Formula One ( F1 )

Button 2011 is arguably more impressive given he dropped to last place in the middle of the race. That was a proper bonkers race as well!

Raikkonen at Suzuka 2005 comes to mind as well, qualified near the back of the grid and overtook Fisichella for the lead in the final lap. Don't think at any stage of the race he was dead last though.

Button 2011 is arguably more impressive given he dropped to last place in the middle of the race. That was a proper bonkers race as well!

That was amazing, but whenever I think back to that race I'm reminded of Button crashing out the much faster Hamilton on the straight. And somehow thinking, Button wasn't that fast.

The Haas PR team must be dreading the coming year

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12040/12155959/haas-f1-condemn-abhorrent-nikita-mazepin-actions-social-media-video

David Coulthard just opened his interview with Verstappen by congratulating him on his first ever pole position in F1.

:/

First ever or first of the season? I assume he meant the latter

Definitely said first ever. I rewound to check I'd not misheard.

I think what he meant was third ever, which would be correct.

He says it quite emphatically...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea3jVr5Y1qc&ab

Looks like Hamilton rushed back from his recovery, shame we couldn't get Russell in again. Though it probably would harm his contract negotiations!

I'm not saying that was a bit underwhelming, but I literally just wrapped all the Christmas presents...

Roll on next season!

Yeah that was fairly dull but well deserved for Max. Happy for McLaren, shame to see the back of the Sainz/Norris partnership but Ricciardo should make things very interesting next year.

Sobering to hear Alonso say that a lot of the current drivers could win a championship in the Merc. Could is not the same as would but i really hope RB can close the gap next season and we see Lewis tested a bit more often.

Sobering to hear Alonso say that a lot of the current drivers could win a championship in the Merc.

Don't get me wrong, I think Russell is a great talent and I wouldn't be surprised if he is fighting for championships with Verstappen & Leclerc in a few years. But he was able to get into a car that he'd never driven before, could barely fit into and he just controlled the race from the front with no pressure from behind.

How many of the current drivers could be as comfortable driving that Merc with a bit of time to get up to speed as Russell was with a single weekend of experience? I think it'd be easier to list the drivers who wouldn't. Latifi and Bottas?

You forgot Vettel :-)

Of this morning's line up i'd say the stronger driver from each team (except Haas) would make a much better go of it than Bottas.

I know Vettel's had a pretty grim time recently, but saying he couldn't beat Bottas is pretty damn harsh! In my mind Bottas is no better than Barrichello, Webber or Massa. He's a solid number two, in both senses of the word.

Not a massive surprise, but Tsunoda takes Kyvat's seat at Alpha Tauri:

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.analysis-why-red-bull-promoted-tsunoda-to-formula-1-and-what-now-for-kvyat.28VeDXPBPQDmIDIfmTsn5i.html

Wonder when Red Bull are going to make their decision?

Announcement today. It'll be Perez I think.

Yep, Perez confirmed. Bit of a no-brainer in the end.

Anywhere left for Albon to go?

Home.

Roller coaster of a quarter for Perez. Will be interesting to see what he does with the RB car and Honda engine, and how he cooperates with famously easy-going Verstappen.

Similar to his time at Maclaren perhaps where he consistently wound up the actually easy going Button...

Latin American and European teammates not getting along? Colour me surprised!

I guess the more important question is, is there anywhere that he deserves to go. Pardon the pun, but he's never come across as having the drive to be a top competitor. He'll be forever remembered as that guy who complained about his competitors racing him too hard.

I'm not exactly a huge Max fan, but he comes across as the sort of person who just doesn't really care what his teammate is doing. He's got so much self-confidence it just doesn't seem to be something he's bothered about, which is a good thing. The only way I can imagine him getting pissed off is if they find themselves holding each other up and the team either doesn't issue team orders, or they do, and the drivers ignore it.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if he's basically assigned a Webber-esque role in a team that is built around Max (can't really fault RB for doing this to be fair)