Oh wow! Harsh, but maybe you have a point, I do hope you are wrong for Ronan though - only time will tell! Appreciate the comment :-)

Yeah, I keep seeing them as well! I hope they are wrong but I fear they are not :-( Appreciate the comment!

2 on the trot for the pragmatic Finn!.

... and what a lap that was for a Mika dn McLaren fan! Appreciate the comment :-)

@ 30 at the time.

Ha thanks for the confirmation, ditto on the magazines, F1 Racing and Autosport were feature quite a lot for me! Sorry you were a month behind though :-( Appreciate the comment :-)

@@LilKolo9393 oh wow that’s one of the nicest comments I’ve ever had! Made my day thank you very much and appreciated :-)

Woah! Savage but fair play assuming itsconstructive criticism? Well come back tomorrow and see if it’s better :-)

If that's the case WOAH! Oh Hyundai ....

@@thehotlapshow Yes, really weird one. Lefebvre was disqualified from Rally di Roma capitale. I send you the stewarts decission by email. I kept this because I thought it is a really interesting case. Mainly it reads: "Fact: Car 22 presented documents during administrative checks which show that the owner of the car is Hyundai Motorsport GmbH, Germany. The registration plates of the car show a German registration no. “ALZ-H255”, but don’t have the required seal on it" "The contract between Hyundai and BMA says: “The Purchaser acknowledges and accept that, in accordance with the applying rules of laws, the Rally Car was and is in no way designed, built und supposed to be used on any public roads. The purchaser will be solely liable for any violation and or misuse of the Rally Car" But further research shows that the car was previously owned and used by Hyundai. Hyundai uses all the time cars like that. Now they say these cars are not designed nor built for use on public roads. F What???? Rally cars are explicitly supposed to be road legal and run on public roads, if Hyundai says their cars are not designed and built to be used on public roads, then the FIA should go and disqualify the lot of them, every single car that Hyundai ever made! I mean it is difficult to say who made the administrative mistake here, the Belgian team or Hyundai themselves, but this is by a very long way the lamest excuse I have ever heard of a manufacturer selling cars and then letting their satellite team down.

To be honest I'm not actually sure, all I know is that someone paid Minardi to take poor Herbert out in that race! Haha, Appreciate the comment :-)

If Im really honest it's because some website said so (in the description) honestly I was so slow when I started I really needed some help especially in qualifying! :-) Appreciate the comment.

I know the white overalls but yeah that does make sense now :-) Thanks again :-) Appreciated!

Thought so! Thanks for the confirmation :-) Appreciated!

Fair point!

HA! Awesome! Do you do lessons ? I really need to improve especially qualifying :-)

Well.............

I cant wait! :-) Assuming you mean Max ?

Ha cheers! I think it’s because I don’t have an ad blocker trust me I dint make money from that!

Haha ! Very true!

Not yet but surely one time

I think better than Leclerc. Don't forget that Kimi did a test in an F3 car about a year ago, and the engineers who were present during that test said that they believe Kimi is the best driver they've seen in an F3 car since Max Verstappen. That would already put Kimi ahead of drivers like Leclerc, Piastri, Russell, and Norris in terms of potential. Also, Kimi did that test when he was 17 years old, while RUS PIA and LEC participated in F3 when they were about 19 years old. Kimi also has age on his side...

Fair Play! Here's hoping though that we see him again at the top level!

Indeed kudos to Rossel jr! Hoping he wins a Rally this year - brother rivalry would be a nice story for WRC 2 = As always your Rally knowledge is ON POINT :-)

@@thehotlapshow Yes, the rivalry is an interesting one. I was surprised Citroen let Gryazin go, but Citroen’s explanation was extremely interesting: Léo Rossel won the French Championship 2024 in a Citroen. He is an asphalt star, but that is not necessarily what you want in a WRC2 campaign, is it? Sadly! For not enough variety in WRC! I felt Gryazin really helped to develop the C3 on gravel, more so even than Ogier and Ostberg in the past (though Ogier went very much against Ostberg’s and Lappi’s developments, yet was the first one to complain! Especially the poor performance of the car in germany was a reason why Ogier left, but remember Mikkelsen came 2nd in Germany a year earlier and Loeb won Catalunye 2018 in a C3, beating Ogier out of all of them. The car never was bad on asphalt until Ogier developped it!) I don’t get Ogier here. And yes this is comparing Rally1 to Rally2 too (but the base car still mattered here), and how Ogier hindered Citroen development, then complained about Citroen in public is a different and complicated story….) Ostberg was kept, had a lot of bad luck and a bad accident…. But the biggest step this C3 base car did was 2024, when it was not exactly new, so I think we really have to thank Gryazin a hell lot here! Absolutely great job, Gryazin!! Why did Citroen not keep him? Well that brothers story seems a great one. What people within Citroen told me: In French tarmac events and in testing, younger Léo was faster than his more experienced brother Yohan! Léo won the FRC in 2024. WRC2 is the next logical step. Yohan is an alrounder, he came top3 in WRC2 3 years in a row, time for him to win it, so Yohan is their #1. Léo is even faster! Well, sometimes, Léo lacks the gravel experience completely and there is more than one type of gravel as well. A hell lot to learn from him. Wouldn’t it be interesting to throw Léo in there? Léo is faster on tar, but lacks experience everywhere else. Yohan is fast everywhere, Léo has similar genes, the two of them are probably more prepared for team orders helping each other…. It sounds like a great story to be written! Having heard that, I would expect Léo to be faster in Canarias, a Rally that is new to both. Maybe also CER, but Yohan knows CER, Léo doesn’t. On gravel Léo has no experience whatsoever, don’t expect him to beat Yohan, but expect him to learn from Yohan. Finally: Monte: If Léo is faster on tar, he should have beaten Yohan? But Monte is very changeable conditions with snow and ice, Yohan won WRC2 in Monte now for the 3rd time in a row, Léo never ever ever competed in Monte, yet came 3rd in WRC2 out of 22 cars that entered? This is absolutely amazing, the type of stories we want to see! Neither of them had egg on their faces and the story has only just started!

Kalle fave for Sweden - Hard to disagree, I feel he will be out for Revenge after the average outing in Monte Carlo! Taka 2nd! I would love that - I honestly thought last year in Sweden he had a shot at winning!

@@thehotlapshow Yes, indeed. And I hope fans love reading our post video banter. (Maybe once my web site is back, we can integrate your videos and our banter there?) Basically, the way I see it: After Monte is before Sweden! For me Sweden lacks the variety of Monte, but if you see the WRC as a whole, it is the start of the season where we do have the variety. Monte to Sweden to Safari to Asphalt, how amazing, this identifies Rallying from Racing! What I am totally bored of since years is the mid season flood of fast gravel in WRC as well as ERC. Nothing against Finland, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, etc, but please not all at once! Not all so similar. We need more asphalt, how about a snow event on tarmac base (i.e. Canada?!), more Safari, more rain forest. Good news is, I always loved rain forest mud events as Bandama, Brazil, which are tricky ones to include in modern times. But it seems the promotor is talking to re-instate Indonesia, and here the the Sumatra Forest/Island region. Ace, absolute ACE! Anyway, after Monte is before Sweden? Ogier won Monte but he doesn’t start Sweden. Evans was 2nd Monte and a former Sweden winner, but he is ploughing the road in Sweden now, so he is out alredy, sadly. Fourmaux 3rd in Monte and 2nd on the road in Sweden, don’t expect him to beat his team mates this time, but also don’t hold it against him. Kalle 4th in Monte may have been disappointing, but he never liked Monte and he certainly does not like ploughing the snow in Sweden. 3rd on the road is still tricky, but for the star he is do-able! Taka crashed in Monte, but that means he is as low as 7th on the road in Sweden. Now remember Sweden last year? He was fighting for the lead when he crashed (and when he was 5th on the road btw, this time 7th!). We both were super excited about Taka Sweden last year, then he had a shout at Safari and then I said: “I really love the character Taka is, but I just can’t see him as a potential winner for the rest of the season except Japan! Taka comes from a racing background, he also is experienced now in fast gravel/snow, but then so many guys are strong on fast gravel, Kalle, even Sesks… Taka’s chances really are Sweden, Safari and Japan” Remember that? I still stick to that. Kalle is tough to beat and Tänak and Neuville have good starting positions, but I think if there is one rally Taka can win, it is Sweden starting 7th on the road! Kalle will be a hard one, but if Taka doesn’t crash, I would be very surprised indeed if he finishes behind former Sweden winner Evans, of whom I am a huge fan, too!

Definitely! And congratulations on the engagement! You will have some stunning views and seeing an F1 car go through COPSE is mighty impressive and you may see some risky overtakes. Inner track on Saturday is cool as well! If you do get the chance check out Maggot / Becketts and Chapel corner - An F1 car through there is something else - opt there for one of the practice sessions :-) I'm sure you will have an amazing time, let me know how it goes :-)

Completely Agree! Sad really. Appreciate the comment

It’s genuinely sad. Yes his Monza crash wasn’t ideal but Mercedes aren’t stupid. He’s done 9000miles or km (I can’t remember) of testing. Clearly hes done well there if they were willing to put him in

Yeah, Fair Point! :-) Appreciate the comment !

WOAH! Mic Drop!

Indeed they do LOVE THEM! Also no micro transactions haha!

@thehotlapshow they're so simple yet so beautiful

Fair enough, I see you're point! Appreciate the comment and thanks for watching :-)

@thehotlapshow thanks for the reply and keep up the excellent work!

Ha! Yeah 5 minutes I mean WHAT ! But much!

Haha THANKS ;-)

:-(

Yeah I think you're right. Appreciate the comment :-)

Fair point!, Appreciate the comment :-)