JMII

I'm still in shock over this! He might lose the championship due to this move. Point are not that easy to come by in F1. Unlike the IRL you don't get any bonus for putting it on pole. I could understand if Bottas was glued to his gearbox, but he faded back and almost got passed by Max at the end. So Bottas clearly didn't have the pace.. thus Hamilton owed him nothing. Big props to Hamilton for letting him regain his position, which put him on the podium.

TK did the same thing for Dixon a few races ago, but that was totally different as they were both stuck mid pack and TK is already too far out of the points for it to matter.

About Max... he wasn't that reckless, he just went in too hot and smacked someone. Sadly that someone was his teammate and he hit the one part of the car that has almost zero real structure yet covers a critical element (radiator). While I'm not sold on Max just yet his rain drive in Brazil last year was the stuff of which legends are made.

As for the cross threaded wheel nut - I believe the rules don't allow them to "fix" this after the fact. Its an unsafe release and once a wheel comes off on track (outside the pits) I believe that is an immediate DQ per the regulations. Of course this part of F1's problem - too many rules. No what I don't get is why various team members run ACROSS pit lane between the timing stand and the garage. This is crazy dangerous, you don't see that in any other form of motor racing. Plus the garages are open to the pit lane with no wall. Again this seems to be a terrible idea. Take the wheel nut issue above: this just proves a wheel or car could easily get launched INTO the garage where everyone is sitting! The only thing safe about F1 pits is removing refueling to stop fires.

MicVelo

SPOILER ALERT IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED ANY TOP TIER MOTOR RACING FROM THIS WEEKEND!














CONGRATULATIONS JOSEF NEWGARDEN!

NEWLY CROWNED 2017 INDYCAR CHAMPION.

Watched Newgarden back in Indy Lights thinking, "Wow, this dude's gonna be an Indycar champ!" And now he is. He's quite good and enough of a racer and total package to be "man jelly", laff.... He's talented, good looking, well spoken and basically the total package suited to being on the top Indycar team and bringing major sponsorship wherever he happens to be. Hmmmph, coulda been me!! Hahahahahahahahaha....

Seriously though, well deserved. (Although it would have been awesome to see Helio finally win the champeenship! Oh well....)

Interesting changes coming for 2018 both from hardware and software (cars and drivers) perspective. The one that sticks with me is Sato leaving Andretti and signing with RLL (Rahal Letterman Lanigan). Shaking my head over that one. They've pretty much been a one car team (Graham) - even though they've run a second car a few times - and now they're going to be a 2-car team in '18? Hmmmmm..... woulda thought TS would have a better chance defending his Indy win in an Andretti car but.... what do I know?

==============

Then there's F1..... oh good gawd, CARnage before the first turn, ferchrissakes!!! Ugggggh.

Max can't catch a break this season, Sea-Bass and Kimi out on lap 1.... and LewHam on top....again! He got lucky. UGGGGGGGGGHHHHH.

SPM350Z

iTrader: (1)

I have to say I wasn't sure if Newgarden was going to be able to pull it off....I actually had my money on Dixon somehow winning it all only because he's done it before and he's so damn good. But Newgarden really works for me...he is everything you say...smart, articulate, professional, hard working and red blooded American boy. Good stuff. I'm still hoping one of these seasons Marco Andretti gets some luck going his way...I feel like his rookie year losing the Indy 500 by a hair has set the tone for his career but he's persevered and matured so hopefully it will happen someday.

The F1 race was AWESOME for me...a Lewis Hamilton. I'd never have guessed the Ferraris would take themselves and other competition out before the FIRST CORNER. Wow...couldn't believe it. I bet Lewis couldn't either. I was happy to see him cruise to victory...this race really may have been the one that keeps him on the path to his 4th championship...fingers crossed. I wish Alonso would have kept out the fray though...if he hadn't got it I think he may have finished top 5. It's frustrating to see him having such a crap season for no other reason than his car sucks so bad.

JMII

I too was hoping for Helio to finally win it all and get a well deserved send off. The guy has done more for Indy Car then anyone else. People that know NOTHING about the Indy racing know who Helio is thanks to Dancing with Stars and his 3peat at Indy.

With that said Newgarden is clearly Helio's successor. The "kid" is a class act with great skills and the perfect personality for this business, plus (like my favorite) Ryan Hunter he is an all American, totally bro next door type. When Newgarden was with Sarah Fisher Racing it was clear he had the skills and just needed a little more support. What amazed me was how quickly he adapted to Roger's system. He seems more mild manner then the other guys in that team and I thought he was going to get pushed aside, but no... he was forceful and didn't back down even when surrounded by the best.

For the race itself I was impressed was Pagenaud's 4 stop strategy. You see pitting for tires work magic in F1 but IRL is so closely matched that an extra stop normally doesn't pan out unless its a wet race.

I expect BIG things from RLL next year. Graham gets amazing results with ZERO help, so having Sato on board has got to give them the boost they need to string together multiple wins. Not sure how or why Andretti let Sato go, especially after winning the 500, seems crazy given they are sticking with Honda. However Rossi appears to be getting dialed in and might just prove he is not a one-hit-wonder with that crazy clutch-n-coast 500 win. Ganassi has all kinds of problems, clearly losing Target a sponsor has weaken them. TK and Max are moving on and Kimble too. From 4 cars down to 2 with some rookie? Might be lean years ahead, so RLL needs to pounce. The learning curve with the new car might mix things up and maybe we'll see some surprises but I fear Roger's group will be the cream of the crop... AGAIN.

As for F1 - I think Vettel is nuts... he MOVED over on Max. He was defending the inside of turn 1 but the required line (even in the rain) isn't that tight. Kimi was also being really risky driving on the PAINT off line, that is a major no-no in the rain. Worst part was Alonso getting taken out in a race where his car's GP2 engine was a non-factor. I was somewhat confused by the lack of pace from the Red Bull, they dominated qualifying but couldn't catch Hamilton in the race despite multiple safety cars.

NEXT YEAR THOUGHTS:

The IRL needs a few more races with less gaps in the schedule and they need to wrap things up before football starts. I've heard they might run Mexico next year. It would be nice to see them back in Brazil as well. Right now the mix of road, street, short and big ovals seems perfect - it really takes a complete driver to win that series. The tweaks they made to the race distances did seem to help widen the fuel windows so you had some mixed strategies. Hopefully the new car's downforce package keeps the racing tight. Other changes I'd vote for: PP (push-2-pass) should be cranked up a notch to where it really gives someone on the button a clear advantage. I want video game-like turbo boosts where people pop out and blast by on the shortest straights on these tight street courses. To aid that maybe put in a delay in so people can't use it to defend so much. They also need to allow back markers to go around and join the tail end during full course yellows.

Thinking about going to the opener in St Pete again next year, we had a great time a year ago... even the wife wants to go back. If you have never been to an IRL race I highly recommend it. Aside from Indy (which we did this year = unreal, magical event!) most of the races are still on a small enough scale that fan engagement is VERY high. Pit passes on practice and qualifying days will get you up close and personal with the drivers. I'm talking like handing a guy a wrench type closeness.