OT: Racing 2015 (Spoiler Alert)

[pk500]

Mega late drama in GTE Pro with the Ferrari finding trouble in the last 90 minutes of the race, handing the lead -- and probable victory -- to Corvette.

GO 'Murica!

Fantastic performance by Porsche in P1. Maybe Nico Hulkenberg will ditch this F1 morass and come to WEC permanently.

[GB_Simo]

A couple of posts back, I mentioned the driving standards in a Euro F3 meeting at Monza, which were so poor that for the first time I can remember, the words "race under investigation" appeared on-screen and the race director decided to call the whole thing off. Since then, everyone involved has had all manner of meetings and discussions on how to improve matters, with the result that this weekend's event at Spa is going off without a hitch.

No, not that. The other thing. These clips aren't in English but do feature the universal language of terror.



The perpetrator here is Lance Stroll, who only two weeks ago propelled himself over the front of another racer into a barrel-rolling epic at Monza. Apropos of nothing in particular, Lance is supported by a phenomenally rich father.

Whether Gustavo Menezes is similarly well supported is something I don't know. I do know that his head is still being supported by his neck, which need not have been the case had this shunt ended a couple of feet further to the right.



Kids, brought up on a diet of Senna swerves and Chop Schuey, lacking the perspective to understand what clean racing is and the situational awareness to get away with anything else. Coming soon to an F1 race near you, though the jury remains out on which way up they'll be upon arrival.


Speaking of F1, here's Nico Rosberg:

"That’s probably one of my best opportunities for tomorrow, I need to try and keep the pressure on as much as I can, like in Montreal, with a bit colder brakes tomorrow hopefully. Just push all the way if I don’t manage to get the start, keep the pressure on, and hopefully Lewis might make a mistake or something.”

My idea, which I appreciate is a little off-the-wall, is that if Nico is quick enough to apply pressure, he might wish to try just driving past Lewis.

[XXXIV]

It looks like Rosberg is heating up and that we will have a race for the championship.

[pk500]

Fifty laps of complete tedium capped by 21 intriguing final laps today in Austria.

Rosberg's vibration and the duels between Massa and Vettel and Maldonado and Magnussen were compelling to the finish.

[GB_Simo]

Niki Ajo, ladies and gentlemen:

[GB_Simo]

On the eve of the British Grand Prix, I thought I'd share a little gem I tripped over on YouTube today. These are highlights of the 1973 Silverstone race, straight from the original BBC live broadcast, as shown on the now-defunct ESPN Classic in about 2008-ish.



The race is notable for that first lap pile-up, the debut of the Tyrrell combine harvester and what became a four-sided battle for the lead late on, featuring James Hunt running parts his Hesketh team had borrowed from the Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie-Durlacher outfit. Imagine that today - "Here, Monisha, is it alright if we borrow that spare airbox? Vijay said you wouldn't mind."

The broadcast is notable for ticking every box on your Stereotypical British Telecast bingo card, including that hardy perennial, Those Bloody Foreign Names. There's some terrific Yody/Jody interplay early on, followed by brief moments of Cevert/Cevay confusion, though the Brits, specifically Mike Beuttler (I've never heard it pronounced any way other than Boytler), don't get away completely unscathed either. Whoever uploaded it left the stabilisation option ticked so you may occasionally feel like you're walking through a fairground hall of mirrors, but it's not too bad, not too frequent and anyway, watching Ronnie drifting through the old Woodcote is well worth it.

[Rodster]

If rumors are true, looks like Kimi is out and Bottas is in. It cost Ferrari 12m Euros. One helluva talent headed to Maranello.

[pk500]

If rumors are true, looks like Kimi is out and Bottas is in. It cost Ferrari 12m Euros. One helluva talent headed to Maranello.

Good move by Ferrari. The Kimster never has looked comfortable or committed in his return to F1. Sadly, he's the past. Bottas is the future.

[Rodster]

If rumors are true, looks like Kimi is out and Bottas is in. It cost Ferrari 12m Euros. One helluva talent headed to Maranello.

Good move by Ferrari. The Kimster never has looked comfortable or committed in his return to F1. Sadly, he's the past. Bottas is the future.

Umm, Kimi actually looked quite good when he was at Lotus, got a win, was competitive. As David Coultard recently said, Kimi has lost his edge, maybe marriage and fatherhood has played a role, who knows. I do think Kimi was hoping for an extra year of pay. Austria was just brutal and felt bad for him when he crashed out when he lost control of his car.

I personally would like to see Formula One discuss a policy of retiring drivers at a certain age thereby letting the new crop get a chance like Verstappen. I doubt it will ever happen though.

[pk500]

I personally would like to see Formula One discuss a policy of retiring drivers at a certain age thereby letting the new crop get a chance like Verstappen. I doubt it will ever happen though.

Dumb, dumb, dumb. Under your policy, Fangio never would have won a world title.

[GB_Simo]

Are we putting Hulkenberg back at Williams, lads? I don't see Danny Ric leaving Red Bull for a team with a substantially lower budget and a patchy recent history, present relative success notwithstanding, Alex Lynn needs another year at GP2 level and a Button/Massa pairing, the other rumour doing the rounds, doesn't seem right - it'd be their oldest full-time line-up since Senna and Hill.

[Rodster]

Are we putting Hulkenberg back at Williams, lads? I don't see Danny Ric leaving Red Bull for a team with a substantially lower budget and a patchy recent history, present relative success notwithstanding, Alex Lynn needs another year at GP2 level and a Button/Massa pairing, the other rumour doing the rounds, doesn't seem right - it'd be their oldest full-time line-up since Senna and Hill.

Yeah, i'm still leaning and hedging my bets the Hulkster will be back at Williams at least I hope so. Williams is now a competitive team. I would have loved to see Ricciardo at Ferrari but supposedly Red Bull is not letting him out of his contract.

[GB_Simo]

The interesting thing with Bottas is going to be how he stacks up against Vettel, which will also give us scope to evaluate Felipe Massa much as Hamilton joining Mercedes let us see the real merits of Schumi MkII's efforts next to Rosberg. I believe firmly that Bottas has Got It but that being so, recent evidence would suggest that Massa must be absolutely on his game.

A quick moment to remember the man who would have been taking that Ferrari drive under different circumstances, and whose situation seems, regrettably, to be improving not one iota. Forza Jules...

I personally would like to see Formula One discuss a policy of retiring drivers at a certain age thereby letting the new crop get a chance like Verstappen. I doubt it will ever happen though.

Dumb, dumb, dumb. Under your policy, Fangio never would have won a world title.

More than that, Nigel Mansell would have to retire.

[XXXIV]

Rodster the zeke emanuel for F1 drivers.

I like Bottas vs Vettel cause KR is not cutting it.

[Rodster]

Massa has been and is currently a damn good driver. I think moving to Williams has taken the spotlight off of Felipe and he's more relaxed. As Felipe has said many times over, Ferrari is a pressure cooker and it's part of the job. Some can handle the pressure, some thrive (Schumacher) and some wilt, like Kimi. I think Felipe did an admirable job while at Ferrari.

I think Bottas will do fine as he's just a steely character and drives a wide car. I hope he becomes another Hakkinen but we shall see.

[GB_Simo]

This is a bit of a shot into the dark and I may well be horribly wrong, but the Bottas move might well clear a space for a hot shoe debut in 2016. Given that he's already tested for the team, is a Mercedes factory driver and might therefore come commercially packaged for anyone running a Merc engine, does Bottas to Ferrari mean Hulkenberg to Williams mean Pascal Wehrlein to Force India? Only 20 years old and having a quick, consistent year in DTM, I fancy that if he finds his way into a race drive, he'll hang around for a fair old while. Someone also needs to grab him before the new superlicence point scoring system comes into play, just to be on the safe side.

[Rodster]

Bit of sad news, Jules Bianchi passed away at 25.

[XXXIV]

RIP

Very sad.

I dont get the rain driving.

[pk500]

Sad, but not unexpected. His brain injuries were very traumatic.

First F1 death since Senna in 1994. Let's hope it's the last.

[XXXIV]

Some Senna?



Edit: Video blocked link....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GOEorrE4mY

Some analysis
http://www.grandprix247.com/2014/04/30/ ... 1-history/

[GB_Simo]

Hold a Grand Prix in the middle of England at Easter time and you deserve everything you get from the weather. Just to make sure we got the message across, we also held the 2000 British Grand Prix in April and nearly drowned half the paddock.

Silverstone volunteered for that slot in advance, mind, whereas Donington was a late replacement for a planned event in Japan at Autopolis, a fairly new circuit built half the world away from the nearest hotel whose owner lost a potload of money before he could pay the race fees. Undeterred, Bernie found another Japanese track with a rich private owner, this one not only in the middle of nowhere but completely unsuitable for Formula 1 cars, and TI Aida spent 2 largely joyless years as a Grand Prix venue instead. Before that, though, Tom Wheatcroft lost £4 million fulfilling his dream of bringing Grand Prix racing back to Donington, had a heart attack a few weeks before the race, very nearly killed himself driving a Mercedes W154 around the track against medical advice on race morning and still managed to give Senna his trophy a few hours later.

It's a very good first lap. Exceptionally good, clearly. The thing is, though, that about 2:06 you can see Rubens Barrichello about to pass Schumacher's green and yellow Benetton into the chicane for 4th place, even though he seems to be coming from improbably far back. Rubinho started 12th and of the cars he overtook on the way, only Schumacher, delayed by the Andretti/Wendlinger collision at Coppice 1:59 into the clip, had their progress hindered in any way. My opinion and my opinion only, this, but Senna didn't drive the best opening lap of the Grand Prix, let alone in history.

This isn't something I'd go shouting around the more fanatical areas of the Internet, but Donington '93 was a superb drive which wouldn't have garnered quite the legendary status it currently holds had Senna lived. It's not often mentioned, for example, that the margin of victory was inflated by Williams making a complete bish of the entire afternoon - Prost made 7 stops in the changeable conditions, stalling once for good measure after losing a debate with his arch-nemesis that year, his own clutch. We're also robbed of an obvious point of comparison in the race because a) his team mate crashed halfway round the first lap and b) Michael Andretti's stab at F1 is probably best forgotten, but in the morning warm-up Andretti was only 0.025 seconds off Senna's pace. In the race, his fleeting cameo appearance was that of a man in a tearing hurry - too much of one, as it turned out - to get to the front. How different his time at McLaren might have been had he only been more careful overtaking that Sauber. And spent more time, any time at all, in Europe. And I'm not sure McLaren were all that keen on Sandy...

His first win, Estoril '85, is arguably a better first lap than Donington. Leading the entire lap makes it less of a spectacle, sure, but it's wetter than the start at Donington was, he has nobody in front of him to measure his pace against, there are 1000 very peaky horses under his right boot and there's no traction control to help him out:

[XXXIV]

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[pk500]

I'll take Senna's hunting of Prost -- to the tune of four seconds per lap -- in the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix while driving a Toleman as a rookie over either Estoril or Donington:



Senna qualified 13th in the dry in a Toleman-Hart that could kindly be called mediocre. Yet he would have eaten Prost's pole-sitting McLaren alive if Clerk of the Course Jacky Ickx had decided controversially to red-flag the race early, with Prost barely clinging to the lead.

This sequence was featured in the majestic "Senna" documentary a few years ago.

[XXXIV]

Prost. What a f***in cum dump. how does it sleep at night?

That movie does make him look a weasel and he did/does look like a weasel so Im waiting for the incoming he was the better/ best.

[GB_Simo]

Senna had bent something in the car - he either bent an upright or damaged a mounting, I think - when he walloped the kerbs at the harbour front chicane earlier in the race. Pat Symonds, now of Williams, was at Toleman at the time and doesn't know if the car would have finished a full-length race but to go so quickly is still more impressive when bits of the car are pointing the wrong way.

The conspiracy theory goes that Jacky Ickx, who waved the red flag as clerk of the course that day, drove sportscars for Porsche and wanted to make sure the McLaren, with its Porsche-built TAG engine in the back, won. Then again, Jacky's Rothmans Porsche sportscar team mate Stefan Bellof was in 3rd place and going just as quickly as Senna, sometimes quicker. I don't buy it personally but I suppose it's worth a ponder.


XXXIV, have you seen this?



Prost unwittingly dumping Nelson Piquet into the fence at Zandvoort in 1983. Not deliberate, nor characteristic of his driving. In saying that, if your team boss had left the hotel that morning, popped back to pick up a file he'd forgotten and (I think I need to say "allegedly" at this point, just in case) found you in his room merrily having your way with his wife, it's reasonable to expect that you might be off your game in that afternoon's race, isn't it?

The stunning Senna documentary is naturally one-sided and misses out certain things Ayrton did (nearly shoving Prost into the pit wall at Estoril in '88, for instance) that helped to shape his relationship with Alain, so it's not the fairest portrayal of Prost you'll ever see. That doesn't mean Alain didn't weasel with the best of them when the occasion demanded - he most assuredly did.

Having said that, his on-track ethics were incomparably better than Senna's, to my mind, and journalist Nigel Roebuck always said Prost is the only driver never to have told a lie when answering his questions, which must be worth something.