Starting To Accept The Fact That Maybe I’m A George Russell Fan

late-ish art but omfg im so glad hes staying on the paddock

Blocking y’all using the anti piastri tag cuz what the hell do u mean “anti piastri” … this him?

RICNATION WE ARE SO BACK!!!

I'm glad Logan got out ok

Anybody that's feeling worried about Daniel's current quali performance and in particular his gap to Yuki (especially after having to listen to Will Buxton repeat every ten minutes on last weekend's broadcast that "Daniel's average quali gap to Yuki is the exact same as NDV's") needs to have a look at this brilliant data analysis by u/tomedunn on reddit.

Obviously Daniel ideally still needs to find a decent chunk of time vs Yuki in quali, but it's nowhere near as dire as Buxton (and many others) are making it out to be, and I think it does also corroborate Daniel's claim that this is not in any way a McL situation.

it goes without explanation with zhou's new helmet is dope as hell. i will provide explanation anyways.

(above, zhou's helmet design as posted to the KV design twitter)

the central design on zhou's helmet is almost certainly inspired by the traditional craft of mother-of-pearl inlay in lacquerware, a practice which originated in China over 6 thousand years ago, and which has been developed and practiced in discrete forms historically in Korea and Japan alike. (continued under the cut!)

(on the left, a korean (goryeo dynasty) lacquerware stationery box; on the right, a chinese (song dynasty) lacquerware lidded bowl for cosmetics or incense. both photos via the met museum website)

traditionally, lacquerware is created through the refinement of a toxic plant sap into a naturally deep and glossy adhesive coat that is built up and polished often on top of wooden furniture and decorative items, such as chests and jewelry boxes. in the above examples, you can see two types of lacquerware practice.

on the left is mother-of-pearl inlay, which is created through the careful grinding down of tortoise or abalone shell into thin iridescent sheets which are then carefully cut into shape and imbedded into the coats of dark lacquer, being repeatedly covered and then polished down in the lacquer until the shiny shell surface is level with its surroundings. it's both visually stunning and incredibly labor-intensive: for a case like this, there would have been separate artisans making the wooden base box, making the metalware (hinges and clasps) for the box, applying the base layers of lacquer, and then completing the inlay itself.

on the right is (what i understand to be) a predominantly chinese lacquer practice, which is carving into the layers of lacquer to form images in relief. while this practice is not replicated on zhou's helmet, the image selected does display the pattern of the peony flower, which i believe to be the flower depicted in the inlay! the striations of the central petals seem to match zhou's. of course, this is speculative and only based off an amateur's eye, especially considering the motif of scrolling foliage is fairly ubiquitous and somewhat generic in east asian decorative art.

(on the left, zhou's 2024 helmet (detail). on the right, a detail image of a korean chest decorated with mother-of-pearl. zhou's helmet via twitter, right image via the met museum website)

the 'metallic' or 'holographic' effect a lot of people have recognized is a natural property of polished mother-of-pearl: look at the iridescence of the design! while it has been exaggerated to some extent on zhou's helmet (for good effect, i must say), you can clearly see the inspiration when compared side-by-side with a more predominantly mother-of-pearl composition: the variegation between blues, greens, and warmer peachy-reds is mesmerizing.

i really want to drive home how brilliant of a design this is and give the due appreciation to KV Design, who made this helmet for zhou. clearly a lot of thought and creativity went into it, and I can't wait to see it in action. >:D

HAPPY HALLOWEEN *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you* *boops you*

I want ppl to have chemistry with me like the way the monaco track wall has chemistry with all these drivers😪✊🏽

They just can't resist the attraction can they😔

Zhou is winning the biggest FA14 fan on the grid race by so so much.