Motorsports

[xaxat]

In qualifying, Ferrari looks to be strong Red Bull is Red Bull and Mercedes might be lagging.

But I think the big news is that Haas (!) made it to Q3.

Anything is possible. 

[woodstock]

2 hours ago, xaxat said:

In qualifying, Ferrari looks to be strong Red Bull is Red Bull and Mercedes might be lagging.

But I think the big news is that Haas (!) made it to Q3.

Anything is possible. 

Ferrari has been impressive. I was happy for Charles Leclerc. 

I am looking forward to a Ferrari/Red Bull/Mercedes battle at the top. I think Mercedes will figure out the setup issues on their car.

I saw  a great picture of Guenther Steiner celebrating after the qualifying session. I’m hoping Haas has a good season. Also looking forward to seeing what Valtteri Bottas does with Alfa Romeo. The battle in the midfield could be interesting.

 I have no idea what to make of McLaren. 

Edited March 20, 2022 by woodstock
Spelling is important

[khyber]

Well, the Texas Indy race turned out to be a barn burner of sorts. Never would have thought that after the crap race last year.  Looking forward to Long Beach.  Nice that you could catch the postrace on Peacock. 

[galaxygirl76]

Drive to Survive is making me root for Haas and seeing Guenther so happy today with KMag's 5th place warmed my cold, cold heart.

[xaxat]

I can't imagine how salty Verstappen must have been after the race. 

Red Bull engineers are going to be working their asses off this week.

[Wee S]

Verstappen will be pissed about the engine failure, but also most likely fired up by wheel-to-wheel racing with Ferrari!

Really enjoyed that and usually I haaaate Bahrain. 

I really hope Merc continue to have pace issues because it'll be interesting to see Lewis have to drive a mediocre car for once. I think Red Bulls engines issue is more fixable and more importantly their pace will leave Merc for dust. 

[RunningMarket]

Dang, we are off to a great start! LOVED K-Mag's triumphant return. Almost double points for Hass. I saw a funny comment on Twitter that said "The next season of Drive to Survive is already shot without angry Guenther." 😄

I root for Ferrari and Red Bull primarily, so it was a sweet and very salty race end. Hope McLaren can dig their way out of that basement.

[xaxat]

F1's Saudi Arabian GP to go ahead despite driver protests after oil depot attack

Quote

 This weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is expected to go ahead as planned despite Formula One drivers raising concerns about a missile attack on a nearby oil facility Friday afternoon. . .

The drivers had been considering boycotting the event but were talked out of it in the early hours of Saturday morning.

 

[galaxygirl76]

23 hours ago, xaxat said:

F1's Saudi Arabian GP to go ahead despite driver protests after oil depot attack

 

Formula One management be like

[xaxat]

14 minutes ago, galaxygirl76 said:

Formula One management be like

No kidding. It sounds like there were some veiled threats.

Quote

BBC Sport has learned that a significant number of drivers had concerns about the safety of the event following the attack.

But eventually they were convinced to go ahead and race after being given further information by bosses.

Part of this information involved the possible consequences of not racing, such as how easily teams and drivers would be able to leave the country if the race did not happen.

 

[woodstock]

Wild last lap at the NASCAR race in Austin. I was squirming and yelling at the TV. 

Great finish to the F1 Saudi Arabian GP. Very bizarre weekend overall. Best news is Mick Schumacher is ok; that was a scary crash during qualifying. 

[woodstock]

F1 will be racing in Vegas

There will be three races in the US beginning in 2023.

Curious to see how the Miami Grand Prix turns out in May. I had access to purchase tickets earlier this week but decided against it. Between tickets, airfare, hotel, food and miscellaneous expenses I couldn’t justify blowing my vacation budget. Maybe next year!

[RunningMarket]

Good thing no one sleeps in Vegas! Cars zooming 200 mp/h down the Strip at 10:00 pm isn't exactly quiet. Really hoping to go to this! We're in western Canada, so a much easier trip logistically than some of the more prestige races across the pond.

It is interesting that this race will be a Saturday night to accommodate the fan base overseas. Nobody asked me my preference for all those races I have to record and watch later since they start at 2:00 am my time! 😄 (Yes, I realize Sunday and Monday mornings are very different.)

[xaxat]

That Vegas race is going to be amazing. It will instantly become one of the coveted tickets in global sports. It will be like Monaco on steroids as hundreds of hotel rooms will be sold to people who just want a glimpse of the race. And then, once the race is over, it's time to hit the clubs and the tables. 

On 3/31/2022 at 12:45 PM, RunningMarket said:

Really hoping to go to this!

I hope you manage to! 

Red Bull did a demo run a couple of years ago. It's not the proposed course, but gives you an idea of how bonkers it will look.

 

Edited April 3, 2022 by xaxat

[Moose135]

It would be neat to go to the Vegas GP, but I'd probably have to sell a kidney to afford it!

[xaxat]

Might be worth it.

[woodstock]

Fight Night at Martinsville

Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayer go at it after a wild ending to the NASCAR Xfinity Series race. 

[xaxat]

I was extremely skeptical when I heard Miami was getting a race in the parking lot of the Hard Rock stadium, but I was wrong. It looks like they have (except for the fake marina) done a great job with the track,

 

[xaxat]

Why is Tom Brady polluting my F1 afternoon!?!?!

[emmawoodhouse]

2 hours ago, xaxat said:

Why is Tom Brady polluting my F1 afternoon!?!?!

I missed that, thank goodness. 

[BuckeyeLou]

Pretty Cool that Dan Marino handed out the Trophys in Miami today..

[xaxat]

This was fun.

 

[woodstock]

Eventful GP today

We have ourselves a championship battle.

Tough luck for Charles. Crazy DRS issues for Max. Understandable frustration for Checo. Great race for George. Nice recoveries for Lewis and Fernando.

During the race the commentators mentioned that the FIA will be looking at tweaking the F1 schedule to a more regional setup to help make traveling easier. Less crisscrossing the oceans and the globe. Will be interesting to see what they propose.

The Russian GP will not be replaced this year so only 22 races instead of the originally planned 23.

[RunningMarket]

On 5/22/2022 at 12:34 PM, woodstock said:

Eventful GP today

We have ourselves a championship battle.

Tough luck for Charles. Crazy DRS issues for Max. Understandable frustration for Checo. Great race for George. Nice recoveries for Lewis and Fernando.

During the race the commentators mentioned that the FIA will be looking at tweaking the F1 schedule to a more regional setup to help make traveling easier. Less crisscrossing the oceans and the globe. Will be interesting to see what they propose.

The Russian GP will not be replaced this year so only 22 races instead of the originally planned 23.

Makes so much more sense. I realize that some of the races are planned for times of the year when the weather is more appropriate, but Austin to Silverstone back to Montreal over to Qatar (made up example) is just ridiculous.

I was surprised that Lando went with the Cordon stuff as much as he did. I donno, just a vibe I get from his personality made me think he would poo-poo much of it. I did quasi-laugh at the comments made afterwards where people noted maybe McLaren should have spent more time on the race and less on entertaining, as Miami was less than favourable for them.

[xaxat]

That was a wild day of racing. A rain shortened Monaco. A two lap sprint finish at Indy, and overtime at the Coca Cola.

[khyber]

Try being both a motorsports and tennis fan during this weekend!

[woodstock]

Terrible Sunday for Ferrari. I felt so badly for Charles LeClerc. George Russell has been Mr. Consistency this race season. Yikes! Lewis Hamilton. I cringed watching him get out of his car. I heard that Kevin Magnussen had issues too due to the porpoising. 
 

Yuki Tsunoda’s team taping the rear wing of his car cracked me up. I thought he was supposed to retire the car due to safety concerns regarding the rear wing?

Congratulations to Red Bull. They were the class of the field today. On to Canada!

[kathyk24]

Daniel Suarez won yesterday at Sonoma. He's the first Mexican driver to win a Nascar race and fifth international driver to win over all. Nascar has a long way to go to make the series more diverse compared to the IRL and F1.

[JTMacc99]

13 hours ago, kathyk24 said:

Daniel Suarez won yesterday at Sonoma. He's the first Mexican driver to win a Nascar race and fifth international driver to win over all. Nascar has a long way to go to make the series more diverse compared to the IRL and F1.

When I saw that very short list of non-US born drivers who have won a race in this series, I spent a little time thinking about international born drivers who have at least tried.  Pretty much all of them came from a road racing background.

Which made me think, is stock car racing (or simply racing on ovals) a uniquely American thing?  Like the way that we have American football here and the entire rest of the world plays football/soccer?

Because that would explain part of it.  Another part of it comes from the fact that this series isn't just American, but up until the 1980s, it was almost exclusively a Southeastern United States sport. Forget international drivers. It was a big deal when a guy from New York or California tried to get involved. 

One of my all time favorite interviews of any sport revolved around that topic. Ron Bouchard from Massachusetts was being interviewed by Benny Parsons. The were talking about tires. (Possibly because Bouchard was driving a car on Hoosier tires, which was a big deal when they came into the series to compete with Goodyear.)

Benny Parsons was noting that he calls them Tars with his accent, but Ron calls them Ty-ers. They had a little fun with it, and then Bouchard patted Parsons on his belly and said it looked like Benny had a little bit of a spare tar going on.  Parsons laughed a genuine laugh, and it was awesome.  

[kathyk24]

I miss Benny Parsons so much he was the best. I don't think the type of track matters. Nascar has more nepotism than other series and it can be hard for a new driver to find a fan base. I'm a Jeff Gordon fan and some other fans hated him because he wasn't from the South. 

[Moose135]

Bruton Smith dead at 95

Bruton Smith, the visionary and combative executive who helped shape NASCAR into the sport it is today, died Wednesday. He was 95.

Smith was the billionaire founder and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, Inc., a group of race tracks that includes Charlotte Motor Speedway. His Sonic Automotive Group ranks among the biggest auto dealerships in the U.S. Smith was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2016. The previous year, he overcame a case of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, receiving a clean bill of health after surgery during the summer of 2015.

[xaxat]

[QueerGirrl]

I'm glad he's okay!

[woodstock]

Alex Albon also went to the medical center to get checked out. Thankfully he is ok. 

Very entertaining British Grand Prix. Congratulations to Carlos Sainz on his first GP win; to Mick Schumacher on scoring his first points and Lewis Hamilton on a record setting podium.

Recap on the weekend

[RunningMarket]

Seeing Zhou hanging out in the paddock after that crash was remarkable. Not only did the safety features on the car save him, but the barriers and fencing saved the fans. That could have been very, very bad.

Crazy last few laps - what a race! So happy for Mick! Did you see the interview where Seb (his surrogate father in a way) said he was yelling his encouragement at him as he was being passed. Love that.

[xaxat]

I fell down this YouTube rabbit hole today. Over the last year, Ferrari has staged a friendly competition between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. They do trivial non racing stuff like play speed chess, play Pictionary etc. It's fun. My favorite competition is the cooking one.

Good thing those boys have day jobs.

[Moose135]

I'm at Pocono this weekend for the NASCAR races. In today's Xfinity race, there was a big wreck on the front stretch, right in front of me. Several cars got together, and the car of Jeb Burton overturned and slid on its roof for several hundred feet. It came to a stop upside down. After rescue crews confirmed he was uninjured, they slowly righted the car and he climbed out.

[roamyn]

My husband heard that Bubba was being released by Hamlin/Jordan.

Has anyone else heard this?

[Moose135]

I haven’t heard anything. Kurt Busch is going to miss today’s race in the other 23XI car, he’s suffering concussion symptoms after wrecking during qualifying yesterday. Ty Gibbs will run the 45 car today. 

[woodstock]

Ferrari…Wow! First poor Charles and then the strategy call with Carlos were head scratching. Congratulations to Max and double podium for Mercedes. Shoutout to LH for his 300th Grand Prix.

[roamyn]

Both 1-2 place JGR  cars were disqualified.  Denny & Kyle will have their points taken away. Chase ends up with the win at Pocono.

Apparently bookies will payout according to podium standings, tho.

[xaxat]

I watched the finish of the race on Sunday, but didn't find out who actually won until Monday afternoon.

[woodstock]

Farewell Seb!

Great champion and even better human being. F1 will miss you!

[Kip Hackman]

On 7/24/2022 at 10:44 AM, roamyn said:

My husband heard that Bubba was being released by Hamlin/Jordan.

Has anyone else heard this?

Wishful thinking from the Bubba haters.

That team only exists because of the sponsorship dollars he brings in.  He's not going anywhere for a long time.

[kathyk24]

2 hours ago, Kip Hackman said:

Wishful thinking from the Bubba haters.

That team only exists because of the sponsorship dollars he brings in.  He's not going anywhere for a long time.

Bubba shouldn't go anywhere. He's had a rough season but so have other drivers. It drives me nuts that some Nascar fans will complain about special treatment due to race but not nepotism.

[roamyn]

17 hours ago, Kip Hackman said:

Wishful thinking from the Bubba haters.

That team only exists because of the sponsorship dollars he brings in.  He's not going anywhere for a long time.

HUbby and SIL and myself like Bubba.  We think he gets targeted by some drivers to take out, as his cars seem to be hit, nudged, or squeezed more often then others.

Bubba also brings in diversity of fans.  Which will in turn bring in diversity of drivers eventually.  I believe right now, there are two AA majority owners in Jordan and Daugherty, but percentage wise, that’s more than the NFL.

[woodstock]

No clue what is going on with Ferrari. They may end up third in the Constructors Championship the way things are going.

Congrats to Max on an unexpected win from P10. Also nice spin! Another double podium for Mercedes. Shout out to George on his first pole position. Lewis has five podiums in a row going into the Summer break.

Second half of the season should be interesting. No F1 until late August☹️

[roamyn]

Kevin is back!!

During Lockdown 2020, there was no sports...except NASCAR, later in the season. So I got into watching it w/hubby as I was so starved for sports.  That year Kevin & Denny won everything, with Harvick getting one more win than Hamlin.  I fell in love with Kevin at that point and got pissed that he didn’t outright win the championship based on his points. I didn’t understand how the playoffs worked in racing.  I still think he was jyped.

And congratulations to my 2nd favorite racer, Bubba Wallace for the #2 placement, even if he’s mad at himself for not winning.

Edited August 8, 2022 by roamyn

[woodstock]

No more F1 races in Russia

F1 returns this week! Cannot wait to hear the reaction to what’s gone on with Alpine and Aston Martin and what could potentially happen with Daniel Ricciardo. I have read a couple of stories that Guenther Steiner has contacted Daniel about coming over to Haas. Crazy! Then there’s Ferrari - will they get their acts together and give Red Bull a strong challenge? And will Mercedes continue improving and join the fight?

In NASCAR land there has been lots of chatter about the finish of the Watkins Glen race. I watched it live and thought Kyle Larson did not do anything wrong. Looked like hard, clean racing between him and Chase Elliott IMO.

Ricciardo leaving McLaren

And the plot thickens!

Edited August 24, 2022 by woodstock
Breaking news update

[woodstock]

Congratulations Bubba Wallace

Very happy for Bubba. He has been racing well the past few weeks.

In F1 world Max Verstappen can wrap up the driver’s championship at Singapore in two weeks.