HossC

I got to see the races a few years ago, so I fairly randomly picked Ricky Stenhouse Jr as it was his first season and my first season. Nowadays, I don't see the races and only occasionally see the results. You will, however, notice that I regularly hijack the NASCAR News thread to post about F1. I tend to be fairly patriotic with my driver choices and back the British drivers. I'd love Lewis Hamilton to win an eighth championship before he retires, but it looks more like being Lando Norris's year. George Russell could also be in with a chance.

Charlie Chaplin

I think all the original links may be broken now, and the images missing. When I get a chance, I'll see whether I ever downloaded the floor plan.

Music

Welcome to HNet, Tom.

I've never heard of Tom, but I enjoyed that. Thanks. The title reminded me that friends have recommended that I watch the British spy thriller series Slow Horses starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas amongst others, but I don't have Apple TV, so far I haven't seen it. I see her full name was Iris Dixie Dean. Over here, "Dixie" Dean was probably the most famous football (soccer) player of the 1920s.

It's often pronounced like that in Ireland, as this short clip from 'Father Ted' shows:

I mentioned in my F1 reviews that Max Verstappen's Red Bull team mate Liam Lawson had made a poor start to the season (qualified 18th in Australia, crashed out, qualified last for both races in China, finished 14th and 12th), but I don't think anyone expected him to be dropped so quickly. Red Bull have decided to demote him to their second team, Racing Bulls, and promote Yuki Tsunoda to the top team for the next race in Japan. Last year, Max won the Drivers' Championship, but Red Bull only came third in the Constructors' Championship because his team mate, Sergio Perez, had a relatively bad season. Read the full story here.

It was meant to be the European equivalent of the Mustang, and was even designed by one of the Mustang design team, although the first generation models built in South Africa were the only ones available with a V8. The models we had were all 4-cylinders and V6s. Ford did sell some Capris in the US under the Mercury brand. They were very popular over here, especially after being featured in action shows like 'The Professionals':

I watched this video on the new Charger EV last night. The overall view is that it's too expensive and too heavy (and possibly too big), but there will be regular gas engines in the future (at least a V6, maybe a V8). Doug thought it had some good features, but the comments were less kind (made by people who presumably haven't even seen it let alone driven it yet). There's a nice picture of the 2-door version in orange at about 4 minute in.

I was watching an '80s British sitcom the other night when they briefly introduced a character who was meant to be a bit loud and brash. He came around the corner in bright red Ford Capri (like the top one here - I don't think this generation was available in the US) and then came the Dixie horn. It was a nice little surprise.

George ELLIS played Jake Rainey in 'Moonrunners' I think you mean DEWEY Hogg, Hobie.

Like MM, I didn't hate school either. I was lucky enough to go to a very good school with some excellent teachers. We had a fairly traditional (for the UK at least) school uniform, and I really missed my blazer and its pockets when I left!

Some time after I wrote the review above, the result was changed. Lewis Hamilton was disqualified for having one of his skid blocks below the required thickness, and both Charles Leclerc and Alpine's Pierre Gasly were disqualified for having underweight cars. That promotes Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Carlos Sainz (Williams) into the top ten. With Ferrari losing points and Williams gaining points, they now both have 17 points in the Constructors' Championship.

The main race turned out to be less exciting than the sprint race. Oscar Piastri held his lead at the start and team mate Lando Norris got past George Russell. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc passed Max Verstappen, but Charles lost the end of his front wing hitting Lewis at the first corner. Weirdly, the damage seemed to make his car faster. Most of the cars only made one pit stop, although Lewis tried a second when he was being caught by Max. He only lost one place trying it, and he'd have lost that anyway. Max also passed Charles before the end. At the checkered flag, Oscar and Lando took a 1-2 for McLaren with George in third. Max was fourth ahead of the Ferraris, although team mate Liam Lawson had another disappointing race and finished 15th. Completing the top ten were Esteban Ocon (Haas), Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Alex Albon (Williams) and Oliver Bearman (Haas) who made some good overtakes to move up from 17th to 10th to claim the final point. Fernando Alonso was the only retiree from the race. His brake issues meant he's yet to finish a main race this year. The 8-minute highlights are here. Lando now leads the Drivers' Championship on 44 points, but there's only two points between the next three with Max (36), George (35) and Oscar (34). Both McLarens have scored well so far, so they have a good lead over Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship, but there's only a point between Red Bull and Ferrari in third and fourth. The next race is the Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks.