Motorsport Weekly: The Big Bad Red Bull & How I'm Consuming F1 Differently

Welcome to your motorsport/lifestyle weekly newsletter where I yap too much about F1 and my life. March 24th-March 31st.

Apr 01, 2025

This week has been a long one for multiple reasons. It started with me being sick and in bed. Then, Tuesday night the F1 news outlets reported Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda were set to swap places for Japan. I scoffed at my phone, saying “If it’s not the big 3 reporting it, ESPN, Skysports, or F1, I don’t wanna hear it.” The following day ESPN posted. That’s when I knew it was serious.

At the end of the week I had a family emergency in which I swear I saw an act from God himself. I’m not all that religious, but sometimes things happen in life where it makes you wonder. And in these kind of moments, when someone you love is teetering on the edge between life and death, you realize how insignificant everything really is. So to that I say hug your loved ones and give that person a call. Life can be over in the blink of an eye.

In this week’s newsletter, we’re going to be talking about Red Bull and their many, many problems, how I’m consuming F1 differently (and love it), and answer some questions.

The Big Bad Red Bull

Consider me shocked. I should have known my prediction would be wrong, like most of my F1 predictions usually are. When I say, “there’s no way this could possibly happen” chances are it’s in the process of being done.

Yuki Tsunoda has taken Liam Lawson’s Red Bull seat after just two races. We’ve gotten to a point with Red Bull that nothing should surprise us. Sacking someone after a bad season? Why not. Trashing your driver to the media? Well, of course. Threatening to sack your driver multiple times but not actually following through? That’s how you motivate them, obviously.

Red Bull has many problems right now. The big, unfiltered mouth on Helmut Marko is a big one. The car is on a downward trajectory. Their team principal is a questionable man. Adrien Newey is gone. And their 2nd seat curse? Well, that’s just the cherry on top.

Picture this: You’ve been dating this guy for years and it’s gotten serious. I’m talking vacations to the Cape, meeting the parents, hell, even moving in together. You’re thinking this guy is really the one. Then one day you come home and he confesses he still loves his ex and breaks up with you, but says you can still be friends.

That’s basically what Red Bull did to Liam Lawson. Even before he became a Red Bull F1 driver, they poured thousands of dollars and resources into building his career starting from F3 in 2019. For the past six years, Liam has been backed by Red Bull, wether it was in the driver academy or being their reserve driver. Finally, after pouring blood, sweat, money and tears into the team, he got the call up to F1 for the 2025 season. After years and years of building him up for this moment, Red Bull then decide after two races that they’ve seen enough. They want their ex back.

Red Bull treat their 2nd seat like young adults nowadays treat the dating pool. They have the “Grass is Greener” syndrome, in which they believe there’s always a better option out there than the one they’ve got. Instead of just committing to someone and nurturing the relationship so that it can have the potential to grow, Red Bull, like most of the young adults in New York, cut the relationship off the second the going gets tough. They laughed in a weird way? Yeah, no. Onto the next. Liam Lawson got knocked out of Q3 his first race in a Red Bull even though the car is hanging on by a thread? He is clearly the issue here.

But the thing is nobody and no relationship is perfect. Max Verstappen’s talent was crafted by the F1 gods and he was born and bred to win. He is, in my opinion, an F1 anomaly. A generational talent, if you will.

And what Red Bull needs to understand is that there is no Max Verstappen 2.0. Their obsessive desire to create another Max has driven away every 2nd driver since Daniel Ricciardo.

There’s a reason why Kimi Antonelli is doing so well right off the bat, besides his talent and car. It’s because he feels comfortable to make mistakes. He knows that if he gets knocked out of Q3 twice, Toto Wolff isn’t going to boot him and trash him to the media. Pressure is a big part of sports, sure. But the pressure Red Bull put on their drivers is exactly why they are failing, and once the team finally wakes up realizes this, then things can change.

So this is my message to Red Bull and young adults in New York, who weirdly have more in common than you’d think. The grass is not always greener. Flowers don’t bloom by magic. You have to water it, provide sunlight, and have patience. Then it can become something beautiful.

F1 is Not My Whole World. Thank God.

For the past three years F1 has been my whole world and now it’s not.

I found F1 in a time of desperation. On one of the lowest days of my life I climbed to the highest point in Prospect Park to try to find myself again. It was the summer of 2022 and I was so utterly alone and bored and lost. Walking along the pond, I envied the ducks that swam alongside each other, always in a pair. I envied the way they had a built in group and how at peace they looked as they swam. This is what my life has come to? I thought. I’m jealous of a duck?

I remember calling my mom as I walked in mindless circles. “I’m just so bored. I have no friends, so how often can I do the same things before getting sick of it? And where do I even make friends?”

Then I walked the same path I did as a kid, except my mom was busy with work and my dad was constantly visiting my grandma in the hospital. My brother was away at camp, my dog was dead, so today I was walking this path alone.

I was in this in-between. I was at home doing two online internships, yet had absolutely no friends in the city. In three months time I would be back at college, but I had to make it to September first. Here I was, in this waiting room. Waiting for my life to start while watching from the window as it slipped away from me.

And then I found F1. It was like all of my prayers had been answered by a Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc challenge video. My boredom was cured by 20 wealthy men and fast cars, and for the first time in years I was finally happy.

F1 was my whole life because the sad truth was I had no life. My days consisted of watching races, scrolling Pinterest for F1 photos, Twitter, and watching F1 videos on Youtube. And the funny thing was, I was right back where I started, I just didn’t know it. Life was still slipping away from me, but instead of watching it from my window, I watched F1. But I was still in that waiting room.

I realized just how miserable I was without F1 during the break after the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix. It finally hit me that without F1, I was right back to being bored and alone.

Over the past three months, I found myself outside of F1. I realized that even though I was living outside of my comfort zone in England last year, I wasn’t truly living. When I went to the bar to watch F1 with my friends, all I could think about were the videos I had to make after. While my friends were in class, my days were consumed with TikTok and F1. My phone was always on me no matter what, just in case some news dropped and I needed to see it.

I romanticize my life abroad last year, but truthfully I could have done more. I could have made more friends. I could have went out to the pubs more. I could have gotten more involved on campus. I could have went into London more. I could have explored the cafes and scenes in Brighton more. There’s so much more I could have done if I just put the phone down, tucked F1 away for a day, and opened my eyes to the world around me.

But I never did. I chose the comfort that F1 provided me because it was easier than facing the truth that in order to have a life, you have to make the choice to live it.

And for the first time in years, I made that choice. I put the phone down and turned off the TV. I took a good look at my friendships and cherished them. I journaled, I started writing again, and I started to appreciate my life instead of wishing I was doing more.

I don’t consume F1 in the way I once did. I don’t spend hours of my day binge watching F1 YouTube videos and I don’t endlessly scroll looking for content to make. I don’t really care what George Russell wears anymore, unless it’s that metallic Adidas trash bag jacket, then I’m sending it to my friends and judging. I don’t care what the F1 drivers do with their lives, because finally, I care more about what I’m doing with mine.

So yeah, F1 is no longer my whole world. Thank God.

Activities I’ve been doing instead of F1-related things: reading, diamond art, Lego building, working, writing, watching movies, going out with friends, walks in the park, meeting new people, picnics, trying new cafes, spending more time with family, playing video games with my dad.

This may contain: two dolphins in a circle with the words life is good

Ask Jo

You ask, I answer!

How do you balance content creation with your studies and social life?

Dear Arthi,

Truthfully, I don’t, or at least I didn’t. While looking through questions to answer, I felt like this one fit really well with the topics in this week’s newsletter.

Content, like F1, has been my whole life. The work/life balance was non-existent. When out with friends, my mind was never really there. Instead, I was planning video ideas and stressing about what would happen if I didn’t post that day.

This week I experienced burn out for the first time since I started posting two years ago. I’m honestly shocked I was able to survive this long considering I hadn’t taken a break from posting for more than three days over the span of two years. It was a long time coming, and I crashed. During this crash, it felt like my eyes opened. I wondered how I thought it was normal to be as anxious as I was when I didn’t post. I looked around, and like I did with F1, I saw that without content I was nothing.

So, with that being said, here is what I’m doing to better balance content creation with life:

Starting to treat content like a job. I strayed away from this concept for as long as I could, because I thought if I treated content “like a job” it would lose it’s magic. But treating it like a job is actually how you keep the magic alive. I started creating a schedule for myself. I’d start working on content at 10am and stop at 5pm. Once the clock hit 5, the phone is down and no more social media. If you are constantly in content world, you will eventually feel suffocated. You need to allow yourself time to breath.
Hobbies. This one is really big. I remember someone asked me, “What are your hobbies outside of content?” and I stared at them. Well shit, content is my hobby. Except it wasn’t. I was having so much fun with it, but over time it was becoming more and more mentally taxing, I just wasn’t aware. I realized it was a problem when my daily screen time average was 12 hours and the only thing that was filling my time was TikTok, F1, and the occasional candy crush game. Over the past two months I got back into reading, and now writing. I started spending more time watching movies and going on walks. Football at the pubs has become a new routine of mine, just for fun. These hobbies have really helped me value my life and my social responsibilities away from content.
Stop comparing. One of the ways in which I burnt myself out was by comparing myself to others. You think, let me take a break for a day. Then you open Instagram and see someone who’s doing something you want to do. You then think, there’s no way I can take a break now. Once you realize you’re on your own path, and the only person you should compare yourself to is the person you were yesterday, you will find it a lot easier to balance.

Hopefully some of these tips were helpful. If there’s anything I could tell you about balance is that you need to make a conscious effort, or you will burn out eventually. And the longer you don’t take the break, the worse the burn out will be.

That’s all! Also, happy race week!

Time to ruin my sleep schedule again :)

xoxo,

Jo <3