Good race for Albon . Max/Red Bull are on fire . Did Haas lose their mojo ? I laughed out loud listening to Ferrari pit strategist asking Charles what to do ? He's busy driving the car , he has no idea what other teams are doing and your asking him for advice ?

No idea how Perez didn’t get a penalty, he actually hit (was it LeClerc? While pushing him off the line)

So, let me get this straight. Lew borks the corner so bad that he climbs Alonso's wheel, flies 7 feet in the air and the car slams down wheels first on the pavement, but he refuses medical treatment, but a few weeks ago the porpoising was so intense that he needed to be lifted out of the car and could "barely walk".

Love Spa. Rather uneventful race but the commenting by Alonso is always amusing. Almost in the class of Iceman.

Good question. It is called theater.

My thought on it while watching was where did LeClerc normal turn in? If he was on the outside curbing at turn in then did he really need a full car width of black tarmac or would it be black tarmac minus the amount of curbing that most everyone used at turn in.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/lewis-hamilton-nearly-broke-my-back-landing-spa/
The guy walked back to the pits and refused the medical center...
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1661783750.jpg

I like the comment in the Planet F1 thread asking if Merc needs to pivot and prioritize all remaining races for Russell to try and get third in the drivers championship. Won't happen, but it's a fun thought experiment.

Interesting read ...

https://jalopnik.com/america-in-f1-where-logan-sargeant-colton-herta-and-1849466937

So Piastri is now officially announced at McLaren and was ratified by the CCB...
Rumors of Gasly at Alpine are strong - it's only $. And he and Ocon hate one another.

The interesting thing to me is how the contract board said his contract with the papayas was dated early July so way before anyone thought about the Fernando situation (conspiracy theories go poof). What's crazy is that Alpine then clearly a) could have acquiesced to Fernando's demands has they been told and b) must have had a serious hole in their contract with piastri for the judgment to be unanimous and the exit valid that early. Wish we knew why, seems bonkers on their part.

I have to say I don't know Piastri at all, but backstabbing the team that invested so much in him like that to go to a competitor that is slower right now ? and if you had done this in July, why not let the team know not to string Alonso along? I think he generated quite a bit of bad Karma outside of McLaren (Wolf and Horner commented it was a lack of loyalty), and he is now gonna be under a hell of a lot of pressure to deliver. All this attention, he better be the second coming of Senna -and I firmly believe Ricciardo was not that bad these 2 years and that Norris is actually a super driver, so he will have his hands full next year. I now really hope Alpine beats McLaren next year, and Norris trounces him. Just for good manners ;-) That is all.

^ Yeah, well Piastri vs. Norris is going to be one Hell of a show.

I don't know if the cases are the same, but Eddie Jordan thought he had a contract with Michael Schumacher, but after one race, Michael went to Benneton..
Jeff Gordon was supposed to go to Cup after a season or two in the Busch series with Bill Davis Racing but somehow he ended up at Hendrick.

In both cases, the rest, as they say, is history.

Is Piastri one of those once in a lifetime talents? Time, as they say, will tell.

And, does it even matter if Piastri is head and shoulders above every other driver? McLaren is a 5th or 7th place car - I don't see any driver making enough of a difference to make that car a weekly contender - and the Alpine isn't too bad this year.

Wonder if Mark Webber is overthinking this whole thing.

Anyone else read any articles about Alpha Tauri might be up for sale ? A possible path for Andretti to get into F1 ?

Mick's got the bit between the teeth this morning! Dani Ric in the mirror got him scared for his seat?

Whatever his motivation is it was good enough to qualify eighth . Not bad . The battle for pole was exciting . Hopefully a good race tomorrow .

It’s unfortunate to see drivers outperform their expected results because their career is on the line. If Mick performed at this level every week there would be no question whether he has a seat for 2023.

Wasn’t that long ago Mercedes was in that position.

As frustrating as dynasties are for us I’m sure the FIA is sweating Bullets over it.

Idiots and their flares again.


Mick drove very well so far this weekend,
but this track suits his car well.
All season the Haas has had too much downforce drag
and as they tried to reduce it to go faster,
they made it skittish and unpredictable.
At NED they can leave it alone more of less and it is decent.

Mag should have done well also but he screwed the pooch


It's a poor musician who blames the instrument,
but even a great musician can't play an instrument
that is unplayable.