EddieB

Reading between the lines, it seems that Lewis has already moved on, but Mtoto is still very angry. I can appreciate the stance taken by the FIA, some new rich kid (who practically nobody had heard of before the beginning of this month) doesn't want to upstaged/lose "face" by one of his sport's greatest ambassadors.

Sorry if what I wrote has rekindled painful memories - certainly not intended. It is clear that there were/are multiple contributing factors, including flu/coronavirus - remove any one and perhaps they would survive. To me “with” implies that the virus could be one among such factors, “because of” it becomes a primary agent of death. I regard that as an important distinction.

I thought the FIA made up rules on the fly...

I’ve censored what I was going to write, let’s just call Ben Sulayem “Il Duce”.

The South African medic who first identified omicron is on record as saying the UK has over-reacted, based on their experience of treating patients in her country. She contrasts medical expertise and first-hand knowledge with modelling data - which is highly variable according to the parameters used within the model. I note that the death in the UK has been ascribed to "with" omicron, not "because of" omicron, most likely an underlying health condition. Would we still "gloat" had that same person been one of the statistically small sample that had died within days of taking a vaccine - perhaps under compulsion?

The earliest ones were tonsils and nostril, changing to nostrils only around three months ago. The changes were explained and clear with the first boxes and again with the recent revised timings version. I can't imagine many being confused by these changes, as has been suggested. It's a common narrative to treat one another as part of an ignorant herd at this time. Anyone that has used LFT kits over many months will know that sometimes an entire box is defective, and odd tests in others do not give a clear result. When you log on to the Government website to report results, it's usually to find yourself stuck in "loading" until you abort, and then it works normally. You could try reporting these issues...

Eighty years on.... We tend to think of Pearl Harbor as the first aggression in the Pacific Theatre, but due to time zone differences overlook that the Japanese invasion on the East coast of Malaya (and first bombing raids on Singapore) began around an hour an a half earlier. The Americans failed to heed warnings, neglecting to disperse their aircraft in the Philippines which rendered them an easy target for the air attack two and a half hours after Pearl Harbor.

If Lewis retires in the next couple of years, he might not have strong opposition (or at least any drivers prepared to stand up to his aggression).

...and the Pfizer share price.

Well I'm confused. PCR tests back for the two fifteen-year olds, after both had tested positive on LFTs. One (vaccinated) positive, the other (unvaccinated) negative. Younger sibling (unvaccinated, but had Delta a year ago) also negative. Symptoms like mild flu/onset of a cold (as to be expected at this time of year). My test indeterminate, my wife's not reported yet, most likely MIA. Thankfully a kind pharmacist has topped up our supply of LFTs. The school were due to hand out fresh supplies on the days they've been away, after delivery delays.

At the very least, all teams must be prevented from "buttonholing" the Race Director or any of the stewards, except perhaps to raise questions such as "have you considered rule xx.x".

There have been papers published in Nature, from much earlier this year, showing that Covid-derived immunity steadily declines over the first four-month period, but that in most cases the body retains a much longer "memory" of residual immunity. While some authors conclude that boosting that immunity is helpful, or to guard against new variants, there is still room for further studies and we perhaps under-estimate our ability to retain protection.

As posted a couple of days ago, our experience suggests around three days for symptoms to appear and negative LFTs during that time. Omicron assumed, but waiting for confirmation.

Some ONS figures were successfully challenged for sampling bias by its former head, James Wells, under a FOI request.

Two fifteen year olds, one vaccinated the other not. Both developed similar flu-like symptoms the next day after their routine LFTs were negative, testing positive once they had symptoms. As far as I know (I can only speak for one) they had no contact outside their immediate families in that period (no other positive tests), so must have been incubating and possibly infectious without symptoms or giving a positive LFT result.

No refunds unless the race was cancelled, tickets not transferable. Driver safety less of a priority than receipts from spectators and TV coverage.

So did Lewis make a point when he drew back almost level on the last lap? Given that position, I think certain other drivers might - accidentally of course - have touched their front-wing end-plate against Max's rear tyre in the hope of forcing a puncture. Lewis had opportunity, but did not press it home.

No - it's an option to declare the race finished if over 75% of race distance has been completed. That option was not applied in Baku - this year - which was restarted with two laps left after being red flagged. I feel like I'm labouring the point (and as Pen-y-Ghent has also said), there should only be a red flag (no safety car) after a given point of the race (75% seems reasonable), since it is hard to determine how long it will take to clear the debris and restart the race. Likewise (as in Saudi) it may become necessary to convert a safety car into a red flag, spreading confusion late into a race.

Remind me, please - what’s the name of Max’s girlfriend?

Conspiracy alert. I guess it was a genuine accident and just a strange coincidence that Queen Latifi happened to hit the barriers with around five laps to go - a scenario that Masi had discussed pre-race with the Sky Commentary Team. Knowing that it would use up almost all the remaining race laps to clear the Williams under a full safety car, a red flag would have neutralised the race and prevented any driver from gaining an advantage. At that stage of the race it was the only fair decision. However Masi had already indicated that he had no intention of deploying anything other than a safety car - having already briefed Sky what he planned to should that exact circumstance play out. It would be too obvious for a team-mate to have crashed (à la Piquet, Singapore 2008, perhaps my reference in the week was too oblique), when there's an obliging never-likely further down in the paddock. A well executed plan. Hannibal Smith would have been proud.

No, the response to the crash unleashed a sequence of events and decisions that meant that any advantage gained through the race was overturned and the race handed over to the driver in second place. I would feel just as cheated if the order of those drivers were reversed - that Lewis had been gifted a victory unfairly. Oh, it’s MV, not JV by the way. I guess you don’t watch many grands prices.

Let’s be honest, because of the way the safety car and restart were handled, it would be a hollow victory for whoever was given it. Lewis deserved the win today, but on the track rather than through shouting at the stewards. Lewis has emerged from this debacle with dignity. Masi and F1 have not.

Breaking news: no 5-second penalty for overtaking while behind the safety car.

Sorry nothing intended, just trying to find anything to cheer myself up!

I didn’t realise he was dyslexic!