LawVS - The Ladder Man

Audi and Williams both pointed at 2030 this week but only one of them sounded like they meant it. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Mattia Binotto's Audi has its own engine to work on and claims 2030 will be their year. Meanwhile, James Vowles is four years into the Williams rebuild, running the best power unit on the grid and pointing at the exact same year...but his...

In committing to Charles, Ferrari's solved NOTHING. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Scuderia Ferrari gave Leclerc his THIRD deal with them, keeping him with the F1 team possibly into the 2030s...or 2028. Nobody really knows. And I don't think Ferrari knows where it's at right now. It's gone long-term with their Formula 1 hero but there's Lewis Hamilton eschewing thei...

This weekend was made for Ferrari, almost literally. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs As the 2027 regulations fall over themselves, Ferrari's found itself in a situation where the conditions for the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix in terms of the controversial F1 engines for this year COULD be to their advantage. Mercedes are nerfed for one night only and this could be a chanc...

I'm not calling a full-on intra-team drama yet...but the contract might hint toward it. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Mercedes re-signed both drivers last October and everyone read it the same way. Russell the senior man, Antonelli the project...but for only 2026...Now the reporting since suggests two very different deals in the same garage. Whilst the Verstappen d...

A New York court spent two years trying to work out who actually runs Williams. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs The official story is simple, folks. Dorilton Capital bought the team in 2020 and saved it from dissolution. Its lead man Matthew Savage has been the public face...but then a court record started using very different words about that...and now there might h...

The FIA boss says he was unopposed...but now he wants to rule forever. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs You heard me, folks. Ben Sulayem wants to SCRAP the limit of the presidency he occupies...already! However, there are two more changes tabled too...ones which make opposing him that much harder to pull off...so why are the people with the most to lose, the drivers,...

Really? Valtteri Bottas is getting axed from Cadillac after five races? Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez are yet to score...and yet only one of them is at risk of losing their seat...ALREADY. Colton Herta is the named replacement...but he's still short of the FIA superlicense points required to race in Formula 1. And if Herta doesn't g...

McLaren backed Lando Norris and got the trophy. Then Oscar Piastri said Red Bull interest is 'flattering.' Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs McLaren's 2025 settlement is now costing them as the team is not winning...at all. Norris said in Melbourne he'd retire from Formula 1 rather than leave McLaren. Then Piastri called Red Bull interest 'flattering' before Canada. An...

Welcome to the new McLaren-Red Bull war. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs So Red Bull's team principal, Laurent Mekies, sat next to Stella at the FIA press conference in Canada and repeated the Lambiase team principal claim. Again. Three weeks after he'd already said it in Miami. So much for peace between teams then...why did he do that? Well, this encounter tells me...

What happens when the gods get involved with George Russell? Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs George Russell's chances of a world title took a major blow thanks to his F1 car's battery conking out on him whilst Kimi Antonelli secured a record-making fourth win in a row. Meanwhile, the old titans Hamilton and Verstappen duked it out for second in polished fashion whil...

Lewis Hamilton walked into Canada this week and said people are trying to retire him. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Esteban Ocon's denial and Lewis Hamilton's pushback may be reactions to the same situation...and all the while, Oliver Bearman's patience is forcing Ferrari's hand. Why do I think this? Well, when you look back to Mattia Binotto's February 2020 statem...

Mercedes' Bradley Lord tried to retire the Max Verstappen story...but Max himself said did that already. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs At the same time as the N24, Toto Wolff's deputy Bradley Lord went on a German channel and tried to retire the Max Verstappen story (arguably Toto's successor-in-training). He said Max's anger about the 2026 regulations is fading be...

352,000 people watched Max Verstappen's team lead for 20 hours straight. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs When Max tested out the Nurburgring, F1 thought it was cute and mliked it. Now? They said nothing across the whole weekend and then pivoted into "why F1 is great" IMMEDIATELY after the 24 hours. What does that silence actually mean? What can Formula 1 DO after thi...

Mercedes have won every race of 2026...Russell didn't win three of them. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs It's the Canadian Grand Prix weekend and it's time for some predictions, folks! Mercedes are bringing their biggest upgrade of their year to the track George Russell won at last season. It's also the final race weekend before the FIA's compression ratio rule chang...

Everyone reported the wrong story about Ocon's Haas seat. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Brazilian journalist Julianne Cerasoli's comments about Esteban Ocon were mistranslated across every F1 outlet recently. The real paddock conversation was about Rafael Câmara, Ferrari's F1 Academy driver and F2 title contender. But you know what? I'm glad it got sorted out. Ferr...

The FIA has opened a live investigation into F1 team ownership...and it's not aimed at Red Bull. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs A MEGA millions stake in Alpine F1 is up for sale and three serious buyers are circling: Mercedes, Christian Horner and a financial investor nobody's talking about. However, the FIA president Ben Sulayem just opened a formal investigation i...

You think the FIA bailed out Honda...it was Newey, really. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Yesterday afternoon the FIA clearly detailed how the new ADUO mechanism actually works. Honda's in line for up to $19 million in development relief after Canada...but then I realised what Honda's own F1 project leads had been saying for months now. A careful message about who a...

Fashion saved Enstone once...now it's about to save it again. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs The Gucci-Alpine rumour sounds ridiculous at first...but it's too perfect given Enstone's F1 history since the Toleman days. BWT's era is ending...and Gucci's parent company hired the man who built Alpine's F1 identity. Alpine lost its works engine and needs a new story fast...

Max Verstappen No Longer Needs F1 The Way He Used To Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs With the Nurburgring announcing its 24 hours event this weekend is sold out for the first time in its history, this is the clearest sign yet that Formula 1 needs Max Verstappen more than he needs IT. Even though the sport is changing itself rapidly and his work has yielded changes ba...

Has Mercedes been moved on from Russell? Already? Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs It's safe to say that the F1 team of Toto Wolff probably didn't see the rapid development of Kimi Antonelli play out in 2026. Not four races in with three wins and poles. On the bounce. What effect has that had on George Russell's own campaign? A case of bad luck or lost momentum? Or si...

Formula 1 ABANDONS the 50/50 split...after just four months of use. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs F1 sold 2026 as the future, but just four races later, that's over. The FIA is already pulling the engine split back toward combustion for 2027. How did the 50/50 dream crack so fast? Not only that but Formula One's CEO Domenicali and his defence missed badly and aged...

The curse at Red Bull remains...even whilst Christian or Helmut did not. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Miami looked like Red Bull’s first proper step forward in F1 2026. Max Verstappen finally had a car he could trust...but Isack Hadjar had the kind of weekend that makes every Red Bull second driver quivver with fear...and narratives spread. To me? It seems like th...

F1's future may once again be in its own hands, not engine makers. Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs It's clear the 2026 regulations for Formula 1 are not perfect. In fact, they've already been proved a failure of sorts. How did this happen? Well, the engine makers looked at what the road market was doing and thought they knew the future. They didn't. Now, the FIA and...

Uh oh! F1 became too dependent on Gulf money... Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs With 2026's F1 calendar needing some adjusting and the possible situation where Qatar and Abu Dhabi are also cancelled due to global events...yet Formula 1 doesn't seem to be panicking. Its CEO stating that the sport has a plan. With Istanbul and Portimao back on the calendar next year, m...

The 2026 Miami GP felt like a normal weekend. Why are we celebrating that? Climb the ladder with me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lawvs Curiously enough, this year's Formula One Grand Prix was quite a good one at the Miami Autodrome. There were overtakes, action and the rain never came. We had several drivers up for pole and the win and the best thing? Very little talk about the terms that had b...