Modern Vespa

Well Verstappen did get him removed from his position as an F1 Steward so I'm not surprised.

Alonso's friction with Hamilton started when he expected to be treated like the No1 Driver but Ron Dennis wasn't having any of it.

Ralf Schumacher thinks that Alonso will walk away from F1 at the end of 2026 but I think it's going to be sooner and yes, Honda will have a say so as to who will be going driving for Aston Martin.

Apparently Lawrence vents his spleen at the factory staff each time the team doesn't do well.

I think that it's going to be a very long year for that team and I also don't think that Adrian Newey is going to save them.

Herbert was removed because of his very anti Verstappen commentary in sports media being at rather obvious odds with unbiased stewarding.

As to Newey and AM I agree.
For 2026 things will be wayWAY different anyway.

Robert Reid has resigned.

Hmmm.... Yuki 1.3 off of Norris. Assuming same rubber and fuel as Norris and him .3 behind Verstappen that makes


That would make something rotten at RB as well as at Ferrari

Nah, seriously FP2 is more of a free pass to try stuff. Drivers as well as car things.

Well.... that was unexpected

Kuddos for Gasley* and Sainz
Not bad by Yuki either; half a kuddo for him

Promises for tomorrow with two stops and good undercut options.

* he was beeped so probably gets a hefty fine

Just saw! Cool grid should make for a great race.
Looking forward to tomorrow!

Surprised Max is so far down the ladder.

There is something REAL rotten in ´Denmark´.
Not only is the top brass abandoning ship, nor the higher moral ´swearing´ clamp down insulting, the stewarding mistakes are not reflecting the level of professionality claimed.

The Ben Sillyman show needs the superstars, they do not need his clown show.
I could understand Max go fishin´ like Casey Stoner did. I mean if you have all like he has, are simply in it for the fun of it, you would not want to be an also ran with community service as the sword of Damocles would you?!

Homo sapiens non urinat in ventum.

That was strange hulk had tracklimites in q2
But he just was in q3 and now demoted to 16
But what about Albon , he should have been in Q3

But if the latter would comment sh*t, hé would be heftily fined

Watching Paris - Roubaix; the race which originates 1896; from befóre cars! where the heroes are still treated and revered as such.

1 Piastri

2 Russell

3 Leclerc

4 Norris

5 Verstappen.

Van der poel got a water bottle thrown at him , so 😩

By a Van Aert fan and the organisers are/will be trying to find him.

At least the Dutch national anthem today (if he don't get a flat tire)

Aaaaaaah

Max is such a little tattletale bitch lolol

Hahahahahahaha he's last 😂😂

I guess the dutch podcast is cancelled for today

Ollie Bearman gets more points for Haas.

Like all the rest when they think they see sómething. Today´s complainung themes were track limits, not leaving space, overtaking out of bounds, contact

Great race by just about all.

Special mention for Yuki whom was in the points just as he is contracted to and that with a car even Max can´t tame. 6th and 9th none too bad for this car no?!

All the penalties for basically rácing make it a bit of a farce imo.

They need to lop 500mm off the width of the cars. Currently they're nearly as wide as a Hummer.

and curtail wheelbase as wheelbese increases effective width in changes of direction.

Then there is downforce. The cars should have less wing.

To reduce groundforce, minimum ground clearance needs be increased.

This will see more overtaking, more drifting etc.

Ah and lower the minimum weight considerably.

Not happening though. They only recently were imposed the significantly heavier larger rims because heavy EV road cars need these to house the larger discs and the small diameter F1 wheels were bad marketing for that

Formula 5000.

Just sayin.

The RedBull situation:
- the car is not performing: no top speed, no grip, no balance, no brakes
- messy pit procedure
- pit equipment faulty
- iffy strategy
Nothing they can´t solve in a week no?!

The only thing they seem to have sorted at the moment is the second driver situation. Yuki is doing

Would be a bit more fun to watch if they got it closer to McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes. And Alpine actually

They miss Jonathan Wheatley so much , yesterday max lost about 8 sec in two pitt stops
If he would be in a Aston Martin that would be bad 😁

Quick thoughts:
1.The McLaren boys have an interesting battle brewing amongst themselves. This will be fun to watch.

2. Russell is also quietly looking like the real deal. (Toto must be wetting himself.)

3. Haas! Genuinely respectable. Nice to see that and hope it continues.

4. My dreams of Ferrari dominance are fading, but not completely gone. Hoping they can make some more adjustments and start taking some podiums.

1 Piastri for the Championship.

2 22 Laps on soft tyres. Impressive.

3 Haas will be the Dark Horses this year.

4 Ferrari Supporters are Dreamers. They will score well in Monaco and Hungary.

Agreed. Thought that before the start.

Russell is a solid one. This race he was not drawing attention but simply véry solid. He was só discreet that even the electronics missed him. Cannot see him (bb) win the championship though. Like Norris, not the killer Piastri is.

Think Alpine is highly surprising. They have the by far weakest engine remember.

Ferrari imo has a challenge with fast star LeClerc and super star Hamilton. Not in a competetive sense but in trying to adapt the car to both. Prioritising the two is a contradiction in terms.

A sailliant detail this race was Ocon being Max´s nemesis again. For some reason Ocon is the one rider he finds tougher to overtake. Without the 8 secs, lost in pit and Ocon uholding him, he´d have had Hamilton.
Anyonse seen the overtake of Ocon btw? I have not and think it the most likely Ocon made a mistake.

I'm comfortable with that label. I would love to see Ferrari win, even though I know they will probably let me down.

But when the tifosi enthusiastically sing the national anthem on the rare occasion that Ferrari actually wins a race, it is magical.

(Also, the Italian National Anthem is one of the better ones)

Yeah, it's quite jolly in its own way.

I'll add Imola to the list of tracks where Ferrari will earn points.

Sprint race Japan

Yuki states he might beat Verstappen once he is tuned in with the car

FP3 just now he is 0,003 secs behind

Still only 9th and 10th though, making the RB only the 6th fastest car.

First 16 within 1 sec. is

He doesnt lack confidence. 🤔

Neither does Stroll.

I actually have to watch until the end of an F-1 race this year.
So got used to 5 min races the past few years.... then switching to my DVD of my Sox beating the Yankees in 7. Never gets old....
O.S.

So and ?

Actually... that makes what happened today even more impressive. From both Max and the team. The team because they turned the car around to within a few tenth of the mangos and Max... he added the rest.
for Yuki too.

Was surprised that Max did so well after middling through the early practices. Mrrrph

It is this capacity to do so surprisingly well which makes him stand out. Sofar his driving is simply a notch above the rest. Again his car is at best the 5th performing.
Cannot see him win the race today nor the championship this year with the current car but his driving it faster than it shouldbe, makes him the champion sofar for me.

Ok, today based on car performance:

Piastri
Russell
LeClerc

Standings:

Piastri
Norris
Verstappen


Now if a good start for Max, no safety cars nor pit mishaps, he might give Piastri a run for it and come 2nd.
It will likely be multiple safety cars though.

I réally hope Yuki has a race, finishing ahead of Hamilton
With a some safety car superluck he might win

Ah and Sainz deserves a clean run for once.

Watching Hamilton struggle with the car has been interesting to watch.

It seems that the Ferrari relies on engine braking to perform which he is struggling to adjust to.

I'm wondering if he's also having an issue with not being the No1 in the team and is having to raise his game which could be difficult now he's coming to the end of his career.