There is a lot of confusion flying around right now on Adrian Newey’s contract. Employment law terms are being thrown about, some incorrectly. As a lawyer, here are some things you should know:
1. Gardening Leave - this means the period of time in which Newey is technically still paid and employed by RBR but is not allowed to do any work, so he doesn’t get any inside info. Newey has been placed on gardening leave from the RBR F1 division effective immediately. He is not on gardening leave from the HyperCar division.
2. Non-compete period - this means the period of time in which Newey is not allowed to work for another team. This will be triggered by a specific event, which we don’t know. It could start when Newey goes on F1 gardening leave (now) or when Newey’s F1 contract officially ends (near the end of 2024 or early 2025). We simply don’t know.
This means we don’t know for sure whether Adrian Newey will become available to other teams in 2025 or 2026.
Media outlets reporting 2025 do not have sufficient info off the back of the RBR press release to confirm this. Unless they have been told specific and private contractual details that we don’t know
Not the biggest Lando fan but you have to admit he's given his all for this team and this win feels like the culmination of it all you know? He's been with them for their worst and now he's cinched their first constructor's championship since 1998 for them. A win that was 5 years in the making.
No but can I just point out that at the formation lap Crofty was like "Look at Lando doing burn outs, he's purposefully laying rubber on the track for a better start😍" and Nico MF Rosberg was like ??? Absolutely not. That's not on purpose, the track is too cold for that, I would be worried if I was him. This is a bad sign for his start??? and THEN WHAT HAPPENED??? like everytime Nico leaves the commentary box you're reminded of what expert input looks like when it's missing
> gets a 50 place grid penalty for switching engines
> starts P20
> retires before the race even starts due to a gearbox issue
I would hate to be Pierre Gasly rn 😭😭
Sauber has the chance to do the funniest thing ever for 2025
LOGAN SARGEANT OVERTAKE ON THE WORD FREEDOM 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Super excited for the Chinese GP since it’s been gone for so long… hoping Sauber gets their shit together bc I really want Zhou to score points 😭😭
But also, they’re giving the drivers ONE HOUR to get used to the track before sprint shootout starts, which is insane for a circuit that hasn’t been on the calendar since 2019. Hell, some of the grid haven’t even been on the circuit before. What a decision.
tomorrow they will be strangers again. but this is now.
At this point I'm choosing to ignore everything Helmut Marko says for my own sanity