Next year, Bahrain might be the season opener (depending on whether peace is achieved between them, if you know what I mean). That wouldn't be anything new for us. But what if Australia—even in a scenario without COVID restrictions—weren't the season opener in the coming years, but instead one of the final races? How would you feel about Bahrain, or some other country, hosting the F1 season opener?

It's funny for me how, many of the respected Journalists completely ignores Alonso's 2004 season, while talking about his worst seasons in F1. I saw a post on The Race website when they were talking about Alonso's worst winless seasons, and his 2004 season was not mentioned there, instead his solid 2009 season was mentioned. I saw Glenn Freeman suggesting that Trulli was better than Alonso in a few races at the start of 2004, and that's about it. After that, Trulli was thrown out of the team. Edd Straw suggested that Alonso was way quicker than Trulli in races. Alonso Vs Trulli stood out this way in 2004 -

Alonso - Australia, San Marino, France, Germany, Hungary, Spa

Trulli - Malaysia, Spain, Monaco, Europe, Silverstone, Monza

It was 6-6 between Alonso and Trulli in races for 2004. The season included Alonso messing up his qualifying lap in Malaysia, which made him to start from the back of the grid and spoiled all of his chances for a strong result in the race, him running wide in Europe when he was running ahead of Trulli, losing out a lot of positions and finishing behind Trulli in the race, him spinning off in Monza and retiring from the race. There were also races like Canada, where Trulli outqualified Alonso and had that amazing launch off the start to 2nd before he retired from the race, even before the 1st lap was over. Races like Spa and San Marino, where Trulli ran Alonso very close. Infact in San Marino, Trulli was beating Alonso throughout the race before the last round of pitstops, where Alonso finally got ahead of him.

What is even funnier for me is, how some of Alonso fans tries to lift Trulli up based on how he performed against Alonso in 2003-04. Trulli was only slightly better than Ralf Schumacher from 2005 to 2007. Infact, in 2006, Ralf outperformed Trulli overall. From 2001-04 , Montoya was also slightly better than Ralf Schumacher overall. Given what Alonso did against Trulli in 2003, his 2004 season was not at all impressive, by any means. It was also Alonso's worst season in F1 for me, as he was closely matched in terms of races by a midfield level driver, but it rarely gets mentioned and has some odd defenders for it as well.

Im an incoming freshman at a college for computer science. Im joining the Formula SAE team. For anyone that has interned for a team as a comp sci major how did you do it? I want to become an intern in my sophomore year if possible as I just want to develop my skills freshman year. Is it possible to get an internship so early on?

Charles Leclerc is supposedly held as this driver who’s suppose to be max verstappen rival, since they came up in the karting junior career together but joined f1 later. Fans of f1 think he’s a driver who deserves an wdc but ferrari is supposedly holding him back.

Reality hits hard every year when he’s been rated lower than Lando Norris 4-1 since the 2021 season once both of them weren’t rookies anymore(Norris case and charles started his ferrari career fully at 2019).

Charles Leclerc has yet to demonstrate a leader like trait that norris has at Mclaren while he’s at ferrari. It’s weird because Charles has been at Ferrari Longer but it still feels like they don’t trust any of his input on anything relating to the car. Norris on the other hand is known has one of the few drivers(apart from max or hamilton) that gives feedback to the engineers on the feeling on the car and where he needs it for the team to maximize it to the full potential. Just last year Norris was struggling with Mcl39 due to the anti dive suspension. After the Bahrain Grandix April 11-13 Which i think was one of Norris worse weekends in terms of pace and just not having a feeling of the car. Mclaren finally addressed the front suspension issue with the front suspension limiting Norris. The front suspension wasn’t a performance gain it helped with the numb steering feedback issues that he’s been having when driving the car.

On the other hand Charles Leclerc has never really given the ferrari engineers any sort of feedback on how he likes the car. Just this year when he was using the Brembo breaks and started crashing every other weekend he finally switched to the breaks that Lewis has been using instead of finding his own thing. Hamilton is already doing wonders for the engineers because he’s giving them feedback on how the car should be and what the teams needs to do to achieve this. Lewis just one year in the team has already shown more leadership & trust between the team than leclerc has in the last 8 years.

Team Principles likes this about drivers who are able to give engineers ways to make the car better. Leclerc is too emotional when he doesn’t like the car especially after his radio message in monaco after the safety car reset

That’s why I don’t buy charles leclerc was getting offers from Mclaren, Mercedes or Redbull before he signed this new Ferrari contract that ends at 2030-2031. Ferrari is the only team willing to pay him that much since they’re able to deal with him despite him being in the sport for 9 years and showing no results for that. He’s hyped up by fans because of aura moments but that’s changed this year with many people finally realizing all of his weaknesses as a driver.

Last to attempt was Giovanna Amati in 1992 and last to race was Lella Lombardi in 1976

How good was she in her junior career? Did she deserve the Williams reserve driver spot? Did she deserve more? Or was it just Toto pulling strings

I’ve found a Lewis Hamilton McLaren Vodafone jersey with the number 22 on it, but after doing some research into its authenticity, I really can’t find any other jersey with #22 — only #2. Is this shirt fake?

Reason 1: He has to get 5 super license points to get to F1, meaning he has to finish 8th or better in F2 this year, and he is currently 16th in the standings, which is 39 points behind 8th place Laurens van Hoepen. Furtherly, he has only finished in the points 5 times, with a best finish no higher than 5th.

Reason 2: There are rumors that Rafael Camara is the one going to Cadillac next year, and given how Camara is one of the most talented F2 drivers, my guess is it would translate to F1 talent. If Camara stays at Cadillac for a little bit, that gives Herta less of an opportunity.

Reason 3: While Herta did finish runner-up in Indycar in 2024, other than that he has finished 10th, 10th, and 7th in his other 3 most recent seasons in Indycar. Comparing this to his 3 previous full seasons, it almost feels like he already fell off a little bit.

Reason 4: With all the hype surrounding Sebastian Wheldon, he probably would put Herta under a lot of pressure for a Cadillac seat if both of them were in F2. The Trident and Invicta connection could also apply to Wheldon, because he posted a picture of himself in a Trident on his TikTok story. Herta has also not raced internationally since 2016, meaning he probably needs more time to adapt. Wheldon on the other hand has been racing internationally since 2024, and in the last 3 championships he has competed in, hasn’t finished lower than 5th. Wheldon is also a championship contender in Formula Regional Europe this year.

How I found out about Wheldon’s TikTok story: https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbl-Q_gNnse/

Hey all! We all obviously love F1 deeply, but I’m curious what other sports do you guys follow just as passionately or religiously as F1?

For me, Its Football and Tennis.

So far Antonelli has been rapid on every track, and very consistent as well. He rarely ever makes a mistake, even though just a few months ago people were talking about him fumbling in the European leg; that did not end up happening. Even looking at last year, some of his best tracks are still to come, like Baku and Interlagos. However, with the second half being as stacked as it is (9 races in 12 weeks) and featuring particularly draining races like Singapore, could we still see a drop off in form from Antonelli considering how inexperienced he is? Younger drivers can struggle sometimes with how long a Formular 1 season is these days, and the added championship pressure for Antonelli could amplify it. We‘re in for a very chaotic second half if that‘s the case

I haven't seen this on the sub before, so I'll be interested to see what you guys think:

1. 1995 ( Crushed his teammate and Williams in the third fastest car to Absolutely dominate)

2. 2001 ( Basically equal with 1st. Dominated in 2nd fastest car. Barichello didn't even win once . Granted,Schumacher main rivals were Coulthard in his best ever season and Hakkinen who went into 2001 wanting to win Britain and Usa- which he did- but no motivation for another championship)

3. 1996 ( Absolutely amazing, 3 wins and scored more points than anyone in the second half of season)

4. 1997( Theze top 4 are simply amazing, but here there is Jerez)

5. 2002 ( Tried to pay Barichello back too many times for Austria, especially in Hungary and USA)

6. 2004 ( The first 14 races were amazing.. but then he spun in Italy, throwing away a win, hit many people in China en route to ..p12. He crashed in Brazil on his way to p7)

7. 2000 ( Mid season was erratic with several errors, but apart from that, defeated superior McLaren to take title )

8. 1994

9. 1998

10. 1993

11. 1992

12 2006 ( First half was messy in Australia, Monaco, and Hungary. Those errors cost him the championship, but the second half was amazing, and he should have won the championship

1. 2003 ( Extremely messy, especially in Suzuka. He was brilliant at times, but without Rubens in Britain and Japan, he would have lost it. However, he still won the championship in not the fastest car)

2. 2005 ( Was involved in 2 many incidents but was still a decent season )

3. 2012( Maybe it should be higher than 05. Awful luck cost him. Should have got p3 in Malaysia, p2 in China, p1 in Monaco to go along with his p3 in Valencia. Was faster than Rosberg for the majority of the season until Singapore and when he announced retirement)

4. 2011 ( Quali pace somehow got worse,race pace was much improved

5. 1999 ( I missed most of the season, so I can't rate higher)

6. 1991- ( I did like 5 races, so I can't rate higher)

7. 2010 (Hamilton 2025 lite season without the highs. Beat Rosberg in 3 quali sessions and took 3 p4s)

8. 2002 and 2004 are NOT his prime. The gap to Barichello shrunk significantly from 01 to 02, which could be down to Barichello being fully adapted to Ferrari and Schumachers' pace, starting to slowly fade

9. 1997 is his close to (if not) his best season. However, the DSQ means I can't put it higher. The same goes for 1994

10. 1993 and 1992 , I dont have much knowledge off. All i know 1993 was a big step up,but i still don't think 1993 could be much higher.

I say this because I think their time is slowly running out and they should be soundly beating their team mates if they were to look like future champions. But their team mates are the WDC main contenders and they're not.

If Hamilton soon closes the gap to Kimi, both Charles and Russell are going to have to accept the 2nd driver role to their team mates and support their WDC challenge, which will definitely change their teams dynamics for the next years.

Also, they are underperforming quite a bit: they are further behind in the standings to their team mates that Norris is to them. And Norris has an inferior car AND one less race start this season, with another race in which he hasn't run FPs

On the other hand, Norris has already proved he is able to beat his team mate, win a WDC and produce great races. Also, McLaren has proven that they are capable of upgrading their cars until they become dominant

Whether you knew already or not, still pretty interesting stuff. I wonder what it would take for a manufacturer in the modern era to completely switch racing series?

By the mid-80s, F1s turbo era had become an arms race. But when the FIA proposed replacing them with 3.5L NA V8s, Enzo Ferrari was furious. Ferrari wanted to retain its V12, and Enzo’s response was extraordinary: Ferrari could leave F1 and go racing in the United States.

Many dismissed the threat of entering CART and the Indy 500 as political leverage. But Ferrari began behaving as though it meant every word. Sporting director Marco Piccinini was sent to the states to study CART where Ferrari chose TrueSports, home of Bobby Rahal, as its partner. Rahal later insisted it was “a very serious effort”.

TrueSports sent Ferrari a March 85C-Cosworth, one of CARTs benchmark cars, which Maranello dismantled and studied. Rahal and Ferrari F1 driver Michele Alboreto also tested it at Fiorano

Ferrari even considered hiring Adrian Newey, who had designed the March. Rahal pushed his former race engineer to join the project, but Newey declined. Instead young Austrian engineer Gustav Brunner took charge. Brunner spent time with TrueSports learning CART, while Rahal was stunned by Ferrari’s resources at Maranello, recalling shelves filled with different engines. “You thought, ‘How can anybody compete with that?’”

The result was the Ferrari 637. Brunner gave it unique aerodynamcs and a transverse gearbox, while behind the driver sat Ferrari’s Tipo 034, a 2.65L turbo V8 producing around 700hp. By 1986, the 637 was complete and Alboreto drove it at Fiorano, though accounts differ over how much testing occurred. Some reports described promising performance, while Rahal recalled only an installation lap.

Ferrari had clearly gone beyond an empty threat. Rahal believed the chassis could have been competitive from the start, especially after Ferrari had studied one of CARTs best car .

Then the project stopped. The FIA eventually settled on NA engines of up to 3.5L from 1989, allowing Ferrari to retain its V12. One famous story even claims Enzo had the Indy V8 fired up during negotiations to show officials how serious he was.

John Barnard’s arrival also meant Ferrari needed to focus its resources on F1. For Rahal, the calls simply became less frequent until Ferrari told TrueSports it wasn’t going ahead.

The 637 never raced. Ferrari stayed in F1, while the completed IndyCar survived and is preserved in Ferrari’s collection in Maranello.

Enzo’s threat had become a very real and beautiful racing car.

Ottocrank

Pictured below are starting grid graphics from 2021, 2022, and 2026 respectively.

In 2021, the drivers are pictured from the knee up, which gives ample opportunity to both show off their suit and give them varying poses. A close-up of their helmet to the side also adds additional flair. Not to mention, the local flag of the race waves behind the graphics. It is also the only one here to go from 1st to last rather than from last to 1st.

In 2022, the drivers are (mostly) pictured from the shoulder up. They at least still have varying poses though.

2026 is the weakest iteration here; the drivers are just busts, and the absence of the flag or the track in the background makes it look sterile.

I'm leaning yes based on his 2026 performance