LawVS - The Ladder Man

Christian Horner was sacked by Red Bull, but F1 never really treated him like he was gone. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs A year after his exit, Horner returned to Silverstone and was welcomed with open arms...and the media's utmost attention! Whilst the rumours regarding Aston Martin, Alpine and even China's BYD follow the former Red Bull team boss...it does beg th...

Red Bull crashed...yet Ferrari's involved. The FIA now has the one word nobody can vote down. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Max Verstappen’s rear wing failures in Austria and Silverstone looked like simply a Red Bull problem....but then Ferrari got dragged into the room as well. Why? Safety, that's why. The same governing body that cleared these Macarena wings befo...

Liam Lawson's having a great year...but Arvid Lindblad's getting the promotion talk. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Liam Lawson leads Arvid Lindblad in qualifying, races and points... so why do the seat rumours keep finding HIM? Helmut Marko admitted the verdict on Lawson was built on a mistake, then left the building a week after signing off his final junior. Nobod...

Max Verstappen's route to Mercedes is a no-go...the only seat left might be Oscar Piastri's...and he could jump before he's pushed. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Verstappen's rear wing failed for the second race running at Silverstone, him calling his own car dangerous. It seems like relations between he and Red Bull are at all-time low. Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri si...

Kimi Antonelli had the fastest car...but a cake tin ruined his race. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Silverstone gave us the strangest race of 2026...thanks to a software error. Leclerc ended a 37-race drought and handed Ferrari their 250th win whilst Verstappen's rear wing failed at speed for the second race running! Meanwhile, Kimi Antonelli watched a 65-point cham...

Mercedes are leading handily...so why is Toto Wolff complaining about Ferrari? Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Another F1 political war has begun! Wolff called Ferrari's spending "limitless" and it wasn't a compliment. Ferrari have declared 32 upgrades this year. Mercedes? 17. Then a team boss with two points fired back the other way. The cost cap was meant to level...

Audi's race pace in Austria was quicker than the cars that finished ahead of them. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs But only 2 points and 9th in the constructors? Yikes...but there's one number from Friday practice in Austria AND Barcelona that shouldn't exist. On long-run pace, Hulkenberg's Audi was closer to the winner than the Racing Bulls who actually scored. So e...

Max Verstappen sat in the Silverstone simulator and started laughing. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Three races before the summer break...and the first one happens to be the track that tests battery efficiency harder than almost anywhere else on the calendar. Red Bull's Austrian upgrade looked handy, but Silverstone doesn't have the big braking zones that aided Ver...

Everyone's asking if Max Verstappen is going to McLaren...I'd rather ask why! Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs The Daily Mail broke a story claiming Verstappen held secret talks with McLaren about a move as early as 2027...but his manager didn't leave it at a flat no. He said Red Bull needs "a car capable of winning." And Brown instead chose to talk about banana peels...

The Cadillacs were on fire...as Leclerc blazed from 2nd to 8th...whilst the championship fight got all the more complex. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs As the heat of Austria laid itself down on the grid, Lewis Hamilton led the Scuderia charge and salvaged 5th but admitted he had no idea why they were so slow despite their engine upgrade. Meanwhile, George Russell w...

Russell's 2027 is secure...but what it cost him is the story nobody's noticing. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs George Russell confirmed at the Red Bull Ring that he's driving for Mercedes in 2027...yet he's fifty points behind Antonelli. The performance was supposed to speak for itself. Hmm. On top of that, team orders have been confirmed for the team after Russell...

Audi got their ADUO upgrade in BEFORE Ferrari...and nobody noticed for ten days. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs While the paddock was busy arguing about whether F1's ADUO equalisation system is fair, Audi got on with the job and became the first manufacturer to use the engine catch-up scheme in anger. Ferrari needed two more weeks for theirs. How did that happen and...

Mercedes' battery is looking fragile...and now Ferrari's turned up the heat! Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs After seven rounds, Antonelli leads the championship but the W17 keeps stopping. They know what's causing it...but there's no timeline for a fix. This weekend's forecast? An orange heat warning. Great. Meanwhile, Ferrari's first engine upgrade reportedly lands...

Liam Lawson reveals why Red Bull dropped him after two races. His version doesn't match theirs. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Demoting Lawson from Verstappen's teammate to Tsunoda's seat warmer made sense at the time and I bought it. But this week Lawson described a setup experiment the team collectively agreed to on a Saturday night in Shangha which destroyed his...

Now MCLAREN auditioned drivers for Esteban Ocon's seat at Haas. Three giants after one tiny seat. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Last week, McLaren's Leo Fornaroli drove a Haas at Jerez. The same week, Rafael Camara drove a Ferrari at Barcelona. With the idea of capturing the same seat! With Andrea Stella doing everything he can to get his reserve into F1 next year,...

Red Bull's rejected billionaires...but they're about to hand VCARB to Max Verstappen. Something's broken for this idea to even make sense. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Joe Saward reported recently that "creative stories" werere circulating about Red Bull offering Max Verstappen a controlling stake in Racing Bulls/VCARB. HUH?! Now while Saward himself flags it as u...

Gasly got his podium back...but why are Mercedes filing a case they expect to lose? Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs The Monaco GP penalty mess should have ended when Pierre Gasly got his podium back. Instead, it's opened a much bigger problem. Russell, Hamilton, Piastri and Colapinto all served penalties too, but the FIA only redeemed Gasly. Why? There was no clear r...

Fernando Alonso has one point. Aston Martin can’t afford to lose him. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs The Alonso-to-Alpine rumours look like silly season madness at first glance...but when Flavio Briatore starts appearing around Aston Martin in Barcelona, right when Aston are at their lowest, you have to ask who benefits from all this. And no, Franco Colapinto is NOT...

Lewis Hamilton won for Ferrari, but Barcelona may have told us something far bigger about Mercedes. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Mercedes still lead both championships, so no, I'm not saying they're done for. But Barcelona exposed three cracks they can’t ignore. First, a car that keeps switching itself off. Then there's Toto Wolff questioning his own “let them rac...

Lewis Hamilton finally did it...and with style! Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Ferrari have won for the first time since Mexico 2024 in a race which redefined the F1 championship story for 2026. Hamilton's near 20 second victory over George Russell and the then beleaguered Kimi Antonelli showed that the Scuderia's upgrades had finally come good. As for McLaren and R...

F1 got the Monaco penalties wrong...and it's HUGE consequences. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs The FIA checked its own equipment after Monaco and found no abnormalities. Then three days later FOM's evidence broke that audit and by Friday morning the stewards had rescinded Gasly's penalties. That still leaves George Russell with a five-second penalty that became a dr...

The FIA says its 2027 engine fix won't touch the racing... so why are some Grands Prix about to get shorter? Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Yesterday the FIA announced agreement on the 2027 engine rules. There would be more combustion power and less battery. Lovely! But there's more that wasn't spoken about as much. For starters, Overtake Mode is unchanged and the p...

With Antonelli dominating Monaco, can Ferrari's upgrade turn things around? Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs The FIA handled the engine verdicts to the teams on Monaco race day...and as I record this, the official numbers STILL haven't surfaced thanks to the backlash that ensued. So this week's predictions come with a political forecast attached. How does Red Bull han...

Mercedes got help from F1 while Red Bull’s engine is frozen. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs F1’s new ADUO engine rule was meant to stop one manufacturer running away with the 2026 season. Instead, the first ruling has handed Mercedes an upgrade after all! Meanwhile, Red Bull-Ford, judged the benchmark on the combustion side...gets nothing...and they're winning nothi...

You know what? For Monaco? That was not too bad! Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs In what was the best Monaco Grand Prix in a while, Mercedes and Kimi Antonelli upset expectations and pulled a fast one Ferrari...literally. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen had races to forget whilst Pierre Gasly was crushed by the FIA's chaotic pitlane speed trap! All in a...