OT: Racing 2015 (Spoiler Alert)

[pk500]

Well, that was dull.

There's something badly awry if Hamilton can't pass Vettel on track, going as far as to say it was impossible, even though car and driver are quick enough to bugger off into the far distance as soon as the air ahead is clear. Standard problems for aero-dependent cars, yes, but this is the first Pirelli year where we've really seen quicker cars unable to make massive progress. Then again, perhaps it's just a Barcelona thing. Whatever it is, I didn't much enjoy it.

Watch the WEC races from either Silverstone or Spa this season, if you have six hours to spare. Either of those races will serve as lovely mouthwash for the F1 parade you saw today.

The WEC has it going on right now. Golden age.

[Rodster]

One thing the top brass of Formula 1 needs to address are the rules of competition and they need to get it right. So far all the rule changes have been for the sake of competition to make things equal like NASCAR but the opposite happens. Formula 1 made changes when Schumacher and Ferrari were dominating, then someone else took their place. Then they made changes again, then someone else dominated.

Fast forward to today and now we have Mercedes the last two years, dominating. But with all the high tech regulations and costs to the teams which are putting some out of business, they can't use said technologies to the fullest. They can only use a certain amount of tires per weekend, no refueling the cars, fuel flows are regulated. Then you have restrictions put on teams where they can't make upgrades so it leaves teams like Mercedes pulling further away. So the FIA with each set of rules and regulations have made the competition problem more UNBALANCED, made the racing product shittier and have bankrupted several teams.

Then you have Max Mosley's chiming in and suggesting a cost cap budget for the teams. If a team elects to participate in a cost cap budget, they are allowed more freedom to build their cars within the regulations.

I say take all their toys away, hand them all early 1960's cars with NO wings and let them go racing.

[XXXIV]

All I have seen is Red Bull dominate and now Mercedes dominate.

Maybe freedom would make it better?....Wish Id been on this years ago. The history, the little I know and am learning, is VERY rich.

[GB_Simo]

Watch the WEC races from either Silverstone or Spa this season, if you have six hours to spare. Either of those races will serve as lovely mouthwash for the F1 parade you saw today.

The WEC has it going on right now. Golden age.

Missed Silverstone, mate, but watched Spa live. WEC is compelling at the minute: so many different ways of skinning the same cat in LMP1, genuine battles for the lead in every class and arguably the strongest set of professional drivers in world motorsport.

Motors TV is doing the whole season live with John Hindhaugh on comms, I believe, except for Le Mans which will probably be a Eurosport effort with Hindhaugh and co. staffing Radio Le Mans instead. The winning mix there is Eurosport pictures with RLM commentary, on account of how Eurosport's commentary invariably sounds like it's being delivered by several competition winners (Martin Haven excepted. We like Martin Haven) who won a tour of the commentary box in 1990 or so and just refused to leave.

Those who fancy a sportscar fix but have less time to spare could do worse than watching the TUSCC race from Laguna Seca. Motors are showing the Fox Sports broadcast either live or as-live this season so I'm getting to put some time into that too - terrific close-quarters racing all down the field and the overall lead battle was enthralling.

[pk500]

Those who fancy a sportscar fix but have less time to spare could do worse than watching the TUSCC race from Laguna Seca. Motors are showing the Fox Sports broadcast either live or as-live this season so I'm getting to put some time into that too - terrific close-quarters racing all down the field and the overall lead battle was enthralling.

Definitely. The Rolex 24, Sebring and Laguna have been excellent TUDOR United SportsCar Championship shows this season. Only Long Beach was a bit of a snoozer. Definitely a championship worth any road racing fan's time.

All of the TUDOR race telecasts are posted on the TUSCC YouTube page within 24 hours of broadcast, in HD. Easy way to catch all the action if you miss the broadcast.

https://www.youtube.com/user/UnitedSportsCar

[Rodster]

2017 Rule Changes

Faster cars: 5 to 6 seconds drop in lap times through aerodynamic rules evolution, wider tires and reduction of car weight

Reintroduction of refuelling (maintaining a maximum race fuel allowance)

Higher revving engines and increased noise

More aggressive looks

[pk500]

2017 Rule Changes

Faster cars: 5 to 6 seconds drop in lap times through aerodynamic rules evolution, wider tires and reduction of car weight

Reintroduction of refuelling (maintaining a maximum race fuel allowance)

Higher revving engines and increased noise

More aggressive looks

Like all except for refueling. Will turn F1 into a series of tedious sprints between stops instead of forcing drivers and teams to manage fuel loads, tire management and strategy. Bad idea.

I also wonder what Strategy Group means by "more aggressive looks." If that means more aero bits and appendages attached to the cars like the late 2000s, count me out. The 2008 cars -- the last year before appendages were banned -- may have been the ugliest F1 cars in history. The new IndyCar road course aero kits are just as hideous, if not worse.

[F308GTB]

Anyone catch MotoGP from France today? The battle for 4th those few laps with Iannone and Marquez was pure gold. Commentators had it right - a seasons worth of passing in a couple of laps. Just back and forth at every turn. And great result for Yamaha. So nice to see someone else at the top after two seasons of complete dominance by Marquez.

[pk500]

Anyone catch MotoGP from France today? The battle for 4th those few laps with Iannone and Marquez was pure gold. Commentators had it right - a seasons worth of passing in a couple of laps. Just back and forth at every turn. And great result for Yamaha. So nice to see someone else at the top after two seasons of complete dominance by Marquez.

MotoGP is the most exciting motorsports series in the world. I've been saying that for a decade to anyone who will listen!

On four wheels, the WEC and TUDOR United SportsCar Championship are providing the most enjoyable, thrilling action in the world.

[Rodster]

Anyone catch the slight gibe from the announcer when they flashed Jean Todt's mug commenting if Todt came to the race to ask about passing.

[Rodster]

Wow is all I can say. What the hell was Mercedes thinking by pitting Lewis so late in the race after the Verstappen shunt? It's not like Monaco is the easiest place to pass. That Nico win was a gift from Mercedes. Lewis has every right to be pissed.

Drive of the day has to go to Capt Morgan for taking his bag of bolts under performing car to 9th place before his car failed again. He was called in for a 5 sec stop penalty and left the pits in the same spot. Vettel holding position on Ricciardio at the start of the race was solid.

[XXXIV]

That was so strange Mercedes. Felt bad for Hamilton on the radio. He was not a happy man.

[GB_Simo]

Yes.

Unless the tyre is punctured, there's no reason to pit. Track position is king in Monaco and if there's the faintest chance of losing it, you stay out. Even if tyre warm-up was a concern (Rosberg set fastest lap on primes post-safety car, so it shouldn't have been), staying out and parking the car on every apex would have been the play. I'm looking forward to the explanation because I can't come up with a single reasonable one for myself. Lewis is currently doing a terrific job of keeping a lid on things and taking a share of the blame but the team had the full facts at their disposal, which the driver did not.

It went belly-up in the end, but right up until his sudden, violent departure, the boy Verstappen was terrific. I realise that's like the Titanic floating wonderfully until it sank, but the move on Bottas and the initial sneak attack on Grosjean were brilliant bits of switched-on driving.

[GB_Simo]

By the way, who are we picking for the 500? Anyone maintaining the DSP tradition of having Townsend Bell as their dark horse?

[pk500]

Pagenaud in the third Penske

[Smurfy]

I was hoping Montoya would win, but my money was on Will Power. Regardless who won, it was a fantastic finish today. I think you can add this finish to Montoya's 2000 Michigan 500 finish in the highlight videos. Sorry to see things go bad for Dixon, Pagenaud, and Kanaan though.

After all the worries leading up to the race, they pulled a mighty one out of the bag this year. Mad props to Indycar!

Really sucked to see Hamilton screwed by Mercedes today. Even if their math had been correct, it was going to be close. It's so easy for things to go wrong on a pit stop.

[GB_Simo]

Smurf, I thought I'd predicted a JPM win in an IM conversation on Saturday night. When I checked on Sunday, I'd said Montoya really seemed to like his race car and then tipped Helio to win. What a berk.

Drive of the day has to go to Capt Morgan for taking his bag of bolts under performing car to 9th place before his car failed again. He was called in for a 5 sec stop penalty and left the pits in the same spot. Vettel holding position on Ricciardio at the start of the race was solid.

Behind his team mate, who was merrily nursing a set of super-softs through their stint at the time. Jenson is hanging on very nicely in that scrap.

Though I'm having difficulty suggesting anyone other than Hamilton as driver of the day, the strongest candidate elsewhere was probably - and you'll all know how much this pains me - Sergio Perez. He's been quietly doing an extremely good job so far this season and to qualify and finish 7th in what we know is an undeveloped car just emphasises that. None of that is good news for the bloke in the other Force India, whose future might soon be in that LMP1 Porsche he's racing at Le Mans.

[Rodster]

Drive of the day has to go to Capt Morgan for taking his bag of bolts under performing car to 9th place before his car failed again. He was called in for a 5 sec stop penalty and left the pits in the same spot. Vettel holding position on Ricciardio at the start of the race was solid.

Behind his team mate, who was merrily nursing a set of super-softs through their stint at the time. Jenson is hanging on very nicely in that scrap.

I should have updated my post and mentioned I was watching the Spanish live feed on the internet so they were focusing on the Captain and the image quality of the feed was not the best so it was tough seeing who was in what position.

[Rodster]

I guess i'm not the only one who questioned Vettel's ability. Here comes Jense to chime in:

http://en.f1i.com/news/13554-button-did ... rrari.html

Sebastian for four years did an amazing job and a lot of people said it was the team around him doing a great, he just had to finish it off,” Button told F1i. “Then Daniel in England we would say ‘put some manners on him’, but basically did a better job than Sebastian did last year. A much better job, he won three races, Sebastian won no races, so his stock dropped massively I think.

"I didn’t expect him to be so quick at Ferrari.”

[GB_Simo]

FIA seeking a new F1 entry, possibly to compete as early as 2016. Either there's already a terrific candidate waiting in the wings whose plans have somehow remained silent or the sport has learned nothing from the 2009 process. I fear I already know which.

Edit: unless it's ART, the team ran by Jean Todt's son Nicolas, bringing Stoffel Vandoorne into F1 with customer Hondas and "technical support" from McLaren. Speculating wildly, yes, but maybe not that wildly.

[GB_Simo]

Since the TV captions don't show the spelling of a driver's first name, I think I've managed to convince the good lady that the leader of the ongoing British GT race, Jon Barnes, used to play for Liverpool. It's all going to fall apart when he takes his crash helmet off but I'm going to take this as far as I can.

Speaking of taking things as far as you can, when was the last time a race was red flagged because the competitors weren't driving well enough? Driving standards across the junior formulae have been heading down the glugger for years now so a hardline approach is needed, perhaps even overdue, but will it fix the fact that half the field in the FIA's flagship F3 series couldn't drive a soapy stick up a dog's arse?

[GB_Simo]

Often, by this stage of the Le Mans 24 hours, the race has entered a bit of a lull, a couple of quick cars have fallen completely out of contention and a clear favourite has emerged. This year, not so much. This is an absolute belter...

[pk500]

Often, by this stage of the Le Mans 24 hours, the race has entered a bit of a lull, a couple of quick cars have fallen completely out of contention and a clear favourite has emerged. This year, not so much. This is an absolute belter...

Absolutely. I'm listening to the race with the BRILLIANT team from Radio Le Mans in my hotel room in Toronto, where i'm working a Porsche GT3 Cup Canada race on the Honda Indy Toronto bill.

[pk500]

Overnight live stream of race for those in the U.S. saddled with sh*tty TV coverage of Le Mans: http://www.foxsports.com/motor/corvette-live-stream

[Dave]

Thanks for the link. The Fox Sports Go app has been complete s*** for me so I welcome an alternative.