{"id":610969,"date":"2026-04-17T20:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T20:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/610969\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T20:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T20:51:09","slug":"some-f1-ideas-for-the-oceans-11-prequel-plus-lewis-hamilton-is-just-like-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/610969\/","title":{"rendered":"Some F1 ideas for the \u2018Ocean\u2019s 11\u2019 prequel. Plus: Lewis Hamilton is just like us"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s F1 newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive Prime Tire directly in your inbox twice a week during the season and weekly in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Welcome back to Prime Tire, where a single video of World Endurance Championship cars taking practice at Imola has made me very excited for Formula 1 racing to begin again. It\u2019s been 24 years! Or something.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Patrick, and Madeline Coleman will be along shortly. Let\u2019s get straight inside the paddock!<\/p>\n

Inside the Paddock with Madeline Coleman: Russell talks drivers\u2019 biggest concerns<\/p>\n

F1 is still two weeks away from the Miami Grand Prix, the only race in eight weeks after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs were canceled due to the Middle East conflict. But that doesn\u2019t mean work has completely stopped.<\/p>\n

The teams have kept their heads down as they work to develop their cars, and drivers have\u00a0mixed in relaxing<\/a>\u00a0with time back at their respective factories. But conversations have also been ongoing between the FIA and technical experts from the engine manufacturers and F1 teams regarding possible changes to the technical regulations. Multiple drivers have raised concerns with the current ruleset, including around safety.<\/p>\n

According to the FIA\u2019s statement earlier this month, \u201ca high-level meeting\u201d among the stakeholders\u2019 representatives is set for April 20, and \u201cit is anticipated that preferred options jointly proposed by the technical teams will be considered and a consensus sought on the way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a media session earlier today,\u00a0George Russell discussed \u201ctwo headline points\u201d that the drivers want changed in the current ruleset:\u00a0reducing the rapid closing speeds and having \u201cflat out\u201d qualifying,\u201d so drivers don\u2019t have to lift and coast. He went on to reference\u00a0Ollie Bearman\u2019s high-speed wreck<\/a>\u00a0at Suzuka.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe closing speed of the Bearman-Colapinto crash was twofold,\u201d Russell said. \u201cOne was Bearman was on his boost button and giving himself 350 kilowatts, so he had an abundance of power in an abnormal part of the track. And on the flip side, Colapinto used his boost on the main straight, half a lap before, and was low on his battery, so he had a lack of power.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that is, at least in my eyes, where these closing speed differences are coming from, and I think the FIA are definitely very much aware of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell went on to point out that Bearman\u2019s crash happened at a part of the track that wasn\u2019t designated for Straight Mode, and he said, \u201cIf there\u2019s a straight that isn\u2019t an SM mode, that means it\u2019s because it\u2019s a corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks, Madeline!\u00a0Here is the most recent photo of Russell on Getty Images (dated April 15), presented without context:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Remy Steiner \/ Getty Images for IWC<\/p>\n

Anyway. Moving along:<\/p>\n

Williams Woes: Is 5 weeks enough time to save the season?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a fun thing to do: Imagine spending all of 2025 building a car for 2026 \u2014 actively sacrificing last season to get ahead of the sport\u2019s biggest regulation change in years.<\/p>\n

Now imagine that car shows up overweight.<\/p>\n

Three races in, Williams is ninth: tied with Audi on two points, ahead of only Cadillac and Aston Martin.\u201cRealistically,\u201d Alex Albon says, \u201cwe\u2019re not in the midfield fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Madeline wrote this week, the solution exists! But the rulebook may stand in the way.\u00a0Read more here<\/a>, and learn why this month is a race against time for the team.<\/p>\n

Ocean\u2019s F1: We have ideas for the \u2018Ocean\u2019s 11\u2019 prequel<\/p>\n

Did you know there\u2019s a prequel to \u201cOcean\u2019s Eleven\u201d?<\/p>\n

(For the Gen Z\u2019ers in the audience: \u201cOcean\u2019s Eleven\u201d was a wildly popular heist film starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon. It was a remake of a 1960 film. A film is like 70 long TikToks spliced together.)<\/p>\n

Well, there\u2019s a prequel to \u201cOcean\u2019s Eleven\u201d in production. Margot Robbie and Bradley Cooper will star \u2026 and the\u00a0heist is set around the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix<\/a>. This got my brain working: What will the heist involve?<\/p>\n

First, some context: The 1962 Monaco Grand Prix is already a dramatic day. Graham Hill dominated until his engine failed with eight laps to go, handing victory to Bruce McLaren. Meanwhile, Monaco was heaving with royalty, shipping magnates and old money. With that in mind, I\u2019ve come up with three scenarios for the movie. I expect royalties.<\/p>\n

The Hill Distraction
Everyone\u2019s eyes are on Hill\u2019s blown engine, including the two guards on the royal family\u2019s private vault beneath the paddock. Robbie\u2019s character has exactly eight laps to crack it.<\/p>\n

The Monocoque
Lotus debuted a revolutionary new monocoque chassis at Zandvoort two weeks ago, and every rival team wants the blueprints. Surely someone will pay handsomely. The drawings are locked in team boss Colin Chapman\u2019s hotel safe. Cooper\u2019s character is the locksmith Chapman called that morning about a sticky deadbolt. Chapman should have asked for references.<\/p>\n

The Tunnel Dangle
The building atop the Turn 9 tunnel is a casino, where the protagonists steal a rare jewel from a patron. The thieves have hired a demolitions expert to blow a hole in the casino basement floor for their getaway \u2014 not realizing it opens directly over Turn 9. Cooper drops the stolen jewels into McLaren\u2019s car as it drives by, and the last half of the movie is the team desperately trying to break into the paddock and celebrations to retrieve them from his cockpit.<\/p>\n

More big news up next.<\/p>\n

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Lewis Hamilton is a fellow nerd<\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton is opening\u00a0trading card stores worldwide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sorry, I\u2019ve buried the lede: He has 500 Pok\u00e9mon cards and an unopened Neo Destiny box from 2002.<\/p>\n

Sorry, I did it again: HE SAYS HE IS FRIENDS WITH GEORGE LUCAS.<\/p>\n

So Hamilton is a co-owner of my Denver Broncos and might have George Lucas\u2019 number. We\u2019re perilously close to me having a conflict of interest here. We\u2019re one \u201cI\u2019ve seen every \u2018Mission Impossible\u2019 twice\u201d away.<\/p>\n

Anyway,\u00a0our collectibles team has the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Outside the Points<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd27 Red Bull reshuffled its engineering department today, promoting from within and pulling Andrea Landi over from Racing Bulls.\u00a0Alex has the full breakdown<\/a>, but the short version is: Red Bull needs someone who knows how to build a car drivers actually want to drive, and Landi\u2019s junior team has been doing exactly that for years.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfce\ufe0f Max Verstappen\u00a0is at the Nurburgring<\/a>\u00a0this weekend for the 24-hour qualifiers.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa Colton Herta had \u201cvisions\u201d of racing in both F2\u2019s Montreal feature and the Indy 500 on the same day in May. It didn\u2019t work out \u2014\u00a0Madeline has the full story on why<\/a>\u00a0and what he\u2019s doing instead. (Sidenote: Imagine how different \u201cDune\u201d would have been if Paul Atreides had similar visions.)<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcb8 Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund is reportedly preparing to pull funding from LIV Golf, and the ripples may reach other sports the kingdom is involved with (which, at this point, is many).\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s staff ran through what it means for those sports,\u00a0including F1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd70\ufe0f Niels Wittich, former F1 race director, has said Michael Masi was \u201cessentially a scapegoat\u201d\u00a0for the infamous Abu Dhabi 2021 result<\/a>. We are five years on, and the takes remain warm.<\/p>\n

And, finally,\u00a0most clicked last time:\u00a0Lando Norris + golf<\/a>!<\/p>\n

See you Tuesday for more.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Prime Tire? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s F1 newsletter. Sign up here to receive Prime Tire directly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-610969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}