Sprint races: I'm listening to sprint qualifying and the sprint race on replay because I have the time. I still don't get what they're meant to add to the season. I understand people like seeing more racing, but if it's the same sort of racing as the longer race, what's the sporting aim? I understand the financial gain, more people attending on Saturday but for its sporting aim, I don't understand.
It also adds financial risks for the smaller teams. I know Audi aren't a smaller team but I dread to think how much putting Perez's car back together cost. Now imagine if that was Haas or Williams.
By the way, do we think engine vibrations are why Perez's car fell apart?
Discussing Williams, I love Sainz jnr so much. He understands that engineers respond better to gentle encouragement than shouting.
Main race:Concerning McLaren - has there been a worse start to a constructor's title defence? There being two different problems leading to the cars being out might actually be worse than there just being a single problem hitting both because that's two problems they need to understand, fix and prevent from reoccurring.
Audi have a better excuse for cars that don't start given they are new to this F1 engine making business, and at least they now have a 50% average start rate, rather than McLaren's 25%.
For once, it's not Ferrari whose strategy is ruined by the timing of the safety car. It had to happen one day. I suspect Vasseur would prefer it if they didn't keep racing each other but it's definitely adding to the glory of Ferrari as a concept. And I <3 Leclerc's radio message saying how much he enjoyed the racing. Fun still has a place in F1.
Not saying they have form but when I saw a Haas and an Alpine hitting each other, I presumed Ocon and Gasly. I was wrong, but only partly ;)
That Red Bull is a problem that even Verstappen cannot overcome. BBC Radio said that he only had 4 DNFs in 4 years before this, which underscores the importance of having a solid car if you want to win the driver's World title.
Truly, nothing says F1 like those moments where they have to use "normal" tech on advanced technology, like gaffer tape, or this time, clippers to tidy up Ocon's bodywork.
The Shanghai circuit really is hard on tyres. My Mum, not an F1 fan and watching under sufferance, even she was going "look at that tire wear!"
I am very happy for Colapinto - my occasional snarky comments about his performance in last year's Alpine was never directed at him personally, just at how badly Alpine handled swapping him in for Jack Doohan, so I'm happy for him to finally get some points.
Kimi Antonelli, he's so cute!!
via GIPHY
(GIF is Clawhauser, a leopard from Zootropolis, going 'so cuuuuuute'. It is an accurate visual representation of my reaction to Kimi Antonelli.)
I, and Toto and Bono, could all have done without the lock up towards the end. There's nothing like a little mistake to liven things up.
(I am sharing the following links so that everyone can see them (and for cheering up purposes if I ever need them)
https://www.tumblr.com/ef-1/811141285720326144/kimi-antonelli-i-am-about-to-cry-to-be-honesthttps://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/they-helped-me-to-achieve-this-dream-emotional-antonelli-hails-mercedes-as.6uMgvW0qCCkUdPKQJzkuyh )
He's so adorable.
New regulations - 2 and a bit races in:It is too soon to decide whether the new regs are good or bad.
So why am I talking about it? Mostly because this is the first break the F1 season has had.
The reason these regs were introduced was to improve racing. It was necessary. The last set of cars were too broad and the tracks were too narrow to allow over taking. The circuits can't be broadened, so the cars had to narrow.
Similarly, there was no way to defend from DRS overtakes (the DRS button killed joy). The new system at least allows some way of defending.
As a viewer/listener, the first two races this year have been more interesting than most races last year.
When the drivers and team owners are interviewed, the ones whose cars were not so good with the last set of regulations but are good now like it, the ones whose cars were good and now they're not hate it. What a surprise!
I'm more interested in the views of say Haas who were middling before and are middling now. Their views are less likely to be tainted by the effect of relative results.
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LONELY PROMPTS WEEK: 24 MARCH § DAY 2
23 March 2026 10:57 pmIn the past, we used to have a "winner" who completed the most fills every day, and at the end of the week, we'd announce an overall winner. But this time around, we're doing things differently! There are no winners or “losers”, just prompts that have been filled. At the end of the week, we'll be sharing a round-up post of all the lonely prompts that have been filled.
Tuesday’s Theme: Write a fill that features a communal meal.
More Information: A communal meal is never just about food; it’s about the people who gather, the stories shared, and the unspoken bonds that form across the table. For this prompt, write a fic that centers on a shared meal where multiple characters come together, whether for celebration, comfort, tradition, or necessity. The meal can be carefully planned or thrown together last-minute, joyful or tense, familiar or filled with strangers.
Please number your fills when leaving more than one in a comment. This helps me when I'm ready to count them up.
To find those elusive Lonely Prompts, you can use LJ’s advanced search options to limit keyword results to only comments in this community. Fret not, DW members; we are working on a way to search through old entries for prompts for you! As of right now, the best way to search for a lonely prompt on DW is to search the community’s archive, which can be found [[HERE]].
While the use of LJ's advanced search and DW’s archive are options, bookmarking the links of prompts you like might work better for searching in the future.
To get things going, a few rules that I ask you all to follow.
1. You can only request five prompts to be filled.
2. You can request no more than three prompts from the same fandom.
3. You can, however, fill as many prompts as you'd like!
4. In the subject line, be sure to say whether this is a request or a fill!
5. You must link back to whatever the prompt is in the community logs (whether filling or requesting it be filled), and, if you're filling the prompt, please complete the fill as a response to the original prompt.
6. If you are filling an "any/any" prompt, please let us know what fandom (or, if original, say so!) you're using for the response.
7. If you filled any lonely prompts earlier this week, this is the place to share them!
8. Finally, we now have a community at AO3. If you have an AO3 account, please post your fills there. More information on how to do this is located at this link.
How to link:
[a href="http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/449155.html?thread=70682755#t70682755">MCU, Tony Stark/Pepper Potts, She's wearing daisy dukes and one of his button-down shirts.[/a]
(change the brackets to "<" and ">" respectively)
or:
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/139897.html?thread=30155641#t30155641
Burn Notice, Sam/Michael/Fi, "It's always been you. And it's always gonna be you."
HAPPY REQUESTING/WRITING/FILLING!