aiyaaz

No doubt that Yuki hasn't been up to the task. Hadjar has been the 2nd best in the Red Bull stable, arguably the best rookie this year, but going into a team with Max after just one year on the grid is not going to be easy. Maybe the fact that it is all new cars helps him a bit, but adaptability is also a strength of Max's. RBR would have been better off taking on someone like Hulk for 2 seasons or so.

Given Piastri's recent form, assuming it continues, team orders won't really help much. Also, even if Piastri was on his way to outscoring Norris in Qatar, telling him to drop his WDC hopes when he'd in fact be making it a possibility again would be tough. Expect Webber to intervene if that had to transpire. If Lando is truly a WDC driver, he should be able to win it by himself. The cars are now very evenly matched, but MCL should still have a slight advantage in Qatar. Max won't let him win easily though and is showing scary consistency right now.

Horner given the sack...

If the rumours do indeed prove to be true, I doubt Yuki even has any say in the matter, contractually. Plus he seems keen on it based on interviews after China. The RB21 is a fundamentally flawed car it seems and only Max has been able to live with it. I don't think Yuki going there is going to fix the problem...he'll probably also just be at best 0.5s behind Max. I hope that does not turn out to be the case because I like Yuki, but that RB21...

Great news. Love him or hate him, he's been the best TP of the last 2 decades and also keeps things entertaining with his dogged approach to fighting other TP's (*cough Toto).

If he is genuinely guilty of harassment (as alleged), then I hope he faces the music for sure, but I can't help feeling like there is some internal power struggle at play within RB. I'm almost expecting that Marko will also be similarly nudged toward the exit door somehow. I am no Horner fan boy (far from it), but I'd agree that this could have been handled more discreetly, but maybe it was leaked by the complainant or those close to him/her...

F1 Management are probably overjoyed as it maintains more interest in the sport, with Max likely to win at least 50% of the races in 24/25, assuming that other teams make big gains and finally understand the GE era. Take 50% as an overly conservative estimate as the RB20 was already in the design office from mid 23...

MCL need to bring a new rear wing next...Spa was a big reality check for them, but at least they're on the right path. 11 should be ashamed of being in P1 on lap 1, but being behind Max by 22s at the checkered flag after Max started P6...that must hurt and BAD. Max pulled 22s in 27 laps after passing Checo. This is boring but very impressive from a driver in top form. At the moment Checo is P2 in the championship, which is what RBR would want from him, so expect this to continue at least until the end of 2025...

Definitely the right decision taken by F1 management and FIA. There are things more important than hosting an F1 race. Also, at least we don't the possibility of a repeat of Spa '21 where they "raced" for 2 laps behind the SC and declared it a race.

I bought this pedal and as mentioned above, they're very grippy: https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/za/en/nukeproof-horizon-pro-sam-hill-enduro-mtb-pedals/rp-prod186573 Still on special at CRC as well. Good idea to buy some extra pins and service kit as well if they're also on special. I had the Stamp 1 before, which is garbage compared to the Sam Hill.

Given how fast them E-bikes were flying past me this past weekend while climbing at Tokai, I must say, my interest in owning one has certainly grown! Plus when they're on top, no "breather" required, just drop straight in. I've always been pro E-bike for the reason that it allows a (fit) son and (not so fit) dad to ride together at a similar pace, but for enduro type of riding, even the younger (and fitter) riders would consider getting one. Only issue is that I'd have to sell my car in order to be able to afford one...

I'm pretty much in the same boat, having only ever ridden road bikes and XC/marathon hardtails or FS bikes. Now I no longer have any of those bikes, but recently acquired a Trek Slash (F-170mm/R-160mm), but I can feel that I am holding the bike back due to a lack of skill and being too bang-gat! haha I may have also bitten off more than I can chew by committing to flat pedals after having only ever ridden clip-less...needless to say, it feels like I am learning to ride a bike all over again!

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/team/2021-fia-f2-champion-oscar-piastri-join-mclaren-racing-2023/?s Right, now we get to find out if Oscar is more a George/Charles OR a Stoffel, all of whom had similar junior success... He's arguably the best of the juniors in his class, but I'm not sure that is going to be enough to stay close to Lando. Lando is on an upward trajectory and is already very good. I hope Webber has advised his client properly...

Checo drives the same car and given how tight P2 is currently in championship with Ferarri unreliability and strategy bloopers, it's still not a given that Checo would have won this championship. Max has had worse reliability problems and is still nearly 100 points ahead. So the "car" argument would be a bit weak. Also, these are new regs with brand new cars, so that "favourable" development of the car argument would also be a weak one. Then some would perhaps say Checo isn't the greatest challenge, which might be fair, but even Checo's best strengths (tyre management and race pace) are being outdone by Max. But yeah, soon we will start hearing "it's the car"...

Given Max's consistency and level he's operating at, along with the RB18 looking like a beast, he could be crowned champion with 3 races to go. Will be 4 races if (when?) Ferrari play their support role to RBR's double title bid. LEC going for the fastest lap, losing track position to ALO, then not getting that fastest lap but rather a 5s penalty instead denoting him to P6 maintains Ferrari's run of bloopers...