Roar Guru
Joined November 2013
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Taker of pictures and writer of words about race cars.
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It’s official: Jack Doohan will be replaced by Franco Colapinto at Alpine, as the team’s press release states, for the next five races. However,…
Round 6 of 24 in the Formula One season sees a return to the Miami Grand Prix, with the unique 5.4km street circuit built…
The first triple header of the 2025 Formula One season comes to a close with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, as the championship battle…
The third round of the 2025 Supercars championship has been run and done, with another memorable visit across the ditch to New Zealand. Taupō’s…
Round 4 of the 2025 Formula One world championship sees the circus shift to the Middle East, amidst a triple header coming from a…
Formula One headlines have been dominated by the brutal axing of Liam Lawson by Red Bull Racing in the break between rounds, as Yuki…
Liam Lawson finds himself the latest driver falling victim to the maligned and mismanaged Red Bull driver program, axed from the Milton Keynes squad…
On a weekend where the racing world mourns the loss of the iconic and charismatic team owner and pundit Eddie Jordan, Formula One gears…
On the global stage for the Formula One circus to see, the Supercars championship took up its traditional place of undercard to the Australian…
McLaren’s Lando Norris braved a stressful race to convert his pole position to victory at Albert Park after a wet and wild Australian Grand…
Back to where it belongs, the Australian Grand Prix opens the 2025 Formula One world championship season, which is set to be one of…
Reflecting on the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had overall, crowd numbers for the Australian Grand Prix have only gone up since.
A peerless run for team Tickford, and Cam Waters with glowing feedback for the new Dunlop tyres - here is the Sydney 500 round-up.
The 2024 Formula One world championship has been hailed as a modern classic; delivering an enthralling season that had initially under-promised but ultimately over-delivered.…
Thanks to Max Verstappen's dominance, it’s fair to say there was little optimism heading into this year...but it turned out to be a year full of excitement.
The record 24-race Formula One world championship season at last will conclude, under the twilight conditions of the Yas Marina circuit and the Abu…
After 12 rounds of racing, soap opera antics and politics, the 2024 Supercars championship season has drawn to a close at the iconic parklands…
Four races now remain in the 2024 Formula One world championship, as this Americas triple header concludes on the southern continent for timeless and…
Round 20 of the Formula One championship will run and won with the Mexico Grand Prix at the Gran Premio De La Ciudad. Tune…
The timeless adage of sun, surf and Supercars was again on show for the Gold Coast 500 event, as the clutch period of the…
Great write up Ben. It was really fascinating sitting in and listening to Pedro talk. Really enthusiastic guy, whether it was about F1, MotoGP and even Melbourne coffee!
'Live with the times': Pedro de la Rosa on 26-year ride in F1 and why traditional testing may never return
Could be on for clashing with the Bathurst 1000 if it moves to the second week of October 😱
AFL News: Origin revival and October GF floated in radical fixture shake-up, Voss coy on star, Tigers mull over appeal
Or better yet, Max decides enough is enough – goes to Mercedes or Aston Martin and Red Bull finally realise that ‘oh it was the car!’
I’ve seen this situation overall being likened to Honda’s decline in MotoGP and the parallels are there.
'Bullying or panic move': 'Cruel' Lawson axing shows everything but a duty of care from Red Bull
11 GPs worth of experience and not even a full season under his belt, it felt like Red Bull set Liam up for failure more than succeeding. That’s what I take issue with, as while sure they’re pushing the narrative that it’s for his own good – we haven’t ever seen a driver dropped from the top team to ever return.
'Bullying or panic move': 'Cruel' Lawson axing shows everything but a duty of care from Red Bull
100% agree that he should not have been promoted ahead of Tsunoda. It is in that I feel like he was set up for failure. 11 GPs under his belt vs 89 that Yuki has done, doesn’t make sense when as you say he’s outperformed Liam.
That’s why I wanted to make the point about the nature of the young driver’s programme. Shouldn’t it be part of that to train their drivers in mental toughness and all those things Red Bull have long said is what kept Yuki from the seat? Anyway, I’d love nothing more to see Yuki succeed in that seat and prove Marko and Horner wrong.
'Bullying or panic move': 'Cruel' Lawson axing shows everything but a duty of care from Red Bull
Due to Ramadan being observed in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia at this time of year, we moved back to the opening slot and will be there for another 4 races between now and when the contract expires in 2037.
'Iconic': Back where it belongs - drivers relishing Albert Park’s return to opening slot
Lest we forget causing disrepute by refusing to play said tournament in the actual host nation.
Malcolm Conn: Fraser-McGurk all swat, no substance - Carey and Inglis must both play in underwhelming Champions Trophy
And sub-continent teams usually make a big deal of not wanting western coaches, yet India promote this war mongering toxic individual who lacks zero accountability to coaching 😂
'Went their separate ways': Report reveals 'unease and uncertainty' in 'fragmented' India team started simmering straight after Perth win
Thanks Malcolm,
And highlighting Virat’s enormous stature in the game too is key here. This is not the sort of behaviour we should be empowering here.
Sunny’s quote as well just reminds me of how they love to throw stones from glass houses, as well as play the victim – which we saw in Adelaide with Siraj and Head.
Don’t cry wolf when the players and administration get away with things like this with not even a slap on the wrist. Without mentioning countless other atrocities which bring cricket into disrepute time and time again, but no administrative power has the spine to take a stand.
Kid Konstas is amazing but King Kohli is a disgrace and should’ve been banned for shoulder charge
Nice to know that this is the example the ICC, BCCI and Jay Shah are setting when it comes to bullying. Particularly from one of the sport’s most idolised, marketable and popular players. There’s a line between national pride and arrogance – this is very much the latter.
'Absolute clown behaviour': ICC hit 'sook' Kohli with feather touch for Konstas bump, India under fire over selection shock
Would be nice to call out the BCCI for forcing the Hybrid Model for next year’s Champions Trophy too. Another decision to divide the passionate fans.
Precious and paranoid: Indian players don’t even trust each other as they treat fans and media with contempt
Thanks for the mention Connor, lovely to hear that my columns have been great coverage for you getting into this series. But also I’m curious to know what your profile for the average V8s fan is?
As the for Final Series; I guess given that we haven’t seen anything like it here in motorsport – I’m a bit more accepting of it than others. For years I’ve been banging on about how we need to see teams doing better, stepping up to execute to the same level as Triple Eight. Which to Erebus’ credit, they did in 2023.
Supercars doesn’t need NASCAR-style playoffs - trust me, I'm American
Agree Tim.
It is embarrassing for a nation that boasts about high-performance and depth of talent burgeoning, that blunders like this still happen. I’d put it to more of a PCB move, than something CA would do – but here we are.
COMMENT: Australia threw McSweeney into the deep end. To ditch him now is even more disgraceful
I’m still in awe of getting the Sainz winning in Australia prediction right. You can imagine I was sweating bullets after he went under the knife 😂
F1 end of season talking points: Verstappen still king, Aussie hopes in good hands, 2025 can't come quick enough
Hey Oliver, great write-up and acknowledging some of the deficiencies that have been laid bare with Lando unfortunately throughout this season.
I’ve been pretty consistent in my commentary that there’s no championship fight this year – even if mathematically it was possible. Go back to Miami and Lando’s first win, there simply has not been the required amount of points scored to convincingly put him in contention. The constructor’s championship on the other hand is what McLaren should have all along been prioritising.
They’re a young team, most of whom probably weren’t around in 1998 when they won their last constructor’s crown or even possibly 2008 when they won their last driver’s title. Inevitably there will be errors and learning from them is going to be key moving forwards. Hence why 2025 is when realistically we can expect both Lando and Oscar to be in the title hunt.
But yeah, like you say – that failure to look within – is only going to expose him next year to his teammate, but then also Ferrari’s potent combination and of course Max again. As an avid McLaren fan who endured through the dark days through the mid-to-late 2010s – I wish all the success in the world on them and the drivers – just not though like this where the expectation is that it’ll be handed over on a silver platter.
Why Max Verstappen's win in Brazil means that the wheels have fallen off Lando Norris’ title aspirations
Thanks for the coverage this season Connor!
Guess it was always a long shot for my man Scotty Mac, but looking forward to next year. Palou will take a lot of beating again. I do hope Arrow McLaren can hum consistently throughout the season too, so Pato is in the hunt.
As a fan of the McLaren brand beyond just F1, it is sad to see the IndyCar outfit this year as a joke. The driver merry-go-round was not a good look for a brand as supposedly professional as McLaren. Gutted too that Rossi has been moved on.
The IndyCar Afterburn: Bizarre seatbelt drama cruels Aussie's championship hopes in Nashville finale as Palou prevails
In theory I like the FCY/VSC rules and it should work in minimising having the actual Safety Car on the track, though the execution seemed a little poor and the drivers also unprepared in following the regulation.
Preparedness ahead of Bathurst for the drivers will be key so we don’t see what we saw with Davison ramming into the rear of Reynolds on the pit-straight for example. I guess their intention will always be to make any gain possible before having their pace neutralised.
In defence of the time certain finish, Sandown is in a residential area and sunset was scheduled for 6:11pm AEST while the race finish was set for 5:43pm + 1 lap. Sure if some of the SC/FCY procedures were tidied up, we’d have had more laps put in. Starting earlier would mean cutting down the already truncated support schedules who get next to no attention anyway which to Wolzal’s point below – I agree that it’s frustrating that elongated periods of racing in Super2 is non-existant.
And yes, Sandown 500 should be a FTA staple event. At least they got a 60k-plus crowd trackside – because it is one of the events on the calendar that has the history and pull.
Supercars Talking Points: Brown and Pye victorious for Red Bull, champ on the move for 2025
My bad, it was 7 Safety Cars.
Supercars Talking Points: Brown and Pye victorious for Red Bull, champ on the move for 2025
Thanks for the write up Connor, great to have all the permutations accessible. Palou; a pillar of consistency again through the season. The Penske guys, like I eluded too last time the what if about St Pete will hang over them depending on where they end up.
Title fight in Tennessee: How Palou, Power or McLaughlin can win the IndyCar championship
I’m looking forward to when the points are reset to zero and if they maintain the performance advantage – gloves will be off and we’ll see who’s truly best.
Papaya rules: Norris needs to overcome errors rather than be fed success
Thanks Connor and talk about tone deaf with Mark Miles? O’Ward is a household name full-stop and I love how someone on socials highlighted his Instagram followership being nearly as much as IndyCar itself. Got to love the insular brass who’ve got no idea about their target audiences. A similar sentiment I hold about the V8 Supercars brass.
And gee, I’m sure this has been bandied around a bit now – but if McLaughlin can’t pull off the great title heist, the big question is what if Penske weren’t being shifty and Scotty wasn’t disqualified?
The IndyCar Afterburn: McLaughlin stays in hunt, Power closes distance as all roads lead to epic Nashville finale
Hope you enjoyed your European adventure Ben, it certainly looked it from all the photos. It would be a shame given the atmosphere, if Zandvoort ends up as one of the races which are rotated biennially
Dutch Grand Prix talking points: Orange delight of a different kind in Zandvoort as McLaren is now the team to beat
Thanks for the feedback Blink.
It is unfortunate that the regulation changes for 2026 are fast approaching, given the convergence we’ve seen with the current rule set. Though I don’t see F1 delaying them, as there’s going to be significant changes in terms of technical alliances such as Audi debuting their PU, Honda switching to Aston Martin and Red Bull also debuting their own.
I feel the opposite at McLaren and that if something were to happen, it would be Lando who’d chase an exit. Honestly I hope that unlike Daniel, that Oscar stays in the right place at the right time for when that opportunity comes.
And as for Newey, it is indeed intriguing trying to debunk what he’ll do next. It is a shame about Ferrari, as that would be the romantics’ perfect outcome. Though I also see a romanticism with a return to Williams and given how that team is currently structured – he’d be an ideal fit. Aston Martin? I’m concerned that with all the other big name management and technical recruits they’ve got there, signing Newey will just be piling on and perhaps achieving nothing.
F1 mid-season review: McLaren, Mercedes marching on Max... have we finally got a title fight on our hands?
😂
There has been quite a bit of recent chatter on other forums regarding the engines. What’ll happen at Symmons though if it’s a Chev romp?
Supercars Sydney SuperNight Talking Points: Mighty Mostert sweeps weekend and moves up the championship table
Yeah, DoTD seems to be in Rio Haryanto mode this year.
Bahrain Grand Prix talking points: Piastri's perfect chance to end 45-year drought - and why Aussie has an open road