#silverstone 2017

[li-rheinn]

Max Verstappen's loyal bodyguard

[comraderoscoes]

silverstone 2017, lewis making valtteri and kimi wait for him while he crowd surfed 😅

[batsplat]

your top 5 fave motogp races? or alternatively what races you’d show to a newbie to get them into the sport or smth

one of those things where it's painful to pick five, but at least this ask gives me the chance to hedge my bets and pick five different races for each category (most of these races will be featured in the recs lists; 27, 4+93, 46)

laguna '08: works wonders to bring both that season and the rivalry alive. delightfully visceral and vicious, there's few duels that tell you quite so much about both participants. I have lap-by-lap notes for this race. I have points tables assessing how much of a turning point it was in the season. I have read the bit in casey's autobiography about this race about a million times. how their expectations going in influenced the dynamics of the race, how the slower man won the race, what valentino was attempting to do to casey, casey's response... I could quite literally talk about this race forever

phillip island '17: idk I don't think this is objectively 'better' than the other two infamous dogfights of that era (pi '15; assen '18), but sometimes you just notice which one has the most rewatch value for you... I really like races where risk/reward calculation is a big deal, where at least one of the riders is having to actively judge how much they're willing to do to win... with the hard style of racing in this one, those calculations feel particularly present. phillip island is in such a perfect calendar spot for generating maximum drama

misano '17: maybe the quirkiest pick. marc is too good and too successful for me to ever really have been 'stressed' watching him in his prime, but bloody hell did he run me close here. something so satisfying about being so adept in wet/mixed conditions... love the spite element of this race, love the risk/reward calculations, how marc just needs to go for it in the very final lap, his dogged determination... a race where he doesn't have a massive margin over the field but just wants it so so badly that he goes for it. he's making a statement, bouncing back from a low point in the season, super compelling stuff

mugello '04: just love races that are kinda a mess! lots of twists and turns... bunch of riders fighting it out, the sete duel, the rain interruption, bunch of riders fighting it out but now on a way more slippery track... I don't know, there's just something charming about a race that has a bit of everything! of course it's also part of my beloved 2004 season, from which I could have easily included five different races (and if you're ever looking for a full season to watch, 2004 2006 and 2017 are the holy trinity - mix of title fight drama and banger races)

okay listen I'm gonna cheat here because I wrote out the word 'catalunya' and then had a crisis staring at this post. '07 I need to include because it's my favourite casey win and it's how he establishes himself as an all-round threat and is so important in the overall context of the valentino rivalry, but '09 is like... right up there with laguna as season lynchpin races and also somehow jorge has been left out from these picks... I love big momentum-switchers I love races that have so much meaning in the context of a rivalry AND season. I also love how they're connected! that valentino did the same move on casey (just not on the final lap) and had basically already rehearsed his coup de grâce two years in advance, before visualising it the week before the race... casey joking about it in the catalunya '09 presser, jorge knowing he kinda should have seen it coming, casey kinda ragging on jorge for not having seen it coming... idk!! I like this little legacy they built there together

for newbies

phillip island '23: you need to include something a little more current to give new fans a reason to watch now... phillip island races are reliably great - this one introduces you to two of the major protagonists of the current game in a way that kind tells you a lot about both of them, gives you a demonstration of one of the best types of races (the multi-rider dogfight), and it also is the most brute force way imaginable of explaining how tyres work in motogp. pedagogically pleasing! it's the kind of race new viewers will be able to enjoy in the moment, but have a lot of questions about afterwards - the sweet spot

assen '15: easily makes my top five rewatched races too, but I put it under the newbie header because again... tells you a lot! it's very likely this hypothetical newbie will have at least have SOME knowledge of who the two protagonists are and know they've fallen out, though I suppose it'd be funny to go in completely blind. obviously a great duel and a very nice introduction to the two big names plus their respective riding styles... what you really want is some late drama and a controversial finish that you can immediately have a hot take about

donington '05: we need a full wet race, not just mixed but wet wet... this one's got one hell of an attrition rate but also proper tussling between the different riders, rather than everyone just riding out on their own. it really gives you a feeling for how these kinds of races work... lot of riders wobbling around, saving near-falls, trying to get a sense of how much they can risk, riding behind each other to have somebody else test out their conditions... plus, the valentino performance kinda slaps

austria '17: got to be a marc/dovi duel in here, and this one has the clear edge not as much for the race itself but a) the novelty at the time, and b) the significance in the title fight. in dovi you've got somebody who is emerging as a threat and is providing a new flavour of challenge.... there's also that fun tension between how marc logically very much should just be happy to be there as a result of what a ducati circuit it is and he's simply supposed to be limiting the points damage... but he also really, really wants to win... actually either this or motegi 2017, almost want to change my pick. one of those two!!

brno '03: sneaking in an old race as a gateway drug, and I think this one is quite 'accessible' to the uninitiated. I considered other ones like phillip island '01 (valentino's first premier class matchpoint race, classic dogfight) or welkom '04 (first yamaha race and one of the duels) - but I think you don't need much context to get absorbed in this one. the race commentary already gives you the most important information... valentino's struggles that season, the criticisms he was facing from the italian press, how badly he wanted to win, the haircut, all of it... and then you get to see the post-race prisoner's celebrations, a flavour of the proper classic camp dramatics

slightly silly number of honourable mentions, each of which I was extremely tempted to include: motegi '10, jerez 2005, misano '19, laguna '11, jerez '10, assen '04, catalunya '04 '05 '16, mugello '05 '06, sachsenring '06, assen '04, phillip island '04, le mans 2005, qatar 2005, suzuka '01, thailand '19, austria '19, qatar '18, silverstone '19, sachsenring '10, qatar '15, mugello '16, sepang '10, assen '07 (and ones I did already kinda mention above: phillip island '15, assen '18, phillip island '01, welkom '04, motegi '17)

[avida-heidia-5]

Sebtember Challenge #2: Surprise Hug Attack!

Number 2 for the number 2 driver! 🇦🇺

Throwing it back to 2017 at Silverstone where Mark Webber interviewed Sebastian for Channel 4. When the interview ended, Mark decided to attack Seb with a big bear hug and we were treated to this glorious footage. 🥰🥰🥰

GIFed by moi!

Seb: “No, Mark! It’s not good for my back!” 😭

[rickybaby]

The Daniel Ricciardo show at Silverstone 2017

Daniel got knocked out in Q1 after suffering a turbo failure in Qualifying. He would start the race in 19th and charge his way through the field to finish 5th.

Ricciardo was putting in the hard miles with the drive of the day in his wake. Not only that but he had to do the job almost twice over. An early charge up the field to 12th was wasted when he went wide and dropped once again back to 18th. He duly set about the task again and pulled off move after move, displaying the commitment and judgment in overtaking that has proved so exciting. Points might have been the target but by the time he dealt with the Force India cars of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Pérez, the Australian had made it clear he was not satisfied with scraping into the top 10. (x)

[tyresdeg]

2017 → 2022

happy 25th birthday callum ilott! 🧡 (november 11, 1998)

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[the-flaneur]

couples quiz gq (lh44)

pairing: husband!lewis hamilton x wife sports reporter!reader

summary: it’s the gq couples quiz time with your boo 💋

warnings: mentions some suggestive content

wc: 2165

[masterlist] [requests]

y/n: lew stop pushing my chair away, im moving out of the frame

(whispering)

the director’s going to be mad at me now

lewis: you want me to pull you back in?

y/n: le-lewis! im going to fall if you pull the chair in that fas-

y/n yelps loudly and looks like she’s going to fall but the clip is cut short by the editors

*cut*

y/n: hi everyone, i’m y/n m/n l/n-hamilton!

waves to the camera

lewis: and i’m lewis carl davidson hamilton

y/n turns towards lewis, with a mischievous look on her face, and in a matter of fact tone…

y/n: can’t forget the sir, lew

lewis: sorry darling

lewis rolls his eyes affectionately, before waving at the camera as well

hi, im sir lewis carl davidson hamilton. 

both: and today we’ll being doing gq’s couple quiz!

y/n: we had a competition last night to see who was going to start, and of course i wo-

lewis: you only won because you bribed roscoe into giving you the toy. we said we were going to play fai-

y/n: you also tried to bribe him, i just bribed him better. don’t try to fool everyone honey

y/n smirks, before pulling out her cue cards

so lew, where and how did we first meet?

lewis: well we first met back in 2015, at silverstone…it was actually a little bit silly how we met. i hadn’t realised that ted [kravitz] wasn’t going to be at the pitlane broadcast because he was sick. so when this absolutely gorgeous woman rocks up with a sky sports microphone and lanyard, i was so confused…

lewis trails off sheepishly while y/n laughs, reminiscing over the memory of their first encounter

and then of course i was blown away by her gorgeous presenting skills, even if she did really emphasise the pit crew’s interesting tactics during the race.

y/n: i was just doing my job…

y/n pouts sarcastically before lewis gently pats her arm

lewis: yes yes, i know darling. so after channelling seb’s now somewhat questionable flirting skills, i convinced her to go on a date with britain’s best tour guide.

y/n: sometimes i don’t know what my younger self was thinking, considering you almost insulted me during that date

lewis: it was just my unbelievable charm and wit - you cant resist the hamilton sex appeal

lewis mimes a hair flip, whilst y/n gags behind her hands, before shrugging

y/n: and i guess the rest is history.

*cut*

y/n: lew, what do you think is the most romantic thing you’ve ever done for me?

lewis: well i mean apart from my show stopping proposal last year, which i think undeniably will never be topped by anyone else in the history of proposals, if i do say so myself-

y/n: but no one else will know about all the details…

lewis: of course darling, my lips are sealed. 

lewis mimes zipping his lips and tossing away the key

apart from the proposal, i would probably have to say our first anniversary in 2018. of course, we had met back in 2015, but didn’t officially get together until late 2017. and of course being out first anniversary, i had to pull out all the stops.

y/n: to be fair, it had been a complete surprise considering it was our first anniversary together

y/n grins at lewis, grasping his hand in hers

lewis: i prepared an entire day of activities, like we went to the beach at sunrise and had a picnic, and then we went surfing for a bit…then we did a city wide scavenger hunt, going to all our favourite locations and reshooting pictures we originally had taken there, and then we went and had dinner with all our families, and then i proposed to her a darry promise ring…

y/n: ladies and gentlemen, if they wanted to, they would

y/n swoons and winks before frisbee-ing the cue card off screen

*cut*

y/n: what has been my favourite couple’s outfit we’ve done together?

lewis: well apart from when you’re wearing my clothes…

y/n rolls her eyes as lewis cheekily smiles at her

it would probably have to be this year’s met gala look. i honestly think all round, a significantly meaningful outfit which meant a lot to both of us. we both looked absolutely amazing, especially you darling.

y/n: correct!

y/n showers the camera with jazz hands

wearing a replica of junon was honestly the highest fashion honour i could’ve ever wished for. even if it was just a replica, i felt absolutely ethereal wearing it, and the craftsmanship was just as exquisite. the beading and layers of the dress are cut so beautifully…

and of course, seeing the real junon in person was even more spectacular. but your outfit was just as elegant and more impactful, lew.

lewis: of course i had the amazing privilege of being able to honour the work, life and story of john ystumllyn, who was one of britain’s first black gardeners. the emboridered flowers on the outside reflects the language of flowers, something which is also something so meaningful between my wife and i…

y/n and lewis look gently at each other for a minute, the camera capturing their serene and gentle smiles 

*cut*

y/n: another one, lew. what is your favourite thing about our two kids?

lewis: well of course, i love them both so much, since they’re half you and half me… hey don’t laugh at me baby

y/n laughs as lewis points at the camera

hey guys, your mum’s being mean to me now - but i love you guys so much, ok. dad loves you lots, more than your mum

y/n puts a sarcastic hand over her heart as if she’s been wounded by lewis’ words

y/n: babe lets be for real. i carried both our babies the entire pregnancy, i’ve practically become one with them. i love them the most

lewis: no matter which one of us loves them more, we’ll always play second fiddle to roscoe, babes. he’s like the babies’ number one protector, he’ll even sometimes stop y/n or i from cuddling them

y/n: yeah like father, like son

lewis: hey! what’s that supposed to mea-

*cut*

y/n: what is my favourite meal that you cook for me? this one is a bit difficult, considering you haven’t cooked for me since our last anniversary…

y/n pouts before lewis sighs again

lewis: i try my best…

lewis now addresses the camera

but this little lady likes to complain that vegan food sometimes only tastes like grass, so she always gets take out from the restaurants. 

but apart from that… i would think my dad’s oil down, taken straight from his mum’s recipe, is definitely a family favourite. the kids love when i take the time to make it, and it always makes the house smell great. y/n: definitely, the coconut and spices are always a fantastic combination in food we enjoy, like other cuisines like thai food - always amazing!

*cut*

y/n: final question from my side lew - if you had to describe our relationship in five words, what would they be?

lewis puts on a contemplative look, he’s really trying his hardest here

lewis: hmmmm, it’s a bit hard there’s just so many wonderful words to use

y/n: yes baby?

lewis: like judgemental, interesting, dramatic, inventive… there’s just so many wonderful words

y/n bursts into laughter at lewis’ deadpan stare into the camera

no but honestly…

lewis thinks thoughtfully, before holding onto his wife’s hands

the love i have for y/n and our family cannot be just described in five words. i love her more than i love anything else in this world, and i would give up anything to be with her forever…

y/n looks teary-eyed at lewis’ confession

y/n: lewis… i love you baby

lewis: i love you too darling

*cut*

y/n: now i guess it’s your turn lew, lets go

y/n mimes finger guns at her husband, before leaning back to lounge in her chair

lewis: what’s been your most recent favourite memory of ours?

y/n cups her hands around her mouth before discreetly whispering something to lewis, who giggles at her words before miming a not-so-subtle kiss

y/n: not that recent, but i think your silverstone victory. it was so emotional for everyone, especially having the kids there. they probably didn’t remember your last victory before then. of course i was so proud of you and the team, i couldn’t stop crying the entire time

lewis: the afterparty was extra special too; we had dinner with my whole family at our home in central london, although my dad complained we should’ve gone to stevenage and stayed at home longer

y/n: anthony just loves seeing his little boy at home, and his grandkids

y/n leans over a tugs on lewis’ cheek affectionately

*cut*

lewis: y/n, with your extensive motorsports knowledge, what does drs stand for?

y/n: daniel ricciardo supremacy of course - danny’s one of my favourites, especially when he drove for red bull. sorry seb

[subtitle: this was filmed before it was publicly known that daniel would NOT be driving for VCARB for the remainder of the season]

*cut*

lewis: who is or was your favourite driver to interview?

y/n: well, i mean apart from you - cause you’re just that willing to give me all the nice PR suited yet sometimes edgy commentary, i would probably have to say….

kimi

i mean he made my job both really easy and really hard, but he was always super nice to talk to off camera, so technically i got to interview him, just off camera, where he could talk a bit more freely

sorry kimi for outing your secret extrovert-ness

y/n sticks her tongue out, knowing kimi is very unlikely to see this video

*cut*

lewis: if we didn’t need to compromise on baby names, what would you have named our children?

y/n: do you want my really wacky answer, or the half truth answer?

lewis: hmmm… lets go with both.

y/n: well my real options would’ve been lewis jr and c/n, but i already call your di-

lewis, knowing where y/n was going with this quickly cups her mouth with his hand, before anything else comes out

lewis: are you sure that was the real answer?

y/n giggles from behind his hand, before moving it back down

y/n: well my wacky answers would’ve been nico and fernando so…. take your pick babes

*cut*

lewis: what’s my favourite tradition that we have?

y/n: our 2-2-2 date plan. i saw it on tiktok that one time, and sent it to lewis, who became obsessed with it. but in all honesty it works really well with our busy lifestyles, especially when i stay home with the kids. 

lewis: to be fair, the timing is not actually weeks, months and years since we work pretty often together, it’s more like days, weeks and months…

y/n: especially during the summer and winter breaks, cause their grandparents love looking after them then

lewis: roscoe too, he’s always with them, so he’s actually the person they see the most in their life sometimes y/n: but yeah, the date plan just gives us a way to properly structure time for us together, which can get so hectic during race weekends

*cut*

lewis: ok now the final question of the couples quiz - when is my birthda-... just kidding!

lewis chuckles whilst y/n bats the cards out of his hands in mock anger

just kidding darling… what do i love most about you?

y/n: my ass?

*cut*

lewis: well now i suppose it’s time to reveal the winner, which will obviously be me

y/n: no it’s obviously me, you barely remembered my five favourite drinks

lewis: i haven’t had alcohol in like forever, you can’t blame me for that. besides you almost forgot our anniversary date

lewis pouts, turning away from y/n

y/n: ughhhh, you’re gonna hold this over me forever, i already know it. i only had a slight lapse in memory because it’s so close to c/n’s birthday

director: regardless the final tally is…

[y/n and lewis both look up at the ceiling above them, where the numbers are displayed in the video. lewis’ shows a 14, whilst y/n’s shows a 20]

y/n: AHA! clearly the superior side of this couple now!

y/n cheers, throwing her hands up in the air

but i guess it was a shared victory. afterall, whenever i win, you win too babes

lewis: sure do, cause we’re one team and we rise together.

[gq closing screen plays]

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@charlesgirl16

© the-flanuer || do not copy, rewrite or translate any of my work on any platform.

[raceweek]

hello. alexalblondo's rude anon coming here to humbly and politely beg for galex primer because i dont understand their history. george said he lived at alex's family's house at one point? how - weren't they already racing? sorry thank you humble thank you 🙏🙏

hello!!! thanks chris for the referral FKFJDKD

i have overwhelmed my alex and george tags so much that i fear i could never capture all of it but my galex key moment anthology is under the cut!!

karting/early single seaters

Alex thinks they met in 2011 but the footage in georges flip phone says he knew alex back in 2009.

Their first actual interaction (so far as they've told the world) was when alex was world champion with the intrepid karting team and bc he was their reference driver he was asked to help pick the drivers who were quick to replace him when he moved up and he picked george (and charles) so they were then part of that same intrepid driver programme for a while. Interestingly, alex was always at least one year above him bc of their ages and george says the fact they didn't really race directly against each other before 2016 was probably why they became such good friends.

They did a deep dive of their camera rolls from this time on twitch a couple years back and talked about the oldest pictures they have of each other in their camera rolls (1:25:36) which was cute.

2017

2017 is the year george basically lived with alex. They were also sharing a trainer whilst alex was competing in gp2 and george was in gp3. George was doing mercedes sim work at their factory so rented a flat in milton keynes near where alex lived but according to alex that rent was wasted money bc george had more meals at alexs' house than he did that year. Also as detailed in those links, the Great Mountain Biking Incident of 2017 occurred at this time so we have the fun mental image of george literally wheeling alex into a&e on a wheelchair bc that is an actual event that happened.

2018

George and alex both in f2 fighting for the title year wooooo!! They never really fought on track but we did get fun tidbits like when alex pipped george to the win at silverstone bc george had a slow pit stop and giggled about it in parc ferme (5:42) & these post session interviews.

also some incredible photoshoots.

2019

Promotion to f1!!! We started the year at winter testing and this nugget that they have both accepted that they are actually tied together by the strings of fate. They're doing fun media stuff like karting and bullying each other over percentage of apexs hit at the skypad (video). 2019 also the start of the umbrella sharing. They were just together a lot… more skypad analysis!!!

2019 also has MY personal favourite galex moment which was hockenheim 2019 and the 45 minute phone call galex had on the way home after george missed out on scoring what would have been his first point in f1 and only point of the season.

There was also the summer break and enjoying a training camp together, exchanging infections etc. Alex also took george to meet lily for the first time, bc that’s a normal thing to do.

There was also the rookie of the year vid, and the rookie season review vid at the end of the year. Much was happening.

2020

The year started with f1 trying to race during a global pandemic. Fun! On the singular media day before everyone realised just how stupid that was they were being annoying. The lockdowns did give us the twitch streams. George was initially so bad at virtual racing he had to secretly consult alex's brother for help behind alexs back. George was also actively seeking alex out like a missile at any given opportunity and at one point felt necessary to declare that he wasn't alexs boyfriend when someone asked if alex was going to be streaming that day. Anyway my lockdown twitchscapades tag has a post with a playlist of all the streams that haven't been lost or deleted if you want to feel joy and have a spare million hours.

Racing resumed in July with the covid team bubbles and within two races and one qualifying session george was defending alexs honour to sky sports and the world in a truly remarkable fashion.

At the end of the year alex was unemployed....even more tragic than this loss was that alexs career difficulties were so extreme he started ghosting george, which devastated him to the extent he needed to publicly drag him for it.

There was also george asking lily to post alexs n*des on instagram and lily responding with if anyone has them it would be you which was perhaps the last time george had access to his own social media password.

Despite george not liking it they celebrated alexs first podium by going golfing! and reverse! George was also gifted an alex albon signed autograph card for christmas and said that he'll put it somewhere special x

2021

The beginning of 2021 was during lockdown and there was more fun virtual gps except the only two drivers doing it were george and alex so they were just bitching and gossiping and threatening to steal strategies and abu dhabi 2016 each other. Particular shoutout to the time they had a virtual race on valentines day and alex put a suit on for it and george was baffled. Immediately after valentines day was georges birthday which lily used to thank george for letting her borrow his boyfriend from time to time.

Then the season started with george enduring the season alexless and not letting anyone forget about it. Alex was turning up to races after being locked in the simulator until the early hours posting stuff like this on instagram and otherwise stumbling over his words after getting whipped on the ass.

Perhaps the defining moment of the galex 2021 season was george pushing the williams board to sign alex so heavily that they had to actively shut him out of proceedings. Also at this time there was this cute congrats from alexs family and one from alex to georgie about the mercedes seat.

anyway here's some more random 2021 nuggets:

i've seen him topless a few times

george getting alex a good deal on a merc x

yet More golf

the handover

georges driver room

2022

They truly lost every inch of personal space in 2022 like. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. The back signing Hello.

2022 had alex having his appendix out, nearly dying and alexs family updating george whilst alex was in the icu and then when alex returned for the next race in signapore a couple weeks later (insane behaviour) george was like mmm audacious of him to be here.

Elsewhere alex discovered georges photoshoot and was making screensavers about it. Alex also discovered hair dye and george was making instagram stories about it.

other random 2022 nuggets:

george is alexs fave f1 driver excluding himself

this skit williams did of lily finding a huge picture of george in alexs driver room

whatever this image is of lily george and alex

private plane carpool

double date

2023

@onadarklingplain covers the whole year for you much MUCH better than i ever could here!!!!!

and that brings us to present where they're just as weird and freaky with each other as ever!!!

[ecrireverie]

some notable charles performances i'm watching/rewatching during break bc i am deprived

monza 2024

spa 2024

bahrain 2022

brazil 2022

silverstone 2021

silverstone 2020

turkey 2021

turkey 2020

portugal 2020

bahrain sprint 2017

baku pole lap 2023

spain pole lap 2022

spa pole lap 2019

if anyone has any more suggestions pls drop them 🙏🏻

[macaiv]

I don't want to go back and discuss the "bad teammate" and "crash happy" narrative that most F1 media outlets and journalists love pandering but the recent article/articles talking Haas' rules of engagement with their drivers wherein the journalists makes statements on "Ocon's checkered history with teammates" whilst not adding any context to the incidents, making it seem that Esteban was the main problem irks me so much.

Mind you, all Komatsu said were standard rules given by all teams to their drivers. He did not once single out Esteban in his comments nor did he ever say or imply that it was rules specifically made for Esteban. Let's also not forget when Komatsu was specifically asked about the teammate incidents this is what he said, "If I was worried about that, I wouldn't sign him."

F1 journalists found a driver they can easily villainize and they are sticking to the narrative, no matter how false and unfair it is, because it earns them easy clicks and engagement.

I had planned to make a post talking about Esteban and his teammates clashes with a bit more background and now I have more reason to finish writing it. I'm not going to discuss all the crashes/clashes individually (on that matter you may refer to this post) but I will be showing some information/opinions that people may not have seen or remembered or purposefully ignored.

Perez

Ben Hunt wrote a good summary so i'll just include it here:

"He initially had a good partnership with Sergio Perez at Force India but their relationship deteriorated. However, if we are being honest, Ocon was not entirely to blame. The two fell out in Canada in 2017 when Perez failed to follow a team request to allow Ocon pass. They made contact at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and blamed each other. The two made contact again at Hungary and then Perez accepted the responsibility at the Belgian Grand Prix for clashing into Eau Rouge and then later again at the same spot in the race, costing Ocon his front wing as the Mexican suffered a tyre puncture. And they also crashed at the Singapore GP in 2018- that time Perez sent Ocon into the wall and out of the race." (Source: autosport.com)

Let's breakdown his summary and include articles/statements said at the time of the incidents:

Canada 2017 - Perez failed to follow a team request to allow Ocon to pass

Based on my research, it wasn't so much a team order but more indecision from the pitwall to issue an actual team order. The team did make a couple of poor attempts to "suggest" that Checo move aside to allow a "faster" Esteban through to try and attack Daniel. Reading the analysis on how Force India fumbled their podium chances was interesting. You can read them here if you're interested: Motorsport.com and ESPN.

Baku 2017 - They made contact at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and blamed each other

"Perez was furious with Ocon's driving after the race and ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix said his young teammate needs to "understand what racing means". Ocon said the team believed both of them were equally to blame for the incident. "After the race I took a plane to go to Silverstone to review [the incident] with the team," said Ocon. "They prepared some notes with what they thought and we came to the conclusion that it was a 50/50. "It was not only my fault, not only Sergio's fault but it was both of our fault. There were things he did that were not right, there are things I did which were not right so overall it makes a race incident and 50/50." (Source: ESPN)

Hungary 2017 - The two made contact again at Hungary

"Sergio Perez he defended his behavior, justifying it with the chaos on the track at the time: “I had Vandoorne next to me and I had to avoid him, there was no room for three cars. We had a little contact, I damaged my front wing a bit but we managed to continue. We have given our opinions and everything is fine. I couldn't go anywhere." (Source: Motorionline)

Spa 2017 - Perez accepted the responsibility at the Belgian Grand Prix for clashing in Eau Rouge and then later again at the same spot in the race

"Perez said: "First-lap incident was 100% my fault. I didn't have the the right engine mode selected so I had 50% of the power. "My incident. The second one I think Esteban was too optimistic. There was no need to touch there. He could have lifted and then we could carry on." (Source: BBC)

I'll also include what Jacques Villeneuve views on the 2nd incident.

"It doesn't matter that it's his team-mate," he said. Team-mate, no team-mate, it should not have happened between two drivers. You're not so supposed to put anyone in danger. You can brake too late, make a mistake, fine, but down the straight you don't weave and squish, you just don't do that. It's ridiculous. "A piece of carbon went outside of the track. You can hurt someone from the public. This has to be stopped. "That kind of move from Perez is not racing, it's pure blocking. You don't do that. It's aggressive. It's dirty." Villeneuve was surprised the stewards did not to take any action against Perez. "This is the most dangerous thing you can do in racing and they never penalise that in F1," he said. "Sometimes, people crash into each other because they messed up their braking and they fighting. That should not be penalised but they penalise that because there was an accident. "This was embarrassing. They don't give a penalty for it, especially when the FIA is pushing so much the safety. "Even a four-year-old could see it. It's ridiculous." (Source: Autosport)

Another thing, I discovered that Vijay Mallya, the Force India Team Principal and Owner, retweeted Esteban's infamous tweet at that time. In my opinion we can guess whose side he was on regarding the Spa crashes based of this.

Singapore 2018 - They also crashed at the Singapore GP in 2018 - that time Perez sent Ocon into the wall and out of the race

Sergio Perez apologized to his Force India team for the contact with Esteban Ocon that saw his teammate retire on the opening lap of the Singapore Grand Prix. Ocon was attempting to pass Perez around the outside of Turn 3 when the pair touched on the exit of the corner, resulting in Ocon crashing into the wall. Perez later struggled to pass Sergey Sirotkin and also hit the Williams as his chance of points disappeared, and he insists he was unaware of where his teammate was at the start. “It was a very unfortunate incident, one of those that is very hard to avoid,” Perez said. “As I was picking up the power I felt a clip from one car, not even realizing that was Esteban and then, as I get a message from the team, I was very sorry for that. (Source: Racer.com)

Here is what Otmar Szafnauer had to say about the incident:

And it seems Szafnauer has put the blame on Perez, believing the Mexican should have had the awareness to ensure enough room was given to his team mate. “You say to him that is unacceptable. There’s enough room on the left-hand side that I could see. You’ve got to give your team mate enough room. (Source: Formula1.com)

Alonso

From the same Ben Hunt article:

Then there was Ocon's partnership with Fernando Alonso, someone who himself has often faced questions about his role as a team player. The two tangled during their time with Alpine, but again, the responsibility for the bad blood cannot always be pinned 100% on Ocon. (Source: autosport.com)

I could discuss their multiple first lap battles, battles during races or their only crash (Brazil GP 2022) wherein Fernando was deemed wholly responsible for but Alonso himself summed it up well enough:

“OK, I take the penalty, I take the blame for that, but the races are on Sunday and anything can happen, as we saw. In two years I think we had one mistake; it was [on Saturday], we [both] got a lot of blame. We’ll take it, but I think we try to help the team every time we jump in the car, as we saw [in the race]. “It has been two years [of racing] clean. Some first laps we had some fights, because we start always together, we qualify very close. So in two years, we had one contact. OK, people want to do a big thing about that. But we have one contact in two years and [on Sunday] we recover everything we did [in the Sprint]. So we try to do the best for the team.” (Source: Racer.com)

I'll also include what Fernando had to say about Esteban after the Miami GP 2024. I know they weren't teammates anymore but I think with Fernando, he is more truthful when he doesn't have an agenda.

Regarding the battles during the race, specifically against Ocon, he recalled to AS: “It was entertaining. A tough but safe fight, with respect. Esteban makes it difficult for you but you have fun with him because he is a driver who usually respects you. (Source: as.com)

I always thought Esteban and Fernando were good teammates, on and off track. This was, of course, before Fernando started an agenda against him but besides that they did work well together. I could mention a lot of situations but my favourite (and one barely even talked about) on-track teamwork from them was during Brazil GP 2022. Here is a summary of what they did. This instagram user explained quite well:

Gasly

Spare me the narrative that it was only Esteban who was aggressive when it came to racing each other. Both of them had their moments but while Esteban didn't complain, Pierre was the opposite. Call me biased or whatever but based on my own observation he was quite quick in putting down his teammate and vocalizing any perceived slight in public when it suited him.

People love to point out every mistake and/or aggressive driving maneuvers done by Esteban but they seem to be conveniently blind when it comes to Pierre's. So I may as well mention some other races wherein Pierre wasn't so innocent like in Austin GP 2023, Japan GP 2024 and Miami GP 2024.

Australia 2023

Palmer's Analysis on the Australia incident:

The other big losers from this restart were Alpine, particularly Gasly, and again Gasly could kind of blame himself into this first corner because we picked them up again, science and Gasly, the instigators at the front for some drama. Gasly goes in way too deep, he's not got the tight-up on the front, he's out-braked himself and he's going to potentially go into the rear of Alonso, just about avoids him and can breathe a sigh of relief as he bounces over the grass, Alonso gets tipped by science and now Gasly's rejoining off the road into the path of Ocon, everyone sweeps around and then Ocon fancies a little look to the outside of Gasly and we're going to get the contact. So we jump on board with Esteban Ocon and you can see how the starts would play out behind. It was a lot more measured for these guys, Ocon running in the points and they're on the brakes, Hulkenberg ahead, Norris ahead, these guys are under control, you've got a chancy Yuki Tsunoda on the right-hand side there and they all make it through, Alonso there is spinning out and now Ocon sees a chance to go to the outside of Gasly. There is space here for Ocon to go around the outside of Gasly, Pierre has just been on the grass, he's bouncing back on and he's going to come across the width of the track and Ocon is here, he's got an overlap, he has the space here, he should have the space but I wonder if Gasly either doesn't see him because again the light is pretty bad to look in front, it's even harder to look in your mirrors at this point so that could be an extenuating circumstance for Gasly coming all the way across the track or he's just so caught out by the grass, he's flustered, he's not looking in his mirrors because he doesn't appear to be but he just comes across and Ocon loses the space here and they have contact, it's a big whack both Alpines into the wall, that is really, really heavy contact so no points, major repairs, the cost of that is not going to be pleasing anyone at Alpine. and it's a really costly one. Teammates coming together is worst case. It's also particularly not good for these two when people were already wondering if they'd get on or not before this season. Race three and they've come to major blows. But I'm gonna put this one down to Pierre, fundamentally as well, because not only has he gone in too deep at turn one, but he's then come back on, come across the width of the track, and effectively he's put his teammate in the wall. Now at Alpine, they went to the stewards and they obviously had a game plan to make sure that neither driver got penalty points and Gasly didn't get a race ban for picking up penalty points. So in that case, you both just go in and you say, it was my fault, sir, my fault, sir, and you get away with it. The stewards can't pin the blame on anyone if both drivers take the fault. But I think this is on Gasly. He comes through and now he's gotta just leave enough space for a car that's got an overlap on his outside. And he doesn't. He just drifts out towards the right-hand side. He's already had the contact there. But at this point, it's just drifting, letting the car move to the outside. You've got to be aware on the first start, particularly when you're coming back from the grass, that there could be a driver there. I think he's very lucky to get away with, first of all, the not hitting along. So second of all, this major wipeout with his teammate, Alpine lose out majorly with that. (Source: Formula 1 Youtube Channel)

If he was such a terrible teammate, Gasly would have gotten a race ban for what happened instead Esteban took half the blame to help him avoid it. Remember Fernando was given a penalty for the crash in Brazil 2022 when it is quite rare for drivers to be penalised for incidents with their teammates. Esteban can be unforgiving when he wants to be.

Monaco 2024

Overtaking in Monaco is so difficult, as shown by Sunday’s race. Track position is critical and both Alpine drivers knew that whoever had the advantage at the end of Lap 1 would be prioritised throughout the rest of the race. It makes sense for teams to race that way in Monaco, because protecting a decent position is easily achievable with two cars, whilst a lone car can be undone by strategy more easily. I think there are two aspects to consider with Ocon’s lunge. If you take away the team mate context, this was actually a sensible enough attempt to overtake in Monaco and not worthy of punishment by the stewards in my opinion. Ocon committed hard down the inside, had a small lockup as Gasly started to close the space on the entry, but managed to get himself slowed down and was under control at the apex, ahead of his team mate. In most circumstances that would be job done for an overtake and in Monaco being able to execute this sort of pass should be applauded. Lap 1 is a driver’s best chance in the race to move forward, when the cars are bunched together and all have low tyre temperatures. Had Gasly been anybody aside from Ocon’s team mate I think we’d all be thinking that this was a decent, plucky attempt, that didn’t quite come off because of the way the barrier juts out on the exit. (Source: Formula 1.com)

I'll share two post I made at that time, the first sharing different opinions of F1 journalist of the incident and the aftermath and the second one on my opinion on the public overreaction on what happened.

[boxboxblog]

Women in Motorsports

Hello, this post is answering an ask about women in F1 and F1 related series. Great ask, let's go.

History:

So, unfortunately the history of women in motorsports is a combination of good and bad, but mostly bad. It's a story of limited opportunities, constant barriers, and many female racers being seen as the exception rather than the rule. F1 still to this day is a male-dominated sport, and even as recent as the 2010s many men in F1 deemed female racers to be a bad idea, or that women could not handle it. F1 legend Stirling Moss stated in 2013 or 2014 that "Women don't have mental strength for Formula 1 and would find it tiring" so this really is a culture in F1 that only in recent years has started to change.

But all throughout this history, women did fight for the right to race. Who were these women?

Maria Teresa de Filippis

The first woman to race in F1, she entered the sport in 1958. She competed in five Grand Prix's with Maserati and Behra-Porsche, and finished 10th in Spa. She possibly dealt with the worst of what the F1 world had to offer, as she was even banned from racing at some tracks, even being told at one point that "the only helmet a woman should wear is the one at the hairdresser's". While she only competed for a short time, she was a pioneer for women in motorsports.

Lella Lombardi

Lombardi is probably the most well known women in F1 history. She grew up racing, competing in karting at a young age and then rising up through other series, before being brought into F1 in 1974. She would race in F1 until 1976, and throughout her career would score points multiple times. Even when she left this series, she would still race for many years to come. While she is not the first woman in F1, she is perhaps the greatest trailblazer, as her performance and competitive spirit inspired many future female drivers and even garnered respect from many F1 legends.

Divina Galica

A famous British athlete (part of their olympic ski team) Galica also pursued a career in motorsports after performing well in a celebrity racing event. She competed in karting, then moved into F2 and F1. She raced in three Grand Prix's between 1976 and 1978, but unfortunately never qualified for the race.

Desiré Wilson

Known as one of the most accomplished female racers in the world, Wilson is the only woman to win an F1 race (as of right now), but this was in the non-championship series, Aurora AFX British F1 Series. Her only entry in the F1 championship series was the British GP, of which she did not qualify. Outside of F1, she had a thriving career, competing in Indycar events, winning the Monza 1000km, winning the Silverstone 6 Hours World Championship, winning the South African Formula Ford Championship, racing in Formula Pacific, the 24 Hrs at Le Mans, and more. A truly impressive racer and career.

Giovanna Amati

The most recent female F1 racer, Amati raced for Brabham in 1992. She had three entries, but did not qualify for a race. Outside of F1, she had a great career. She attended a motorsport academy from a young age, competing in her first series, Formula Abarth, in 1981. She then moved up to Formula 3 and Formula 3000 (scoring multiple win sin both series). She was able to secure a place in F1 after serving as the testing driver for Benetton, but her poor results meant she was fired quickly. After that, she went into other series like Monza 1000km, Sebring 12 hrs, the Ferrari Challenge, etc.

Development and Test Drivers:

Sarah Fisher: Indycar driver, tested for McLaren in 2002

Katherine Legge: Tested with Minardi in 2005

Susie Wolff: A Williams test and reserve driver in 2012, and the last woman to take part in a F1 race weekend as she drove in a FP in 2014. Currently the head of F1 Academy

María de Villota: Test driver for Marussia in 2012. Died from injuries in a crash.

Tatiana Calderón: An IndyCar driver who served as the development and test driver in 2017-218 for Sauber.

Jamie Chadwick: 2019 Williams signed her as a development driver until 2022.

Difficulties:

So, what are the difficulties or barriers that have held women back from competing. There are several, of course. In the early days it was general sexism and the belief that women could not handle racing that did it. The g-force of the car was deemed too aggressive, and even with technological advancements that have lowered g-force, this stereotype that women are too physically weak still lingers. The financial barrier is also a big one. Racing is extremely expensive, and securing a strong sponsorship is required to compete at the highest levels. But sponsors also tend to not go for female drivers as they view it more as a risk, because it is such a male-dominated sport. The general treatment female drivers have received over the years has also discouraged many from pursuing an F1 career. They are often treated to a lot more scrutiny and vitriol than there male counterparts, and on top of that are overly sexualized. I don't quite remember who, but one prominent F1 figure once stated that women should not compete because the second they put on a race suit, they are a sex object to be fantasized about. For young women this would be a massive deterrent to continuing their career. In general, the barriers women have dealt with are a mixture of all of these things put together. But what has the F1 world to try and alleviate these problems?

The W Series:

This series came about in 2019, and was a free-to-enter series for women intended to create a clear pathway and offer them more exposure. It was paused in 2022 after funding issues, and today is not in use. This did help launch the initiative to get more women into motorsports and gained the drivers who compete a lot more public attention.

The F1 Academy:

Launched in 2023, the F1 Academy is a series in the F4 category that is designed to provide support for female drivers, as well as higher access to sponsorships opportunities. Many modern drivers say that the biggest difficulty women in modern motorsports face is the lack of sponsorship opportunities, so the academy attempts to alleviate that. The Academy has their own races, but also trains the drivers on technical skills, media training, and physical conditioning. While this program is sometimes seen as controversial, mostly because people feel that it is condescending to put women in a separate category, this is mostly because people do not realize the purpose it. The goal is to help these young female drivers gain attention from sponsors so they can go on to afford to compete in the general categories, like F3, F2, and eventually F1. It is not intended as anything but a jumping off point and training center. Sponsors do not tend to go for young female racers because of the F1 gender bias, so the academy attempts to get rid of this, not replace the lower level series, and help the drivers gain more public attention.

The Future:

So, due to this growing momentum in recent years around women in motorsports, the question comes around; when will be see a woman in F1? I wish I had a good answer to this question. Most people believe that we could see a female F1 driver within the next decade, while others think it may take longer than that. As for how the academy helps, we haven't see the results quite yet. The drivers for the F1 Academy certainly have received much more attention that they would have due to the series, but they are still in the first generation so there are not clear results. The good news is that big name teams like Ferrari are starting to support young female drivers through their junior programs, and so perhaps we will see a female F1 driver sooner than we think. It still is a bit of an uphill battle, but I am optimistic about the future.

Alright, I hope I answered any questions about this topic. As a woman and a motorsport enthusiast, this a topic is very near and dear to my heart. Thank you again for the fantastic ask.

Cheers,

-B

[idealandreal]

Marc Marquez's Greatest Hits (pre-2024)

When I first got into MotoGP and became a Marc Marquez fan, I had so wished it was easier to find races. There are so many to choose from and it was a bit daunting on where to start. I know not everyone is as neurotic as me and doesn't have the time/money to spend hours upon hours on Video Pass.

So, as more and more of us get into MotoGP/Marc Marquez I wanted to consolidate some of his greatest races (imo), and where you can watch them.

Most of his best races are actually available on YouTube for free via the MotoGP channel. I've included direct links below, but just FYI there are actually a ton of great races on MotoGPs youtube page, 10 out of 10 would recommend checking it out.

Year: 2012 Location: Valencia Why It's Good: My personal favorite race, I watch it way too often. The greatest comeback of all time, starts last and makes it through the field by the last few laps. Absolute crazy guy, but this was just the start of it all. Available On: YouTube

Year: 2013 Location: CoTA Why It's Good: First MotoGP Win Available On: YouTube

Year: 2013 Location: Silverstone Why It's Good: Rides with a broken collar bone and still is a menace to Lorenzo at the front Available On: YouTube

Year: 2014 Location: Le Mans Why It's Good: comes back after falling to 11th in pretty spectacular fashion Available On: VideoPass

Year: 2014 Location: Assen Why It's Good: A flag to flag race that also shows off Marc and Cos strategy skills and just overall balls to wall mentality. Good battle with Dovi as well, but does pretty much decimate the competition. Available On: YouTube

Year: 2015 Location: Philip Island Why It's Good: this race is insane with how many passes there are. Also the supposed start of the Rossi/Marquez beef. Available On: VideoPass

Year: 2016 Location: Mugello Why It's Good: Last lap battle with Lorenzo goes crazy. Available On: YouTube

Year: 2016 Location: Sachsenring Why It's Good: I mean, it's the Sachsenring, but this race is in the wet and really shows off Marc and Cos flag to flag skills. And other rider's lack there of…. Available On: YouTube

Year: 2016 Location: Motegi Why It's Good: If you really want to just see Marc happy and his team freaking out, this is a great race because something unexpected happens. Available On: YouTube

Year: 2017 Location: Austria Why It's Good: the infamous Dovi/Marc last corner crazy pass, also when Dovi throws up his hand and is kind of like “I can’t believe you just did that”. Available On: YouTube

Year: 2017 Location: San Marino Why It's Good: wet race and Marc has a craaaazzzy last lap. Available On: YouTube

Year: 2018 Location: Thailand Why It's Good: Marc pushes the entire race and some can’t keep the pace (queue evil laugh) Available On: YouTube

Year: 2019 Location: Austria Why It's Good: a repeat of the 2017 battle but even better in my opinion Available On: YouTube

Year: 2019 Location: Silverstone Why It's Good: Crazy last lap battle with Rins and I think this is still one of the closest finishes in MotoGP history. Available On: YouTube

Year: 2019 Location: Thailand Why It's Good: I will say that this one is not great if your a Fabio fan first and foremost, but if you are a Marc fan and know what a absolute menace he is.. I think this race is a great example of Marc's mentality about winning. Also, when he claims the 2019 MotoGP World Championship title. Available On: YouTube

Year: 2020 Location: Jerez Why It's Good: If you want to hurt your soul, this is the race where Marc's arm is nearly torn off. However, before that happens, he is incredible and this race also has the greatest double take done by Valentino when Marc comes past. Available On: Youtube

Feel free to add any that I missed in comments or reblogs.

[batsplat]

if you could change the outcome of any 3 motogp races (the outcome of the championship doesn’t change regardless tho) which ones would you chose?

one of those asks that immediately made me forget every single race I've watched in my life. it's a tough one, especially with the championship thing... I'm gonna add another criterion here and say nothing to do related to injury/death

so... I came up with one quite quickly, then got stuck, then came up with a second and got even more stuck. I'm quite reluctant to change any 'plot-relevant races' in the context of specific careers and rivalries, plus I'm ideologically opposed to stealing any win off a non-alien and giving it to an alien. which then kinda left me?? well. stuck. I don't like these picks but well maybe I'll come up with something better at some point

assen 2018: I simply could not come up with a third race so I'll just throw this one in. dovi + valentino really really should have gotten onto the podium in this race, those were extremely podium-worthy performances, it was such a deeply silly incident between the pair of them that took them out of podium contention. also it's still seen as a classic race and... I don't even begrudge the two beneficiaries for their podium, it's just one where the three best riders that day didn't end up on the podium and I would change that!! I don't even really care that much but also look I had a spot to fill. would've enjoyed the rancid podium vibes, it's what a race of that quality deserved

sepang 2018: just deeply annoying? like, I think it was a super impressive performance, the consistent lap times trick from a 78 year old was very neat, it was cute when jorge did unprompted valentino prop for metronome solidarity reasons, it's one of literally two premier class races where valentino crashed out of the lead so I don't even hold it against him. but... well, that one might have been building to a battle between marc and valentino, and it would've been fun to see that! not least because of location + relationship vibes in 2018. I'd change the result in preventing the crash, don't really care who wins after that point - hey, they can crash each other out if they want. I Just Wanted To See It

styria 2020: bit of a niche one but I remember being pissed off by this so I'm going with it - this should have been mir's win without the bloody red flag. now I'm very sorry that maverick was just having an abysmal time in austria, peace and love to him, I'd probably never step foot in the country again after the eight days he had in that country.... but still, his bike attempting to murder him did ruin what really should've been joan's first win. I'm very defensive of mir's win stats and I was supporting the title bid with zero wins agenda once that looked plausible, but now that he's just gotten stuck on one win for quite a few years... well, again, I do think it's kinda iconic but I'd also let him have two. and back then he wasn't even really looking like a title contender and was still going for his FIRST win.... I was feeling very sorry for him so. there

[world-of-wales]

The Prince of Wales wrote a personal letter to World War II veteran Manette Baillie, who will become Britain’s oldest skydiver for her 102nd birthday fundraising efforts for a number of causes, including the East Anglian Air Ambulance Service where William piloted a helicopter between 2015 and 2017.

In the letter he wrote,

"Catherine and I hear you will be marking your 102nd birthday next week with a parachute jump! Knowing you celebrated your 100th birthday by racing a Ferrari around Silverstone, we are not surprised. "

" From my time with East Anglian Air Ambulance, I know how many lives are saved due to the generosity of people like you."

" We will be thinking of you on August 25, and hope you have a great time. "

“I cannot wait to hear what you will do for your 103rd birthday!”

[racingliners]

Race Engineer Peter Bonnington, second placed finisher Valtteri Bottas and race winner Lewis Hamilton on the podium at the British Grand Prix. Sunday 16th July 2017 - Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. (Image Credit: Charles Coates)