Can I Just Say That Some "fans" Are Just Utterly Disgusting. Some Dumb Fuck Who Not Only Broke A Law

I thought I'd give my two cents on how I think the Aus GP will turn out, since it's in a little less than a week. I'd like to think my predictions are pretty reasonable but the delusion never stops. Anyways,

For elaborations, look under the line :)

Oscar Piastri placing P5 or above: Self explanatory really. McLaren is good on fast-speed sections, as Lewis Hamilton pointed out while being chased down by Piastri in Jeddah, and Albert Park has a few. He's also been able to place in the top half of points before, so it's just a matter of whether or not he can do it again for his home race.

Daniel Ricciardo in points: He hasn't had the best start to the season, but it's Australia and he was able to do it in the McLaren even with all the DNFs and frustration so hopefully the car (and him) are good enough to get in some points this weekend.

Ferrari on the podium: They've got the second-best car this year, as most people have pointed out, and they've been on the podium in the last two races already. I've got no doubts they'll do it again. The only problem might be Carlos Sainz, who recently had surgery for appendicitis and might not be in top condition.

No Red Bull 1-2: We all know Verstappen will win, unless reliability issues or something else arises. So the real concern is whether or not Perez will make it onto P2 and join his teammate, since competition between him and the Ferraris has occurred the last two races. However he has the skill and the car, so I'm sure he'll at least be a podium sitter on Sunday.

Nico Hulkenberg in the points: I'll be honest I'm starting to become a Hulkenberg fan. Despite being in a HAAS, he's managed to pull in a P10 in quali (Bahrain) and in the Saudi Arabian GP. Obviously Jeddah was a team effort, but I think his season is off to a good start.

Max Verstappen wins with a less than 5 second lead: This is less of a prediction and mostly just me wanting to see his car broadcasted for longer. In all likeliness, unless Red Bull messes up their strategy, he's probably going to win with a larger lead.

Alex Albon in the points: Williams seems pretty promising this year! Albon has been able to pull points for them before, and he pulled some nice moves to overtake in Jeddah. The car has had issues, but they seem to mostly have been resolved.

Tell me your predictions!! I'm personally super excited even though I can't attend the race, and I hope everyone else is as hyped after one week of no F1.

Oscar managing to place P10 despite having two incidents, a 10 second penalty and pitting like 3 times is insane actually. The trend of his feats being overshadowed by other events continues I guess 😭

it goes without explanation with zhou's new helmet is dope as hell. i will provide explanation anyways.

(above, zhou's helmet design as posted to the KV design twitter)

the central design on zhou's helmet is almost certainly inspired by the traditional craft of mother-of-pearl inlay in lacquerware, a practice which originated in China over 6 thousand years ago, and which has been developed and practiced in discrete forms historically in Korea and Japan alike. (continued under the cut!)

(on the left, a korean (goryeo dynasty) lacquerware stationery box; on the right, a chinese (song dynasty) lacquerware lidded bowl for cosmetics or incense. both photos via the met museum website)

traditionally, lacquerware is created through the refinement of a toxic plant sap into a naturally deep and glossy adhesive coat that is built up and polished often on top of wooden furniture and decorative items, such as chests and jewelry boxes. in the above examples, you can see two types of lacquerware practice.

on the left is mother-of-pearl inlay, which is created through the careful grinding down of tortoise or abalone shell into thin iridescent sheets which are then carefully cut into shape and imbedded into the coats of dark lacquer, being repeatedly covered and then polished down in the lacquer until the shiny shell surface is level with its surroundings. it's both visually stunning and incredibly labor-intensive: for a case like this, there would have been separate artisans making the wooden base box, making the metalware (hinges and clasps) for the box, applying the base layers of lacquer, and then completing the inlay itself.

on the right is (what i understand to be) a predominantly chinese lacquer practice, which is carving into the layers of lacquer to form images in relief. while this practice is not replicated on zhou's helmet, the image selected does display the pattern of the peony flower, which i believe to be the flower depicted in the inlay! the striations of the central petals seem to match zhou's. of course, this is speculative and only based off an amateur's eye, especially considering the motif of scrolling foliage is fairly ubiquitous and somewhat generic in east asian decorative art.

(on the left, zhou's 2024 helmet (detail). on the right, a detail image of a korean chest decorated with mother-of-pearl. zhou's helmet via twitter, right image via the met museum website)

the 'metallic' or 'holographic' effect a lot of people have recognized is a natural property of polished mother-of-pearl: look at the iridescence of the design! while it has been exaggerated to some extent on zhou's helmet (for good effect, i must say), you can clearly see the inspiration when compared side-by-side with a more predominantly mother-of-pearl composition: the variegation between blues, greens, and warmer peachy-reds is mesmerizing.

i really want to drive home how brilliant of a design this is and give the due appreciation to KV Design, who made this helmet for zhou. clearly a lot of thought and creativity went into it, and I can't wait to see it in action. >:D

Just found out that Logan sargeant withdrew from ELMs. When will the horrors end

Im starting to feel bad for Lando actually bcs wdym "who do you think we're racing" ?? Are you guys not the strategists????

Is it too early for this

I know I usually do little recap posts but since the time difference is insane and the quali and race is at 6am and the race is on a MONDAY I'm probably not going to (either that or they'll be so extremely delayed) so. real sorry about that folks. 😞😞

Miami GP: Quali recap

Out Q1

Zhou Guanyu, Magnussen, Ricciardo, Sargeant, Bottas

(In order from lowest to highest position, so P20-16)

Magnussen unfortunately not in a place to get points, citing too many cars in the last corner as the reason

Ricciardo also to qualify last following his 3 place grid penalty from China. It seems if you do irregularly well in the sprint you end up placing last during quali... 🥲

Out Q2

Alonso, Albon, Ocon, Gasly, Stroll (P15-11)

Albon complains about low grip and high tire degradation, almost hits the barriers while turning

"The tyres are absolutely destroyed, I can't get them to last more than six corners."

Lando Norris gets a lap time deleted but it has no effect

Alonso, not making it through to Q3 for the first time this season

Q1 results

Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Hamilton, Russell, Piastri, Norris, Perez, Sainz, Leclerc, Verstappen (P10-1)

Verstappen takes pole position again

Hamilton went 2nd fastest in Q2 but isn't able to replicate it for Q1

Sainz and Hulkenberg have an incident (impeding) but no further action is taken

Guys. Hey. Wydm George's car was underweight. Guys.