After 77 years, and now aged 100, my Mum finally received the medals she earned in WW2 for her service in the WAAF (radar). A big thanks to the MoD for chasing this up.
Damage to the Perez RB yesterday estimated to be $750k; Sainz Ferrari damage = $500k - significant dents in the (capped) budgets of both teams. About equal to one aero update, you might say.
Can't believe it! They're getting rid of that silly chicane at the end of the Barcelona lap! Back to a decent last corner for the GP this year! Amazing! Congrats to all involved!
Thinking of my dear Mum today. 98 and still going strong, she was an RAF radar operator during the Battle of Britain. Thanks to her and to all who served. x
Looks as though RBR might have been running a clever rear cross-brake inertia valve before they were obliged to remove it before Miami. This could explain Max's RR brake drama in MEL and his turn-in grief since China.
@mollym_o
@Racingnews365c
@CameronF1TV
@mrabdullahcelik
Good to see that Mercedes' Toto Wolff yesterday bought back a five per cent shareholding in WilliamsF1. The team could be heading in the right direction for the first time in a while..
As predicted a couple of weeks ago, Toto has indeed worked a deal with his mate Freddy Vasseur to run Valtteri at Alfa. This clears the way for George at Merc. The other Alfa will probably go to Mick Schumacher. Williams? George will be pushing for Alex Albon.
This is what happens when nationalism is stoked at the expense of the essence of the sport. This headline in one of today's Mexican tabloids basically reads, "Max and Marko: race and get out of here." Nice.
Sir Jackie Stewart paid tribute today to Sir Frank Williams. Damon Hill spoke from the heart. And Ron Dennis, quiet and reflective, in his own way, said it all. Goodbye Frank. And thanks.
Moving day at Imola; and, no, it's not raining. I respect, though, the judgement of Stefano Domenicali: he's an Imola boy, through and through. He uniquely knows what was/is at stake.
So sad to hear the news about Stirling. Easter now; Easter back in 1962, when he crashed so heavily at Goodwood. Thoughts and hugs with Suzie. I took this pic a couple of days before Stirl left for his last cruise. He's telling Jack Windsor all about the Mercedes W125 x
On the basis that John Surtees and RJ Mitchell (designer of the Spitfire) were deemed unworthy of knighthoods, I lost respect for these so-called accolades a long while ago. Lewis is Lewis and he's getting better with every race; that's all that matters.
I’ll be honest: I’m actually now bloody angry that
@LewisHamilton
has been yet again ignored in today’s
#NewYearsHonours
. He’s a 6-time
#F1
world champion, he’s a black man who’s dominated a white man’s sport, he’s a wonderful role model, & he’s a great guy. (1/3)
Congrats to the amazing Graham McRae, father of Colin, who, at the age of 80, won the National class of the Voyonic Grampian Forest Rally yesterday with his Escort Mk 1.
Congrats to Toto Wolff, who has re-negotiated his
@MercedesAMGF1
stake up to 33% as part of a new 3-year deal. Good news for
@LewisHamilton
. Daimler hold 1/3rd and Ineos step up for the remaining 1/3rd. We'll watch the Ineos/Petronas exposure balance going forward.
This was the grandstand overlooking Monaco's famous hairpin in '67. That's Jim Clark in the Lotus 33B-Climax, as seen through the lens of Joe Honda. And that's a younger me, sitting with my Dad, identified by the arrow.
Fingers still firmly crossed but Carlos Reutemann is recovering well from the second op he underwent this morning. Potentially out of intensive care tomorrow. Dale Lole!!
In case you missed this video post on the Facebook page of former Alfa
#F1
driver, Bruno Giacomelli, today: the V12 from his 1982 F1 Alfa stretching its legs on the dyno. Love the glint in the eye of the technician as he turns up the revs....
BTW. Tony Brooks's Road car is an AMG C32. When I asked him if he could still hold a slide (aged 89 and eight months) he just laughed and told me not to ask silly questions...
P4 today!
Very happy with my lap and with the balance of the car, the small upgrades brought by the team worked properly too which is a good thing. Small steps after small steps, we'll get there.
See you tomorrow 🇩🇪
My reaction: the sport's rulers have been reaching "confidential" agreements with Ferrari for the past 40 years (for the benefit of F1). The mistake this time round was for them publicly to admit it. This would not have happened in the days of Bernie and Max.
And I'd forgotten I had taken another pic of Ayrton at his place in Reading on the day we met up to celebrate his Macau win in 1983 (with Theodore Racing/Teddy Yip Snr). That's the Marlboro jacket he wore over the race weekend.
Update on Carlos. He's in stable condition and hopefully will be leaving intensive care this coming week. His condition is still very serious, however. Thanks to Alejandro de Brito for the pic!
There seems to be some dispute about the effect of the RUS Merc being 1.5kg underweight at Spa. For the record, 1kg was worth 0.034sec per lap (1.5kg = 0.051 sec per lap). That's 2.25 sec over the full race - about equal to the time Oscar Piastri lost in his botched pit stop.
Found this lovely pic today (taken by Piggy Malone) of Elio testing the Lotus 88 at Riverside in 1981. I'd forgotten how gorgeous the 88 looked in action. Such a shame that the twin-chassis concept was outlawed before it raced. It featured carbon-composite,too.
Poignant pic for those (like me) who used to love the
#F1
#MalaysianGP
:
#OnThisDay
2 years ago it was run for the 19th & final time, won by
@Max33Verstappen
(pic), Red Bull's 5th success at Sepang. Ferrari won there 7 times, which is the most-Malaysian-wins record.
Great to see Dylan Tavella finishing P2 in the 2022 Formula Regional Americas Championship... and taking P2 on the road at the last round, even if he was going backwards... (Bev Bond would be impressed.)
My buddy Cory Pesaturo popped in to see Mario Andretti last week. After the singing of lots of old Italian folk songs it was time for the national anthem. (Cory is a triple-World Champion accordion player.)
Here's another shot of Keke Rosberg, this time testing the Williams 07 six-wheeler at Ricard in early '82. The car was so quick in a straight line on this day that the rival teams and the FIA banned it before it could race.
So I look out of the apartment this Sat am and this is the scene. A Kremer 934 just sitting there, looking delectable. No idea from where it came or to where it is heading. Perhaps I'm dreaming...
@TheBishF1
@ScarbsTech
Very sad to hear that Sergio Marchionne has died. Ferrari's brilliant 2018
#F1
challenge now takes on a much deeper, and very emotional, side. Thoughts are with his family and with all the team.
Very sad to learn that Murray Walker has passed away.
@F1
Grand Prix commentator for over 25 years for the BBC and ITV, notably with James Hunt, he was the voice of Formula 1. All the
@FIA
family pays tribute to him. My thoughts are with his loved ones.
Very sad to hear of the passing of Mauro Forghieri, one of the all-time great
#F1
engineers. His Ferraris won the '64, '75, '77 and '79 championships; and he designed the 1967 Ferrari 330P4 - probably the best-looking sports-racer ever made. And that was just for starters.
Working on some scans of all my pics from the 1980s. Came across this one I took of Ayrton at Thruxton, 1983, with my mate Paul Taft, who - as I'm sure Ayrton knew - was the fastest Metro Challenge racer ever to walk the planet earth. Lots of mutual respect there.
Wow. An extravagantly brilliant drive by Lewis to win in Mexico. Never imagined in a million years that he could be that quick at the end of the race on 48-lap-old hard Pirellis. A true Champion's drive. Amazing that Vettel could do nothing in the closing stages.
I missed the Williams shakedown yesterday, the
#FW44
is the most radical
#F1
car so far.
It looks like the adoption of Alpine's centreline cooling has shrunk the sidepods so much, that the top half of the inlet is just blowing thru louvers to create downwash over the tunnels!
It's Jim Clark's birthday today, and to mark the occasion Martin Tomlinson has created this wonderful rendition of Jim's win at Spa, 1965. That was the year in which Jim won the Tasman Series, the Indy 500, the F1 World Championship and the French F2 Championship.
I've had a lot of fun, working on this for the past 10 months. A big thanks to the team and to all the stars who kindly gave us their time - including
@TheBishF1
Coming this September.
A brand new 7-part Sky original docuseries in collaboration with
@F1
, to mark the sport's 70th Anniversary.
#RaceToPerfection
Featuring rare and never-before-seen archive footage and over 40 exclusive interviews with some of F1's biggest names.
Sad to report the passing, due to cancer, of that very fast and very under-rated racing driver, Alan Rollinson. Sensing the end, Alan a couple of weeks ago thrashed an MX5 around Silverstone before retiring to bed and closing his eyes, job done. God bless.
@TheBishF1
So sad to hear the loss of one of my heroes, Carlos Reutemann. He was a great
@F1
champion, a true gentleman and a real friend. All my thoughts are with his family.
On display from March 01 at the Jim Clark Museum, Duns, Scotland: Jim Clark's 1967 Indy Lotus 38-Ford (now immaculately-restored by Nick Fennell and Classic Team Lotus). '67 wasn't a great year at Indy for Jim, thanks mainly to PU indecision, but the car today looks stunning.
Sad to hear that Vic Elford has passed away. How good was he? He won the Monte-Carlo Rally, the Daytona 24 Hours and the Targa Florio in one year (1968) - and finished fourth in his F1 debut at Rouen. It doesn't come much better than that.
Continuing the McLaren theme, here's a pic I took of Ron Dennis in his office in 1984, at the original Woking factory. Note MP4 ash tray...
@McLarenF1
@club_mclaren
Excellent to catch up with Mario Andretti at home in Nazareth, Penn. 50 years ago he won the Indy 500, by which time he'd already won the Daytona 500, two USAC Championships and taken pole for his first F1 race. Not bad for starters.
So sad to hear that Adrian Campos, founder of Campos Racing (F3, F2) has passed away.
#F1
driver for Minardi, passionate racer, lovely guy. Here he is only a couple of weeks ago, welcoming the new lead Campos F2 driver (Ralph Boschung) back to Valencia.
Good to see some red, white and blue on the
#F1
Haas in 2021. No US drivers - even though there are plenty out there who could do the job - but the livery looks nice.
This will probably the best
#F1
documentary series you'll ever see. Seven episodes, all featuring timeless archive footage and exclusive interviews. Here's some extra background:
Shame for Sergio, leaving the Stroll team as he is at the end of this year. But I guess they're now reasonably confident that Seb Vettel won't blow Lance into the absolute boondocks because Lance is driving pretty well now. And Seb brings lots of kudos, of course.
#OnThisDay
in '65, at tree-lined Nürburgring, Jim Clark flew his Lotus 33 to grand chelem victory - pole position, fastest lap, leading every lap. Clark's victory, his 6th out of 7 GPs so far that season, made sure he won his 2nd world championship with 3 GPs still to be run.