Loge

Well, the grid penalties and tyre degradation certainly shook things up a bit. Red Bull's top speed advantage was brutal. Some interesting radio conversation, like Lando Norris being told "We are still on Plan G." Well, all is going to plan, then. Leclerc lost a position in an attempt at the fastest lap. Solid performance from Alpine. Aston Martin wasn't so bad either. Disappointing result for McLaren.

That was before Liberty Media took over. The new Concorde Agreement has effectively shut the door for new teams. https://f1i.com/news/383956-formula-1-sets-200m-entry-fee-for-new-teams.html ETA: Andretti has tried to get into F1 but the teams haven't exactly rolled out a red carpet: https://the-race.com/formula-1/wolff-puts-cost-of-new-f1-team-at-1bn-amid-andretti-interest/

It would also be more teams to share the TV revenue with, which the existing teams don't like.

Porsche is expected to buy a 50 percent share in Red Bull, who are developing their own engine for 2026. Not sure that Porsche can pose as an engine supplier in that setup. Maybe Red Bull Powertrains will be renamed, but it would be a bit lame if there wasn't some genuine input by Porsche, like with Mercedes in the Ilmor days.

But Piastri still not confirmed. Meanwhile, Audi has announced that they will enter Formula 1 in 2026.

They did, but that change happened in 2003, as I just found out on their web site. Same model since.

They haven't really changed. I bought mine in 2016 and they still sell that identical machine. The mechanical part has probably been the same for decades, with the only thing changing being the computer. But even that is still the same as in 2016.

Well, winning W Series three times is all good and well, but that's the equivalent to a regional / national Formula 3 series. FIA F3 cars are already quite a step up, let's not even talk of Formula 2. Giving Chadwick an F1 cockpit would do her a disservice. And plainly, if she really wants to graduate to F1, then the years after her first W Series win have been wasted. Meanwhile, she isn't really a youngster anymore, being only half a year younger than Max Verstappen. I don't know about any kind of hype about her in the UK, but if truth be told, it doesn't look like she is F1 material.

The contracts of the French, Belgian and Monaco GP all expire. Monaco will probably be renewed, though they might not get special treatment anymore. There's to be a third GP in the US and the Qatar GP is back. That leaves the calendar maxed out. Any new race would require F1 to drop an existing one and the French and Belgian GP would be likely candidates.

IIRC, Toth is a school teacher. So he probably works a lot at home. If he doesn't have a dedicated office space, the ergonomics is probably poor, i.e. not the ideal posture when sitting in front of the computer, etc. That could be the reason for some of his complaints.

The hype about KIC 8462852 "Tabby's Star" has ebbed a bit. It can be observed from the ground and has been, but no spectacular dimmings have been observed since the end of the Kepler mission. There has been a number of small ones, but those can be explained by dust.

The question is, why is Scholz dragging his feet over Ukraine? Is that him or the party? He certainly isn't being held back by his coalition partners.

Well, the SPD are still doing better in the polls than they used to before Scholz. And one shouldn't forget that he doesn't lead the party, so technically he can't be held responsible for what happens at state level. But yeah, his first six months in office haven't been particularly great. Cabinet ministers from the SPD don't particularly shine either.

Don't forget that prices in Europe include VAT, usually about 20 %.

Not much. But it could be seen as a snub against the country.

So what exactly has Nehammer been doing in Moscow? Meanwhile, the German president Steinmeier has been told not to visit Kyiv. That's the second snub from the Ukrainians after the ambassador refused to come to a concert at Bellevue Palace.

If you need Wagenknecht, something has gone wrong quite badly. The whole thing just hasn't been handled well. If you are in government, you are supposed to have a majority. Trying to make a law against parts of his own coalition wasn't a particularly smart move by Scholz. Maybe a deal with the Christian Democrats could have been found, but he would have had to give them something in return.

Looks like Die Linke is toast in the west. And even in the east they're low double digits, except in Thuringia. It was obviously a mistake by the SPD not to take in former SED members back in the 1990s. But that's spilled milk. Merging the parties now? Not a smart move for the SPD.

RIP Duke Leto.

So Scholz has announced an extra 100 billions for defence and to raise the regular defence budget to those 2% of the GDP. I wonder how much support he has in his own party for this. The Putin shills are quiet for now but how long will that last?

Gerhard Schröder was German chancellor before Merkel (1998-2005). He was the leader of the Social Democrats, the party of the current chancellor, Olaf Scholz. He is also on the board of Gazprom, and a big buddy of Vladimir Putin.

So Nord Stream 2 has been stopped for now. Schröder should follow Gerard Depardieu's example and become a Russian citizen.

There's also the case of the (now former) chief of the German Navy who had to resign over some rather remarkable statements made on a trip to India. The gist of it is "screw Ukraine, we need Russia as an ally against China." The government denies that this is their position but the Ukrainians are not convinced.

So, Scholz has been elected, Merkel is out. No surprises there.

Well the Greens declared Baerbock candidate for Chancellor. That got her a lot of attention, but also put her under close scrutiny, which she couldn't stand up to. She simply wasn't up to the task. (Neither will she be as foreign minister.) On the other hand, 15% is the best result ever for the Greens, they just raised much higher expectations in their support base.