SANTANDER GP 2014 – FERRARI DECIDES TO SCREW THEIR LAST CHAMPION. AGAIN.

Bow down before Soren. Well, read the post first, then bow down.

F1 Race Reviews

Motor Racing - Formula One World Championship - Spanish Grand Prix - Race Day - Barcelona, Spain
Just when you think that it couldn’t get any worse. The sound of Formula 1 is gone. The Ferrari car is a dog. The Mercedes cars have effectively already won the championships. And when you finally had some hope that Ferrari had learned their lesson with Kimi this time around; that they would have been driver champions in 2008, had they just listened to his requests. But no. Santander and their upcoming IPO in Brazil was too important, so therefore they bet all their chips on the little Brazilian instead of their reigning champion. And it would seem karma made sure that this heinous strategy didn’t bear fruit.

2009. A year of some similarity to the current. The Ferrari was a dog. One team was dominating up ahead, winning 6 of the first 7 races. This was the year Ferrari decided to get rid of Kimi to bring the spaniard…

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Screw you Guys, I’m going home

The Buxton Blog

Is Formula 1 in crisis? No. But you’d never know it given the hullabaloo in the press. Red Bull saying this isn’t Formula 1. Ferrari saying this isn’t Formula 1. Bernie saying this isn’t Formula 1. Well I’m sorry guys, but you’ve only yourselves to blame.

This new engine formula came about as a direct result of Renault holding the sport hostage. Formula 1 was living in the past said Carlos Ghosn, and Renault would not be hanging around unless it changed its regulations to move in line with more road relevant technology. If they’d had their way, we’d currently have flat fours. As it is, they backtracked slightly to the 1.6 litre V6s which have so divided the sport’s fanbase.

That Renault has arguably done the poorest job in preparing for this new formula is nobody’s fault but their own. They pushed for this technology. They made their bed…

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Get Ready to Rock

Hey! All four people who read this joint! I think one or two of you are flying or driving or hitch-hiking or train-hopping to Austin. Be sure to go, donate and say hi to Will for me!

The Buxton Blog

Buxton's-BIG-TIME-Bash-white

The 2013 US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, is almost upon us. If you’re booked in to attend the event, you have an amazing few days coming up in your life. Austin is the most brilliant city, and with college football and F1 both playing at home over the weekend, it’s going to be an absolutely massive sporting weekend in this incredible part of Texas.

Last season, with F1’s return to the US, and in association with The Austin Grand Prix http://www.theaustingrandprix.com, we launched Buxton’s BIG TIME Bash: an evening of friends and fundraising for Meals on Wheels and More, hosted by yours truly. The concept was simple… to develop the tweet-ups I’d been running for the past few years and make the event a bit bigger and a bit more enjoyable.

Last year’s event at Fado Irish Pub was hugely a successful evening where F1 fans and friends came…

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KOREA GP 2013 – YOU SHALL NOT PASS (THE ICEMAN)

Smart-assery combined with actual racing analysis! In case you need more than just my pure smart-assery.

F1 Race Reviews

Motor Racing - Formula One World Championship - Korean Grand Prix - Race Day - Yeongam, Korea
After a disastrous qualifying that saw Kimi in 10th, corrected to 9th after Webbers penalty, hopes weren’t high for a good result in Korea. A broken frontwing (and a mistake from Kimi as well) saw to that. Ok, he got a podium in Singapore and I know I said that I wouldn’t doubt his abilities again. But come on. Lightning doesn’t strike twice, right..?

bth_homer-simpson-doh_zps74e3ecce

Perhaps not lightning but apparently the Iceman does..

THE RACE

As the lights go out, Kimi gets a so-so start but being cautious in turn 1 gave Perez the opening to slip by on the inside. Down at turn 3 after the long straight, there is mayhem as ballerina Massa spins and almost gives Alonso a tap on his sidepod as half the field has to take evasive action. This enables Kimi to make up a couple of places even though he has to almost stop…

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2013 Korean Grand Prix Drivers’ Quotes, Translated

“I’m pooping on my contract today. Just pooping on my contract today.”

Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, 1st

“It was a long race today, but it’s really great to win. The start was crucial, it’s always tricky here as you’re nervous about the long straight when you start from pole. Fortunately we had good traction off the line and I had a strong exit out of the first corner. We kept the lead and tried to control the race from there. I think Mercedes had more range than us today, but we were able to win which is great. It was a very strong performance from the whole team and I’m happy. We’re just focusing on continuing to take one step at a time and trying to get the best out of the car at every single race.”

VET – “The start was crucial. Everything was in doubt until the moment the cars began moving.”

Mark Webber, DNF
“The incident with Sutil was obviously the end of my race today. It was in Turn 3 on the restart, everyone bottles back up and I was looking for a big exit on the next straight to use some KERS on Daniel (Ricciardo) and the Williams. Then Sutil, I don’t know what happened, but obviously he hit me from the inside and that was that. There was quite a lot of damage at the back of the car and I hope it hasn’t gone towards the chassis – we will have to see before the next race. Before that I was very happy with how I drove and we’d got back to a very good position before I got the puncture. After the Pirelli tyre failure on Perez’ car, I was very lucky to miss the tread of the tyre that came off and then unbelievably I managed to get a puncture from going through the debris.”

WEB – “Has anybody ever looked at my Wiki page? Could one my fans go on there and just go ahead and add a header for a section titled ‘LOOK AT ALL THE FUCKED UP SHIT THAT HAS HAPPENED TO MARK WEBBER IN HIS CAREER AND, MY GOD, HOW DOES HE EVEN FUCKING MAINTAIN THE WILL TO FUCKING LIVE???!!!!’? Could someone do that, please?”

Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal
“A really disciplined drive by Sebastian today to win his third consecutive Korean GP. It was a race dominated by tyre preservation and Sebastian managed it extremely well. It was a great shame to lose Mark who would have been on the podium today after he picked up a puncture from the debris from Perez’ incident. Then, after that he was the innocent victim of the incident that saw Sutil losing his car and hitting him, which caused a fire. It was somewhat frustrating to see our car on fire for what seemed to be an age.”

Horner – “We only had to ask VET to slow down about 75 times as opposed to the normal 150 times.”

Lotus
Kimi Raikkonen, 2nd

“Second place is okay and a good result for the team, but we’re here to win and having to fight your way to the front from a bad starting position is not ideal. Qualifying was pretty awful for me, but it’s difficult to say whether a better grid position would have made the difference. Sebastian was faster than us at the end; not massively, but a little bit for sure and his tyres were fresher too so I think it would have been tough to catch him in any case. We were closer to the Red Bull today than we have been in some races, but not close enough. People might say it was good luck with the safety car, but sometimes these things go with you and others they go against you. We made up some places even before that happened, and if we hadn’t had the speed then we wouldn’t have been in a position to take advantage. You could see at the end that we had more than enough pace to keep the others behind, so I think it’s deserved.”

RAI – “For reals, I am just fucking with y’all. I’m rockin’ this shit with my bad back. As soon as I climb in the car? Yeah, I kick off those Lotus boots and I hammer the pedals in my flip-flops. ‘Tyre Management’? Yeah, it’s called ‘driving with your flip-flops on’, bitches. I’m just here to make Ferrari feel jizzy about me coming (hah! I said ‘coming’) back to Big Red and to make Lotus and their funny Twitter feed soak their black wind-breakers with sad tears or regret. Nobody’s going to beat fucking VET.”

Romain Grosjean, 3rd
“It’s a fantastic result for the team. Of course, one step higher on the podium would have been better for me and two steps better would have been superb, but it didn’t quite work out that way. Our battle with Lewis (Hamilton) was good and our pace was great, but the two safety car periods hurt our attempts to battle for the win. After the restart I should have been in front of Kimi on the road, but it was my mistake which let him past. I went a bit wide in Turn 15 and got on the Astroturf – which is very slippery – and that let him get a run on me. Then there were yellow flags into Turn 3 so I couldn’t take the place back straight away. Of course, I was asking the team to let me past Kimi as I was on fresher tyres, but they left us to race which is our philosophy of fair play. You lose so much downforce in sectors two and three and obviously our cars are pretty close on performance so it’s pretty hard to pass, but we have to be very happy with a double podium.”

GRO – “I probably could’ve passed Kimi but I am not fucking stupid: I prefer my cock and balls as they are and not frozen off by the frosty blue breath of the Ice Dragon. If I had pulled that shit, passing Kimi, you know sometime in the next 24 hours, I’d step out of the bathroom or the shower or wherever and in a crystalline moment, my junk’d be iced, detached and tossed to the floor to shatter apart into a million bits. . . . . . . Not that that hasn’t happened, metaphorically, already, I guess. Hey! Double podium, though, right?”

Sauber
Nico Hulkenberg, 4th

“Today I drove one of the best races in my career so far. I have had cars in the mirrors before, but today there were a lot and it was a bit annoying. Lewis (Hamilton) really put the pressure on at the end, especially in the last sector. I knew I needed to get out of Turn 1 well. The car’s traction was very good today, so that kept me alive against Fernando and then Lewis later on. We were also very fast on the straight. I had a good start, although on the outside into Turn 1, which was a loss at first, but then I had a real good slip stream and was able to get past on the outside. A big thank you to the entire team for providing such an excellent car today.”

HUL – “Feel that heat, bitches?! That’s the Hulkenberg Fever y’all are feelin’!!! There ain’t no cure for the Hulkenberg Fever save one: SIGN MOTHER-FUCKIN’ HULKENBERG TO THE OPEN SEAT ON YOUR TEAM!!!! The line forms over there, bitches! Passing ‘Nando was fun. But, man, passing fuck-nuts Hamilton like he was standing still? Passing him and hearing his sobbing as I passed him? That was like hearing all the Kraftwerk all in my head all at once.”

Esteban Gutierrez, 11th
“I had a very good start, then I arrived at Turn 3 and saw what was going on. I tried to protect my position, my rears locked and that’s why I lost a couple of positions. To recover from that was quite a challenge. I had some good fights with Massa and Checo (Perez) coming from the back. Of course, I wanted to score points today, but this is racing. It’s a great experience and will help me to improve my race craft. We had good pace today and are definitely able to fight in the top ten.”

GUT – “I got kinda freaked out, being in 10th, thinking about the points I might get. Then Checo was all up my ass and I figured he’d just run me off the track to get what he wanted. Those guys from Guadalajara are fucking dicks. I decided that rather than roll the dice on the ‘Will-Checo-Run-You-Off-the-Track-Out-of-Pure-Spite’ lottery, I’d just let him pass.”

Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton, 5th

“That was not a great day for us and it feels like we deserved more as a team. After Grosjean got ahead of me at the start, there was no way past and it seemed that we were losing out to others on traction cars all day. In my second stint, running the prime tyre, my right front was just destroyed all of a sudden. When that happens, you start losing temperature, understeering and locking up under braking, so it was really hard to maintain the pace in those laps. It was a really difficult part of the race but I had to get to a certain target lap before I made the final stop. After the safety car, we were just losing out in traction to the Sauber. Our car was really strong through the middle sector but not quick enough on the straights to stay ahead. It was a nice battle with Fernando but it’s hard to take when it’s only for P5 or P6. It was just not a good race for us today but we have the chance to bounce back in Suzuka.”

HAM – “Victim! Victim. Victim! Victim. Victim, victim, victim. . . . Victim! Vic. TIM! Victim! Victim? Victim. Bless.”

Nico Rosberg, 7th
“That was another very tough race for me. I couldn’t believe what happened with the wing: I was on course for a podium finish after overtaking Lewis and two seconds later, the front wing just broke. It was pretty scary because that could have been a dangerous situation but the engineers told me over the radio that it was under control and I could carry some speed back to the pits. It’s a shame because the car felt great today and I found a good balance and how to get the most out of the car, which I hadn’t managed until this point of the weekend. It’s been a real up and down season so far for me but it’s good that we have another race in a week’s time. Our car is very competitive and I had good pace compared to the cars on the podium. So I’m looking forward to the next races.”

ROS – “Haaaammmmy! Oh, Haaammmmyyy? The only reason I didn’t beat you again this week? THE FUCKING NOSE OF MY FUCKING CAR CAME FUCKING OFF! Did you see those sparks and shit? It was fucked up! My nose came off and I still came in only two spots behind you. That’s how much you fucking suck. Fucking Hulkenberg walked past you like you were standing still. THAT’S how much you suck. I am totally looking forward to seeing my penis angels in Suzuka!” 

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, 6th

We knew this would be a difficult race and unfortunately the results confirmed the concerns we had already experienced on Friday, when we had a few problems with tyre degradation on the long run. It wasn’t a surprise to be off the pace in qualifying, as that’s been the case since the start of the season, but the fact that we didn’t have the pace in the race was one. Unfortunately, at the start, I couldn’t keep the Sauber behind me and that meant I had a particularly stressful race in terms of the tyres. What happened to Felipe at the third corner was not a problem for me: there were a lot of us there at that point and someone must have touched him. I tried to avoid him and continued without it affecting my race, because by then, I was already behind Hulkenberg. Now we must think only about Suzuka and try to get back on the podium, rediscovering the form we usually have on Sunday, that allows us to fight at the front. Vettel is a very long way off in terms of points, but above all in performance terms and we cannot expect miracles between now and the end of the championship. Second place in the constructors’ championship is probably a more realistic target, but one thing’s certain, we are not giving up now and we will give it our best shot right to the very end.”

ALO – “I’m pretty much packing up my ball and going home. Massa can fuck off. Seb can totally fuck off. Montezemolo can fuck off. I’m preemptively telling Kimi to fuck off. Pirelli? Yep, you can fuck off. I’ll just be over here with my dolly. . . I mean my Dasha dol. . . Dasha! I’ll just be over here with Dasha.”

Felipe Massa, 9th
“Today’s race was really very complicated, because my chances of getting a good result evaporated right from the first lap, when I found myself in the middle of a group, all of us fighting and I decided to go down the inside to try and brake later. Unfortunately, some of the cars were slower and in order to avoid driving into one of the Mercedes, I was forced to move over to the right, ending up in a spin. Luckily, the car was alright, but at that point I was contemplating a race from the back of the pack. Thanks to a few nice passing moves I still managed to bring home some points, which was a good thing compared to how it looked after the start. Today, we weren’t competitive and there were at least three or four teams quicker than us, including Sauber, but I hope this was mainly track dependent and that our car will be better suited to the Suzuka track.”

MAS – “Points, guys! More points! And even though I spun out! Points! And ‘Nando didn’t spin out and he barely got more points, guys! Guys? Guys? Points?”

Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari team principal
“After positive results in Belgium, Monza and Singapore, there’s no use denying that today’s result doesn’t make us happy. We were hoping to be able to attack the two Mercedes on the opening lap, as we knew we could deal with their race pace. Unfortunately, that was not the case and the incidents just after the start affected our race, wiping out any chance of getting close to the podium. In these conditions we didn’t manage to get the most out of our car and now the only thing we can do is keep our concentration high for the next round in Japan, where we get an immediate chance to redeem ourselves. Even if the drivers’ title is now an almost impossible target, we still have an obligation to continue to give our all to the very end of the championship, because we are still fighting for second place in the constructors’ championship.”

Domenicali – “It’s not like we’re fucking McLaren over here.”

McLaren
Jenson Button, 8th

“Turn 3 was always going to be something of a mess on the first lap. And, sure enough, there was an incident; a car got hit, went wide and hit me. That contact damaged my front wing endplate. It didn’t really cause me too much of a problem in terms of staying with the cars in front, but it really started to hurt the temperatures, so we had to pit for a new nosebox on lap four. That cost me a bit of time. Our pace on the prime tyre was very good, however, and I was able to run two strong stints on the prime to stay in the hunt. During my second pit stop, the (pit-release) lights went green then went red again, so I briefly stopped as a precaution straight after I was released. I had a quick look behind me to check that everything was okay – everything seemed fine, so I continued. Considering those delays, eighth place wasn’t a bad result. Still, I was a bit gutted to lose seventh right at the end of the race. As soon as I lost the DRS to the bunch of cars in front, that was it for me: I couldn’t get any temperature back in the tyres. It was always going to be difficult with Nico (Rosberg) at the end: his tyres were almost 10 laps fresher than mine. I did 33 laps on my final set, whereas the previous set did 18! I’m really happy to have picked up those points – four points were about as good as it was going to get today.”

BUT – “Shit is so fucked up here, I don’t even know what the fuck I’m doing anymore. Ummmmm. . . .TYRES!”

Sergio Perez, 10th
“We definitely deserved more today – we were very unlucky. With regards to my tyre delamination, although that particular set was already quite old, I braked at the same point as normal and got a flat-spot from the lock-up. I’d done 21 laps with that set, when, all of a sudden, the front-right just exploded, destroying the front wing. It was lucky, because there weren’t any other cars around me. Still, from a team point of view, it’s very disappointing for a single incident like this to destroy the good progress we’d made all weekend. Regarding Felipe, we were racing very hard trying to get some points – on one occasion, I thought he was going to leave me more space, then he turned in, I tried to brake and we touched a little bit. On the second incident, I thought I had the corner. I’m pleased that the stewards felt there was no need for any further action – it was just racing.”

PER – “Shit is so fucked up here, the stewards don’t even give a shit anymore. Luck. Yeah, luck. We’re so unlucky: I was told to be careful with the tyres, then I locked up, burning the mother-fucker down to the belt and I was so unlucky when the tyre delaminated. Huh? Normal braking? Well, yeah, isn’t that how everyone brakes? With smoke and more smoke and rubber flying everywhere? THAT’S HOW WE ROLL IN THE DISTRICTO FEDERAL, YOOO!!! Represent!”

Williams
Valtteri Bottas, 12th
“I was a bit unlucky with the incident on the first lap as I was blocked and lost a position whereas others were able to make up places. The first stint was difficult as I was struggling with the supersoft tyre, but the pace improved a lot in the second stint on the mediums and the safety cars allowed me to close in on the top ten. In the end it was all about making sure we still had the grip in the tyres to fight for some points in the final laps, but I think 12th was a fair result as the cars that finished ahead of us had better pace all weekend.”

BOT – “I’m getting tired of leading MAL across the finish line just so he doesn’t get lost on the way. I totally could’ve come in 11th otherwise. Can’t they just put GPS into his steering wheel and then I can just race my race?”

Pastor Maldonado, 13th
“I had a very good first lap, moving up to ninth after an incident at turn three allowed me to make up a lot of places. I tried to maintain my position in the top ten but the safety cars hindered my race today as the cars behind were able to keep closing up behind me, and after the second restart they just had too much pace and were able to overtake. It’s disappointing not to finish in the points but the end result is a fair reflection of our performance this weekend and we need to work hard to find some gains for the race next weekend in Japan.”

MAL – “Part of growing up, HAM, is just accepting your lot in life.”

Caterham
Charles Pic, 14th

“That was a good race for me I had a good, clean start but into Turn 3 I had to go off track to avoid Massa who’d spun and lost a couple of places. I made them up and for both the first and second stints the car balance felt good. We’d started on supersofts and they held up well for the first stint so we pitted on schedule and re-joined on a set of new mediums. As I say, the car balance felt good and I was on plan when the first safety car came out so we boxed right away for the second stop and at that stage we were looking at a long final stint to the flag. However, then the second safety car was brought out almost immediately and that obviously helped with the tyre management for the final stint. I did have some issues with the front right for the last few laps but nothing too bad so I got the car to the flag in 14th which is a decent result for us – not quite where we want to be but almost!”

PIC – “I would’ve finished higher but, my god, did you see all that clag kim-chi all over the track?! I was so pumped when I heard we would be running super-softs in Korea ’cause I knew that meant loads and loads of kim-chi. So, like, after about 12 laps, I had to stop, bury some clag in a clay pot. The safety car was awesome, ’cause then I stopped and dug up the kim-chi and no one even noticed. I even had had some nice, smoked kim-chi from near Mark’s car. Mmmmm. . . .. Resin-y.”

Giedo van der Garde, 15th
“My start was great, really strong and when everyone was moving to avoid Massa in Turn 3 I had to push out wide to avoid contact with a few cars around me. I really don’t think I’d pushed any other cars out on purpose on lap one but I was told to box for a drive-through penalty because of what the stewards saw and from there my race was pretty much over. I served the penalty and then had to box again immediately as the supersofts I’d started on were done, so even though I was up as high as 12th in the first stint I re-joined in 22nd and set about catching up Chilton and Bianchi. I was up close to Chilton just when the safety car came out and the team did a great job to help me get past him with a really quick stop on the first safety-car lap. That sort of teamwork needs to be mentioned as it plays such a critical role in the overall race, so the boys deserve a thank you for that.The second safety car came out almost immediately when Mark’s car caught fire and then when we restarted I had a bit of a lock-up at the end of the main straight and Bianchi got past, but within a couple more laps I regained the place and was back behind Charles in 17th. I had a flat spot from that point in the race but kept pushing and finally finished in 15th, just behind Charles. Without the drive-through I’m sure I could have finished higher, maybe not up in 13th, but close and while that’s obviously frustrating today, it shows how close it’s getting and that’s good for my motivation and the whole team.”

GAR – “All these words when a hearty ‘MEH!’ would do nicely. Giedo, Giedo, remember: you don’t get paid by the word.”

Marussia
Jules Bianchi, 16th

“I was hoping to be able to have a good fight with the Caterhams today and despite the setback of the grid penalty I was in a good position after the first couple of corners of the opening lap. It wasn’t too long before we had to focus our efforts on tyre management and the first two stints were pretty tough as we were not able to push. In the third stint, when there was less to lose, we could give it more of a shot but it was not enough to try to take a position from them. We have a tough job on our hands in these next five races and it will require every bit of our focus and concentration, but we know what we have to do and everyone is working very hard for that. My thanks to the team as it is not just tough in the cockpit!”

BIA – “This shit is still hard!”

Max Chilton, 17th
“Overall, a good team result today as we achieved the right outcome for our bigger picture. I think we were lacking a little in terms of our expected race pace but also we were unable to really push because of the need to manage our way through each stint with the tyres. The opening lap melée set me back a little but then I caught back up to Jules and the two safety cars meant that we never had the blue flag situation to worry about. The pit stops were really slick and I think we did everything we could. We are much closer to the Caterham cars, we know that, but we need to be able to carry that through into the race to make things a little more comfortable. ”

CHI – “GUYS! HEY! WOW! I THINK WE ARE TOTALLY GETTING THE HANG OF THIS RACING THING! IT IS REALLY FUN! AND, LIKE, THE PIT STOPS WERE FAST AND THERE WEREN’T ANY CONFUSING BLUE FLAGS. DUDES! WE DIDN’T EVEN GET LAPPED THIS RACE!!!! THIS SHIT IS AAAAWWWSSSOOOOMMMMMME!!!!!”

Toro Rosso
Jean-Eric Vergne, 18th

“At the moment, we’re not quite sure what happened in the end. I felt the car pull to one side and something was clearly not right, so the team called me into the pits. Starting from 16th, this was always going to be a difficult weekend and after I made up a few places in the early stages, I began to suffer with tyre degradation, so I agreed when the team decided to switch me from a two to a three stop strategy. I just want to get to Suzuka and start again now, but we will need to do a lot of work if we want to return to the performance level we should have had here.”

VER – “Get me the fuck out of Korea.”

Daniel Ricciardo, 19th
“I think we did all we could today in the race. I had a decent first stint and tried to run as long as possible on the Prime tyre. The car wasn’t perfect but it was good enough to be in a points position with a few laps to go and I was hanging on nicely to ninth. It’s deja vu, as I had the same scenario here last year, when I came down to Turn 3 with a few laps to go, I braked and the car immediately shot to the left. That time it cost me one place. Once I got out of the cockpit this time, I could see there was a mechanical problem at the front left corner. Personally, I was really pleased with my performance in the car today. Maybe we didn’t have a top-ten car but I was able to fight in the top ten. But for myself and the team it’s frustrating to get no reward. Now all we can do is look ahead to Suzuka.”

RIC – “Man, I can’t wait to get into the real RBR car. One that’ll just do what you tell it t. . . . . Wait, what? I get Mark’s old car next season? Fuck.”

Force India
Adrian Sutil, 20th

“I was quite unlucky on the first lap because after Massa spun everybody headed for the inside and somebody hit me on the side of my front wing. The damage was not too bad but I still had to pit for a new one. As the race went on I was able to fight back quite well and after the safety car I was in P12 and not planning to pit again. At the restart I lost the rear of the car under braking for Turn 3. I really don’t know why because I was not braking late and the car just snapped. I hit Webber so I apologise for ending his race. It’s a disappointing end to the race because I believe there was still a chance of a point.”

SUT – “Jesus Christ: you just look at that number two RBR car the wrong way and the fucking thing catches on fire. Am I right people!?”

Paul di Resta, DNF
“I have to hold my hands up and apologise to the team. Maybe I took a little bit too much kerb and that sent me off the track. The way we’ve set the car up means it has been quite edgy and difficult to drive, and that’s what has caught me out today, although whether it has cost us points is hard to say. The performance in the race was not where we wanted it to be and the front tyres were wearing out too quickly. So we need to have a rethink ahead of Suzuka and go there determined to have a clean race.”

RES – “Are we supposed to be finishing these races?”

2013 British GP, Post-Race Driver’s Quotes, Translated

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg (1st)
“This is a great moment for me and our team to win in the home of motor racing at Silverstone. We have such great momentum in our Silver Arrows team and I’m very proud to be part of it. This win is for every single person who has been involved in building our car. It was a shame for Lewis today, and I had also a problem with my tyre but I was lucky because of the Safety Car. It was so special to win today, especially in front of fellow team members and their families as our factory is only ten minutes away from the track. The race was really exciting. I had to manage the tyres really carefully, I was told to avoid the kerbs. At the end, it was difficult to hold Mark and to look after my tyres but I was able to keep the position, and take a great victory for us. Now we can look forward to another home race next weekend at the Nurburgring.”

ROS – “Yeah, it’s a shame when fucking karma comes and, like a magical unicorn filled with sparkles and light; a unicorn that poops bacon, fucking rains down the absolute justice of the universe onto the cheesiest cheeseball that ever cheesed a ball. Tonight, when I go to sleep, my soft soft pillow will be filled with the sounds of the synapses in HAM’s head, trying to make the picture of himself sending a text to his soul and in the text is the understanding that his not-winning is what God wants, that he is not God’s favorite, and every time he prays about winning, the devil pulls out his giant, red cock and masturbates all over the damned. Fucking ‘Bless’, my ass.”

Lewis Hamilton (4th)
“Of course, I’m disappointed by today’s race and I would have loved to deliver the win this afternoon for all the British fans here at Silverstone. The race started so well for us today; I felt comfortable out in front and was managing my pace. The tyre problem was such a shame and from then, it was just a case of giving it my all and battling as far up the field as possible. I had some good overtaking moves and, given another lap, I might have got Fernando and ended up on the podium. Everything considered, fourth place is pretty good after having been last on lap 10 and we’ll take that. It’s a great result for the team today, big congratulations to Nico who came through a tricky situation to take the win for us. We’ve now moved up to second place in the constructors’ championship which is a nice reward for everyone at the factories just down the road from here.”

HAM – “Happy! I’m so happy for everyone! If I keep shouting about how happy I am for everyone, perhaps I won’t hear the words of Nicole’s text in my head: the words ‘I’ and ‘am’ and ‘dumping’ and ‘your’ and ‘giant’ and ‘earringed’ and ‘ass’. The words ‘Walk your own fucking not-really-even-your-dog dog’ were in that text, too. If I keep shouting how happy I am, I won’t hear my mother and father debating over which child will be their favorite next.  Over my shouting, I won’t hear Ross and Wolffie telling everyone that ‘at least we have a Number Two driver’ with a shrug. Over my shouting (and my my dope beats) (and my Haribo-chewing), I wont hear my quiet sobbing. /sniff/ Bless.”

Red Bull

Mark Webber (2nd)
“What a day! I don’t think any of us expected it to unfold like this. The start was pretty bad, we have to look into that as we had had a good run of starts recently. Then I had contact with Grosjean and the wing was damaged; the boys did a great job in the stop when they changed it, After that we got into the race. I was praying for a safety car, but not for the reason they were coming, as you knew you could be next. When you have something like that, it’s Russian Roulette; when you see that many tyre issues for the fellow competitors then it’s never comforting. I made the most of those safety cars – and today the strategy was one of the best we’ve done. I think it worked very, very well. I worked hard to manipulate the pace when I had to and then it was Nico and I left at the end. It would have been nice to have had a few more laps, but that’s how it was today. It was nearly a really special day, but it was still a nice day.”

WEB – “I’m not sure how this week could’ve been better! I got a new razor for my third shave of the day, so I only had, what – for a normal human – would be three-day’s growth by the end of the race. Hmmm. . . Maybe, instead of struggling with my Viagra dosage and starting like a chump, I need to examine the effect my facial hair is having on the performance of the car! I do get faster has the race progresses. . . Perhaps there’s a correlation! Anyway: awesome week! New razor, got the F1 monkey off my back, took a shit of start and polished into a 2nd place silver cowpie. . . . What else happened. . .. hmmmm. . .oh, yeah! FUCKING VET DNF’D!! HA HAHA HAHAHAHHHAAAA HA!!! WOO-HOOOOOO!!!!!”

Sebastian Vettel (DNF)
“Obviously it’s quite disappointing to retire when we were only a few laps from the end. We had a gearbox issue, I think fifth gear broke and damaged the rest of the gearbox as well, so it was not possible to carry on. It’s a shame because we were in a good position and it’s a nice race to win here, so yeah I guess we have to come back next year and try again. It’s good that it’s only a short time until the next race.”

VET – “Bernie told me if I walked off with this one, ratings would suffer. I knew something was up when Newey asked to open my brain flap and I felt some tugging at the ‘FUCKING WIN AT ALL COSTS’ servo. I’m like the anti pre-scandal Armstrong. . . . . .. Hmmmm, I need to talk to my programmers about ‘getting’ cancer and then coming back, all sympathetic n’shit. I could come back from cancer, win every GP, poop on the podium and people would be all, ‘Oh, that’s just VET being VET.”

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso (3rd)

“If I’d been told this morning that I would have ended up on the podium, I would not have believed it possible. Yesterday in qualifying, we finished a long way down and our expectations for this race were to aim for a fifth or sixth place, hoping to score as many points as possible. After some negative experiences, today we can say we were lucky on a few occasions, beginning with Perez and then at the first stop with a completely worn out tyre – fortunately at the last corner – and then with Vettel’s retirement. At the end of a difficult weekend, it was unimaginable that we could make up so much ground, but now we must try and improve, starting with the very next race in Germany. Only there will we understand if we have indeed slipped backwards or if this weekend was a one-off. Up until the Canadian Grand Prix we saw a Ferrari capable of fighting for the podium, but one that struggled a bit in qualifying, before then having a great race pace, so now the aim is to get back to that situation. It’s impossible to say what happened to the tyres and that’s something the experts will have to clear up.”

ALO – “I’m rockin’ the new facial hair; drivin’ like a man possessed, a sexy surgeon of asphalt slowpokes. I got shit blowin’ up in my face, rubber and belts and carbon all up in my grill. I will this car onto the podium. I am a speed potter, molding this lumpy red-hued clay into something fast and magic. All that, and it took a VET ‘mechanical’ to get me on the podium. All that, and they give a silver cowpie. Fucking British.”

Felipe Massa (6th)
“I am very pleased with my race which this time was truly impeccable. After a fantastic start and a perfect first lap, maybe one of the best of my career, I managed to drive an attacking first stint. On lap 10, when I was right in the middle of the corner at Turn 5, my left rear tyre failed and I had to pit. After this forced stop, I found myself last and from then on, I began a great charge up the order, thanks to a lot of very nice passing moves. Without that tyre problem I could have made it to the podium, because today I had a good feeling with the car and both myself and Fernando had shown we could fight with those at the front. Now, our greatest concern revolves around safety, because even if I can’t really tell what happened today, it’s unacceptable having to drive knowing you are not safe. Even if, luckily, nothing serious happened, what we saw is very dangerous. I already had this problem twice before in Bahrain and if something isn’t done about it as soon as possible, I am sure it will happen again. In a few days we will be at the Nürburgring, a track I like a lot and where I hope to have a car that is more competitive in qualifying, so that I can start further forward, which would allow me to have another strong race.”

MAS – “WOOO-HOOOOO! FUCKING FINISHED AGAIN!!! Godhatesme. WOOOO-HOOOOO!!!”

Lotus

Kimi Raikkonen (5th)
“I tried to hold on at the end of the race, but with tyres that were maybe twenty laps older than the others’ it was impossible to keep them behind. It’s a shame as the race went pretty well until then; we had good pace and looked set for a pretty easy P2, but this is racing sometimes. It’s three races now where we haven’t had the result we maybe expect, but hopefully if we can have a bit more luck and also get rid of some of the mistakes we’ll be able to get back to the front.”

RAI – “This shit keeps up, I’ll have a fucking lobotomy just so I can tolerate being VET’s team-mate.”

Romain Grosjean (19th)
“Towards the end of the race we lost quite a big part of the front wing meaning it became really difficult to drive, so in the end it was best to retire because of safety considerations. We don’t know if it was caused by some debris or something to do with the fact that it was a new part; we will be working to find out the root of the problem. Before that my race wasn’t going quite to plan and we were suffering with tyre performance. This was related to the front wing issue which started earlier in the race. The safety cars didn’t really go our way either so it’s a race I’d rather forget. Let’s go to Germany and have a better weekend.”

GRO – “Perhaps there’s a nice community college where a can participate in a nice 18-month program to get my certification in a productive career. I hear there’s lots of opportunity in the fields of: Dental Hygienist, Bartender, Home Inspector, HVAC Technician, Auto Mechan. . . .Wait, no. Nothing with cars, nothing with cars.”

Eric Boullier, Lotus team principal
“The outcome of the race isn’t rewarding with the amount of work that has been done by the team recently. Most of the upgrades we brought here seem to be working which is a positive sign, although we did struggle a bit in qualifying to generate good grip from the tyres. Our strategy was great today until the last safety car when we should have called Kimi in to save at least one position and make the podium. Unfortunately, we made the wrong call for which we apologise to Kimi and to the team. This sometimes happens and it isn’t easy to manage when you have so many safety car periods. We will be in Germany in a few days’ time where we’re confident we will be competitive and aiming to make amends.”

Alan Permane, Lotus trackside operations director
“We have mixed feelings today. We made some good places up during the race but in hindsight, we should have pitted Kimi at the final safety car. It wasn’t obvious at the time, but the benefit of hindsight is always enlightening. Romain had a front wing failure near the end of the race, the cause of which we don’t know yet. We weren’t affected by the tyres issues that we have seen today but warned our drivers to stay clear of the kerb at Turn 4 as there was a suspicion it might be the cause. Despite not being as good as it could have been, it was a better weekend for us than the last two. Further upgrades we have coming for Germany mean we fight on.”

Boullier/Permane – “Kimi! Please don’t leave! We promise we’ll be better!”

Force India
Adrian Sutil (7th)

“The start of the race was looking very good because we were always planning a two-stop strategy and I was up into fourth on lap one. It was a challenge to look after the tyres and keep them going, but the main problem for me was the second safety car because the cars around me chose to pit. I stayed out and was third at the restart, but the cars behind with fresh rubber had a big advantage and were able to overtake me quite easily in the final few laps. It’s disappointing to slip back so close to the finish, but seventh place gives us some good points so we can be happy with the result.”

SUT – “One more race like this and I won’t have to fly Coach to Budapest!”

Paul di Resta (9th)
“That wasn’t the cleanest of races for me, but given everything that’s happened this weekend I think we can feel satisfied with two points today. It was a bit of a scruffy race because I lost my front wing trying to get ahead of Nico [Hulkenberg], so we chose to change it when the safety car came out, which probably cost me a couple of positions. Towards the end of the race I had fresh tyres, and was closing in on Ricciardo, but I ran out of laps and he was just out of reach. So a weekend of highs and lows, but it’s definitely good to continue our points run and have another double points finish for the team.”

RES – “One more race like this and I won’t have to fly to Budapest in the luggage hold!”

Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo (8th)
“That was a chaotic race, but for most of it I was in a reasonably strong position. I didn’t get the best of starts, but managed to make up for that, however I then lost a bit of time at both pit stops. Towards the end of the race, I had a very good pace but I think we might have done better with a different strategy when the last safety car came out as prior to that I could match the Force India and the Ferraris. At the end we were on used tyres and those who changed for a third time were able to pass me. Eighth is a good result, but I see it as a missed opportunity to score more points, because today we were quicker than the Ferraris so to finish behind them, particularly Massa who had a tyre problem, is a bit disappointing. I don’t know what was happening with the tyres, as I kept seeing people going off the track and there was debris everywhere. It was a little bit dangerous and we need to look into it. For my part, I just had normal degradation.”

RIC – “Has WEB retired yet? When’s the end of the season? I’m already practicing pretending that VET is human and not staring when they attach his head.”

Jean-Eric Vergne (DNF)
“I got a bad start and that’s something we must look at carefully, as it compromised our performance. But it would not have made a big difference today, because of the problem I had when my tyre failed. I don’t know what happened, I did not feel any warning signs and it just let go under braking. I did manage to come back to the pits, fit new tyres and go out again, but the team immediately told me I had quite significant damage to the car, which in any case I could feel. The car was very difficult to drive from then on and in the end, the team took the decision to retire me, as there was no sense in carrying on. I did not feel in danger, but it’s just a shame that this sort of problem can waste a whole weekend’s work for the team. I am very upset about it and something needs to be done about it soon. So, from a results point of view, this is a race to forget, but I believe we showed the car was very quick and we can be in the fight in the coming races.”

VER – “Man, if it weren’t for these tyres, I would’ve come in, like, 18th! Or even 17th! Man! C’mon!”

Sauber
Nico Hulkenberg (10th)

“The race today was a lot of fun. I hade some good duels and was able to push to the limit. It was fun to drive the car on such a high-speed track like Silverstone. At a point in the race, I lost the overview of what was going on, with the two safety cars and lots of tyre debris on the track. I had a slow puncture during my second stint, which is why we had to pit earlier. I think our speed was what we expected it to be, and overall was better than in qualifying yesterday.”

HUL – “If Force India is the new Ferrari, can we be the new Force India!?”

Esteban Gutierrez (14th)
“It was a crazy race, because a lot of things happened and I just tried to focus and make the best out of the situation. I had to pit because of a problem with my front left tyre. This also damaged my front wing, which forced me to pit again two laps later. This is something that needs to be looked into for safety reasons and also to avoid having a race that is defined by the tyres. The car was still a bit tricky to drive in the slow corners, but overall it was ok.”

GUT – “Wowzers! I’ve seen fewer blow outs on the road from the DF to Cuernavaca!”

Williams

Pastor Maldonado (11th)
“It was a difficult race but our pace was consistent. We weren’t quick enough but I was happy with the balance of the car and we had no problems with our tyres. I am looking forward to continuing to improve, particularly in qualifying. We were close to scoring our first point today, but before the second restart I was on the inside when Hulkenberg went off the track and he made contact with me when he rejoined, which cost me two positions.”

MAL – “Almost got a point! I’ve been working on my numbers, so I’m pretty excited to almost have gotten a point!”

Valtteri Bottas (12th)
“It wasn’t an easy race for me because the car was quite difficult to handle. We didn’t have the best set-up for qualifying and the race, and we also lost some time in the pit stops, so we need to improve in all areas moving forward. Points were certainly possible today but unfortunately we just missed out.”

BOT – “I’m acting sad about missing out on some points but, really, I’m sort of glad because trying to help MAL with numbers n’shit has gotten really old lately. Used to be, he’d just be fine hitting other cars. Now he wants points and he wants to know how to add the points and, ugh, it’s just so many questions and I have my own shit to deal with.”

McLaren
Jenson Button (13th)

“I started on the Prime tyre, but that quickly grained and gave me problems early on in the first stint. I was happier on the Option. Our pace wasn’t too bad, but the last stint was particularly tough. After the final Safety Car, there wasn’t a lot of tread left on my tyres, so getting them up to temperature was very tricky – we struggle with that anyway. Into the closing laps, I was vulnerable. All the cars on fresher tyres were fighting to get past, and as soon as I went offline to defend, it became even more difficult to get temperature back into the tyre. For safety reasons, the reasons behind this weekend’s tyre failures need to be addressed. It’s dangerous for the driver of the car, because he can lose control; but it’s also dangerous for the driver of the car behind, because you can get hit by a belt of rubber. Hopefully, things can be changed for the next race. Finally, I want to say a big ‘thank-you’ to all the fans who have supported us this weekend. Every year, your support seems to grow bigger, and your passion for the sport grows deeper – it has been an honour and a privilege to race in front of such an enthusiastic bunch of people. Your support has truly made my weekend. So, thank you.”

BUT – “If it weren’t for the fans and all the groupies who want to fuck me and my hot girlfriend, who actually is fucking me, I’d probably just kill myself. So, jesus, thanks everybody!”

Sergio Perez (20th)
“This was a big shame for the team – we needed this result. My race had been going well. I’d been running inside the top 10 for most of the afternoon when my left-rear tyre suddenly exploded. I just felt an explosion along the Hangar Straight – there was nothing I could really do about it. The tyres are a big concern. Luckily nothing too serious happened to anyone, but we need to sit down together, get an explanation and get something done. Overall, we made a solid improvement through the weekend. We made some useful improvements and showed that our pace is a step forward. Those are all positives to take away. We were just very unlucky today.”

PER – “You fuckers: I had to watch fucking CHI with that big, stupid grin on his face, fucking clinging to the steering wheel, fucking happy and scared all at once, beat my ass this weekend. Now I have to go to Germany and listen to that Ompa-oompa shit all weekend? It’s bad enough, listening to that beat at home in Mexico, now I have to hear in Germany?! If it weren’t for BUT’s girlfriend, I’d kill myself.”

Caterham
Charles Pic (15th)

“I think that was a pretty good race, I’m pleased with how it went. We were managing the tyre deg for most of the afternoon but just before the last safety car came out I was ahead of Bottas and looking at an exciting last few laps. We finally ended up 15th which is not too bad, and we were comfortably ahead of our nearest competitors so it’s a reasonably positive result, despite losing a lot of the gains we’d made when the second safety car came out. For me this has been a good weekend, one where we’ve started to get a bit back to the performance levels we saw in Bahrain and Spain. The pitstops were good, we ran to a strategy that gave me a chance to fight the Williams cars until the flag and we have a lot more information about the updates we brought here, both from today and the aero work we did yesterday. Overall this puts us in a much better position than we were in when we left Canada so now we’ll go straight to Germany and aim to continue this upward curve there.”

PIC – “Kidneys and Clag! My fav! It’s so much fun to tell people I spell it “Kidneys and Klag”! Fucking cracks me up everytime!”

Giedo van der Garde (18th)
“That was a bit of a frustrating afternoon to be honest, but there wasn’t much more I could do. We started the race running with a strategy we’d begun yesterday in FP3 and in quali which was all about managing the tyre deg as long as possible so we could take advantage of anything that happened ahead. The plan was running ok and we were on target for managing the deg levels but then the first safety car came out and as we’d already boxed we effectively lost track time to everyone who hadn’t stopped. With the position we were in then in the race there wasn’t a lot more we could do so we continued with the plan and it was working ok for the last stint, but then we had the second safety car straight after I’d stopped again so it was back to where we’d been at the start. As we only had a few laps left and I was on new mediums I was able to push to the flag and had a good battle with Chilton right until we crossed the line, practically together. I did pass him with a couple of laps left, but it was very tight on track and I had to give the place back which is obviously a shame, but we had a clean fight and without the safety cars I think I’d have been clear of him. Even though we went into this weekend knowing we had a fight on our hands I think we’ve made a bit of progress, getting us nearer to where we want to be relative to our nearest rivals. Next it’s Germany on a track I like racing on and, coming straight after Silverstone, we can keep pushing on. That’s what this season’s all about, keep learning, keep fighting and never give up.”

GAR – “I’ve been possessed by the demon spirit of HAM. Get me an exorcism, stat!!”

Marussia

Jules Bianchi (16th)
“Generally a difficult race, which began with quite a bad start. After that I just had to follow Charles, but it was a fight to stay with him as the Caterham was a bit stronger today. We decided to pit early but then the first safety car period followed and so that didn’t work out for us. For the rest of the race it was the same story until the last safety car, which could have been another opportunity to get past, but although the gap was narrow we were unable to get by. It has not been a straightforward weekend and we have just a couple of days to get to grips with that before we head to Germany, where we hope for better things.”

BIA – “Eating PIC’s clag leftovers was fine. I just put some curry on that clag. Listening to his joke about spelling clag with a ‘K’ got on my fucking nerves, though.”

Max Chilton (17th)
“Today has been a day that I will never forget. I was really psyched on the grid and got a great start, which helped. I got past Jules and Pic at the start, they passed again and then I took back position and we had a really close tussle for the first few laps. They just had a little bit better pace for a few laps and I dropped behind Van Der Garde. I got passed him again right towards the end and we would have been fine but then the safety car came out and he had just pitted, so that worked out really well for him. He had the final 10 laps on new tyres and I was on old tyres, so we had a great fight, but I managed to keep him behind me at the end. All in all, an eventful weekend with so many experiences to take away with me.”

CHI – “GUYS!!! WHEN IS THIS SHIT NOT AWESOME?!!!! I DIDN’T EVEN COME IN LAST!!!!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT??!!! I LOVE THIS RACING SHIT!!!!!!”

Pirelli

Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director
“There have obviously been some issues with rear-left tyre failures which we have not seen before. We are taking the situation very seriously and we are currently investigating all tyres to determine the cause as soon as possible, ahead of the next Grand Prix in Germany. At the moment, we can’t really say much more until we have fully investigated and analysed all of these incidents, which is our top priority. However, we can exclude that the new bonding process, which we introduced at this race, is at cause for the tyre failures we have seen today. There might be some aspect to this circuit that impacts specifically on the latest version of our 2013 specification tyres but at this point we do not want to speculate but will now put together all the evidence to find out what happened and then take appropriate next steps should these be required.”

Hembry – “Does anyone have a rock I could hide under?”

Inscrutable Kimi, Translated, Part 2

The first rule of Kimi Klub is that you don’t talk about Kimi Klub. The second rule of Kimi Klub is that YOU. DON’T. TALK. ABOUT. KIMI. KLUB! Any questions?

Thanks to Lotus F1 for the link!

Toni Vilander has been a very close friend to Kimi since they started racing together as 10-year-olds and were also in the army together.

Toni won the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship for Ferrari in the GTE class and is a very experienced GT racer.

“As we race in different places we have not been seeing each other very often, but I think the friendship is forever” he says.

Toni is a father himself and Kimi is also the godparent of his son Luukas.

Was it any kind of a surprise to Toni to see his friend having such a consistent season after two years’ absence?

“I was more surprised about Kimi making a comeback than how he performed during last season” says Toni. “When he stopped, he was so fed up with Formula 1 and kept saying “never again”. I think it’s a good thing to have some distance away from everything and do something totally different, like rallying. That’s how your way of thinking changes and your approach gets stronger and stronger.

“Kimi is Kimi. It doesn’t matter how different the cars, the tyres or the rules are, it takes only a couple of laps and he is straight away within a second of the top guys. That’s what he did at the beginning of the Lotus era, too.”

Kimi’s image as a laid back person was seen even more during his first season as a Lotus F1 Team driver. His physio, Mark Arnall, has been working with Kimi since 2001 and asserts that the laid back image gives a false impression of how hard the Finnish star trains.

“When Kimi races he is not laid back. He fights and keeps fighting as long as the car is moving. That’s how he works in training as well. Since we started, he has always been like that. He gives 110% every time, whatever the programme.”

Kimi even ensures that his trainer stays in top condition. “He gave me the latest heart rate monitor from Finnish company Suunto for Christmas” says Mark.

One long-time trusted friend has a big input into how Kimi looks on track. Uffe Tägtström – one of the leading helmet designers in the racing world – has been designing Kimi’s helmets since his karting days.

The driver is very much involved in the design process too, so how artistic is Kimi?

“Artistic? I would not say he is very artistic, but he knows what he wants and he is very fashion-conscious. He is certainly of his generation” Uffe says.

Kimi has always been a trend setter in design style. “Sometimes it has been that whatever Kimi brings to his helmet design, it doesn’t take that much time to see the same idea in some way on somebody else’s helmet, too.”

Kimi saves all his helmets and remembers the season just by having a look at the helmet design.

“Usually Kimi gives a hint of what should be on his helmet for the season ahead” says Uffe. “I’ll then make five different versions of the idea on the computer and he picks what he likes the most.

“Last year he wanted to have his race number up there. He had the number previously during the McLaren times, but then it was at the back of the helmet. Now the number has changed from 9 to 7, but there isn’t that much of a change for 2013, just some new partners” Uffe explains.

At the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix, Kimi showed his respect to a driver of the 1970s when he incorporated the James Hunt design and name on his helmet.

“The idea was there for many years, but with McLaren and Ferrari, there was no opportunity to use it. Last year it was perfect and the feedback was great too” Uffe praises.

Let’s wait and see what Monaco brings along this time…

Fucking Kimi is so inscrutable, we couldn’t find anybody to say shit about him, good or bad. “Kimi works way harder than people realize.” Duh!

I love that even the guy who designs his helmet is, like: “EeeeYeah. . He’s not artistic. I’m so Finnish, I have no tolerance for any bullshit at all, ever. I can’t even be expected to patronize the guy who pays my bills second-hand. Please: I have 73 grants from the IFACCA that say I know shit about Art and he, has zero grants from the IFACCA, but he does have 1 ka-billion $US that say I will put whatever the fuck he says to put on his helmet.” And thus ends the interview. 

At this point, Kimi would have to light Mark Webber on fire on the track while not responding to direct orders from the team not to do so for me to say that he isn’t the greatest human ever to breathe the air of our little, funny globe/planet/thingy, here, in space. In the galaxy. In the Universe. Since The Big Bang. Since the seven dragons.