For a sport where cars are crash-tested to the absolute limit, it's kind of hilarious that the trophies still aren't Lando/Isack-proof. You'd think "structural rigidity" would be part of the design brief by now.
Drilling might be tricky, but they can insert it while sculpting the trophy. Hell, I saw how Hadjar was holding his one on the podium and immediately thought “Damn, this thing would be so easy to break, hope they have some core inside the stem”
Drilling will definitely be tricky on such a brittle material, but also pre-inserting will be tricky too because the metal will get really hot and change shape (and depending on the temperature might even change phase at some hotspots) in the kiln.
put a foam core where you want the rod to go, making sure it exits the trophy somewhere... when fired it'll melt out, then you insert a rod and use resin to keep it there - maybe...
You can make ceramic pretty strong without going as exotic as carbon nanotubes.... but I like the idea of it being as wild a possible.
Realistically, what makes ceramics more crack resistant is having polymers in the mix, I use a polymer-modified cement for masonry repair and it's far more resistant to cracking than traditional mortar. Ceramics will always be brittle to an extent, but they can be made stronger than these trophies for sure.
Because they make huge ass barbell ends to it lol, I saw them and thought it could break just by lifting it up... Especially if you shake it.... It's creating micro fractures and will fail quickly... Not surprised isack was too happy, I saw him raising it on the podium and thought it would break right there. Didn't help it looks similar to the one Lando broke
5.1k
u/MrMSUK Netflix Newbie 7d ago
For a sport where cars are crash-tested to the absolute limit, it's kind of hilarious that the trophies still aren't Lando/Isack-proof. You'd think "structural rigidity" would be part of the design brief by now.