Motorsport Weekly: China GP & The Fear of Failure

Welcome to your motorsport/lifestyle weekly newsletter where I yap too much about F1 and my life. March 18th-March 25th.

Mar 25, 2025

If you’re having a bad day, just be thankful you’re not a Ferrari fan right now. And if you are a Ferrari fan… my condolences.

You see, I thought my weekend was rough. For the past three days I’ve been in bed sick while trying to wake up at 3am every night to watch F1. But then I talked to my friend and realized I had it lucky. He got laid off on Friday and he’s a Ferrari fan. I’m not kidding when I say I think he was more upset with the double disqualification.

In this week’s newsletter, we’re going to discuss the China GP, talk about the fear of failure, and answer some questions.

Max shrugging off the fact that his car is a tractor

Jo’s Notebook: China GP

What I’m taking away from this race, besides a f*cked up sleep schedule (again...)

The Red Bull is not drivable. Checo may have been onto something when he said the car is f*cked. How is it that Liam Lawson is doing significantly worse in a Red Bull than he did in a VCARB last year? And of course, you know as soon as a Red Bull driver underperforms, the driver swap rumors begin. I think Red Bull need to stick to a driver and nurture them rather than dump them after the going gets tough.
Mercedes is in a good spot. Two races and two podiums later, life has never been better as a Mercedes fan. I think it’s clear they don’t have the pace right now to win over McLaren, but they’re sitting pretty in 2nd. And there’s been talks now that they might be able to compete with McLaren’s pace in the near future.
Ferrari is unsurprisingly struggling. Truthfully, I never fully saw the Ferrari depression arc until China. I mean, Australia was rough, but to have a not so great strategy again, Charles’ front wing hanging on for dear life, and then both cars getting disqualified for different reasons… Oh boy, that’s a doozie. Charles and Lewis are now 9th and 10th in the championship after the two races, but who knows, maybe things will go better in Japan.
Haas masterclass. Both Haas’ scored in the points and Ollie Bearman’s overtakes during the race were superb as he made up 7 places. Who would have thought, a Haas driver being ahead of Ferrari drivers in the championship.

The Fear of Failure is Holding You Back

The other day I was on the phone with my best friend, Clara, as she told me about her Hinge dates in London. Walks around the London Eye, brunch at cafes… I couldn’t help but picture what it would be like.

“I’m so jealous. But I’m too scared to go on Hinge dates,” I tell her. “I mean, how is it that I can have dinner with George f*cking Russell, but I’m too scared to go on a date?”

Clara laughed. “It’s because George Russell can’t hurt you!”

Clearly she didn’t see me after the Australian Grand Prix last year. But there it was, my biggest problem in life staring me right in the face. The fear of being hurt.

After my talk with Clara and a slap in the face from reality (aka my mom), I realized that it was more than being hurt that was the issue. It was this horrible, debilitating, fear of failure.

Self-sabotage had become a second nature to me, so much so that most of the time I didn’t even know I was doing it. Anything I’ve ever loved I destroyed before it could fail on me. Fencing, relationships, career opportunities… you name it. Instead of just enjoying something in the moment, I was thinking five steps ahead. You know the people who are afraid of rejection? I’m the opposite. I’m afraid that if I go on a date or give the nice guy a chance, it’ll actually work out. And then I’ll have to be vulnerable and open up which will make the inevitable break up ten times more painful, so instead of going through all of that I might as well just not go on the initial date. Problem solved.

Except problem not solved, because now I’m 22 years old and realizing that I haven’t lived a day of my life. Instead, I’ve been coloring within the lines, afraid that if I mess up, the whole page will be ruined.

But the truth is, in order to be extraordinary in anything, you need to color outside the lines sometimes and see where life takes you. You need to fail, you need to love, and you need to live. And sadly none of that can be done by playing it safe.

Sure, I’ve never been heartbroken. I’ve never had to return boxes to an ex with all his sweatshirts and blow my nose into hundreds of tissues, wondering if I’ll ever open up again. But I’ve also never been in love. I’ve never felt what it’s like to have someone care for me as much as I do them. Someone who’s my person. Someone who makes me smile when nothing else can and someone who truly loves me, flaws and all. I want to be loved so badly, but I don’t want to let anyone love me.

If nobody’s told you this yet, I’ll go ahead and rip off the bandaid. Every single decision you make comes with a risk, a potential to fail. Some of these decisions are small, like choosing to eat eggs for breakfast instead of oatmeal and then realizing you actually wanted oatmeal. There’s a failed breakfast. Or when you study for a test and decide when you can stop studying, there’s always a risk that you didn’t study enough and you flunk the test. Then there are the bigger risks, like going on a date and finding out you have nothing in common. There’s a failed date. Or worse, the date goes well and you end up actually dating, but then he dumps you. There’s a failed relationship.

But guess what? Life goes on. You can always eat oatmeal tomorrow, that one failed test doesn’t define you, and you will fall in love again. There will never be a perfect time to start something, you just have to start.

Sadly, there’s no shortcut to becoming extraordinary or experiencing something extraordinary. It takes time, practice, effort, and failure. In order to find the one, you might have to go on 50 horrible dates. Every single Olympic athlete has probably failed hundreds of times, yet they’re still an Olympic athlete. Failure does not destroy you, it actually builds you up.

I decided last night that it’s time to stop coloring inside the lines. I redownloaded Hinge and made plans to have a night out with some friends on Saturday. Instead of running away from life, I’m finally going to try and live it.

Ask Jo

You ask, I answer!

How do you deal with others saying you only like F1 for the guys?

Dear Arle,

I’ve had my fair share of misogynistic men, both in real life and on the internet. There’s been guys at bars who laugh when I say George Russell is my favorite driver, claiming “it must be because he’s hot.” There’s been executives at big companies who smirk and ask me if I became interested in the sport for the men. There’s been the people in my comments who will pull the “average DTS fan, only here for the guys” when I have an opinion they don’t agree with.

Once you understand that these people’s perception of you is not reality, you won’t care as much. What I’ve learned recently is that you should only really care about the opinion’s of people that matter to you.

Don’t get me wrong, it can be frustrating sometimes, but don’t waste your precious time being angry at someone who’s not worth it. You know why you love the sport, and that’s all that should matter.

How are you handling a week without European Leagues? ⚽

Dear Mark,

I’ll admit, it’s not fun. As of three weeks ago, I’ve become a football fan, and ever since it’s felt like I’ve seen the light. How did I ever think this sport was boring?!

My friend Jula and I made it a weekly routine to go to this sports bar in Midtown and watch football. Thursdays were for Europa League and Sundays were for the Prem, and for the past three weeks these days watching football were some of the most fun days I’ve had in a while.

Last Thursday we watched Man United win against Real Sociedad and then ran to our phones to see who they were playing next. Come to find out, the next match is in a month. Maybe between now and the next Man United game I’ll start watching other leagues to learn some more.

What do you think Red Bull will do about Liam?

Dear Emily,

You have asked the million dollar question, the question every single F1 fan has been wondering these past couple days. The conclusion most people have come to is simple: Liam Lawson is going to be sacked, just like every other Red Bull driver who has underperformed. We all know Red Bull are notorious for their cutthroat behavior.

But, I am not most people. I am an optimist (sometimes). And contrary to popular belief, I think Red Bull are going to stick it out and give Lawson the benefit of the doubt, which is that the car is not drivable.

Here’s my prediction: Christian Horner has said after China that they will continue to support Liam and try to work with him to understand the car more. Do I think this is long term support? Hell no, this is Red Bull we’re talking about. I think they’ll give him until summer break, if he’s lucky, to make improvements. If not, I believe we will see a mid-season driver swap between Liam and Yuki.

I do think Red Bull has a big problem that goes beyond their tractor of a car. Their team environment is not healthy or nurturing, and it produces drivers who are terrified to make mistakes. And if you’ve learned anything from this week’s newsletter, it’s that in order to be successful, you have to make a mistake or two.

That’s all! This week isn’t a race week (I can fix my sleep schedule, yay!), but I’ll still be posting a newsletter :)

xoxo,

Jo <3