Severin

I really doubt Max is seriously back in contention. Even if he won all the remaining races Piastri would beat him if he finished second every time. Just too big a gap. And whilst the Red Bull has clearly improved, the last two tracks are high speed one they've traditionally done well at. Remains to be seen if somewhere like the high downforce Singapore will remain a difficult track for them and just how they'll compare on yhe medium-hgh speed tracks like Qatar etc. He'll cause problems for the two McLaren drivers though which should be entertaining. Max now sits joint second with Lewis for most Grand Slams, just two behind Jim Clark.

If we can just have the threatened rain tomorrow too

Very much liking The Coral and Muse too. Never cared for Lostprophets thankfully so never had to do the big deletion of files. Not bothered about the Chilis either but they have a few decent tracks even if they're awful people. Bill McCai always felt like a modern update of Excerpt From a Teenage Opera by Keith West. A very upbeat, catchy tune about someone dying. This has just inspired my next playlist - Death Discs, as they were called in the 60s.

Well done to @uhsting for a deserved win! Also big thanks for the 10 points you sent Cwfen's way too and @Jade as well for the top marks. Thanks too to everyone else who sent points my way. I always knew Cwfen wouldn't be to everybody's taste but the aim as ever is to offer something that might find an audience with one two or a few people, so I'll take that. Really enjoyed discovering Some Days Are Darker. They can safely be added to my 'It's Not Goth But...' playlist. Here's to the next contest. Better get my thinking cap on.

So glad you like it. I adore this band so much. Well worth checking out the album

I am so gonna tell Eva that!

I'm genuinely stoked to see Eville doing this well so far

A real marmite genre for me that encompasses many tracks I really like and just as many I can't bear, but everything is well covered here and there are some really great and really surprising picks in there - for example Romeo & Juliet isn't the obvious choice for Dire Straits but it's my favourite by them by far. Conversely, Fleetwood Mac's Everywhere is not getting much love from me but it does seem to be among their most popular these days, so I can see why you picked that one. Well done for keeping it as broad as possible and still keeping a distinct identity and time period. Inevitably there's stuff that gets left off (totally expected Cher in there) but extra bonus points for Harry Nilsson, Wings and Scorpions being on there. Another excellent addition to the catalogue and great artwork too.,

Loads since the last update - Poppy, Amy Lee & Courtney LaPlante - End of You Last DInner Party - The Scythe congratulations - This Life Smashing Pumpkins - Chrome Jets Nyx Division - Midnight Lights Lambrini Girls w/ Peaches - Cuntology 101 Eville - No Pictures Please Sick Joy - Nothing Good AFI - Holy Visions Black Rose Moves - Club of Sin Motorhead and The Damned - Neat Neat Neat Die Spitz - RIDING WITH MY GIRLS

Votes sent. Whoever sent in my 12 pointer, thank you! They are strongly marked for further investigation.

For those that love a conspiracy theory. Kirk was adamant that the Epstein files should be released publicly in full. Trump very much didn't want that. No-ones talking about Epstein now.

I agree he got owned spectacularly there but his skill is that to the right audience, even when he objectively loses the argument, he appears to them to have been in the right. Convincing your target audience you're the victor, when neutrals can see you aren't, is quite a talent that the likes of Nick Griffin were incapable of.

Personally, I am not at all moved by his death. Nor do I take any joy from it. Although he held many views I find deeply unpleasant, he had a particular gift as a public speaker and was also a skilled debater with no small amount of charisma. Even when I felt he'd lost the argument, it was clear that many others were convinced of his values and believed in what he was saying. For that reason I always considered him a very dangerous individual. I'm just not at all convinced that his death by an assassin's bullet won't make him even more dangerous as a martyr.

Libertines is my favourite of the last three but they're all good to great.

Quite. For those of us who grew up with the Indie charts in the 80s you can be both Pop and Indie as well as much more - Napalm Death, Erasure, Depeche Mode, Nirvana, CRASS, Front 242, The Smiths, S-Xpress, Black Lace, The Shamen, 808 State, Nick Cave, Kylie Minogue - all Indie acts. It has only been since the mid 90s that the meaning of Indie has come to describe a generic sound. Right about the time the major labels swept in and hoovered up every two-bit guitar band in the wake of Britpop. Call me old fashioned but I feel the term carried more meaning when it truly meant Independent. Much like the term Alternative, it has lost all relevance. This was the Indie Chart when St Etienne had their first hit - 23 June 1990 1. 1. 1. the Charlatans - The Only One I Know (Situation 2) video 2. 3. - . Northside - Shall We Take A Trip (Factory) video 3. 2. 3. New Order - World In Motion (Factory) video 4. 7.27. Happy Mondays - Lazyitis (Factory) video 5.12. - . Senseless Things - Is It Too Late? (Decoy) video 6. 9. 6. Ned's Atomic Dustbin – The Ingredients (ep) (Chapter 22) video 7. - . - . Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - Rubbish (Big Cat) video 8.11. - . The Lemonheads - Different Drum (Roughneck / Fire) video 9. 6. 5. Cud - Hey Wire (Imaginary) video 10.26. 8. The Farm - Stepping Stone (Produce) video 11.18. 2. My Bloody Valentine - Glider (ep) (Creation) video 12. 4.14. Betty Boo - Doin' the Do (Rhythm King) video 13.10.11. Erasure - Star (Mute) video 14.14.13. Don Pablo's Animals - Venus (Rumour) video 15. 5. 4. Depeche Mode - Policy Of Truth (Mute) video 16. - . - . Rhythm Device - Acid Rock (Fro) video 17.13.10. Happy Mondays - Peel Session (Strangefruit) 18. - . - . Saint Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Heavenly) video 19. - . - . Massivo Feat. Tracy - Loving You (Debut) video 20. - . - . Tigertailz - Noise Level Critical (Music For Nations) video 21. - . - . Band Of Holy Joy - Real Beauty Passed Through (Rough Trade) video 22.23.19. Snuff - Flibbiddydibbydob (ep) (Play) video 23.22.12. Ride - Play (ep) (Creation) video 24.17.17. New Fast Automatic Daffodils - Big (Playtime) video 25. 8. 9. Happy Mondays - Step on (Factory) video 26.24.29. The Charlatans - Indian Rope (Dead Good) video 27.21.16. Kylie Minogue - Better the Devil You Know (PWL) video 28.28.18. The Would Be's - I'm Hardly Ever Wrong (Decoy) video 29.30. - . Grant Hart - All Of My Senses (SST) video 30.15. 7. Kitchens of Distinction - Quick As Rainbows (One Little Indian) video

St Etienne are one of the bands around which the term Britpop was first used. They are very much Indie, much more so than quite a bit of acts in this forum -

I do see why people says it's 6 points conceded but the reality is that Oscar never had those points. Lando caught him by 3 which is the only number that mattered in the moment. Oscar knows in his mind he's not finishing 2nd to Lando more than the reverse, so with that confidence it wasn't a huge loss. I suspect he voiced his opinions pretty firmly last night and just maybe the crowd booing Lando and cheering Oscar might help him emphasise his point too. I do feel this is the first sign of the endgame beginning to affect the team harmony though. I wouldn't have made that team call myself though. I get it, but fate always plays its part.

Team chat - Lap 45 Norris - Did you want to box the other car first? Joseph - Yep, we’ll do that. We’ll swap it ’round, so stay out. Norris - Well, only if he doesn’t undercut, otherwise I’ll box first. Joseph - There will be no undercut. Confirming we are staying out Norris - Yeah, confirm. Piastri pits Lap 46 Joseph - And confirming we are box this lap Norris - Confirmed Stallard - Launch map off, launch map off. Strat six, Strat six, standard out-lap. Leclerc crossing start-finish now. Oscar, control the out-lap. We are boxing the cars this way around to ensure you cover Leclerc. You are free with Lando once he’s ahead of the pit exit. Stallard - Lando is pitting this lap Norris pits Lap 47 Joseph - Launch map, launch map. This could now be close at exit. Stallard - May be close at exit, Lando slow stop. (Norris reaches pit exit) Joseph - Press the overtake button. Stallard - Oscar, six laps to go. Priority is not to drain this tyre. Lap 48 Stallard - Oscar this is a bit like Hungary last year. We pitted in this order for team reasons. Please let Lando pass and you’re free to race. Piastri - I mean, we said that a slow pit stop was part of racing. I don’t really get what’s changed here. But if you really want to do it then I’ll do it. Joseph - Lando, we’re going to re-establish the order. So he will let you past, then you’ll be free to race. He might let you through into turn one this time around. Stallard - Let’s have strat seven. Suggest to let him through into turn one. Let through into turn one. This is the same as Hungary last year. I know it’s painful, but you will have five laps remaining from now. (Piastri lets Norris through) Lap 49 Joseph - Okay, you’re free to race. Stallard - Thanks Oscar, you’re free to race, clinical, clear head mate. Joseph - Okay Lando, push-and-hold will be available, we’re going to have to use it, they’ve got DRS. Lando, suggest strat 13, strat 13 I don't really have an issue with McLaren's approach as it seems clear they are trying to keep it as fair as possible between the drivers and it does line up that Norris offered to let Piastri pit first to protect him from Leclerc (which was a very cautious move anyway as he was only a threat in the event of a slow stop). Lando will have his own reasons for suggesting it of course, Oscar was catching him at the time and it did protect him from being compromised should any SC or VSC come up at the wrong time, but that is of course, within reason. By getting the agreement for no undercut he is looking out for himself. Oscar did appear to think it may have been discussed before but I'm not willing to go suggesting McLaren changed any agreements around pit stops. There's enough ambiguity around what constitutes a slow stop here. They may have discussed them before the race but not in enough detail and we aren't party to that conversation and cannot know enough to say whose interpretation is most accurate. In the end it is the same pit crew and equipment for both cars, it comprises engineers and mechanics from both sides of the garage and if the issue for Norris on the left front happened due to it being worked by a mechanic from Piastri's team the people who love to see conspiracies in everything would be claiming sabotage. The error and cause of the switched places was a McLaren team error and not a driver one (unlike Silverstone), Norris had voluntarily risked his track position to protect Piastri and had agreed with the team to maintain the effectively order. Should Piastri have been so willing to give the place up? For him it's a long game. He concedes a mere 3 points to Norris, which is too few per race for Lando to overhaul him and he gets to use that position swap as potential leverage in a situation where more points might be at stake. Do I think he should have given it up quite so easily? Perhaps, not. To do so shows that not only is he being very fair minded but he has the confidence he can beat Lando anyway and didn't need to cause problems by refusing to switch. He also conclusively out performed Norris at the second half of last season so probably feel sure he'll do it again. However. he's only a DNF away from losing most of that points advantage so needs to be very careful in his approach and I suspect once the Constructors is sown up in a few races both drivers will be freed up to fight it out. Only, time will tell if he should have argued his case more.

Cadillac have announced Colton Herta will be their 2026 test driver. This comes as he isn widely expected to race in F2 next year as well in order to gain the necessary Siperlicense points for a shot at F1

The fastest lap point was in place between 1950-59 as well, don't forget. You have a good point though as there are 10 occasions were it realistically came in to play - https://www.racefans.net/2025/01/08/f1s-bonus-point-for-fastest-lap-is-dead-will-anyone-notice-its-gone/ As many in his favour as he was denied, so pretty even However, in most races during Verstappen's 18 month happy hunting ground, by the time the first pit stop he took, Max didn't have a 20 second plus advantage so surrendered the lead anyway.

He was never as dominant time-wise as some like to suggest (although I'm not saying he didn't manage the pace often). Biggest win margin was only 33 seconds in Hungary which is far from the biggest in the modern era. Average winning margin was 13 seconds ahead which is not that much really. Damon Hill has the biggest average by miles, although that is somewhat skewed by the 1995 Australian GP. really though it's Schumacher, Rosberg and Hamilton's Mercedes era which were the most dominant. Vettel might be up there if you took only his Red Bull era and ignore the Ferrari wins.

Indeed, they are theoretically easier to achieve in the modern era with increased reliability and no refuelling so Clark's record is all the more remarkable. Prost did have 33 poles so you would expect some but then again he also drove as slow as he needed to and had Senna's qualifying skill to deal with in the mid-late 80s. He would most likely have got one in Detroit in '82 if the Renault hadn't decided to pack it in as usual.

With reference to Mack's comment about Piastri's Grand Chelem, there have only been 69, all achieved by only 27 drivers in the history of the WDC. An average of just above 1 per season. Scoring one is no mean feat. Of those 27 drivers, a total of 18 of them are World Champions, between them they hold an impressive 54 of the 75 titles awarded to date. 8 Jim Clark 6 Lewis Hamilton 5 Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher, Max Verstappen 4 Jackie Stewart, Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Sebastian Vettel 3 Nelson Piquet 2 Juan Manuel Fangio, Jack Brabham, Mika Hakkinen, Nico Rosberg 1 Mike Hawthorn, Stirling Moss, Jo Siffert, Jacky Ickx, Clay Reggazoni, Niki Lauda, Jacques Laffite, Gille Villeneuve, Gerhard Berger, Damon Hill, Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri Not bad company to be keeping there.

Sainz penalty was harsh I felt but in line with the letter of the rules and not totally unexpected. He tried to overtake on the outside but never got his front axle alongside Lawson's. Put's him at fault. Racing incident for me but I'm not arguing it took much. Leclerc was originally going to be punished but no camera angle the stewards had could conclusively prove all four wheels off the circuit. I said at the time and having watched it back, still think hus right rear may remain on the right side of the line. Inconclusive and both Russell and Toto argued fir a racing incident anyway. To be honest I felt Leclerc should have been warned for moving under breaking against Russell but no one else bar Chandhok seems to have pointed this our. Hamilton didn't slow for double waved yellows, that he was instructed would be present at that corner by race control (as were all drivers) Slam dunk penalty. Surprised they waited more than anything and he got off with a lighter penalty than normal. Sauber presumably were in the middle of convincing race control the part was safe when it fell off. Nothing they can do after that but throw VSC but Stroll took it out of the picture pretty quickly.

The last 6 months, most listened albums -