Thermal Camera footage from the race @ Monza (Spoiler inside)

"doodon2whls" (doodon2whls)
09/08/2013 at 14:18 • Filed to: F1, Thermal Camera, Formula 1

We had the chance to see some great Thermal Camera footage during the race today...

Unfortunately, the FOM Thermal Camera equipped car (Paul Di Resta) crashed out on the first lap, but we did get to see the view of his unfortunate retirement in traffic !

DISCUSSION (54)

GhostZ > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 14:34

The thermal camera gives us no insight into this crash.

But it is damn cool to watch.

Tubra > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 14:35

Want some candy?

...anytime.............

desertdog5051 > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 14:40

What was he thinking?

doodon2whls > GhostZ
09/08/2013 at 14:41

Well, it does show us that he was late to brake, and then locked up his front tires just before impact.

Bob LeDrew > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 14:43

Everybody sing along!

I'm white hot, yes I'm burning to the core
I need rain...

doodon2whls > desertdog5051
09/08/2013 at 14:43

GO GO GO GO STOP STOP STOP STOP FUUUUUUUUUUUUU

daender > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 14:47

Come on, you know you played this in your head.

Barbarian772 > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 14:48

Yeah, but we would see that even better on a normal camera ^^

66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 14:52

What is that GT1 doing there? And what type is that? It's orgasmic.

doodon2whls > 66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash
09/08/2013 at 15:00

It's displaying its plentiful spoiler to fend off those click happy Opponauts that might not have seen the F1 race yet...

I snapped this many moons ago in Mount Dora, FL. Pic thread here...

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

The 911 GT1 and CLK GTR are homologation specials built in the late 1990s as customer sale-able roadcars in order to allow the racecar versions to participate in FIA sanctioned Le Mans series races.

Some light wiki reading for you...

CLK GTR

911 GT1 Straßenversion

Motorsports Homologation

Anima > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 15:23

Actually, it happened going into the second chicane. The lockup in turn one was Vettel.

(And of course the one time I want to use the paraphrasing feature on kinja, it's not possible.)

Nitzer Ebblestone > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 15:25

Thanks for acknowledging the obvious. F1 isn't kind of crap, it is crap. It's not so much racing as a high-speed moving advertisement and sales campaign. Thanks to the existence of Rush, which I have zero interest in seeing even though I do think Ron Howard is a talented director, I've been watching almost 40-year old videos of F1. It's scary to realise how dangerous and oftentimes deadly F1 was back then, but when people weren't crashing or dying horribly, there were hands-down the best racing you will ever see and F1 was rightly the pinnacle of motorsport; also the drivers were real men with emotions and character on display for everyone, not simply automatons who plugged themselves into a car as a component of high-tech engineering every other weekend. F1 is much safer now but it is boring as hell and has been sadly since Senna died. I don't know if it's the push for safety, or whether Bernie's iron-grip making it less a spectacle and more a day out for everyone and a huge pay packet for him that is to blame. F1 is pathetic these days as a race series. The GP2 races are more exciting. F1 is great if you're a geek of either the technical or political variety. Apart from that, the emanations from Kimi are the only really interesting thing about F1! And in the days of Hunt or Senna or Villeneuve Sr or even Mansell, Kimi would sadly be an uninteresting also-ran. These days I seriously wonder if I'm ever going to see an exciting race in F1 other than by watching old videos? (Where exciting means non-processional, drivers actually fighting for a win or a podium position rather than just a mid-field position.) Modern F1 is really just a 20 minute shoot-out on Saturday. Everything thereafter can be ignored unless Vettel has a mechanical failure. Still, the drivers get paid massively to endure a career devoted to such a massive waste of everyone's time...

doodon2whls > Nitzer Ebblestone
09/08/2013 at 15:35

^^^^^^^ is a technical geek.

I too am less interested in the parade. I'm more interested in the technology they are using to cheat physics and the rulebook...

That being said, I do appreciate the anvil technology they worked with in the olde tymes... THEY were _real_ engineers with slide rules and drafting paper...

Prismatist > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 15:42

It's kinda neat seeing all the other bits on thermal as the broken suspension is flailing about. You can see the hot hub at one point, as well as the brake caliper, and even the reflection of the tire on the front bodywork. Very cool.

Completely unrelated: Chrome's spell check wants me to spell 'caliper' with two 'l's in it. LOL.

Nitzer Ebblestone > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 16:13

I'll see your sarcasm and raise it ... As a geek, I do love the technology of F1 and I appreciate the fact that no-one's died since 1994 and fervently hope no-one involved in F1 dies or is injured (even though we're pitting physics against biology). Unfortunately the drive for technical supremacy has resulted in a formula that self-importantly calls itself the pinnacle of motorsport but which in terms of visceral excitement just isn't. You only need to look back at races from the 80s to see that it used to be so much better and that was mostly thanks to not having supercomputers and understanding fluid dynamics quite so well. Olde tymes indeed! But also exciting times for the viewer. F1 needs less technical wizardry, except where applied to safety, and less artificial aspects like DRS and unreliable tyres, but more old-fashioned low-downforce, high horse-power, manual-shifted cars again, making it paradoxically more about the driver and his combined skills of steering, changing gears himself and controlling the car with his right foot than it is about the car doing much of that stuff for him. Otherwise you may as well save $10+ million a year and let the brain trust on the pit wall drive the car by wire. It's perfectly possible. Maybe that's where we're ultimately going with F1? Maybe the future is the Google team vs. the Tesla team vs. the iCar (Apple) team vs the car with the most friends (Facebook) team etc. etc.

KillerRaccoon - Group J's Sébastien Loeb > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 16:31

NBC's news bar thing cuts it off, but on BBC coverage you could see streaks of heat left on the pavement by the tire. It was pretty cool.

DarthDuster > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 16:54

Did anyone else notice the Ferrari grid car that forms up behind the grid was a 348? Boy are they getting their money's worth out of that thing!

ja9ae > Nitzer Ebblestone
09/08/2013 at 17:01

That said, many consider the Senna, Prost, Mansell & Hill era of the early 90s to be the pinnacle of F1 racing, and the cars were arguably at their most technologically advanced running active suspension, auto/semi-auto gearboxes, traction control & automated launch. Even with every technological advancement available the racing was still amazing & the drivers skill still played a paramount role.

Bandit > KillerRaccoon - Group J's Sébastien Loeb
09/08/2013 at 17:15

I saw the streaks on my NBC coverage, I didn't get the minute long video though.

DCrants > ja9ae
09/08/2013 at 17:32

Except at the time of Senna, Prost, Mansell, & Hill the races were exactly the same as they are today. One car dominated. People like to look back at events in the past and remember "how much better things were back then" and ignore the fact that back then people were complaining the same way people are complaining today. Senna and Prost won 15 of 16 races in their MP4/4 in 1988 and 10 of 16 in 1989. In 1992 & 1993, Williams won 10 of 16 races both years. The driver with the best car tends to win these things.

Bacon > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 17:45

Does it say the type of cameras they use? I've used FLIR's on electric motors at an old job, and they don't see reflections, yet it appears there are reflections in F1 body... Maybe it mixes visible and infrared light?

doodon2whls > DarthDuster
09/08/2013 at 17:50

Yep... Aya (with added craziness) posted a GP3 video with the 348 in action during the pile up on the first lap of that race.

Slo-Z > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 18:41

As much as I like F1, I must admit today's race was a snoozer. If it weren't for the battles between Webber & Alonso and, particularly, Ham picking off the field to get into the points, it would go down as one of the worst this year.

The podium ceremony, though, was hilariously awkward.

hatbob > Nitzer Ebblestone
09/08/2013 at 19:00

Who pissed in your cornflakes?

66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 19:47

I knew it was a homologated street car and all, but I just don't remember seeing one with a spoiler like that *slurping noises*.

Zachary B > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 20:50

Anyone else surprised you can't see the exhaust plume anywhere in these?

onerunjunior > Nitzer Ebblestone
09/08/2013 at 21:16

F1 is much safer now but it is boring as hell and has been sadly since Senna died.

The racing has been great in the midfield for the last 5 years at least. If you want to see death and destruction, or unnecessary risk of those things then you need to watch something else. You convieniently forget that many teams have absolutely crushed the field since your good old days. Senna and Prost won all but one race in a season. How can you complain about todays racing when they won 15 of 16 races between them? The good old days aren't as good as you want them to be.

Revs2-12k > doodon2whls
09/08/2013 at 22:25

Great comment from Mario Andretti on NBC.

Vettel stands on the top of the podium among jeers & general booing.

Leigh Diffey (NBC).." Get ready for a huge applause from the Tifosi as Alonso takes 2nd place on the podium".....

Mario Andretti (Guest Commentator) then deadpans......"I'd rather be getting booed"

n7titan > Barbarian772
09/08/2013 at 22:41

How?
Would seeing smoke indicate locked-tires better than a thermal image? What about when the friction isn't enough to cause smoke but will still show up as a heat variance?

Corduroy Club. > 66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash
09/08/2013 at 23:06

been one of my favorite cars since I was a tot. Absolute beauty

The man in the iron mask > doodon2whls
09/09/2013 at 00:13

what you can see is that the tires get overheated unevenly so that must affect any driver on a normal lockup, and well obviously it loses its grip

F1guy hates duck billed F1 cars > doodon2whls
09/09/2013 at 00:51

One thing I don't get, is that the NBC boys said that Maldonado was running the camera too. I get that Maldonado wasn't a factor in the race (Not his fault, as Williams has sucked lately) but it still would've been cool to see him run a lap or two, even if it was only a shot of Vettel doing what Vettel does.

Did anyone besides the boys note that Nico Hulkenberg drove a HELL of a race? Shame that FOM was more interested in Alonso (note that his "pass" of Massa wasn't shown?) Hulk has twice now put a crap car either on the front row, or damn close to it (2010, pole in Brazil for Williams) and was leading most of Brazil last year in the nicely mid-pack Force India. Hulk NEEDS a shot at a good car. I wouldn't drive for Ferrari though. So long as Lord Alonso is there, you WILL play second fiddle. I realize that having two top drivers in a top car never works, but at least McLaren tries to give their drivers parity. Both Button and Hamilton had good cars, and you never once (at least I didn't notice it) feel that either had a better car.

Nitzer Ebblestone > DCrants
09/09/2013 at 01:45

I challenge you to go back and watch races from the late 80s and then tell me they aren't more exciting than what passes for races in the modern, post-Senna era. Team-mates used to race each other (e.g. Senna & Prost!) and the on-track battles for inter-team supremacy were epic. I'm not claiming my memory is perfect but I'm pretty sure it's reliable enough that I'm not hallucinating when I recall F1 from that era being much more exciting than it is now.

Nitzer Ebblestone > onerunjunior
09/09/2013 at 02:10

No, death and destruction is expressly not what I want to see. I don't even know how you can draw such a conclusion. I can complain about today's "racing" because there is no excitement. What passing exists is artificially contrived thanks to DRS. It's largely a processional advertisement display with drivers and trackside engineers playing politics and gambling with tyre longevity rather than going all-out for a win. I have been watching F1 since the 60s. The quality of excitement has been markedly reduced over time and before you draw any other ill-advised conclusions, that is not due to the fact that there is less carnage involved. I would posit that it's because there's more money involved and everyone is trying to make a career out of F1 whereas in the past people got into the sport because they liked it and they were probably good at it, but they didn't necessarily see it as something to retire off (drivers that is). It was a different era, they were different people. James Hunt probably couldn't get a drive today because he didn't have the right driver's pedigree (starting off at 4 years old doing karting, going through a series of lesser single-seat formulae rather than a short stint in Formula Ford and another in an F3 car, etc.). I doubt Ron Howard will be making a film about Michael Schumacher or Sebastian Vettel, skilled as they are, because they're not interesting characters to a wider audience (the one Bernie et al are always trying to win over). They're consummate professionals and extremely gifted individuals but who really gets excited by their dominance, especially when they usually don't even have to race anyone because they just lead from the front most of the time? It's a good thing you consider there is excitement mid-field because there is none at the head of the pack which is where you want the excitement to be! This has nothing to do with having different winners at different tracks, it's about how possible it is for other drivers to challenge for a win in any particular race. You are right in one thing: I would be better off watching something else, like Porsche SuperCup or DTM.

DCrants > Nitzer Ebblestone
09/09/2013 at 02:16

I've watched the races from the 80s, recently in fact, and they simply aren't much different. In 1984 McLaren won 11 of 16 races...is that really what we're looking for in excitement? In 1986 and 1987 Williams won 9 of 16, a little better perhaps, but still the same story with one car superior to the others.

The main difference from that era (and its a big reason why I think people remember it as more exciting) is that cars were much less reliable. This lack of reliability created more excitement because you simply couldn't be certain any driver would finish a race. For example, Senna didn't get a result in 7 of 16 (7!) races in 1989 and Prost didn't finish 3 races, but they were still neck and neck up to the controversial next to last race in Japan.

Which leads to another major difference - how points are calculated. Because they only used your top handful of results back then, you had close Championship battles down to the last race or two with great frequency. 5 of the 10 years with this system were decided on the last race, 4 on the next to last race.

So from my perspective, today the technology is more reliable and the rules different...but the skill of the drivers and the quality of the car dictating the winner? Still the same.

AndrewH > doodon2whls
09/09/2013 at 03:39

For everyone complaining that 80s was the same as today, have a look at the '84 Monaco full legth and see if the best car wins, or...as Senna proves, the best driver?

FlatOutOrEffOff > doodon2whls
09/09/2013 at 06:42

F1 in general is crap these days, there's only 6 or 7 actual good drivers, the rest are pay drivers.

doodon2whls > Zachary B
09/09/2013 at 07:41

Not 100% sure, but I think it has to do with the type of passive IR sensor used and it's associated sensitivity. Uncooled sensors are 'cheap' and compact, but have less sensitivity. Cooled sensors are more expensive and bulky, but provide incredible Thermal IR sensitivity.

doodon2whls > Bacon
09/09/2013 at 07:47

They didn't say whose IR camera technology they were utilizing. I would think that if an object is emitting photon energy in the thermal IR spectrum, that these IR spectrum photons can be reflected just as they are refracted through the lens of the camera.

I don't know which version of FLIR you were using, but there are several types of IR cameras out there depending on sensor chemistry and cooling.

robb63 > Nitzer Ebblestone
09/09/2013 at 07:50

I'd have to say that the last few seasons to me have be the least interesting in a while. I've been watching F1 religiously since the mid 80's, and in every era I've been watching (Senna, Prost, Mansell era included) at the time you felt like you were watching parades, and only one (perhaps two) teams were really in with a shot at the title. Everyone at the times always looked back a few years fondly.

For me one of the biggest differences then was even when a driver was pulling a Vettel and driving off from pole into the distance, there was good chance their engine/trans/tire might explode taking them out. The current cars with having to have an engine last 5-6 races (or whatever it is), and with therevs being artifiically limited, have really taken that stress/excitement out of the mix. Other than Vettel's alternator overheating a couple of times recently, I have a hard time remembering a failure taking a leader out of the race.

The one race this year where there were several tire failures you had the teams talking about boycotting the next race. I have a feeling not one of the drivers from the true golden era (whatever decade that is to you) would have thought about not starting the next race.

I am excited for next years engine change, with the hopes that the new engines may have some technical issues at first and add that mix of uncertainty back into the racing.

robb63 > AndrewH
09/09/2013 at 07:57

That was a great race for sure, but the wet races usually are as they take the technical edge the well funded teams typically have away, and add back more of the drivers ability. In addition the wet adds back in the chance of a car failure (usually through a crash), which mixes up the field too.

66671 - 200 [METRIC] my dash > Corduroy Club.
09/09/2013 at 20:36

Homologated race cars are the bane of my existence as long as I don't have one.

TBicklez > Nitzer Ebblestone
09/10/2013 at 09:38

The problem is you are presumably watching highlight clips culled from years of footage. You could do the same with modern F1. Yes, it used to be far more dangerous, but the racing wasn't really that much better.

GP2 is exciting and all to watch, but it is a spec series filled with desperadoes trying to get noticed for F1.

TBicklez > Nitzer Ebblestone
09/10/2013 at 09:42

So you want to turn Formula One, the self styled pinnacle of motorsports, the most expensive sport of them all....into an archaic sport? F1 has always been about car AND driver being at the absolute cutting edge. Forcing them to return to technology from 30 years ago does nothing for the sport's image, appeal, or brand. F1 cars should always be the fastest around a given track. If you want to watch racing where the driver is the sole/main aspect, than F1 isn't for you.

Nitzer Ebblestone > TBicklez
09/10/2013 at 16:05

Travis, you need to go back to driving taxis, yes I'm talking to you, because you're not making sense here. Why would you think I want to go back to archaic technology? There are classics series for that. Obviously F1 is not going back to old technology. The only thing I'm arguing for is closer, more exciting racing. F1 is supposedly the pinnacle of motorsport not just automotive technology, correct? Are we really saying that processional "races" mildly enervated by artificial aids like DRS wherein one driver in one team runs away with the championship year after year exemplifies the pinnacle of anything, other than dominance. F1 is boring. OK, that's just my opinion, and I've put my money, or the absence thereof, where my mouth is by having given up, quite a long time ago, watching F1 on TV or going to F1 races (true the latter is more because I now live in American than Europe). I don't want to abandon F1. I keep up to date via F1 websites and Jalopnik but I no longer *need* to watch F1 races because they largely just leave me cold and I think we can all agree that just shouldn't be the case. I love the stupid politics of F1, I love to hate Bernie, I root for Kimi and even Alonso, not because I'm a Ferrari fan (actually Audi & Porsche so I go to Le Mans instead) but because I like them as drivers and I like Kimi as a human being, and in his particular case I've been following and backing him since his Sauber days. I should be a Lewisham or Jenny Button fan since I'm a Brit but I just can't get behind those two guys. One is a bit whiny, the other a bit bratty. They're good drivers and I think Lewis especially has what it takes to be WC again. Button exemplifies what's wrong with F1 these days: he's happy to trundle around every other weekend, bitching a bit about the tyres sure but at the end of the day he takes his massive pay packet and goes home and has a very nice life as the corporate driver drone that he actually is. He's a nice guy, but I can't really support him, as a Brit or as an F1 driver.

Lastly, I really like the technology in F1. I'm a geek. I'd be quite happy to let the engineers drive the cars by wire and turn it into a robot series (Robokimi?). Like anything else, the technology can be used for good or evil. Safety, KERS, aerodynamics, materials technology, fuel savings are all great uses of technology. Boring racing that does not befit the honorific of the so-called pinnacle of motorsport is not. I want more excitement in F1. I also want the technology and safety. Why is that so difficult for some people to comprehend? Perhaps you've been persuaded by Mr. Ecclestone's weak arguments?

Nitzer Ebblestone > TBicklez
09/10/2013 at 16:10

Travis, methinks the lady doth presume too much. I'm in my second half-century. I've been WATCHING F1 for decades and I can personally attest that the actual motor racing isn't as much racing as it used to be.

TBicklez > Nitzer Ebblestone
09/10/2013 at 16:24

I think we all want excitement in F1, but to a certain extent you have to understand that it is just one of the many desired byproducts of the sport as a whole, and not the ultimate be all or end all goal.

Let me quote you for instance,

You say F1 needs "more old-fashioned low-downforce, high horse-power, manual-shifted cars again"

This will entail even slower cars (current cars are already slow enough). How can F1 be F1 when even GP2 will be higher tech and faster?

TBicklez > Nitzer Ebblestone
09/10/2013 at 16:27

Glad I prefaced myself earlier then. If that is how you feel, than thats your prerogative. =)

Nitzer Ebblestone > TBicklez
09/10/2013 at 16:40

Pure speed isn't a determinant factor. If it was F1 would be a drag race. I'm arguing to get away from high downforce aerodynamics which is what results in processional races because the cars can't overtake when the airflow is disrupted over the wings. This is why we have the artificial DRS solution which IMHO is no solution at all. BTCC and DRM is much more exciting to watch than F1 and they're slower. True, they don't style themselves as the pinnacle of anything other than maybe closed-wheel saloon car racing but the racing is closer and unlike F1 not a foregone conclusion each race. I have actually felt the adrenaline course around my veins watching DTM races. I'm really struggling to remember the last time that happened when I watched F1. Probably back in the 90s when I used to get up at 4:30am West Coast time to watch races live from Europe. That hasn't happened since the early-mid 2000s and the Schumacher era...

Nitzer Ebblestone > Nitzer Ebblestone
09/10/2013 at 17:55

Looks like I'm supported in part by Jenson Button: http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/8…

"Not as boring..." Subtext is: still boring but not quite as bad as it has been.

"We'll see what happens in the next race where it's high downforce, it might be a different story and if it is then we can all get excited again ." Say n'more!

TBicklez > Nitzer Ebblestone
09/11/2013 at 08:45

A big part of the F1 appeal IS the pure speed. TV never gets across how astonishing these cars are to see in person. Seeing an F1 car tackle corners at high speeds in person is a surreal experience, as if the laws of physics are being broken before your very eyes. I want more excitement as the next guy complaining, but I also do think that the speed spectacle needs to be maintained at all costs. You could take current F1 drivers and put them in BOP'ed GT cars and I would have a far lesser interest in that series.

And honestly I can't really help if you struggle to remember any sort of exciting moments/years in recent F1 history. It just means you haven't 'reaaally' been watching the races. Last year was a classic, 2011 had excellent races (though like an action hero, Vettel somehow always prevailed in the end), 2010 had rather boring races but an excellent championship battle.

Nitzer Ebblestone > TBicklez
09/11/2013 at 13:28

Agreed it hasn't been on a constant downward path, there have been moments of good racing, and exciting passes. My points are that you really have to struggle for these crumbs, and the big problem is that at the front there is usually just one guy (Vettel of late) simply driving away from the pack and being untroubled by competition. He usually only has to worry about passing when he meets the back-markers. I don't want to pay/stay up to watch live that level of racing. It's great for the front-running driver and team but it's not good for the sport. I was mildly encouraged when we had six winners in as many races last year (I think it was last year) but things have returned to "normal" this year after Pirelli were told to stop doing what they had been told to do, i.e. make less stable tyres to try another artificial means to improve the spectacle. F1 knows there is a problem, it's not just me saying this!

I disagree that outright speed is a draw. I'm as amazed as anyone at the ability of F1 cars to pull massive g-forces through corners and I'm thankful for that. I don't require F1 cars to go any faster than they already do. That would increase aerodynamic requirements and lessen the chances of passing even more.

TBicklez > Nitzer Ebblestone
09/11/2013 at 14:28

We agree on the same problem, but disagree on the methods to fix it. Vettel and Red Bull sustaining this level of success may be boring to the casual observer, but is also a marvelous achievement in itself which should be appreciated by us fortunate enough to witness it, just like Schumi and Ferrari..and I'm no fan of Vettel. Its difficult enough to build the fastest package, but to do it year in year out, with barely a misstep is mindblowing in itself. Look at how Mercedes, Ferrari and Lotus all have had their moments of competitiveness this year, but have each managed to get themselves into slumps via taking a wrong development track. I'd rather have the normalcy we have now than the silliness early 2012 where it was obvious no one understood what they were driving on yet. Its up to the chasing pack to catch up on merit, not by getting a leg up. If we have to sit through a few years of someone getting it absolutely right and dominating, so be it.

Nitzer Ebblestone > TBicklez
09/11/2013 at 17:05

I actually like Vettel, I love Webber and I think Adrian Newey is the best designer/aerodynamicist in F1. The rest of Red Bull I don't care for, particularly "Helmut Head" Markko and the über-exemplar of the politicalization of F1, Horner. I don't begrudge them their success. I just want to see more actual racing, particularly for the lead of F1 races, on Sunday, not just the 20-minute shoot-out on Saturday that barring mechanical mishaps decides who wins on Sunday: the race just turns into a 90 minute victory parade. Maybe you're young and hopeful and can afford to burn another decade hoping that F1 gets its competition act together. I'm not and I'm not wasting any more time on hoping that F1 returns to something worthy of its self-promoted position in motorsport. Maybe I have to wait for Bernie to kick the bucket or get jailed or whatever, and then another couple of years for the politics to play out, but hopefully eventually the teams will produce a series that lives up to the hype. Right now, F1 is an emperor in serious need of a sartorial intervention. Still, there's the Kimi news, right? That's interesting (for real!).