Particularly since there’s a decent explanation for why things have got worse for him this season: he really struggles with the limited front-end grip that the new regulations have caused. Alpine’s car seems to be much more lively at the rear, which should suit Ricciardo much better.

All very good points, yet none of that explains this:

Fully expecting an Alpine return for him. It’s the best drive available, the team needs to save face after the recent meltdown and Ricciardo, regardless of his struggles at McLaren, is better than any alternative available to them (assuming they can’t negotiate a deal for Gasly to leave Red Bull a year early). It’s…

Sauber has been “meh” only in absolute results. When you look a little deeper, they’ve actually been punching above their weight most of the time. This is not a major-budget team. The only time they were a full works team (under BMW ownership), they contended for regular podiums, wins and even - for a brief moment- the…

“Chloe Chambers, a teenage racing superstar from America”

Not just a hydraulic failure in Australia, but it also effectively forced him to go long on strategy for the race, a strategy which was then ruined by Vettel causing a safety car right as everyone else was prepping their first stop. A similar thing happened in Canada, where the second safety car came out just as he…

“he might not even be the best driver on his current midfield outfit”

As long as the wheels aren’t covered by the car’s main body, yes.

Mediocre.

Because standing starts are much, much better.

I’m not $ure what criteria they are u$ing.

This particular story seems to be much more a USA issue than an F1 one.

I don’t think that’s the key issue though.

Depends of your definition of racing, I guess. It’s complete chaos, and I suppose there’s some attraction there.

Porsche is looking to buy into Red Bull, and develop and build the 2026 engines at/with Red Bull Powertrains. That’s why the recent extension of the Honda deal is so important to Red Bull; they’ll get certain priviliges for 2026 as a ‘new’ engine manufacturer, which they wouldn’t get if RBPT would start assembling…

Ricciardo will turn 37 in the year these rules will come into effect, and as you may have noticed he’s not exactly a hot commodity right now. And given that Red Bull will actually be the ones partnering with Porsche, I’m gonna say ‘not likely’ to Danny Ric driving there.

Yeah, they’re doing great

Favorite little quirk: that was the second year in a row that the #22 car won the drivers title, in an era where numbers were still dished out on previous years’ constructors position.

Ericsson was a pay-driver from the moment he stepped into F1, never considered a prime prospect at all. Weird comparison.

Alpine allowed Piastri to be one of McLaren’s reserve drivers this season. Can only guess as to whether this was Zak’s plan all along.