still only really know the scope of their work (that they were technically poached for their reported skill/experience in anyway).

Idk if this has always been the case or if it was in response to spygate (new to the sport) but I think it’s a pretty solid way to minimize any possibility of esponiage/leaks.

Like you said: we don't know for sure (it's mostly based on the stuff my fave comm slash ferrari driver said and he even shared details like that the workers are not even allowed to eat together during lunch just so they don't gossip about what is new in their department and stuff) and also there is a possibility other teams have a similar structure, i just never paid as much attention to them like i do to ferrari. it would make a lot of sense if it was a protective measure implemented after spygate tbh, that way, you have more power over what can get out of the team.

i also agree that it's smart way to structuralize team in this sport, although there is no way to 100% ensure nothing gets out and when your worker jumps to competition, you cannot erase their memory lmao

[milflewis]

Omg what's up with the peach & Nando 🤣🤣 pls someone tell me

ok so. this is one of my favourite pieces of formula one lore. it started in 2007 when ron dennis had the Genius Idea to put fernando alonso who has a reigning two time world championship in mclaren with rookie lewis hamilton. if you are in any way familiar with the two of them you’re probably thinking. girl you did what.

shit went so sideways it was upside down. fernando was Convinced that lewis had the better car and that’s why he was faster and that dennis was prioritising him etc. dennis was like baby no <3 i love u the most now pls stfu and drive

fernando bc he is three gremlin neuroses in a racesuit was like i’m going to mindfuck with this bitch and bc ron dennis was famously very particular about mess and things being neat. fernando was all. i am seeing shrimp colours. and during a team briefing he sat by him and ate a peach as messily as possible just to irritate his tp. he then did blackmail him and spygate happened and all that jazz. fernando was always one to girlboss too close to the sun

[landhoe-norris]

i've honestly wanted to take a short break from f1 but then the fear of missing out takes over and i'm like "what if something actually goes right for a change and i miss it?" but idk. on track right now isn't really fun to keep up with at the moment. and it isn't even ALL on the team, drivers, or car, it just seems like they're in a shit luck era too where basically everything that can go wrong does. online is just either *those* fans looking for something to harass either lando or oscar over, or just toxic fans that are literally sending threats to a social media admin over the condition of the car. idk sometimes i miss the carlos times just because even when things went to shit or reliability issues popped up, there was still quite a bit of just chillness and positivity to break up all the toxicity? idk how to explain it, it was just a different culture from a fan perspective. now it seems like the toxic voices are just the majority and drown out a lot of the fun of supporting a team.

i understand it, i really do. social media, and that includes tumblr, is the main reason for me not having a good time watching f1. i was doing just fine before i realised there was an f1 community on here. sure i suffered through spygate and the nando/stoffel era amongst other things but i always managed to just let it go after each race. now i can’t. it’s coming from everywhere, and i’m chronically logged on and there’s so much toxicity and i’m so pissed off after races, even when we do well, cause there’s always someone screaming about lando being shit or not deserving or a pay driver or untalented or whatever lame things they decide to focus on each week.

and i’m also not the best version of myself on here. i’m dangerously sarcastic and extremely pessimistic by nature and that seems to rub people the wrong way. i also tend to go for the jugular especially with shitty anons but i think i can be forgiven for that.

so i totally get wanting to take a break but also having a fear of missing out in the good times. tbh i would be long gone if there weren’t people on here that i would miss if i left. no idea if they would miss me though 🤭

[vro0m]

I think we need to address first what we consider sabotage, because it doesn't necessarily mean crashing out a car for the sole benefit to the other (as crashgate). Some will say, and I include myself in this, that deliberately hindering a driver’s race can be considered sabotage because the mental side plays a huge part on a driver's career, and recency bias in f1 is a very real and old thing. Also it can happen from the team’s management down to your teammate.

Barrichelo's years at Ferrari is the first that came to mind. Being told to let Schumacher pass ‘for the championship’ on the last lap at the sixth race of a 17 races season in 2001.

Massa at COTA in 2012 had his gearbox cracked open to move Alonso up one place to get him on the clean side of the track.  

Prost says to this day Mclaren favored Senna over him in 1989 (the most recent he said was with Nico in 2020 I believe) and he says it wasn’t anything to do with the car but how he always had less time to prepare, more commitments, less emotional support (that can be debated)

Mclaren in 2007 was a mix of Spygate and Alonso wanting the team to force Lewis to run out of fuel so he could pass him in the wdc. He also paid engineers from Lewis’s side of the garage to ‘not work as they should’ (Ron Dennis has confirmed that)

And those were the ones I remember from the top of my head, there are older ones for sure and there’s surely more on teams using their drivers against the other when even not in a real fight.

Now, to say “did in fact end very badly for everyone involved proving that it does not have benefits” on crashgate? Alonso was the sole person benefited by it and he’s racing til this day, Briatore is at Alpine, Pat Symonds came back to f1 in 2011 and is today a fundamental part of the Andretti project to get into f1.

Hey thank you for coming back to me with this. You're right that there's an issue of definition at heart here.

For example I don't think giving team orders even if considered unfair is sabotage.

That Massa thing I did not know about. It wasn't "cracked opened" though they just decided to change it (although maybe that's what you meant and it's just my English falling short) and admitted the reason why to give Alonso who was in the title fight a better chance. It's ugly for sure and I wouldn't defend it. I'm not 100% I would call it sabotage but it's definitely what looks most like sabotage in your list.

I get your Prost point but many drivers have said such thing over their careers (including Lewis, Alonso, Nasr,...) and I personally take it with a grain of salt because the occam's razor version of it is they get beaten and can't admit it. Like you say it's arguable.

I will take your Alonso sabotaging Lewis point but what Dennis confirmed is that Alonso asked for them to sabotage Lewis, not that they did (he actually refused although Alonso threatened to blackmail him and that's why he came clean about spygate), nor that he paid the mechanics to do so. That part is conflated with something else which is that Priestly said Alonso would give HIS mechanics money over Lewis's (which they ultimately had to give to charity when the team caught up) not that he paid Lewis's mechanics to not work on the car. Even then this is a teammate sabotaging a teammate so imo doesn't really prove anything re my claim which was that teams don't have any incentive to sabotage their own drivers.

Yeah now things have settled down for the crashgate people but they did first very much got trialled for it which is a bit of a thing. There were serious consequences for the larger Renault group including the suspension of the launch of their electric cars and questioning of senior employees. The team lost their biggest sponsors. Even though they got overturned eventually (because they agreed to not work in F1 for a given time) they did get lifelong bans initially and it took several years for the matter to be settled and for them to be allowed to come back which does mean that they lost their jobs, even though they got jobs back since then. Briatore also lost his job as a football club director. Renault also got sued and condemned for libel by the Piquets which is still more money lost.

So yes, I would say it didn't end well and definitely did not benefit the team? It didn't do anything to Alonso's career which can be discussed but does nothing for the point I was making that it does not benefit the teams to sabotage their own drivers.

[papayafiles]

Anon who sent you the anon about lando and the f1 pod here

10000000% agree with you

As a new f1 fan it doesn't make sense how it was allowed to continue? Because I know RBR bought Minardi because otherwise they wouldn't have been able to continue racing, but (i think Zac Brown said this but idk) the FIA/ other teams should have spoken up when it was clear that VCARB were voting with RBR and not in their own interest? And because one of the commentators mentioned it yesterday, it isn't because they are 'more successful' this year, it's about the fact that VCARB are moving their factories into Milton Keynes and I don't know how the FIA plan on making sure they don't share too much info (idk if this would be similar or not but this reminds me of spygate)

right?? it just seems SO odd to me (especially now that they have the same acronym and i'm always mixing them up). when i was first getting into f1 i was under the impression that alphatauri/rbr had a similar relationship to sauber/ferrari or williams/mercedes, as a kind of junior team where the big three put promising rookies for a couple years of development, but i've since realized that the other two pairs have nowhere NEAR as close of a relationship as vcarb/rbr. i also didn't know that vcarb moved their factories to milton keynes, but that just sends off even more red flags for me bc now it's going to be even harder for the fia to enforce regulations on their collaboration? not that i have much trust in the fia anyway, but still... weird to see

(also hi again, so lovely to see you back in my inbox! <3)

[defensefilms]

The Evolution Of The 2022 Eagles Is Sport’s Greatest Life Lesson

The Kansas City Chiefs walk into Superbowl 57 as the incumbent.

They may not be the reigning Superbowl champions, but the fact that this is their third appearance in a Superbowl, certainly has them feeling like the defending champions going in to this one.

The team across from them have had a different kind of journey to this point.

In 2005, the Philadelphia Eagles contested, what would in hidsight, be the most controversial game in NFL history, given the informatoin that would later come to light regarding the New England Patriots. 

The Eagles will never know for sure, the exact extent to which Spygate influenced the outcome of thier Superbowl loss. 

It would be a long time until the Eagles had a chance to right that wrong in 2017, against the very same New England Patriots, and this time the Eagles would leave no doubt as to who was the better team. 

No spying. No hand signal stealing. No hotel room bugging or practice session recording and a definitive result to accompany a long overdue Superbowl victory.

Since that Superbow win in 2017, the Eagles have had to undergo a mini-rebuilding.

This is a team that retains many of the core principles of the 2017 team (The RPO), while being wildly different in how they approach games. 

These Eagles took a 5 year rebuild and turned it into a Superbowl worthy team

The story of these Philadelphia Eagles is one of ingenuity, adjustment and evolution.

When the Eagles drafted Jalen Hurts in 2020, they had no idea what they were getting. 

They knew bro was from Alabama, they knew that a lot of the personal recommendations from people that had been around Jalen in colleger were outstanding, but they were not 100% sure about what type of quarterback they were getting, or what the ceiling of his potential actually was.

From 2020 to now, no team has done a better job trusting the process, and commiting to change like the Philadelphia Eagles.

Now they stand one game away from history, and the Kansas City Chiefs represent an opponent of significance for so many more reasons than Patrick Mahomes.

Indeed, as significant as this is for the Eagles, the Chiefs carry with them one of the most important parts of Eagles history in the form of thier head coach Andy Reid.

Before Doug Peterson, and way before current head coach, Nick Sirianni, Andy Reid was the first head coach to get them close to the holy grail that is the Superbowl.

Reid’s tenure with the Eagles will be remembered as the “nearly” era, a period of time where the Eagles were always competetive but never the winners. He has since revamped, refurbished and refined his reputation as being among the greatest coaches in the sports history.

A 2nd Superbowl victory cements Reid as unquestionable, as long as Bill Belichick isn’t the one doing the questioning.

This is by far, the most best and most significant opponent the Eagles could be matched up with on this stage, and just one win away from writing their way in to history, and it’s Reid and Mahomes standing across from them.

I’m happy for the Eagles, but i’ll be even happier if they bring it home, and truly cap this chapter of thier history and complete their evolution and transformation in to a winning franchise.

Good luck boys, and Fly Eagles Fly. 

By the way this is the first Superbowl that will feature two black quarterbacks. So you know I gotta toast to that.

[maranello]

maybe it’s the history nerd in me but I love a good development war. like it’s serving cold war arms race and it’s kinda sexy

[formula365]

So long Seb, and thanks for the flame

It is hard to put into words the significance of Sebastian Vettel’s maiden win. The German driver had made a mark in his first full season in F1, both through his speed and brilliance on-track as with his attitude off it: he was warm and kind with everyone, including the media for which drivers didn’t always dispense their best moments, answering all questions with ease and delight. He seemed genuinely thrilled just to be there, in an F1 paddock; life smiled upon him, and he smiled back.

But what happened in Monza was something else. Seb was already seen as a star of the future, someone with the potential to be a world champion, but what he achieved in that race weekend destroyed any lingering doubts there could be about both his talent and what he could achieve. He took advantage of the treacherous conditions in a rain-soaked track to become the youngest pole sitter ever (a record that still stands) and then the youngest race winner ever (only beaten by Verstappen’s outrageous Red Bull debut in Spain 2016).

But these are just the facts; they don’t really convey the importance of the moment. Vettel was a breath of fresh air to the sport, at a time that controversies seemed to be a dominant factor in F1 headlines. 2007 was one of the most fractious season in F1’s history, and Spygate was still a massive cloud hanging over the paddock.

Having a young charger with a positive attitude claim his first win for an unfancied team was just what the doctor ordered. With many fans (yours truly included) falling a bit out of love with the sport due to its negativity, Monza 08 was a tonic, a moment that grabbed us and pulled us back in, into the warm embrace of a great underdog story.

A flame was sparked that day in the hears of millions of fans, the kind of flame that sport can often produce in these wild unscripted moments where everything we thought we knew was thrown out the window and everything seems possible. This illusion (for it is an illusion) is what leads us to stay glued to our screens, year after year, no matter what sport is your preference. It’s for these moments we stay tuned, for the raw emotion of a completely unexpected win of the young swashbuckling kid showing how it’s done.

Seb went on to achieve one of the most remarkable careers ever in motorsports. The numbers speak for themselves, and the moments even more so: becoming the youngest ever World Champion, the recovery in Brazil 2012 to claim his third title, the 9 consecutive wins at the end of 2013, THAT win in Singapore (yes, you know which one I am talking about), the great battles with Alonso and Hamilton… His popularity was curiously tipsy-turvy, as he went from the beloved young gun upsetting the cart, to being a booed all-dominant force, to again becoming beloved for all that he is doing off-track to raise awareness for a number of political and social issues.

Through his activism, he has become the best ambassador the sport could have hoped for. Along with Lewis Hamilton, he has spoken out about issues that the sports’ leaders tend to shriek from, for fear of upsetting sponsors and race promoters. They don’t care. As their careers progressed, they began to realise the size of their impact and what they could achieve with their platforms. And while Hamilton, for entirely understandable reasons, has focussed mostly on diversity, Vettel has spread his activism for a multitude of worthy causes, not just lending his voice but his actions as well - no other F1 driver ever went on to clean a grandstand after the race…

This might end up being his greatest legacy, well beyond his racing achievements, and the hope for many is that he will continue to embrace this side of him and make himself heard, in F1 paddocks and beyond. His wins and titles will be remembered for a long time, but his impact off the track might be even greater than the one he had when he was racing.

Beyond anything else, he achieved something remarkable that the fact sheets of the sport will never be able to illustrate. He brought a ray of light into an otherwise dark and thundery sport, that was in the doldrums and in dire need of the feel good story his Monza win duly delivered. Very few sporting moments put a smile on my face the way that did, and still does, to this day. I have a feeling I am not alone in this.

Talking points

- Vettel announcing his retirement in the middle of an otherwise mild silly season will certainly throw the cat among the pigeons. Aston Martin, as a statement project, will want to sign a big name but on the current grid there are not that many of those lying around, and even less who would be available for a team that has failed to produce the results its ambition craves. Could this, perhaps, be the escape door for Ricciardo?…

- Mattia Binotto said after the race at Paul Ricard he could think of no reasons why his team couldn’t win the last 10 races of the season. Has he been watching the same races we have?

- Heading into the summer break, it seems clear that bar something outrageous, the 2022 titles have been well and truly delivered, and deservedly so. The focus has been on Ferrari’s implosion, but let’s not forget that that only matters because Red Bull and Verstappen are now a terrific winning machine. The Dutch driver rarely has a bad day, and his car, outside of a couple of hiccups early on, has been both incredibly fast and outstandingly reliable. As Mercedes and Hamilton discovered last year, you have to be at your very best to beat this combo. It will be interesting to see who can do so in the next couple of years.

- Mercedes have not closed the gap to the duo up front in the way they might have hoped by now, but their delivery on race weekends continues to be close to spotless. No wonder they won 8 titles in a row: despite not having the pace of the previous era, they continue to maximise their results, showing that operationally they are as sharp as ever. As long as they can fix their car, the results will come once again.

- It will be interesting to see what the upgraded Haas (only available for Kevin Magnussen this weekend) will be able to do. The American outfit has brought nothing but minimal upgrades so far, and has said that this is their only big change of the year. Given that they had been able to remain fairly competitive (although inconsistently) while everybody else kept chopping and changing around them, there is a lot of curiosity to see if the work the team has done over the past months at the factory is able to put them further up the order in the midfield battles.

[milflewis]

☕️ Ferwis

;)

listen…it’s the pettiness. the bringing out something in each other, whether it’s good or bad, they change each other, but it’s nearly always the other person’s inner cunt and bitchiness, through in nando’s case it’s not that inner. it’s lewis’s first introduction into formula one being fernando eating a peach in front of his team principal just to be a dick and blackmailing his tp so his team gets disqualified bc he thinks they’re prioritising lewis over him. it’s the fifteen years of history. of the absolute shitshow that was mclaren 2007 and the sort of reluctant allies against seb during his redbull years and now, with lewis so far ahead of nando, he has no hope in catching up !!! god. i can’t deal. its spygate and crashgate. it’s fernando openly comparing all his teammates since lewis to lewis and finding them lacking. it’s lewis saying fernando was the toughest opponent he’s had in his entire career. it’s fernando ‘mind games are my thing’ alonso and lewis ‘i don’t do mind games. not ever’ hamilton

send me a topic + ☕️ emoji and i’ll tell you by honest opinion about it

[alexalblondo]

hopefully not an unpopular opinion but:

A championship is supposed to show which driver and team were best all season, who worked best together, who had the most stamina - and it didn’t do that last night!

I’m self aware enough to know I wouldn’t be nearly as mad if “my” driver won last night but the truth it:

Last night didn’t show that Max was driving better than Sir Lewis this season. It didn’t show that RedBull worked harder. Last night neither of these drivers mattered!

All last night really showed is that the FIA sees the sport losing fans and viewers and - instead of listening to its fans and their complaints - it would manufacture drama for shows like Drive to Survive to stay relevant

And that’s sad. And a loss for both drivers. Cause just like people still reference Crashgate for Alonso and say McLaren deliberately lost in 2007 cause of Spygate? Max’s title will always be connected to the SC and the sc alone