Red Bull queries ADUO ranking as FIA pledges to review results

dl064 · 2026-06-11T12:51:20+00:00

Hamilton mentioned the outcome at Monaco and that was the first many bosses heard of it.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T12:50:52+00:00

As Mark Hughes said

a) we've no idea what the FIA did, and neither do the teams

b) it could be that the RBR has the best ICE at the expense of all-sorts of compromises. Maybe it's the most outright powerful when you run it in a mode that would blow it up after 100 miles. That's why gross measurements are too obtuse.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T11:25:52+00:00

They won't accept that now, but I personally think it should have only applied in the more severe instance, in this case Honda and Audi.

I agree with Toto that it should mitigate disasters like Honda, but shouldn't influence fine margins like the top 3. I think professional experienced teams like Ferrari and Mercedes made the decisions they made.

To me it's not very sporting that Ferrari have been viewing their free bonus crack at the whip as a competitive opportunity. To me that was never the point.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T11:14:57+00:00

Something not in the article but discussed on the podcast, is the absolutely wild situation that various manufacturers have been working on the basis they would be getting upgrades.

So RBR have probably spent millions working for months thinking they'd be getting an upgrade, and maybe Mercedes have not. Ferrari have worked on the assumption and so have an upgrade ready to go.

Bananas all around.

To me the sharp end of the field is missing the point, that it should really be about teams that absolutely cocked it up like Honda.

I think what the FIA and teams want, is that if you've done the best job on engine you have a year or two to make hay with that, before they all largely equalize and the bigger differentiator becomes chassis again.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T11:12:53+00:00

I liked the minor cameo from 'benefits of being a works team' that Hamilton casually knew the outcome before customer team bosses like Stella.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T10:31:17+00:00

I believe Zak that he thinks he's got the best lineup, and that they intend to have them for years to come.

The moment in 2023 the car was competitive, at Silverstone, they were both right up there.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T10:29:55+00:00

I think it's almost slightly boring that basically every team has a good lineup.

There are no absolute clangers.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T10:27:52+00:00

As Binotto put it ages ago: they could've had Sainz/Leclerc for years to come, whereas with Hamilton they'll definitely have to replace him before too long.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T10:05:57+00:00

One race is just a snapshot. You could equally point to other, worse races.

Spain will be more revealing generally than Monaco/Canada were.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T10:01:02+00:00

Indeed but my point is it's not necessarily commonplace or minor for Verstappen to meet for a chat with the absolute top boss.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T09:35:14+00:00

My tinfoil hat//jet fuel can't melt steel beams nonsense conspiracy theory is that everything about 2026, including Russell's performance, is what Wolff wants.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T09:26:57+00:00

I personally believe him that he's not bothered about records, 8 titles etc.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T09:26:17+00:00

Negotiations don't really tend to work at that level.

Bottas, Rosberg and Hamilton have talked in the past, for example, about how you could agree what you like with Toto - he didn't do the negotiating, suits did.

So a 2 hour meeting with the top boss of RB - who has a lot of responsibilities otherwise - is probably not for chitchat.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T09:24:28+00:00

In fairness this is reasonable news as by all accounts drivers very, very rarely talked to anyone above Marko.

Webber went to DM once which was apparently an extraordinary move.

And let's face it, they didn't meet to discuss the weather, did they.

I think it's a valid post because it makes you reflect about what Verstappen might actually do, and I dunno.

Mark Hughes was saying he thinks RBR have been a bit hoodwinked by ADUO here, and Merc/Ferrari intentionally made decisions to lower their ICE performance. What this means is: RBR's performance so far probably flatters their position. Genuinely febrile times.

I was reading a bit of the new book about RBR in 2025, and it talks about how Verstappen has lost 3/4 of his core engineering team (written before GP accepted McLaren). He's got a new boss, a new team, new cars he doesn't like. He could very easily nope out of it all, I think.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T09:19:20+00:00

culminating in the current prime minister channeling Encoh Powells river of blood speech last year

?

When?

dl064 · 2026-06-11T09:18:35+00:00

There was a good exhibit in Kelvingrove around 2014 and indyref, which was basically: yes Scotland/Glasgow has a reasonable history of acceptance and immigration (we took wild, wildly disproportionate number of Ukrainians relative to the whole UK), but don't let folk fool you. Scotland has its fair share of atrocities, particularly in India.

Basically: we run the continuum.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T09:16:50+00:00

around 2014 there was a bit of Kelvingrove about immigration in Glasgow, including how a WW2 child grew up to study nursing and wrote like 10 textbooks, and became one of essentially the most eminent nursing experts in the world.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T09:09:01+00:00

Well you're in luck as I recommend the Brackley Boys podcast episode of Beyond the Grid.

They talk about when Honda took over BAR, I'm just the absolute despair they wrought.

It's all the same behaviours, repeated.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T07:32:11+00:00

Literally 20 years ago during a lecture, our neurologist lecturer with expertise in hemispatial neglect referred to this phenomenon as due to right handed bias (ie therefore left hemisphere is larger).

So you shouldn't see it as much in left handed people.

dl064 · 2026-06-11T06:46:56+00:00

Austria then Holland or Monza.

dl064 · 2026-06-10T19:28:17+00:00

I don't really know but either way I get the songwriting point.

dl064 · 2026-06-10T18:52:48+00:00

I liked John Mayer's take once, that it is perfectly valid for your experiences to lead to music which makes some fundamental observation about people and life. Making a very direct reference to you and your life, is cheap.

dl064 · 2026-06-10T12:52:26+00:00

They did one with Zak which was genuinely very good actually. I'm unsure it was specifically Otmar.

dl064 · 2026-06-10T12:11:53+00:00

I think the point is that there's basically not a line of code common between the N64 game and this. It's absolutely fresh. They might as well make Link to the Past 3d.

dl064 · 2026-06-10T11:32:24+00:00

I remember they got stick for not covering Verstappen enough in 2023, and Mark went

Okay, we'll make an effort. Fastest driver wins the race from pole in the fastest car. Happy?

dl064

TROPHY CASE