This is a strange photo-op! I kind of love it. Serena Williams was in Monaco over the weekend for the the 75th Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix. She happily posed with Chris Hemsworth, of all people. Serena is, I believe, about six months pregnant, right? And she seems to be traveling a lot, enjoying her downtime and going to various events, like the Met Gala and now the Grand Prix. I’m shocked she didn’t party in Cannes. I’m also a little bit surprised that she even gives a sh-t about the Grand Prix, but it’s totally possible she was there to do an appearance for one of her many sponsorships. Or hey, maybe she’s a fan of racing. You never know.
Can we talk about tennis for a moment? The French Open started on Sunday and everybody’s bitching about how the women’s draw is so sad without Serena and Maria Sharapova. Serena hasn’t played since she won the Australian Open, and she won’t return to the game until next year, after she gives birth and all of that. Maria isn’t playing in Paris because the organizers said that dopers shouldn’t get wild cards, basically. Which means that two of the biggest names in women’s tennis are in the wind. Three names, really, because the #1 seed, Angelique Kerber, lost in her first round. But here’s the thing: the women’s draw is still pretty exciting, I think. Petra Kvitova is making her big return following a knife wound. Venus Williams is playing too! I kind of wonder if Serena is going to show up in Paris to support Venus and some of her friends as they play at Roland-Garros. And I really, really think that Serena is going to turn up in Venus’s player’s box at Wimbledon. Please let it happen!
Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News.
Chis is hot! Walk in my door, Thor!!
I find Chris, like all the Chrises, bland as dry toast but this could have been a hot, strong, buff couple imo.
I love that Serena is enjoying her downtime. Has she ever taken this much time off from tennis?
This isn’t the first time Serena has been to an F1 race. She’s been a guest of Lewis Hamilton’s before. I don’t know if she’s a fan or just friends with Lewis.
It’s my personal bat-signal: an F1 post! Senna’s recap of the stateside and European race weekend, brought to you by Andrea Casiraghi’s swatch collection:
1. Fernando Alonso raced in the Indy 500 and didn’t die! I’m so relieved! Of course, his engine died on him, because apparently Honda keeps an Alonso-shaped doll in their factory which the engineers stick pins into every time he talks about how shitty the engine is.
2. Safety: As a longtime fan of F1, who caught part of the Indy 500 for Alonso, I don’t know if I could ethically support this sport, ever, because of how unsafe it is. Watch this insane crash: https://youtu.be/tHdYvq-x2-8 and realize that Scott Dixon, had he landed 2 feet further on the wall, would likely be dead. I’ve heard so much BS about the “safer barrier” from the announcers during the practices and pre-race; and while I always want to commend safety progress, it’s like the announcers don’t want to think about the inherently unsafe nature of partial walls within crash distance of the track, which can be landed upon, nor the complete lack of soft barriers at the outside wall (the safer barrier can be punctured but cars still deflect off of it and back onto the track, causing accidents like the one above). Of course, it complicates things that this track is an oval with no braking zones or sharp corners, the setup involves minimal downforce so the cars don’t have very precise handling, drivers are bunched together instead of spread out, and any attempt to change the barriers would be extremely expensive. However, it’s only a matter of time and odds before another person dies on this circuit. Imagine that you could watch the same sport but with improved safety barriers so that when someone crashes, you’re not wondering if they survived. It would be no less entertaining, since I don’t like to see people die for my amusement.
3. Monaco! The drivers tempered the super-rich atmosphere of the event with some potty humor. Jenson Button, filling in for Fernando Alonso, joked that he would pee in Alonso’s seat during the race. after the race, Daniel Ricciardo joked that he never wore new underwear at Monaco because of the danger he’d poop his pants.
4. Jenson Button, racing for second-to-last place, tapped Wehrlein into the wall so that his car flipped on its side and pinned him against the barrier, which was pretty terrifying, and then whined about how he, a professional racing driver, couldn’t properly see where his own car ended (?) so it wasn’t his fault. I do NOT miss this guy one bit.
5. Charlene! She looked so pretty! She smiled! She wore Ferrari-conspiracy Red! She kissed Kimi Raikkonen when handing him his trophy, and not even this cheered him up!
6. Kimi was robbed! Ferrari gave the best strategy to Sebastian, and Kimi looked absolutely gutted with his 2nd place finish, though he was very diplomatic about it. Of course, Ferrari denied everything but it seemed pretty obvious. While it’s been years and years since Sebastian Vettel won on the regular, every time he screams orgasmically during the victory lap I’m still like, “no, this is too soon.” Every German friend I have swears he’s super awesome in the German language, but I don’t see it.
Kimi was robbed. This is the third Monaco race I’ve watched and all three have involved someone getting screwed out of winning. Is this a thing with Monaco?
I loved watching Alonso race in Indy and loved seeing all of the attention he was getting. This is the first Indy race I’ve watched since I was a child. I was SCREAMING at the TV when his engine blew. I’m sure he dries his tears on the stack of cash he’s being paid BUT STILL, killed me.
What happened to Lewis? I know shit happens and it’s racing blah blah blah, but seriously….
Re: Lewis: I KNOW! Between car trouble at qualifying and Stoffel’s crash in the session ending it prematurely, he’s had extremely bad luck. It’s weird that Bottas hasn’t had the same car issues as Lewis through the season, but I don’t think it’s a conspiracy. Looks like unless Mercedes turns things around in a hurry, they can kiss a driver’s and constructor’s championship goodbye…I feel Lewis really thrived on the animus between him and Nico last year, even if Nico won that battle by a hair. Bottas is such a chill guy, and they haven’t been close enough on the track to fight with each other over anything this year or start petty battles, so I think Lewis feels a bit like “what’s the point if I’m not winning?” 13th to 7th is not horrible, but it’s not a podium.
re: Monaco: I had to refresh my memory, but in 2016 Ricciardo’s tyres weren’t ready at his pit stop, handing Lewis the win, and in 2015 Mercedes messed up Hamilton’s pit stop, handing Nico the win. I think it IS a Monaco thing; since overtaking is very difficult cars can get stuck behind slower cars for extended periods of time and the impact of losing a grid place due to a bungled pit stop is far greater than at other circuits.
You’re right about Monaco of course, any little thing that goes wrong can cost you the race. That’s why we watch, it’s never as boring as the experts make it out to be. On to Canada!
I’m still stuck at “a knife wound.”
Serena is one celebrity who I will gladly watch live the “good life” from now til whenever the hell she wants. She has earned it, all of it. GOAT. And she did it with strength and grace, despite the sexism, racism and body shaming.
I agree that she deserves it, but I think she’s the kind of person who will continue to use her superpowers for good to ensure there are more Serenas than Sharapovas in the future.