'the average driver at the 2024 saudi gp has a 2 second penalty' is a statistical anomaly. crimes kmag, who has 30 seconds of penalties is an outlier and should not be counted
After ongoing speculation* about producer-led cheating via hints to select drivers in the Grill the Grid 2023 series, a thorough outside investigation has been completed. Our report follows.
*speculation by me
Methodology:
Each episode of Grill the Grid was re-watched and hint totals were assigned per driver. "Hints" are considered any help at all that goes beyond explaining the rules or the question. Explanations of English phraseology were not considered hints. Examples of hints range from helping a driver sound out an answer to making noises when a driver is nearing a correct answer to offering unsolicited advice and information to a driver. The two major possible errors in this methodology were: a) hints were determined to be given to a particular driver if the producer's voice gave the hint while the driver was pictured on-camera. The hint may actually have been given to a different driver, but there was no way to know that. b) Some (many) hints were likely edited out of the final videos. We have no way to measure these "lost hints".
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell did not participate in 3/6 Grill the Grid videos. Their results should be considered in that context.
Results:
Grill the Grid Episode 1: Race Winners A-Z
Hints were fairly evenly distributed in this episode, although we can already see a pro-Ferrari pattern emerging.
Grill the Grid Episode 2: Ages
No hints were given at all in this episode.
Grill the Grid Episode 3: Name That Quote
This episode was notable for the egregious number of hints given to Charles Leclerc compared to the rest of the grid.
Grill the Grid Episode 4: Name Two Drivers
Grill the Grid Episode 5: Babies
Everyone knew most of the babies; the major hint given was that Magnussen was from "somewhere cold." Notably, while this hint was not given to him on-camera, Max Verstappen mentioned it in his answer (Denmark is "not that cold") and thus a hint was also assigned to him.
Grill the Grid Episode 6: Landmarks
Totals and Adjusted Season Points Tally
Conclusions:
Charles Leclerc was given easily the most hints on the grid in 2023 (18). The next highest totals were Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda, with 5 hints each. Multiple drivers were given no hints at all (Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Perez, Oscar Piastri, George Russell, Logan Sargeant). It seems safe to conclude that Charles Leclerc was offered producer help above and beyond what was given to any other driver, even accounting for editing and errors in our coding.**
We did not have time to break these results down and compare across teams. We feel that this might be a fruitful avenue for research.***
**It might be because he's cute when he is thinking hard.
"Yesterday, I went in a setup direction that was really wrong... I basically copied the setup of Carlos and there I found the confidence again. But Carlos has done a great job all qualifying, and he deserves that pole."
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