2021 Formula One Season

HEADLINE FROM BBC SPORTS: AlphaTauri  makes Formula 1 history following decision to promote Dakota McManus to assistant pit crew chief this racing season.

Jack Bexon, Sports Writer for the BBC

2 hours ago

IMOLA, ITALY - Formula 1 team AlphaTauri - Honda make sports history today following the crew changes prior to the 2021 racing season. Last month, a spot on the competitive team's pit crew opened up, following the departure of Graham McManus after his stroke earlier this year.

In a heavily covered press conference discussing plans for the upcoming season, team principal Franz Tost delivered a verdict that would make history, appointing McManus' granddaughter Dakota to assistant pit crew manager, a position never held by a woman in the history of the sport.

"I feel like this is a real turning point for the team." Driver Pierre Gasly remarks. "Dakota is an incredible mechanic, and I'm honored to have her in charge of the team looking after me on the track."

As revealed in Netflix docuseries 'Drive to Survive', 23-year-old Dakota has been in her grandfather's shadows for a few racing seasons already, first making her name known in the AlphaTauri garage during the 2018 season, when they were known as Toro Rosso.

"To be eighteen years old and thrown into this position, is a scary thing." McManus confides in the audience during the series' debut season. "Sometimes you forget that you're still a kid. If I didn't have my grandfather with me, I'd be lost entirely." 

It seems like McManus has come a  long way, taking her new position in stride ahead of the season opener in Bahrain. 

"I'm not ashamed to say that I got here because of who my grandfather was." McManus tells reporters in empowered speech outside of the AlphaTauri head office in Imola, Italy. "It's not a sign of weakness, to be placed a high-profile position like this because of your connections. For me, it means that my grandfather believed in me enough to fight with the team to get me a position he thought that I could handle, and that he thought that I deserved. The AlphaTauri team is my family, and they have been since I started my Formula 1 career. I have no plans on letting them down in the near future, and I am excited to continue working with Franz and Pierre, and the rest of our incredible team, as well as welcoming Yuki Tsunoda into the family ahead of what we expect to be an eventful racing season."

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HEADLINE FROM SKY SPORTS: Emotional night in Abu Dhabi as AlphaTauri's McManus and Tsunoda share heartfelt kiss following the conclusion of the 2021 Formula 1 season

ABU DHABI - An emotional weekend for drivers and pit crews alike comes to an end in Abu Dhabi as Max Verstappen takes first place from Sir Lewis Hamilton in a controversial upset. Of course, we would be remissed for not mentioning  Carlos Sainz Jr.'s third place championship podium, as well as the double positions for AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, coming in fourth and fifth, respectively, closing out Tsunoda's first season with the team.

Following the raucous applause and cool-down lap for the drivers, AlphaTauri assistant pit crew chief Dakota McManus can be seen rushing to the barriers to support who she refers to as 'her boys' as they step out of their cars, with Tsunoda instantly locking lips with the mechanic.

Of course, rumors about McManus and Tsunoda have run rampant on the internet since the beginning of the season, with their flirty banter on social media and the way they have interacted with each other in behind the scenes videos posted to the drivers' personal social media accounts.

Here's what the other drivers have to say about the eventful evening:

@/DakotaElaineee & @/YukiTsunoda MAN I KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING GOING ON !! KODA, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?? I FEEL OFFENDED !!

no joke tho, i'm really happy for you both <3

- Lance Stroll ( @/LanceStroll )

CHECO YOU OWE ME TWENTY DOLLARS BRO!! ARE YOU SEEING THIS SHIT!!!! I KNEW SOMETHING WAS UP

ALSO DAKOTA- I knew you had it in you! Glad you're happy kiddo.

- Daniel Ricciardo (@/Danielricciardo13 )

------ > WAIT DANNY WERE YOU BETTING ON ME!?!?!?!

- Dakota Elaine Mac (@/DakotaElaineee )

--------------- > THAT IS BETWEEN ME AND A CERTAIN RED BULL DRIVER

- Daniel Ricciardo (@/Danielricciardo13 )

Good on you for finally making a move, buddy! But if you hurt my best friend, your ass is grass, as the Americans say.

- Pierre Gasly (@/pierregasly )

---------> pierre im sorry but you just arent that scary

- Dakota Elaine Mac (@/DakotaElaineee )

it seems like just yesterday she was calling him kiddo and now she's calling him babe....character development or a lawsuit waiting to happen ???

on second thought that wasnt as funny as i expected dont attack me guys i really am happy for them but humor is my love language-

- Lando Norris (@/landonorris )

------------------> ITS A DIFFERENCE OF SIX MONTHS LANDO STFU

- Yuki Tsunoda (@/YukiTusnoda )

---------------------------> STOP BULLYING ME IT WAS JUST A JOKE

- Lando Norris (@/landonorris  )

---------------- > lando my man, i fear we need to send you back to clown school

- Daniel Ricciardo (@/Danielricciardo13 )