u/Elegant_Gentian

Post

George's post

Special thanks to Ari because I raided her profile to source most of these pics (she is a good follow if you want Oscar updates)

The group keeps expanding. Probably one the few chances to relax before the grueling weeks ahead

In 2017, Oscar was just starting his single seater journey. He raced in UAE F4 during the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017. this was his first single seaters championship. He nabbed 2 podiums during the 11 races he participated in. Other notable drivers in this Championship was Logan Sergeant (who end un runner-up)

However 2017, Oscar was mainly racing in British F4 with Arden (Christian Horner's team). He had 6 wins, 15 podiums and 6 pole positions in that season. He finished the championship in P2, 65.5 points adrift championship winner Jamie Caroline. It was his rookie season. Overtake Motorsport rated his season a B+.

One funny story from British F4 was how Carlin were were massively holding up Oscar to help Logan secure P2 in the Championship during the Season Finale in Brands Hatch. This is discussed at Episode 5 of Team Torque with Oscar, Alex Albon and Logan Sergeant, 3:22 to 4:45

He also did 2 races in Formula Renault Northern European Cup with Arden Motorsport at the Hockenheim ring for a one-off guest appearance. He finished P8 in both of those races. I turned over every stone underneath the bottom of the ocean to find some pictures from these 2 races and came up short. If anyone has them, please send them to me🙏

Here are all of his Instagram posts from 2017 (and the end of 2016):

1. Oscar announces he will do 3 rounds of UAE F4 with Dragon Motorsports (30th November, 2016) [This will be his fist championship in single seaters]
2. Oscar doing a chilly test at Silverstone (1st December, 2016)
3. Oscar's first single seaters helmet for 2017 designed by Lucky Design Official (8th December, 2017)
4. Oscar's reflection on a tough first weekend at UAE F4 [this was his first time driving in a single seaters championship] (19 December, 2016)
5. Oscar wishing everyone a Merry Christmas in 2016 (25th December, 2016)
6. Oscar's reflection on 2016 (31st December, 2016)
7. Oscar being excited to race at UAE F4 (22 January, 2017)
8. Oscar's Reflection on R2 of UAE F4 (29th January, 2017)
9. "She's got a bit of understeer" (29th January, 2017)
10. Oscar "good day" at Oulton park (5th February, 2027) [don't ask me what he is doing in Oulton park (maybe a test?) because according to my calculations he should be at UAE]
11. Oscar qualified P3 for R4 of UAE F4 [Should be his first top-3 quali in single seaters according to my calculations, though don't quote me on it] (10 February, 2027)
12. Oscar got P3 at Race 1 in R4 of UAE f4 [his first single seaters podium according to my calculation] (11 February, 2017)
13. Oscar's quite hectic day at Yas Marina, he got another podium (12 February, 2017)
14. Oscar announcing he will race at British F4 with Arden (13 February, 2017)
15. Oscar doing a test for Arden (18 February,2017)
16. "🤘🤘" (23 February, 2017)
17. Oscar being excited to be out at Donington Park (1st March, 2017) [he was doing a test for F4]
18. Oscar reflecting on his good day at Donington Park (8 March, 2017) [test again]
19. Oscar reflecting on his tough race at Brands Hatch (10th March, 2017) [test again]
20. "Ready for Rockingham tomorrow!" (20th March, 2027) [test again]
21. Oscar's last F4 test at Rockingham (23rd march, 2017)
22. Oscar being excited for his first race in British F4 (30th March, 2017)
23. Oscar got a front row start and a podium on his debut race (2nd April, 2017)
24. Oscar got P6 for R2 at Brands Hatch (3rd April, 2017)
25. Oscar went back to Australia to a quick visit to his parents (10th April, 2017)
26. Oscar was P2 at Thursday practice at Donington Park (14th April,2027)
27. Oscar's reflection on a tough weekend at Donington Park (17th April, 2017)
28. Oscar being excited to race at Thruxton Circuit (2nd May, 2017)
29. Oscar's reflection on R3 at Thruxton Circuit (9th May, 2017)
30. Oscar got P2 at practice at Oulton park (20th May, 2017)
31. Oscar won his first single seaters race win at Oulton park (22nd May, 2017)
32. Oscar did some tests at at Croft and Snetterton (2nd June, 2017)
33. Oscar's rainsoaked day at Croft for R5 of British F4 (11th June, 2017)
34. Oscar got a podium for all 3 races at Croft (12th June, 2017)
35. Oscar being excited to race at Snetterton (25th July, 2017)
36. Oscar was first during Practice at Snetertton (29th July, 2017)
37. Oscar got pole and win in Race 1 at Snetterton (30th July, 2017)
38. Oscar won the 3rd race at Snetertton as well (31st July, 2017)
39. Oscar being Excited to race at Knockhill [he also went on a 7 hour car trip for some reason] (7th August, 2017)
40. Oscar was P4 at Knockhill Practice (11th August, 2017)
41. Oscar's reflection on his up-and-down day at Knockhill (13th August, 2017)
42. Oscar won the 3rd race a Knockhill and lead Arden's first 1-2-3 (14th August, 2017)
43. Oscar's reflection on practice at Rockingham (26th August, 2017)
44. Oscar's reflection on his tricky day at Rockingham (27th August, 2017)
45. Oscar being excited to race at Silverstone (11th September, 2017)
46. Oscar got double pole and a podium at Silverstone (17th September, 2017)
47. Oscar won the 3rd race at Silverstone from pole (18th September, 2017)
48. Oscar got P2 at the practice at Brands Hatch (Season Finale) (29th September, 2017)
49. Oscar's reflection the season finale + throwing shade at Carlin (2nd October, 2017)
50. "track limits?" (13rd October, 2017)
51. Oscar announcing his participation at Formula Renault Rookie test (30th October, 2017)
52. Oscar's Reflection on the Formula Renault rookie test (1st November, 2017)
53. Oscar announcing his participation at the Formula Renault test at Monza (15th November 2017)
54. "Only 2 more test days for the year 🙃😢 " (2nd December, 2017)
55. "Can't wait to get back home tonight, going from -4° to 40° next week! 😳🇦🇺🇦🇺 #manwillbehot" (15th December, 2017)
56. Oscar announces that he will driving in Formula Renault with Arden in 2018 (22nd December, 2017)
57. Oscar wishing everyone a Merry Christmas in 2017 (25th December, 2017)
58. "Enjoying some sun while it lasts! ☀️" (5th January, 2018)

Bonus:

• Arden Motorsport wishing Oscar the best before the title decider last year in Abu Dhabi 2025
• Most of the picture in Oscar's posts during 2017 were taken by Jakob Ebrey
• Oscar reflecting on his time in F4 in 2023 to celebrate their 250 race history
• Oscar Throwback Post for the 2026 Silverstone GP (which features photos from his F4 days)

Some interviews and videos (Highly recommend watching if you wanna hear his teenage voice):

• Oscar's interview after the 2017 British F4 Round 27 at Silverstone, where he won the race:"To be completely honest, you know, I've gotta win 2 races and come 2nd in the other one; and that's if Jamie finishes outside the points in every race, so – yeah."
• Oscar's interview after the 2017 British F4 Round 21 at Knockhill, where he won the race: "Yeah, it's great to get some more points on Jamie, and yeah – 5th win this season feels great, and obviously 1-2-3 for the team's unreal."
• Oscar's interview after the 2017 British F4 Round 15 at Croft, where he finished the race in 3rd place: "I uh- I got a bit of a better run than Jamie through turn 1, and then managed to sneak up the inside for turn 2."
• British F4 Virtual Reality Story with Oscar

If you want to watch more clips/ photos from Oscar's journey through the feeder series, I highly recommend following @babyoscjpg over on X!

All my assignments are done🎉🎉🎉 (for now at least). To celebrate I finally finished writing my most tedious post yet😁 Also disclaimer🚨: I did not actually follow Oscar back in 2017, this is just research and scrolling waaaay back in his Insta account

Credits to Ari over on X for the clip

Better than P14🥲

pain

FP2
Oscar came out of the circuit on a new set of mediums. He did 2 flying laps and aborted his 3rd flying lap in sector 3 to pit. Then we had a Red Flag due Lindblad crashing at turn 8 (he is OK). When the session resumes, Oscar came out on new softs and had to abort his first flying lap (he drifted at turn 1) in sector 1. He then 1.5 flying laps (He did one full flying laps and then aborted his 2nd one in the third sector to pit) and pitted to get some more fuel or race sims (which he did on his same set of softs). His only flying lap on softs was his fastest attempt. He finished the session in P8, +1.510s off Russell in P1. He completed a total of 20 laps in FP2.

McLaren seems to be using Zip-ties on Oscars car for some reason. Not sure which spec he was on during this session

FP1
McLaren decided to split specs between their cars once again. Oscar was running the McLarena wing in FP1, Lando wasn't. I'll be honest, I didn't watch FP1 (I was at work). Maybe I'll write lap-by-lap recap when I watch it tomorrow.

What I do know that, Oscar was extensively complaining about brakes during FP1 (refer to slide 10 of the attached gallery). He also had to be brought back in to the pits to check for damage and missed some running. He finished the session in P8, +1.011s off Russell in P1. He completed a total of 16 laps in FP1.

McLaren's upgrades + their run plan

Rob Marshall was interviewed during FP1 at the McLaren app. Here is a summary of his quotes:

• Baku Upgrade Package: McLaren brought a substantial package to Baku. Rob Marshall highlighted that it includes "new bodywork, new sidepods from front to back, including the stuff that’s bonded to the chassis like the radiator inlets, and a new engine cover all the way to the rear" along with a "new floor and new suspension fairings".
• 2027 Carryover Strategy: Development will continue deep into this season because the team expects a lot of the learning to transition straight to next year's car. Marshall noted that "most of what we’re doing we think will be cut-and-paste carry over. At least, in concept."
• Measured Upgrade Timeline: Instead of rushing early upgrades, McLaren paced their development. Rob Marshall explained that: "one of the things we haven’t done this year is rush through too many upgrades, too early in the season" because their understanding evolved rapidly over the first half of the year.
• Unpredictable Track Performance & Active Aero: Active aero have somewhat upended traditional circuit profiling. Because cars can now "turn the drag on and off on most straights," the classic distinction between "high downforce" and "low downforce" tracks no longer applies the way it used to last year. This is one of the reason's Rob Marshall found McLaren's Madrid performance surprising (since they assumed the circuit would not fit their car)
• Evolving Wing Concepts: The team originally thought active aero might reduce the need for multiple wing designs. Marshall admitted that "we were genuinely talking about perhaps needing only one spec of rear wing for 2026... That’s not been the case!" (Spoiler: They have already designed 8 this year already)
• Wing Options & Race Deployment: McLaren has designed eight wings for the MCL40 so far, and are now narrowing it down to just three main options. Marshall described these as "the high downforce conventional wing that ran in Madrid, the rotating medium downforce H-wing that was used at Monza" and a new "rotating H-wing but with a higher downforce level than the Monza spec."
• Practice Plan & Confidence: The upgrades will be evaluated during practice sessions, though some commitments are permanent. As Marshall stated, "For some of the new parts, there isn’t an option to back out and revert to an older spec of car – but the confidence is very high that they are sound."

This is not the Thursday recap. Consider this as the part 2 of my Wednesday recap.

Anyhow, If you want to learn more about McLaren's upgrades, I recommend reading these articles:

1. Article by Gary Anderson for The Race
2. Article by Jake Boxall-Legge for Autosport (This article is paywalled, you can read a free version here. Make sure to click Option 4)

If you want to keep up with upgrades from McLaren and other teams, I recommend following @carpentiers_f1 (Nicolas Carpentiers) and @MateuszMrz8 (Mateusz Mróz). They are photographers post car upgrades pics on media days.

🚨 I have made a grave error in my last Wednesday recap (slide 9). Instead of attaching the Weekend Schedule pic in AEST, I accidentally attached the Weekend Schedule pic in AZT😭. I have attached the correct Weekend Schedule this time here (slide 16). Please do not miss the GP due to my incompetence🙏😭

Oscar was scheduled for the second driver's press conference today alongside George Russell and Sergio Perez. Below are some snippets from this press conference. I will add a link to the full transcript in the "Further reading" section.

Oscar on his driving style struggles this year:

>Q: what do you need from the car to drive more intuitively?
>
>Oscar: for it to behave a bit differently things that worked for me previously don't work this year so it's about finding things that do. I'm making progress on that but it's not that simple.
>
>Q: Andrea says he's throwing more engineering resources behind you. is it making a difference?
>
>Oscar: we're doing everything we can to improve. it's been a very good team response in trying improve as quick as we can. i feel well supported.
>
>Q: are you turning a corner with this car now?
>
>Oscar: a little bit. the progress isn't linear. you always find things that work and that don't, we're still in that phase. we're making progress and we're not standing still, which is the most important.

Oscar on his relationship with Baku:

>"Love hate, my best race ever has been at this track and my worst race ever has been at this track. It is an interesting track, hopefully this year will be more like 2024."

McLaren Upgrades
I am still not fully sure about the upgrades for this weekend, I guess we will know tomorrow at the car presentation. From the pictures of the car in the garage, it looks like they have a new sidepod intake. However, the McLarena wing, which was shelved for Madrid, makes its return this weekend.

About the weekend
Pirelli have brought of the three softest compounds in their range for this weekend; that being the C3 as the hard, the C4 as the medium and the C5 as the soft.

Turns 2,3,4 have been resurfaced, but Pirelli does not think that this affect tyre performance. This is what they had to say:

>“The work has affected sections of Turns 2, 3 and 4. The new asphalt, limited to specific areas, should not influence tyre behaviour which, as is often the case on street circuits, will initially be affected by rather low grip levels."

Pirelli also predicts track evolution to be significant for this race (same as last year if you remeber how quali went). They also predict a one-stop race since Baku has very low level of tyre wear and degradation (The asphalt of the circuit is "relatively smooth and not very abrasive").

No interesting weather like last time. Sunny on all three days (no threat of a heat hazard warning either).

Previous Results
2025: The 2025 Azerbaijan GP was called off after a sponsor's inflatable sturgeon burst during the driver's parade and buried Turn 8 in caviar (yes, it was stuffed with caviar). The track crews' improvised fix of clearing it with industrial heaters sent an oily haze drifting over the harbor, and the resulting low visibility caused a cargo ship to clip a buoy and partially block the suez canal. This tied up marine traffic long enough that the FIA scrapped the race entirely.😇

2024: Oscar qualified P2, +0.321s off Leclerc on pole. In the race, He would pull off a masterful overtake on Leclerc after the first pitstops. From there he would defend against Leclerc pretty much the entire race to win his 2nd Grand Prix in F1. Oscar considers the 2024 Azerbaijan GP to be his best race in F1.

2023: I'll be honest, I didn't watch F1 in 2023 and idk what happened. If anyone could kindly leave a little description below (or you could DM) me, it would be very much appreciated🫶

Stale news
Andrea Stella spoke about hoe they are working with Oscar to overcome his deficit last weekend (this is what Oscar was being asked about today at the press conference). This is what Andrea had to say:

>"Like I always say to Oscar, ‘Let’s do it with serenity.’ We are deploying more and more resources to this, like we did last year with Lando, when Lando was struggling in the first part of the season."

Please note that this does not necessarily mean McLaren is diverting resources it needs elsewhere just to help Oscar get to speed as many have been suggesting online. Imo it reads like Oscar's engineering team is working harder with him to help him with his struggles with the car

Further reading

1. Pirelli's Weekend Preview
2. McLaren's Weekend Preview
3. Weather forecast for the weekend
4. Full transcripts of the 2 driver's press conferences today

Other tidbits
McLaren has decided to change it's logo for some god-forsaken reason. I will leave it to you whether you like it or not (i don't🙂)

Pedro Acosta (Oscar's MotoGP bestie) won his first race last Sunday. And you can tell Pedro is Oscar's MotoGP bestie because Oscar broke character and commented "let's gooo🔥" instead of his signature "Congratulations".

Oscar sounded pretty congested in the press conference, he might be sick.

I included some stale news since I went MIA for for the last 6 days. I got into some trouble with reddit🥲

You can shop the collection here.

All clothing items are available from sizes XS-3XL.

I have attached a picture of the prices in AUD in the last slide of the gallery. Nevertheless, here is a pricing chart:

Item	AUD	EUR	USD	GBP
World Circuit Hoodie - Blue	$119.99	€69,99	$79.99	£64.99
World Circuit Cap	$69.99	€39,99	$44.99	£34.99
World Circuit Knitted Sweater - Burgundy	$119.99	€69,99	$79.99	£64.99
World Circuit Long Sleeve T-Shirt - Blue	$89.99	€49,99	$59.99	£44.99
World Circuit Collared Zip Jacket	$249.99	€139,99	$159.99	£124.99
World Circuit Women's Sweater - Off White	$119.99	€69,99	$79.99	£64.99
World Circuit Fleece	$169.99	€99,99	$114.99	£89.99
World Circuit Socks - Burgundy	$21.99	€12,99	$14.99	£11.99
World Circuit Crew Socks - Off White	$21.99	€12,99	$14.99	£11.99

Here is the sizing chart (that I made from measurements Oscar's own website). But still check one more time before you order:

🚨Note: Measurements are Length × Width. Bold = cm | Italics = inches

Item	XS	S	M	L	XL	XXL	3XL
T-Shirt	70 × 47 cm / 27.5 × 18.5 in	71 × 50 cm / 28 × 19.5 in	72 × 53 cm / 28.5 × 21 in	73 × 56 cm / 28.5 × 22 in	75 × 59 cm / 29.5 × 23 in	77 × 62 cm / 30.5 × 24.5 in	79 × 65 cm / 31 × 25.5 in
Long Sleeve T-Shirt	72 × 55 cm / 28.5 × 21.5 in	73 × 58 cm / 28.5 × 23 in	74 × 61 cm / 29 × 24 in	76 × 64 cm / 30 × 25 in	78 × 67 cm / 30.5 × 26.5 in	80 × 70 cm / 31.5 × 27.5 in	82 × 73 cm / 32.5 × 28.5 in
Hoodie	64 × 56 cm / 25 × 22 in	65 × 58 cm / 25.5 × 23 in	66 × 60 cm / 26 × 23.5 in	68 × 62 cm / 27 × 24.5 in	70 × 64 cm / 27.5 × 25 in	72 × 66 cm / 28.5 × 26 in	74 × 68 cm / 29 × 27 in
Knitted Sweater	64 × 59 cm / 25 × 23 in	66 × 61 cm / 26 × 24 in	68 × 63 cm / 27 × 25 in	70 × 65 cm / 27.5 × 25.5 in	72 × 67 cm / 28.5 × 26.5 in	74 × 69 cm / 29 × 27 in	76 × 71 cm / 30 × 28 in
Zipped Sweater	67.5 × 59 cm / 26.5 × 23 in	69 × 61.5 cm / 27 × 24 in	70 × 64 cm / 27.5 × 25 in	71.5 × 67 cm / 28 × 26.5 in	73 × 70 cm / 28.5 × 27.5 in	75 × 74 cm / 29.5 × 29 in	77 × 78 cm / 30.5 × 30.5 in

Oscar is releasing new merch today at 6 pm Canberra time. It is the second part of his "World Circuit collection". You can shop the collection at Oscar's official merch store.

According to McLaren's race report:

>Starting seventh on the Hard tyre, Oscar’s race was compromised on the opening lap when contact with Russell damaged his front wing and spoiled the balance of his car for the remainder of the Grand Prix. The Australian continued on track but became caught in traffic on a circuit where overtaking proved difficult, limiting his opportunities to make progress through the midfield.

Oscar's reflection on the race:

>“It was a tough one for us today, and a pretty painful race from start to finish. I got squeezed by Russell which then broke my front wing on the first lap, and from there we just got stuck in traffic, which is tricky with the lack of overtaking here. Unfortunately, the VSC timing wasn't ideal for the Hard tyre starters like myself. When we did pit, the Mediums didn't perform how we wanted them to, and I was back in traffic.
>
>“The positive we can take is that there are some good learnings, especially on how to get the most out of the car. We also had some decent pace on the Hard tyre in clean air, which is always encouraging. We will review, see what more we can learn and then and take it into the next part of the season.”

Well, that was a race to forget. Please accept this pic dump to cheer yourself on :)

Another race to forget🥲

Post