A Little Something for Everyone

Howdy, hi, hello. Welcome to Engine Failure, a culture newsletter that dives into what the fuck is really going on in Formula 1. It’s written by me, Lily Herman.

Welcome back, pals. We don't have a race to talk about (gasp!), so instead, we’re doing what we always do during off-weeks: Rambling about lots of random shit going on in F1 and the world of motorsports at large. As always, I come to you with #THOUGHTS!

Before we get to that, have you listened to part one and part two of Choosing Sides: F1’s Red Bull episodes? Get on that quickly before we start our look at Ferrari tomorrow.

Onward!
 

I Went to the NYC Formula E ePrix

Because there was no race (or Carlos Sainz denim) to obsess over, I schlepped my lil’ conspiratorial tuchus to Red Hook for Formula E’s marquee U.S. event.

The verdict: I liked it the NYC ePrix! First of all, Formula E’s system of providing shuttles to and from Barclays to the event was incredibly efficient. I’m an anxious traveler in any situation, and I'd doubted that I’d be able to find the shuttles despite FE promising ample signage. Spoiler: There was ample signage. I was fine. The bus was nice and air-conditioned, which is critical in the dead of July in this swamp land known as the Big Apple.

From there, I’d say the event actually reminded me more of a fun family day than something you’d see in F1; there were small kids everywhere and a lot of ~activities~. Other pluses: 

• It was an infinitely more diverse crowd than some other motorsports spaces I’ve been in. I can’t tell if many folks in attendance were actual FE/motorsports fans or just said YOLO and came to this random thing in Red Hook, but I liked the crowd. People were friendly and lines were never too long.

• The food around lunchtime was delicious, but I’d expect nothing less from Brooklyn.

• I didn’t realize FE had a mascot, but he was there and he was twerking. Whoever was in that costume deserves a raise.

• The track might be iffy, but both NYC races were absolutely batshit. I live to be entertained!

In terms of meh components:

• I can’t speak for Sunday, but several of the hydration stations near the grandstand broke on Saturday 20 minutes before the race was set to begin. I heard of a few other issues like that going on throughout the weekend. Not the best!

• The announcer over the speakers didn’t have the most consistent commentary. He regularly confused different drivers and was pretty delayed in terms of catching some of the big race moments. I don’t know if that was a technical issue or something else, but it made for a slightly strange experience as a spectator. 

Unfortunately, it looks like FE may not return to New York City in 2023 (or at least not its Red Hook location), but wherever it lands, I recommend it. It was way cheaper than an F1 weekend and I felt very cool knowing who all of the drivers were. (And once again, FE has a shorter Drive to Survive-esque YouTube series called Formula E Unplugged if you want to check it out. There’s only 15 episodes and they’re eight to 15 minutes in length!)

Let’s Talk About Aston Martin’s Racism Scandal

I’m sure we’re all still not quite over what went down in Austria or what happened with Nelson Piquet (it's been...a busy month), but Aston Martin had a racism scandal of its own last week. Sky Sports reported that Aidan Louw, a laminator who created parts for Sebastian Vettel’s cars, was called numerous racial slurs, including the N-word, upon joining the team in February as one of its suppliers’ agency contractors. Louw, who holds both South African and British citizenship, said an offensive apartheid-era insult was also thrown his way, and after disclosing during a conversation that he’d previously had a boyfriend, he said he experienced homophobic remarks as well.

Aston Martin initially said Louw's contract was terminated quickly by the brand due to "poor performance" and "poor timekeeping,” which he believed was due to the racist and homophobic abuse he suffered on the job. He'd previously worked for three other F1 teams and remarked that those were all positive experiences.

Within a day, Aston Martin issued a updated response: “We have a zero-tolerance policy on discriminatory behaviour of any kind. We were extremely disappointed that two of our supplier’s contractors had behaved so appallingly. We acted swiftly and applied our zero-tolerance policy. They no longer work for that supplier, therefore.”

While it's good that Aston Martin acted swiftly, I don’t like the company trying to distance itself by pointing out that this was its “supplier’s contractors” who said these racist and homophobic slurs. It felt like an unnecessary addition that was solely there to protect the brand’s own ass, and at the end of the day, the buck has to stop with Aston Martin’s leadership itself. (And as we talked about in the past, it seems easier for F1 teams to step in quickly when their own personnel aren’t directly implicated. I won’t surmise too much, but *Carrie Bradshaw voice* I couldn’t help but wonder, would we have seen the same swift public response if those involved were salaried full-time employees of the Aston Martin F1 team itself and not a supplier? Hmmmm.)

Back to Aidan Louw here, I think it’s important to end with his words: "Up until this point, I felt like this was honestly all I was meant to do. I felt like this was all I really had — a purpose. I don't want to be viewed as a victim, that's not who I am but the fact is this [abuse] is not right, it's not just me that's the victim it's my community, my community is the victim. We're not asking to be given those opportunities, things to just be dropped on our plate just because of ethnic origin or sexual orientation. I am not asking for that, nobody is asking for that — we are asking for an equal opportunity. The fact is I know there are kids out there who have got dreams to do this the same as me…and if it's a lie, then what's the point? What is the point? There is no sport. It doesn't matter how many sponsors chuck money into it. No matter what the repercussions are, publicly for me, I'm willing to accept because this message is bigger than me.”
 

Congrats to Logan Sargeant, My Official Nemesis™

Folks…we need to talk about Logan Sargeant again. I know, I know! How does one have much to discuss about a man who says so little?

As we all know, I’ve tried to root for Logan Sargeant since he’s in that tier of Americans who have the best shot of getting into F1. Really, I have. But at this point, I’m about 87% sure this man was created by AI.

I don't know if Williams reads EF or if this was just a strange coincidence, but the team has spent the past week really trying to get us all on the Logan train. They put out this long blog post about Logan’s achievements (which I’ll admit are incredibly impressive!) and followed it up with an Instagram Live Q&A with the lad himself. Plus, a separate Autoweek feature came out during the same timeframe.

Unfortunately for the brand, the IG Live was a bit of a disaster. (It also can’t be accessed after the fact now.) Among the many things that made me yell, "God, please give us more!!!!!":

• Logan said he loves any Miami-based sports team. Fine, but give us a name! A favorite moment! Anything!

• He said his favorite fast-food restaurant was Chick-fil-A. Putting the moral quandaries of supporting Chick-fil-A aside, this man didn’t name a single sandwich, sauce, or other menu item he loves. As a fellow Southerner, I can confirm this is highly suspicious. And if all else fails, just say you love the waffle fries!!!! That’s what everyone else does!!!

• When asked his favorite place in the entire world, this man answered…Florida. FLORIDA! After that, Austin, Texas. I just...................

• He said his favorite movie is The Wolf of Wall Street. In this economy?!?!?! And in this sport?!?!?!

• A common question drivers get during these type of events is what they’d do if they weren’t in motorsports. Logan’s brilliant answer? “Some sort of business.” Logan, my guy, I am trying SO HARD here...

On top of that, I found during some digging that Williams did a blog post Q&A with Logan last April, where he provided many of the exact same answers. Siiiiigh.

I’ve actually got a little more to say about Logan, but we’ll get to that in one of the upcoming newsletters. I don't even know how to end this section. I'm just sad.
 

I Love This Podcast

Among the other random shit I keep track of, I somehow inadvertently stumbled upon Screaming Meals, the new podcast from Formula 2 driver Marcus Armstrong and his pal James Harvey Blair. Admittedly, I'd never cared to learn much about Marcus other than the basics, but this series is an absolute DELIGHT and Marcus (who’s actually vegan or at least vegetarian throughout the year) has an incredibly good podcasting voice. James is a fellow Kiwi who grew up with Marcus in the country’s racing scene and now works as an insurance broker. Marcus has a tendency to go on random (but very enjoyable) tangents, so I like that James plays the ever-important “let’s get back to the actual questions for context” role. The pod is so new that the two haven’t even figured out how to get it on Apple or Spotify, but I find that quaint.

I also appreciate that Marcus is a legit foodie (see what it’s like to have hobbies and preferences, Logan Sargeant!!!!!) who brings on good guests. The diversity on this show is nonexistent so far (though they’re only two episodes in), but that’s to be expected, unfortunately.

Marcus probably isn’t gonna make it into Formula 1 unless true pandemonium ensues, so I’m just hoping he goes to IndyCar solely because he could easily be the Bus Bros’ intern. He’s all vibes. Also, his interview with Callum Ilott was a real highlight for me, and not just because I’m a Callum fan who ordered his IndyCar hat for a cheap $19. The two have a genuine friendship (Marcus’ love language is definitely physical touch, btw), and there were many fun anecdotes. A few favorites: Mick Schumacher getting miffed at not receiving the “best attitude” designation among the Ferrari Drivers Academy racers, Callum basically destroying his hands in the first IndyCar race of the season, and Marcus being absolutely horrendous at cleaning the apartment he shared with Callum for two years. Anyway, Screaming Meals is probably more of an intermediate-level motorsports podcast (as opposed to one for complete newbies), but it's A+ in my book.
 

Engine Failure Book Club

For all of the lit girlies (a gender-neutral term) out there, we’ve got three very different book recs from the WAGs. Here’s what they've posted to Instagram Stories in recent weeks:

• Obvious BookTok viewer Heidi Berger (gf of Daniel Ricciardo) took a photo of her reading Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us this week. (Brief aside: I actually wrote the first mainstream media profile of Colleen back in January and know for a fact that her sons are McLaren fans. Look at that! Full circle!) She was also previously spotted with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, another BookTok fave.

• Lance Stroll’s maybe/maybe not gf Sara Pagliaroli (we'll get to that at a later date) posted a photo of The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker. Judging by the number of Goodreads reviews, it was a smash hit in Italy before being translated into other languages.

• Alex Albon’s gal Lily He did a Q&A on IG this week and included The Best of Me by David Sedaris in the frame. Lily’s a known reader; she actually posted several of her favorite books on Instagram Stories last year.

Happy reading!
 

Like what you see? Check out other recent Engine Failure issues, check out the EF website, and then forward this newsletter to a friend because you're a nice person who wants to see me ~succeed~:

• How many things did F1 get wrong at the Austrian Grand Prix?

• Is this the best motorsports show since Drive to Survive?

• What should Daniel Ricciardo do with his Hulu opportunity?

I’d like to thank the folks at McLaren for really kicking off this silly season in earnest, because it was getting quite boring over here without them. 

To recap the mess: Last Tuesday night, reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou (a man who gives Logan Sargeant a run for his money in terms of lack of personality) started mad drama after tweeting out that he wasn’t returning to Chip Ganassi Racing next year despite CGR tweeting earlier in the day that he was. Palau even went so far as to say that CGR’s comms/PR team fabricated a quote from him about how excited he was to come back. To make matters even more Real Housewives, 15 minutes after the Palou bombshell, McLaren Racing officially announced that Palou would join the ever-increasing berth of drivers; however, they didn’t specify which series he’d be part of. (Oh, and no one's sure of the legality of this whole thing!) While many assumed he'll join its IndyCar crew, rumors immediately began swirling that Palou, who has enough superlicense points to get into F1, would be taking Daniel Ricciardo’s questionable seat on the team. Say it with me now: Lmaaaaaaaoooooo.

I could tell the spectacle had reached fever pitch when Daniel Ricciardo posted on social media less than 12 hours later that he was committed to McLaren for the 2023 season. That didn’t quite quell rumors though, as Daniel didn’t directly (like, ultra-directly) specify that he was staying with the F1 team and not some other McLaren outfit. And mind you all of this was going on shortly after IndyCar’s Colton Herta had his own F1 test for McLaren. (This doesn’t even include Pato O’Ward, Oscar Piastri, Felix Rosenqvist, and Lando Norris, who are all linked to the papaya team in some form or another next year.)

And then if all of that wasn’t enough, Alex Palou found himself in a separate oopsy daisy after his management team bought a bot YouTube channel for him to post on but fully didn’t clear it of its previous content. Now they’re trying to wipe the thing from existence. Incredible.

My score on this whole kerfuffle: 10/10, no notes.

So instead of a usual ranking, I’ve decided to set each member of McLaren’s silly season up with the reality TV show I think best suits their specific brand of messiness. I’m starting with Zak Brown, the sloppy biddy at the top of this papaya pyramid, and working down to the least high-key part of this situation.

Zak Brown: I know nothing about most Bravo TV shows, but my Non-F1-Watching Friend of the Newsletter™ Kaitlyn says that Zak is probably most deserving of the early seasons of The Real Housewives of New Jersey (i.e. Teresa’s iconic table flip) or seasons two and three of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Thank you for the intel, Kaitlyn!

Alex Palou: Big Brother. I think Alex could blend into the house until absolutely necessary and then win the comps he needs to at the end. In my head, it's somewhat comparable to Kevin Martin's performance in BBCAN 5. I don’t think Alex would be a particularly memorable winner though. You could also think Hayden Moss pre-Survivor appearance.

Colton Herta: This man would’ve been a perfect addition to Laguna Beach and I will accept no other answers. He could’ve been a Trey-like figure.

Daniel Ricciardo: Love Island. I’m talking about the U.K. version, of course; the American spinoff of this show does absolutely nothing for me. As runner-up: Too Hot to Handle, but that might get too emo at times.

Pato O’Ward: I’ve thought about this a lot, and I actually think Pato would be great on The Circle. Do I think he could get to the end by competing as himself? Absolutely. Could I see him deciding to play as his sister or something just for funsies? Totally.

Oscar Piastri: Who are we kidding? This man has no time for reality TV. He's too busy hoping Fernando Alonso throws out his back or Esteban Ocon trips over a banana peel so that he can usurp one of their seats.

Felix Rosenqvist: Here’s a fun fact: Felix and his longtime girlfriend Caroline Björkqvist were actually featured on a Swedish reality TV program called Playmakers, which follows the lives of WAGs in Sweden. He’s already fulfilled this prophecy!

Thank you to everyone who wrote into last issue’s Conspiracy Corner question: Make the case for the next clothing item you think Carlos should test out as he tries to enhance the power of the denim.

This CC had a record number of responses (and many involved Canadian tuxedos), so here are a few of the faves:

• Elena: Carlos clearly needs to go on the fashion equivalent of an elimination diet. He should wear the jeans and nothing else while slowly adding additional clothing items to test their impact. Or you know, he could just stick to jeans only because I don’t think any of us mind shirtless Carlos.

• Byrd: I would like Carlos and Isa to recreate the iconic 2001 Britney/Justin double denim. Whether or not it affects his race, it would be a thing of beauty.

• Hannah: Is it not obvious? A Canadian tuxedo. Now, hear me out: This has to be tactical. And by tactical, I mean it can’t be done in Europe. No, no. A Canadian tuxedo in Austin this fall would rattle the universe in a way that Motorsport Sky Daddy couldn’t ignore. Dare I say Charles’ race could be affected or *gasp* Binotto would have a bad hair day? Carlos, do the people a favor: Wear the Canadian tuxedo to COTA!

• Anita: The shoes from Charles' Instagram Story. I don't think I need to elaborate.

• Debbie: Mini Jodie/gladiator sandals. Just kidding, just wanted to see if I could hear you scream from 3,000 miles away. [Editor's note: I do not appreciate this whatsoever!!!!!!! I am deeply affected!!!!!]

• Patricia: I would like to see Carlos in a denim bucket hat. Lando really thinks he’s cornered the bucket hat market, and it would be fun to see some competition from his former teammate/grid bestie.

• Anna: With the boost of confidence from his win, I truly feel this man could pull off anything. Truly. I hope he shows up in a full-on cloak come fall. Can you imagine? Everyone else shows up in the same basic pants and sweater combo and in strolls Carlos Sainz in a floor-length cloak. DOMINANT. He’s hot enough to make it work.

• Claudia: JORTS. EMBRACE THE CHAOS.

• Zach: As a denim devotee and regular Canadian tuxedo wearer myself, I think Carlos needs to lean harder into Jean World to absolve himself of his Grey Polo misdeeds. Toss a denim shirt on with the jeans; hell, throw on a pair of overalls! No need to wear an undershirt with the overalls though cause, uh, a different material would uh...mess with the magic! Yeah, that's the reason he shouldn't wear a shirt...

• Matt: Capris. If it works for fellow champion Spaniard Rafael Nadal, it’ll work for Carlos.

• Molly: For the fall and winter races, a *non-Ferrari* puffer jacket. Symbolizes self-protection over obeying the team (a la Silverstone), being a champion driver (Lewis loves a puffer), and being a lil hot and sweaty (to enhance his definitive hottest helmet hair on the grid). Plus I trust and believe Isa will find him something cooler than the North Face x Gucci collab.

• Anna: Honestly, I feel like it should be a banana hammock. It's barely clothing and can be worn with a shirt underneath it and tucked into his demin IF he's feeling particularly exposed. But we know what the people want...

Today’s question: Who else is joining McLaren Racing in 2023 and why? (Wrong answers only and non-drivers recommended!)