The Universe Took All Of Red Bull's Good Luck And Gave It To Yuki Tsunoda As Karma

Short recap of the Japanese GP Quali!

- Daniel Ricciardo missed out on Q3 by less than a second, but Yuki Tsunoda will start 10th for his home race!! He sadly didn't improve his time in Q3 but an impressive performance nonetheless.

- A few penalties handed out... firstly to George Russell for an unsafe release into Oscar Piastri (£5000 to Mercedes) and also Nico Hulkenberg for exceeding track limits (time deleted)

- Both Williams missing Q3 again, coming in P19 (LS2) and P14 (AA23). Albon continues to with drive Sargeant's chassis as "the workload to switch the cars back over would be far too much for the mechanics." Although not ideal, the chassis shouldn't be too different weight-wise, and he's expected to have the spare by Miami. The only problem is that the front wing and rear were damaged in FP1, but that has reportedly been fixed.

Q3:

Verstappen of course will start on pole, making 99 pole positions for Red Bull! Lando Norris started Q3 in P2, but Perez put in a good lap and knocked him down to P3. Behind him will be Sainz, then the birthday boy (Piastri), Hamilton, Leclerc, Alonso, Russell, and Tsunoda.

Q2:

Ricciardo, who qualified just 0.055 seconds behind his teammate, will start 11th. Behind him will be Hulkenberg, Bottas, Albon, and Ocon.

Q1:

Stroll starts 16th, knocked out of Q2 by Bottas's final lap, then Gasly, Magnussen, Sergeant and Zhou.

Will be back with a summary of the GP (hopefully) tomorrow!!

Lets just stop qualifying now is a good grid for Sunday

Elms guide for Logan Sargeant fans

Starting with what is the European Le Mans Series (ELMS):

It’s a European series of endurance races reserved for cars such as "Le Mans Prototypes" and "Le Mans Grand Touring". The ELMS presents three different categories: LMP2, LMP2 Pro/Am, LMP3 and LMGT3.

CATEGORIES

* There are 4 categories

* All 4 categories run at the same time on track

* The cars that are performing in those classes are all different in terms of weight, size, engine

Lmp2- Race Number Background Color: BLUE (what Logan is driving !!)

* The category below the top LMH class of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) "Le Mans Prototype 2" (LMP2) is a key part of the “Endurance" family

* Each driver line up must have at least 1 silver or bronze driver, two platinum drivers can not be entered in the same line up

* it allows teams and drivers to progress to the highest level gradually.

* 1st and 2nd LMP2 competitors will be invited to the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Lmp2 pro/am- Race Number Background Color: CYAN

* In 2021, the LMP2 grid included a separate trophy and title for competitors whose cars included a bronze driver in their line-up. This was known as LMP2 Pro/Am.

* In a change for the 2023 season, the LMP2 Pro/Am category will be run as a separate class

* a lineup of 2 or 3 drivers must include at least 1 bronze driver

* The cars will be the same as run in the LMP2 category.

* 1st LMP2 Pro/Am competitor will be invited to 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.

LMP3- Race Number Background Color: PURPLE

* LMP3 was designed as a training ground for endurance racing, an arena in which drivers, team members, engineers, and mechanics can hone their skills and prepare for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the FIA World Endurance Championship.

* lineup must include 1 silver and 1 bronze or 2 bronze

* from what I understand, it is a feeder series similar to f2/f3

Lmgt3- Race Number Background Color: ORANGE

* Le Mans Grand Touring Car, is a set of regulations maintained by the ACO and the FIA for Grand Tourer race cars designed for use in the ACO/FIA motor racing series. *LMGT3 cars are based on production road car models that are built and sold at the time of homologation.

* Cars eligible for the LMGT3 class must be built by a partner manufacturer recognized by the ACO/FIA

* a lineup of 2 or 3 drivers must have 1 silver and 1 bronze or 2 bronze and no more than 1 gold or platinum driver

TYRES

* LMP2, LMP2 Pro/Am, and LMGT3 competitors run with Goodyear tyres. LMP3 competitors run with Michelin tyres.

* LMP2, LMP2 Pro/Am, and LMP3 competitors have one dry and one wet tyre specifications. There are two dry and one wet tyre specifications for the LMGT3 category.

* Unlike Formula 1, any equipment for warming the tyres or keeping them to temperature is forbidden.

RACE WEEKENDS

WEEKEND SETUP

* Free Practice: two Free Practice sessions of 90 minutes.

* Bronze Test: one session of 30 minutes exclusively for FIA-ranked Bronze drivers.

* Qualifying: one qualifying session of 15 minutes per category, which defines the grid order.

* In LMP2 Pro/Am and LMGT3, only Bronze drivers can qualify for the car, whereas in LMP2 and LMP3, it's up to the competitor.

* Race – which lasts 4 hours.

RACES

* Each driver must drive at least 40 minutes during the race. (One stint)

* The winner is the car that covered the greatest distance in their category.

RACE NEUTRALISATION

* If the race needs to be neutralized or stopped for safety reasons, multiple procedures can be decided by the Race Director:

FULL COURSE YELLOW

* Intended for short neutralisations, mainly for interventions lasting equal to or less than one lap.

* Cars must slow down to 80kph.

* The pit lane entry is closed when there is a Full Course Yellow (FCY)

* No overtaking

VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR

* Intended to secure interventions and used for an approximate duration of two laps before deployment of the Safety Car (SC).

* Cars must slow down to 80kph.

* Access to the pit lane will remain open for the duration of the VSC.

* No overtaking

SAFETY CAR

* Intended for long neutralizations.

* All cars must follow the Safety Car and adapt their speed.

* The pit lane entry is closed for three laps when a Safety Car (SC) is announced.

* Overtaking is permitted under defined circumstances.

RED FLAG

* All the cars must head back to the pitlane or stop on track according to the conditions.

PODIUMS

* Each category has its own podium for the three first competitors.

STANDINGS

* Cars and drivers have their own classification in each category.

* One point is awarded for the pole position in each category.

* Points are awarded to the following scale:

1. 25 point

2. 18 points

3. 15 points

4. 12 points

5. 10 points

6. 8 points

7. 6 points

8. 4 points

9. 2 points

10. 1 point

AUTOMATIC INVITATIONS TO THE 2025 24 HOURS OF LE MANS

Okay, like I said before- the teams in these series get invited to WEC Le Mans.

* LMP2: 1st and 2nd placed competitors in the overall classifications will receive LMP2 invitations.

* LMP2 Pro/Am: 1st placed competitor in the overall classifications will receive a LMP2 invitation.

* LMP3: 1st placed competitor in the overall classifications will receive a LMP2 invitation.

* LMGT3: 1st placed competitor in the overall classifications will receive a LMGT3 invitation

TEAMS/DRIVERS

* 44 cars are to race during the 2025 season of the European Le Mans Series

* Line-ups are composed of two to three drivers per car.

* 14 LMP2s, 7 entries in the LMP2 Pro/Am class, 10 LMP3s and 13 LMGT3s.

* to take part in the European Le Mans Series, you must be a categorized driver (based on the FIA Drivers’ categorization.)

* the categorization can be adjusted following the pace of the driver during the current season and his/ her results in the series he/she is taking part in.

* The drivers can be rated in 4 classes: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. 


PLATINUM DRIVERS (just some basics)

* has held a Super Licence (for Formula One)

* has won the Le Mans 24 Hours in a professional category (LMP1 / LMGTE Pro)

* has been a Factory Driver, paid by a car manufacturer, with results to match

* has finished in the top 3 in the general classification of an F3 international series or major international single-seater championship

GOLD DRIVERS

* has finished in the top 3 in the general classification of a secondary international single-seater series

* has won the general classification of a regional or national single-seater series

* has competed in the FIA F2, GP2, GP3, FIA F3 or Super Formula series since 2012 and has finished on the podium on three or more occasions in one calendar season.

* is a driver whose average lap time has been consistently as fast or faster over the majority of the season than the average lap time of Gold drivers competing in the same event of the season

SILVER DRIVER

* driver aged under 30 and not satisfying the criteria of categories Platinum and Gold

* driver who has finished in 1st place in the general classification of regional or major national championships or international series, or has won a major endurance race

* driver who has won a non-professional drivers' series or a regional, national or international single-make lower category series organized by a Manufacturer

* has competed competitively in high-level international karting competitions

BRONZE DRIVER

* Any driver who was over 30 years old when his/her first license was issued, and who has little or no single-seater experience.

* Any driver over 30, previously categorized as Silver, but with no significant results (titles, pole positions or race wins) and whose performance has been shown to be that of a Bronze driver in a monitored series.

* Any driver under 30 years old with a license issued for the first time during the same year as their first categorization and who has not competed in high-level international karting competitions.

WHERE IS LOGAN

now that we have that info dump, let’s find out where Logan fits in

Logan is going to be racing the number 18 (Ls2 SAR18)

He is racing with IDEC Sport Racing LMP2

His teammates (all three will be racing under #18)

Jamie Chadwick - 3x W Series Champion, Formula E test driver, Formula 1 Williams development driver, Indy NXT race winner

Mathys Jaubert - I don’t a lot but he is 19, finished in the top 3 of Porsche championships

Please feel free to correct me or add things in reblogs/replies :) I am very new so I will be learning with everyone 🙌

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

Got AusGP tickets this week and was excited for Melbourne walk since I wanted to get Zhou's signature before I remembered he probably won't have a seat for 2025... 🥲🥲

tomorrow they will be strangers again. but this is now.

Max getting investigated for penalty after penalty feels like taking repeated poison damage

Drive to Survive will pay for convincing people through one heavily edited race that Yuki was "thoroughly outperformed" by Liam and Liam had his heart broken in Suzuka when the literal facts are

-Liam was told he would not be getting the seat before Singapore. This was literally said by him and also Yuki's manager. The rumor that Honda intervened in Suzuka to renew Yuki is blatantly false and nothing like what DTS showed.

-Yuki won the qualifying head-to-head 4-1. The one quali that Liam beat him at (Singapore) Yuki was impeded by Max in Q2 and looking at his Q1 time, he would have easily made it to Q3. Fair play to Liam though, he performed well in Singapore across the whole weekend.

-Monza and Singapore we weren't able to compare because Yuki didn't get to complete a single lap due to a DNS and DNF from Perez ramming into him. In races they both completed, Yuki placed ahead in Zandvoort (before a post-race penalty) and in Qatar after Liam crashed out. In Suzuka he finished one place behind because despite lapping faster, he was told to hold position and Alphatauri were coaching Liam to defend against him. So it's a mixed bag but Yuki comes out ahead.

Yes, Liam was the only one to score points in their 5 shared races. Fantastic work by him and something the team desperately needed. But in the 3 races where the AT had the best chances of scoring points (Zandvoort,Singapore and Monza), Yuki was not even able to start at the latter two and had some bizarre strategy in the first where he was kept on softs for 28 laps till he inevitably fell out of the points

-Yuki was the faster driver in terms of pace across all 3 races they shared.

Now let's be clear here: Liam did a fantastic job for someone who had to jump in at very short notice. He absolutely deserves a spot in F1. However, it's not Yuki who "stole his spot" by any metric. Look at the results of the four AT drivers last year. Yuki's points haul would have singlehandedly kept the team ahead of Alfa Romeo in the constructors. Not to mention he scored points and dragged the car to P11 multiple times at the beginning of the season when it was at its worst. He earned his renewal solely on merit.

Some of you are either a) so eager to discredit Yuki or b) so bored with current F1 that you need to artificially create narratives. Let Liam develop like a normal rookie instead of expecting him to beat an experienced teammate and then inevitably shitting on him when he doesn't. Has no one learned anything from the whole saga of "Nyck is gonna be team leader at Alphatauri and destroy Yuki". He is not the easy target y'all think he is.

F1 academy's second wild card driver: Courtney Crone. Who is she?

Wildcard entries are basically one driver from each race country, who get to race in F1 academy for the weekend. In Miami, the honor goes to Californian Courtney Crone who will race in car 77, supported by QVC.

She's 23 and has raced sportscars for the last 4 years, although she did race single-seaters before that, as well as speedway motorcycles. Some notable achievements of hers are winning the IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship (2022/23), the Gorsline Company Scholarship (2021) and the Formula Speed Scholarship. She was also a nominee for the Team USA Scholarship and W Series.

She currently competes in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo NA.

The series will no doubt kickstart her return to single-seaters, as well as give her an entry into more international motorsports.

Best of luck to her this weekend!!

What's happened so far at pre-testing?

Pre-testing can be pretty boring to watch, but luckily for me I was studying so I had it on as background noise the whole time. So here are some notable moments since testing week is over:

Albon stops on track

Alex Albon's Williams stopped on track on the first day of testing, bringing out a yellow flag (but not a red one! because he stopped on a safe side of the track). Luckily for all Williams' fans (yeah all four of us) it was an issue with the fuel pump and was resolved.

Leclerc hits drain cover, testing suspended

Leclerc's bad luck streak continues after he hits a loose drain on the track, and Day 2's morning testing is discontinued with an hour left to go. Hamilton's Mercedes also hit the drain cover, hence the photo.

George Russel pose 'filmed for everyone'

Alex Albon makes an appearance in the commentary box on night 2! He gave us valuable insight, like how apparently everyone was filmed doing the "George Russell pose" and they just went with George....poor guy. On the other hand, I think Alex would be a wonderful commentator and should absolutely try after he retires (which, hopefully, is no time soon)

The drivers started racing each other??

The end of night 2 saw the first 'lights out and away we go' of the season, with all the cars lining up for a practice start. Leclerc went first, Russel second and Zhou Guanyu third (!!!!)

And that's it!! My highlights of the f1 pre-testing week :)