OT: Racing 2017 (Spoiler Alert)

[pk500]

Esteemed F1 journalist Joe Saward said on his regular guest slot on the Missed Apex podcast that Kubica was cast aside by Williams because he was four-tenths slower than Stroll's times in comparable machinery in testing.

Not surprising. F1 cars are very physical machines, even with power steering. There's no way that a guy who came within minutes of requiring an arm amputation can have the same strength as his rivals for the seat.

[pk500]

Some great sports car news over the last couple days.

It will be great to see the Red Dragon back at Daytona and it is cool to see my "local" team, JDC-Miller Motorsports, land the sponsorship. They punched above their weight last year and hopefully the expansion to a two-car team helps close the gap to the front even further.

Happy to see JDC blossom into a top team. I really enjoyed working with the team and its drivers from 2014-16 in Prototype Lites. Team principal John Church is a racer to the core. Good guy who runs a very professional team that will shine for its sponsors. Also happy to see Misha Goikhberg head to Le Mans. Yes, he brings a check, but he's a solid racer and a funny guy with a VERY dry, wry sense of humor.

The funniest part of the sports car season is David MacNeil's unending quest to try to find a car that flatters his son. Now WeatherTech Racing has moved to Ferrari to try and create speed for Cooper. Fat chance -- the spoiled rich kid is slow, period.

[GB_Simo]

Esteemed F1 journalist Joe Saward said on his regular guest slot on the Missed Apex podcast that Kubica was cast aside by Williams because he was four-tenths slower than Stroll's times in comparable machinery in testing.

Joe now seems to be suggesting that stories of Kubica's pace relative to Stroll may not be strictly accurate, but instead a leak designed to mitigate against the appearance of having taken the money when signing Sirotkin. Further, talk of Sirotkin being signed may be an attempt to shake the Polish money tree and see what falls out.

Then again, it might not be. All a bit of a mess.