Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of the RaceFans round-up.
Comment of the day
Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s dissatisfaction with his Bahrain Grand prix strategy is justified, says @RedPill:
I would have to agree with Kimi, it did seem unnecessary, and way overly conservative; but I do not have Mercedes’ property live data of Kimi car and wear piped into my home computer nor their race goals for Kimi.
I think Kimi is doing awesome, and seems quite comfortable in the car to let see how good he is pushing tire management to avoid having to do a third pit stop and possibly score some badly needed points. Of course, it could quickly go pear-shaped but what did they have to loose?
Red Pill (@redpill)
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to AndrewTanner, SoLiD, BraddersF1, RumFRESH and Cristian Ingles!
On this day in motorsport
- Born today in 1942: Frank Williams, who founded the hugely successful Williams F1 team, and died in November 2021
- Born today in 1979: Christijan Albers, one of the two drivers to start for Minardi in their final race
- Born today in 1986: Paul di Resta, who started 58 grands prix for Force India and one for Williams
- 75 years ago today Juan Manuel Fangio won the non-championship San Remo Grand Prix, driving the only example of Alfa Romeo’s new F1 car, up against six Ferraris among others
- 15 years ago today Sebastien Buemi suffered an alarming crash in Shanghai when his front wheels came off his Toro Rosso
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Cdfemke
16th April 2025, 0:38
Hamilton in clown suits .. thats what he iw comfortable and feeling himself in? Wow…
Ferdi
16th April 2025, 7:09
In general I would say let everyone themselves determine what to wear and let them be their authentic self. However with Lewis’ I always get the feeling it is more about a cry for attention rather than authenticity.
rprp
17th April 2025, 12:17
So you’re saying let people choose what they want to wear, but only if you approve that you think it’s for the reasons on your list of allowed reasons, which is to be one’s authentic self?
Ferdi
18th April 2025, 7:07
What I am saying is that authenticity is good and that I am in doubt whether that is what is being displayed by Lewis. The word approval is nowhere in there.
Derek Edwards
16th April 2025, 0:48
Hooray – more Saudi sportswashing, just what we need. Awesome news!
GeeMac (@geemac)
16th April 2025, 5:33
Hi Derek, as you are clearly an expert on this topic, I’d like your opinion on something that has been bugging me for a while:
The human rights situation in Saudi Arabia is a common stick used to beat it whenever it is mentioned in a sporting context. Would you agree that the current president of the United States is systematically rolling back protections of the human rights of a great number of marginalised and vulnerable groups in his country while their allies in the West seem to not be doing anything to oppose this?
In addition, I find it interesting that the F1 press used to use the Saudi’s military campaign in Yemen as a stick with which to beat it whenever it was mentioned in a sporting context, but they seem to have gone quiet on the issue since the US and UK have started to spearhead that campaign.
Given the above, would you now agree that Miami, Las Vegas, United States and British Grand Prix now examples of sportswashing?
#theworldisacomplexandnuancedplace
Ferdi
16th April 2025, 7:12
But maybe, just maybe.. us allowing the Saudi situation opened up the door (normalisation) for other countries to follow this behaviour. After all the world seems fine with it, so why not have our own muppet.
ECWDanSelby (@ecwdanselby)
16th April 2025, 8:21
lmao oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…….. Really?!
MichaelN
16th April 2025, 8:56
Yes. The different standards are quite obvious.
But it should be noted F1 stopped racing in Ruzzia because of sanctions, not out of some moment of moral enlightenment.
Money talks.
S Arkazam
16th April 2025, 8:54
Not sure what they call it in your language, but in English they call it ‘whataboutism’.
Yo can find it right next to ‘blinkers’.
Bruno Alves
16th April 2025, 12:31
Well, i can say that in my language berating a country for doing something bad but ignoring another country that’s doing the same thing (or worse) is called “hipocrisy”.
This so called “whataboutism” is just a fallacy that people use so they can have double standards when it’s convenient.
The US is by far the worst human rights aggressor since at least the begging of the 20th century and being okay with having 3 races there but protesting 1 in Saudi Arabia (an US ally, nonetheless) is just nonsense.
S Arkazam
16th April 2025, 13:28
It’s a fallacy indeed; failing to respond to the original topic (SA investing in a team and calling it ‘sportswashing’) and introducing a new one.
But feel free to start a new thread about the USofA and/or hypocrisy, and I happily point out when others use the same (or different) fallacy there.
PS what’s your view on Saudi Arabia and Sportswashing in F1?
MichaelN
16th April 2025, 14:21
It’s very true that “whatsboutism” is too often trotted out when people are called on their double standards, however motivated those might be.
But there’s no need to go overboard on the other side. For all their faults, the 20th century has multiple much better candidates for that disreputable title. For the 21st, though, it’s a strong contender. Recent events and responses to it have frequently made me wonder if everyone has forgotten the 2000s.
Ideals (@ideals)
16th April 2025, 10:15
“but what about …”
Amonymous
17th April 2025, 9:32
So if a driver gets a penalty for doing something that other drivers also did but got no penalties, we can’t talk about the other drivers? That’s just silly.
El Pollo Loco
16th April 2025, 0:58
Wow, Hamilton’s story of casual wear is one of the utmost courage. There should be a movie made about that alone.
Ferdi
16th April 2025, 7:13
He would love that. It would be a dream come true.
SteveP
16th April 2025, 17:39
Sarcasm meter reading <1% – please try harder.
You could try me – my fashion sense reads even lower on any meter
XM (@xmf1)
16th April 2025, 1:49
Gary somehow hits the nail with that comment there. I used to see it in Charles, the desperation, but it seems like he’s past that now. Even Max in his younger years showed it, made many mistakes due to it that marks him as Crashstappen by his detractors til this day. George also goes into red mist at times, like Singapore 2023. Seems like they’ve all moved past that and Lando is just coming up to it. Funny thing is, Lando’s teammate is calm through it all. My money is on the Oscat Politetri
Mooa42
16th April 2025, 9:36
Lando reminds me a bit of Mark Webber, (but quicker). Every start from pole is hard work and could end in disaster, and every overtake you feel like a crash could be imminent. When Oscar lined up for his first and second pole I had no such fear, and I think most people just expect him to run off into the distance, which he did, like he has been doing it for years. When overtaking, Oscars ability to commit to the outside line like it has the same grip as the rest of the track is unbelievable. It’s worth watching his overtake on Lewis in Melb on the last lap on a damp track. Best overtake I’ve seen for a long time.
SteveR (@stever)
16th April 2025, 1:59
Here’s a thought about extending the braking zones and geting more passing: Get rid of carbon brakes and switch to steel.
S
16th April 2025, 2:46
That’s the wrong thought.
Even with steel brakes, the tyres are always the ultimate limit of braking force. Suitably-designed steel brakes can stop a car equally as fast as carbon brakes, and equally as often – just at the cost of having a little more mass in the system.
You want to extend braking zones, you need to reduce grip – both mechanical and aerodynamic. Especially aerodynamic.
SteveR (@stever)
16th April 2025, 2:01
‘Getting’ not ‘geting’ of course. This could also save a bit of money.
S Arkazam
16th April 2025, 9:13
Not sure what they call it in Saudi, but in English they call it ‘whataboutism’.
Yo can find it right next to ‘blinkers’.
S Arkazam
16th April 2025, 9:14
Not sure how much you save by leaving one letter out.
It saves you a bit of time, less energy for your device, and if using a physical keyboard the wear and tear.
Of course savings are multiplied by all readers having to download and replicate a story which might be a byte smaller, and the storage of this article in the cloud.
Might make for an interesting thesis project.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
16th April 2025, 3:16
That’s just using your particular privileged position to change the standards you live by. He admits it in the next sentence. I’d do the same but that’s hardly courageous… You’d not do that if you were a mere employee, and if you did THAT would be courageous and it’d probably get you fired.anyway.
Deerhunter
16th April 2025, 4:11
Vogue hit me with a paywall, but I don’t think people quite understand just how often black athletes are for their fashion choices. Especially female black athletes, with Serena Williams and Sha’Carri Richardson being just ones I could recall of the top off my head.
I’m biased since I consider Colman Domingo to be the contemporary epitome of male fashion, but the fact that Lewis has injected some color and bold fashion choices to the paddock since leaving the Ron Dennis world of dull, boring sterility is something I’ve always admired. Ironically, I think that Lewis probably would’ve been way more at home with Zak Brown’s more freewheeling tenure
Deerhunter
16th April 2025, 4:12
Missed one crucial word there
MichaelN
16th April 2025, 14:25
Very true. And of course for a good portion of those complainers it’s not about the clothes. That’s just the excuse.
Those who find Hamilton’s attire to be somewhere between bewildering and amusing don’t tend to care enough to make a big deal about it.
Jere (@jerejj)
16th April 2025, 6:46
Reuters: No existing team is up for sale presently & is unlikely to go on sale for the foreseeable future, so starting from scratch like Haas & Cadillac is the only way for a Saudi team to join.
Of course, they’re only sporting Aston Martin presently, but maybe some other Saudi firms become team sponsors over time.
Vogue: Only being allowed to wear suits & kits, what a weird requirement.
F1 Movie Tweet: Nice BTS footage.
MacLeod (@macleod)
16th April 2025, 7:59
Kuch Audi/Sauber might be aviable for sale…
S Arkazam
16th April 2025, 10:33
All teams* are for sale!
The price needs to be discussed though.
The sale/acquisition will most likely be in steps though, like Ineos investing in Mercedes, Otro in Alpine, MSP in McLaren, AML’s stake in Aston Martin, Williams, Sauber, etc. etc.
These are all recent investments since 2020; no reason to believe it will stop now
* for Ferrari it’s a bit more difficult/expensive though as you will have to invest in the whole company. So a triple digit number in the Billions is what one should expect there.
amped
16th April 2025, 23:45
“AML’s stake in Aston Martin”
Does AML have a stake in AM F1? I thought it was a Chapman Lotus situation whereby they were separate companies operating under the same ‘brand’. Lotus Cars and Lotus F1 Team were both owned by Chapman, but Lotus F1 Team was not Lotus Car’s F1 team in the same sense Mercedes, Renault, Honda, Toyota etc owns/owned the team.
An Sionnach
16th April 2025, 7:18
Anderson is correct. Norris is lacking when it comes to racecraft. Rather than set up an overtaking manoeuvre he seems to go from passive to desperate and do silly, messy things. It didn’t help that the outcomes of these lunges were always blamed on Verstappen last year. This year he will have to improve as I don’t think Piastri will be demonised in the same way and the team won’t be looking to penalise Oscar every time he gets the better of Lando.
Failing that, Lando can stay as he is but he’ll have to put it on pole, or at least in front of Oscar. Then he can use his pace to sail off into the sunset.
Dex
16th April 2025, 17:05
Oh, no… This is too much of those murderers already. Or have we forgotten everything they did and still do in that Mordor of a country? They are rich, yeah, but they also are who they are. What did they do with that journalist again, stuff his parts into the toilet? And that was on the orders of their de facto ruler. Sure, bring in more of their influence and their faces, yay.
isthatglock21
17th April 2025, 13:13
Saudi’s buying into F1 frankly is a great signal of a sport/asset being at its peak. It’s all downhill from here, the Saudi’s are known to make awful investments at the peak. As for Hamilton & his dress sense, more power to the lad. He’s paved the way for others to follow.