&nbsp;The Palmolive Soap Bar of Penance was wielded aggressively by FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem who washed out any F1 Driver’s mouth who dared to swear in any sort of public setting.&nbsp; It’s simply shocking that 20 year old athletes would use “dirty words” in the heat of the moment and M-Benny is on a jihad to stamp it out.

For the final article of 2024, I’ve put together the fifth annual SSO Awards, the motor industry least prestigious honors.&nbsp; In putting the list together, I have to acknowledge, I have no real basis to be doing this other than its potential entertainment value.&nbsp; Therefore, I’ve taken the liberty to take a different approach that probably only amuses me but does give me a rare opportunity to use my very overpriced and fairly useless Liberal Arts education.&nbsp; Please excuse some of the more esoteric references.&nbsp;Julius Caesar Veni Vidi Vici Award goes to Max Verstappen naturally.&nbsp; Even in a year where the Red Bull race car wasn’t dominant, Max once again vanquished all challengers.Otto von Bismarck Imperial Eagle goes to Carlos Tavares.&nbsp; Like the late Junker Prince, Tavares created an Empire but was eventually undone by his ability to ostracize a large number of different stakeholders.The Boy Who Cried Wolf Bugle goes to Aston Martin CFO Doug Lafferty for his repeated cries of “Positive Cash Flow” that just never seem to materialize.The Thelma &amp; Louise Award goes to Porsche &amp; Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume who has managed to drive both companies to the edge of the proverbial cliff with his bets on China &amp; EVs.The Joe Biden Medal for unceremonious dumping goes to Daniel Riccardo who instead of being given a proper send off by Red Bull Racing Honda was instead officially dumped during F1’s summer break.The Pastor Maldonado Cup goes to Sergio Perez for running up a $4.9 million tab for crash damage in the 2024 F1 season.&nbsp; Filling out the podium are Alex Albon at $4.8 million and George Russell with $3.2 million.The Liz Truss Diploma for Short &amp; Memorable mostly for the wrong reasons is awarded to Franco Colapinto.&nbsp; Colapinto was signed by Williams for the last 9 races of this F1 season.&nbsp; While Colapinto finished 19th in the Drivers’ Standings, he managed to rank 9th in terms of $$$ of cash damage.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Palmolive Soap Bar of Penance was wielded aggressively by FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem who washed out any F1 Driver’s mouth who dared to swear in any sort of public setting.&nbsp; It’s simply shocking that 20 year old athletes would use “dirty words” in the heat of the moment and M-Benny is on a jihad to stamp it out.

The Hunter Biden &amp; Donald J. Trump Jr Trophy for Personifying the True Essence of &nbsp;Nepotism goes to Lance Stroll.&nbsp; No F1 driver I have talked to believes Lance would still have a seat in F1 if he wasn’t the son of the owner of the Aston Martin F1 Team.&nbsp; This is perhaps best demonstrated by Lance’s sliding into the gravel trap on the formation lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix, and having to retire the car before the race had even started.The London Underground “Mind the Gap” Ribbon goes to Sergio Perez.&nbsp; Despite being in the same machinery as F1 Champion Max Verstappen, Sergio managed to score only about a third the number of points.&nbsp;The Viktor Orban Chair for Excellence in Electoral Autocracy is unanimously awarded to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem who has run off or fired anyone who dares question his leadership or actions at the FIA.&nbsp;The New York Jets Chalice of Hope &amp; Tears is awarded to Ferrari.&nbsp; Like the NY Jets signing an ageing Aaron Rogers, once again first raising and then crushing the hopes and dreams of their fans, Ferrari has signed Lewis Hamilton for the next two years.&nbsp; Hamilton is clearly on the downside of his career and with this signing Ferrari is replacing the driver who finished 5th (Carlos Sainz) in the 2024 F1 Driver’s standings with the driver who finished 8th.&nbsp; It doesn’t appear that the lessons from Ferrari’s signing of Sebestian Vettel back in 2015 have lasted very long in Maranello.&nbsp;The Hamilton/Burr Ceremonial Pistols are awarded to George "Hamilton" Russell &amp; Max "Burr" Verstappen for their “made of Netflix’s Drive to Survive” feud after George tattled on Max at the Qatar GP qualifying resulting in Max getting a one place grid penalty.&nbsp; I do get the feeling that if the two of them did square off with pistols, Max might not wait for the count of 3……..The Artful Dodger Gold Watch is bestowed upon RJ Scaringe &amp; Rivian.&nbsp; Not only has Rivian lifted $5.8 billion out of struggling Volkswagen’s pocket but they have managed to land a $6.6 billion loan from U.S. Department of Energy.&nbsp; All of this while managing to lose $4 billion in the 1st 3 quarters of 2024.

The Midas Touch Nugget goes to Ferrari.&nbsp; In a year where fellow sport and supercar manufacturers Porsche (-28%) and Aston Martin (-51%) turned in pretty noxious stock market performances, Ferrari was +28%. &nbsp;Nero’s Fiddle is awarded to Lucid and its CEO, Peter Rawlinson.&nbsp; Lucid burns through $600 in cash for every $100 in revenue it generates.&nbsp; Like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, Rawlinson likes to spend his time taking shots in the press denigrating his vastly more successful competitors.The Shoot the Moon Rock goes to Adrian Newey who as the final act in what has been a phenomenal career has taken on the ultimate challenge…..turning Lance Stroll into a world champion.The Magic Mushroom was swallowed whole by Jaguar.&nbsp; Jaguar threw 90 years of brand building out the window in 2024 and is planning on relaunching in 2026 as an all electric brand with a line of cars that seem to be inspired by cold soulless Soviet era Brutalist architecture.The Henry Ford Learning Opportunity Award goes to Ford, for the fourth year in a row.&nbsp; Henry Ford famously said the "the only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing". In 2023 Ford lead the US market with 54 recalls.&nbsp; In 2024 Ford had a plethora of learning opportunities again as recalls increased to 62.&nbsp;So much for Ford CEO Jim Farley’s declaration that improving quality is a key priority.The Winston Churchill “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat” trophy goes to McLaren’s F1 team for going from finishing 5th in the F1 Constructors Championship in 2022 to winning it outright in 2024.A Seeing Eye Dog is gifted to Mike Krack, Aston Martin F1 Team Principle for his quote: “I think that, in general, there is not that much difference between the two” in reference to Fernando Alonso &amp; Lance Stroll.&nbsp; From one point of view, he is right, they are both homo sapiens sapiens and both male.&nbsp; However, there is one rather significant difference, in the two seasons that Alonso &amp; Stoll have been teammates, Stroll has scored about 1/3 the number of points that Alonso has delivered to the team.Duke &amp; Duchess of Sussex Own Goal Cup goes to Geely for its stewardship of Lotus. For a brand best known for building light weight sportscars with superb handling, suddenly shifting to heavy EV SUVs has gone about as well as the Sussex’s foray into podcasting.

The Harry Potter Cloak of Invisibility goes to Aston Martin Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll.&nbsp; The normally media friendly Stroll has kept a very low profile since he announced the Newey signing back in the beginning of September.&nbsp; In fact, Stroll was nowhere to be found when Aston Martin issued its latest profit warning and announced yet another cash raise.The Conspicuous Constipation Nugget is awarded to Kevin Magnussen.&nbsp; Like a rolling colon blockage, Magnussen successful held up a number of F1 rivals at several races this past season for the benefit of his teammate Nico Hulkenberg.The Battle of Teutoberg Forest Eagle goes to all the US, Japanese, &amp; European car manufacturers that bet heavily on China.&nbsp; Like the German hordes that descended from Teutoberg Forest upon the Roman Legions, after years of quietly learning and lying in wait, the Chinese manufacturers have emerged and are decimating the "gweilos" on their home turf.&nbsp;The Golden Forceps are granted to Michael Leiters, McLaren Automotive CEO.&nbsp; Under the prior CEO, McLaren almost died during the birth of the Artura Coupe.&nbsp; This time around, Leiters has guided McLaren smoothly through the delivery a healthy Artura Spider.The Michael Jordan Game Ball for Perseverance is jointly awarded to Praga for delivering the customer Bohema and Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus for starting production on the SCG 004.&nbsp; Jordan, who was cut from his high school basketball team, later went on to become the greatest basketball player of all time.Thank you for taking the time in 2024 to read the musings of an amateur blogger with a passion for supercars and the companies behind them.&nbsp; I hope this puts a small smile on your face as we wrap up what’s been another interesting year. All the best for a safe, happy, healthy, and joyous 2025.