Well you have to remember that the Prussian monarchy was one of the many thoroughly spooked by the events of the French Revolution and the subsequent rise of a mighty Napoleonic France built on the principles of meritocracy. IIRC it was the arrival of the Prussian reinforcements at the Battle of Waterloo that…

Hmm, I’m trying to think of when factory teams involved in F1 had some sort of HALO product to justify their participation. Surely a lot of those products were the result of participation in F1 in the first place (correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t the Honda NSX such an example? Heck, the very genesis of the most…

Funny, for wasn’t the later Kaiser of the newly minted German Empire the former ‘King IN Prussia’?

Thing puzzling me is that all these debts that Lotus have rose because Genii stopped coughing up the cash in the hope to sell. How does that make sense for Renault? They buy an outfit and get saddled with the debt that arose out of the previous owners bid to rid themselves of that very entity?! I imagine the economics…

What if as a condition to get the so-called ‘A-spec’ engines that RB so desperately seek, be it from Ferrari or Mercedes, a trade was instituted?

One of the sleaziest, conniving characters in a sport that’s had it’s fair share of weasels. I hope his ban still holds.

Renault?! No sports oriented marques?! They’ve always produced a bucket load of hot hatches and sporty cars. They’ve got tremendous participation history in motorsport with various bespoke series in Europe, providing engines for smaller formula, etc. Sure they don’t have a halo sportscar product if that’s what you…

The former Santander chairman was Fernando’s big benefactor and his death apparently put big question marks on Santanders continuing sponsorship within F1, as it was reported by the BBC at the time. I think it’s fair to say that the amount of Santander branding we see at race weekends has definitely gone down. The…

I just love the placement of the spares! (of course it makes practical sense if the boot opens up to the littany of cooling fans like the old one had)

My god, the PSA group can literally thank their stars that Loeb chose to nail his mast to their ship. He’s won them so many titles, I wonder if the bean counters there will actually admit how much he contributed to in sales.

When I was younger I was a Gronholm fan. Now I truly appreciate him (Loeb) as one of those transcendent driving talents. The kind I read about in rally such as Vatanen, Rorhl, etc. I think along with Schumacher, Rossi, Loeb will go down as one of the titanic motorsports figures of the new millenium.

Ah. Thank you again. I always enjoy revisiting European history. It’s been many years so I can’t quite remember many details but it’s so fascinating considering how much was recorded. Really provides an insight into statecraft and the development of nations.

Sweet thanks. Interesting to read about the peace accord contributing to the rise of Prussia. I remember my history teacher relating the rise of Prussia to the great European statesmen of the time who championed the cause of unification such as Bismarck and another of my favourites, Cavour.

Ah been a while since I’ve studied this. From what I remember weren’t the Habsburgs based further east though? I thought their empire was essentially in Austro-Hungary?

That’s the one!

This is ingenious!

I can’t remember my history but I think the Swiss have an interesting story of how they dealt some great smack talk to an invading German army (can’t remember if it was from the time of the Holy Roman Empire or pre-unification under Bismarck). They’ve always been aided by their home as well. Fosters a natural siege…

I know plenty of vegans in India who are that aggressive about reminding you. My mom and I take to calling them the militant vegans. My favourite story is of a classmate who happened to be a vegan.

I definitely think that this is something significant as without proper protocols what with the greater number of interactions occurring these days there’s potential for something to go veeeery wrong. I mean weren’t there similar rules back at the height of the Cold War just to prevent some small conflagration…

ruddy Ron-speak. Poor Suzi Perry had to spend a good 3 minutes asking again and again to try and get some sort of cogent response