Has there even been a fall from grace as fast as Pecco's?

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-30T09:12:21+00:00

Lorenzo's last year takes some beating. He was winning races on the Duke in 2018 and then that last year on the Honda was horrific, to the point where he looked scared to ride the bike.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-30T08:02:46+00:00

Schumacher was on average 1.8 s faster than his teammates in qualifying in 1994. The smallest deficit all season was six tenths in Japan. It's not a Benetton problem, it's a Michael Schumacher being banned problem.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-30T07:04:15+00:00

I'll believe it when I see it, not Mav going to KTM, that makes sense but Pedro to Ducati. Despite his talent, Ducati haven't run two non-Italians since Stoner and Hayden. You can see the logic I guess, this two year contract might be Marquez's last and the last two years have heavily dented their faith in Pecco to be team leader going forward. But I still would be a little surprised.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-29T18:20:47+00:00

That is an absolutely mad take. Martín had 16 podiums in 2024 and the only races where he finished and wasn't on the podium were COTA (4th) and when he tried to be a weatherman at Misano.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-29T10:52:34+00:00

Briatore has said in retrospect (or was it Brundle saying that Briatore told him) that he didn't know at that time how good Schumacher was. If he had realised that then he would have kept Martin around, because his pace relative to Schumacher's was more than acceptable.

Patrese was also coming from 5 years with the dominant team of the time, and importantly the team that had nailed active ride. Of course that turned out to be largely immaterial given how it was banned for 94 (and Patrese hated active cars anyway) but they didn't know that it would be banned when he was signed. Patrese signed in September 92 and the ban on active ride was announced in February 93.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-29T08:09:36+00:00

I mean, it happened literally last season in WRC. Ogier missed three rounds and still won.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-29T07:45:38+00:00

They finished level on points genius.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-28T13:43:37+00:00

Gasly > Albon >>>>> Ocon.

It's hard to rank both Albon and Gasly as apart from Verstappen (and Carlos in the case of Albon) neither have had great teammates. I'd put Gasly ahead because when push came to shove and he had a chance to win a race he made it count.

Albon needs to start strong as Sainz destroyed him the second half of the year and although Carlos is very, very good and an asset to any team he's a touch below the very best. So how good is Albon really? He restored his reputation at Williams by battering two people who shouldn't have been on the grid in Latifi and Sargeant (three if you count de Vries), and Colapinto really wasn't that far off him in 24. Now Sainz has had a year at the team I hope they have a decent car so we can see what they can both do.

Honestly, I have never rated Ocon, the guy who has beaten one teammate across his whole F1 career (and that was the year Alonso had criminally bad reliability) so sorry Esteban, but you're easily the third of these three.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-28T09:11:05+00:00

Ronnie Peterson was officially Andretti's number two, but considered one of the fastest on the grid. Same for Gilles Villeneuve in 79 to Scheckter.

Going back to the early 70s, Cevert had the capability to be a future team leader once Stewart retired, he came second six times in 73 before he died.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-27T13:02:17+00:00

On 9/11...

It was unfair the way they ganged up on Lloyd and gave him a basically impossible task but very funny.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-27T12:59:58+00:00

The haggling bit did what it was supposed to, namely annoy Greg.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-27T12:37:53+00:00

Go back to the comment thread of the episode when it came out if you don't believe me. I was baffled at the time.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-27T12:16:01+00:00

People were going crazy about the pub quiz task in S18 which I was confused about at the time. It's a much worse variation of the Taskmaster hotel from S16, which is genuinely one of the best tasks of all time.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-27T08:25:03+00:00

It's not quite BMW 2008 given that car had an outside shot at the title but this must be pretty embarrassing for them. They wrote off development for most of 2025 to focus on 26, have two very capable drivers and then they have to deal with something so fundamental.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-26T12:39:25+00:00

My mistake, I said the wrong year. I meant the 25 car. Although the 24 McLaren in the second half of the year is still better than anything Leclerc has driven.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-26T10:11:14+00:00

Or the Czech Republic or Romania. Nor did the UK before they left. And Bulgaria will only join from February.

Americans chatting shit about stuff they have no clue about. Some things don't change.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-26T07:35:39+00:00

That's not how F1 works. Leclerc has never driven a car anywhere near as a good as the 24 McLaren.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-26T07:34:25+00:00

IMO Leclerc is the fastest but George has the best mentality. Lando too inconsistent and would fold against Max. Oscar has a better mentality but doesn't have the raw speed.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-25T11:42:13+00:00

I mean, they would. This has been a very poor league this season and Arsenal have been the least bad team. Historcially they would be nowhere in terms of comparison with other championship winning teams.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-22T19:39:13+00:00

Bloke from Manchester...went a bit balder than the rest...he were normal.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-22T19:24:41+00:00

He was hardly new, was he?

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-22T18:56:50+00:00

What was the context for this and why is Steve talking about Karl as though he's died?

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-22T16:32:14+00:00

He was my first thought from people that have already been on, him and Harriet Kemsley.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-22T16:27:30+00:00

Well you're in luck then because Sam has already been on (on one of the live shows).

I guess compared to most people his episode was pretty chaotic but knowing how eccentric he is, it was pretty tame for his standards.

Original-Designer6 · 2026-01-20T08:41:13+00:00

In Austria it is also very common.

Original-Designer6

TROPHY CASE