I don’t think junior team is the right term though. Anyway, the only way Aston can be a consistent title challenger in the future is if they have a strong partner, with serious financial and technical backing. Aston tries to sell itself as a works team, but they’re obviously not. They’ve had a cash injection, but even…

There is an incentive, which I can pose in the form of a question: why on earth would Mercedes continue to invest millions in their young driver program when they never promote anyone to their main team?

The problem is that Aston has a longer history with Mercedes, and with Toto now a shareholder of AM, it seems more likely that those ties will be strengthened, and the Williams cooperation (which is basically just a supply-deal at this time) might be phased out. Wolff sold his Williams shares several years ago.

A deal would definitely make sense, but it’s more likely that they’ll become a true partner to Alpine. A customer deal wouldn’t really gain Williams anything. Renault’s shady dealings with previous customers have made teams reluctant of getting into a supply-deal with them; it’s no coincidence that they don’t have…

To do what? Work in catering?

1) the good drivers in F2 are signed up to other junior programs. Shwartzman (Ferrari), Lawson and Vips (Red Bull), Pourchaire (Sauber), Piastri and Zhou (Alpine) are the only real contenders for an F1 seat next season. Dan Ticktum, who technically is a Williams driver, is the only fit but he’s wildly inconsistent and…

Williams were already a partner before they had a Mercedes driver filling that seat. However, management has obviously changed since then, so there’s no real telling where the relationship stands at the moment. Some time ago, there were some rumors of Williams partnering up with Alpine/Renault, but I haven’t really…

Lando just re-signed with McLaren on a multi-year deal.

extra layer is extra weight, and extra heat.

The supporting cast in that movie is borderline ridiculous. Duvall, Macy, Gandolfini, Lithgow, Pollack, Fry... it just goes on and on.

I watched this movie for the first time just the other day, and my goodness Voight is going for it. Is this where he started to go over the top or was that a thing even before this film?

It’s also a lot nicer to not have to go up against the fastest driver in F1.

With Tsunoda and Lawson waiting in the wings, I reckon Perez gets at least another year and Gasly’s RB career is pretty much over. Worst case: Tsunoda and Lawson don’t pan out and they have to pay to get another driver from outside the program.

I usually don’t like him much, but Baby Driver is John Hamm’s best work, by quite some margin.

They’re not built to fall apart. They’re built to degrade.

Except that, you know, it wouldn’t be F1.

Don’t worry, Mario Isola is on the case:

Except for Michael Masi, I guess. I’ve been critical of him before, and I’m used to him creating chaos, but I do think this was his worst showing.

It would be significantly more dangerous. Monaco is low speed with guardrails, RA is high speed with walls. Remember that F1 cars are a lot more fragile than Indycars, which needs to be able to withstand 220mph oval crashes.

I love the Indy 500, but I thought this race was underwhelming. It was a fuel saving bonanza for 170 laps, everyone seemed content to just follow the Carpenter cars until each pit stop window.