2025 F1 Weekend Recap: Hungary

2025 F1 Weekend Recap: Hungary

The final race weekend before the summer break brought plenty of drama on the track across all three levels, and some news broke off the track, as Max Verstappen put rumors to rest and confirmed he will be back with Red Bull in 2026. 

Rafael Camara came into the weekend with a shot at becoming the first ever F3 driver to wrap up the championship before the final weekend. He went out in qualifying and secured pole by a miniscule 0.008 seconds over championship rival Mari Boya. Knowing a win on Sunday would secure the title, Camara played the sprint race safe. A number of cars found themselves out in the race, but there was a good race at the front, as Ugo Ugochukwu gave it a good run, but Tasanopol Inthraphuvasak held him off and took the checkered flag. Charlie Wurtz finished third in the sprint.

The featured race started in the wet with it a rolling start, and the track was slippery all race. Brad Benavides found himself in the wall after making contact with Roman Belinski bringing out the first safety car of the day on lap 4. Later on in the race Gerrard Xie was off the track on the inside before rejoining and sliding up the track, taking out Ugochukwu to bring out the second safety car. There was another incident on track later on that saw several cars make contact with each other but somehow all were able to continue down the road and avoided a safety car. 

Ultimately Tuukka Taponen finished third behind Boya, but it was Camara woh crossed the line first, securing the championship with one race weekend to go. That final race weekend on the F3 calendar is Monza September 5-7, where Camara will be able to drive without any championship pressure on him individually, but his Trident team has just a 19 point lead over Campos Racing, who have racers ranked two and three in the championship in Boya and Nikola Tsolov.

The F2 weekend sprint started with Arvid Lindblad and Campos Racing teammate Pepe Marti battling right from lap one. This ultimately led to trouble for Lindblad, as he took far too much out of his tires and started moving back after doing a really good job holding other racers off, but ultimately finished tenth. On the final lap, and the penultimate turn, Marti just did have his wheels ahead of Alex Dunne which allowed him to essentially force him off track without penalty to hold on and take the checkered flag, with Dunne finishing second and Jak Crawford third. 

In the feature race, it was an all Invicta front row with Roman Stanek on poll looking of his third F2 win, but first in which he would hear his country’s national anthem played as he inherited both previous wins after post race penalties. Armoury Cordeel retired due to an engine issue as he began lap 6, the first lap that pit stops are permitted, but a full safety car never came out, instead only a VSC meaning the pit road was closed and those on the softer tire could not get a cheap early stop. Then, on lap 10 another VSC came out as Victor Martins had to retire, but again no pit stops allowed. Ultimately pit stops had to come at full racing speed, and Leonardo Fornaroli, who had gotten by Stanek early on, was given a five second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Despite that penalty, Fornaroli wound up extending his lead out front and securing the victory. Stanek finished second and Crawford got his second third place finish on the weekend. Lindblad again found himself one of the slower cars on the track in the final laps, but put on a masterclass of defending and held off a stack of cars to hold on to sixth place.

There are four race weekend left in the F2 season, with the next coming at Monza starting September 5th, Fornaroli has an 18 point lead over Crawford who is two points ahead of Richard Verschoor who is ten ahead of Luke Browning, a point clear of Dunne. Meanwhile Invicta holds a pretty healthy lead ahead of Campos in the team championship.

F1 looked like it was going to be a McLaren runaway weekend again during the three practices, but qualifying kept things interesting. Yuki Tsunoda found himself out in Q1 while Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton were both eliminated in Q2. While Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both put in solid laps in qualifying, Charles Leclerc put together a special lap and took a somewhat surprising pole position. On race day, Norris looked to make a move on teammate Piastri in turn one, but was unable to get the move done and wound up sliding form third to fifth and George Russell and Fernando Alonso both got by Norris in the first lap. Norris was able to get by Alonso within a few laps, but couldn’t catch Russell.

Norris being somewhat stuck in fourth forced McLaren to rethink strategy and left him out for a long stint to give a one stop race a try. Meanwhile, Piastri boxed before Leclerc to attempt to get the undercut, but was not able to catch him after the first stop. Leclerc was clearly not happy with something on his Ferrari or the strategy as he was regularly on the radio complaining and, after stop two, found himself moving backwards and going from a guy with control out in front of the race to missing the podium all together on lap 62. 

Norris managed to make his tires hold on, but Piastri made a real run and attempted a move late in the race, nearly making contact with Norris, but both managed to avoid contact and Norris stayed out front and took the checkered flag. Pastry came in second with Russell rounding out the podium. F1 now goes into their summer break, with their next race coming in Zandvoort the final weekend of August, as McLaren extend their lead in the constructor’s title even more, but the driver championship now has just nine points separating Piastri at the top from his teammate Norris. 

2025 F1 Weekend Recap: Belgium

2025 F1 Weekend Recap: Belgium

Reports are that Oscar Piastri set a new track record in SQ3 at Spa, but most fans in the United States had no visual evidence of that happening. See, with about 4 minutes to go in the final qualifying session for the sprint race, ESPN went to commercial. Those who were watching via the stream didn’t get to see the finish. Those watching live on TV got to watch the final lap, but the commentary swapped to the Spanish language stream. 

The big stories coming out of spring qualifying though were the spin from Lewis Hamilton that saw him eliminated in SQ1, and a rough session from Kimi Antonelli that also saw him out in the first session. Once the sprint race started, Max Verstappen immediately took advantage of the low downforce wing he has on his car and jumped ahead of Piastri. Vertappen never looked back as he dominated sectors one and three, making his lead insurmountable despite the McLaren’s being faster in sector two. Ultimately, it was Vertappen on top of the podium in the country of his birth, followed by Piastri and Lando Norris. 

Earlier in the day, F3 had a rather straight forward race that saw Noah Stromsted win the sprint with Ugo Ugochukwu and Charlie Wurtz also making the podium. Straight forward is never used to describe a F2 race, and Saturday was no different. Multiple incidents on the first lap brought out the first safety car, but it was the one that was brought out by Amaury Cordeel making contact and then rolling through the gravel into the barrier on lap 12 that really made it interesting. Much of the midfield boxed for soft tires during the one lap safety car, and their pace was immediately felt. That group made quick work of multiple runners still on medium tires, but Leonardo Fornaroli looked in command of the lead, but Victor Martins and Gabriele Mini were certainly at risk. That risk came to an end though when Sami Meguetounif’s car stopped on track and was unable to get it going again, making the top three Fornaroli-Martins-Mini. 

After the sprint race fun, the F1 qualifying began for the featured race. With rain forecasted for Sunday and the struggles in the wet weather in Silverstone, Verstappen swapped to a rear wing that provided more downforce, which came as a bit of a surprise after the lower downforce wing is what helped lead him to victory in the sprint. Antonelli again found himself out in Q1, making it an incredibly frustrating weekend for the rookie. Meanwhile, Hamilton got himself out of Q1 on his final lap that moved him up to seventh on the timing sheet. When the broadcast got back from commercial though, that had changed. Despite there not being a great angle for it on the broadcast, the stewards determined Hamilton exceeded track limits on turn four and fell to 16th, meaning he did not get out of either Q1 on the weekend. 

Once we reached Q3, the track temperature rose throughout the session leading to the track negatively evolving and few drivers improved on their final lap. This allowed Norris to hold onto pole and Piastri making it a front row lockout for McLaren. One driver who did improve on the final lap was Alex Albon who put together a fantastic final lap and jumped to fifth on the grid.

Come Sunday, the rain did arrive, so much in fact the F3 feature race never officially got started, leaving Rafael Camara 28 points clear at the top of the standings with a race weekend around Hungaroring next weekend and a trip to Monza at the start of September as the only racing left in the F3 calendar for this year. F2 did get going and was relatively straight forward race, at least for a while. Sebastian Montoya spun and stalled on lap 18, bringing out the first and only safety car in the race. Just as we thought the safety car might come in, Oliver Goethe had his engine catch fire, red flagging the race and giving Alex Dunne the win, for a bit. Ultimately Dunne was given a 10 second penalty for failing to engage the start-up procedure, making Arvid Lindblad the winner, for a short time. Lindblad was ultimately found to have issues with tire pressure and was disqualified from the race, making Roman Stanek the official winner. F2 will also be racing next weekend in Budapest, and have four more races after that with Fornaroli holding just a three point lead over Richard Verschoor and only 12 points clear of fifth place. 

The F1 race went for a formation lap behind the safety car before being red flagged and postponed for quite some time. Eventually they got back on the road, but spend the first four laps behind a safety car before a rolling start. There were four cars scheduled to start from pit lane, but it was the McLaren’s up front that everyone was watching. At almost the same spot Verstappen passed Piastri on the first lap of the sprint race, Piastri got by Norris in the feature race. Despite starting in the wet before moving to dry tires not too deep into the race, there weren’t any significant incidents in the race, and McLaren dominated again, with Piastri taking the checkered flag, Norris finished second, and Charles Leclerc rounding out the podium. Piastri now has a 16 point lead in the driver’s standings over Norris while McLaren holds more than double their closest competitor, 516 points to Ferrari’s 248 (both Norris and Piastri alone have more points than Ferrari or any other team).

F1 will be back at it next weekend before the summer break that will see three consecutive weekends without racing.

2025 IFSC World Cup Bali: Lead and Speed

2025 IFSC World Cup Bali: Lead and Speed

Under the stunning backdrop of crashing waves in Bali, nobody shined brighter than American Samuel Watson. In the semi-finals, he blitzed up the wall in 4.67 seconds, breaking his own world record set at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. In the final, he lined up next to Ryo Omasa looking to take his first gold this season and he clinched it in anticlimactic fashion when Omaso was called for a False Start, handing the gold to Watson. That wasn’t the end though, as Watson took the opportunity afforded to him and chose to go ahead and climb the wall once, uncontested, just he and the clock. Unbelievably, he bettered his semi-final time and set yet another world record, hitting the scoring pad in just 4.64 seconds. 

After a surprise early exit before the medals a week ago, Alesandra Miroslaw absolutely dominated the speed wall for the women. Once getting through qualifications, she did not allow a race to even be close, winning all four races by a minimum of six tenths of a second. Yafei Zhou got the silver, while Adi Asih Kadek won the Small Final in front of her home crowd to take home the bronze medal. 

The shock of the weekend came when Sorato Anraku fell moving to the 25th hold in the semi-finals, meaning he finished 16th, well outside the finals after gold in the opening boulder and lead events of the season. This opened the door for a new winner in the men’s final, which featured a sideways jump rather low on the wall that, while not immensely difficult, was clearly a move that made the climbers take notice. 

Max Bertone was the first on the wall in the final, and he made it look like it was going to be a high scoring final, getting up the head wall all the way to hold 41 right out the gates. The route was far from forgiving though, as two climbers failed to reach hold twenty, and only three got to hold 31. Alberto Gines Lopez nearly matched Bertone, but fell at 39+. The final climber of the day was Satone Yoshida, and Bertone was still atop the leaderboard. Yoshida’s climb was anything but boring, as he looked to get himself in difficult positions multiple times, none more so than when he got the rope stuck underneath a volume and was really having to fight the rope the final third of the wall. Despite this, he made it to the head wall and reached hold 42, securing himself the gold and knocking Bertone down to silver. 

The women were the nightcap, and they put on an absolute show! Mia Krampl put forth her typical edge of your seat performance and made it near the headwall, but that was only good enough for 7th. Ai Mori reached the top of the wall and clipped in, but time had run out, meaning she only got credit for hold 45. Still, essentially topping the route put her in an excellent spot, but that wound up only being good enough for bronze. Chaehyun Seo also made it to the top and clipped with time left on the clock after ending in a shared gold medal position a week ago with Erin McNeice . Seo and McNeice were the only two to top the route in the semi-finals, but McNeice had the better qualification score, meaning she got to climb last. McNeice naturally went on to match Seo again, and topped the route with almost the same time yet again, but that qualification score meant McNeice got to claim the gold all to herself, and Seo was awarded silver. Seo and McNeice are quickly becoming a rivalry to watch this IFSC season. 

The next IFSC World Cup event comes May 16-18 as we go back to bouldering in Curitiba, Brazil, where there was a recent fire at the facility but all reports are the event will be able to proceed without issue.

2025 IFSC World Cup Wujiang: Lead and Speed

2025 IFSC World Cup Wujiang: Lead and Speed

In the second of three consecutive weekends featuring IFSC World Cups, the focus turned to both Lead and Speed climbers in Wujiang this weekend. The speed climbing saw new milestones and plenty of upsets. 

American Emma Hunt faced off against the fastest woman in the world, Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland. Miroslaw slipped low on the wall and had another stumble on the way up putting her well behind her typical pace. This opened the door for Hunt, but she slipped with just a few holds to go. Ultimately, Hunt touched the pad in 6.85 seconds, while Miroslaw touched one hundredth of a second later, sending Hunt to the semifinals and ending Miroslaw’s competition. In the semis, Hunt had the second fastest time, but the fastest was put in by the other woman on the wall, Jimin Jeong, while Shaoquin Zhang advanced to the final after Lijuan Deng fell in their race. 

Hunt put in her best time on the day in the Small Final but, ultimately, it was not enough as Deng put together an impressive 6.34 to win the bronze medal. Jeong was unable to beat Zhang, who took home gold in the Final in front of her home crowd.

On the men’s side world record holder Sam Watson flirted with his record time in qualifications, and again in the round of 16, but “slowed” down to 4.81 in the quarterfinal and advanced. The surprise then came when Hryhorii Ilchyshyn managed to beat Watson in the semifinal with a time of 5.11, while Watson put in one of his slower competition times of 5.17. Jianguo Long just did touch ahead of Kimoral Katibin, 4.81-4.83, meaning Katibin was relegated to the Small Final despite a PR. In that Small Final, Watson again put in a time over five seconds, while Katibin set a new PR of 4.75 to win bronze. Long vs. Ilchyshyn was not the final most were expecting, but it was a heck of a race, with them touching just a tenth of a second apart and, despite climbing sub-5 seconds for the first time ever, Ilchyshyn was unable to get gold and had to settle for the silver. 

The Lead climbing was even more bizarre than the Speed. While Mia Krampl finished 1+ holds out of making the final, her bat hang chalk/rest move in the qualifications might have been the most fun visual of the weekend. In the final, Laura Rogora was climbing well, but wound up spending far too much time and energy trying to find a way to statically get across what was a rather clear campusing jump traverse move and ultimately finished fourth. Annie Sanders got to 39+ and won bronze, while both Chaehyun Seo and Erin McNeice got to hold 41. They both happened to fall on that hold and, much to the shock and confusion of the commentary team, fans, and even competitors, both fell at exactly 4:26. Ultimately, this meant a shared gold between McNeice and Seo, Seo’s first gold since 2022 and the first for McNeice.

There were some surprising names that did not make it to the final on the men’s side, but none bigger than Olympic gold medalist Toby Roberts. Once the final did start, the oddities didn’t end. In his first ever final, Neo Suzuki downclimbed a hold to clip the quick draw and wound up getting assistance from the rope. After review, it was determined to be a belayer error and he was allowed to climb again. He made the most of his opportunity to get on the wall again, getting to hold 40 and made an attempt to 41, a full hold further than Alberto Gines Lopez, who finished third in his return to the podium. The Japanese prodigy Sorato Anraku was the last to come out and proceeded to fly up the wall with little trouble, topping out with 1:18 left on the clock. 

Lead and Speed come back again next weekend, this time in Bali.

2025 IFSC Boulder World Cup – Keqiao

2025 IFSC Boulder World Cup – Keqiao

The IFSC World Cup season has officially arrived as the boulder event in Keqiao, China took place over the weekend. This comes on the heels of a winter that saw the official announcement from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the three disciplines, Boulder, Lead, and Speed, will all have their own medals, allowing for specialization.

In the Tokyo Olympics the three disciplines were merged together, which created an odd look of elite boulder and lead climbers like Brooke Raboutou (fall) and Chaehyuon Seo (10.64) struggle. In 2024, the IOC separated Speed from Boulder and Lead, making for a more representative competition, but still had some athletes, Natalia Grossman, who specialize in Boulder really struggle on Lead, and vice versa.

The separation of the three disciplines will allow for those who do specialize to have a chance at a medal where they would otherwise struggle in the combined event, but this will also likely have us seeing much more specialization across the World Cups. There are also a couple fundamental changes to the competitions this year, with eight athletes making the finals rather than six, and the scoring now being a point system with 10 points for a zone, and 25 for a top with a 0.1 deduction for each attempt after the first.

The women’s qualification and semi finals went rather chalk in terms of those making it through to the next round, with Nekaia Sanders being the last one out in the qualification round, while Mashiro Kuzuu finished ninth in the semifinals and just missed the finals. The final boulders no the women’s side were really tough. Only one climber scored on all three boulders, as Annie Sanders got the zone in boulders one, two, and four, and topped boulder three. Oriane Bertone had the highest score in the semifinals, so she was the last on the mat and came out to boulder four needing a top to take home the title. She flashed the zone but, like every climber before her, failed to top the difficult boulder and Sanders won her second consecutive Boulder World cup. Erin McNeice took home the bronze.

On the men’s side, there were some big names that missed the finals, as Colin Duffy of the United States finished 18th, only scoring on two of the four boulders in the round, and British superstar Toby Roberts failed to top any of the boulders and finished in 15th. In the final, Oren Prihed of Israel failed to top any of the boulders, while Frenchman Paul Jenft only topped one and failed to score on the third. Everyone else topped at least two boulders in the final and scored on every boulder. Maichi Narasaki had an excellent final, topping three of the four and flashing the zone on the fourth, scoring 83.9 points, but ultimately ended up in a distant third place. Sorato Anraku finished second in the semis, so he was second to last on the wall, he entered the final boulder with a 0.2-point lead over Korean Dohyun Lee, meaning a top in two or fewer attempts would guarantee him a gold, and a top on third would land him with tied for first as the worst-case scenario. In typical Anraku fashion, he flashed the boulder and secured gold and finished just 0.3 points shy of a perfect score. Lee wound up topping the problem on his third attempt, scoring 99.3 points in the event, losing by 0.4.

The next World Cup event comes this weekend as the IFSC heads to Wujiang for both Lead and Speed competitions. The Lead competition does have two big names not in the registrant list, as Raboutou and Slovenian superstar and two-time Olympic gold medalist, Janja Garnbret are not among those who will compete. That said, many of the other top female Lead climbers are expected to compete, and could make for an incredibly tight competition.

2024 F1 Jeddah Preview

2024 F1 Jeddah Preview

FP1 in Bahrain raised a ton of hope among F1 fans that this year might be more competitive than last. FP2 and FP3 continued to raise hope, but then the inevitable happened. Red Bull was only a top three fastest in one of the three practice sessions, but Verstappen got pole in qualifying and put in an even bigger margin of victory than he did last year as Red Bull finished 1-2 and left with maximum points.

There were plenty of big stories out of the race weekend including the struggles of Alpine, qualifying 19 and 20. They finished 17 and 18, with the only two drivers behind them being Valtteri Bottas who was in a lap one collision that saw him drive the rest of the way with a damaged front wing, and Logan Sargeant who had mechanical issues and had to pull off the track for nearly a minute before switching out his steering wheel.

RB went downhill all weekend after Daniel Ricciardo was fastest in FP1 and Yuki Tsunoda was third fastest in that session. They qualified 14th and 11th respectively but the focus was late in the race when Tsunoda was instructed to give up position to Ricciardo but the move was argued and delayed quite some time, creating clear frustration from both parties.

Only five teams scored points, with Red Bull going 1-2 followed by the Ferrari’s finishing 3 and 4. Mercedes and McClaren are in an early battle as George Russell finished just ahead of Lando Norris, who was just ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who was just ahead of Oscar Piastri. The final two points spots went to the Aston Martins.

Jeddah is a high speed tight track that is sure to provide plenty of action, although it seems clear already Max Vestappen is a class all his own yet again, and the rest of the pack will battle behind him.

F2 and F1 Academy will serve as support races this weekend, just as F2 and F3 did a week ago.

F3 saw 16-year-old Arvid Lindblad win the sprint race and Luke Browning take home the featured race. Meanwhile, the F2 weekend was dominated by Zane Maloney, as he won both the sprint and featured races. He should see plenty of competition this weekend though, especially from Gabriel Bortoletto, who won pole position but made contact Isack Hadjar and was given a a 10 second penalty as Hadjar and Enzo Fittipaldi, who had the fastest lap in the sprint, both retired on lap one.

F1 Academy is in it’s second season, and this year we will see F1 liveries on the track. Amna Al Qubaisi, Hamda Al Qubaisi, Abbi Pulling, and Bianca Bustamante headline the field as they all return for another season. One name that may standout for facing fans is Lia Block. Block is the daughter of legendary late American rally driver, Ken Block. Lia will be driving for ART in the Williams livery car.

2024 F1 Season Preview

2024 F1 Season Preview

The 2023 F1 season was dominated by Red Bull, winning all but one race that season, most by Max Verstappen. Despite there being absolutely zero drama for either championship, the constructors standings were a lot of fun to follow below that. Mercedes edged out Ferrari by three points for second, while McLaren finished 22 points ahead of Aston Martin for fourth and fifth. Alpine had plenty of space on both sides as they finished sixth, while Alex Albon scored all but one of the Williams points to help them finish ahead of Alpha Tauri in seventh. Haas was unable to score any points after Singapore, and only one point after Miami to finish last on the season.

This year looks like it may be much more of the same from Red Bull after they dominated the times in preseason testing, while Haas was by far the slowest. While Williams had a quality season in 2023, they made plenty of concept changes this season, and it didn’t show all that great come testing, having the second slowest race simulation pace and qualifying simulation pace. Sauber (formerly Alpha Romeo) and Alpine had almost identical times in both sims, meaning we could be in for quite a battle there, although battling for seventh and eighth is definitely not where Alpine wants to be. The team that really opened some eyes in testing was the newly branded RB Cash Back Visa team, both with an impressive livery and impressive times. They put in times that suggest they could compete with the likes of Aston Martin rather than a team that points on a weekend feels like a success.

The big news on the driver front was the fact no seats are changing from the end of season to the start of this season, but then we learned Lewis Hamilton will be driving for Ferrari in 2025, meaning “silly season” will be all season. It should be interesting to see how this plays out as Mercedes and Ferrari anticipate battling it out for second all season, but Hamilton, George Russell, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, and Sergio Perez are all likely eyeing second place in the driver’s championship this year, assuming Verstappen runs away with it again this year.

Here are my predictions for the finishing order this season, starting with the constructor’s championship:

  1. Red Bull
  2. Mercedes
  3. Ferrari
  4. Mclaren
  5. Aston Martin
  6. RB
  7. Alpine
  8. Williams
  9. Sauber
  10. Haas

And for the driver’s championship:

  1. Max Verstappen
  2. Charles Leclerc
  3. George Russell
  4. Lewis Hamilton
  5. Sergio Perez
  6. Lando Norris
  7. Carlos Sainz
  8. Fernando Alonso
  9. Oscar Piastri
  10. Daniel Ricciardo
  11. Piere Gasly
  12. Alex Albon
  13. Lance Stroll
  14. Vallteri Bottas
  15. Yuki Tsunoda
  16. Esteban Ocon
  17. Logan Sargeant
  18. Niko Hulkenberg
  19. Zhou Guanyu
  20. Kevin Magnussen

F1 is not the only championship starting, we will also see F2 and F3 in action, with plenty of storylines to follow there.

A season ago Theo Pourchaire won the race in Bahrain by 19.666 seconds and went on to win the F2 driver’s championship as well. This year he will serve as the reserve driver for Sauber, so we will see a new winner this season. In fact, the top four finishers from a season ago have moved on to new championships, meaning the highest scoring driver from a season ago returning is Victor Martins, although the favorite just might be PREMA Racing driver Oliver Bearman.

In F3, the opening weekend truly serves as a season preview, as the driver’s championship winner has one at least one race in opening weekend in every F3 season. Winning at the F3 level will largely be uncharted territory for the pack, as only Gabriele Mini and Oliver Goethe will lineup over the weekend with a F3 race win on their resume. There will be 17 rookies on the grid, with both MP and Jenzer rolling out all-rookie driver lineups.

I am sure I speak for all racing fans when I say we can’t wait to hear “light’s out and away we go!”

2024 F1 Season Livery Rankings

Now that all the base liveries for the 2024 season have been unveiled there is only one thing left to do…rank them! Liveries like Ferrari get bonuses for being so widely recognizable similar to the New York Yankees or FC Barcelona, while there are two completely newly branded teams that entered the fray this season. So, lets get to the rankings that I am sure won’t make anyone mad.

10) Haas

The livery doesn’t have a great overhaul from last season, and it is still uninspiring. The extra black down the front of the car actually takes away from the look rather than adding to it. Add to that a change at team principal and two drivers that don’t move the needle, the Haas car is one that will be easily forgotten throughout the season.

9) Alpine

I am not quite sure how they pull it off, but they have hot pink in their color scheme and still end up with a dull livery. Had they gone with a scheme closer to what the Alpine racing team rolled out at Le Mans, it could have been great, but instead it is just blah.

8) Stake

Or are they still Kick Sauber, I can’t keep track, anyway, it looks…unfinished. Nothing on the front wing, Stake along the side pod taking up minimal space and doesn’t flow, it just needs work. That said, going with the brightest color scheme it at least catches your eye and won’t be forgettable like the previous look. It just leaves me wanting more.

7) McClaren

I still love the Google Chrome wheels, without questions the best use of their wheel space for a sponsor, but I wanted more papaya. There is just too much black in this livery for me, or maybe it’s the lines that just don’t flatter the car. That said, the chromed out numbers are pretty sweet and could really shine on race day.

6) Aston Martin

British Racing Green is about as recognizable a color when it comes to a car as the red of Ferrari, so that automatically moves them up a few spots. And they need it because the rest of the livery is just ok. I get Aramco is a sponsor, but their color scheme takes away from the classic green of the car, and moving it from the back side of the rear wing to the front enhances the clash.

5) Visa Cash App RB

I wanted to hate it, I really did, but it doesn’t suck. Yes, it is a busier design than a NASCAR at Daytona, but it is clean at the same time. Visa fits the sidepod well and the multiple bull locations are pretty good. The shine, the lines, they did well for the busiest name/livery in the field.

4) Red Bull

It doesn’t look like there are any major changes to the livery this year, apart from the bull being moved slightly. That said, this is a car that won all but one race a season ago, which gives the livery a history. Add to that Red Bull will certainly roll out a special livery or two this season, it is solid. Didn’t expect much change, and there wasn’t, but it is a solid design.

3) Mercedes

It coulda been so good, and they tipped their toes in the water for it too. A season ago they were basically all black with the teal stripe, this year they added silver to the nose with a wave of teal and I want so much more. If the car had more silver and less black, it could have been so much better. They also added some extra red in a few spots, which doesn’t really fit their color scheme, but at least it adds some color to the livery overall.

2) Williams

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I think they nailed it with this one! The two toned blue, the white lines contrasting against the darker colors. It is really well done. Add to that they bring back the Duracell battery on top which still may be my favorite sponsor incorporation on any F1 car, just a great all-around design.

1) Ferrari

There may not be a more love ’em or hate ’em team than Ferrari (although Red Bull is getting there), but it is hard to not love the Ferrari livery. The most recognizable livery in motorsports got an upgrade this year. The white and yellow stripes on the side pod above the Shell logo is a massive improvement, and adding red to the wheels helps the whole car really pop. Number one really wasn’t a contest this year!

Andrew Friedman and The Trail of Injuries

Los Angeles Dodgers President of Baseball Operations, Andrew Friedman is one of the more respected executives in the game of baseball. Forging his reputation as a genius during his time with Tampa Bay, consistently turning a team with a shoestring budget into a postseason mainstay, there was a mystique that followed him around. When he joined the Dodgers in 2015, big things were expected. After all, how could they not be, considering he was moving from a franchise that pulled change out of the couch cushions to one that essentially prints money?

It’s a strange thing, fealty. For the perfect example, you can look no further than former President Donald Trump. No matter how vile the rhetoric he spews, his followers will adhere to it as gospel. No matter how many affairs or credible rape allegations he’s hit with, the Christian right will anoint him the second coming of Jesus. No matter how catastrophically he botches the domestic response to a global pandemic, it’s his word that’s taken as scientific truth over the consensus of the virtual unanimity of the world’s credible scientific and medical communities. It defies logic. It defies reason. It defies observable reality. Surely, people cannot be so easily brainwashed.

This is the comparison that suddenly struck me when it came to Friedman. Not to the extent of politics, but sports too, especially in the social media era, is hotly debated. And in far more cases than not, the debate gets personal, and saturated with direct pejoratives. There is no better way to show this than ambling into the lawless shitshow that is the Dodgers Twitter (I refuse to call it X) community and suggest that Friedman isn’t great at his job. I recommend wearing a kevlar vest before doing so.

But let’s start objectively. Is Friedman actually good at his job? Well, the Dodgers, despite being a perennial contender and having not had a high draft pick since… God only knows when, consistently have one of the top rated farm systems in all of baseball. This is due to astute drafting, terrific scouting, and of course significant investment in the international market. All of these things are rightly considered feathers in Friedman’s cap. There are more people who deserve credit than just him, but if you’re the man in charge and it goes right, you get to take that credit.

The star-studded roster is also dotted with guys acquired from other franchises. Mookie Betts via trade. Freddie Freeman via free agency. There was also the Trevor Bauer signing, but without getting into the accusations against him and subsequent fallout, he was the best available free agent pitcher that season and Friedman went out and got him. This is what you want from your front office, right? To go after the biggest fish? There’s a curious asterisk here though, as well. The Dodgers were never seriously engaged on retaining star shortstop Corey Seager, he of the very recent World Series MVP award. Nor were they ever seriously in the Bryce Harper sweepstakes. Neither should really be considered too dark of a blotch on the record for Friedman. Seager was always going to go to the highest bidder. The Dodgers could have offered a billion dollars and if another franchise offered a penny more, that’s where he was going. And there is no alternate universe where Friedman offered a comparable deal for Harper to the 13-year pact he got from the Phillies.

And how about those results!? Playoffs every season. Three World Series appearances… but only one title – the Covid shortened season of 2020. This is where you really start to see the increasingly strange behavior. A title is the pinnacle of achievements for sports franchises and their fans. But mention that Friedman has only one title in his tenure despite the resources at his disposal and you’ll get a smile, a shrug, and some variation of “what can ya do? The playoffs are a crapshoot!”

I’m sorry, what? Sure, a 162 game season is a much larger sample size that gives you a more accurate picture of how good teams are when compared to one another. And yes, weird things can happen in a short series. Mistakes are amplified. Iconic performances are amplified. The best team does not always win. But to reduce it to a coin flip is a jaw-dropping outlook. I always wondered why there were warning labels on paste. Don’t eat this! Well, now I know why, I guess.

If your argument is that the playoffs are a crapshoot, doesn’t your probability of winning that crapshoot get better when you don’t have to run out guys like Billy McKinney, the corpse of Albert Pujols, a seriously injured David Peralta (in the literary world we call this foreshadowing), and more?

Apparently not, because his online legion of sycophants have bestowed nicknames on him like Fleeceman and FriedGOD. Seriously. FriedGOD. Some people were really high on Sheldon Neuse, I guess.

But ok, we’ve established that people at large at prone to cult-like behavior and false idol worship. I guess that baseball fans shouldn’t be expected to be any different.

But there’s something that can’t be explained away. Well, let me hedge that. The delusionals who think it’s Friedman that rises on Easter can probably find a way, but this is a question for the powers that be in baseball. Why are the Dodgers permitted to continually run out clearly injured players in the postseason?

In 2022, the Dodgers elected to keep a clearly injured Blake Treinen on the postseason roster over a clearly healthy Craig Kimbrel. Yes, Treinen is one of the most dominant relievers in baseball when healthy, and Kimbrel is a bit of a roller coaster. But for all his struggles as closer in 2022, Kimbrel pitched fairly well down the stretch in a non closing role. And for all his dominance, what with his 100 mph fastball with video game movement, Treinen had pitched all of six innings in 2022 due to a serious shoulder injury. That didn’t matter to Friedman and company though. They would take him on the roster over Kimbrel – itself a tacit acknowledgement that his acquisition was a failure. It turned out to be a disaster. Treinen was sitting at about 91, threw one horrid inning, and the Dodgers were expelled from the playoffs in humiliating fashion by the Padres.

That was last year. In 2023, Clayton Kershaw pitched the worst postseason start in recorded history. The greatest pitcher of this generation managed to get all of one out, and gave up six earned runs. A month or so later, Kershaw announced that he underwent major shoulder surgery, and had some hope of pitching again in 2024. That he was struggling with shoulder soreness down the stretch was not a secret. But it turned out to be a serious injury. Which they absolutely had to have known about, and threw him out there anyway. Meanwhile, deadline acquisition Ryan Yarbrough who pitched mostly well after joining up from Kansas City was left off the roster.

It was also announced that veteran Dodgers outfielder David Peralta had ligament repair surgery on his left arm after the season. Peralta had played well most of the season and been a positive clubhouse presence with his veteran leadership and amiable personality. But he struggled badly down the stretch and did nothing in the playoffs. Now we know why. Meanwhile, capable young hitters like Jonny DeLuca and Mike Busch were nowhere to be seen.

Two guys with serious injuries, trotted out in the season’s biggest games. The front office absolutely knew the extent of those injuries and did it anyway, same as they did with Treinen in 2022. How this isn’t a bigger scandal is beyond me. It’s borderline criminal. And nobody is even asking the question. I get it. They’re probably afraid of offending the slack-jawed legions of hangerson and having to deal with a bunch of “how dare you”s on Twitter.

I get that too. On the off chance they see this, I might have to move and change my name.

But seriously, isn’t this fireable? Can you imagine a football team in 2023 running out a middle linebacker with a known and diagnosed concussion? Why is it ok for a baseball team to run out a pitcher whose shoulder is known to be confetti? There should be an investigation, and subsequently a reckoning. But there won’t be, because it’s apparently not only the unwashed of Twitter who feel like he can do no wrong.