In the same interview, Antonelli says he learns something every time he goes out: “Every time I get in the car, I arrive with something new, I feel I have more confidence, better control of the situation.” Toto Wolff, for his part, has compared the way he improves by absorbing what he picks up on track to an artificial intelligence.
Post 14 report, Monday morning, read cold from the folder.
A driver leading the championship does not speak the word “championship” at the moment he sits down in the car. At the post, we know the principle. There are words you say and words you do not. “Copy”, we say: it means we heard, not that we listened. “Dry”, we do not say until the track is. We say “damp in places”, and we keep the flag within reach.
So this is not superstition. It is signalling. You do not show what is not there yet, and you do not announce it on the radio either. The heated room applies the same rule, more slowly: it writes “noted” and then thinks about it for another twenty minutes.
Two wins, Monza and Madrid, a driver of 20 who says he learns something every time he gets in the car. The standings are displayed elsewhere, by people whose job that is. They do not need saying out loud in the cockpit.
With us, the word you do not speak is “last lap”, until race control has given it. Jean-Luc said it once, a few years ago, radio open. They heard him as far as post 13. Since then he thinks it very hard and says nothing, and he holds his flag. A word is used when the procedure allows it. Post 14, received. Nothing further to report.
It’s true, we checked: Nextgen-Auto.
