Welcome to Saturday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Comment of the day
Are F1’s most agitated drivers also products of Red Bull’s young driver programme?
In my honest opinion the main reason Hadjar has this reputation is probably because of Helmut Marko.
I get it, motor racing is hard and there is a lot of pressure to perform. But I do get the feeling there is perhaps too much pressure. And this is causing sweary drivers over the radio.
Heck, I would be just like that if I had to explain to Helmut Marko why I was third and not first for instance in a race. I’m normally quite calm, but when I get panicked or stressed, I’m not a nice person at all.
There is all these drivers coming up through Red Bull and they all having to cope with such high standards, it’s hardly surprising some of them are so angry.
Jonathan Parkin
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Straightline, Sandlefish, Yogesh and Manox!
On this day in motorsport
- 93 years ago today Cliff Allison was born. He pushed his Lotus across the line at Monaco to score a point for sixth on his F1 debut in 1958, peaked with second for Ferrari in Buenos Aires two years later, but retired in 1961 after two huge crashes.
- 30 years ago today Sauber launched their C15 in Badem, though the car had run earlier
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Jere (@jerejj)
8th February 2025, 7:21
Surprisingly, once again the previous-week Friday rather than any sooner.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
8th February 2025, 7:56
The Hulk has gone Green!
Hulk Smash Podium!
MichaelN
8th February 2025, 8:58
That Windsor mayor has the right idea. It makes no sense to spend public money to get citizens to spend their money in another country, at the cost of shops and services in your own town. Especially when said country treats you terribly, and all the more so when there’s a race in Toronto as well!
El Pollo Loco
8th February 2025, 10:12
Once upon a time I used to find vast the majority of COTD selections to be merited even if I didn’t agree with them, but it seems like they’re drawn from a hat recently. Either way, I know when I mess up in life, I blame my uncle. That uncle I saw once every few weeks. Yup, no one shaped the core of my personality like that uncle. I also love some external accountability.
El Pollo Loco
8th February 2025, 10:16
Once upon a time I found*
BTW, not picking not on this COTD in particular Even though I disagree, at least it’s coherent and not super generic.
MichaelN
8th February 2025, 16:10
That’s a bit different, though. Marko is seemingly proud of how dysfunctional his talent program is, and it’s a fair observation that this puts a lot of pressure and stress on the people involved, which is obviously already at a high during races. To judge a rookie like Hadjar on some selected radio outbursts is pretty unfair.
Marko is too old to care, but in the future Red Bull might want to reconsider the approach. Which talents has he found in the last ten years? Seriously, what has Red Bull’s junior program brought to F1 after Sainz, all the way back in 2015?
anon
8th February 2025, 21:46
MichaelN, you are mainly looking at Gasly in 2017 and Lawson in 2023 in terms of drivers.
Tsunoda is technically a graduate of their programme, having joined in 2019 and then being promoted to their junior team in 2021. However, Tsunoda has been part of Honda’s junior driver programme since 2016, and remained part of Honda’s programme even when he joined Red Bull’s programme – so, given his membership of Red Bull’s programme was just a symbolic gesture, most probably wouldn’t count him in practice.