Official 2024 Miami Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[RemarkLima]

So if Norris isn't allowed to say nice things about Trump, luckily there's no races on the calendar where they have to pander to a dictator... Oh wait.

Well, at least Russia is off the schedule

[paulguitar]

RemarkLima said:

So if Norris isn't allowed to say nice things about Trump, luckily there's no races on the calendar where they have to pander to a dictator... Oh wait.

Well, at least Russia is off the schedule

He'd look equally ridiculous praising Putin or Kim Jong-il...

[732NM]

If the question is are they cheating, and Tom Walkinshaw is part of the team, the answer is yes, of course they are.

[732NM]

hondajack85 said:

Also did they always say papaya when bruce was around? I feel like they refuse to say orange due to ron not bullying a £100million sponsorship from the telco orange back in the tech bubble days.

They did, Bruce experimented with dark green/black and then red, before going for papaya on the M6 CanAm cars and the F1 cars. I've built a few papaya McLarens, it's a beautiful colour.

[paulguitar]

732NM said:

If the question is are they cheating, and Tom Walkinshaw is part of the team, the answer is yes, of course they are.

Some interesting stuff about Walkinshaw in Damon Hill's book. TW was totally upfront about being prepared to cheat and said so. Damon was not on the same page at all...

[entropy]

hondajack85 said:

TheDeuce said:

Ron was probably just making the point that having spec and design control of the PU would enable the car to be designed perfectly for it - which is true and will get a better result than a customer, unless the car design is flawed in some way, as we see this season with Mercedes.

When they beat Renault with the Renault PU, Renault had spent several seasons barely evolving their car, the team was a bit of a mess by that point.

I'm not taking anything away from McLaren though, it's not easy to beat your PU supplier - and their in season development his season in particular has been astonishing.

Yes they seem to have really developed fast. Did they get the right guy from Red Bull? Aston Martins seem to have stalled with their red bull guy.
Maybe Mclaren had more strength in depth to realize developments.
I hope Aston catch up to this level but at least Lewis's choice next year still seems the best.

Can McLaren sustain it over a season? The RRA gets a reset based on WCC in July(?). That is why I'm sceptical about RRA because a team(s) on the ascendancy will lose it in the second half of the year where they will lose out on catching up with RBR because another lesser team will get more R&D allocation advantage.

Either that happened with Aston and/or struggle developing a car.

RRA would really work if it was a BoP style handicapping system on RBR over a year rather than changing every 6 months based on WCC.

[RemarkLima]

paulguitar said:

RemarkLima said:

So if Norris isn't allowed to say nice things about Trump, luckily there's no races on the calendar where they have to pander to a dictator... Oh wait.

Well, at least Russia is off the schedule

He'd look equally ridiculous praising Putin or Kim Jong-il...

Like when the drivers all had to be nice to Putin in the room of awkwardness? Or the Saudi Crown Prince?

[paulguitar]

RemarkLima said:

Like when the drivers all had to be nice to Putin in the room of awkwardness? Or the Saudi Crown Prince?

I remember Lewis properly blanking Putin one year which seemed brave!

[Nova Gyna]

PhilAsia said:

Nova Gyna said:

PhilAsia said:

Spooky! I just realised that I was eating Papaya on Sunday, whilst eating the other half a few minutes ago. Is that why Norris won? It must be a sign... Maybe I should take up religion, starting with Zoroastrianism?

We could use that image as some sort of Rorschach test.

Tell the group your emotions and thought processes when you look at Phil’s brunch, Paul.

Took another look. The elephant in the room?

First name Nellie, last reported sighting: leaving the circus.

[RemarkLima]

paulguitar said:

RemarkLima said:

Like when the drivers all had to be nice to Putin in the room of awkwardness? Or the Saudi Crown Prince?

I remember Lewis properly blanking Putin one year which seemed brave!

Maybe he was getting someone else to try his tea first afterwards... The ol' polonium does leave a funny aftertaste.

At the end of the day, celebrities that they are, means they're damned if they do, and damned if they don't. Play nice with despots and psychopaths, they have no moral fibre. Take the knee and make a statement, they're just racing drivers and should just stick to racing.

[740EVTORQUES]

RemarkLima said:

paulguitar said:

RemarkLima said:

Like when the drivers all had to be nice to Putin in the room of awkwardness? Or the Saudi Crown Prince?

I remember Lewis properly blanking Putin one year which seemed brave!

Maybe he was getting someone else to try his tea first afterwards... The ol' polonium does leave a funny aftertaste.

At the end of the day, celebrities that they are, means they're damned if they do, and damned if they don't. Play nice with despots and psychopaths, they have no moral fibre. Take the knee and make a statement, they're just racing drivers and should just stick to racing.

Up to a point yes, but they should be smart enough to avoid being manipulated in this way by a convicted sex abuser on his day off from appearing in one of four pending criminal prosecutions for some pretty serious crimes.



It makes them look hopelessly amateurish in a world where competence is taken as read.

[ErnestM]

Just got back from the race. I have more pics I can post if anybody is interested

[carlo996]

paulguitar said:

He'd look equally ridiculous praising Putin or Kim Jong-il...

The mistake is considering their position over and above an F1 driver. You’re very quick to defend LH over his nutty comments, so give Lando a break.

[PhilAsia]

Thanks callow
callow /kăl′ō/
adjective
Lacking adult maturity or experience; immature.
"a callow Lewis hater."

[paulguitar]

ErnestM said:

Just got back from the race. I have more pics I can post if anybody is interested

How was it, and did you manage to eat for less than $300?

[Sandpit Steve]

Record live US TV audience numbers for an F1 race - 3.1m people watched live on ESPN on Sunday.

https://x.com/espnpr/status/1787865336487846314?s=...

[paulguitar]

Sandpit Steve said:

Record live US TV audience numbers for an F1 race - 3.1m people watched live on ESPN on Sunday.

https://x.com/espnpr/status/1787865336487846314?s=...

They got lucky with the race on Sunday.

[Sandpit Steve]

paulguitar said:

Sandpit Steve said:

Record live US TV audience numbers for an F1 race - 3.1m people watched live on ESPN on Sunday.

https://x.com/espnpr/status/1787865336487846314?s=...

They got lucky with the race on Sunday.

A combination of a good race, a sensible time slot, and other live American sports not clashing, including a baseball game I think that was delayed by rain.

[Bo_apex]

TheDeuce said:

paulguitar said:

Bo_apex said:

paulguitar said:

Likes Fast Cars said:

Everyone is entitled to their views.

Good on Lando for saying what he thought, he’s entitled to his views and will probably get more followers after what he said.

Seems unlikely. Irrespective of any political views, most people still tend to be anti-rapists.

Indeed. Most people also tend to be anti-war, but would you still feel "honoured" to shake hands with Tony Blair ?

No, I wouldn't.

I wouldn't either. The perma smile irritates the crap out of me!

We agree.
The perma smile through his illegal war and the tragic death of Dr David Kelly was despicable.

[TheDeuce]

Bo_apex said:

TheDeuce said:

paulguitar said:

Bo_apex said:

paulguitar said:

Likes Fast Cars said:

Everyone is entitled to their views.

Good on Lando for saying what he thought, he’s entitled to his views and will probably get more followers after what he said.

Seems unlikely. Irrespective of any political views, most people still tend to be anti-rapists.

Indeed. Most people also tend to be anti-war, but would you still feel "honoured" to shake hands with Tony Blair ?

No, I wouldn't.

I wouldn't either. The perma smile irritates the crap out of me!

We agree.
The perma smile through his illegal war and the tragic death of Dr David Kelly was despicable.

To be fair, the other things just make the smile more infuriating!