Yep

I heard the announcers say during practice on Thursday that Toto is upset that the FIA won't decide their protest against the tems with what they believe is a flexible front wing.

It's funny because when Mercedes comes up with new stuff, like the steering thing, they get irate about their stuff being the subject of protest.

Kind of like when Toto said rules are rules in Canada for the Vettel off but acted shocked when the rules were actually applied against his drivers later in the season.

I'm always up to watch the races.

Now, as for Bottas. Why couldn't they just say the but was stripped instead of machined? And with all the money the team have, why couldn't they make a giant Bolt-out for instances like this?

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/bottas-wheel-nut-still-stuck-mercedes/6514622/

this boo boo will severely affect the wheel gun mechanics confidence during future race pit stops

The real problem is the axle was cross threaded and the threads ruined. There would be no safe way to get a new nut to tighten up to the proper torque.

It is amazing to me that in the pits, while mounting the tire before the race, they somehow cross threaded it, and did not know. It should be almost impossible to do that under controlled conditions of the garage.

It is the thing that never happens to Hamilton. I think they said in the last 88 races he has scored points in 86 of them. That is astonishing. Certainly lots of that "luck" is Hamilton's ability to NOT crash, but he does seem to have a magic spell protection from flats or issues. Like when Russell drove his car Mercedes almost looked incompetent to run a pit stop. When Hamilton is in the car it is perfect.

The word of the day from Monaco is "overcut'

I thought the Serena interview was terribly awkward.

The timing was awkward. The F1 content was minimal.
Serena appeared to be uncomfortable and didn't know what to say.
I would have expected better from Coulthard.

The best thing about it was how polite Max was during the interruption.

They should get the designer of the Sham-Wow to fix it. He makes good stuff.

C Horner: "Oh dear. Where's that list again? Let's cross some Mercedes engineer off of it"

Marko: "Nein! Sign him to a 1 month contract, then fire him!"

Binnoto: "He can work for Ferrari. But don't tell anyone."

Wolff: * Facepalm *

It was weird on all levels. She was there only as a "celebrity" and no doubt she is a great tennis player. She looked like a linebacker next to Max, and likely knows less about F-1 than I do about tennis. I can't imagine going to a major tennis match and being interviewed while standing next to the winner. It had to be a pure publicity stunt by the owners of F1.

^ It looked like a Bug Bunny cartoon. She could have pounded him into the ground with her fist in one go, like a hammer hitting a nail.

Methinks whoever wrote that article doesn't know much about wheel nuts.

Those "two" protrusions aren't the dogs that the wheel gun engages to spin the wheel, they are part of the fail-safe mechanism that the wheel gun has to engage before it will allow the nut to unwind off the hub.

Seems to me that when putting a wheel on before a race, the mechanics would hand thread the nut on to make sure it's threading properly, then tighten it with the gun. If that's nut what they are doing, they are just asking for trouble.

Liberty needs to quit having ignorant celebs wave the flag and do interviews. Plenty of celebs out there that follow F1, why use someone that knows nothing of the sport? Was she selected to check the "female" and "black" boxes in the identity politics nonsense?

I'm a huge tennis fan, just not a Serena Williams fan. Anyway, since her return from maternity leave there has been a real push to get her one last major win so she will have the outright record. Her first year back, Wimbledon gave her a seed even though her ranking was very low. This year with the French Open starting a week from now, she was only scheduled to play one warm up tournament. But after a 1st round loss she mysteriously got in the next tournament and was given a seed then promptly lost in the 2nd round. The tv announcers and tournament organizers all appear to be on on the effort.

So when DC was trying to make it like she was the top player it was a bit of a stretch when considering present form. But I digress.

Check out these stills from Bottas' nut. Tehehe
Shavings from the nut can be seen in left portion of wheel dish bottom photo.Then in top photo the nut face is clearly ground down.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1621867178.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1621867205.jpg

You could see the dust cloud of shavings fly as the mechanic was trying in vain to get the nut off.

I see some design changes coming. Sort of a back up system where the gun operator only needs to flip a lever and a secondary driver engages another set of cogs or even a hex shape at the end of the nut.

That's bound to happen again and that was one hell of an expensive failed nut. What's funny is that if the team had a huge pair of locking pliers they probably could have stayed in the race, albeit out of the points.

So in that sense, I guess it's a matter of 'what's the point?'

(edit) After I typed my post I got in the shower (where we do out best thinking) and thought that a lot of us Pelican people would have grabbed a mallet and the big ass chisel and removed that nut in 5 seconds. Add in the time it might take to hand thread the nut off, R and R the tire, and secure a new nut, I say 15 seconds at the most. That would have at least been in the points finishing wise.

Racing has gotten so technical that the mechanics are far removed from mundane procedures that involve a BAH (big ass hammer). I bet there's a mallet and chisel on the pit wall from now on.

Max Mosley has died.

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/978812/1/former-fia-president-max-mosley-dies-aged-81

RIP Mosley

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Interesting video. So they are told which driver they are servicing. I'm assuming that is to let them know to bear down for Hamilton or get the yipps for Bottas or Russell.

Just adding to the conspiracy theory

No, for Russell they have to mount the wrong set of tires, and cause an extra pit stop. And then run around looking for ways to kill any chance of him winning.

I read somewhere that the gun is running as the car comes to a halt.

The mech then just jams the spinning socket onto the nut.

The claim was if the mech waits for the socket to engage and then pulls the trigger they could lose half a second.

Not sure if any of this is true...