Interesting, also this would probably make my research for moderation in this thread much more targeted.
If you don’t need the immediate stuff, the Access tier gives you full replays after 48 hours. I don’t know about the shows and analysis, though. It’s $30 a year.
I realized the other day that F1 is by far the sport I engage either the most. I pay them for F1TV. I watch nearly every session to some extent. I watch most of the analysis.
I also read F1 related journalism on the regular - I hit up The Race and Racefans multiple times a week. I listen to three sports related podcasts. One is a variety program, the second is about crime in sports, and the one I listen to religiously is Shift+F1. I’ll also listen to specific Beyond The Grid episodes depending on who the guest is.
I draw freaking F1 pixel art.
. Of the sport related threads, I participate in this one far and away more than others.
It’s the only sport related merch I’ve bought in the past four years or so.
I still readily enjoy baseball, hockey, college basketball, football, other football, nearly anything, really. But if I hear the “Dun dun dun Nyoooooooooooooooom…” opening bars of the F1 theme I am immediately shunning other things to watch.
I also read F1 related journalism on the regular - I hit up The Race and Racefans multiple times a week. I listen to three sports related podcasts. One is a variety program, the second is about crime in sports, and the one I listen to religiously is Shift+F1. I’ll also listen to specific Beyond The Grid episodes depending on who the guest is.
I draw freaking F1 pixel art.
. Of the sport related threads, I participate in this one far and away more than others.It’s the only sport related merch I’ve bought in the past four years or so.
I still readily enjoy baseball, hockey, college basketball, football, other football, nearly anything, really. But if I hear the “Dun dun dun Nyoooooooooooooooom…” opening bars of the F1 theme I am immediately shunning other things to watch.
Funny what music can do to set the mood. I still find it jarring to hear "The Chain" without the screams of V12/10/8 engines.
Rumors are flying thick that Yuki is getting the call up for Japan:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/red-bull-swap-lawson-tsunoda-japanese-gp/10706330/
https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/1...der-with-yuki-tsunoda-for-japanese-grand-prix
https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/...-rule-immediate-liam-lawson-yuki-tsunoda-swap
Not sure I believe it; until I see it reported on F1.com it all feels like wishcasting to me. I still think he should tell Horner and Dark Helmut to piss off, but you never know.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/red-bull-swap-lawson-tsunoda-japanese-gp/10706330/
https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/1...der-with-yuki-tsunoda-for-japanese-grand-prix
https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/...-rule-immediate-liam-lawson-yuki-tsunoda-swap
Not sure I believe it; until I see it reported on F1.com it all feels like wishcasting to me. I still think he should tell Horner and Dark Helmut to piss off, but you never know.
I think Red Bull should absolutely swap in Tsunoda for... Verstappen. Seriously, if he thinks the RB might be the genuinely better car, I would love to see what he can do with it.
I enjoyed the first few seasons very much but I cant help but feel that the last couple of seasons have been on a downward trend for me.
I'm not sure if you know this, but he actually did win Le Mans and raced briefly in F1. He lost an eye after less than a full F1 season and quit racing. Maybe not a great driver by F1 standards, but he was a racing driver and did pretty well in endurance racing for a while.
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He won Le Mans in 1971 and was 29 years old in 1972 when he lost his eye driving for BRM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Marko
Real question, though, is can Yuki drive that car better than the RacBul car he's in now?
I was initially thinking, it only matters that he can drive it better than Lawson can... but then, yeah, do you want an absolute nightmare beast of a car to try and handle? It doesn't sound remotely driver friendly.
Nobody can drive the Red Bull except Max, and he's struggling with it. The car is fast but extremely pointy, and Yuki wouldn't do significantly better in it than Liam. Right now that #2 Red Bull is where promising driving careers go to die.
The RB isn't as fast but it's far more stable and much easier for mere mortals to drive. If RB can get their strategy shit together (tall ask, I know) Yuki would bag far more points than Liam would in the Red Bull. Fuck, Ollie Bearman IN A HAAS has more points than Liam right now.
The RB isn't as fast but it's far more stable and much easier for mere mortals to drive. If RB can get their strategy shit together (tall ask, I know) Yuki would bag far more points than Liam would in the Red Bull. Fuck, Ollie Bearman IN A HAAS has more points than Liam right now.
Not a racing engineer (or any kind of engineer, though I did build a Lego F1 car once), but could RB make the second car less squirrely by sacrificing some performance? Some points are better than no points.
With the Arizona Coyotes now the Salt Lake Sodomites and Leicester City being really painful to watch, I am sorely tempted. Only thing stopping me is aircrew have been throwing raceday bbq’s and having it up on the big screen. Haven’t been able to stay for the whole race though and I never catch the qualifiers, hence the temptation.
My understanding is that while they can make some tweaks, the personality of the car is the same for both drivers. From what I can tell, Horner and Dark Helmut are more focused on Max winning another WDC than maximizing team points.
And, you know, the further down you finish in the WCC, the more wind tunnel and CFD time you get. Occam and Hanlon both strongly argue against it, but they could be knowingly and willingly sacrificing total constructor points to give them resources in developing the '26 car. Weirder shit has happened; there was a reason Flavio was banned for life (before being unbanned because consequences and accountability are for losers).
And, you know, the further down you finish in the WCC, the more wind tunnel and CFD time you get. Occam and Hanlon both strongly argue against it, but they could be knowingly and willingly sacrificing total constructor points to give them resources in developing the '26 car. Weirder shit has happened; there was a reason Flavio was banned for life (before being unbanned because consequences and accountability are for losers).
But they also get a lot of money for winning the WCC. It looks good on their resumes too. But I do like the twist about losing WCC points to gain wind tunnel time. Lawson is definitely helping them there...
Dont overestimate what the prize money amounts to, you might think that McLaren was the biggest earner last year from FOM and you would be wrong, McLaren came 4th in earnings from F1 last year.
Bear in mind that these are estimates but the information seems fairly plausible:
1. Ferrari - $251 million
2. Mercedes - $208 million
3. Red Bull - $183 million
4. McLaren - $149 million
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f1-2025-prize-money-split-revealed-mclaren-only-fourth/
Then there's sponsorships, Red Bull has a nice deal there, its got Oracle on a 5 year deal worth $500 million plus it has its owner and parent company Red Bull which can (not saying they will but they can and have in the past) put huge funding into the team if needed and thats even without considering that F1 teams are actually profitable nowadays. So, prize money? Not such a big issue for the big teams.
Of course, thats only a fraction of the larger picture on the financials of F1 teams which are as transparent as a lead slab. The budget cap does not cover the full expenditure of an F1 team but only a part of that cost, the real figure for the big teams is said to be in the region of $300 - $350 million a year which is considerably less than what they used to spend, btw, before the budget cap the top teams were said to be spending well over $400 million a year.
Note: the table above is based on the current Concorde agreement and that ends at the end of 2025, by 2026 there will be need to be a new agreement and I'm willing to bet that all the teams not named Ferrari will be clamoring for a fairer share of the revenue pie but again, it will be a secret deal again afaik.
Like I said both Occam and Hanlon argue against it; frankly I think they just designed themselves into a corner and are in the "find out" stage of the proceedings, but as long as Max was winning they were going to blame Checo and not the car.
Easier to change out the #2 driver than to re-evaluate the entire car concept.
Well, that's not entirely fair. Horner defended Checo and they held on to him long after F1 fandom and media demanded he be replaced. Sponsorship money obviously played a role, but I think they knew Checo's complaints had merit. But Max was winning and fans care more about drivers than teams, so ... sorry Checo.
But now Max is visibly struggling with it and their #2 has started dead last two races in a row. I can think of maybe 3 drivers other than Max who'd have a chance to score with that car, and none of them are available.
Then the rule changes reset everybody to zero, Haas figure out the magic combination, and Ocon takes WDC.
Nico Hülkenberg would be my prime candidate because - while he is no championship winning driver - he has shown time and time again that he is able to adapt to almost any team and any car and that he is able to extract points out of mid-tier or bottom-tier cars. He has proven that he is even able to adapt to a car and a team on short notice during Covid as a super sub.
He managed to net Sauber more points in a single race this year than what they got in the entirety of 2024 and he was similarly effective at Haas last year and at other teams before that. He's no championship material but he has made several teams on the gid millions in championship points extracting the most out of mid cars that aren't that pleasant to drive.
He also speaks Dutch and probably will get along with Max quite well.
Another candidate would be Alonso but he's more tricky. He'd probably be able to wrestle more performance out of the car but he's no mercenary - unlike Hülkenberg - and he will get bratty and destructive when the car doesn't perform or the team doesn't perform and he has a tendency to burn relationships to the ground when he's fed up with a situation (case in point: his entire career)
Prior to this season I'd also have included Sainz in this list but his start at Williams shows that he's maybe not the most adaptive driver after all.
After that I wouldn't even know who could handle the car. Maybe Hamilton but he wouldn't go to Red Bull and Max allegedly has provisions in his contract that give him a say on which drivers RB can hire and he would never agree to Hamilton as team mate either.
Apart from those I can't see anyone else on the current grid who would fare better than Sergio Perez did.
They could hire Vettel out of retirement. He wouldn't necessarily be better but at least he would be able to tell them what they would need to change to make the car suck less.
...but RB's options are limited. Either because the drivers they need aren't available or the drivers they need have already been part of RB at some point and will never come back (e.g. Albon) or because they wouldn't fare any better than Perez.
So they keep throwing rookies or VCARB drivers into their driver crushing machine in the hope that lightning will strike twice and they'll find a second Max Verstappen.
He managed to net Sauber more points in a single race this year than what they got in the entirety of 2024 and he was similarly effective at Haas last year and at other teams before that. He's no championship material but he has made several teams on the gid millions in championship points extracting the most out of mid cars that aren't that pleasant to drive.
He also speaks Dutch and probably will get along with Max quite well.
Another candidate would be Alonso but he's more tricky. He'd probably be able to wrestle more performance out of the car but he's no mercenary - unlike Hülkenberg - and he will get bratty and destructive when the car doesn't perform or the team doesn't perform and he has a tendency to burn relationships to the ground when he's fed up with a situation (case in point: his entire career)
Prior to this season I'd also have included Sainz in this list but his start at Williams shows that he's maybe not the most adaptive driver after all.
After that I wouldn't even know who could handle the car. Maybe Hamilton but he wouldn't go to Red Bull and Max allegedly has provisions in his contract that give him a say on which drivers RB can hire and he would never agree to Hamilton as team mate either.
Apart from those I can't see anyone else on the current grid who would fare better than Sergio Perez did.
They could hire Vettel out of retirement. He wouldn't necessarily be better but at least he would be able to tell them what they would need to change to make the car suck less.
...but RB's options are limited. Either because the drivers they need aren't available or the drivers they need have already been part of RB at some point and will never come back (e.g. Albon) or because they wouldn't fare any better than Perez.
So they keep throwing rookies or VCARB drivers into their driver crushing machine in the hope that lightning will strike twice and they'll find a second Max Verstappen.
Race driving coach youtuber talking about the difficulties of driving the RB, and quotes Albon's interview from last year where he talked about it.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsoniSZ-pfg
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsoniSZ-pfg
Seeing breaking news on a couple sites that a Lawson/Tsunoda swap is a done deal and an announcement is imminent, but nothing officially confirmed yet.
https://racingnews365.com/lawson-out-at-red-bull-as-shock-change-made-report
https://www.planetf1.com/news/red-bull-make-liam-lawson-decision-with-announcement-imminent-reports
https://racingnews365.com/lawson-out-at-red-bull-as-shock-change-made-report
https://www.planetf1.com/news/red-bull-make-liam-lawson-decision-with-announcement-imminent-reports
Japan is next weekend, not this one. He’s got a bit over a week (assuming it’s true).
So it is. Well shit, now my fantasy team has to languish in the basement for a whole nother week.
How much time does he get, regardless? I thought there was a limitation on track testing time. Though I'm sure the RB tech folks have put as much of the pointiness of the car into the simulators as they can.
I know it's easy to say sitting here and basically impossible to say from Team Yuki...but man, it really feels like he should tell them to pound sand.
Will be conflicting emotions if it goes through...I absolutely don't want to root for Red Bull...but I will be wanting to see Yuki succeed? Anyone else?
Will be conflicting emotions if it goes through...I absolutely don't want to root for Red Bull...but I will be wanting to see Yuki succeed? Anyone else?
It's actually not that bad--if Yuki succeeds in the demon car, he'll make Horner look like a racist idiot all season long. And if he fails, it means the car really is a shitbox and Horner still looks like an idiot for designing exclusively around Max.
I’m worried for Yuki. That seat destroys careers, and he’s not going to get the time to settle if they’re now fucking over their drivers after 2 races.
At this rate they’ll put Hadjar in at the end of FP3 in Japan, only to bin him by the end of his seat fitting.
Honestly, the big winner out of this might be Lawson…
At this rate they’ll put Hadjar in at the end of FP3 in Japan, only to bin him by the end of his seat fitting.
Honestly, the big winner out of this might be Lawson…
Yeah seriously. And what are they going to do with him, send him packing completely or swap him in to Yuki's car? If this ends up happening, what a joke this team has turned in to. I hope Max runs for the hills (another team) at the end of the season, new rules or not next year.
All Red Bull and VCARB drivers belong to Red Bull F1. Hadjar and Yuki are just "on loan" to VCARB (also Yuki is the RB reserve driver). This is why they can swap out drivers so quickly.
I'd find it absolutely hilarious if Yuki just told them to pound sand but he's an F1 driver and they all have massive egos and drive and basically anyone on the grid would go for the opportunity. Especially for your home race. Also if he refuses he'll be out of a job given that he's technically a Red Bull Racing F1 employee. Thirdly Marko was seen talking with Oliver Oakes a few days ago and there are rumors that RB is interested in Franco Colapinto.
Another source said that the hang up between Yuki and RB hasn't been misgivings or racism but that RB really hated his old management and is much more comfortable talking to his new management. (He changed managers in february)
What has been widely reported is that Yuki will drive the RB21 and Lawson will go back to VCARB
Widely reported based on...what, exactly? Because I've yet to see any statement from the team or the drivers involved.
"Sources familiar with the situation" which is reporter speak for "it came directly from Red Bull but is off the record". Once reputable newspapers or broadcasters like ESPN or the BBC are reporting on it you can be pretty sure that they corroborated it independently and it is as legit as it can be.
Basically all of the beat reporters with connections to the RB org including Erik van Haren from Del Telegraaf - who has direct connections to the Verstappen camp - are reporting the same. As do the BBC, ESPN, Canal+ and a host of other sites.
Could this still be fake? Maybe but you'll never get anything more concrete from anyone in an official capacity until the official press release drops and the press conference is scheduled. Which means an "official" statement won't come until the thursday press conference prior to the Japan GP or the part of the race weekend where RB actually has to enter cars and drivers and register them for the GP.
I expect it to be a bit earlier - Yuki was previously scheduled for a Red Bull event of some sort next Wednesday in Japan.
When there is so many reports, all saying the same thing, the "leak" must have been pretty solid. Seems like it was used to judge public reaction so they would still have the option to stay with the status quo.
When Max was promising something special for Suzuka, I don't think this was exactly what he meant. I was assuming something more livery related as a big celebration of Honda for their last joint home race with Red Bull. I was guessing a VCARB / RBR livery swap for Suzuka - Verstappen back in the white car. It sounds like Honda saw a chance to swap more than the livery to get their driver the spotlight and likely added some pressure and/or funding to make it happen.
Is Max to Aston / Mercedes next year now a safe bet?
When Max was promising something special for Suzuka, I don't think this was exactly what he meant. I was assuming something more livery related as a big celebration of Honda for their last joint home race with Red Bull. I was guessing a VCARB / RBR livery swap for Suzuka - Verstappen back in the white car. It sounds like Honda saw a chance to swap more than the livery to get their driver the spotlight and likely added some pressure and/or funding to make it happen.
Is Max to Aston / Mercedes next year now a safe bet?
Tsunoda is currently done with Red Bull at the end of this season, anyway, with no obvious place to go next year. If there's anyone for whom the risk of ending their career in the second Red Bull seat is worth it, it's Yuki.
I don't think he'd take a massive hit to his reputation if he can't get to grips with the car, either. I think everyone understands where the problem lies now.
I am certainly rooting for him to do well if this does happen. You never know.
I don't think he'd take a massive hit to his reputation if he can't get to grips with the car, either. I think everyone understands where the problem lies now.
I am certainly rooting for him to do well if this does happen. You never know.