Vettel wearing Lauda helmet “to take him around a couple of final laps”

24 comments on “Vettel wearing Lauda helmet “to take him around a couple of final laps””

1. 

   Steven Gall (@steve45)
   24th May 2019, 0:20

   So I’m not normally an emotional type of person, but that photo of the Merc headset rack just hit me in the feels like a ton of bricks, such a powerful photo, such a simple but heartfelt sentiment. I genuinely hope they keep that for every race going forward!
   1. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      24th May 2019, 7:14

      it really is a powerfull image yeah. Not much more one can say.
   2. 

      RB13
      24th May 2019, 12:06

      COTD used to be insightful and interesting. This is just dripping with cynicism and sarcasm like we don’t have enough of that already.
      1. 

         RB13
         24th May 2019, 17:02

         Sorry @steve45 this was not intended as a reply to your comment.
2. 

   Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
   24th May 2019, 1:04

   Got to say I enjoyed the Hass double black flag. Good bit of creativity from the team.
3. 

   Phylyp (@phylyp)
   24th May 2019, 3:21

   I’m slightly lost as to the Guardian article about Sir Philip Green. What’s his connection to F1 or motorsport? Or is it just that he’s at Monaco this weekend?
   1. 

      ColdFly (@)
      24th May 2019, 5:32

      Very excited to find out who’s on the next boat, @phylyp.
      It might be somebody’s grandmother.
      Or another person tweeting about his bucket list even though he has clearly done it before.

      Sometimes even Mercedes claiming their underdog position can be refreshing ;)
   2. 

      BlackJackFan
      24th May 2019, 6:36

      Agreed – I had never heard of this open sore on the face of humanity… and wish I still didn’t.
      1. 

         anon
         24th May 2019, 7:44

         He is an even nastier piece of work than that article suggests – he’s also known to have used gagging orders to silence former female workers that the firm had to pay off over accusations he sexually assaulted them.
   3. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      24th May 2019, 7:15

      Yeah, the connection is that he is throwing a lavish F1 party on his yacht in Monaco while his employees are facing a very uncertain future.
      1. 

         Phylyp (@phylyp)
         24th May 2019, 11:19

         @bascb – thank you. I was confused if there was some stronger like, like Arcadia being a sponsor, or so.
      2. 

         Shimks (@shimks)
         24th May 2019, 11:41

         When the chips are down, order champagne.
4. 

   Phylyp (@phylyp)
   24th May 2019, 6:00

   On the topic of Lauda tributes, here’s a photo I received: the very tasteful tribute to Lauda at the Ferrari Museum
5. 

   Jeff
   24th May 2019, 8:40

   Saw a mem saying 4/1 odds that Niki will survive the cremation.

   I really hope that they dont do some minutes silence for him, he would hate that. They should have everyone drop their politically correct facades for 2 minutes instead and evetyone just say what they really think.

   That would honour him.
6. 

   Matteo (@m-bagattini)
   24th May 2019, 9:09

   Re: COTD @Philipgb I’ll wait for Canada to see if Ferrari can do something. If they fail there, I think I’ll have some free weekends for the rest of the season. I’ll obviously follow F1 and Ferrari, but for the first time in a while I will not plan my schedule around the race weekend. If an exciting race eventually happen, I’ll catch it with a re-run. F1 has been predictable for a while now but this season we’re touching new lows.
7. 

   GeeMac (@geemac)
   24th May 2019, 9:34

   A bit of F1 related news made the legal satire pages today (link below). It seems the lawyers acting on the Rich Energy/Whyte Bikes dispute weren’t exactly keeping things civil…

   https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/trainee-pulled-calling-opposing-lawyers-imbecilic
8. 

   Phylyp (@phylyp)
   24th May 2019, 9:52

   @geemac – LOL, thanks for this story. You can’t deny that Storey picked an appropriate law firm to represent him.

   Off-topic, but I’m surprised at that article mentioning the dispute was between Whyte and the Rich Energy Haas F1 team. The logo is that of Rich Energy, and the team are merely sponsored by them.
   1. 

      Phylyp (@phylyp)
      24th May 2019, 9:59

      Ignore the off-topic bit above: on further reading, it appears the article has minor inaccuracies and typos, so while it says the dispute involves Haas, the ruling itself mentions Rich Energy as the defendants, and only mentions Haas in passing.
9. 

   Phylyp (@phylyp)
   24th May 2019, 9:58

   Thanks to GeeMac for that link, because it leads to the entire ruling, which had this gem:

   [Storey] had a tendency to make impressive statements, which on further investigation or consideration were not quite what they seemed. For example, when Mr Wyand in cross-examination tried to understand his evidence about the sales figures of Rich Energy drinks, and put to him that he had been quoted in the press in February 2019 as saying that the First Defendant had produced 90 million cans, Mr Storey explained that it had produced 90 million cans, but had not yet filled and sold them. He said he would have to check the figures, but in 2018 he thought the First Defendant had filled and sold “circa 3 million cans” of Rich Energy drink.

   … as part of a larger and entertaining section:

   I heard from four witnesses at trial. For the Claimant, I heard from Mr Guy Farrant (the Claimant’s managing director) and Mr Mark Morgan (a graphic designer employed by the Claimant). Mr Farrant signed the pleadings for the Claimant. For the Defendants, I heard from Mr William Storey (the CEO of the First Defendant) and Mr Sean Kelly (the CEO of the Third Defendant). Both Mr Storey and Mr Kelly signed the Amended Defence. Mr Storey filed one witness statement and the other witnesses each filed two.

   I found Mr Farrant and Mr Morgan to be straightforward, credible and reliable witnesses who came to court to assist it to the best of their abilities. Mr St Quintin did not submit otherwise. As the Defendants have conceded the issues relating to the subsistence of copyright in, and ownership of, C’s Device, their evidence was of relatively limited relevance to the issues which remain.

   Conversely, I found both Mr Storey and Mr Kelly to be poor witnesses.

   Mr Storey provided different and inconsistent accounts of the development of D1’s Device, which also conflicted to a large extent with the evidence of Mr Kelly. He often did not answer questions directly, preferring to make speeches about his vision for his business or alternatively seeking to evade questions by speaking in generalities or in the third person plural. He only answered several questions when I intervened. He had a tendency to make impressive statements, which on further investigation or consideration were not quite what they seemed. For example, when Mr Wyand in cross-examination tried to understand his evidence about the sales figures of Rich Energy drinks, and put to him that he had been quoted in the press in February 2019 as saying that the First Defendant had produced 90 million cans, Mr Storey explained that it had produced 90 million cans, but had not yet filled and sold them. He said he would have to check the figures, but in 2018 he thought the First Defendant had filled and sold “circa 3 million cans” of Rich Energy drink. In another example, he stated in an impassioned fashion that he was “not in the business of trying to create a world-class business by taking any inspiration from anybody else whatsoever”, but his own written evidence was that his starting point when thinking about developing a logo was to carry out logo research on what other drinks companies were doing, and to carrying out internet searches on stag head logos used by other companies. For reasons which I set out below, I am satisfied that some of Mr Storey’s evidence was incorrect or misleading and that he was involved in the manufacture of documents during the course of litigation to provide additional support for the Defendants’ case.

   Mr Wyand described Mr Kelly’s evidence as a mixture of fact and fantasy. Mr St Quintin submits that, on the contrary, Mr Kelly was careful and patently honest. I am not with Mr St Quintin. I set out below some significant findings of dishonesty that Mr Kelly manufactured documentation to provide additional support for the Defendants’ case. In addition his oral evidence was inconsistent with his witness evidence and answers given in the Defendants’ RFI Response, which he had signed. His witness evidence was inconsistent with the Defence that he had also signed. He was evasive in some aspects of his evidence, as I will go on to highlight when I deal with the evidence. I accept he made a number of significant admissions against the Defendants’ case, but some of those were unwillingly made in the face of incontrovertible evidence put before him by Mr Wyand. He would not make other, obvious admissions, for example that C’s Device and D1’s Device are closely similar.

   For those reasons, I do not accept either Mr Storey or Mr Kelly as credible or reliable witnesses and I treat all of their evidence with a high degree of caution. Wherever possible, I look for corroboration from other credible and reliable evidence or the inherent probabilities.
   1. 

      GeeMac (@geemac)
      24th May 2019, 10:59

      Indeed, that was a great section of the ruling @phylyp. The bluff and bluster behind Rich Energy is remarkable. Joe Saward (speaking on the missed apex podcast) said that Haas obtained bank guarantees in respect of the Rich Energy sponsorship money, so it is a no brainer that the team signed the deal despite precious little suggesting Rich Energy is good for the money. The money will get to the team by hook or by crook.
10. 

    Gerulf Dösinger (@)
    24th May 2019, 11:10

    I have never been a person that cares much for celebrities or one who looks up to other peoples achievements but the passing of Niki Lauda touches me.

    He was and will be my one and only idol.

    I always imagine that he told the story that the “others” like Rindt, Senna, Hill, Villeneuve – and the countless other drivers who lost their lives – would have liked to tell us after they died.
    And now that he really had to face his final fate it’s more like a “job done” rather than a sad fading into oblivion.

    Out of all the things he said and did and out of all his deeds (no matter good or not-so-good) I will always remember his underlying message: The question is not if or when fear strikes you, it’s how you deal with it and face the truth rather than constructing a believe that distracts you from tackling your problems and hurdles.

    And being an austrian myself I always found his directness rather amusing because he was the harsh contrast to how austrians usually try to sugar-coat most of what we are saying and how we act.

    This guy really was something.
11. 

    Phylyp (@phylyp)
    24th May 2019, 11:14

    @wildrover84 – very nice sentiment:

    I always imagine that he told the story that the “others” like Rindt, Senna, Hill, Villeneuve – and the countless other drivers who lost their lives – would have liked to tell us after they died. And now that he really had to face his final fate it’s more like a “job done” rather than a sad fading into oblivion.
    1. 

       Green Flag (@greenflag)
       24th May 2019, 14:59

       Neither Hill died in a racing car. Phil died in bed, Graham in an airplane crash.
12. 

    Jere (@jerejj)
    24th May 2019, 13:26

    Regarding the COTD: Yes, there are. More than likely Mercedes isn’t going to be able to keep on with this run of 1-2s. Sooner or later, it’ll definitely come to an end for whatever reason.

    The tweet of Mercedes, though.

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