#f1 commentary

[springybreak]

crazy work for the ten year anniversary of the brocedes tragedy

[44caps]

The recent testimony from Alex Palou on Zak Brown offering him an F1 seat has me thinking about the hazy difference between parasocial projection and intuitive interpretation, because the sensible line of thinking as it pertains to media statements is that its foolish to try and point out conspiracies where public figures say one thing but mean another. You cannot read peoples minds, and in order to maintain that healthy distance its best not to try. And yet we also know that these people do in fact obfuscate the truth, especially high-profile people with public reputation experts at their elbows. The paradox of following sports is that you have to take people at their word, but always wait for them to lie. Case in point: Zak Brown and the mysterious case of Who Signed Oscar Piastri? (Sorry, the Encyclopedia Brown reference was too good to ignore).

On September 2, 2022, the Contract Recognition board rules that Oscar Piastri's contract with Mclaren is valid, and the supposed agreement with Alpine is not. On October 17, 2022, Zak Brown is interviewed by Mat Coch from Speedcafe on Oscar's new role in the team. This is what is public information at the time. Fast forward to now, in 2025 we've learned through Palou's testimony that sometime also in October 2022, Zak Brown had dinner with Alex Palou. Let's analyze the difference between his public and private statements, shall we? Mat Coch's interview with Zak Brown 08/17/2022 (sorry I'm from the USA)

Understandably, [Oscar Piastri] got itchy feet when [Alpine] dallied on securing his future, leaving his manager, Mark Webber to reach out to an old contact; former Porsche boss Andreas Seidl who is now Team Principal at McLaren. “Andreas is the one that I ultimately [lean] on to come forward with what he wants as a driver line-up,” Brown said. “We think very similar – I can’t think of any decisions that we haven’t both agreed on, whether that’s driver or other performance-related [issues].... So it was Andreas who brought it forward, it was Andreas who recruited him, it was Andreas that had the relationship with Mark.... Obviously, I’ve seen him race, know his background, but credit to Andreas for binding him... He was our Reserve Driver, which was something Andreas did. I mean, his resume speaks for itself to date, and it was Andreas that put forward the recommendation which I fully, fully supported.”

Here, the picture Brown paints is this: Brown depends on Seidl to "come forward" with who he wants Mclaren to hire, and he trusts Seidl's judgement because he "can't think of decisions that we haven't both agreed on". Seidl "brought forward" and "recruited" Piastri, putting forward his recommendation as the second driver that Brown "fully, fully supported".

I think the least charitable reading I could make of this statement (without the context of Palou's statement) is this: Brown here implies that Seidl is the one who went about the actual messy process of poaching Oscar from Alpine, but Zak Brown was enthusiastically on board with having him as a driver. He emphasizes that it was Mark Webber's connections to Seidl that started the talks in the first place, but that after those talks took place, Brown was more than happy to seal the deal. In the context of the Alpine scandal only a month ago being resolved, it's a sneaky way to both avoid accusations of underhandedness while still embracing the achievement it is to snag a highly-anticipated rookie. And again, this is me being extremely uncharitable. A just as plausible reading is Brown wanting to emphasize the working relationship with his team manager, or even to stay humble in the face of Mclaren's vindication.

Now, we fast forward to the present. To again flash back to the past. Sorry, not my fault this is how gossip works.

Alex Palou in testimony to the High Court 10/09/2025

“When testing with McLaren […] Zak told me he believed we could make it happen and that he would give me all the preparation I needed to get to F1,” he says. “At the time I thought he was genuine.” Palou said that he began doubting Brown when Piastri was signed to partner Lando Norris for 2023. They discussed the issue at a Surrey meeting, close to the McLaren Technology Cente (MTC) in October 2022. “I went for dinner with Zak at Beaverbook near MTC,” Palou’s witness statement reads. “Zak told me it was not his decision to hire Oscar. He said it was the decision of the team manager Andreas Seidl... [he] told me Piastri’s performance would be evaluated against mine for 2024. Zak said that, from his point of view my chance of getting the F1 seat was not affected by Oscar. However, I knew everything had changed. From that point on, I started to be more willing to stay with CGR in the future.”

Now of course, Palou is a secondary source of Brown's words. He could be talking out his ass but the UK does have perjury laws so I doubt it. The picture Brown paints behind the scenes a stark contrast to what he told to Mat Coch. I mean, I don't think I have to english-major my way through "Zak told me it was not his decision to hire Oscar... it was the decision of... Seidl". Zak is now completely removing any agency he had over recruiting Oscar, the implication being that he didn't want it to happen at all, since he was invested in giving Palou "all the preparation [he] needed to get to F1".

This changes the interpretation of his first statement. Did Brown mention Seidl's role as often as he did to secretly imply he had no role in it? Or does his past statement bring doubt onto the one he gave Palou? That instead of confessing he'd been undermined, he is instead lying to Palou to keep him strung along and thinking Brown is rooting for him? Does this contradiction reveal that Brown is uninvested in Piastri's career, or blatantly tricking Indycar drivers to join his team in exchange for false hopes? Who fucking knows! That's the issue here! He's lying somewhere, but how do you tell? How do you discern if Brown was always lying to Palou, or never backing Seidl? I can make conspiracy webs as much as I want, but I won't know for certain if Zak Brown never tells us. And Zak Brown probably wont tell us, because nobody wants to be a liar. But again, we know he lied somewhere. And again, that's what's fascinating to me. That I know Zak Brown is hiding his own secret agenda, but I can't see it. And all attempts to unveil it would be pointless, but I can't ignore it either. So I'm just sat here with the big Zak Brown elephant in the room and wondering, "Goddamn, how many other team principles and f1 figures do this on a daily basis to the press?"

Probably all the time, lol.

[schumis-weddingdress]

Autobiographies this, F1 podcasts that, the people who taught me the most about this sport are definitely the commentators.

[formulafantassies]

I have stared at my screen for the last half an hour and nothing is coming to mind 😭😭

I officially hate everything I write

[starrrfalling]

after the mixed bag of emotions i felt for the aus gp i forgot to ask why did the graphics only show gaps to a tenth? not even like a hundredth? such a weird choice bc isnt this like formula one...? where numbers down to a thousandth matter...?

idk last year it was to a thousandth right? super unhelpful to see 0.6 cuz yk f1. big difference those tiny numbers...

[isawthesainz]

“His career was finished without the intervention of the late Jules Bianchi, who said to Ferrari you’ve got to take this guy, you’ve got to make sure that he gets to Formula 1, and what a gift that was to give. In 2017, Charles Leclerc lost his father, and in his final days he told his father a white lie, that he’d made it to Formula 1, that he’d signed the contract. It wasn’t true then, but his driving has made it true now, and look what he’s done with the opportunity. The grandstand that he saw built as a kid growing up now rise for him. And for the first time in 93 years, this fabled race is won by one of their own. Charles Leclerc wins the Monaco Grand Prix to achieve his dream.”

~ Alex Jacques, 26 May 2024

[bucket-hat-lando]

TikTok _aprilelizabeth 🧡 for more yapping about f1 and McLaren

[latenightdriving-inanf1car]