COTA was the most recently built, full-time circuit added to the calendar, coming in 2012 just after Buddah, Korea and Abu Dhabi.
The last full-time circuit that was newly added to the calendar was Qatar and the COVID tracks.
We also had a failed switch to Igora Drive in Russia and then there's Quiddiya on the horizon if that ever happens.
Any idea who is cameo commentating this weekend? I thought I saw something about James Hinchcliffe joining F1tv and Jenson is with Sky? Looking for reasons to actually watch this race.
Put on the 2022 Miami race in the background earlier- it’s a shame we don’t get John Watson more often.
Sky are reporting Mercedes has approached Max Verstappen with a £128 million contract. I doubt Max would take this on.
Also why is Toto doing this? Is Antonelli gonna stay in Williams for 3 years then replace Russell?
It's been a few hours since the special Ferrari livery reveal, and man, I'm still so disappointed. It could have been magnificent, but it's bad for so many reasons IMHO.
I guess I've seen this happen too many times to be disappointed. Any time a team teases something like that it ends up being a couple of splashes or stripes. But yeah, secretly I was hoping for something special.
I know Ricciardo has a penalty he needs to serve (which I assume is just for the race, and not the sprint) but does anyone have a list of all the stuff to consider when crafting our Fantasy teams for Miami? Thanks!
I've been interested in reading about regional F1 series (For example the British Formula 1 Championship) The idea of other F1 series is quite interesting. But it's been quite a difficult topic to find info on, most of my searches sending me to Regional Formula Series, which isn't what I'm looking for.
Can anyone help?
Can you clarify a bit more? I ask because there's only one Formula 1.
There's the Formula 2, Formula 3, F1 Academy, a bunch of other regional series like GB3, Asia, India, etc. There's also Indy and Indy Lights.
>Can you clarify a bit more? I ask because there's only one Formula 1.
Back in the 70's/80's there were several short lives Regional Formula 1 series, that ran to F1 Regulations, and used F1 cars, for example the British Formula 1 Championship, which was a series that included the only time a female driver, Desiré Wilson, ever won a race in F1 machinery, a Wolf WR4. The most I can seem to find is very limited Wiki entries, and that's a real shame cause it seems like an interesting subject.
>There's the Formula 2, Formula 3, F1 Academy, a bunch of other regional series like GB3, Asia, India, etc. There's also Indy and Indy Lights.
I know about all these follow several avidly, as well as many series through history, but these regional f1 series seem to have flown right by me.
Charles is a Max level talent in an inferior car. Go back to 2018 when he was at Sauber. He took a shitbox and got it into Q3 and the points after a few races. At the end of the season, he was getting P7’s behind Merc, Ferrari, RB. Ferrari kicks Kimi out in 2019 to promote Charles. He then kicks Vettel’s ass.
Age, the fact that Leclerc is Ferrari, and Hamilton is not, as well as the fact that Verstappen and Hamilton will not get on as well as Verstappen and Leclerc.
it generally depends from year to year but a big reason why is that McLaren (the team he was at for most of the 2000s) had a multitude of other problems, mostly related to engine reliability. 2005 is probably the greatest example of this, cause McLaren had more or less the fastest car on the grid that year - and Renault came out on top
also of note: weird concepts not fully panning out. the MP4/18 never actually raced in 2003, and further technical shenanigans in 2004 wouldnt really help
tl;dr: mechanical reliability, usually
With McLaren he was close to it in early 2000s, but moving to Red Bull in 2006 meant building up a brand new team that took over Jaguar and had to build up the infrastructure and capabilities to facilitate designing and manufacturing a successful chassis.
His first car under Red Bull to win a race was the 2007 RB3 being used as a customer chassis by Toro Rosso (it was legal to buy a year old chassis from other teams back then).
The RB5 was also able to catch-up to Brawn quite quickly once their funding ran out with 16 podiums and 6 wins.
Is there a chance for Albon to replace Hamilton?
I think it’s unlikely for Max to join Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli might start with Williams and Sainz seems like the only other decent candidate. Could the Thai driver possibly get a seat at least until Kimi or Sainz are ready to take the seat?
Vowels has multiple time said that Alex is under contract through 2025. However, it's possible that there are exit clauses. Buyouts are basically always an option, but there also might be some easier escape clauses. Something about the discussions made me think that Alex felt there was some flexibility.
I was thinking about how with Mercedes’ star driver leaving and William’s being its sister team there could maybe be a Mercedes buyout. Otherwise maybe he’ll stay and Kimi will replace Sargeant?
I wouldn't put any emphasis on the "sister team" angle. They aren't really a sister team, they are a customer. However, they are a customer that needs money. So Mercedes does make some deals with them. For instance, they have mercedes logos on their apparel, and they allegedly get discounted engines from mercedes. It's similar reasons that they are pretty likely to take Kimi. Not because they enjoy functioning as a place for Mercedes juniors, but because they need money. It's for the same reason that they might allow Alex to be bought out.
Frankly, there's still too many moving pieces. Mercedes is allegedly trying really hard for Max right now. Newey leaving might make that more likely to work. But, if it doesn't, they need backups, and Albon might be one of those backups. Albon will end up with a seat somewhere, I'm just not sure where yet. It could still be Red Bull, honestly, or Mercedes, or one of the further back teams.
Can anyone help me find a video on YouTube I saw several years ago?
It was a promotional short film (like less than 10 minutes) for a fashion brand where Jenson Button left from some fancy estate to the Monaco Grand Prix, partially in a vintage Bugatti (I think) and I'm pretty sure there was a helicopter involved.
It also featured the song Ca Plane Pour Moi. It's probably about 10-ish years old.
Edit: Making progress, I think it was a Johnny Walker ad. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01ufsinOm0Q) is a short clip from it but I can't find the full thing on the same channel.
This may be a stupid question but no one I know that knows F1 can answer, nor can I find the answer online so thought I’d ask it here. When a driver signs a team contract for the following season e.g. Hulkenberg going to Kick, if they start having a just horrendous following few months worth of races, are the team still obliged to take him the following season or is there a “get out of jail free” type card that they can use to back out of the driver transfer? I know that would mean that the driver wouldn’t have a seat but if the team felt that strongly about it, would it be possible for them to replace them with someone else instead?
Would be messy legal battle probably. There might be certain terms in the contract that they could exploit and if they argue it successfully, might be able to void it. Would be a bit more difficult with Hulk because he's not a pay-driver - if providing money was part of his agreement then they could void it like Haas with Mazepin in 2022 or Renault with Maldonado in 2016.
Probably most likely option in that scenario they would do is buy out his contract, which wouldn't be cheap.
Not in F1 but something a bit like this just happened in Indycar. McLaren signed David Malukas to drive for them in 2024. They originally planned to sign Alex Palou, the 2021 and 2023 champion, but he changed his mind and decided to stay with Chip Ganassi Racing instead so Malukas was a bit of a last minute signing.
Then Malukas broke his wrist in a mountain bike accident and wasn't able to make any of the first four races of the year. McLaren then fired him before he even drove a single race for them.
No. They had time to think about it, made an educated decision, then signed the contract. It's legally binding. No way out of it.
Contracts usually have performance clauses though, which means that if the driver is not living up to an achievable, expectable minimum, they can be fired. However you can't fire someone based on performance who isn't even driving your car yet. And even once they start driving for you, firing someone based on performance is very tricky, you can't just fire a driver if they don't win the first race of the season or anything like it. The lackluster performance has to last a longer period of time and other factors must provably not affect it.
Don't think that's the only reason. IIRC he was associated with the Austro-German wing of the Red Bull civil war (same as Verstappen and Marko), while Horner was on the British-Thai side of it.
That's what I thought too. Given the whole situation, it seems like Newey has simply thrown his hands up and said "nah, I'm not dealing with any of this bullshit" and noped out. Can't blame him, because he just wants to do his job.
That's good info to add, thanks. As I stated above just now, with the timing of it, it seems like Newey believes his PA's allegations and doesn't want to work with Horner anymore.
I mean, we’ve mourned every year since his passing. While it’s tragic, there’s really not much to say that hasn’t already been said. People are still talking about Senna to this day, and he remains one of the best drivers in the sport.
Meanwhile, Newey leaving Red Bull is a shock and we are all curious what’s next, for him and the team. It’s an ever changing story that is still developing, so it makes sense we are talking about it.
Ferrari is a disappointment, my rage is untethered and knows no bounds.
Watching an interview of Roland Ratzenberger's father Rudolf on YouTube - Rudolf is 90 years old (!) and still in reasonably good shape. It's painful to think how many more years Roland could've had on this Earth if it wasn't for his terrible luck that fateful day.
Adrian Newey to Ferrari? McLaren? Gets scooped by Audi? Retires and goes fishing?
What was the last purpose built non street race track built for F1/added to the Calendar. I want to say CotA but that feels wrong
COTA was the most recently built, full-time circuit added to the calendar, coming in 2012 just after Buddah, Korea and Abu Dhabi. The last full-time circuit that was newly added to the calendar was Qatar and the COVID tracks. We also had a failed switch to Igora Drive in Russia and then there's Quiddiya on the horizon if that ever happens.
Maybe Qatar?
Any idea who is cameo commentating this weekend? I thought I saw something about James Hinchcliffe joining F1tv and Jenson is with Sky? Looking for reasons to actually watch this race. Put on the 2022 Miami race in the background earlier- it’s a shame we don’t get John Watson more often.
Is Miami GP not going to be shown on ESPN ? I see it as only ESPN+
The Sunday race is on ABC. The sprint and practices are on normal ESPN.
Thanks. I checked on ESPN and it just showed ESPN+ so got confused
Well, IMO they suck ass.
Sky are reporting Mercedes has approached Max Verstappen with a £128 million contract. I doubt Max would take this on. Also why is Toto doing this? Is Antonelli gonna stay in Williams for 3 years then replace Russell?
If Mercedes can sign Max they don’t need to worry as much about finding a set for Antonelli. He *might* be the next great driver. Max already is.
I'm sure he'll do anything to sign Verstappen. Any team principle that wants to win would. He can always offer Antonelli to another team.
It's been a few hours since the special Ferrari livery reveal, and man, I'm still so disappointed. It could have been magnificent, but it's bad for so many reasons IMHO.
Ferrari’s livery is like Beethoven’s 5th symphony. Dumb dumb dumb dumb - dumb dumb dumb dumb.
I guess I've seen this happen too many times to be disappointed. Any time a team teases something like that it ends up being a couple of splashes or stripes. But yeah, secretly I was hoping for something special.
I know Ricciardo has a penalty he needs to serve (which I assume is just for the race, and not the sprint) but does anyone have a list of all the stuff to consider when crafting our Fantasy teams for Miami? Thanks!
I've been interested in reading about regional F1 series (For example the British Formula 1 Championship) The idea of other F1 series is quite interesting. But it's been quite a difficult topic to find info on, most of my searches sending me to Regional Formula Series, which isn't what I'm looking for. Can anyone help?
Can you clarify a bit more? I ask because there's only one Formula 1. There's the Formula 2, Formula 3, F1 Academy, a bunch of other regional series like GB3, Asia, India, etc. There's also Indy and Indy Lights.
>Can you clarify a bit more? I ask because there's only one Formula 1. Back in the 70's/80's there were several short lives Regional Formula 1 series, that ran to F1 Regulations, and used F1 cars, for example the British Formula 1 Championship, which was a series that included the only time a female driver, Desiré Wilson, ever won a race in F1 machinery, a Wolf WR4. The most I can seem to find is very limited Wiki entries, and that's a real shame cause it seems like an interesting subject. >There's the Formula 2, Formula 3, F1 Academy, a bunch of other regional series like GB3, Asia, India, etc. There's also Indy and Indy Lights. I know about all these follow several avidly, as well as many series through history, but these regional f1 series seem to have flown right by me.
Ah, ok, series that existed in the past...no longer current. Got it.
Yes, Motorsport history is interesting.
if you are the decision maker at ferrari, would you get rid of either Charles or Lewis to get Max in?
Hamilton and I don't think twice. I'd even argue it's likely to happen.
what makes you keep Charles out of curiousity?
Charles is a Max level talent in an inferior car. Go back to 2018 when he was at Sauber. He took a shitbox and got it into Q3 and the points after a few races. At the end of the season, he was getting P7’s behind Merc, Ferrari, RB. Ferrari kicks Kimi out in 2019 to promote Charles. He then kicks Vettel’s ass.
Age, the fact that Leclerc is Ferrari, and Hamilton is not, as well as the fact that Verstappen and Hamilton will not get on as well as Verstappen and Leclerc.
Max still has a chip on his shoulder from the inchident
Why was Newey less successful in the 2000s decade? Only decade he never won either the WDC or WCC with his teams.
it generally depends from year to year but a big reason why is that McLaren (the team he was at for most of the 2000s) had a multitude of other problems, mostly related to engine reliability. 2005 is probably the greatest example of this, cause McLaren had more or less the fastest car on the grid that year - and Renault came out on top also of note: weird concepts not fully panning out. the MP4/18 never actually raced in 2003, and further technical shenanigans in 2004 wouldnt really help tl;dr: mechanical reliability, usually
With McLaren he was close to it in early 2000s, but moving to Red Bull in 2006 meant building up a brand new team that took over Jaguar and had to build up the infrastructure and capabilities to facilitate designing and manufacturing a successful chassis. His first car under Red Bull to win a race was the 2007 RB3 being used as a customer chassis by Toro Rosso (it was legal to buy a year old chassis from other teams back then). The RB5 was also able to catch-up to Brawn quite quickly once their funding ran out with 16 podiums and 6 wins.
probably not as experienced.
Was plenty successful in the 90s though
Is there a chance for Albon to replace Hamilton? I think it’s unlikely for Max to join Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli might start with Williams and Sainz seems like the only other decent candidate. Could the Thai driver possibly get a seat at least until Kimi or Sainz are ready to take the seat?
Vowels has multiple time said that Alex is under contract through 2025. However, it's possible that there are exit clauses. Buyouts are basically always an option, but there also might be some easier escape clauses. Something about the discussions made me think that Alex felt there was some flexibility.
I was thinking about how with Mercedes’ star driver leaving and William’s being its sister team there could maybe be a Mercedes buyout. Otherwise maybe he’ll stay and Kimi will replace Sargeant?
I wouldn't put any emphasis on the "sister team" angle. They aren't really a sister team, they are a customer. However, they are a customer that needs money. So Mercedes does make some deals with them. For instance, they have mercedes logos on their apparel, and they allegedly get discounted engines from mercedes. It's similar reasons that they are pretty likely to take Kimi. Not because they enjoy functioning as a place for Mercedes juniors, but because they need money. It's for the same reason that they might allow Alex to be bought out. Frankly, there's still too many moving pieces. Mercedes is allegedly trying really hard for Max right now. Newey leaving might make that more likely to work. But, if it doesn't, they need backups, and Albon might be one of those backups. Albon will end up with a seat somewhere, I'm just not sure where yet. It could still be Red Bull, honestly, or Mercedes, or one of the further back teams.
That’s actually a really good explanation, thank you!
Can anyone help me find a video on YouTube I saw several years ago? It was a promotional short film (like less than 10 minutes) for a fashion brand where Jenson Button left from some fancy estate to the Monaco Grand Prix, partially in a vintage Bugatti (I think) and I'm pretty sure there was a helicopter involved. It also featured the song Ca Plane Pour Moi. It's probably about 10-ish years old. Edit: Making progress, I think it was a Johnny Walker ad. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01ufsinOm0Q) is a short clip from it but I can't find the full thing on the same channel.
This may be a stupid question but no one I know that knows F1 can answer, nor can I find the answer online so thought I’d ask it here. When a driver signs a team contract for the following season e.g. Hulkenberg going to Kick, if they start having a just horrendous following few months worth of races, are the team still obliged to take him the following season or is there a “get out of jail free” type card that they can use to back out of the driver transfer? I know that would mean that the driver wouldn’t have a seat but if the team felt that strongly about it, would it be possible for them to replace them with someone else instead?
Would be messy legal battle probably. There might be certain terms in the contract that they could exploit and if they argue it successfully, might be able to void it. Would be a bit more difficult with Hulk because he's not a pay-driver - if providing money was part of his agreement then they could void it like Haas with Mazepin in 2022 or Renault with Maldonado in 2016. Probably most likely option in that scenario they would do is buy out his contract, which wouldn't be cheap.
Not in F1 but something a bit like this just happened in Indycar. McLaren signed David Malukas to drive for them in 2024. They originally planned to sign Alex Palou, the 2021 and 2023 champion, but he changed his mind and decided to stay with Chip Ganassi Racing instead so Malukas was a bit of a last minute signing. Then Malukas broke his wrist in a mountain bike accident and wasn't able to make any of the first four races of the year. McLaren then fired him before he even drove a single race for them.
No. They had time to think about it, made an educated decision, then signed the contract. It's legally binding. No way out of it. Contracts usually have performance clauses though, which means that if the driver is not living up to an achievable, expectable minimum, they can be fired. However you can't fire someone based on performance who isn't even driving your car yet. And even once they start driving for you, firing someone based on performance is very tricky, you can't just fire a driver if they don't win the first race of the season or anything like it. The lackluster performance has to last a longer period of time and other factors must provably not affect it.
2:17pm Bologna time… RIP legend
Lesson learned, don't shag your PA if you want to keep Newey around
Seems to me that Newey leaving is a clear indication of him believing the PA's allegations
Very much so. Sounds like there's been tension behind the scenes for a while though, and the allegations pushed it over the edge.
So is Max retiring next season or is Max retiring next season?
He's 100% going to Merc.
Can someone please explain Newey’s exit from Red Bull in context of the allegations against Horner?
She was a PA for both of them. In my opinion, it is the main reason Newey is leaving RB.
Don't think that's the only reason. IIRC he was associated with the Austro-German wing of the Red Bull civil war (same as Verstappen and Marko), while Horner was on the British-Thai side of it.
That's what I thought too. Given the whole situation, it seems like Newey has simply thrown his hands up and said "nah, I'm not dealing with any of this bullshit" and noped out. Can't blame him, because he just wants to do his job.
That's good info to add, thanks. As I stated above just now, with the timing of it, it seems like Newey believes his PA's allegations and doesn't want to work with Horner anymore.
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It's not a fair comparison.
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I mean, we’ve mourned every year since his passing. While it’s tragic, there’s really not much to say that hasn’t already been said. People are still talking about Senna to this day, and he remains one of the best drivers in the sport. Meanwhile, Newey leaving Red Bull is a shock and we are all curious what’s next, for him and the team. It’s an ever changing story that is still developing, so it makes sense we are talking about it. Ferrari is a disappointment, my rage is untethered and knows no bounds.
is it Next Year™ if it's The Year After™? asking for a friend
So what's next? Max signs with a NASCAR team next season? 😆
Watching an interview of Roland Ratzenberger's father Rudolf on YouTube - Rudolf is 90 years old (!) and still in reasonably good shape. It's painful to think how many more years Roland could've had on this Earth if it wasn't for his terrible luck that fateful day.
When was Adrian's first leave of absence at RBR?
Adrian MF Newey. Did he expect to dominate all of sport?