#radio messages were my gateway drug to f1

[alasarys]

7, 9, and 15!

7. Favourite radio message

Where do I even start ... I'm deeply a sucker for George, Alex and Lando checking in on each other after a shunt, or snitching on each other for jump starts and track limits, and there have been some absolute bangers from others this year, including Oscar's "Yep, move of a world champion, that one," and Lance's "No [I can't bring the car back], I'm in the fucking wall."

You know that any time Fernando's on the radio it's going to be good ("Just to check, Fernando, you pushed the pit button. Is that on purpose?" FA: "No. To avoid a crash with this car I pushed the buttons. All the ones I have."), and George has really been a delight (COTA's "Dinner's on me tonight", followed by Toto getting excited and George firing back with "Only dinner, calm down", and Las Vegas's response to being asked if everything was all right: "Yeah, yeah! Well, no, I went straight on... but otherwise I'm okay.").

In the end, though, I think it's a tie between Lance's dead straight "This is not a car. This is not a car right now" and K Mag's heartfelt "Fuck offffff!" when he finally, finally made the overtake on Alex.

9. Best special livery and/or racesuit of the year

Hands down my favourite livery was VCARB's Miami special – they vaporwaved the shit out of the car and it was hot.

I'm more meh about the racesuits we've had. Esteban's Deadpool look was neat, and Kick Sauber's violently green flames were so on brand it's hard not to appreciate it. Feel free to remind me about any I've forgotten, but this year's special racesuits leave me cold, I think.

15. A prediction for next year

It feels like cheating to say at least one Red Bull / Racing Bulls driver gets replaced part way through the season, but ... I think they'll be back to their old ways.

Also shout out to somebody forgetting what Racing Bulls are called and using 'Alpha Tauri' instead.