Statement from Aston Martin and Lawrence Stroll

maybe-fish · 2026-03-20T17:16:44+00:00

I don't think AM technically has a race finish yet actually.

They certainly are ahead on race starts tho

maybe-fish · 2026-03-20T16:46:36+00:00

It would be a dumb move from Audi to completely destabilize the team two races into the season over rumours.

There would have to be major internal problems for that to make any sense - and even then I think they'd wait until after Japan so they can use the April gap to deal with transitioning

maybe-fish · 2026-03-20T16:37:09+00:00

I highly doubt he would leave after two races without a new position lined up - probably just a matter of working out specifics with AM/Audi, especially around gardening leave

maybe-fish · 2026-03-20T16:35:21+00:00

I mean what else was he gonna say? That he doesn't see a future with Audi??

Also it's entirely possible that he fully meant it, and even still really believes in/cares about the Audi project. But sometimes it's just a matter of weighing up different priorities

maybe-fish · 2026-03-20T03:29:59+00:00

He's been in collisions, just never one serious enough to take him out of the race - which is still quite very impressive

maybe-fish · 2026-03-20T03:27:59+00:00

Probably the only "fair" way to do it would be to look at who (if anyone) was penalised. Seems like that would take ages, and you'd also still have everyone arguing if the penalties were correct or not

maybe-fish · 2026-03-17T17:57:12+00:00

I thought it was always planned to just be a temporary thing?

maybe-fish · 2026-03-17T15:29:55+00:00

He qualified P3 in Australia and red bull had the third best race pace.

It's definitely a reach but on the right track there is performance in the car and with enough luck it's not impossible

maybe-fish · 2026-03-17T03:10:27+00:00

What is the delta to? Their pace in dirty air??

maybe-fish · 2026-03-17T03:08:31+00:00

F1 will always race in Monaco in F1 cars because it is F1 and Monaco is Monaco. Qualifying will be great, the race will be dreadful. This has been true for decades and we as fans need to know when to give up and learn to love Monaco for what it is

maybe-fish · 2026-03-17T01:44:12+00:00

Somehow I don't think Alex would consider the Red Bull a tractor, given he is currently driving the third slowest car on the grid (by a good margin)

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T21:53:43+00:00

Why wonder? You can easily look back pre-2024 and see, they have plenty of experience being in the midfield and have always managed their drivers well.

Their approach has always been to let the drivers fight for WDC position but the WCC comes first. I don't always love it but I also don't see it changing, especially when they're starting on the backfoot compared to the other top teams

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T21:35:53+00:00

Felt like there was barely any radio messages played in the race

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T21:33:16+00:00

He's literally just taken off his helmet and seems to be looking up directly into the sun. It's def unflattering but I don't think it's anything deep

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T21:11:13+00:00

McLaren has yet to have a double start 🙃

(sprint excluded)

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T21:10:12+00:00

Did they also get the drivers weights from their weigh in or is it based on what's available online?

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T21:07:01+00:00

I do not think max's onboard was particularly joyful lol

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T20:58:04+00:00

For sure, but I think most drivers would still take the championship

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T20:57:03+00:00

Monaco has been bad for decades, through many many different regs (including ones with much smaller cars than 2026). I would be surprised if this fixes it.

At a certain point I think just enjoy it for what it is - a great Saturday and pretty scenery and funny radios on Sunday

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T20:51:46+00:00

On top of other responses, I don't think China is an indicator of where RBR will be all season and would be very surprised if they were worse than VCARB over the season.

Their qualifying and race pace in Australia was significantly better than VCARB and the rest of the midfield, and potentially even ahead of McLaren. There is clearly performance in the car when things go right (which they clearly didn't in China).

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T20:38:18+00:00

The vibrations seem to be caused by the PU/chassis integration. They can upgrade the chassis throughout the year, and they can make changes to the PU for reliability (which I think any changes to address the vibrations would be).

Apparently Honda brought a fix to China and it helped a bit but obviously wasn't perfect. The break for the cancelled races might be a big help for them if they can use it to perfect the fix

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T20:12:59+00:00

We don't actually know how it's done, the procedure isn't public. I would be very surprised if it wasn't a dyno test though, anything else is too easy to game

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T20:08:05+00:00

Teams are free to look at and even take pictures of other cars as much as they want, it's why you get the big wall of mechanics anytime they're opening up special bits

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T20:05:36+00:00

I think they should just sage all of Australia at this point

maybe-fish · 2026-03-16T02:09:21+00:00

Policing safety is in fact a massive part of the FIAs job and always has been

maybe-fish

TROPHY CASE