zephonic

Wow, now that was a fun race! I lost track of all that was going on a few times. I'm VERY happy for Kvyat, feels like a vindication, and if he keeps this up maybe that will open the door back into the senior team again? It's not often that things go this wrong for Mercedes, it was a little funny to see Wolff lose his cool.

My bad. I watched the replay without checking the latest news, and was unaware of the penalty. I guess it didnt matter in the end, anyway, except he helped his teammate get on the podium with that error. But man, Hamilton is impervious. Even more so than Schumacher.

Wow, could Bottas be more unlucky? Pole, fending off a faster Hamilton, only to be screwed by a totally UNNECESSARY safety car. I saw some super-impressive defending today from him, Leclerc (holding off Verstappen), and Sainz (against Ricciardo). Vettel once again showed poor judgment in wheel to wheel combat, but Im glad he wasnt penalized. It sucked for Verstappen, but to me it felt a bit like karma for him. Gasly seems to be finding his rhythm, hope RBR will let him carry on until he gets it together. All in all, it was an entertaining race, although I would like to see somebody other than Hamilton win.

I remember that. Rippen was a Dutch piano maker, and that was their halo model. The soundboard and pinblock were still made of wood, obviously, just the frame and body were made of aluminium. I never played one, but remember the brochures around the house when my dad was piano shopping.

It would be cool if all their players speak French on the court...

My buddy says Kahwi deliberately screwed the Lakers; kept them on the line until there were no good free agents left only to go to the rival across the hall with Paul George. Lebron & Davis vs. Kahwi & George, interesting times ahead in LA.

Yes, he was. Understandably so. But he should take heart from the fact that Verstappen was unable to get past him on finesse alone. I thought Max was gonna fly by on the first attempt and was super-impressed with the way Leclerc held him off. And again the next lap! The third and successful move wasnt entirely clean, but Im okay with that.

I thought Austria was pretty fun! Leclerc continues to show his class, twice Verstappen attacked clean, and twice Leclerc fended him off. The third time Verstappen had to force the issue. It didnt matter, he would have gotten past anyway, he was much faster. There was no way he was not gonna win this. Congrats to Honda, its been a long time in the making! Also another solid result for McLaren, who seem on their way up to 4th best. Interesting to see to Alfa/Sauber emerge as the 5th fastest again. Woe to Renault, Haas, Racing Point, and STR.

Well, it sure looks like this season is over. Mercedes wins 8 out of 8, and it doesn't look like anybody else can get close. It is interesting to see McLarens progress. Probably not gonna happen, but it would be hilarious if they can beat RBR by the end of the season.

Bro is old skool, but he got bars.

After watching the replay a number of times, it becomes clear that Vettel rejoined the track and was in control of the car. His trajectory was not on the racing line, but he steered right to block Hamilton. Now, I don't blame him, this is what every racing driver in his position would do. But apparently, that did weigh in to the stewards' decision to penalize him. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/143996/vettel-steering-inputs-key-to-fia-penalty-decision I don't agree with you here. First of all, Hamilton didn't call for a penalty, he just said that what Vettel did was dangerous. Hypocrisy? I dunno... But I do know that Ferrari had the fastest car this weekend. Maybe not six tenths, but you could see Vettel pulling away from Hamilton on the straight even when the latter had the DRS open. Hamilton would creep back into DRS range around the twisty parts, but could not get close on the straights. Mercedes as a team and operation are the current gold standard in F1, no doubt. But last year Ferrari probably had the quickest car over the entire season, they just failed to capitalize on it. Even this year, they have been faster on some tracks, they just haven't been able to put it together. They locked out the front row in Bahrain, and Leclerc was comfortably leading the race until his engine lost power. Leclerc probably would have made pole in Baku as well, had it not been for his crash in Q2. This weekend again, their car was the fastest and Vettel should have won this race.

What a terrible call today, even if it was a technically correct one. While it is true Hamilton forced Vettel into that mistake, this just doesn't feel good. Ferrari were fastest all weekend, only to lose the race on such a technicality. Terrible.

I appreciate how they prioritized function over form this time around, love that it can be rack-mounted, love that it can be had with wheels. And how about this blurb from their Design page: When was the last time Apple touted customization?!? I just wish the entry point was $2K lower. I guess they're directing me towards a maxed out Mini.

LOL, 1400W PSU. They're not gonna make the same mistake twice. Logic demo is impressive! I guess the need for VEP is going away for 90% of its users. Starting at $5999.....with a 256GB SSD... ...I guess my next desktop is gonna be a Mini.

It's here! It's a cheesegrater 2.0! And it's fugly?!? https://www.apple.com/mac-pro/ https://www.apple.com/pro-display-xdr/

Verstappen this year is certainly a more mature driver. He has had his brain-dead moments in the past, but it seems he has grown up a bit. Still, his last-ditch attempt at Hamilton was a bit desperate, he must have known that was never gonna work. And I agree a 5s time penalty for the unsafe release feels extremely lenient. But the stewards have historically been lenient with Verstappen. He is a box office hit and brings a lot of fans and money to the sport. Best not to upset the apple cart too much.

I feel for Bottas. He has shown he has the pace to take the fight to Hamilton, he just doesn't have a champion's luck. Realistically, he is the only thing standing between Hamilton and title #6. The deficit is now 17 pts. I really hope he will win the next one, if only to stay in the game, but Canada has traditionally been Hamilton territory.

R.I.P. Niki Lauda More than any other driver, he WAS F1.

Well, I think its safe to say the update didnt make much of a difference. Mercedes was .7s clear in qualifying. I think Ferrari need to forget about fighting Mercedes and focus on staying ahead of RBR.

Nothing wrong with that. Some of my fave gigs are those that pay $50. Whats the old adage again? If the music sucks, the hang and pay had better be great If the hang sucks, the pay and music better be great If the pay sucks, the music and hang have to be great Or something like that.

Absolutely. You can tell that everything there runs like clockwork, and while Ross Brawn may have laid the foundation, Toto Wolff's leadership is responsible for that success. Christian Horner is another guy that really knows how a modern F1 team should be managed. I dislike the team, but you can't deny RBR operates just as well as Mercedes, on a smaller budget. Mattia Binotto is new, I didn't expect him to make magic happen on day one. That's just not how these things work. He might have been a great leader on the factory floor, but running trackside operations is a different kettle of fish.

So another 1-2 for Mercedes in Baku today. And I love that Bottas fastest lap in AUS is what puts him ahead, all the more because the team told him not to risk it. Leclerc binning it in quali was bad enough, but it feels like Ferraris strategists arent doing him any favors either. For me, the best part of the weekend was Checos P5 in quali and a well-deserved sixth in the race. His year at McLaren damaged his rep, but I still believe he can hang with the best of them.

But only because Gasly is under performing. He needs to get his act together fast, or will be replaced Before the start of the season Horner acknowledged Ricciardos exit caught them by surprise and they felt Gasly should have had another year at STR as he wasnt quite ready for the big team. But they have their policy, so rather than hiring someone from outside the program they throw him in to see if hell sink or swim. Just like they did with Kvyat.

Ferrari's call to let Vettel ahead of Leclerc may have been the correct one, it still doesn't feel good at all. They sacrificed 4th place to get Vettel to 3rd. Oh, and Mercedes had another 1-2, apparently. Glad to see Ricciardo finally getting some points, and Gasly's fastest lap made me smile.