All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

What a monumental fuckup by Mercedes to ruin a hell of a drive by Russell. And even with that, he might have won if not for the puncture. Nice job on his part recovering and getting into the points.

Very happy for Checo, who had an unbelievable drive himself. Imagine going 190 races without a win and then taking the top step in a race where you got spun out and trailed the entire field on the first lap. That’s a lot of heart, right.

Excellent race overall. Wide open and exciting throughout.

 

Haas condemn F1 driver Nikita Mazepin's 'abhorrent' Instagram video

 

What a shitbag. Didn’t even bother to apologize to the woman. I assume from that story he groped her?

 

He did. It's hard to fully figure out the context watching the video -- it looks like it could easily be a girlfriend who is just sort of annoyed he's recording it. The kid is a douchebag regardless.

 

You’d think even if it was his girlfriend, he’d say, “... and I’d like to apologize to my girlfriend for embarrassing her.”

But then, if it’s a girlfriend, maybe she’s used to the behavior and not bothered by it. I probably shouldn’t render judgement without knowing more about the video and what the girl/girlfriend/victim thinks.

Still dumb to post to social media.

 

It’s not going to end well for him.

 

How much $ is his dad bringing to the team? It seems to be a lot. I think he’ll skate and sponsors will be fine after this dies down in a day or two. The question will be if he learns his lesson and cuts the shit, or if he realizes daddy’s money will insulate him and he continues the behavior.

 

I don't know the exact amount, but to give you an idea of the ballpark: I think it's 50/50 that his daddy buys the team by the end of the season. It's a lot of money.

 

If anything I'm impressed by the mileage (no pun intended) that a thing about a not-yet F1 driver from Russia has gotten as much play as it has. Besides, if you wanted to disqualify him, you could easily cite the time he punched a fellow F3 driver in the face over a qualifying incident, his role in this shunt below or the time he appeared to try and out George Russell as gay in the comments of an Instagram post.

Nikita Mazepin – What’s All The Fuss About?

Face it, he's an asshole, but he's an asshole with money, and those tend to have staying power. If he achieves anything in Formula 1, it's making Lance Stroll look palatable.

 

Great drive by Max today. First non-Merc pole of the year.

 

Dreadfully boring race, but good for Max. Nice win to close out the season. Feel bad for Sergio getting a DNF.

I wonder if Albon, with P4 today and a podium a couple weeks ago in Bahrain, has done enough to lock up his seat for Red Bull next season.

 

Abu Dhabi is just a shitty track and a shitty place to end the season, though I believe they are contractually obligated to end the season there regardless of the fact that one lap at Interlagos is more dramatic than this.

Honestly, in terms of pure racing there aren't many F1 street circuits that don't suck. Monaco is all right, but it's like the All-Star Game. No one watches Monaco for the racing. I guess Baku is occasionally OK. I can't remember a lot of Singapores for good or ill. I'm guessing that the Riyadh road course will suck.