#formula 1

[theunwaveringbluelobster]

Nando aura farmed today

[naenia011]

andrea stella's interview for sky after the quali in hungary (midseason review):

“andrea, we're looking back to assess the season so far. i suppose if you're only as good as your last session, that's not bad. but listen, you expected a little bit of a hangover in 2026 because of the efforts on two championships last year. so more or less, can you accept where the team stands right now?”

andrea stella: “well, i think the first comment is that you're right. we need to look also what was happening before the 2026 season. we come into this season as double constructor world champions, 24-25. a massive effort last year to become driver’s world champion. 

and you head into the 2026 season with probably the biggest change of technical regulations ever. so it's been a huge undertaking. we knew last year that somehow there was a compromise to find between the efforts we were putting on the ongoing season and what we were preparing for this coming up season. 

so, you know, when you enter a season as a champion, you want to be in position to defend it. so we don't hide this ambition. at the moment, we recognize that ferrari and mercedes have done a better job than us. so mid-season, they are ahead. they've been able to win races, we have not been able. we have a gap in terms of points. but at the same time, we are in a position where we start to deliver upgrades and we start to see that from a performance point of view, we are back in the game.”

“amongst other things, new power units this year. you've admitted works teams, because they developed them, have a better handle, maybe, initially on how to exploit them. will you be able to, by the end of this season, are you already able to exploit the power unit as well as the works team?”

andrea stella: “first of all, in fairness, i have to say that if i consider the gap that we had in average compared to mercedes and ferrari, i would say that this was more on the mclaren side, on the chassis side. we would have needed more grip overall in the corners. even though i said that from a power unit exploitation point of view, there were some lap times that were left behind. 

so, on one side we've been working on understanding what concepts to pursue from a car development point of view. i think our ideas now are quite clear, but this is a very high level business, it takes time to capitalize on your understanding, iteration, activity, development. but i see that from an aerodynamic point of view in particular, we are following the right directions and there's improvement already here at the hungarian grand prix and there will be more coming for the next races.

from a power unit point of view, this was a special year. the power units are very complex and we needed to review a little bit the approach to exploitation, maximization, working together with hpp. it's a slightly different way of collaborating. if anything, tighter, more intense. we knew that we needed more information, but the relationship remained excellent and working together. 

we are now finding more and more lap time and definitely before the end of the season, we want to be in condition to squeeze in every single millisecond that is available in this beautiful piece of technology that is the power unit in 2026.”

“on the two drivers, you're talking about wanting to defend the title. lando thinks he's driving as well, if not better than last year. it's just that because he's not winning, maybe there isn't the publicity. oscar, has he found it a little bit harder to acclimatise to these rules?”

andrea stella: “i think these kind of 2026 cars in general, you would characterize as low grip cars. the cars slides a lot and we know that these are conditions in which lando finds his natural space to use all the driving input to extract lap time. and conversely, we saw oscar last year performing probably the best driver in high grip conditions and having to adapt his natural style when the car slides. 

so for oscar, there was more work to do this season in terms of adaptation. we are working together with him. there's learning after every event. and honestly, this is a never-ending process. like, you have to get better constantly if you want to be part of this high level, super competitive sport. 

but one factor, if you allow me to say, that if anything is even better than what i've seen before, is the collaboration between our two drivers. you know, in times in which we need to find lap time, we need to go again through the process of not being the best but being willing to become the best, cohesion is fundamental.”

[writercody]

how i feel after two of my boys got grid penalties:

[oceanjoker]

I do need to practice on how to draw Alex tho- I never tried before but guess I should make it a new goal now.

[81-op]

Yesterday I said that if Lando gets pole that he better fine a way to pull Osc up there with him and he really said bet love that for the separation anxiety twins

[burning-constellationss]

charles and lando after qualifying today 🤍

[duckys-extra]

You know what's truly sad about George is that I think Toto truly had him fooled into thinking he was going to be given the same opportunities to have the experience Lewis had with them.

Hell even I thought "well obviously Toto's got a young driver in next to Lewis to learn before Lewis retires and then carry that knowledge from the most successful F1 driver into his own victory story" - and yes I do still believe Lewis should've retired with Merc, idc don't bother trying to fight me that's my opinion - anyway I think Toto truly had George manipulated into thinking when they had a good car it would be all about him at least at first.

I think he even probably believed that Kimi would be pushed to the back burner for the next couple years to come to grips with everything while he took priority. I'm not saying it's right for him to think that, but we know these TPs are saying things to drivers to keep them on their driver lineup or they're making indirect promises of things that they have no intention to fulfil.

Idk obviously I been thinking about it recently, I'm sure we all have, and Merc looked pretty weak in qualifying. I'm sure they'll fight back in race, but still...this is all just sad to think about

And I'm a chronic overthinker :D