#lcmbe

[alianoralacanta]

Hi! I just got into F1 and learnt about Jules :( There’s not really that many interviews that i could find about him but he seemed very soft-spoken and gentle. I was wondering if you knew what he was like with fans and how good he was back then? Would you say he was the Leclerc/Russel/Norris of his time?

Your impression is correct - Jules was very caring and careful in his interviews. His behaviour with fans was also caring, to an extent considered unusual back then.

Two of the stories that were gathered together in the book of support for Jules, was typical of him from what I can tell. Story #1: There was a signing session in Spain (it was not clear if this was 2013 or 2014), where all the drivers were in the pitlane and ropes were being used to make sure fans didn't get mixed into the wrong queues or queue-jump (signing sessions in series that are less disciplined about queue management can get chaotic). The general idea is that the drivers are supposed to stay on one side of the rope, and only sign things for fans that go to them (to avoid getting mobbed - people worried about this, even in the early 2010s when fan engagement was relatively low compared to the 2000s and 2020s). Jules apparently did not get the memo. At some point, he ducked under one of the ropes and started signing things right there in the fan area. The fan who witnessed it and shared the story had never seen another driver (in any series) do this before, and appreciated it. Story #2: Singapore 2014. A fan with a paddock pass who had received multiple signatures from Jules on previous visits (presumably this was a paddock regular as well as a fan), spotted Jules surrounded by a crowd of fans wanting things signed.

The fan reached in, shook Jules' hand and wished him good luck. Jules walked 50 metres, group of fans in tow - then turned round and walked straight back to the fan who shook his hand. He said, "Thank you. It means a lot". I can confirm that even nowadays, not all drivers are so effusive about thanking someone for such a straightforward gesture. Also, drivers usually organise their walks past fans for efficiency. It is an unwritten rule that they don't double-back on themselves unless there is a very good reason. For Jules, a handshake was "a very good reason". As for how Jules was on-track, I'd say Leclerc 2020 was probably the best comparison on the current grid to where Jules was in terms of driver development. Jules 2014 and Charles 2020 were both in cars where the team atmosphere was good but the car disappointing. Both found that spectacularly over-driving the car was the only way to get performance out of it at all - and were perfectly willing to do so. Occasionally this caused DNFs that team-mates did not have, though in Jules' case the car typically broke down before it could be crashed because the Marussia of 2014 was far less reliable than anything any team fielded in 2020. Both resourceful. Daring. Technically skilful. Both were/are creative overtakers - there's a reason passing at Rascasse in a modern F1 car is mostly associated with those two - both could be relied upon to make a dull race exciting and both were in the process of developing a reputation for looking after tyres. Jules was head and shoulders the brightest talent in the back half of the grid. Charles only missed having that reputation in 2020 because some of his friends (specifically Lando Norris and George Russell) were also known and reputed as strong drivers in their own right by that point. Jules might have been one of 5 rookies on the 2013 grid, but nobody thought any of the others was going to be a serious title contender during those first two years. (Valtteri Bottas improved his reputation slowly over the rest of the 2010s by making good use of his opportunities, but he was seen as being about as good as the non-Jules rookies of that year at the time Jules was racing). But by 2014, Jules had shown enough that many people felt he could be a F1 race winner in the right car. Monaco 2014 convinced some he was going to be a champion by trophy - and most considered him to have the attitude worthy of a champion already. He just needed a car that wasn't 3 seconds slower than the title contenders' vehicles… Even Charles 2020 and Jules 2014 had the same main weakness. Both got criticised by their teams for talking too much on the radio when things weren't going well, although as far as I know, Jules has no on-record equivalents to Charles' Turkey 2020 slowdown lap peroration…

[alianoralacanta]

Warning! Long post and rant alert!

A couple of disclaimers before starting a post I wish I didn't have to write:

I've waited until Monday to comment on Ferrari’s video about Zhou Guanyu’s name that I first saw on Saturday morning of Monaco. This is because it bothered me a lot and I knew if I tried discussing it before, the post unlikely to be "heard" properly past all the other posts I knew I'd be posting about the Monaco weekend. This one needs its own attention.

It was a video I saw while scrolling with music on, so I saw it on mute… and still had to bail out halfway through because it made me cringe so much. (I've managed to write this without hearing the audio because from the comments, the audio Made Things Worse).

I don't know where the original is or when it got posted (though the formatting shows it's a genuine Ferrari video meant for social media, not one of the fake items that has been bothering the fandom over the last few weeks). Even providing a link to the Tumblr post I saw it on makes me uneasy, because I worry about causing more damage by giving it views. (I will be linking to some other Tumblr links that comment on the video, for additional context. Those *do* deserve eyeballs).

However:

Why?

Part 1: Introduction and Scripting

Why was this video allowed to happen this way?

Did anyone involved in making this video (apart from Zhou Guanyu) think before they contributed to putting this on the internet?!?

From what I've pieced together, this all started as an attempt to do a pronunciation guide for Guanyu's name. Perfectly reasonable, given that although he's been in F1 for several years, a lot of Ferrari's audience would have had little prior reason to listen for his name. (I don't know whether he's received accurate pronunciation/name selection from the commentators because I haven't checked, but mishearing names that use a different phonetic ruleset than one's own is fairly common, and Chinese phonetics are different from the various European ones).

This appeared to be a scripted piece feigning spontaneity, judging by how it was shot. (Had this been spontaneous, the camera would have been zoomed out a bit more, cut differently and also moving more reliably between the speakers - even Ferrari's less scripted pieces are like that). Clearly, this was planned in advance.

Although, apparently not planned far enough ahead to consider the emoji caption. It used the emoji that looks like a laugh on some phones, but on my computer looks like the cringe icon. From other people's comments, I understand the intended emoji was the laughter one, but I think my computer summarised it more accurately!

The script is awful.

Firstly, the Ferrari scripted slice-of-life approach is suited to casual, light moments. It does not take a PR expert to know that a name is neither casual nor light. Brands spend whole meetings arguing about names for their products, and products are less important than people.

Secondly, the setup is completely implausible. If someone has issues with the way their name is being handled in a professional business, it's discussed behind closed doors, quickly and discreetly. The public typically gets just the definitive correct version (if the public needs that employee's name in the first place).

The conversation itself would not be broadcast unless live TV happened to be there or something. (As far as I can tell, there was no live TV about, so nothing needed to be headed off at the pass).

The solution was simple. Ferrari establish how to call Guanyu, then tell people to do that. Nothing more complicated was necessary, although if Guanyu wanted it, more elaborate explanation could be done. It would be hard to contemplate a simpler social media video to produce, especially since Guanyu’s done pronunciation videos before.

Instead, there appears to have been some sort of attempt to turn the clip into a comedy skit. And, well, skitting someone's name is inherently unprofessional.

Skitting the name of someone with a name from a different culture to the people filming it is othering. The manner the script did it had racist tropes and the way it was shot came across as privileging the difficulty over the fact that should have been predominant.

[alianoralacanta]

I have waited, and rewatched the start several times, and discussed with various people the Lap 1, Turns 1-4 situation. It feels bizarre that many of the takes that are emerging make less sense, the more time people are having to compose them. Before I attempt to do a collected opinion about the whole thing, I think it would be wise for me to put on record what, exactly, I saw. This, as far as I can tell, is the sequence of what happened. The first number is the time from when the lights went out. The second number in each section is the time on Channel 4's Mexican Grand Prix highlights. When I describe "left" and "right", I am referring to where they were on the shots shown by the world feed. If you want pictures to go with this analysis, try reading "He Went Off The Track!" (images there not image described) in conjunction with the description in Parts 1 and 2 below. (Part 3 will have the regulations governing what is being described. Part 4 will have my opinions):

Part 1: Turn 1, up to Verstappen leaving the track

[0:00] <9:48>

5 lights go out Grid: Norris-Leclerc-Hamilton-Russell-Verstappen-Antonelli-Piastri.

[0:04] <9:52>

Norris nearly out of picture on left, Leclerc slightly ahead of Hamilton, Russell nearly caught up the others.

[0:14] <10:02>

Norris on left, just started braking for Turn 1 (a 90-degree right turn - the photo faces the drivers), Russell a car length behind. Hamilton 2nd column, half a car length behind Norris. Bearman is half a car length behind Hamilton. Leclerc 3rd column, slightly ahead of Hamilton, Antonelli tucked in behind left rear wheel. Verstappen right-hand side, just touching the kerb, at Leclerc's front wheel axle and slightly behind Hamilton, Antonelli tucked in behind right rear wheel Leclerc and Verstappen are inclined towards each other. Hamilton is on the same line as Leclerc, Norris is going straight ahead.

[0:15] <10:03>

By this point, the inside 1/3 of the track is empty. Norris on left, about to start turning, having pushed the other cars to his left into each other. Russell 1 1/2 car lengths behind. Hamilton in 2nd column, Front wing nearly touching Leclerc's front wheel. Pointing straight ahead, starting to brake, with no option to do otherwise. Leclerc 3rd column, slightly ahead of Hamilton. Pointing slightly left, starting to brake, with no option to do otherwise, causing tyre interlock. Antonelli a car length behind. Verstappen 4th column, slightly ahead of Leclerc. Only inside tyres remain on the track. Braking is the only way to gain more track.

[0:16] <10:04>

Norris on left at the Turn 1 apex, nearly a car length ahead of Hamilton (becoming more than a car length during this second), turning under mild braking.

Hamilton tucked behind right rear wheel. Russell 2 car lengths behind. Hamilton 2nd column, tucked behind Norris right rear wheel. Turned towards Norris to try to escape interlock with Leclerc (Hamilton is behind in this interlock). Brakes heavier than Leclerc during the course of this second, but turns tighter. No options to do otherwise, except follow Leclerc's lead. Leclerc 3rd column, interlocked with Hamilton (Leclerc is ahead in this interlock). Turning straight ahead. Brakes less than Hamilton but turns less. The only other option involves committing to leaving the track. Antonelli is a car length behind. Verstappen, 4th column, committed to leaving the track.

[0:17] <10:05>

Norris on the left at the Turn 1 exit, 1 1/2 car lengths ahead of Hamilton. Taking the natural line. Russell is 1 1/2 car lengths behind Hamilton. Leclerc 2nd column, 1/2 car length behind Hamilton but with more speed than Hamilton. Antonelli is 1/2 a car length behind. (There are only 2 lines through Turn 1). Verstappen is two car lengths beyond the track boundary, aiming to rejoin at Turn 3.

[0:18] <10:06>

Norris is on the left of the screen, having taken the inside line for Turn 2 (a left hairpin leading off the right of the picture). He has his left front wheel on the white line. Leclerc is 2 1/2 car lengths behind Norris. He has locked into going off at the Turn 1 exit (at this moment, his right-rear tyre is still on track, but the car's angle has made rejoining impossible). Antonelli is 2 car lengths behind, committed to leaving the track earlier in the exit of Turn 1. For that matter, Piastri is 2 car lengths behind and also committed to the same track-exiting line as Leclerc. Hamilton is in the 2nd column, 1 1/2 car lengths behind Norris, but in a separate column. Russell is 1 1/2 car lengths behind him, with the midfield close behind. Verstappen has crossed the entire concrete area and is now zooming across the grass.

[alianoralacanta]

Thanks for responding! Did you by any chance pick up the book written about Jules by his association? I recall reading somewhere that he was a bit frustrated with some of the behind the scenes stuff but as it’s in French I can’t read it. Wondering if you have any insight on that?

On a side note, I just found a few videos of him having fun & joking around showing his fun personality - compared to his usual quiet demeanour. Makes me wonder what it would’ve been like had Netflix been around during the 2013-2014 seasons - would he have remained quiet and shy or would his real personality eventually showed like Norris etc. Also wonder where he would be now if he was still around - team mates with Charles? :(

I have a copy of L'Histoire des Bianchi by Chris van der Wiele, which is the one the Bianchi Association sells. It is the nearest thing we have to an official Bianchi biography (noting that it is the biography of 1960s racing brothers Lucien and Mauro Bianchi as well as Jules' biography). Also, I know enough French that I recently translated the last 4 pages (which cover the weekend of Japan 2014 and its aftermath) for a friend.

Yes, I can confirm Jules was frustrated by his situation. Specifically, he felt that he was a strong candidate for a Ferrari seat in 2015, in that he and his family considered Jules to be outperforming Kimi Raikkonen - and also be much cheaper for Ferrari to hire. He felt, and again his family agreed, that Ferrari was being over-cautious in its driver selections.

However, Jules was carrying out a policy of being careful with the press to not show any of that frustration, as well as making sure Marussia (his backmarker team) was aware at every turn of how thankful he was that they'd made space for him (long story in the book summarised: Jules was turned down for a 2013 Force India race seat that he'd arguably earned and been led to believe would be his, ridiculously late in the winter (that part is *not* arguable), and only ended up on the grid that year because one of Marussia's drivers didn't pay their sponsorship fee). The result was that most of the press were complimenting him on his calm and patience, rather than hyping the possible connection.

The result of this was, right up to the Japan 2014 weekend, Ferrari was still not committing. It had started asking Jules about going to Sauber, but in a way that had at least some of the family convinced that Jules would actually get a Ferrari and only needed to show willingness to go along with the Sauber plan long enough for Ferrari to be able to convince its political elements to back Jules over Kimi. Of course, we will never know if that was Ferrari's immediate plan, or only its medium-term plan (Ferrari confirmed afterwards that after any Sauber sojourn, Ferrari was always the next step). Netflix would probably have got very little from Jules, simply because Ferrari was cautious about the press back then. In 2018, it exercised its right of veto over the first season of Drive to Survive (as did Mercedes, which is why neither Vettel nor Hamilton get screen time in Series 1). That was with a leadership who was willing to take risks in other areas of the press, such as removing a policy of minimal communication with the official press that had been in place since Matteo Mattiacci came into power at the start of 2014. I seriously doubt the Ferrari of 2014 would have allowed Netflix anywhere near its people - and Jules was considered to be very much one of its people. He was treated as the Ferrari reserve driver and that status would have been enough to stop him from being in DTS. (Charles was not the Ferrari reserve driver in 2018, nor treated as such, which allowed him to be in DTS Series 1). If, however, someone like Mattia Binotto had been in charge of Ferrari, that would have been very different. He would have said "yes" to Netflix for Jules, I'm sure, if only to test whether it was a good idea for Ferrari to get involved. While Jules was going through junior motorsport, he'd collected a group of young racing friends around him. Some met him when training at Brignoles, some at various races in France and Italy, but a small pack of them of various ages stayed for the friendship. Under those circumstances, Netflix would definitely have had a special episode about the friendship between Jules and those of his "circle" who were in and around F1. Maybe even include Jules' family, who'd played such a part in bringing all these talented friends together. Given there was no French Grand Prix around then, the logical race to have as its centrepiece would have been Monaco. You can see where this is going…

[alianoralacanta]

Fisichella Defence (21-12-2006)

Context: The flame wars one sees on Tumblr and other social media in 2024 are nothing new. Back in the mid-2000s, fora were full of them. In F1, these tended to go down a few clear lines: Michael Schumacher vs some people's version of how sport should be conducted Michael Schumacher vs Alonso Michael Schumacher vs Raikkonen (you may detect a theme here) Both Schumachers vs Montoya McLaren vs Ferrari Williams vs McLaren Villenueve vs whatever he was arguing about this weekend One forum-specific flame war that was none of the above. In one of the general forums I was in at the time, the specific flame war was manufacturer teams vs any independent not named Williams (it was that specific flame war which split the forum in the first place, due to its two admins being on either side of the argument). The Team Silverstone forum flame war was Team Silverstone vs people who thought that specific team shouldn't exist (I eventually ended that one in mid-2007, due to a typo). The forum where La Canta Magnifico Blog was based had Giancarlo Fisichella vs Juan Pablo Montoya.These days, people generally accept that it is possible to like both Giancarlo and Juan Pablo at the same time (this is often the eventual outcome of flame wars where there is neither a clear winner nor reason for long-term rancour). However, this particular corner of the internet had not yet come to that conclusion. Even after Juan Pablo Montoya had found his happiness elsewhere in motorsport, people on the forum still argued about whether he was better than Giancarlo Fisichella. I don't have the forum post that clearly prompted this blog entry, but the gist of it is that Juan Pablo Montoya was being defended on the basis that he had some great video clips on YouTube (back before FOM started issuing copyright notices to the platform, which started happening in summer 2007). As the most prominent Fisico fan on the forum (as well as its most long-winded), I felt the need to respond…

The reasons there are few videos of Fisichella doing great stuff (and some do exist, though copyright forbids me from linking to them) are the facts that he does his races quietly and has a tidy driving style. None of JPM's wheel-locking or massive slides are in evidence unless Fisi's having a really bad day, and it's always more difficult for a camera person to convey excitement when there is no feeling that the driver is out of control. While keeping just the right side of that boundary in a dramatic way is commendable and fan-attracting, the smoother, quieter method usually generates more race speed from the car.

It's no accident that the only top-level drivers using the just-in-control driving styles are Juan Pablo Montoya, Jacques Villenueve and Fernando Alonso. Montoya got it to semi-work in a rather understeery McLaren and messy Williams, Villenueve's not managed to co-operate properly with a car since he went to BAR and Fernando Alonso has created a new variant of just-in-control driving that nobody else has yet managed to emulate.

Picking a single definitive race is tricky because Fisi has had so many really good races. Taking just those races starting from when I paid particular attention to Giancarlo's races, anything from the the start of 2001 through to about two-thirds of the way through 2003 (apart from Malaysia 2003), USA 2003, anything in 2004 after about race three except Monaco, Australia 2005, Canada 2005, the last third of 2005, Malaysia 2006, the American leg of 2006 and the last third of 2006 will show elements of why Giancarlo is in the top 5 drivers and has been for a long time. Simply because he doesn't have ten fifteen-second-long race incidents that summarise the true scope of his ability the way Juan Pablo or any other "just-in-control" driver will have doesn't mean there is nothing to summarise. Though if I had to pick the one that best shows why Fisi is better than JPM, it would be Brazil 2003. Notwithstanding the rain factor, there was also the part where the notoriously unreliable Ford in the back of Fisichella's car had been sounding slightly off since about lap 49. However Giancarlo got the car past the red flag before the engine finally blew up. Not only would Juan Pablo not won the 2003 race, he would have induced a technical retirement. However, the cameras missed most of Giancarlo's race as they were too busy keeping up with spinners at Turn 3 and Raikkonen passing everyone except Fisi.

This also helps to explain the video situation, as having a few widely-recognised key situations forming the videos is the quickest way of building up search ranking. That helps explain why JPM's best-known incidents are always going to be very high on the video search list.

As for the the part about it being only legend that the driver must make the team work, it's a fact. Everyone in a group has to support everyone else in the group to succeed, and teams are no different. Simply because teams are usually predisposed to helping their drivers and Ron Dennis clearly hadn't recruited Juan Pablo to be an "after you, Claude" No. 2, doesn't mean that Juan Pablo didn't need to do any work to maintain that. From the F1 Racing September 2006 article, Juan never took any time to gel with the McLaren team setup, which apparently was causing trouble long before the tennis incident. Juan should have known fitting in would take work and if he wasn't prepared to do it, he should have found another berth for 2005 (there would have been plenty open to him at that point on the open market!)

That is why I hold Juan largely responsible for his having to leave McLaren in the first place. In fact this is the second time it's happened, with Juan Pablo unable to co-operate with Williams enough to extend his original contract there either. The fact that he chose the timing of his leavetaking is great, but surely it's better to do what Fisi did and put some effort into nurturing the team that's giving you the car? That's why the Renault people have bent over backwards to protect Fisi where necessary when McLaren would do no more than it usually did to protect Montoya when he erred.

Team building may not be a major factor in driver ranking, but when the raw speed statistics do not help separate Juan Pablo and Giancarlo very much, and the differences in results almost entirely attributable to cars rather than drivers, then things like the ability to become a No. 1 in a team suddenly play a major role in the decision.

It's worth saying that in the olden days when cars ran close to each other, these skills were still necessary - it was simply that they were taken more for granted because the whole motorsport community was closer-knit back then - in fact the drivers had to do more back then to get into their teams' good books. Do you think it was an accident that a lot of the drivers back then had some background as a mechanic before reaching F1?

If Renault was not confident of Fisi, they'd've given Nelson Piquet Jr. his place. As it happens, Fisi is not only considerably more experience of Renault and F1, but also a very fast, consistent driver who is capable of leading a team - and of being a better driver than Juan Pablo Montoya was.

[alianoralacanta]

Hi, Alianora :) I've been reading your essays and you're just brilliant! I was wondering about your F1 journey, and I wanted to ask how did you get into it, and what's your journey been like? I know you supported Jules and you support Charles too but I would love to know more.

Thank you for the kind comment, anon :)

I had, and still have, a much longer version of this. I'm not sure how 100% sure to answer the "What's your journey been like?" part but I will try. Please let me know if you're interested in particular bits of the longer piece (it's definitely too long to submit in one go). I'm a 3rd-generation F1 fan, and my parents tell me I watched some of the Mansell era with them, back when I was too young to understand what was going on. While I distinctly remember being interested in his move to Indycars, I don't recall these F1 races. I do recall the moment I decided to become a F1 fan. France 1993. I'd been playing football outside when it started raining. The living room had F1 on (my parents were obviously watching) and I was entranced by the multi-coloured pointy things and the fact the names were on screen. When I found out there were books about F1, that sealed the deal. I'm a bookworm and the intellectual side of F1 came through very clearly. (One of the books helpfully had a section on how much safety had improved since the early days, despite being written in 1980. This was a lot of the reason I didn't quit watching F1 in the immediate aftermath of Imola 1994).

Damon Hill was the first driver I supported - because his last name was short. Despite that unpromising selection criterion, he made me a very happy fan because of his intellectual approach and determination. The 18 months covering his time at Arrows (a near-backmarker team) and the half-season at Jordan where he scored absolutely nothing were when I learned the basics of how to handle being a fan during bad performances. Spain 1998 was when I started supporting my team. Damon Hill had retired from the race ten laps earlier when I suddenly heard myself saying, "Come on Ralf!" Followed by wondering, "Who's Ralf, apart from Damon's team-mate and Michael Schumacher's brother?" That was when I realised I'd been attracted by Eddie Jordan's bright and feisty attitude, combined with its non-nonsense racing crew. I've now supported Jordan through five name changes. Giancarlo "Fisico" Fisichella was someone I started supporting because I saw an interview after Spain 2001 that made me think he had a really interesting way of seeing the world. I think I was right :) I'm still supporting him in his Italian GT adventures and am happy he can now depend on Arthur Leclerc's help.

The following year, Dad and I went to Silverstone to watch F1 qualifying. The fan belt broke on the car but we still got there in time to watch the end of the last practise session, as well as qualifying itself. Dad participated in the infamous prediction quiz that he lost to Alex Albon (I think Dad got 1 position out of the 5 correct), and I discovered that wearing a yellow hat meant getting followed by half of Silverstone's flying insect population. None of this put us off returning for the whole weekend in 2009. In 2003, I discovered F1 forums. My first forum was Home of F1 and my second post (trying to explain why BAR's desire to present itself as perfect would annoy recently-dismissed driver Jacques Villeneuve) caused a minor flame war until I clarified that I did not think BAR was perfect. I've seen jokes about the reading standard on Tumblr; rest assured the generation of internet users before this one was just as bad. I also found a Jordan-specific forum that was much more chilled. There was one particularly gatekeepery user who looked down upon Jordan fans, but I managed to convince even that one (never learned the user's gender) to not deploy it against me or in my sight, because I always had a good logical takedown of the hole in the arguments employed for those attacks. Part of the reason I could do this was F1 Magazine, which helpfully provided practise in the form of its Tom Rubython columns. Every month, he would write a "take" on F1 and it was one's mission, as the reader, to find and pull the thread which made the entire argument unravel. (Not that Tom was ever aware that this was arguably the best use of his column).

I started supporting Tiago Monteiro when he joined F1 in 2005, because I liked his backstory; absolutely no interest in F1 until the second year of university, whereupon a friend invited him to a track day. He then substituted for an injured friend in an entry-level series. He ended up enjoying it so much that after he graduated with a degree in hotel management, he decided to take up racing and see if he could make a career of it. Which he did. Including a point at Spa of all places and being the only person who was happy at Indianapolis 2005. Now he's a regular podium-finisher in the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring. I started blogging in F1 (La Canta Magnifico Blog) shortly after Spa 2005, because the forum I was on split. I'd got friends on both fora and continued writing on both. The "new" forum wanted to get more people reading it. Initially there were four people writing, but I took the opportunity to start writing posts on other blogs and websites which interested me. The only ones which still exist are RaceFans.net (back when it was still one particularly devoted fan's blog) and a small forum called GP Wizard. Within six weeks, the other three had stopped writing their posts and focused their efforts on commenting on mine. Both fora sank in 2008. Although I have a number of posts from that time, it's not a full archive, rather a selection of highlights.

I spent a season as admin of the Jordan forum, the one that was Fisichella's last year in F1. This was also the year I managed to get onto the official Fisichella Forum (this was in the last years of drivers having fora they officially sanctioned). This gave me the confidence to help rescue the official Fisichella Forum when its management deleted it at the start of 2010 (apparently forgetting there were about 100 people still using it at that point and that they might appreciate at least a few days' warning to archive their writings!). I was a co-admin from 2010 until it ended in 2018, having spent the last three years as the sole admin with an audience of three people plus an ever-rising tide of spambots. I still have a penpal from that forum.

Jules Bianchi entered my awareness in 2010, because one of his jobs was clearly being prepared to be reserve Ferrari driver and a lot of Fisico's fans were initially annoyed because they thought that was Fisico's job. However, it was the way he did the Force India reserve job in 2012 that made me a fan. Here was someone who felt like he was completely embedded within his team, with a brilliant attitude, despite patently belonging in a much better position. I was sad when he didn't get the Force India position, but his adamantine willpower and gratitude went a long way towards making the Marussia/Manor team more than I think it had imagined being. Jules gathered together a group of friends who enjoyed being around that positivity and determination, several of whom made it to F1 in their own right. In September 2014, one of the journalists I respected the most about junior series observed that one of the youngest members of that group was doing very well in FRECA and displaying much of Jules' personality. I looked at the article and thought, "Well, I could spend 5 years waiting for this driver to go through the junior ranks and inevitably start supporting him in F1 - or start doing it now and enjoy the journey." With that, I started supporting Charles Leclerc and am very happy to have made that choice. Oh, nearly forgot to mention my solo F1-related trips: the annual visit to the Force India/Racing Point reception with goodies for much of the 2010s, visiting the Manor factory a few times during the short time in 2015 the F1 operation was based next to a steel merchant in Dinnington and the epic fail that was my trip to Hungary 2018 (so fail-y that I only found out who won a week later). Hope this helps.

[alianoralacanta]

2/2 what you are writing is what merc is cynically playing at. That there is 4 teams not just 1, it takes time and resources. It is in fact the best interest of the FIA to make it clear - no cheating, if they want to keep their remaining serious reputation. They fucked up the flexi wings, Mcl tried with the plank wear. The solution won’t be black and white, I fear it won’t even be visible til Monaco, but they have to restrict merc its the best interest of the sport. Not just a slap on the wrist

(My response ran to 2 posts, but so did the ask, so I'm putting the rest of my response here):

The FIA should, if it truly wished to break its responsibilities towards Mercedes the way it has against Ferrari and all non-Red Bull teams on multiple occasions over the last half-decade, it should have used the same degree of subtlety and care over its interventions as those examples (not that those were very subtle - at least two of those occasions still have lawsuits hovering over them - but at least it gave its series some survival options). The biggest issue isn't that the FIA nuked Mercedes (I dispute that it's nuked Ferrari twice because it still exists, and a nuked team would not. The only way I could be using "nuked" more literally is if radiation was involved). It's that unless it backs down, the FIA is going to nuke F1 as a whole by this action. Apparently on purpose. That's 11 teams which lose out on that. There has never been a "spirit of the rules". Not in F1. I'll let Eddie Jordan explain (in the way he explained it on an episode of Top Gear in 2015): "The set of rules in Formula 1 goes like this: you print them, and then you see how you can circumvent them, and you find a different way around the rules to make the car go quicker, hopefully, than somebody else, but always just about inside the rules and the law."

"Please be sure, at no stage in the rulebook [for the "keeping as much water as possible in a glass while playing dodgems" competition EJ and a celebrity guest had just won] did it say you couldn't put clingfilm over the top, and the other thing was it didn't say you couldn't top it up…"

After the presenter challenged him with "But what about the spirit of the competition, though?", EJ replied, "What spirit? The whole spirit was to win!"

[alianoralacanta]

15 and 27 for the F1 ask meme?

15. Is there a driver you disliked in the beginning but now like? Yes. Nick Heidfeld was my lesson in humility. I first saw him on TV in F3000 in 1999 and he just... ...bugged me. For no easily-pinpointed reason. He just seemed rather... ...grey. Cue 4 years later, when it was announced he was joining my favourite F1 team, Jordan. I was not thrilled by this development. How was someone who unutterably “bland” going to fit into the least bland team on the grid? And how do I balance supporting my team with disliking its new lead driver? Two races later, I had my answer. Not only was Nick rather good at racing at the back of the field with a car sometimes overtaken in a straight line by passing butterflies*, but was also reported to have been caught in an informal team meeting listening to rock music... I’ve liked (but not necessarily “supported” - in my lexicon, that’s a strong word) Nick ever since. And he got 3 points in that slow car... * - Ford in 2004 was not the engine to have. To put it politely.  27. Do you have a favourite team? Which one and why? Fair warning: this may take a while to answer. My favourite team is Jordan/Midland/Spyker/Force India/Racing Point/Aston Martin/Team Silverstone/whatever-it’s-called-this-week. It all started in 1998, when my favourite driver at that time, Damon Hill, signed for them. Five races in, at the Spanish Grand Prix, and Damon Hill’s car broke down *again* on lap 45. Ten laps later, I heard myself saying “Come on Ralph!” Followed by a thought: “Wait a minute, who’s Ralph, apart from Michael’s brother?”  Eddie Jordan’s zany approach and willingness to try something different had lured me in without realising it. So I started to support them and had a great time, even when times were tough - when you start supporting a team in the middle of an 8-race pointless streak despite having a World Champion on board, everything becomes a point of gratitude). Until the start of 2005, when Eddie sold to Midland and management was given to Colin Kolles (possibly the blandest team boss in the history of ever). Fortunately, I found that I liked how the engineers and mechanics tried to maintain the Jordan spirit, despite the “scattering” that led to a few dozen staff joining other teams. So I carried on supporting it, and enjoying every little act of “resistance” of imposing dullness. Spyker encouraged the brightness, started defending points of principle (amusingly in retrospect, the first time that happened was on customer cars!) but didn’t know how to solve the back-of-the-grid troubles either - it took Vijay Mallya a year to get the team back on an even keel. Once that was done, it felt like Jordan 2.0 again, and supporting it became easy. Twitter really helped, too. I’ve spent a certain amount of time talking to the various account admins, and it gave me a feel for how I can help them a little. Fans give teams motivational force. To cut a long story short, this has resulted in several visits to the factory reception to give the team treats, as well as them sending me a team shirt autographed with the entire night shift last year. I’m very proud of “my” team and hope that as Aston Martin, they can be even more successful. One day, I hope to work in their IT department, but it will take a lot of hard work to get there.