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lestappenforever · 5 months ago

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Is it almost 2:30 AM rn? Yes

Am I still hyped for Max? Also yes and I guess here’s my post race analysis for this rollercoaster of a race that (not just the race, but the while weekend since Friday) almost gave me a heart attack but we won’t get to that

Let’s start with both teams that were the most heart broken today. Ferrari pulled a pre-2024 today and honestly all weekend. It was evident in Charles’ radio all throughout and his reactions post quali and race. From not giving either drivers the extra set of softs or enough time in q2 to do a proper run, to a strategy today that did not make any type of sense, especially for Charles, like I couldn’t understand how and why and what were they thinking when fitting slicks when rain (granted it started as some showers then the predictions showed it was possibly going to be heavy rain) when anyone on that wall or in Ferrari’s operation room would have heard that all teams are telling their drivers to stay on the current inters or when the safety car was deployed for Logan, to change to a new set of inters because of the rain, hell GP told Max they might go on full XWets because of the way they saw the rain coming. But Ferrari did pull a disaster class this weekend. And honestly started showing the cracks, from unclear radio messages that Charles got mad at Bryan for to tell him how much he’s loosing, to the PU issue that cost him the chance to race even, to the strategy and the ridiculously slow stops Ferrari pulled. And to top it all off, Carlos crashes into Alex, and knocks them both out, while knowing Checo retired, and Carlos being lose to points that would have put pressure on Red Bull. Ferrari were truly Ferrari-ing this weekend by cracking under pressure, and they have no one to blame but themselves

Williams however, is a very VERY different story. The team was on the right track, Logan pulling some insane times in Q3 to be right behind the Ferraris, Alex making it to Q3, both genuinely fighting fir points and the cars looking somewhat good, which we haven’t seen much of this year, to a slip off the race line got him in the wall, and contact with Carlos caused Alex to crash, which is heartbreaking on a whole different level than Ferrari, and honestly I hope they bounce back.

Honestly speaking, I don’t know or have the slightest clue what the Saubers are doing, they are still pointless, still the bottom of the pack, and honestly you can just feel like the they are waiting for Audi so bad, and are just kind of giving up.

Alpine is coming in HOT. That car is starting to show speed, and not be the tractor we all saw at the beginning of the season, fighting for points, now 2 consecutive points finished for Pierre and the first double points for them this year. You could feel like they’re trying to get by, and their hard work is showing. Also Esteban Masterclass from P18 to P20 to P10, man was ON FIREE (now has more points to prove to snatch himself a seat next season)

Haas were mixed today, that start on the XWets by Kevin, who gained like 10 places in less tab 10 laps and Nico who was also gaining A LOT(though not as Kevin). But their strategy didn’t work today and that pit stop for Kevin was a disaster. Though they are still a team to be reckoned with especially with finishing P11 and 12, just missing the points, and still in contention for that midfield fight

VCARB showed UP today. Speed, present, strategy, present, the really high chance of double points, extending their lead and chasing Aston Martin even more, also present. But luck was not on Yuki’s side in lap 66 when he lost the car and almost crashed. But he had a really REALLY good race till that lap and so did Daniel, who got 4 essential points for the team.

Astons are there, are getting closer to the top, and were really good today, with the fight between Lewis and Fernando, that ended with the slight edge Lewis had with his better car, and Lance really good, gaining positions, and finishing his home race yet again in points, they’re getting there for sure. Also we love hometown heroes scoring at home.

Mercedes, welcome back to the top, it’s been a while. That updated cars looks so good, with the speed, and just how well both George and Lewis looked in this car, and how confident they both felt in it. George was an absolute beast all weekend and definitely deserved that P3, and tbh you could see he was disappointed because he had hoped for a better finish, but granted he did give Mercedes their best finish of the year. Lewis from the very start with the fight with Fernando to the fight with Oscar, and getting him, then the fight with George as to who will get the podium, granted George was on a faster tyre and was a bit better. But Mercedes for sure are on a right foot. And it’s not something we hate to see.

That McLaren (as a Red Bull fan myself) gave me a heart attach, man they are quick. But you could see, for sure, that their strategy wasn’t there today. Pitting Lando late both for fresh inters and slicks, then blaming the safety car, yeah it was on them. No one to blame but themselves since clearly they were the fastest car on track and don’t convince me otherwise. Oscar did really REALLY good, and I won’t blame him for the Lewis overtake simply because Lewis was on fresher tyres, but his race was so good today, with his constant battles with George and a potential if a podium. He was impressive. I won’t go into what happened post race from that team, but I am upset, simply because that team and that driver has been defended non-stop since the start, yet now is disrespectful of the suppoter.

Now last but certainly and definitely not least. Red Bull. First, I’d like to say very very clearly that this team has been the source if my insomnia and my anxiety since Friday, and today’s win will definitely be one that won’t be forgotten for a while. Fridays was scary after the ERS on Max’s car failed, which therefore limited his dry running. Checo did have multiple runs Friday and Saturday, but these tracks with kerbs (Imola, Monaco, Canada) did show he wasn’t 100% confident with the car. His source of stress is now removed with the contract extension and we have a triple header of classic race tracks, and from what we’ve seen so far, he’s excelled on classic track with 4/4 podiums in RB20-suitable tracks, so he needs to wake up. As for today, yeah, loosing grip and shunting the rear into the wall was NOT something that should have happened especially after he saw Charles DNF and a chance at getting closer, while increasing the team’s gap. He just needs to find the form of the beginning if the season, that’s the most important thing. Now for the man, the myth, the legend himself, the goat, the number 1 in this damn grid for a damn reason. FP1 consisting of like 5 minutes of running, 4 laps in FP2 for an electronic issue, FP3 just the proper runs he had. No worries. Q1, Q2, Q3 anxiety attacks from all Max fans to then Match the pole, but start P2 because it was set later. No worries. Not the best start because if the rain, then gaining but no DRS enabled to then be overtaken on DRS, to then gaining the lead and winning the race with a strategy masterclass (I mean you could see that because the Red Bull representative was one of the Senior Strategy Engineers) and CLEAR communication with GP. Helmut Marko said it, tracks and races like this, when the car isn’t the fastest and it just doesn’t seem to work as well as for others, we can rely on the Max Factor. He is the best driver on this damn grid and no one could convince me otherwise. Also, the team is his family and you could tell from his reactions post race. Protect him at all costs.

But yeah, Canada was actually the best race of the season in terms of racing honestly and so much has happened in just 70 laps. To then end with Max being the youngest driver to reach 60 wins (Lewis was 32, Michael was 33 when they reached this number) and the fact that Max is the kindest in the grid. And Now GIVE ME THE CLASSICSSSS

Just leaving this here. 👏👏👏

#agentofchaos001 ❤️#F1 asks

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molliemoo3 · 6 months ago

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Could you explain formula e to me please as Paul Aron is racing this weekend

OK so im not necessarily great at explaining things but a basic weekend run down is

Friday

-Shakedown

-FP1 (30 mins i think)

Saturday

-FP2 (30 mins i think)

-Qualifying

-Race 1 ~ 40 laps, 6 mins of attack (4-2, 3-3, or 2-4 splits)

Sunday

-FP3 (30 mins i think)

-Qualifying

-Race 2 ~ 38 laps, 4 mins of attack (3-1, 2-2, or 1-3 splits)

FP sessions are exactly as you'd expect (if they arent the 30mins theyre 45)

Quali is in 2 sections, first the group stages - 2, 12 (i think) min sessions with the drivers split into 2 groups based on championship position (basically odd is one, even is the other) with the top 4 of each group going through to the duels. And then the duels, which are 1 laps shootouts until the top drivers from group A and group B go against each other for pole.

The races are in a lot of ways just races, except with 1000% more chaos a good 95% of the time, the biggest differences are -

Attack Mode, which is the FE equivalent of drs/p2p, except drivers have to push a button to "activate" it, and then go off line to actually gain attack mode, this is where the main strategy comes into play. It is an increase in energy from 300kW to 350kW, and it has to be activated twice in the race, notably in Monaco Jehan failed to activate it at all, and received a 10 secind stop go penalty post race (48s added to his race time). It will cause drivers to lose postiins pretty frequently so its important to make sure you hit the button and go over the 3 loops on track the first time(s) you intended to in order to not lose positions unnecessarily.

No pit stops unless there is a problem hence why attack mode is the main strategy bit. Also front wings arent vital so if it completely comes off and isnt at risk of coming off under the car, theyll probs just keep going without it.

SC, under if the race is under safety car, and or full course yellow, for a certain amount of time (in relation to a reference lap time set based on each track, for Berlin its 2min45s) laps will be added for the first 80% of the race, any sc or fcy after that point will not result in added laps. There is a maximum of 5 added laps per race.

Energy management is a huge part of FE it can sometimes lead to peloton (i think that's the word i mean) style racing with drivers not wanting to lead for to long which can be a bit annoying, but we do get a good dose of chaos each weekend, especially in the last few laps which is always fun. And the mid pack will always be in some sort of fight.

In terms of where to watch your best bet is going to the FE website (or app) and checking for your country. FP sessions are free on youtube and show on the app/website too. There's a predictor game each race which is fun and on the app, as well as driver radios during the race.

Paul's making his debut with Envision, who are the reigning teams champions of formula e. Season 10 hasnt necessarily had the best start for them, but it hasnt been terrible, with best finishes of P2 at the opening round in Mexico and at Race 2 in Diriyah. Envision is a customer team of Jaguar TCS racing who supply their power train, and who the other Envision debut, Joel Eriksson, is the reserve driver for. There's definitely the possibility for points, with a car capable of podiums with its usual drivers, and a power train that can win races and is currently topping the teams standings, a good quali, and avoiding the chaos (much easier said than done) is vital, but definitely doable for him, especially given how his rookie f2 season is going (i say like these cars arent entirely different beasts). Envision clearly has faith in him, and chaos means literally anything is possible (like an abt almost got a podium the other week, truly anything is possible here)

We're also blessed in Formula E land that we have a bunch of lovely people who put a lot of time into creating guides and gathering info for people interested in FE, the mains ones im aware of are:

@formulawah 's bad guide to formula e season 10 - by bad it isnt bad its silly and funny and something to look forward to each season, they also post on twitter about fe and have a blog they post on

and

@robinfrinjs 's formula e, an intro to season 10 - this goes into more detail about the cars and how theyve changed through the gens and has more info on sessions and how a weekend is run. They have a discord full of wonderful people that love fe too.

@formulaesource doesnt really post much over here anymore, but theyre incredibly active on twitter, and are attending this weekend. Theyre pretty much always up to date on how long races and such are gonna be and a great source for updates on penalties and such, and just changes to the formula e world in general.

Hopefully this is somewhat helpful and anything i havent remembered to include can be explained elsewhere or just send another ask and i shall do my best to help you figure out this chaos child of a racing series. Fingers crossed for a decent weekend for Paul 💚💚💚

#anon <3 #asks #formula e #fe #paul aron #hopefully this is helpful #those guides are a life saver #even with this being my 3rd season watching they help you stay up to date and learn things you didnt know before #if you can watch some old races on youtube i would recommend doing that especially berlin ones just so you know what to expect #its fun times over here though #i will cry over 20/22 driver losing out on a win #tonio especially is getting bullied by the racing gods this year #chaos is usually good chaos but the crashes can be pretty nasty sometimes #and we have had quite a few hand injuries in the last 2ish years #but 99% of the time its good vibes

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landhoe-norris · 1 year ago

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I see so many Lando fans screaming, crying, throwing up hoping he'll get a win to "silence the haters" and like …. Lando could win a championship and people would still harass and spread misinformation about him - a win isn't going to change that.

While it would be nice to stop reading "Nowins" all the time, I don't want a win to one-up the haters, I want a win for HIM. He's given so much of himself to this team. He's apologized to them every time he's screwed up - frankly, he's shouldered a lot of blame to defend them when they've screwed up. He's shared his data with his the competitors he'll be compared to first - two different teammates - all to advance the team even if that becomes his own detriment. He defended this team and their shit start to the season, even had his own fans calling him petulant and disrespectful when he rejected Jenson's (who he clearly respects and admires) opinion that staying with McLaren had been a bad decision. Yet this same team, that he spent his first 2 years helping rebuild, spent 2021-2022 essentially carrying on his back, and has spent 2023 being leader of and defending has never returned the favor anytime he's come close to a win. Between 2 different occasions of team orders where he could have likely fought for that maiden win, 2 different strategy blunders including one where he was just given a complete lack of information that somehow every other driver on the grid was given complete information for.

And now we're in a situation where he won't be happy until he stands on that top step. Because this man should not be qualifying P2 at a track the car isn't even strongly suited for and then immediately beating himself up and criticizing himself for it as if that performance wasn't incredible.

And I know that self-criticism is going to continue to happen because the novelty of P2 has worn off for him, he's ready to move up to the next step, but the team clearly isn't ready for that. Hell, the team itself can barely congratulate and support him when he puts on amazing qualis now.

And God I don't even know at this point. He loves this team, he's given everything for them, but I still hope he has the strength to walk away if it comes to choosing between team loyalty and never getting to recognize his full potential. I am and always have been a McLaren fan, but the way Lando has been treated by supposed "fans" for the past 3 years (which the team leadership allowed and didn't really say/do anything to prevent or discourage) and now even the team leadership refusing to rally around him when clearly some of that 2019 "I'm not good enough" mentality is coming back has me wondering if this new leadership team isn't headed in a completely different direction than the one that truly allowed Lando to thrive, both professionally and personally, in 2020-2022.

preach! i know that nothing this man will do will ever make the ef's of social media stfu. i want the win for him. he's put so much into his career, put so much into mclaren and he deserves everything back. and when i say deserve i mean it. cause ppl are always like "you don't deserve anything in f1", well fuck that cause he deserves all the success he can get. he's so good, like i can't keep making dissertations about how good he is (mainly because i'm running out of words 😭).

agree with all of this. love you 🥰

#karenína answers #lando norris

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rebelwrites · 2 years ago

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Winner Takes It All || Seventeen: Fate Is Fucking Stupid

Charles Leclerc x Valentina Hendrix (OC)

Winner Takes It All Masterlist

Summary: After four months Hudson finally realizes something leading to a heart to heart with Vali.

Warnings: mentions of a toxic past relationship

As always reblogs and feedback is highly appreciated ❤️ if you want tagging in future parts let me know ❤️

Hudson’s POV

I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I walked back into the hotel room to find Valentina sprawled out of the sofa, a duvet wrapped around her, tissues scattered on the coffee table and Formula One on the tv. Even with her being sick I knew she would refuse to miss the race even if she couldn’t be there herself.

Everything had been amazing over the last four months, watching V take the racing world by storm was a sight to be seen, everyone on the track loved her, her fan base was crazy and I was actually scared of them at times. Then summer break came and in my opinion the time went far too quickly, the time spent with V and her family was perfect. There were no expectations, everything was chilled out and we took each day as it came. It was like V needed the rest, even if she didn’t say anything I knew the pressure was getting to her, there was a lot riding on her especially in her rookie season.

The feeling of watching her take first place at Monza was out of this world, and everyone could see just how much this meant to her.

But there was something that I had noticed over the last couple of weeks that I couldn’t shake. I had a feeling this was coming and I wasn’t even mad about it.

“Sweetheart, I got you some more of that herbal tea you like.” I hummed, softly closing the hotel door behind me.

Raising my brow when I received nothing but silence, I knew she wouldn’t have fallen asleep, not until quali was over. Dumping the paper bag by the door, I kicked my trainers off before going to find out why I was getting zero response from V.

“You doing okay?” I shouted as I walked into the living room of the suit. Once again I was met with silence.

The moment I saw the TV I knew exactly why I wasn’t getting a response. Charles was doing his post quali interview and that was the thing that had grabbed every ounce of V’s attention.

It was in this moment everything I had noticed over the last couple of weeks made complete sense, any time Charles walked into a room she went quiet. Running my fingers through my hair, I took a deep breath. I had no idea how this conversation was going to play out but it needed to happen.

“Hey, sweetheart.” I hummed, moving her legs so I could join her on the sofa, placing her legs over my.

“Shit, you made me jump.” she breathed, turning away from the TV giving me her full attention. “I zoned out again.”

“We need to speak, V.” I whispered, reaching over tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “I just want you to know that I am not mad at you okay, I completely understand.”

The confused look on her face made me smile, she was so damn cute when she was confused.

“Huds, what are you on about, baby.” she whispered, linking her fingers with mine.

I couldn’t lie and say I wasn’t going to miss this, or miss her because I was going to, but this wasn’t fair on either of us.

“You still love him don’t you?” I asked softly, brushing my thumb over the top of her hand. It took her a moment to realise what I had asked but the moment the penny dropped I could see tears form in her eyes as she dropped eye contact with me.

“I’m sorry.” I whimpered, pulling her hand away from mine as she scooted into the far corner of the sofa, tucking her legs to her chest.

“Sweetheart,” I hummed, moving closer to her wrapping my arms around her pulling her into my chest. “You have nothing to be sorry about, okay.”

The sound of her crying hurt my soul, I could sense how this must have been eating her up.

“I thought I was honestly over him when we got together, I really fucking did.” she sobbed clutching my t-shirt. “I would never lead you on.”

Taking a deep breath, I pressed a kiss against the top of her head. “I know, sweetheart, I know.” For a few moments I held onto her letting her cry it out against my chest.

“Do you hate me?”

“Oh V, I could never hate you,” I whispered, paying with the ends of her hair. “I’ve been where you are, I know how hard it is to think you are over someone but sure enough they slowly start to creep back into your thoughts when you least expect it.”

Feeling her pull away from me, she wiped her eyes with the sleeves of my hoodie she was wearing before speaking again. “I feel so stupid, four years, its been four fucking years Huds. I really thought I was over him, I really wanted to be over him, I wanted to give us the best chance without a past relationship looming over us like a dark fucking cloud.”

“It’s harder when you see your ex pretty much every single weekend.” I nodded, taking her hand once again. “Look sweetheart,” I said softly, causing her to look up with tears once again threatening to spill over her lash line. “The world has a funny way of showing you what your heart truly wants, it has this fucked up way sometimes of telling you who your soulmate actually is. Yes you two separated, Charles went left, you went right trying to put the pieces of your heart back together but the one thing you both forgot is the world is round so you were bound to bump into each other again.”

“Fate is fucking stupid.” she sniffled, fiddling with my rings.

“I agree with you on that one.” I chuckled, taking a deep breath trying to steady my own heartbeat. I knew this was going to be painful because of how amazing this girl was but I knew it wasn’t fair she needed to listen to her heart. “If there is one piece of advice I can give you, it's to follow your heart sweetheart, listen to what it's calling out for. Soulmates always end up together, no matter how much love gets lost, no matter how much distance there was. You lose each other to find each other again.” I whispered.

“That’s what it’s like when someone is meant for you, if they leave they will return and stay forever.”

The two of us sat there in silence, wrapped up in each other's arms, cherishing the last moments of the relationship. Even if I couldn’t have her as my girl there was no way I was letting her out of my life. If I was being honest with myself I knew there was a chance of this happening the night of the gala, I saw the pain in Charles’ eyes and how hard V was trying to hide the pain showing in her own eyes. But part of me still hoped that her heart didn’t belong to Charles.

Running my fingers through her hair, I pressed another kiss to the top of her head causing her to stir, the moment she fell asleep I wasn’t going to be cruel and wake her up as I knew she hadn’t been sleeping well.

“What are we going to tell the fans?” she whispered, lifting her head from my chest. “Not that it’s any of their business but I don’t want either of us to be painted in a bad light you know.”

“We will put a post out in a couple of days just stating it was a mutual agreement to go our separate ways and there is no bad blood between us and we will still be friends and work together.” I smiled softly, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. “Now there is one other thing I need to tell you, something I have kept from you but you need to know.”

“Please tell me you aren’t married?” she laughed, causing me to crack a wide smile.

“I swear, never been married.” I chuckled, playing with her fingers. “But it involves Becky.” I sighed. The sound of her name caused V to sit up straight taking both my hands in hers. Letting out a shaky breath I explained to her everything that bitch did to me, from the emotional blackmail to the physical abuse.

V listened to every word I said and at this point there were tears rolling down both of our cheeks. I was never one to be vulnerable but here I was spilling my heart out.

“That fucking bitch.” V growled, I could feel the anger radiating off her. “I’m going to kill her.”

“Hey, I don’t need you getting a murder charge on my behalf okay. I just needed you to know exactly what kind of person she is so you can protect yourself from her.” I whispered, brushing my thumb over her skin. “Just be careful okay, sweetheart. Don’t give her the energy she is desperately seeking.”

Valentina’s POV

Silence, thats what I was fucking left with, fucking silence.

I honestly thought I was over Charles, that I was moving on with my life and I could piece my heart back together with the help of Hudson. But once again I was back to square one of being broken, my heart shattered further and at this point it was beyond repair.

I had nothing left apart from a bottle of Jack Daniels and a pain that wouldn’t fucking go.

To make matters worse I was scrolling through all the pictures in my phone, the ones of me and Hudson, the ones of me and Pierre, family photos, racing photos, photos of me and Jules and finally photos of me and Charles that I couldn’t bring myself to delete. I couldn’t help but torture myself if seemed.

Glancing down at the bottle in my grasp I rolled my eyes at the fact it was now half empty, I hadn’t even realised I had drunk half the contents straight from the bottle.

My head was spinning and not just from the alcohol, there was one person my heart was screaming out for, the person it had been screaming out for the last four years.

Taking a deep breath I screwed the lid back on the bottle, tossing it across the bed.

It was now or never right?

Hudson told me to follow my heart and I made a promise to him that I intended on keeping, even if this would be something I would come to regret come morning.

Launching myself out of the bed, I threw on my gym leggings and the baggiest hoodie that I owned along with my plain black baseball cap and sunglasses. If I was doing this there was going to be no way in hell I was going to be papped in the state I was in.

My whole body was in auto pilot right now, even though we were in Singapore my body knew exactly where to go, like my heart was guiding me to where it needed to go.

No matter what I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking no matter how much I willed them to. Within half an hour I found myself standing outside of a certain someone’s hotel room.

I had no idea how long I had been standing in front of the stupid wooden hotel door, it was like my brain was trying to talk my heart out of this but it was no use, the heart won this time.

Letting out a shaky breath, I counted to ten in my head before knocking on the hotel door. It felt like an age before the door flew open and the person I was here to see was now standing topless in front of me.

“Hi,”

“It’s all your fault” I sobbed, my resolve finally crumbling due to the weight of my heart and the amount of JD I had running through my system.

@chibsytelford @dragon-of-winterfell @ohthemisssery @a-distantdreamer @sgkophie @stillbreathin @angywritesstuff @miamedyu @enchantedbytomandhenry @scribbuluswrites @dangerouspursepeachbear @micks-afterglow @livo67 @buendiabebeta @pleasedontfollowinlost @ferrarifwendvale @hungryhungarian @theplobnrgone @charlesleclercje @sunf1owerrq @queenslife @panicforspec @inesramoss30 @justme2042 @liv67 @sessgjarg @derpinathebrave @idkiwantchocolatee @littleobsessionsandlifeslessons @alynoa @clcspeonies @pleasantducktimetravel @organasith @inchidentwithmax @raaaaabzzz @teamspideyman @marvelousmendess @mehrmonga @sbgal

#charles leclerc #charles leclerc x oc #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc x you #charles leclerc imagine #f1 #f1 x you #f1 x oc #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #formula one x oc #formula one #formula one x reader #formula one imagine

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vro0m · 2 years ago

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vro0m’s rewatch - 159/310

2015 Belgian GP

Alright. We're back after the summer break, it's round 11, officially the second part of the season and we have minimal broadcast as always nowadays. NOPE FOUND IT.

I remember I hated 2014 Belgian GP because I started by writing I think I like Spa and then everything went to shit– OH RIGHT WAIT I'd already forgotten it was the season turning point with the Long Review, Jesus. I don't know what to hope for this time.

It fucken wimdy. To the point we have a full shot of just the Spa forest undulating to really Show Us.

A little bit of context. It's Ferrari's 900th GP. They celebrated by announcing Raikkonen's 1-year contract extension in the week prior. Merc came with a new low-downforce rear wing. RBR tried two different new rear wings. McLaren came with a new power unit and a new engine cover but warned that the gains might not be visible until Singapore + a tray design for the front of the floor, lower sidepods and a new radiator positioning to cool the ERS.

New regs were also introduced : drivers are now only allowed to adjust one clutch level after leaving the pit for the starting grid. I'm unsure what it means.

The Lotus team has had legal troubles with Pic that I think I mentioned in the 2015 context in the Australian GP review. He claimed some breach of contract or something. Because of the legal proceedings, there was a possibility that the Lotus cars would be impounded after the GP. In the end, Bernie stepped in "to ensure staff were paid" and the cars were returned, allowing the team to race in Italy after this GP.

Verstappen managed to get through Q1 even though he complained of a loss of power. Raikkonen stopped on track during Q2 due to a loss of oil pressure, qualifying in 15th on the grid. Max did not take part in Q2 due to his car's issues and was ranked 14th. Lewis' first hot lap was almost half a second faster than Nico's, and that's about how they qualified. Valtteri was 3rd, 1.3 seconds behind Lewis. Then it was Grosjean in 4th and Perez in 5th. Seb was only 9th.

BUT WAIT because there were penalties. The McLarens had already been given exceptional permission to use an additional PU in 2015, using their 6th in Hungary, and then came back with completely revised 7th PUs on both their cars. It meant a 50 place grid penalty for Jenson and a 55 place grid penalty for Alonso. Yep. You read that right. Verstappen also received a 10 place grid penalty for a 6th PU. Grosjean and Raikkonen both received a 5 place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

In the end, the top 10 at the start was Lewis, Nico, Valtteri, Perez, Daniel, Massa, Maldonado, Seb, Grosjean and Sainz.

Lewis thus became the first driver to get on pole six consecutive times since Schumacher, who did so in-between the '00 and '01 season, while Mika Hakkinen was the last one to do it in one season in '99.

Alright now let's see what I missed in the build-up at the time I wrote this.

Of his quali Lewis said the first lap was great, and he hoped it would be enough. He knew it put a lot of pressure on Nico for the next run. The next lap he did was one of the closest to perfect he thinks he's ever done.

Ted has been filmed walking around a forest at night to tell the tale of the curse of Spa aka a recap of all the times Lewis got unlucky at this track. And yeah. That's a lot. In 2007, he was pushed wide by Alonso in Eau-Rouge. In 2008, he won but he was penalised after the race for cutting a chicane and lost the win. In 2009, Alguersuari crashed into him. (In 2010 he won so it's not mentioned.) In 2011, Ted says he was slow on track. I mean sure but more notably he spun and crashed and DNFd. Oh sorry, now he mentions it, I thought he was done talking lmao. In 2012, Grosjean managed to take 4 cars out with him in a crash, including Lewis. In 2013, he was on pole and got a good start but got overtaken by Seb, who won. And in 2014, of course, he was taken out by Nico. So that's 4 DNFs in 6 Belgian GPs. Well well well.

Lewis and Nico are doing a joint side track interview again. He's very happy about the qualifying performance but he needs to translate it into race wins, he says. Johnny says to them they must have bad memories of last year, are they gonna stay as aggressive? Nico says of course, they're gonna keep battling. Johnny asks Lewis if he has plans for the start. Lewis jokes that if he did he wouldn't tell him.

Johnny says he seems to be the man of the moment and then stutters on the word momentum. Lewis makes fun of him. Then he says qualifying has been great as he said and he's happy they have a great crowd today and he hopes they'll put on a great show for them. Then Johnny says today's very important for Nico's claim on the title, how hungry is he? He says of course every race counts.

Back to the broadcast, Simon says that was a bit earlier and Johnny is now lurking around behind the camera. "What were you doing?" he asks, "rapping?" They laugh. He shrugs with a smile. It happens.

Well there really wasn't much in this broadcast but here you have it anyway. Let's get to the race.

Formation lap.

Hulkenberg is already reporting no power, he was already having issues during quali if I understand correctly. He's told to pit. Then he's told to take the start and not pit.

They're all ready but Hulkenberg is waving in his cockpit. Aborted start.

Second formation lap.

Hulkenberg left his box but then stopped. His team tells him they'll pull him back in the pits. Now it's Sainz saying he has no power. He's called into the pitlane as well.

Both cars are into the garages and may or may not join the race at some point.

The others are racing!

It seems like a normal start but in the end, three cars are ahead of Nico into the first corner. That's weird. OH MY GOD AND PEREZ OVERTAKES LEWIS FOR THE LEAD A FEW CORNERS LATER WTF. No wait he didn't, he was shown as such on the graphics but he actually had to fall back phew. Seb also got a great start btw he's up in 6th. Lewis is now flying away and Nico overtakes Valtteri for P4. He attacks back but it's Seb getting ahead of him now. Maldonado has lost the engine and is very slow on track. He retires. Verstappen overtakes Ericsson for P10. Kvyat overtakes Massa for P8. Sainz came back out on the track from the garages but he's now also slow af. Lewis is setting fastest lap after fastest lap. Daniel pits from P3, they're trying to undercut I guess, but it seems early to do that. Grosjean overtakes Valtteri for P5. Perez pits from P2, and it worked for RBR as Ricciardo is ahead. Yellow flags blinked shortly as Kvyat went wide after a lock up. Massa is called in.

It's lap 10. Lewis is 8.4 seconds in the lead ahead of Nico. Seb is not far behind in P3. Then it's currently Grosjean, then Kvyat and Massa and Verstappen all pit as I'm writing, then Raikkonen, Ricciardo and Perez. Raikkonen is called in from P4. Nico is called in as well, before Lewis. Crofty thinks it's because Daniel, who's currently P4, is really pressuring them. Nico is out ahead of him as well as Perez, but Perez attacks! He can't make it though. Lewis is called in, he stays in the lead. Oh. Valtteri gets a drive through for "incorrect tyres fitted"? Seb pits. Nico sets the fastest lap. Grosjean overtakes Ricciardo for P4.

Lap 20. Lewis is leading by 3.1 after the pit stops, still ahead of Nico. Behind them Grosjean is attacking Perez for P3 and overtakes him easily. Daniel is P5 ahead of Seb, Kvyat, Massa who's being attacked by Raikkonen and Verstappen is P10. Oh! And Daniel was attacking for P4 but as we're watching his on-board, he locks up and then stops completely on the main straight! That's a bad place to stop too, just at the exit of the corner… DRS is disabled, VSC, the gaps are frozen. Of course a lot of people dive in the pits. Perez actually pitted as Daniel had his issue. Massa pits. Grosjean pits. Raikkonen pits. Lewis asks how Nico gained a second under VSC. It's a good question, but the VSC is over now and people are racing. Perez is told they need to make his tyres last to the end, that's 20 laps, not impossible. The sky is darkening. Are we gonna see rain? I'm kinda bored. Oh no Seb is having issues? He's told to change some things on the steering wheel and he answers a bit high pitched that it doesn't react. Kvyat pits. Seb, much calmer : "Think about an extra stop if that makes sense" and he's told they're looking into it.

It's lap 30. Kvyat overtakes Valtteri for P9. Lewis : "Track has changed, I think I need another half hole back in." It's about front wing specs. Kvyat sets the fastest lap. Lewis is called in. "My tyres are still good, can I do one more?" he asks. "Negative Lewis, this is the fastest race, Nico will take the stop otherwise." He obeys. He's out in P2. Nico is called in, and Lewis is back in the lead.

10 laps to go. Nico sets the fastest lap. Behind the Mercs the order goes Seb, Grosjean, Perez currently under pressure from Massa, Raikkonen not far behind them, then Kvyat, Valtteri and Verstappen. Sainz finally retires. Kvyat overtakes Raikkonen. There's a four-way fight over P5.

5 laps to go. Grosjean is told to go get Seb. He's indeed only half a second behind but come on I'd rather have a sewis podium please. To make up for the boring race. Kvyat is warned over track limits. Verstappen overtakes Valtteri for P9. Kvyat overtakes Massa for P6 and they almost make contact. And Kvyat overtakes Perez for P5. OH NO! SUDDEN PUNCTURE FOR SEB ohhh nooooooooo. There's just a lap and a half to go… Sucks. Verstappen overtakes Raikkonen for P7 but locks up, goes wide and drifts onto the run-off area. Back in P8.

It's the end of the race.

Lewis wins ahead of Nico for the Nth time this season. Grosjean P3. Welp it was an eventful start but actually kinda boring after that.

The video glitches just as Nico and Lewis shake hands so I can't gif it lol. Grosjean seems baffled to be here. Nico and him talk in French, obvi. Nico says something about "ta caisse" (your car, but slang) and Grosjean says "incroyable, incroyable ! J'partais 9 en plus !" (incredible, incredible! I started 9th on top of that !) then it's drowned out by the hostesses applauding outside and then he says "j'étais derrière lui, derrière lui, derrière lui, pfiou" (I was behind him, behind him, behind him, phew) The merc representative says he's very lucky and Grosjean nods as he pours water into his mouth and all over himself like a toddler. Lewis is nowhere to be seen.

Bono is in the crowd looking very proud of his boy.

It's DC doing the interviews. It's Lewis' 39th win, his 80th podium, equalling Ayrton Senna. Lewis asks the crowd if they're good. They roar. He thanks them as usual. He says he's had a great weekend, "again, an amazing job done by the team." He's drowned out by the fans cheering and chanting his name. It's unbelievable!

DC says the only time he thought Lewis could get concerned was after the virtual safety car when Nico somehow got closer. Anything else? He says Nico had obviously good pace but he was able to answer to him most of the time. The car was feeling great so he was relaxed and just mostly looking after the tyres, and especially at the end after he saw one tyre had exploded on another car he was really cautious, and that's why Nico was catching him at the end. But he felt really under control the whole time and great assistance from the team.

Nico gets a lot of noise from the crowd too. As does Grosjean wow.

DC asks Lewis if although it's still close with Nico he's starting to feel like he might get another title. He says it's definitely way too early for that. He says you just wanna get these pole positions and translate them into wins.

After the race, Seb criticised Pirelli's tyres, pointing out that Nico also suffered a failure during practice. He deemed it unacceptable and said if Nico said he didn't go off track then he didn't, as he has no reason to lie and that he himself didn't go off track and the tyre exploded out of the blue. He saw it as a safety risk. Pirelli's director Paul Hembrey said he did not want to start a war of words with Seb but that they were concerned when they saw that the teams intended to do a big number of laps on one set of tyres, as nothing suggested to them that they would go for one-stop strategies but rather two or three stop strategies. Nico backed Seb saying this shouldn't happen and pointed out it also happened in other categories. He said they both were "so lucky" as if it had happened a bit earlier or later it would have caused bad crashes for them, something Seb also mentioned. He called for immediate action as the next GP was to be Monza, which is a very fast one. Pirelli reacted by asking for a maximum stint length for their tyres, something they'd already suggested at the end of 2013. They then announced that they'd found cuts on other team's tyres, especially the rear ones, and that they were investigating the cause. Seb reiterated that his team was not at fault and that their strategy wasn't risky. Ultimately, Pirelli's conclusion was that Seb's blowout was due to debris and not excessive tyre wear.

Max was singled out for his overtake on Nasr in Blanchimont. He ultimately received an Action of the Year award from the FIA at the end of the year ceremony for it.

I've found Lewis' interview with Will Buxton. He asked him how it felt to be back on the top step after the summer break. He says it feels amazing. "Sometimes you wonder if a good thing is followed by another good thing."

He says he had an amazing holiday and so he was wondering if the happiness would last and it has. He says qualifying was ridiculous, and he smiles, and it gets a chuckle out of the journalist amassed around him.

He's happy with his race, he didn't have to overpush or overdrive. The balance was really nice and he's very happy with the outcome. Will Buxton or whatever journalist says last year Nico got the pole trophy and this year nobody can seem to beat him and he's said he's been on top of sector 2 this weekend which he never was before. The question is how much does he feel that with each passing race he's becoming more and more complete. He hums. He says generally this year he's growing into his thirties, "the start of a new era for me", he thinks he's growing wiser and stronger, mentally also, with the pole positions he's getting and the results he's getting. "I think I'm growing generally as a man so that's reflecting in how I drive and the decisions that I take and a lot of things I do." He smiles. "How worrying is that for everyone else," he's told. "Hum… Hopefully it should be very worrying," he laughs.

I also found the BBC interview. The journalist tells him Niki said he absolutely raised his game. "You must agree with that," she says. He says it feels good and the weekend has definitely been fantastic.

He says he as always has to take his hat off to his team that's has done an incredible job again this weekend. From the ones building the cars to the engineers. "Me and Nico wouldn't have been able to do that without them."

He says he's coming back from the best holiday he's ever had with such a facial expression that I'm wondering what happened there,

and that it gave him even more drive to get the pole positions and turn them into wins. He says he's really happy within himself because he drove his heart out. She asks if this is the strongest he's felt in his F1 career. "I think so, yeah." then he adds : "I mean… I felt good today, when I woke up, I was like 'yeah. I got this'".

He remembers it wasn't the case in the last race. "But definitely I feel… Not only the strongest just, but in general the happiest I've genuinely been in my life." He says he loves his job, he's grateful he gets to drive F1 cars every other weekend, it's the greatest job in the world and he has to seize it with both hands and enjoy, which he does, "and in my personal life enjoy it as much as I can!"

He's truly in a very good mood.

(This gif is just for me because I have a thing for intense staring, don’t mind me.)

She says when things are so good he's not wishing his days away to Monza, "you're in a great place at the moment." He says even when the days weren't good he wasn't wishing days to go by (it's a lie but it's okay, we all wanna forget about 2009) because he's "very very aware" that time flies by, "I'm already halfway through my career if not more"... Oh my god. Wait. I can't with this interview. "Erm in my formula 1 career, and it feels like it was only yesterday that I started in Melbourne so I really want to… I don't want it to go…”

“I'm not looking forward to the day that I hang my helmet up but erm…"

"There's room for a few more championships before then." – "I hope so, I hope so."

(btw given this was 2015 so his 9th year, according to this interview he's stopping in 2024 lol, 2023 being his 17th year in F1.)

Anyway let's see the postrace content now that it’s been uploaded.

Hill says Lewis is watching Nico all the time, as he's been able to tell he gained 1 second under VSC. It shows how in control he is.

Ted tells Niki they got a perfect result. It's unfortunate for the Ferraris but they score no points. Niki says they went very long, he has to say. But Lewis, Nico and the whole team did an incredible job. "Mercedes is back, I have to say, after Budapest so..." He just thanks everybody. Everybody involved is working hard. They were a bit depressed after Budapest but now it's fantastic, it's the way it should be.

Let's hear from Lewis. (Again.) He says he'd definitely say this is a "so-so circuit" for him, he's not won a lot here and it's never been easy, but he's happy with this weekend's performance. Particularly qualifying. The race was managing what he had, the gap he had, the tyres… "Nico was exceptionally fast today, but I didn't really feel like I was incredibly under pressure, I was able to match when I needed to so erm… Super happy." He says he was 5 years old when he started watching Ayrton, and he doesn't know what age he was when he wanted to emulate him, but thinking he has the same amount of podiums doesn't feel real.

She asks about the start because in the last race he apparently said having to do a second start it affected his clutch. He says he wasn't nervous, you can't allow yourself to get nervous for the start anyway, but he did the restart and was focused on keeping his car cooled and when he did the restart he did the appropriate sequence to make sure he wasn't overheating it and it turned out "relatively good". He says he did get wheelspin, like Nico did, but he managed to control a bit better and maintain the lead. She asks if he was surprised to see Perez alongside him. He says he was generally happy, and starts laughing, that it wasn't Nico.

He says Sergio was great, he says he thinks if it had been Nico it might have been a different outcome. (He says both ‘obviously’ and ‘probably’ in the sentence, you interpret that as you want lol) He's really glad the day went the way it did. She reminds him of the WDC standings and asks at what point he allows himself to think of a third world title. He says you really have to take it one race at a time. At no point you can get overly excited and think you've got it. But he's very happy with the car, so as long as he continues doing what he's doing and stays focused and healthy, he feels good about it, he finally admits.

Later, he says he's had such a good break and feels super refreshed. He has to interrupt himself to wave to the fans that are yelling. He says they can't imagine how at peace he feels in his heart after coming out of this great break, getting pole and it translating into a win. Brundle says it just seemed easy, he seemed in the groove. He says you don't always get the car where you want it but he did this weekend and same in the last race. He says he and his engineers are gelling more than ever and are working better than they've ever worked together. Together they've put a really good package and the car was feeling beautiful.

Brundle asks him about his position on the tyres given Seb and Nico's comments. He asks for clarifications. Brundle says Seb especially has been very punchy. Lewis says "yeah I'm sure, I'm sure." with an empathetic tone. He says both of them had "fairly big incidents" and that it was just lucky that both of them happened at a stage when it wasn't too detrimental or unsafe. They never ever want that to happen. They always want to be able to go out there with confidence that there won't be any problems. However he says he's heard that for Seb, they went too long on the tyres. So it's not necessarily fully down to the tyres. But if it had happened just a bit before it would have been in Eau Rouge which could have been "quite nasty". He says the FIA and the teams work closely with Pirelli and Pirelli will learn from this weekend.

Simon says he's had a fair share of bad luck in Spa. He nods with a smile. He asks if it's nice to have the perfect weekend here. Lewis says it's a very difficult track. For some reason there are tracks that really suit you and tracks you struggle at more. This is one of those tracks he's struggled at a little bit more (full emphasis on a little bit). He says he's had good results when it was raining, "it makes it easier for me" he half-jokes, but this weekend he thinks he did the best and extracted the most he could out of what's a weaker circuit for him.

Brundle asks what about Perez breathing alongside him in the first lap. Lewis smiles and tilts his head. They're all chuckling a bit like it's really really weird that he did such a thing.

Lewis echoes his earlier answer to that. "Well, better him than anyone else." He says again Perez was very fair. He tried to keep everybody behind but he followed him aaall the way. Brundle says he went wide a little bit. Lewis says he went in there nailing it then the back end bottomed a little bit and slid and he still kept it going, "I was like 'I'm NOT lifting'!"

And Perez slowly caught him but as long as he covered the inside, that's all he could do, and then he fortunately outbraked him. He's grateful for the way it came out because it made the race much easier, he chuckles. Brundle says the only other break in his serene afternoon was the VSC, he thought Nico might have gained on him? Lewis says what happens is you hear beep beeps and the screen changes and you have to brake very heavily to slow down to hit the delta. When you're driving at some point you see the other driver behind you appear so you know what the gap is. And when the VSC started he was maybe four seconds behind but during it he was closer than ever so he thought surely he'll have to fall back for the restart which he never did. Which is why he wondered. Because he did not make a mistake so there was no reason for him to be that much closer. He says he needs to go figure out where he lost that second but dismisses it saying it wasn't a big problem anyway.

Simon says he's 28 points ahead in the WDC standings so one DNF clear and asks if that's something in his mind, wanting to keep it above that. Lewis says he doesn't look at it that way because naturally as a team you never want a DNF. Simon insists that it gives him leeway though. He says for sure, but last year he crashed in this race and was 29 points behind when he came out of Spa. So it's been way more positive up until now. His goal coming back from this great holiday (seriously what did he do?) into this part of this season was to translate the great laps he does in quali into results and wins. And hopefully today was the start of it. Brundle asks if he's got on top of Nico, does he think mentally Nico realises he can't beat him? (way to put him in a tough spot) He says he thinks as a driver you never– it's very rare you see a driver fall to that belief. They still believe that they're better and all that, "whether it's true or not". He says he remembers when he was driving with Alonso. "Fernando could never believe why sometimes I was quicker, he was like 'there must be something wrong with the car cause I'm the best'. That's what he would say. To himself, I know. For sure." He says Nico's very strong, he's gonna come back and keep fighting, he knows that he still has that belief in himself, which is fine by him, no problem.

For some reason they start talking about Notting Hill carnival and twerking. I'm at a loss.

#f1 #lewis hamilton #vro0m's race reviews #2015 #2015 belgian gp

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f1 · 1 year ago

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'I feel absolutely amazing' Zhou revels in career-high fifth place in Budapest qualifying

Zhou Guanyu was full of praise for his Alfa Romeo team after qualifying in a career-best fifth place in Budapest – as his team mate, Valtteri Bottas, admitted he was “a little bit surprised” by their pace after he qualified seventh for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Zhou performed well throughout the qualifying session, even topping the timesheets in Q1. And after making it into Q3 for the first time this season, he went up to fifth on his final attempt, leapfrogging the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. READ MORE: Hamilton beats Verstappen and Norris to Hungarian GP pole in qualifying thriller Speaking after jumping out of the C43, an ecstatic Zhou remarked: “I feel absolutely amazing. Really happy. Big thanks to the team of course. To give me the car to be fighting for Q3, and then coming back with a P5, that was definitely not expected. “But we knew we had the pace this weekend and qualifying, I was literally on the edge every lap. Q1, top of the table, really surprised, then I knew I had a chance. “Every lap had to be 100%, a few mistakes of course with the track limits, but I was pushing on the limit. When it mattered, we delivered, especially with the last lap in Q3. So, really happy with the starting grid.” This feature is currently not available because you need to provide consent to functional cookies. Please update your cookie preferences ‘I feel absolutely amazing’ beams Zhou after brilliant P5 in Hungary qualifying When asked whether he was targeting a first career podium in Sunday’s race, Zhou replied: “I think we aim for, obviously, top 10. Let’s be realistic, I do feel we have a good package so far in both conditions, long and short fuels. “But there’s definitely Red Bulls, Ferraris. They’ll be having a little bit [of] the upper hand on us long-term, so we need to execute as we have. READ MORE: Hamilton ecstatic with breakthrough Hungary pole after ‘big rollercoaster ride’ amid Mercedes’ recent struggles “If not top five, I think if we can get top eight, it really puts us back in the championship, fighting with Williams and Haas. So, it’s really important to get points.” Team mate Bottas, who also briefly led Q1, qualified in seventh – his highest qualifying position of the season – and he believes the layout of the Hungaroring has played right into the hands of Alfa Romeo this weekend. This feature is currently not available because you need to provide consent to functional cookies. Please update your cookie preferences Bottas sums up his P7 in qualifying: ‘A little bit surprised – in a good way!’ “A little bit surprised, in a good way,” said Bottas. “We definitely take it. We had a strong performance all the way through the quali, with all the compounds. “I think this track layout really suits our car and brings up the strength of the package. Really proud of the whole team today.” HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from qualifying in Budapest as Hamilton takes last gap pole position When asked how the team’s long run pace had looked ahead of Sunday’s race, the Finn replied: “It didn’t seem too bad. Obviously, it’s quite a bit cooler than what it’s going to be tomorrow. “Here is not an easy track to overtake, so we take the good track position. I think it’s going to help us tomorrow hopefully to score some good points.” via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

#F1 #'I feel absolutely amazing' – Zhou revels in career-high fifth place in Budapest qualifying #Formula 1

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hifilounge · 1 year ago

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Historic Sports Car Club Finals Weekend Race Report!

Hi Everyone,

I couldn’t resist one last run out in our 1961 Lotus Formula Junior before the season ends for the winter so I entered the Historic Sports Car Clubs ‘The Finals’ weekend, mainly as I wanted to give the car one more shakedown after its restoration and get some more seat time before we embark on a full season next year.

Friday Testing

I’d done loads of laps on the sim in preparation for taking the Junior round the Silverstone National layout and it really does help get you up to speed quicker, and to be honest it was just as well I did as the weather was so bad on the Friday that we only got one dry 30 minute session, which had 3 red flags in it, so in the end we did around 20 minute of dry practice but even with just that I still learnt a lot, basically I need to figure out what gear to be in at Becketts as with these older cars you really need to drive them, you can’t rely on the power to get you through corners, you have to be in the right gear which keeps you in the 6-9k rev sweet spot or the engine just splutters along, so after the Friday session I went back home and did more testing on the sim as the next session will be Qualifying tomorrow.

Saturday – Qualifying and Race 1

As I said this weekend was all about ironing out any problems before next season and it turns out we had a couple to deal with, firstly we didn’t actually get to qualify as our car failed the noise test, luckily the guys from Road to Race who are running the car had a silencer in their van but we didn’t have time to fit it to get out for Qualy so we would be starting race 1 and 2 from dead last, 28th I think it was, we certainly get big grids in Formula Junior. So although we didn’t qualify I still had to prove to the clerk of the course that I was capable of driving so had to complete 3 laps in another session, luckily I was put out with the front engine juniors which are a similar speed, we were only supposed to do 3 laps but I stayed out for the full 15 minutes and did a time that would have put me around the mid pack if the time was valid, but overall I was happy with that.

Driving into the pits after this session I was then pulled over to one side by a marshal and was told that I had to go to race control to report to the Clerk of the course, I couldn’t help but wonder what I had done wrong, so feeling like a naughty school boy off to see the headmaster I walked down the pit lane to race control to find out more, luckily it was just to say that my transponder that records times wasn’t working so even if we had made qualy we would have still started last as I wasn’t being timed.

Race 1

Well I’m a firm believer that all things happen for a reason and it turned out that starting from the back wasn’t a bad thing which I’ll come to shortly. In true 2023 fashion as we were sitting in the holding area waiting to go out on track for our race a big black cloud appeared, now I had been checking the weather all week and Saturday and Sunday were supposed to be dry all day, but no, just like every other car event I’ve done this year rain looked imminent. This was to be my first standing start since 2018 as everything else has been rolling starts, So we did our out lap with plenty of swerving to get the tyres up to temp then took my last place on the grid, engaged 1st gave it around 6000 revs then the lights went red, then green, I pulled the clutch up and then the car nearly died and I spluttered away at a ridiculously slow pace losing the whole pack, looking back I was glad I wasn’t mid pack as that could have caused some real chaos, it turns out this was due to a slight engine issue but more on that later.

Anyway at least we were up and running but really last now, I got my head down did one lap then the rain hit, no surprises there, I came round Copse with a few cars off and pointing the wrong way, so I slowed down, kept things calm then after the shower the track dried pretty quick so we spent the rest of the race getting quicker, had a couple of good battles and ended up 21st, not great but I learnt that at low revs and pulling away there was something wrong that needed to be addressed.

Sunday – Race 2

We were out around midday for race 2 so I got to the track around 8am but was worried about the start after what happened yesterday so I went to speak to the organisers to make sure I was starting last again as I really didn’t want the same issue and to get rear ended, so with that done I went back to the garage and we started to warm the car up which turned out to be a real blessing as one of the other teams mechanics heard our engine and thought it sounded like it was only firing on 3 cylinders, a quick check and it indeed was, so a clean of the spark plug and that bought that back to 4 cylinders, also this mechanic checked out the twin carbs and they were well out also, this really reminded me of Biasing a valve amp, as he got out his carb tool and spent 20 mins setting the carbs so both were at the same level, just like balancing the left + right channel on a valve amp, now I couldn’t wait to get out on track to see if that sorted the engine issue out.

Thankfully this race looked dry for the full 20 mins, we did our out lap again and I took up my last place on the grid, selected first, upped the revs and waited for the green light and hoped for a better start and yes off we shot, the car accelerating beautifully and we overtook 4 cars before the first corner, this really fired me up to give it full beans, we had some great racing coming through the field, I even went 3 wide into Brooklands, came out in front but then heading towards Copse I missed a gear and lost both places but then a lap later took them back again, it was brilliant racing and we ended up making 11 overtakes, unheard of for me really, and bought our little Junior home in 17th which I thought was pretty good from where we started.

So overall another great weekend where we learnt a lot, better to get these niggles out the way now ready for next year, but I really can’t wait to do a full season now.

I have to say that after trying a few different racing disciplines I feel that I have now found my motorsport home with Formula Junior, firstly everyone is so nice, I mean the fact another team helped sort our engine just shows that but also the racing is clean and gentlemanly, exactly what I was looking for, I’m not looking to be the next hot shot, I just love being on track and to do that in a single seater Lotus with like minded enthusiasts is a real pleasure.

Roll on 2024.

Finally I just want to say a big shout out to Aced It Images who took most of these pictures, we met through Instagram where I saw he had posted a stunning pic of the 24 Nascar at Goodwood this year, so we got talking and he came along to this event to take most of the pics in this blog, he really has a great eye, makes it look like we are driving really fast, the first pic just looks like a video game capture to me, you can follow him on instagram at the below –

https://www.instagram.com/aced_it_images/

Cheers,

Paul.

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laurasstufff1 · 3 years ago

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Mr. almost-eight-times-world-champion (part 5)

Credit to @vousnavezrienvuf1 for the gif

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4.

Summary: YN makes it to Bahrain 🇧🇭, first race of the season 🏁 with her mum, Angela 🏋️‍♀️, and the driver she hated a little bit less everyday, Lewis Hamilton 🏎.

Warnings: protected sex, swearing, tattoos. This is the last chapter for now, guys 😢. I really need to take a break of this story, I’m not used to writing these 😅. Thank you so much for all the support, really, you made me the happiest💓💓.

Word count: 4.1K (sorry😅)

You landed in the International Bahrain airport during the first practice day. It was already late, only your mum was waiting for you at the airport. She was more than happy to have you there and to spend half of the night in the hotel room you shared, making up for the lost time, thought you talked to her on the phone everyday. Twice.

Saturday came fast and you were exited: it was quali day. When you woke up your mum had already left. It wasn’t that late, but she needed to start her mornings early with the rest of the team and Lewis. Lewis… The driver didn’t know you were there. Surely he was going to be exited, right? You were so sure about it when you took the plane, but now doubts were invading your mind, thinking he might not want you there. It would hurt you. Why did you care anyways?

Third practice just started. Text me when you get here. DON’T FORGET YOUR PADDOCK PASS!!

Right, time to take a shower, get ready and go. Without forgetting your pass. By the way, where was it?

Mum!! I’m outside.

Wait there. Bono is on his way to get you.

“Peter Bonnington?!? Is that you?!?” You shouted to the lost man who was trying to find you, a smile on your lips when you saw him after so many time.

“YN???” He asked shocked while you were already scanning your pass.

“The one and only” you laughed watching as he walked faster towards you, hugging you tight as soon as he could.

“I didn’t even recognised you” he laughed as he guided you to the paddock. “I was so happy when your mum told me you were here, did you just arrived??”

“No, I arrived yesterday night. But it was already late… God, I can’t believe I forgot how it felt to be here” you took a look at your surrounding. There were a lot of cameras. Employees from different teams running around, posters of the drivers, music mixed with the murmurs of people… but especially the smell. It smelled like burnt rubber and gasoline, you were already addicted to it. “Hurry up kiddo, qualy is about to start and I’m the engineer of a driver” Bono talked walking some steps ahead of you already.

“I’m not a kid anymore” you rolled your eyes back before hurrying up to reach him before you got lost.

You were in front of that wall full of headphones taking yours when you heard your mum yelling to Lewis to hurry up, as usual, while they walked towards the car. You mum saw you and waved quickly before focusing back on Lewis, helping him with the gloves and helmet. Only then, when he was fully dressed to get in the car, he turned around and saw you. He waved just like your mum and started walking towards you, but it was actually her the one who grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the car.

Once he in the car, your mum joined you at the back of the garage, both of you with your headphones watching the screen that showed the cars ready to start.

-Radio check- you heard thought the headphones.

-Loud and clear. Good luck for the first quali of the season, Lewis- Bono as always said.

-Is YN hearing?- he asked, making you really nervous at what he was about to say.

-Yes- Bono confirmed after looking back at you.

-Hi YN. I couldn’t say anything before, you know, your mum… Hope you enjoy this after so long without coming- he said and you smiled thanking the kind gesture, but also worried about 1) his concentration 2) the whole team was looking at you and 3) the words he just said being recorded.

-Alright… Keep your head in the race-

-I always do- Lewis huffed. Not even 2 minutes after, quali began.

It wasn’t a messy qualy, it was just strange. Mercedes didn’t perform as good as always, though they already knew it would be like that. Leclerc got pole, Mick got through P2 and Bottas managed to go faster than Russell. No one was expecting these results, but a new era had begun.

You were leaving the paddock so late there wasn’t even photographers anymore. Bono and your mum walked ahead, you and Lewis were behind as you couldn’t walk properly anymore because of the heels. They were really pretty, but a killer.

“Do you have plans for tonight?” He suddenly asked making you move your head abruptly to face him.

“…Sleep. I think it’s a good plan for you too considering you have a race to win tomorrow”

“Yeah, but I also need to have dinner. Do you want to come?? We can just order room service to avoid fans and paparazzis” he suggested.

“Okay. I was going to have dinner in the hotel too anyways” you shrugged, convinced it was a good innocent plan.

“Angela, Bono, you coming???” Lewis asked to the others.

“I’m directly off to bed” your mum said sounded really tired, as you laughed. You always thought it was impossible to get her tired.

“I still need to check some things with the mechanics” Bono talked.

“Okay then. It’s only you and me, young lady” he laughed watching you shrugged your shoulders, completely fine with it.

When you finally reached the hotel, you went directly to the restaurant and took the food up to Lewis’s room yourselves (just your mum wanting to be sure the driver ate what the should).

“Ohh fuck” you moaned the you get into his room.

“What the hell was that???” Lewis asked concerned looking back at you, and you couldn’t help a loud laugh.

“It was me taking off my heels. Don’t get too exited”. “I wasn’t the one moaning a few seconds ago!!” He shouted while setting the table with that teasing smirk on his face. “Shut up Lewis” you yelled already feeling shy about it.

You started eating in silence, not an uncomfortable silence, you were just enjoying your food.

He had to eat a really bad-looking soup and as soon as you mentioned your thoughts you regretted it. He made you taste it. It was worse than you expected, you drank both your and Lewis’s glass of water in less than 5 seconds while Lewis just laughed his head off with tears in his eyes.

Both of you were lying in bed just talking about the day, your trip, his qualy…You were about the leave the room when he mentioned he would call his family, as he always did before races, but he asked you to stay.

It was a long time since you last saw them. So when Lewis finally mentioned you being there, he dragged you towards him until you were literally with your head on his chest so you could fit in the screen, he even circled your waist to keep you in place. Don’t know what his parents thought honestly.

The thing is when he finally shut down the computer you stayed like that and you didn’t even realised. It was just a comfortable position.

“What??” Lewis asked not hearing what you just said.

“I said…” you talked lifting your head so he could hear your, finding his face already closer to yours “I’d forgotten how your parents look. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them”.

“I know” he hissed and you drawn your eyebrows together, burying your face into his chest.

“Go brush your teeth, for God’s sake. That soup it’s disgusting!” you whined while hearing his laughs echoing the room.

“I’ll go gladly…as soon as you move out of me” he teased, but you rolled to the other side and he finally got up. “Then I can finally kiss you” he smirked before walking into the bathroom.

“I don’t want to kiss you!” You hissed back without hiding the giggles.

“Oh! Come on! Just to see if I’m better than Luca!” He shouted, and you almost choked on your own breath when yo heard his name.

“What?” You asked wanting to make sure you heard right and it wasn’t just a misunderstanding, at the end he was talking with his toothbrush in his mouth. But you didn’t get an answer, you just heard him brush his teeth for a few more seconds until he opened the door.

“Luca. Wasn’t that the name of your ex? The one he cheated?” He asked while walking back towards the bed.

“Yep. Why do you ever think of him? I’m over him, it seems like you’re not” you laughed watching him lay next to you comfortably.

“I just think he’s kinda stupid” he said looking at the ceiling “out of all the girls he could have” he stopped and turned to look at you, who were already looking at him “he had you. And he cheated” he evilly laughed. But you knew he wasn’t laughing at you, he was laughing at him, at his silly mistake.

“He was an asshole anyways… He didn’t like my tattoo, can you believe it?” Both of you laughed as you placed your hand over your ribs, where it was. Lewis turned to you completely, he was laying on his side facing you, watching you caress your tattoo and soon after placing his hand over yours.

“Well I really like it” he mumbled in a whisper. You didn’t say a word, sometimes they were just so overrated. So you just kissed him, a slow but still fast kiss that he didn’t seem to mind, he didn’t broke it.

“Fuck, sorry” you shyly said, not really knowing what happened. You were about to stand up and leave, but Lewis held your wrist.

“Told you you would wanna kiss me” he said with that proud smirk on his face “I must say I wasn’t expecting it”

“I wasn’t expecting it either” you laughed feeling much more relaxed now that he just joked.

“Then let’s do it right” he whispered making you laugh at his seduced tone.

But you didn’t move when he got closer again, you didn’t got nervous or shy when he placed his hand on the back of your neck and your waist to pull you closer… in fact you just pulled him closer yourself, grabbing his face until he was on top of you, kissing you as desperately as you were kissing him back.

You didn’t talk during that time, wanting to feel everything, you only asked him to turn off the lights when you saw he was starting to undressed and knowing you would be next.

You could swear there wasn’t a single part of your body he left unkissed, from your face to you stomach, your arms, legs… taking his time while you just enjoyed it.

He asked you if you wanted to go on, he didn’t need to say with what. Who were you to say no to him? You just nodded, kinda silly knowing the room was dark.

“YN??” He asked, not hearing your response.

“Yes Lewis” you huffed laughing, trying not to sound so desperate, although he was the one who sounded more hopeless.

“Thank God” he huffed before moving his mouth back to your left breast.

You heard a plastic being ripped and rapidly moved your hand to guide him inside yourself, both of you letting out so desperate moans when he was finally inside. It wasn’t hard, rush or dirty, it was just sex. Sex that somehow felt so intimate, Lewis always keeping you between his arms as he thrust slowly into you, keeping you as quiet as possible by kissing your lips when he reached that spot he learned not even a minute ago.

And although the sex was slow, both of you ended fast, and felt asleep even faster without saying a world, just Lewis got up and cleaned while you were already falling asleep. You did felt the bed dipping in the other side after a while and his arm around your waist, pulling you to his body as close as before.

The next morning was strange. Lewis was dressing up when you opened your eyes, but you were still naked in his bed.

“Morning” he said when he realised you had your eyes open.

“Hi” you answered, getting up and walking to the bathroom to dress up in the same clothes as yesterday, you didn’t have more in his room.

“YN, yesterday night-“ “It’s fine Lewis” you cut him off when you were already walking outside the bathroom “you were better than Luca, bu the way”.

“Really??” He proudly smirk, the old Lewis coming back. You just nodded trying to hide your too obvious smile, but you clearly didn’t achieved your goal when you saw Lewis lowering his head to reach your ears while you laced up your shoes “we can do it any other time” he whisper.

“I don’t know why, I just thought you were more aggressive in bed” you laughed and looked up at him.

“Oh so you thought of me in bed before?” He asked lifting his eyebrows, laughing when he saw your red cheeks. “I can be aggressive if I want, but it wasn’t the case yesterday night . It wasn’t just sex, you know?” “Okay. Let’s go before my mums gets mad” you got up, deciding on thinking the words he just said later.

Lewis and you started walking towards your mum’s room. You needed to shower and changed, the driver needed to go to the track already. Only a knock was necessarily before the door was open.

“Look at you two” she smiled watching you both in the doorstep, without ignoring the smiles you didn’t try to hide anyways. “Did you use protection?” She shamelessly asked while grabbing her back, already ready to leave.

“Mum!” You yelled.

“We did” Lewis answered as unashamedly as your mum.

“Good. Bye honey, see you at the track” she said kissing your cheek and leaving with lewis ads normal as always while you stood there, wanting the earth to swallow you up.

When you arrived to the circuit, the race had already started. It was even louder than Saturday the day before, you were amazed by the atmosphere since the first second.

You stayed in the garage playing with Jack, Toto and Sussie’s son, while watching the race. It was kinda boring and monotone, but the last few laps… Gasly’s car on fire, Max retired, Checo’s accident that made him retire, the mclarens didn’t even make it to the points but Haas did… it was just different, and you silently loved that the roles were finally changing after so many years.

You didn’t see lewis, who managed to get in the podium last second of the race, after a few hours, back in the hotel. You mum reached your shared room and she told you Lewis was in his, so you went there.

“Hello!” You smiled when he opened the door.

“I need to tell you something”

“Well me too. Congratulations!!” You smiled even bigger and threw yourself into her arms. He took advantage of the hug and lifted you up, taking you inside his room between giggles.

“Okay, so” he said kneeling in front of you.

“Wow!! already proposing??? We only had sex for one night!” You joked with your hands on your hips.

“Shut up idiot, I’m lacing my shoe” he laughed “We had sex one time but it’s not like we didn’t like each other since before” he talked while looking down, lacing his shoe. “Right?” He asked again once he stood up.

“Is this your way of telling me what I think your telling me?” You challenged him with furrowed eyebrows.

“Yes” he simply said “And I would really like to know if you feel the same…” “And what do you think, Lewis?” You laughed, enjoying how vulnerable he was behaving in front of you.

“That you do??” He unsurely said. You laughed again while nodding, and Lewis, with a huge grin on his face, took your hand in his.

“Do you trust me?” He asked, laughing when it was taking you too long to answer as you clearly doubting. “Well I don’t care, let’s go anyways” he smiled holding you hand tighter and dragging you out of the hotel.

“Where????” You asked concerned. He looked back and smiled at you.

“You’ll see”.

After a few minutes walking he stopped in the entrance of a tall modern building, ringing the bell to the floor 8th. You heard the buzz and Lewis pushed the door, holding it open for you.

“Where are we, Lewis?” You asked without getting into the hallway, standing by the door.

“It’s a friend’s house. I want you to met, and maybe he could do us a favor” he explained but kept on talking when you saw your funny face “nothing sexual, I promise” he laughed. “Just trust me… it has something to do with giraffes”

“Giraffes?” That was your magic word. Like Roscoe when he heard the words ‘park’ or ‘treat’, lifting his ears and turning his head, as soon as you heard or saw a giraffe a smile that you couldn’t control formed on your lips. “Come on” you said running until you reached the elevator, hearing Lewis’s laugh behind.

“It’s the 8th floor” he said once you entered the small elevator. You pushed the button, the doors closed and started going up.

“What?” You asked when you caught Lewis staring at you through the mirror.

“Nothing” he smiled shaking his head. “You’re exited, aren’t you?”

“I am. And I don’t even know why, I don’t know why the hell your taking me here” you said in an angry tone that made Lewis smile. In the hall there was an open door, a tall man standing there. First thing you notice were the tattoos. He had ink even on his neck.

“So, I told him…” Lewis started talking once he introduced you both “he’s a tattoo artist, and that maybe you wanted to get done the giraffe tattoo you told me about…” he nervously talked. But a big smiled formed in your face, and he knew he didn’t mess up.

“Well, come this way” Jack, the tattoo artist and Lewis’s friend guided you through the corridor until you reached a room / studio, where he had already some drafts of giraffes. You joked on wanting them all, they were just really good. Thank God Lewis helped you decide, and sooner than expected you were already laying in the back gurney, with your top off, ready to start.

Jack reached for a stool and place it next to the gurney, turning on lots of lights so he can see well what he was doing. Lewis moved his chair too, getting closer to the gurney, closer to you. “Alright, so I’m going to clean the skin with some alcohol, okay?” You watched him grab a gauze and soaking it with the liquid, jus then he was about to rub it against your skin Lewis talk.

“Why don’t I do this while you got the design ready??” He asked and Jack accepted, joking about only helping with that and not with the actual tattoo.

“You alright?” Lewis asked while he moved the gauze cleaning your skin.

“Yeah, it’s just cold. Thank you for remember my obsession with giraffes”

Lewis laughed in response before continuing his task. You turned your face to watch him through the corner of your eyes. He was really concentrated, or at least that’s what his face showed, it even made you blushed at how he was staring at that random place of your skin, behind your neck.

“I’m back!” Jack shouted entering the room “Let’s get this done YN, you ready?” You just nodded and he placed the paper on your skin, leaving the sketch already drawn. Then he turned on the machine used to tattoo “this is music to my ears” he mumbled making you chuckled before the needle hit your skin for the first time. “You alright?” He asked.

“Yeah” you said avoiding to move your head.

“If you need me to stop just say it. It’s a painful spot” He said as he keep on with the tattoo, but you didn’t miss the look that lewis gave you, one of them that showed the ‘I told you it was going to hurt’ he told her a few days ago.

You didn’t need to stop, but when he started to detail the drawing, it felt much more uncomfortable.

“Fuck that hurts” you mumbled when the needle hit a particular spot on your skin.

“It’s almost done” Lewis, who hand’t move from your side, reassure you placing his hand in your arm.

“Your doing good YN, you didn’t even need to stop before” Jack talked.

“I just want it to be over as soon as possible” you said, and even him had to stop tattooing so he could properly laugh at your comment, but it hurt again when he got back.

You mumbled some more swear words, closing your eyes as much as you could trying to avoid the pain.

“Hold my hand” Lewis said in a whisper.

“I might break it” you whispered back, but took it anyways, squeezing his hand when the needle hurt more than expected as he responded with another squeeze.

“It’s done, YN” Jack finally said admiring his own work of art. Lewis stood up of his chair to take a proper look at it, not letting your hand go.

“That’s really good” he mumbled surprised “you’ll love it” he talked looking at you while he sat on the chair again. Jack left the room for a moment and he lost the priceless first reaction of you seeing his work.

“Thank you thank you thank you!” You hugged Jack when he came back, making both men laugh at your enthusiasm.

Jack gave you some kind of ointment before leaving. You promised him if you ever wanted another tattoo you would call him.

When you finally arrived you went to your room, but your mum was already sleeping. So, with your pjs on, you went to Lewis’s. Again.

“Can you help me with he ointment? Mum is already sleeping” you asked kinda shy asked feeling as if you were disturbing him already.

“Yeah, sure. Come on in” silly of you to think you ever bothered him.

You walked into his room, as messy as last night. Unsure on what to do, he was the one who moved behind you, ready to to apply the ointment. In silence, you took your shirt off and moved your hair to the side.

“Does it hurt?” He asked while applying it.

“Not now” you answer.

And then silence until he talked again.

“Do you want to stay here tonight?” He asked when he finished, making you turn around to face him “Not to repeat last night events… just to sleep”.

“Should I?” You huffed “I don’t know” you answer the question yourself “but I really want to” you smiled hearing Lewis sighed, as if you just lifted a weight from his shoulders. You laid in bed in the same spot as the other night, Lewis following behind.

“Night Lewis” you were the one who talked, with your back turned to him, you couldn’t lay facing up because of the tattoo. “And thank you for the tattoo, for planning it and for paying for it” you heard a soft chuckle coming for him lips, and somehow it made you feel calmer.

“It was nothing” he said “Can I?” Just when he pronounced the words you felt his arms softly resting around your waist, and that’s when you relaxed completely.

“We had sex yesterday night on this same bed and now your asking me if you can spoon me?” you laughed.

“Well, somehow I feel like this is much more intimate than sex” he whispered at the back of your neck, breathing the minty scent of the ointment, but not for too long, because you turned around to face him. When you did, Lewis pulled you closer to his body until there was no more physical space between you two. You quickly pecked his lisp, almost in a friendly, innocent way. But Lewis, he leaned slowly to kiss your forehead in the most lovely way you could possibly imagine.

“I really want you to come to more races” he whispered caressing your cheek.

“I think I’ll be coming to more races” you giggled. “Just to see Roscoe, though”

“Yeah, sure” he softly laugh, pulling you closer to him and just staying like that for the night.

TAGLIST (thank you all for the support♥️): @sad-fridge2323 @tony-stank3 @charlottemount @lsspsunflower @laura-naruto-fan1998 @isntmadrid @simxican @moneymasnn @readerselegance @tomhollandisabae @idkiwantchocolatee @luneeya @love-all-things-writing @fangirls94 @originaltimestorm @thatchickwiththecamera @justmemewriting

#lewis hamilton #lewis hamilton imagine #lewis hamilton x reader #lewis hamilton x you #lewis Hamilton fanfic #Formula 1 #Formula One #formula 1 fanfic #formula one fanfiction #formula one fanfic #f1 #f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #f1 fandom

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mistressemmedi · 6 years ago

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So, settle down and enjoy the saga that is: Kimi and the mistery vacant seat at Ferrari.

Usual disclaimers: sources are not confirmed, all rumours, bla bla, take it with a grain of salt.

Begin your read under the cut:

It all starts with Marchionne. If you've read articles from places like Autosport and such publications, there have always been rumours about how much Marchionne loved the Alfa Romeo brand and Charles Leclerc.

If you remember from last year (fairly sure I've reposted some of the articles myself) there was a running joke about Marchionne bringing bad luck to the team, and the fights that him and Arrivabene would have over the team performance. If you also remember, it came down to Marchionne publicly criticizing the team and especially Kimi, to the point where Maurizio Arrivabene had to basically state multiple occasions that the team (read: fuck what Marchionne thinks) has Kimi's back and didn't consider him "old". Proof came when confirmed him again for another year.

Nevertheless, Marchionne rebranded Fiat-Chrysler and made it into the succeful business that it is today, bringing it back from the edge a bankruptcy and failure.

His plans was to to do the exact same with Ferrari. The team needed rebranding, needed a boost of fresh energy. Enough with the "old model" of the race team, clearly it stopped working for them around the time Fernando joined them and Lewis started taking names on the grid. Also, right around when Schumacher (who had been with Ferrari for so long) showed up to help out Mercedes get started and eventually became the powerhouse that it is today.

Let's be real, even if nobody knows what the hell F1 is, they definitely know who Ferrari is. It's a symbiotic relationship, there's not one without the other. But the truth is, the sport moved forward and evolved. Ferrari didn't.

So, time for some drastic changes. The original plan was to have Jules Bianchi spearhead that change. For obvious reasons, that didn't happen. So the team development stalled.

Until last year, when Marchionne had his way and fired a good chunk of the team, replacing them with "in house" promotions. The right ideas weren't getting at the top, because the team had this stupid ass (and I can confirm, very Italian) notion of "It's worked for us thus far, why change it". Tensions came to a breaking point when Allison left. But we saw snippets of it, when Ruth Buscombe left Ferrari. And let's be real, she's relatively young in the field. Who in their right mind leaves Ferrari to go first to Haas, a baby team, and then Sauber, a clear backmarker? Talk about suicide of your career. But imagine how bad it was for Ruth to have to leave. Or Allison to be kicked out.

So, Marchionne wanted change, Arrivabene didn't. Remember, he's a team principal now but he was Ferrari's "cigarette man" (we all know who's the main sponsor) before that and had an old school mentality.

So while the technical staff issue was partially solved, the problem of the drivers remained.

In comes Charles Leclerc, a child prodigy basically. Didn't skip steps like Verstappen, and delivered results constantly in junior categories despite life's hard blows, remaining level headed.

Perfect candidate, but everyone has seen the story of the "young prodigy driver" in the junior categories, only for them to graduate in F1 and completely tank it.

So, in comes the Alfa Romeo-Sauber project: final step of the rebranding of Alfa, allows Ferrari to experiment and for Charles to test the waters without too much pressure.

What people weren't expecting, was Charles to do so well in such a short amount of time.

Marchionne had the inkling that it was going to happen, so he started to push for Leclerc to join Ferrari at the end of the season, or at least fast-track his promotion.

Remember, Marchionne also knew he had limited time.

Unfortunately Marchionne passed away, but John Elkann, who saw it very much like him, started to push for the team to finish what the deceased CEO wanted (along with other’s within the FCA circle - it was time for a changeee)

Problem was, Camilleri. New big boss at Ferrari. Why? Massive friend of Kimi. And a massive fan.

While all of this was happening, as a side note, Kimi was told from the start “Yo this is Sebastian’s year. You’ll race, we’ll let you win and at the front if the situation calls for it, but you are a clear second. But the contract states you get to race the full season, so off you go. Don’t worry about the replacement rumors”. At the same time, the tech staff at Ferrari basically built a car around Vettel. Like... For him basically. But we all knew it at the beginning of the season.

Anyways, in comes this weekend in Italy. This was supposed to be a triumph, Ferrari 1-2, Vettel on the top step, Kimi the sidekick and who the fuck cares about the third spot.

In comes John Elkann - Spa didn’t go exactly... Smoothly as hoped. The championship has not been a winning smash as hoped. Sebastian is in danger of not winning it again, the constructor’s championship will most likely be dominated by Merc, again. The Seb-Kimi combo is not getting the results promised, despite it all, and Marchionne was probably right.

The only constant, is Leclerc blowing everyone away with his results (Verstappen who?)

Here’s where it gets hazy: a conversation happened between Elkann, Camilleri, Raikkonen and his manager on Friday - the bottom line? Kimi is out. Charles is in (this conversation was also reported by Autosport - I wonder who spilled the beans on that, mhmmmm....)

Let’s be real - had Marchionne been around, this would have happened after Monza’s win. Imagine it, just how it would have been spun “We thank Kimi for his hard work, for his contribution in Italy, at home. Amazing asset for the team, couldn’t have done it without him etc. etc. But it’s fair he enjoys his retirement, and we move forward with Charles etc. etc.” It would have been sad, but it would have been a triumph and all that.

Marchionne is dead, so Kimi is told that he will stay. Until he is not. Elkann doesn’t approach it lightly, he simply says “Soz man, time to go”

(I’m not sure if he was going to be kicked to Haas, highly doubt it. But the point being Charles would go to Ferrari, Giovinazzi to Sauber).

Now, imagine being in Kimi’s shoes - you’ve been jostled around all season, you’re treated as “second” always, because that’s just how it is.

So he’s upset, his manager is upset, and most importantly? His side of the garage is upset. Remember this, they LOVE him.

So, around comes quali. Vettel was supposed to get pole. That’s just how it was planned. Until, Kimi’s side of the garage had enough, went against orders and sent him out to clock a faster time and not help out Vettel.

Result? Kimi sets fastest lap, gives a massive fuck you to Elkann and Vettel is furious because that was his pole and Kimi is out there with an advantage over him and that was not team orders.

Remember his radio? It wasn’t about the slipstream, it was about that side of the garage defying team orders.

In comes race day - fine Kimi has had his moment, but he’s been told EXPLICITLY to work as a stopper to Lewis.

(We all made a bit fun of him about how crappy he is at starts, Vettel getting the lead as usual etc.)

Only problem being... Start comes around, and Kimi jumps Vettel and blocks him for a few seconds as well, leaving him in dirty air.

Vettel sees red (ahahahaha), can’t focus and we see how that went. A mistake, which HE KNEW he couldn’t afford, yet makes it a bit like a rookie.

Kimi is past giving a fuck, Ferrari is literally scrambling for strategies because that’s NOT how it was supposed to go, and falls for the undercut like a goddamn sack of potatoes.

A distaster, and Lewis comes up on top because him and Merc were simply better. And Bottas acted as a sacrificial lamb (LEAVE THIS FINNS ALONE FFS).

Where does this leave the team? Kimi’s manager showed up with Raikkonen’s contract, basically stating “Good fucking luck trying to break this”, Kimi is 100% done with this shit, and Vettel?

Vettel realized at the start of the Italian GP, that it’s no longer about him vs another driver: it’s now his vs two drivers, Lewis and Kimi. And he doesn’t have a support of a second driver any more.

So, Ferrari has two weeks to fix these fucking political issues, because now they have two sides of the garage actively working against each other. Which leaves an easy win for Merc.

Edit: I thought this was a bit far fetched, embellished etc. But an Italian publication (y’all can do your own search) came out with a similar story I just wrote, late in the evening today. Which means people are talking, and you bet your ass that it is people who are on Kimi’s side.

Fin.

#kimi raikkonen #f1 #ferrari #gossip in the paddock

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f1 · 2 years ago

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Why Vasseur is completely convinced that Ferraris car concept can compete with Red Bull

New Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur says he has full confidence in the squad’s ability to challenge Red Bull as the F1 season develops, despite their rivals starting 2023 in dominant style. Max Verstappen led home team mate Sergio Perez in last weekend’s opener for a comfortable one-two finish, with the third-placed Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso some 38 seconds adrift. READ MORE: Leclerc calls on Ferrari to ‘understand what went wrong’ after painful Bahrain GP retirement Meanwhile, the lead Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and lead Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton crossed the finish line almost a minute behind, as both drivers battled with tyre degradation. It compounded an already difficult day for the Scuderia, who lost Charles Leclerc in the closing stages due to an unspecified power unit problem, and raised questions over their readiness to challenge for title glory. This feature is currently not available because you need to provide consent to functional cookies. Please update your cookie preferences 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix: Leclerc cries ‘no power!’ as he’s forced out of the race from P3 However, Vasseur highlighted Ferrari’s pace in qualifying as a reason to be optimistic moving forward, given that Leclerc lapped just a tenth slower than Verstappen on the first Q3 runs before opting against another lap to save tyres. Asked if he has faith that Ferrari’s current car can be developed to challenge Red Bull in the coming races, given Mercedes’ plans to go “radical” with future updates, Vasseur stated: “I’m convinced, completely convinced about this. READ MORE: New Ferrari chief Vasseur to order 'full investigation' into Leclerc's DNF in Bahrain “I never saw a car able to match the pace of another one in quali and not be able to in the race. It’s a matter of set-up and some choices on the car – it’s not a matter of concept at all.” Vasseur also pointed to 2023 being the longest campaign in F1 history, with 22 more races to come between now and the season finale in Abu Dhabi in November. He is, though, naturally keen to understand their performance and reliability issues as quickly as possible – in a similar vein to Red Bull when they encountered technical woes early last year. Vasseur oversaw his first Grand Prix weekend from the Ferrari pit wall in Bahrain “It’s never good to start with a DNF and I would’ve preferred to finish like Red Bull, for sure,” said Vasseur, who joined Ferrari from midfield runners Alfa Romeo over the winter. “But now I want to stay consistent in my position. I told the team before [the test] in Bahrain two weeks ago that the championship won’t be over in Bahrain – it doesn’t matter the result in any case. It was true for the winter test, and it’s true for [the first race]. READ MORE: ‘A bit of a reality check’ – Sainz worried by Ferrari’s gap to Red Bull and Aston Martin after season opener “The most important [thing] now is to be able to have a clear picture of the situation, where we are failing, do a proper analysis on this and to come back stronger as soon as possible.” Ferrari sit fourth in the constructors’ standings after the opening round, 31 points down on leaders Red Bull, with Aston Martin and Mercedes slotting between them. via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

#F1 #Why Vasseur is ‘completely convinced’ that Ferrari’s car concept can compete with Red Bull #Formula 1

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f1 · 2 years ago

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'We are a long way off' Mercedes drivers left frustrated after first practice sessions in Bahrain

Lewis Hamilton admitted that Mercedes were "a long way off" rivals Red Bull after the first day of running in Bahrain – while team mate George Russell called on his team to find “more lap time” ahead of Sunday’s season opener. Hamilton was 10th in the opening practice session in Bahrain, and followed it up by finishing eighth quickest as temperatures dropped under the lights in FP2 – where conditions are more reflective of those found in qualifying and the race. FP2: Alonso leads Verstappen during second practice in Bahrain as track action ramps up After jumping out of the W14 cockpit on Friday evening, Hamilton said: “We found out we are a long way off. We kind of knew that a little bit in the test, but it’s a big gap. "I’m trying everything I can out there [but looking to] Red Bull, just looking at the long runs they are a second a half faster. So, we’ve got a lot to work on. This feature is currently not available because you need to provide consent to functional cookies. Please update your cookie preferences ‘We found out we’re a long way off’ – Hamilton's verdict after Friday practice in Bahrain “I think I got the car to the best place I can get. Set-up-wise we can continue to tweak a little here and there, but it’s going to be small bits here and there, which is milliseconds. “It’s not going to be the closing of the gap of a second [to Red Bull]. Nonetheless we’ll just keep our head down tonight, we’ll go through the data, continue to work, and try and progress tomorrow. But we’ve got to try and find out if there is any way we can find performance overnight. “Do I believe we can close the gap at some stage? Yes. But I think it’s quite hard with the concept we have.” READ MORE: ‘We’ll bring it as soon as we can’ – Mercedes prepping ‘different’ sidepod upgrade Hamilton remarked on the pace of Ferrari and Aston Martin, whose driver Fernando Alonso led FP2 on Friday night. “I thought Ferrari were second, but I think on the long runs we are quite close to Ferrari, It looks like the Aston is second and we are between third and fourth, so we are kind of where we were last year, if not a little behind. But we are just on the wrong track, and so we’ve got to just continue to graft away, and get ourselves on the right track. But right now, we’re long way off the guys at the front.” This feature is currently not available because you need to provide consent to functional cookies. Please update your cookie preferences Russell admits Mercedes aren’t yet extracting the full potential from their new car Team mate Russell also agreed with Hamilton’s sentiments on Aston Martin, while the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix winner also implored Mercedes to understand why their race pace is much better than their qualifying pace. “For sure there is a similar trend to our race pace looking better than our quali pace, this is something we need to continue to investigate and look out,” said Russell. READ MORE: ‘They could be a real surprise’ – Red Bull and Ferrari talk up Aston Martin’s chances ahead of 2023 opener “There are a few teams out there looking very strong, obviously Aston Martin probably the biggest surprise, they’ve clearly done a very good job over the winter. “This is only our fourth day with this new car, we just need to make sure we’ve got it in the window where it is reaching its full potential, and probably pretty sure we’ve not got it there. “It’s still early days but clearly we want to be higher up the timesheet than we are. So, that’s no secret.” via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

#F1 #'We are a long way off' – Mercedes drivers left frustrated after first practice sessions in Bahrain #Formula 1

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vro0m · 3 years ago

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vro0m’s rewatch - 31/288

2008 Italian GP

Recap and GIFs!

If you were disappointed by that Seb video you might wanna check out this recap!

And Monza was ALSO a wet quali?! Seriously. I can’t wait to count how many wet races happened that season when I’ll do the overall recap. It’s so weird.

Lewis ran into some issues in quali? He’s 15th on the grid?! So he spun in quali because for some reason they put him on inters while it was raining. Not smart. Seb is pole though! The youngest driver in history to take pole position, and the first one for Toro Rosso!

And it might rain today too. At the moment the track is wet but I don’t think it’s raining. Of course, there’s talk about the outcome of the Belgian GP. Charlie Whiting told Ron Dennis “yes it should be ok” when asked about the situation but as Dennis says, it’s the stewards who decide, and they decided Lewis didn’t give back enough advantage to Raikkonen (again, Max Verstappen 2021 Jeddah GP comes to mind). The other drivers agree that Lewis should have waited longer to try to overtake him again after he gave back the place. I mean I agree too, as I said in the last recap, it was obviously controversial. A whole 25 seconds penalty might be a little bit severe though.

The journalists say maybe the stewards’ decision is warranted but the inconsistencies are an issues. !!! Can’t believe it’s already a problem back then lol. They say when you watch different Formula races and they’re not all handed the same penalties it’s difficult to understand + why would it take so long to make a decision? They say they tried to talk about it with Mosley as he’s there that weekend but couldn’t get an interview with him (I mean yeah, no shit, the whole n*zi pr*stitutes scandal happened what, a couple of months before at this point?)

So the grid looks weird : Seb, Kovalainen, Webber. Massa 6th, Raikkonen 14th, Lewis 15th. I’m here for very happy baby Seb though!

Lewis says of his qualifying “it’s just one of those days where you think what was I thinking” (yeh I’d like to know too cause wtf man) He says the decision was made by his engineer and himself to try the inters. The data afterwards showed his rear brakes weren’t really working cause they were too cold.

The journalist says he knows he can’t talk about many aspects of the last GP but he asks how long did the exhilaration from racing like that last.

He answers normally it would last for a long time but when you have “.....Stuff” happening like they did it kind of brings it down. He was very happy with the job he did and the fact that he never gave up. He says he finds the grid for this GP exciting as it’s kinda flipped around.

They’re headed for the grid. Massa is already running wide. That’s worrying. Interestingly they changed his engine, but only after quali.

I like that Louise has a good rapport with the drivers. You can tell when they talk to her that they’re friendly, even when she asks hard questions or sees them just after they had to retire during races.

We don’t know yet if they’re going to start under Safety Car. They did so for the GP2 race but Martin Brundle says it was actually worse in a way because the Safety Car goes in right before the long straight to the first corner so in the end, they got there at even higher speed that they would have if they had started on the grid.

And it’s raining.

Formation lap. Oh Bourdais can’t start his car, he’s gonna have to start from the back. Poor boy. His seat for next year isn’t secured yet and he was crying after quali. Loads of spray. I’m nervous. Oh they got Bourdais’ car started on the grid, he’s gonna join the other now? WAIT THAT WAS ACTUALLY THE START OF THE RACE? They didn’t do a formation lap then? I’m confused.

And they’re racing, then, I guess?

Ah, wait, they went a full lap around and then started the race under Safety Car. Which means Bourdais is lapped I think. Welp. Anyway, the GP is underway now. Safety Car in... and go!

Soooo much spray. Glock cuts a corner and tucks back behind whoever is in front of him lol I can’t see anything. Apparently, after Spa, the official rule is : if you give back a place you have to wait at least until the next corner to try to overtake again. (I don’t remember if that’s what happened in 2021 Jeddah, I guess we’ll see when I get there with my rewatch, probably years from now because it’s clearly gonna take ages lol) Ooop, Lewis also cut a corner, and while racing Raikkonen again. Well he’s not making the same mistake twice and gives back the advantage as stated just above.

10 laps in, Lewis is up in 12th but struggling. Oooh now he overtakes Raikkonen, perfect! He’s starting to show some pace.

Nope, he pushed someone on the grass... Eesh. It was Glock coming back at him after he passed him. He’s now racing Kubica for 8th. He has to be careful being that aggressive if he doesn’t wanna get more penalties. The journalists say he might not have seen him though, with the spray. Idk. Clean overtake on Kubica though, very beautiful.

And we hear more rain might come and last. Seb pits from the lead and gets back out in 4th. Lewis overtakes Alonso, and it wasn’t as clean this time. They made contact? Unsure. Oh no, not again, he cut the corner after overtaking someone and has to give back the place. It keeps happening during this race, and not only to him. Everybody seems to struggle in that one chicane.

Lap 20. Kovalainen pits, and Massa, which puts Seb back in the lead! Lewis is now 4th. Now 3rd. Now 2nd! Well, of course he still has to pit but damn, he started 15th. First Sewis podium maybe? Lewis is less than a second behind him right now. They’ll both have to stop at some point.

And here we go, halfway through the race, Lewis pits. He gets full wets, we must hope for that rain then. So the standings are : Seb, Kovalainen, Alonso and Kubica who haven’t stopped yet, Webber, then Heidfeld who also has to pit, Massa and 10 seconds behind is Lewis in 8th. But I think everybody in front of Massa who’s already pitted are on a 2-stops strategy so if Seb can pull a big enough gap to Massa to make his second pit stop, potentially Massa is 2nd and Lewis 3rd?

With 20 laps to go, Massa pits and switches for inters. It’s true it’s still not raining. Everybody is pitting for inters at the moment. Including Seb and Lewis!

With 16 laps to go then, it’s Seb, Kovalainen, Kubica, Alonso, Heidfeld, Massa, Lewis, who’s going fastest at the moment.

10 laps to go. Now they announce light rain again, but still nothing at this point. Lewis is slow for some reason, Webber is closing in on him. 5 laps to go. Webber is less than 0.5 behind him, it’s not looking good. He tries to overtake, but Lewis didn’t leave him much room to do so. Webber is forced to cut the chicane. It’s weird to be constantly expecting the DRS to kick in when they’re following each other that closely and of course it never does because it wasn’t a thing back then lol.

They talk about Vettel’s attitude towards the media : “He’s happy, he’s friendly, he answers your questions, he shakes hands with the soundman, he shakes hands with the cameraman, and the interviewer, and he thanks you for the interview. He’ll give GP winners a bad name!” and “he has a fantastic sense of humour!”.

Coulthard crashed into Nakajima and there’s debris on the track, Massa drives on it as he goes by. Hopefully no one gets a puncture.

Last lap...

And it’s the end of the race!

Seb is the youngest F1 GP winner ever! Kovalainen P2, Kubica P3, Lewis in 7th.

Kubica hugs Seb, cute! He’s elated on the podium, it’s adorable. He’s also very winded.

Lewis says he thinks he drove a good race, unfortunately it didn’t rain. He congratulates Seb. It was damage control anyway. He admits once he was behind Massa, he struggled to keep up the pace and had to look after his tyres and had to defend whatever points he could get out of this.

He says in the end, it’s a relief he only lost one point to Massa.

#f1 #lewis hamilton #sebastian vettel #2008 #2008 italian gp #vro0m's race reviews

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