OK so Felipe Massa won the European Grand Prix from pole. That is not surprsing in itself because Felipe has been pretty damn good recently, easily much better than teammate Kimi Raikkonen, the bad news for Felipe is that his main championship rival Lewis Hamilton finished second, reducing the impact Massa's win has on the drivers championship.
Everyone seemed really excited that this new and beautiful street circuit would produce an incident filled and thrilling race, with lots of passing, but unfortunately that was not the case and we were stuck watching a boring processional race. Had it not been for Ferrari's rather poor job at pitstops there would not have been much really to talk about. The fans on television were let down by the show, and the fans in the stands who came to see Fernando Alonso were let down by Kaz Nakajima on lap 1 really turning what had promised so much into yet another boring F1 race. Felipe Massa dominated from pole and never looked like being caught while Lewis Hamilton settled down in second and stayed there all afternoon while Robert Kubica did the same thing in third place, scoring a much needed confidence booster for the Hinwil-Munich men. One thing this race did do was confirm that this year, barring a miraculous turnaround, the world championship will be contested between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, not Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn was off Massa's pace all weekend, and had a far too ordinary race until his second pit stop. He was jumped at the start by Heikki Kovalainen and just sort of trundled around in fifth and ended up battling with Jarno Trulli's Toyota when his calamities happened. Kimi's troubles revolved around the Ferrari Mechanics, who had an uncharacteristically mistake-full race. Their first big problem came on Felipe Massa's second stop when someone in the Ferrari crew were not paying attention and released Felipe right into the path of Adrian Sutil. Felipe nearly collided with the Force India car and had to cede the place, only to pass him again on the track immediately. The Ferrari crew had no reason to force the issue with Sutil and Massa should have been paying attention himself. This was very nearly a spectacularly embarrassing way to throw away a victory and in cases where you are leading comfortably you don't need to do things like this. The stewards agreed and slapped Felipe with a $10,000 fine for his brain-fade. If this little incident was the end of it for Ferrari's pit crew then I would have no need to continue talking about it but no, the events continued, this time with a more serious incident. When Raikkonen came in for his second stop everything started well, but he was a little to over excited and tried to go when his fuel hose was still in the car and a mechanic was still holding on to the hose. The result was that the poor mechanic (Pietro Timpini) was run over by Kimi's rear wheel. This led to much scrambling and Kimi was sent on his way only for his engine to blow up a few laps later. The incident looked bad as Timpini was wheeled away on a stretcher but we hear now that he is not seriously hurt. Being off the pace and running over mechanics is not something we normally see from Raikkonen and if he wants to have any shot at the world title he will need to be much better in the final six races. He had a spectacular end to last year so it is still possible, but he will need to start performing immediately.
If Ferrari had an inconsistent day, it was BMW and McLaren who had a normal type race, McLaren saw Lewis Hamilton finish second, unable to compete with Massa and Kovalainen finish fourth, a very normal result for Heikki. The Finn has found some consistency, unfortunately he has been consistently slower than Hamilton and although he is staying at McLaren, one suspects that Ron Dennis is grooming him to be the next incarnation of Rubens Barichello. Robert Kubica finished a fine third and in what has become far too common, teammate Nick Heidfeld finished ninth and out of the points. After a great start to the season, the beemers have tailed off badly and it looks as though Kubica is overdriving the car while Heidfeld in underdriving it, something that may not be great for Quick Nick's job security. Toyota put together another solid performance to consolidate their fourth place in the drivers championship with a fifth place for Jarno Trulli and a seventh place for Timo Glock. Six valuable points for the men from Cologne will go a long way because both Renault and Red Bull had absolutely woeful days, suffering from the ills of Renault's weak engine. Sixth place went to the impressive Sebastien Vettel who was great all weekend in the Toro Rosso, obviously benefiting from the Horsepower advantage that the Ferrari has. Teammate Seb Bourdais was equally good with a solid tenth place finish and considering that Red Bull racing finished a terrible 12th and 17th, this will boost morale at Faenza. Nico Rosberg earned a much needed point for Williams who have both Honda and Toro Rosso breathing down their necks. Nico drove quickly and managed to avoid trouble (quite the accomplishment for Nico this year) and got his point while teammate Kaz Nakajima will be public enemy number one in Spain tonight as it was he who rammed the back of hometown hero Fernando Alonso's Renault and taking him out. Kaz limped back to the pits with the telltale sign of guilt on his front wing (or what was left of it) and had to get repairs. He reemerged and trundled around the back until he finished in 15th place, not a red letter day in his career that's for sure. Renault's day was pretty dismal with Alonso being the victim of Nakajima's Takuma Sato impression and Nelson Piquet being unspectacular to finish 11th. The Renault engine has a rather pronounced lack of horsepower and with Spa and Monza next on the calendar it could be a long couple of races for them. Red Bull and Honda were really awful in the race. Red Bull were nowhere near the pace and Mark Webber did decently to finish 12th while David Coulthard had another bad race, colliding with Adrian Sutil early while attempting a daft overtaking manouvre and needing repairs. DC finished 17th and last with the rumour mill churning that he may be canned before the end of the season. Honda were as bad as it gets really being nowhere near the pace and staying off the radar. There was no real reason to explain their lousiness, they were just slow and a 13th and 16th place finish is what they deserved. Force India were slightly less crappy than usual with Giancarlo Fisichella scoring a solid 14th place (he beat another team for a change) while Adrian Sutil was on television for all the wrong reasons (again), first for his close call with Massa and secondly with a lazy accident after locking the wheels, not exactly great driving.
Overall this race promised much and delivered little. At least our next race is Spa which has a habit of producing great races. Ferrari and Massa appear to have some momentum, but if Lewis continues to drive smartly he will be tough to overtake in the standings. The close title chase is exciting, too bad the on-track racing isn't.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Weekend racing preview
Ok race fans we are back up and running.
After three weeks off the formula one funny farm is back at the brand new street circuit at Valencia for the European Grand Prix. It is a street circuit, a circuit type that, aside from Monaco, F1 does not frequent very often. The track is a little unlike most street circuits in that is is fast and relatively wide with opportunities to overtake. This track could very well see some accidents and the appearance of the safety car, so reaction to this will probably be what determines the winner of the race. McLaren have proven recently that they have been very good at this and Lewis Hamilton has proven to be good at tight and twisty circuits so I tip him to be the favourite for the win, although Ferrari will be very strong as well, the red machines are just too good this year. Of the others so far Fernando Alonso and Renault will probably be best placed to be best of the rest as BMW are struggling on tyres and Renautl have figured it out recently. Fernando will really want to impress his home crowd so don`t be surprised to see Renault do a little grandstanding in final qualifying to get Fernando on the front row. If there are some surprise points finishers on Sunday look to Torro Rosso to be there, Sebastein Vettel has been impressive all season and was fastest in first practice while struggling teammate Sebastien Bourdais was fourth. Of course in reality first practice means very little, but it could be a sign that Torro Rosso are still improving as the season progresses. We will see in qualifying what happens, but this points to being a very entertaining race, and we won't even need rain!!
The IRL is in California this week at Infineon raceway (sears point) a twisty and hilly track that is tough on the drivers. Scott Dixon has to be the early favourite as he has run well in pretty much every race and with the Penske team scrambling to get cars ready after a fire destroyed their primary cars and with Andretti-Green racing just starting to sort their affairs out there appears to be little competition for the big red (target) machine. Some of the former champ car teams like Newman/Haas/Lanigan and KV could compete for the win, but in the end it always just seems that despite leading and being fastest they struggle with strategy and end up giving the race to A Ganassi or Penske driver. Dixon has a commanding lead and could concievably clinch the title on sunday if he wins and Helio Castroneves has a particularly poor day. All of the top teams tested at Sonoma this week so it may end up being a case of the have's beating up on the have nots and so a Ganassi, Penske, or AGR win seems the most likely. There are 27 cars in the field for the race and so there could be quite a few cautions, especially with a trigger happy race director and the number of accident prone muppets in the field so strategy may be the deciding factor, something again that the big teams do best at. Infineon has not been a track prone to surprises and so don't expect one here, hopefully we at least get a good race.
After three weeks off the formula one funny farm is back at the brand new street circuit at Valencia for the European Grand Prix. It is a street circuit, a circuit type that, aside from Monaco, F1 does not frequent very often. The track is a little unlike most street circuits in that is is fast and relatively wide with opportunities to overtake. This track could very well see some accidents and the appearance of the safety car, so reaction to this will probably be what determines the winner of the race. McLaren have proven recently that they have been very good at this and Lewis Hamilton has proven to be good at tight and twisty circuits so I tip him to be the favourite for the win, although Ferrari will be very strong as well, the red machines are just too good this year. Of the others so far Fernando Alonso and Renault will probably be best placed to be best of the rest as BMW are struggling on tyres and Renautl have figured it out recently. Fernando will really want to impress his home crowd so don`t be surprised to see Renault do a little grandstanding in final qualifying to get Fernando on the front row. If there are some surprise points finishers on Sunday look to Torro Rosso to be there, Sebastein Vettel has been impressive all season and was fastest in first practice while struggling teammate Sebastien Bourdais was fourth. Of course in reality first practice means very little, but it could be a sign that Torro Rosso are still improving as the season progresses. We will see in qualifying what happens, but this points to being a very entertaining race, and we won't even need rain!!
The IRL is in California this week at Infineon raceway (sears point) a twisty and hilly track that is tough on the drivers. Scott Dixon has to be the early favourite as he has run well in pretty much every race and with the Penske team scrambling to get cars ready after a fire destroyed their primary cars and with Andretti-Green racing just starting to sort their affairs out there appears to be little competition for the big red (target) machine. Some of the former champ car teams like Newman/Haas/Lanigan and KV could compete for the win, but in the end it always just seems that despite leading and being fastest they struggle with strategy and end up giving the race to A Ganassi or Penske driver. Dixon has a commanding lead and could concievably clinch the title on sunday if he wins and Helio Castroneves has a particularly poor day. All of the top teams tested at Sonoma this week so it may end up being a case of the have's beating up on the have nots and so a Ganassi, Penske, or AGR win seems the most likely. There are 27 cars in the field for the race and so there could be quite a few cautions, especially with a trigger happy race director and the number of accident prone muppets in the field so strategy may be the deciding factor, something again that the big teams do best at. Infineon has not been a track prone to surprises and so don't expect one here, hopefully we at least get a good race.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Disgruntled critic is back on track
Hi all
After a hectic couple of weeks when I have been run ragged by life I now have some quiet(ish) time coming up so I can concentrate on blogging again. Both the IRL and F1 are racing this weekend at Sonoma and Valencia respectively and I will be previewing those events. The F1 race at Valencia will be held on a cracking street circuit that promises to provide some excitement, whoever designed the track really knows how to design street circuits, someone should hire him over here to redesign some of the street circuits used in the IRL, as most bar Long Beach and Surfers paradise are absolute shite (see Belle Isle Park). My good friend and co-operator in the blogging business Pete DaSilva has a great first post about the street circuit on his new blog here: http://formulaoneamerica.blogspot.com/.
In news and notes, it appears that things aren't going so hot (or perhaps too hot) for Penske racing in the IRL as their transporter carrying their race cars and pit equipment for the Sonoma race caught fire last night en route to the race. Team manager Tim Cindric estimates that the losses will be a few million dollars, which will hurt the team. Penske has no shortage of money do to their Marlboro connections (they are essentially still Marlboro Team Penske they way that in F1 Ferrari are still essentially Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro), but with the championship push still technically on, this is a really unfortunate disaster for them. They do have backup cars that they can fly in from their base in North Carolina but apparantly they are Oval configured cars for the twisty sonoma track. If Penske get a significant result this weekend it will be a great performance from their drivers.
In other IRL notes, the entry list for the Sonoma race has been released with sadly no Paul Tracy, but with the return of the fast but accident prone (not another one!) Tomas Scheckter for Luczo Dragon Racing and with Mario Dominguez racing because it is a road course. Unfortunately Marty Roth is still entered as the driver for his own team, so there is one extra hazard on the track this weekend. If the IRL wants to be taken seriously, this dingus and his ego have to go, they can't keep letting Mad Dog Marty putz around getting in the way and expect people, especially Europeans, to take the league seriously. Marty's presence just makes the league look amateur and unsophisticated at the same time that Tony George is trying to make people believe that the IRL is a major motorsports series. If revoking Roth's racing license means having one less car each weekend then it is a risk that Tony should be willing to take because he no longer needs these lousy backmarkers to make up the field. Right now there is a solid 20-something serious entries per race with talented drivers in the cars, but Roth and sometimes Milka Duno are still there miles off the pace bringing the whole series down. In 1992 F1 banned the Andrea Moda team for bringing the sport into disrepute and maybe it is time that the IRL do the same to Marty Roth.
After a hectic couple of weeks when I have been run ragged by life I now have some quiet(ish) time coming up so I can concentrate on blogging again. Both the IRL and F1 are racing this weekend at Sonoma and Valencia respectively and I will be previewing those events. The F1 race at Valencia will be held on a cracking street circuit that promises to provide some excitement, whoever designed the track really knows how to design street circuits, someone should hire him over here to redesign some of the street circuits used in the IRL, as most bar Long Beach and Surfers paradise are absolute shite (see Belle Isle Park). My good friend and co-operator in the blogging business Pete DaSilva has a great first post about the street circuit on his new blog here: http://formulaoneamerica.blogspot.com/.
In news and notes, it appears that things aren't going so hot (or perhaps too hot) for Penske racing in the IRL as their transporter carrying their race cars and pit equipment for the Sonoma race caught fire last night en route to the race. Team manager Tim Cindric estimates that the losses will be a few million dollars, which will hurt the team. Penske has no shortage of money do to their Marlboro connections (they are essentially still Marlboro Team Penske they way that in F1 Ferrari are still essentially Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro), but with the championship push still technically on, this is a really unfortunate disaster for them. They do have backup cars that they can fly in from their base in North Carolina but apparantly they are Oval configured cars for the twisty sonoma track. If Penske get a significant result this weekend it will be a great performance from their drivers.
In other IRL notes, the entry list for the Sonoma race has been released with sadly no Paul Tracy, but with the return of the fast but accident prone (not another one!) Tomas Scheckter for Luczo Dragon Racing and with Mario Dominguez racing because it is a road course. Unfortunately Marty Roth is still entered as the driver for his own team, so there is one extra hazard on the track this weekend. If the IRL wants to be taken seriously, this dingus and his ego have to go, they can't keep letting Mad Dog Marty putz around getting in the way and expect people, especially Europeans, to take the league seriously. Marty's presence just makes the league look amateur and unsophisticated at the same time that Tony George is trying to make people believe that the IRL is a major motorsports series. If revoking Roth's racing license means having one less car each weekend then it is a risk that Tony should be willing to take because he no longer needs these lousy backmarkers to make up the field. Right now there is a solid 20-something serious entries per race with talented drivers in the cars, but Roth and sometimes Milka Duno are still there miles off the pace bringing the whole series down. In 1992 F1 banned the Andrea Moda team for bringing the sport into disrepute and maybe it is time that the IRL do the same to Marty Roth.
Friday, August 15, 2008
rumour roundup: friday Aug 15
Fisrtly I would like to apologize for the lack of posting. I have been super busy this last week and I did not even manage to see the Kentucky Indy race. I will try to fuind a replay to watch it and publish a report, but I don't know when. But I do have some interesting rumours to talk about and potentially create.
I will start in F1 where all does not appear to be well in Sebastien Bourdais-land. The four time Champ Car champion has been trounced regularly by his teammate Sebastien Vettel (who according to some is the next coming of Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, or Jesus) and is now suddenly finding himself in a spot of bother when it comes to his future. Seabass as he is sometimes annoyingly called over here could find himself on the outside looking in next year as team co-boss Gerhard Bergercould be looking at replacing him with Super Aguri refugee Takuma Sato. berger has said he wants an experienced driver with a talented rookie and Taku appears to be considered as the best experienced free agent out there. I am a bit skeptical about this as Taku never really had that great a career. He had some spectacular runs but he also was extremely accident prone and it doesn't seem logical to have a leader by example who runs into others habitually. Bourdais has said he is not fully comfortable with the car but I hope he gets to keep his job as he is a talented driver who was in the North American motorsports environment for too long, which is much different than F1. We will see but I hope it ain't true.
Continuing with my Toro Rosso theme, the race for Sebastien Vettel's job is heating up with various rookie drivers trying to stake their claim. The two frontrunners are Bruno Senna and Sebastien Buemi, but scottish DTM driver Paul di Resta is now insisting that he deserves a chance at the seat. Di Resta has been racing in German tin-tops for a couple of years now and has been impressive, but is the DTm really a good feeder series for F1? The only driver to have come from the DTM to f1 recently was Christijan Albers who had two and a half unsuccesful seasons with Minardi, Midland, and Spyker. If Di resta does get an f1 seat it would be a cruel kick in the groin to Gary Paffett who has been on the cusp of getting into F1 for years now but has never gotten the call. I highly doubt that Di resta has a shot and I think it is jut a young ego with delusions of grandeur talking as opposed to something really serious.
Coming back to the IRL there have been some interesting faces appearing at a test session at Sonoma this week. One of the most interesting is Mike Conway testing for The panther team. Conway has Honda backing and has tested for the Honda f1 squad but his time in GP2 has been less than succesful. If Panther were to expand to two cars they hay be able to get some Honda running for Conway, who is no slouch behind the wheel and could impress, although he would need to learn how to race ovals. A larger car count is always good, especially when they are filled with talented drivers like conway as opposed to hacks like Duno and Roth.
Other notable test drivers driving at Sonoma were Laex Lloyd for Ganassi and Romain Dumas for penske. dumas drives for Penske in the ALMS and knows the track very well, he is a sports car specialist so we are unlikely to see him in an IndyCar but Lloyd is a different case. Lloyd drove the Indy 500 and did a decent job and has been linked with various full time rides. Testing for Ganassi probably won't open up a seat for him for 2009 but it could definetly lead to a seat somwhere elseo, potentially with Rahal-Letterman racing. Both Lloyd and Conway would be great additions to the IRL.
Speaking of Ganassi, Dan Wheldon is still without a cotnract. The 2005 Champion is one of the highest paid drivers in the field but he has not been great last year and this year, being soundly trounced by teammate Scott Dixon both years. Wheldon is not stupid and he knows that he won't get anywhere near the reported $3 million per year he is making now but he may be chafing to get out of Dixons shadow. Wheldon is one of the ebst on the ovals but has been decidedly average on the road and street courses, which will hamper his value. Unfortunately for the Englishman the only place to be if he wants a top ride is at Ganassi and his ego may take him on a Jacques Villeneuve-esque move for big money to a smaller team with disastrous consequences for his career. He is still one of the top oval drivers in the IRl (witnessed by his two oval wins this year) but with the ever increasing number of road and street courses his value is dropping. A move to rebuild his career at a newer or smaller team is a good idea on paper, there is noone out there but Ganassi who has the money to pay him what he will probably ask for. I expect him to sign a one year contract with Ganassi while he actively seeks something else.
I will start in F1 where all does not appear to be well in Sebastien Bourdais-land. The four time Champ Car champion has been trounced regularly by his teammate Sebastien Vettel (who according to some is the next coming of Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, or Jesus) and is now suddenly finding himself in a spot of bother when it comes to his future. Seabass as he is sometimes annoyingly called over here could find himself on the outside looking in next year as team co-boss Gerhard Bergercould be looking at replacing him with Super Aguri refugee Takuma Sato. berger has said he wants an experienced driver with a talented rookie and Taku appears to be considered as the best experienced free agent out there. I am a bit skeptical about this as Taku never really had that great a career. He had some spectacular runs but he also was extremely accident prone and it doesn't seem logical to have a leader by example who runs into others habitually. Bourdais has said he is not fully comfortable with the car but I hope he gets to keep his job as he is a talented driver who was in the North American motorsports environment for too long, which is much different than F1. We will see but I hope it ain't true.
Continuing with my Toro Rosso theme, the race for Sebastien Vettel's job is heating up with various rookie drivers trying to stake their claim. The two frontrunners are Bruno Senna and Sebastien Buemi, but scottish DTM driver Paul di Resta is now insisting that he deserves a chance at the seat. Di Resta has been racing in German tin-tops for a couple of years now and has been impressive, but is the DTm really a good feeder series for F1? The only driver to have come from the DTM to f1 recently was Christijan Albers who had two and a half unsuccesful seasons with Minardi, Midland, and Spyker. If Di resta does get an f1 seat it would be a cruel kick in the groin to Gary Paffett who has been on the cusp of getting into F1 for years now but has never gotten the call. I highly doubt that Di resta has a shot and I think it is jut a young ego with delusions of grandeur talking as opposed to something really serious.
Coming back to the IRL there have been some interesting faces appearing at a test session at Sonoma this week. One of the most interesting is Mike Conway testing for The panther team. Conway has Honda backing and has tested for the Honda f1 squad but his time in GP2 has been less than succesful. If Panther were to expand to two cars they hay be able to get some Honda running for Conway, who is no slouch behind the wheel and could impress, although he would need to learn how to race ovals. A larger car count is always good, especially when they are filled with talented drivers like conway as opposed to hacks like Duno and Roth.
Other notable test drivers driving at Sonoma were Laex Lloyd for Ganassi and Romain Dumas for penske. dumas drives for Penske in the ALMS and knows the track very well, he is a sports car specialist so we are unlikely to see him in an IndyCar but Lloyd is a different case. Lloyd drove the Indy 500 and did a decent job and has been linked with various full time rides. Testing for Ganassi probably won't open up a seat for him for 2009 but it could definetly lead to a seat somwhere elseo, potentially with Rahal-Letterman racing. Both Lloyd and Conway would be great additions to the IRL.
Speaking of Ganassi, Dan Wheldon is still without a cotnract. The 2005 Champion is one of the highest paid drivers in the field but he has not been great last year and this year, being soundly trounced by teammate Scott Dixon both years. Wheldon is not stupid and he knows that he won't get anywhere near the reported $3 million per year he is making now but he may be chafing to get out of Dixons shadow. Wheldon is one of the ebst on the ovals but has been decidedly average on the road and street courses, which will hamper his value. Unfortunately for the Englishman the only place to be if he wants a top ride is at Ganassi and his ego may take him on a Jacques Villeneuve-esque move for big money to a smaller team with disastrous consequences for his career. He is still one of the top oval drivers in the IRl (witnessed by his two oval wins this year) but with the ever increasing number of road and street courses his value is dropping. A move to rebuild his career at a newer or smaller team is a good idea on paper, there is noone out there but Ganassi who has the money to pay him what he will probably ask for. I expect him to sign a one year contract with Ganassi while he actively seeks something else.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Preview and Rumour update.
The Indycar funny farm is off to Kentucky this weekend for another race on a 1.5 mile speedway. This is a race where the big three of the old IRL will probably dominate so surprise winners are unlikely. There are 26 cars entered in the race this weekend, the oncl changes to the line-up from Edmonton are the addition of Sarah Fisher driving her own car to be sponsored by Dollar General and the lack of mario DOminguez and Pacific Coast motorsports. PCM are going to run the two remaining road course races this year as Accidents there tend to be less expensive than accidents on Ovals (Mario is good at doing both) and the team is just barely staying afloat as it is. The other change is the return of the much maligned Milka Duno at Dreyer and Reinbold racing to replace Townsend Bell who raced at Edmonton. The old Oval specialist teams like Vision and Panther will be ebtter while Newman/Haas/Lanigan and KV racing will be poorer, although the ex champcar teams are getting closer, leaving only Marty Roth to be an uber-backmarker. Speaking of Mad Dog Marty, the Torontonian will still be driving his onw sponsorless car this weekend, let's just hope he stays out of the way and doesn't cause too many accidents. In looking at the front of the grid this will probably be another Ganassi-Penske duel with the Dixon-Castroneves-Wheldon axis probably going to be at the front of the field. Ryan Briscoe has not been as strong on ovals as he has been on road courses so he may end up battling with Andrett-Greens band of not-so-merry men (and women) for the top five. Tony Kanaan will probably run well here and potentially could steal a victory, but witht the current turmoil surrounding his team it seems a tad unlikely. Marco Andretti will probably run failry strong before he crashes, which at his current rate is more of a when than if situation. Marco got quite the tongue lashing from his father/boss after his foul-ups at Edmonton and will be looking to stay out of trouble this weekend so we may see a more cautious Marco this weekend, but then again we may not and the accident will ensue. Danica Patrick will probably loudly slip into the top ten as usual. Normally one would say she was going quietly into seventh or eighth, but with Patrick nothing ever happens quietly. The only other notable entry that may have a shot at a good finish is Ryan-Hunter reay for Rahal-Letterman. Ryan has been effective all year and had a real shot a t a podium in texas before being in the wrong place (close to Marco Andretti) at the wrong time (anytime during the race really) and ended up in the wall. He and Vitor Meira may be the frontrunners for best of the rest. After these there are the usual gang of idiots in the midfield who will be squabbling over 15th place or so, thse include the Dale Coyne and Conquest cars, both Vision cars, both Dreyer and Reinbold cars (although Milka will probably be battling for 25th), The HVM and AJ Foyt cars and Sarah Fisher, who although she will try with all her heart she is driving an underfunded car with very little practice time and a skeleton crew. I sincerely hope she can avoid some of the menaces posing as race car drivers in the midfield to finish the race solidly so she can at least race again at Chicago in September. Sarah is a smart driver who is good at staying out of trouble and she was so unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time at the Indy 500 and with larger fields this year there are a lot more wrong places and wrong times this year. Fisher is a class act and deserves a good break or two.
The Rumour update surrounds Tony kannan. Yesterday Robin Miller reported that TK was set to sign for Chip Ganassi and I posted that here, but then late last night it was announced that he was NOT going to Ganassi but will stay at Andretti-Green for another five years. This is great news for AGR because TK is the only real veteran they have and his input is invaluable for their continued success. It appears that TK may have wily used ganssi's interest and Robin Miller to increase his bargaining position and get himself more money, if this is the case then kudos to TK fotr that. He is one of the best drivers in the field and deserves to be paid accordingly.
The Rumour update surrounds Tony kannan. Yesterday Robin Miller reported that TK was set to sign for Chip Ganassi and I posted that here, but then late last night it was announced that he was NOT going to Ganassi but will stay at Andretti-Green for another five years. This is great news for AGR because TK is the only real veteran they have and his input is invaluable for their continued success. It appears that TK may have wily used ganssi's interest and Robin Miller to increase his bargaining position and get himself more money, if this is the case then kudos to TK fotr that. He is one of the best drivers in the field and deserves to be paid accordingly.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Indy Car rumour mill running over time
The Indy Car rumour mill is in full swing and the big story revolves around Tony Kanaan. The 2004 Series champion has made no bones about being unhappy at current team Andretti-Green Racing and wants out. The big rumour now has him going to Ganassi Racing, possibly to replace Dan Wheldon, possibly in a third car. This year Ganassi and Penske have proven that a two car team is the way to go and have largely dominated the season and both teams have great drivers currently. A move to replace Wheldon seems more likely but it would be an unfortunate slap in the face for poor Dan as he has been pretty good this year but has been outclassed by Scott Dixon, his teammate. Wheldon has still managed to win two races this year and is third in the standings. The problem Wheldon may be facing is where to go next year? Wheldon will not want to go back to AGR, he didn't exactly leave on good terms after his 2005 championship and there are no other teams with vacancies in position to fight for victories and championships. One rumour suggests that he could be in a second car for Rahal-Letterman racing, but he would probably have to bring some sponsorship and would not get anywhere near what he is making in salary this year. He could go to Vision racing, Tony George would love to have a major star in one of his cars (apart from Paul Tracy) or maybe even a small team like Dale Coyne or Panther racing, but both options would probably require Dan to bring some sort of sponsorship money. If this is true, and it probably is (it was first reported by Robin Miller) then it could have some serious ramifications for Andretti-Green. Kanaan was the workhorse and undisputed number one and has really kept that team in contention to be considered a top team, without him AGR will probably struggle to maintain such a record with four cars. The rumoured replacements include Ex-F1 and current AGR Sportscar driver Franck Montagny and current Atlantic series star Rafael Matos. Both driver are good, but it would be a long way down for the team to have someone with very little IndyCar experience filling TK's shoes and being thrown into the circus that is AGR. Maybe Marco Andretti will suddenly mature and become a legitimate number one, not likely, but one never knows. The only other potential option may be Sebastien Bourdais if he is not re-signed by Toro Rosso in F1, but he may not want to come back to North America as one senses his ego tells him he is too good for the series. He would be a great pickup for the new IRL and he could probably start winning races immediately, although he may look at the AGR shit show and cringe.
The other big IRL news is that they have a new TV deal with........ Versus!!!! Yes the former outdoor life network will be adding the IRL to it's lineup of hunting, fishing, and Hockey. This move leaves one really underwhelmed as Versus has become the abyss that has consumed the NHL and left it a niche sport with very little coverage. One fears that this will be a disaster for the IRL and waste all the good effort of unification. So far unification has not really brought about the rating increases that were hoped, although more arses are in the seats at races (this weekend's race at Kentucky is close to sold out) so there is promise, but the chronic lack of exposure on Versus could undo that. I hope I am wrong but I have a bad feeling about this whole thing.
The other big IRL news is that they have a new TV deal with........ Versus!!!! Yes the former outdoor life network will be adding the IRL to it's lineup of hunting, fishing, and Hockey. This move leaves one really underwhelmed as Versus has become the abyss that has consumed the NHL and left it a niche sport with very little coverage. One fears that this will be a disaster for the IRL and waste all the good effort of unification. So far unification has not really brought about the rating increases that were hoped, although more arses are in the seats at races (this weekend's race at Kentucky is close to sold out) so there is promise, but the chronic lack of exposure on Versus could undo that. I hope I am wrong but I have a bad feeling about this whole thing.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Race Report: Massa all but wins in Hungary
Dear readers.
I apologize for the lack of posting in the previous few days but I have been constantly on the go. I will also be the first to admit that I did not get a chance to see the whole race so this will be a shortened report so here goes
Poor old Felipe Massa. Here is a man who is supposed to be second best at Ferrari behind last years world champion, he is supposed to struggle to win from back on the grid, who is supposed to be inconsistent, and is not supposed to be a legitimate contender for the world championship. Massa qualified a so-so third (three places higher than Raikkonen) and with a McLaren dominated front row this was supposed to be another Lewis Hamilton victory. The Hungaroring is a track where passing is difficult but it still throws up the odd surprise and this time it was no different. At the start Massa had a dynamite getaway and was alongside Hamilton on teh outside going into turn one, It was man to man and Felipe held his outside line, braked late, and swooped around Hamilton on the outside to take the lead. From tehre it appeared to be all over. Hamilton could not keep up with Felipe and it looked to be Massa-Hamilton finishing 1-2 until Lewis had a puncture and pitted for a new tyre, he would finish fifth. Meanwhile Timo Glock was driving a storming race in his Toyota and inherited third behind Heikki Kovalainen who stayed out of trouble. Massa was cruising and was on for ten points to Hamilton's three and Raikkonen's five. This result would put Massa into first in the world championship with seven races remaining, everything was looking great for Felipe and Ferrari when with three laps to go everything went horribly, horribly wrong. On that lap there was some smoke coming from the back of the Ferrari and on the start finish race there was a mighty bang behind Felipe and he coasted to a stop and one could hear the cruel laughter of the racing gods. This cruel twist of fate gifted the race to Heikki Kovalainen, who duly won his first ever grand prix. It was a great result for Heikki who seemed to be in danger of losing his ride in recent weeks before it was announced that he would be retained for next year. Heikki responded in the best possible way and deserves a first win, although Massa will feel as though he really deserved this win, but hey, Heikki crossed the line first. Second was Timo Glock with his first career podium and his best career grand prix weekend. He qualified a brilliant fifth and drove a consistent race to inherit second after Massa expired. There were some eyebrows raised when Glock was hired by Toyota and he had a slow start to the season but has been getting better and better and deserves this good result. Toyota are now up to fourth in the championship with Glock's second place and Jarno Trulli getting points for seventh and with Red Bull failing to score yet again the men from cologne are cruising to fourth in the championship. If they do get fourth then their main competition appears to be Renault. The 2005 and 2006 constructors champions had a woeful start to the year but have rebounded impressively to collect some mega points yesterday with Fernando Alonso fourth and Nelson Piquet sixth. They have scored 19 points in the last three races compared to Red Bull's 0 and are now seven points ahead of RBR and looking good. If Toyota and Renault had great days then BMW Sauber had a dismal one. Robert Kubica started fourth but faded badly to eighth while Nick Heidfeld started fifteenth and finished tenth. BMW were contenders for the constructors championship four races ago but now find themselves in third and struggling while the likes of Toyita and Renault are getting much better. Their position of third is under no threat, but they are not in contention for the top two spots anymore, after a promising first half of the season they have faded badly indeed.
The next race is in three weeks in Valencia with Lewis Hamilton five points up on Kimi Raikkonen and eight ahead of Felipe Massa in the championship standings. This has been one of the most competitive F1 seasons in a long time and it is anyones guess who will do well in Valencia. It is a street circuit and it could create a surprise or two. Congrats to Heikki Kovalainen and McLaren for the win, but Ferrari will be rebounding in Valencia you can be sure.
I apologize for the lack of posting in the previous few days but I have been constantly on the go. I will also be the first to admit that I did not get a chance to see the whole race so this will be a shortened report so here goes
Poor old Felipe Massa. Here is a man who is supposed to be second best at Ferrari behind last years world champion, he is supposed to struggle to win from back on the grid, who is supposed to be inconsistent, and is not supposed to be a legitimate contender for the world championship. Massa qualified a so-so third (three places higher than Raikkonen) and with a McLaren dominated front row this was supposed to be another Lewis Hamilton victory. The Hungaroring is a track where passing is difficult but it still throws up the odd surprise and this time it was no different. At the start Massa had a dynamite getaway and was alongside Hamilton on teh outside going into turn one, It was man to man and Felipe held his outside line, braked late, and swooped around Hamilton on the outside to take the lead. From tehre it appeared to be all over. Hamilton could not keep up with Felipe and it looked to be Massa-Hamilton finishing 1-2 until Lewis had a puncture and pitted for a new tyre, he would finish fifth. Meanwhile Timo Glock was driving a storming race in his Toyota and inherited third behind Heikki Kovalainen who stayed out of trouble. Massa was cruising and was on for ten points to Hamilton's three and Raikkonen's five. This result would put Massa into first in the world championship with seven races remaining, everything was looking great for Felipe and Ferrari when with three laps to go everything went horribly, horribly wrong. On that lap there was some smoke coming from the back of the Ferrari and on the start finish race there was a mighty bang behind Felipe and he coasted to a stop and one could hear the cruel laughter of the racing gods. This cruel twist of fate gifted the race to Heikki Kovalainen, who duly won his first ever grand prix. It was a great result for Heikki who seemed to be in danger of losing his ride in recent weeks before it was announced that he would be retained for next year. Heikki responded in the best possible way and deserves a first win, although Massa will feel as though he really deserved this win, but hey, Heikki crossed the line first. Second was Timo Glock with his first career podium and his best career grand prix weekend. He qualified a brilliant fifth and drove a consistent race to inherit second after Massa expired. There were some eyebrows raised when Glock was hired by Toyota and he had a slow start to the season but has been getting better and better and deserves this good result. Toyota are now up to fourth in the championship with Glock's second place and Jarno Trulli getting points for seventh and with Red Bull failing to score yet again the men from cologne are cruising to fourth in the championship. If they do get fourth then their main competition appears to be Renault. The 2005 and 2006 constructors champions had a woeful start to the year but have rebounded impressively to collect some mega points yesterday with Fernando Alonso fourth and Nelson Piquet sixth. They have scored 19 points in the last three races compared to Red Bull's 0 and are now seven points ahead of RBR and looking good. If Toyota and Renault had great days then BMW Sauber had a dismal one. Robert Kubica started fourth but faded badly to eighth while Nick Heidfeld started fifteenth and finished tenth. BMW were contenders for the constructors championship four races ago but now find themselves in third and struggling while the likes of Toyita and Renault are getting much better. Their position of third is under no threat, but they are not in contention for the top two spots anymore, after a promising first half of the season they have faded badly indeed.
The next race is in three weeks in Valencia with Lewis Hamilton five points up on Kimi Raikkonen and eight ahead of Felipe Massa in the championship standings. This has been one of the most competitive F1 seasons in a long time and it is anyones guess who will do well in Valencia. It is a street circuit and it could create a surprise or two. Congrats to Heikki Kovalainen and McLaren for the win, but Ferrari will be rebounding in Valencia you can be sure.
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