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If Monza's axed that takes three more chicanes with it!

More Vegas negativity, https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/mo...418d1d798849759297b425c86b243b&ei=44

Günther Steiner and Simone Resta sacked by HAAS.

Clearly the lack of results and perhaps even worse, lack of progress in identifying and combating the causes for the excess tire wear over several seasons demanded a drastic change. Parting ways with the Chief Technical Designer seems like a logical conclusion to me, but Günther? Unless Steiner has been personally responsible for some less than inspired strategy decisions, or has been micro managing which I don't think he would do, I'm having trouble in understanding the reason why Günther has to go. Unless.....

Gene Haas wants to sell to Andretti and Günther needs to go as a part of making that deal happen. This would make the appointment of the new Team Principal who until now was a relatively unknown and mid-level race engineer, at least to my limited knowledge, a transitory figure. I note that seemingly the new CTD has not yet been named. Not having a new Chief Technical Designer ready the moment you sack the outgoing one could be because a) There is no need for one as Andretti / Cadillac will be appointing their own (a sensible disposition) or b) Gene HAAS really has no clue whatsoever - and I don't think that would be the case, at all.

That seems to be what many are thinking, that this is paving the way for a buy out, and it might be so. Interesting times. But I don't sense that Gene wants out. But you never know with this sort of thing. I do know he was deeply disappointed to have finished last, and maybe at some point you say to yourself the juice ain't worth the squeeze.

Hamilton.

2025.



https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...ari-for-2025.3U1mESEizCeJ096Qrhbkb6.html

What a shocking and very spicy development!

Merc are looking at a turbulent year I think, especially if the W15 is off the pace in the early going.

This is a perfect distraction from the Andretti farce too. Well played F1.

So now the question is who do Merc get to fill his seat in '25. My money's on Albon at the mo.

Sainz has to be thinking WTF?

Ferrari, where old champions go to fade away. Of course they hope to do a Michael Schumacher but forget that a Ross Brawn, a Rory Byrne, a Jean Todt is also needed. Oh, and special custom tires.

Yes Formula One, we totally understand that Team RB Visa Cash App bringes far more value to F1 than Andretti and Cadillac. Not!

Freddy sold him on his 'vision'. Yeah, maybe Fez will be top of the class in '26, who knows? This has the potential to be masterstroke or a disaster. His last move sure worked out so I won't bet against him.

If Merc don't get it right, at the start of the season, this will be a fun year

Yes, Vasseur has probably indicated what a bright future awaits a Ferrari driver in ´25 and onwards while presenting a very tempting and lucrative contract to Hamilton. Apparently his old buddy Toto felt that long a term contract was not desirable when concerning senior employees.

It might also be an attempt to motivate Leclerc further. Begs the question: who is going to play the Rubens Barichello part?

I believe that the late, great Niki Lauda played a huge part in luring Hamilton from McLaren to MB by revealing their plans and engine for the hybrid era. Also, Lauda acted as coach and mentor to Hamilton.

Mercedes-Benz has declined since Lauda’s passing and while Lauda did not work in the design bureau I think he also had a tempering and invaluable influence on Toto who increasingly seems like a ranting has-been to me, and by this influence Lauda impacted the entire team through Toto.

I’m pretty confident Hamilton will win races if Ferrari produce a half-decent car but I doubt that he will win another Championship with the Italian Scuderia.

Who indeed.

Leclerc obviously sees himself as the top dog. Not that results warrant it necessarily, but it's clear that's how he has been treated within the organization. With Sir Loo's arrival, what happens? And honestly I think the whole lead driver thing is silly. Who's number one? Who cares? Number one should be whomever has the best shot at this time and place. If you're in front, you get to pit first. If you're leading the table, you get upgrades first. It's all rather silly to establish number one and number two. What does it accomplish? But it's still a thing, and it seems clear too, that drivers buy in to it and want the status that comes with it. And with the established team leader joining with F1's all time winningest driver, who gets the nod?

So what will happen is Freddy says we have co-number one's and no one is happy.

I'm here for the drama

Happy birthday Jens. And many more!

Ferrari have no lead driver per se, I guess whoever is on track to get the best result for the day will get whatever "help" Fez clown stratters can think of.

Ofc if after let's say 5 races one driver has 10 points and the other 70, Mr 70 will get the preference, but that's it.

As far as car development go, Lewis and Charles don't seem to have really much difference in their styles, do they ?

I’m not sure the drivers will accept perfectly logical reasoning as to why the preference should not be tilted towards themselves. Even if they are scoring less points, there must be a difference in equipment, or strategy, or preference. Every top driver believes that he is the quickest.

Thanks Derek for the good wishes. The day was sunny and nice.

Sir Loo, I like it. Fits my image of the man perfectly.

Now that Adrian Newey is rumoured as possibly voicing his regrets never having worked with Ferrari, clever Vasseur might ask him if i he would like to remedy that situation, please sign here.

And as if things would stop there, or couldn’t get more bizarre, we now have rumours that Christian Horn…..er allegedly has shared some naughty pictures of improper Red Bull parts to a female employee on the cell phone, or being a domineering sob of a boss. Or something.

Well, honey, his name is Horner and not what you thought you heard, and if he did pass you over for promotion there’s probably a perfectly valid reason.

The whole affair might also be a scheme to replace Horner after team owner Mateschitz’ passing.

The triumvirate is collapsing.

The three pillars are Verstappen as the F1's best driver

Newey as F1s top aerodynamicist

Horner as the top principal

If this was some sort of attack, or inappropriate relationship, Horner's done. If this was him using mean words then who cares? Too bad as he is competent and confident and I hope it blows over. But I don't know exactly what he is accused of so let's see.

If Horner's fired and Newey jumps ship then Red Bull are staring at a turbulent near-future.

We shall know tomorrow. I must say I'll be very surprised if anything comes out of it but a transaction with involved female accuser.

The season she has snuck up on me!

Testing started today. Max looks strong. The RB20 looks even more ahead of the field than this time last year, but it's only day one.

This means the season begins next week!

Fantasy league has been created. PM me for the code. Everyone's welcome, but the league is private so you need the code. One team per player. Some scoring changes so be sure to look over the changes.

League name SimHQ F1

You only have a week to get set up so get to it!

The fantasy site is finicky with browsers. I have trouble in Firefox. Chrome kept telling me I had to finish my registration first, maybe a pop up blocker issue. Finally managed to get it set up using Edge.

Good luck to all of our team owners.

PM sent

Code sent. Welcome to our fantasy league WT!

Thank you DBond.

No worries, welcome to the league. Your team is Bulldog, yes? Good luck.

Two scoring changes I've noticed so far. Exceeding your substitution allotment is now -10 points instead of -4. And points are now awarded for the three fastest pitstops. Six for each, so if your constructor gets the three fastest that is eighteen points right there. Driver of the day is another ten points, so make sure you vote for one of your drivers (if they deserve it of course haha) before the race ends.

Yes, my team is Bulldog Motorsports.