Sunday Musings, The Temple of Speed and Liverpool V ManU

 

My favorite time of the year is here, the weather is getting a little cooler and its EPL season is starting, while the Formula 1 season heads into the final stretch with a finish that promises to end in an epic fashion, but more on that in a bit.  First up coffee.

This weeks beans come from Houston roaster Slowpokes.  A mexican origin medium roasted coffee, I used my typical pour over method. It produced chocolatey notes with notes of red pepper, and a mild sweet vanilla note.  A lovely cup to start the day.

Recommendation:

One of my all time favorite TV shows is West Wing.  Regardless of where you lie on the political spectrum this show highlights the best of politics and where I think we would love politics to be, not in the gutter where it currently resides.  There is new book titled What’s Next that documents behinds the scenes of this fantastic show, giving insight into how the show came to be as well as highlighting some specific episodes and honoring the late great John Spencer.  Its a fantastic book written by two people who were actually in the show: Melissa Fitzgerald (she played CJ’s assistant Carol Fitzpatrick) and Marcy McCormack (she played Deputy NSA Kate Harper).

Formula 1

We’re at the temple of speed this week!  The Italian Grand Prix at Monza!  A great start to the weekend with both McLaren drivers starting at the front of the grid.  Surprisingly both Red Bull Drivers struggled during qualifying and started further back at 7th and 8th.   This is the 5th different pole sitter at Monza in the last 5 years.  Hopefully Lando can break the curse as the previous 5 pole sitters failed to win.  One big change to this weeks lineup is that Williams have made a switch in drivers.  Sitting Sargent (rumor is he may be done for the year) and replacing him with Argentinian driver Franco Colapinto.

Most of the drivers are starting today’s race on the Medium compound tire, hoping for a one stop, means they need to get to around lap 20 or 22 before changing.  A few drivers chose the hard compound tires, including the two Red Bull drivers.

Norris got a slightly pour start but recovered and stayed in the lead. Russell went off track at the first turn, however a few turns later both Piastri and LeClerc passed Norris and once again he won’t finish the first lap in first when he sits on the pole.  Seemed to get a little chippy between the papaya drivers.  Let’s see how this develops over the race.

First retired car was Tsunoda in lap 8.

Russell who had received some damage to his front wing at the beginning of the race was asked to pit at lap 12 to change out his front wing.  He chose to switch tires, from Medium to Hard.  Will be interesting to see if he can make it a one stop race changing tires out this early.  

Norris called into the pits at lap 15 to undercut LeClerc, a nice quick stop of 2.2 seconds.  Norris went in at P3 and came out at P9. With Norris on hard tires he should be able to finish the race without another stop.  

Piastri called into the pits at lap 16, this will put Sainz in first with the Red Bull drivers in P2 and P3 since they started on Hard Tires.  Piastri came out in P4 ahead of his teammate.

The pit strategy could be the deciding factor in how the drivers finish the race.  When and where the Red Bull drivers pit could lead to them being out of the top 5.

Ferrari Driver Sainz who was in P1 pitted at Lap 20, came out in P6 leaving the Red Bull drivers in P1 and P2.

Verstappen is called into the pits at lap 22 to go from Hards to Mediums.  I don’t see how he does a one stop race with Medium tires, that doesn’t seem like he will be able to get to the end of the race.  He could do a two stop race and switch to soft tires at the end to get more speed.

And he stayed on Hard Tires, so definitely doing a two stop race.

Norris was told that he is allowed to race Oscar, so as we go forward in this race, things could get interesting.  By lap 24, Team Papaya is back in P1 and P2 with Norris gaining on his teammate.  Although it does seem that Norris for whatever reason doesn’t have the pace of his teammate.  Norris got almost within a second of his papaya partner, but Piastri quickly seemed to separate himself and got the gap over 2 seconds.

Norris is struggling today, his tires aren[t holding up and he is falling back further behind his teammate and has allowed LeClerc to climb back to him who is putting a ton of pressure on him.

Norris pitted at lap 33, not a great pit stop that put him in P6 in between the two Red Bull drivers.  He switched to new hard tires, so his previous tires were old which makes sense now with how little he ended up getting out of the old tires.  

Piastri called to pit at lap 39 and stayed on hard tires, but not a great pit.  He came out in P3 ahead of Red Bull driver Verstappen with Norris also on his tail.

Both Ferrari drivers are in P1 and P2, but they have only pitted once and I don’t believe they will be able to make it to the end without another pit.

Lap 41, Norris passes Verstappen into P4 now behind his teammate and Ferrari still in the lead

Verstappen pitted at lap 42 going to Medium tires, he went in at P5 and acme out in P6 behind Hamilton.

Lap 45 Piastri passed Sainz and moved into P2, can Norris get up there and McLaren get a double podium finish?  There are 7 laps left, Push push push!

Lando passes Sainz in lap 48 up into P3.

An outstanding race, Ferrari winning at Monza is always cool to see, with LeClerc ending the race in P1.  He raced a fantastic race, I honestly wasn’t sure he could hold on with doing a one stop strategy.  McLaren gets a double podium allowing them to eat into the leads in both the driver championship and the constructors championship.  Norris also got the fastest lap which gives him an additional point to eat into Verstappens lead who finished back in P6.  While some will say that McLaren had the wrong strategy, I am not sure I agree.  Their strategy was consistent with most of the other teams, honestly I think this was Ferrari’s day and they got a little lucky.  LeClerc’s tires looked like trash at the finish, and Sainz had nothing left and fell back to both Piastri and Norris.  There was a good chance that LeClerc wasn’t going to make it, and if he hadn’t McLaren would have looked like geniuses.  LeClerc played the role of ultimate tire whisperer today, but it very easily could have gone poorly for Ferrari.

Quick notes:

Drivers Championship standings: Verstappen - 303; Norris - 241; LeClerc - 217; Pastri - 197; Sainz - 184.  Getting tight at the top with Norris only 62 points behind the leader.  There are enough races left that he can continue to chip away and win the championship.

Constructors Championship: Red Bull - 446; McLaren - 438; Ferrari - 407; Mercedes - 292.  Its turning into a 3 team race with team Papaya only 8 points behind Red Bull and Ferrari less than 40 points behind.  My bold prediction is that McLaren passes Red Bull at the next GP in two weeks at Azerbaijan and that Ferrari will pass them shortly thereafter. Red Bull will end up finishing 3rd in the constructors cup something no one would have predicted at the start of the season.

Kevin Magnussen was penalized once again which put him over the limit in a 12 month period meaning he is out for the next race.

Liverpool

Match 3 of the new season pits the Reds against their hated rivals ManU at the historic Old Trafford pitch.  The Third match for new manager Slot and he is leading his unit against a team they must win against to show they are a team to be worried about.  The lineup for today is consistent to where what they have put out so far this season.  They have shifted away from Klopps format and are in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Jota at the top and Diaz, Szoboaszlai, and Salah backing him up.

Liverpool in their Whites while ManU plays in their Red kit.

Liverpool’s TAA scores within 6 minutes, the ball barely getting over the line, but a fantastic start for the reds.  Unfortunately, the goal was called offside not because TAA was offisde, but because the ball hit Salah who was.  The score was reset to 0—0.

25 minutes into the match and it remains deadlocked.  ManU is taking ownership of the match with a hefty lead in possession at 63%, more passes, but LFC has more shots on target.  LFC defense is doing well.  A strong D is a mark of Slots teams in the past, but their offense continues to struggle to take control of a match.

At the 34th minute Diaz makes a fantastic header into the back of the net!  This one is going to stick as he was fully on sides.  Sloppy pass from ManU that was intercepted by Liverpool, and Salah got the assist with a lovely pass to Diaz who knocked it in with his noggin.

ManU’s Martinez picked up the first yellow card when he took down Szoboazlai in a ridiculously aggressive manner that raised VVD’s ire.  Could have been worse than a yellow, he got lucky.  

Luis Diaz takes another great pass from Salah and one times it into the net at the end the 1st minute.  Diaz is on fire this season and Salah is really stepping up to be the set up man this season.

5 minutes of stoppage time is announced to end the half, let’s see if LFC can get another score before they head into the locker room.

The first half ends with LFC up 2 - 0 against ManU.  Possession has evened out more compared to what it was earlier in match with United only up 51% to 49%.  LFC is really taking charge of the match, and with their penchant for halftime adjustments I expect more of the same in the second half.  

Right at the start of the first half, Jota and ManU player Mazroui come together and the United player goes down.  He laid on the pitch for quite sometime as the trainers check him out.  Eventually at minute 50 he got up and moved to the sidelines and play restarted.

In the 54th minute VVD gets a Yellow Card for fouling Man U player Bruno Fernandez.  It didn’t look like a major foul as VVD just stuck his leg out and Fernandez tripped over it.

LFC drove quickly back and Salah got his goal at Old Trafford for the 7th consecutive time.  LFC up 3 to nil against their rivals and the mood couldn’t be worse at Old Trafford.

ManU player De Ligt received a yellow card for a dangerous tackle on Diaz in the 64th minute.  Honestly it could have been a red.  It was a reckless cleat up tackle.

5 minutes of extra time added to finish the match.  Liverpool remains up 3-0 and has done a great job of holding off any attempt by ManU to make a drive and score.  Their defense is so far ahead of where it has been in the last couple of seasons.

Liverpool gets a much needed win and a clean sheet for Allison.  So far a great start to the season under new manager Slot.  

Amazing to see ManU fans exiting the stadium with 10 to 15 minutes left in the match.  They are abandoning their team already.  While I have no love for ManU its amazing how far the United owners the Glazers have gone to disenfranchise their loyal fanbase. They have driven a once proud franchise into consistent mediocrity.

After the match Liverpool and Man City sit atop the EPL standings. Both with perfect records and similar goal differential.  

Sunday Musings: I'm Back and so is the EPL

Back to posting on the blog after a short Summer break.  Needed some time off and a couple of trips, but now that school is back in session, so is the blog.  And good timing too.  While the F1 season is still on its on summer break, this weekend the English Premiere League season started which means my beloved Liverpool is back in action.  More on that later.  First, coffee.

The team behind Greenway Coffee owns one of my favorite coffee shops in Houston, Blacksmith Coffee.  I've known that team for a long time, and even once upon a time many many moons ago hosted a beer education class at their home.  This particular coffee is their Contemporary Blend, kind of their everyday blend. Nothing crazy, but just a beautiful roast and blend of beans from around the world.  A smooth fruit forward chocolatey cup.  You can't go wrong with it at all.

Recommendations

As I mentioned before F1 is still out on their summer break, however, there is a new F1 book out. Grand Prix the Illustrated History of F1 by Will Buxton has recently been released. If you've ever seen the Netflix series Drive to Survive, or watched any F1 Televesion than you are VERY familiar with Mr. Buxton.  His sense of humor and level of detail shine in the book, as do the amazing illustrations.  It's a great book that goes into good detail on rules and regulations, as well as a decade by decade review of F1's history.  While some of it is very basic and most F1 watchers would know it, some of the details were new to me and some of the history especially the stuff back in the 50s and 60s was extremely interesting.  Worth a pick up should you see it in your local book shop.

EPL

The Reds are back, but they aren't the same Reds of the last few season.  The change starts at the top of course.  Long time manager Jurgen Klopp has stepped away and new manager Arne Slot has taken the reigns.  While Liverpool hasn't picked up anyone over the summer break there is still some time before the 30 August deadline so I won't go into a full predictions yet.  That being said with Arne at the top, he has made some significant changes.  Out is Clops standards format of play and in its place is a 4-5-1 that puts more emphasis on a single striker.  How will that play out, only time will tell.  To open the season up they played newly promoted Ipswich Town. As has been the case in recent years, the Reds started off slow, you could tell that they were still getting used to the new formations and how Arne called a match.  The first half was very uneventful, with a few chances here and there, but nothing that was a sure footed fire at the net.  However that all changed after half time.  Slot made some adjustments, and team started to gel.  Diego Jota scored first at the 60th minute with a beautiful shot.  However, it was seeing Liverpool legend Mo Salah score at the 65th minute that put a huge grin on my face.  Without his familiar flowing hair, Salah made a now familiar goal, and a record 9th season in a row where he has scored in the first game of the season.  Mo looked truly happy out on the pitch, so here's hoping that he sticks around at least another season.  While LFC should have easily beaten Ipswich, Arne Slot becomes the first LFC manager to win his debut, so it wasn't a sure thing by any stretch of the imagination.  I have hope that LFC can finish near the top of the table this year.  Not predicting a League win, but at the top, and maybe a trophy in one of the other tournaments they will compete in would be a great way to kick off the Arne Slot era.

Sunday Musings and Hungarian GP

 

After a week off we are back to a Sunday Race Day, and all such days must start with a good cup of coffee.  This weeks coffee is from Corvus out of Denver, CO.  Called Dead Reckoning their seasonal blend, with beans from Ethiopia and Central America.  This is a dark chocolate bomb.  Lots of bitter dark chocolate, blueberries, mild sweetness.  Delicious pour over cup.  

Formula One

We are officially into the second half of the season with the Hungarian GP.  The weekend started off with a wild and somewhat wet Free Practice session and qualifying.  Team McLaren ended up locking out the front row with Norris and Piastri P1 and P2 respectfully.  Red Bull Driver Perez continues top force RB to question if he should be their driver next season by spinning off and not getting out of Q1 yet again. More shocking was that Mercedes driver George Russell didn’t get out of Q1 either.  Once again this is a great opportunity for the McLaren team to chew up some of the gap between them and RB at the top of the constructors cup.

Race Day didn’t start the way I wanted it too with the McLaren team feverishly working on Norris’s car while it was sitting on the grid before the formation lap as he complained of an issue with the throttle.  It looks like the McLaren engineers were able to make the fixes they needed to and get the car buttoned back up just in time for the race to start.  

For tires today, this is the softest range that can be used.  With the heat of the track will be interesting to see what impacts this has on strategy.  Most of the top cars were on Medium tires with a few in the second half of the top 10 chose soft tires to start the race.

Lights Out! Great start by mMcLaren three wide on first turn,  but Verstappen goes wide, Norris falls to third, with max going ahead.  Max should have to give up that spot due to Max going wide and taking a place while he was off track.  Piastri doing well in P1.  

Finally at lap 4 Max lets Lando pass him to take the spot back, but as Versappen is want to do as soon as he can he tries to use DRS to pass Norris but he is able to keep Max back.

By Lap 7 Norris had gotten enough space between him and Max that Verstappen could no longer use DRS.

The top 10 drivers started pitting around lap 8, meaning this race is probably going to be a 2 stop race. Most of there drivers switching to hard tires during this initial pit.

Lando in P2 pitted at Lap 18 switching form Medium tires to Hard.  Good 2.8s pit stop.  He comes out in P5, put into a good position.  McLaren called Piastri in to pit the next lap again switching to hard tires with a 2.5s stop.  Piastri came out ahead of Norris in P4.  This back to back pit put Verstappen in P1, who has yet to pit along with the two Ferrari drivers who are in P2 and P3.

Verstappen and Sainz pitted at lap 22.  Verstappen got a 3s pit stop.  Max goes out in P5, with LeClerc who stayed out in P1 followed by the two McLaren drivers.  LeClerc pitted at lap 23 and came out in P5.

Alpine driver Gasly got called into box at lap 34 to retire the car and is out of the Hungarian GP.

P3 driver Hamilton takes his second pit stop at Lap 41 as does LeClerc, both had pit stops under 3s.  Hamilton come out P5 and LeClerc in P6.  Hamilton on his second set of Hard tires and the Ferrari driver switched to medium tires.

Norris being called into the pits at Lap 45.  Goes in at P2, good pit stop at 2.3s and a switch to Medium tires.  He comes out at P4 ahead of Hamilton.  Great job by the McLaren team as everyone ahead of Norris hasn’t had their second pit stop.

Piastri called into pit at lap 47, as is Sainz.  Good pit stoppage by McLaren at 2.9S switching to   medium tires coming out at P3.  Norris in P2, Oscar in P3 both behind Max who hasn’t pitted.

Max pitted at Lap 50, good pit stop at 2.3s switching to Medium tires.  Max comes out at P5 behind Hamilton and LeClerc.  

20 Laps to go Norris in P1, Piastri in P2, Hamilton in P3, Leclere in P4 and then Max in p5, all on Medium tires except Hamilton who is on Hard tires.

After the last pit, McLaren gave orders for Norris to allow Oscar to pass him when he got close.  Piastri never really did, with Norris opening up an almost 6 second gap on his McLaren Team mate.  The Team radios got very awkward as the laps counted down to the end of the race with the team principal ordering Lando to slow down for Oscar to get back into 1st.  I don’t get why McLaren was this adamant about Oscar getting P1 when Lando is in a fight for the championship.  Eventually Lando let Oscar pass on the straightaway which allowed Oscar to get his first win, and McLaren getting P1 and P2 and Hamilton getting his 200th podium.  Earlier Verstappen who was battling Hamilton for P3, tried to pass the Mercedes driver, but locked up and almost crashed with Hamilton. He recovered, but will be facing a penalty after the race. 

On the team radio, Oscar sounded very subdued on the radio for his first win.  

Exciting race and the 7th different winner of the season.

Does Zak brown get another tattoo?  He has gotten tattoos each time one his drivers gets a win (first with Ricciardo, then with Norris).

Current Constructors Standings:  Red Bull 389; McLaren 338; Ferrari 322; Mercedes 241

Current Drivers Standings: Verstappen 265; Norris 189; LeClerc 162; Sainz 154; Piastri 149

A quick note that these numbers could change if Verstappen gets penalized for his contact with Hamilton at the end of the race.  Perez falls to 7th behind Hamilton, and my guess is that he will be behind Russell after Spa.  How does RB stay with Perez when he will be in P8 at the summer break?

Post Hurricane Smoke and Pour

It's been a crazy couple of days at the Barleyvine house.  Our fair area got slammed by Beryl, a purported Category 1 storm that caused way more damage than any Cat 1 storm I have ever seen.  We were lucky.  We lost some limbs from our oak, and a small tree got blown over in our back yard, but otherwise, no damage.  Our fence is fine while many in our neighborhood were blown completely down.  Our house sustained no damage, not a single shingle missing. So we count our selves lucky.  Our power went out, but it is back while many remain without power around the city.   I am thankful things were not worse, our neighbors and friends are all OK and that is what counts.  It with that in my mind that I sat down for a pour and a smoke.  A time to sit and contemplate these last few days and be thankful for everything that we have.

The Whiskey

Michter is a distillery out of Kentucky, while they have recently returned to distilling, the name Michters has a long history of making American whiskey stretching back to the 1700s.  This particular expression is their Bourbon.  Sweet caramel corn up front, then comes some oaky toasty notes, cinnamon, stone fruits, peppery, maybe cherry notes.  A lovely bourbon, not overly complex, but smooth, satisfying, with just enough underneath to keep you sipping looking for more.

The Cigar

I have spoken about Ezra Zion out of the DFW area before.  Its a wonderful cigar company that does a great job of sourcing tobacco from around the world and then selling direct to consumer, which cuts down costs and allows folks to try cigars that are much cheaper than they would be otherwise.  This particular expression called Naughty Bits Vogue LTD is just such an example.  A cigar with a different wrapper name on it would be much more expensive.  This is a medium strength 6x52 classic toro.  Wrapper is a beautiful creamy 10 year aged Colorado leaf.  The first smoke is creamy silky milk chocolate, and brown sugar.  As you smoke notes of black pepper, vanilla bean and candied nuts comes out, mixing with the milk chocolate.  It burns even and smooth, not hot at all.  It's not an overly long smoke, around an hour.  This went well with the bourbon.  The bourbon was good, but simpler, this is more complex, so one doesn't overwhelm the other.  I appreciate the flavors and smoked it down to a numb.  Delicious.
 

Sunday Musings, Silverstone and Music inspired coffee

 

Anyone reading this here blog knows I drink coffee from Texas primarily.  There are a ton of good roasters in this state so I enjoy getting to try the different roasters out.  However, every once in a while I'll get introduced to something new and get excited about it.  This is one of those days.  Corvus Roasters is from Denver, CO a city I am very familiar with, but haven't had coffee from them.  This coffee is a very special single origin made in celebration of Nathaniel Hawthorne's newest album.  From El Salvador, this is a naturally processed coffee.  I brewed using my French Press.  Makes a wonderful floral cup, citrus, some tea like qualities as well. Beautiful vibrant cup that absolutely sparkles.  This is tremendous, will have to search out more from Corvus.

Speaking of Nathaniel Hawthorne, his newest album is my recommendation this week.  Another great album by a tremendously talented band and the soulful singing of Hawthorne.  Fantastic lyrics, great music that just makes you want to dance.  His last few albums have all been tremendous.  Go pick this up.

Formula 1

F1 hits the middle point of the season as they arrive at Silverstone for the British GP.  The 12th race of the season promises to be an exciting race.

It was a good start to the weekend for the Papaya team.  McLaren looked strong through the practice session with at least one of their drivers in the top 3 for each of the 3 sessions.  For qualifying, Norris had a little skid during his out lap which kept him from getting pole, but it did lead to an all British top 3 with Russell, Hamilton, and Norris at P1-3.

Ferrari struggled, with LeClerc being out of the top 10. Perez was also out of the top 10 too not getting through Q2 and then due to penalties from the previous race starting at the back of the grid.

For the race the tires were the hardest three to choose from and most of the cars started on medium tires.  Start to the race was uneventful, although Lando got driven outside the track, and Verstappen passed him.  Gasly was our first retirement out by lap 3.

It being the British GP, rain was always a possibility and the team radios reported rain would be coming soon at areas of the track.

Norris drove past Versrtappen in lap 16, and got back into P3.  Just brilliant racing.

Norris's passing opened up the flood gates and lost of passing started occurring as rain started lightly falling at lap 17.

Also Piastri passes Verstappen up into P4.  The Red Bull car just doest have the pace.

The cars are starting to show the impact of the track getting wetter.

Norris passes Russell in lap 19 up into P2.

Norris passing Hamilton on lap 20 and up into the lead!

Piastri makes a brilliant pass of Russell into P3.

Some tremendous driving by both McLaren drivers.

Ferrari called LeClerc into pit at lap 20 to switch to intermediate’s.

Piastri drives past Hamilton into P2 so both drivers up at the top.

Around lap 24 the track was dry enough to enable DRS again.  The drivers may have weathered the wet and may not need to switch tires.  But that was short lived as DRS was once again disabled a couple of laps later as it started to get wet

Verstappen getting called into the pits at lap 27, along with Sainz.  Both the Mercedes and McLaren cars stayed out.

The track is starting to get a little wetter, the Papaya team should pit at the next lap.

Norris pitting lap 27.  Piastri stayed out, and both Mercedes drivers pitted

Norris came outing P2 so it was good decision, for when Piastri pits to change to inters Norris will be back in P1.

Piastri comes in at lap 29, unfortunately comes out in P6.  Tough decision, not sure what the right call was.  If both drivers came in at the same time, it may have slowed the pit down where Norris wouldn’t have come out in P1.

The track is causing the drivers some issues.  The track has wet areas, but not enough to cool down the intermediate tires, so when they are on the drier portions of the track they are wearing out much faster than anticipated with Hamilton and Verstappen both complaining that their tires are falling apart. However the track just isn’t dry enough to get slicks back on.

Suddenly and unexpectedly Mercedes has to retire Russell at lap 34.  

Report came from the pit reports that there was an issue with the water coolant system.

Sun really coming gout at lap 37, track should dry out quickly. When will they go into to get slicks and will they be able to switch to soft?

Hamilton coming into pit at lap 39. As is verstappen.  Hamilton on Soft and Verstappen on Hard.  Interesting strategy.

Piastri pitting too switching to new mediums.

Norris pitting on lap 40, switching to soft tires.  Comes out in P2 behind Hamilton.

Verstappen in P3 and Piastri in P4.

Norris was passed by Max in lap 48.  Dang it.  The soft tires just aren’t holding up.

What a tremendous race.  A ton of passing, great and not so great strategies that had true real impact on the race and the championship. I am not sure you could have asked for more.

Hamilton gets his first win since 2021, Norris gets P3, and with Norris and Piastri both doing well, McLaren will continue to climb closer to Red Bull in the constructors championship.

Half way through the season here is where we are in the standings:

Drivers Championship:  Verstappen 255; Norris 171; LeClerc 150; Sainz; Piastri 125

Constructors Championship:  Red Bull 373; Ferrari 302; McLaren 295; Mercedes 221

Some quick hit thoughts and predictions after making it halfway through the season.

1) Verstappen will win the championship.  It may be closer than anyone thought it would be, but Max will end the season on top.

2) Redbull will NOT win the constructors.  McLaren will.  After the next race, McLaren will be in second place and by the end of the season they will at the top.

3) Not only will Ferrari not finish in 2nd place in the constructors cup, I think there is a good chance Mercedes passes them.

4) Ferrari will continue to rue the day they have gotten rid of Sainz, as LeClerc will continue to struggle the second half of the season.

5) Speaking of struggling, RB will announce that Perez is being demoted next season to their second team, and either promote Ricciardo, or maybe, just maybe sign Sainz (although I think this is highly unlikely).