June 04, 2018
Midway 2018
For this, the 76th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, I had in mind the sixth of my "What If?" series, in this case what might have occurred if the Japanese submarine picket line had actually gotten into position on time, instead of just doing the submarine equivalent of sauntering, thus letting the US carriers sail without notice. The catastrophic error that took mu/mee.nu down on Sunday put paid to that idea, alas.
This left me scrambling for ideas, and to be honest I haven't come up with any. So instead, here's the best (only?) song about the battle of Midway I've ever heard.
Footage is from two Japanese feature films, *The Admiral*, about Yamamoto, and *The Eternal Zero*. I've actually seen *Eternal Zero*... unsubbed. Honestly had a problem figuring out what was going on. Looked fantastic though.
One bit of good news I recently discovered: a new Midway movie is in production, filming beginning in August. Fingers crossed, we'll finally see a **good** film about this rich topic, as opposed to that late '70s ball of dreck we've currently got. I rewatched *Midway* two Saturdays ago... it was on SUNDANCE or some channel like that... and I kept saying "that's wrong", "that's wrong too", "that's a Hellcat", "why does that Japanese carrier have an angled flight deck?", and so on and so forth. If anybody had been watching it with me, I'm not sure I would have lived through it... they'd beat me to death with my own cane just to shut me up.
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June 03, 2018
Test Test This Is A Test
I think we're back!
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May 31, 2018
So, About That Doctor's Appointment...
Some good, some bad, some "eh, whatever"... about what I expected, in other words. Unfortunately, my doctor couldn't make a judgement on my hip because he still needed to see the x-rays. Seems the immediate care place I went to isn't part of the same medical network so I had to officially request that they be sent to his office. He did give me more of the muscle relaxant (cyclobenzaprine, if you're wondering), so that's a plus.
In the bad news department, I probably have carpal tunnel in my right hand... and yes, it may very well have been caused (or at least hastened) by my hip injury. See, back when my hip was really darn bad I had to lean on my cane quite a bit... and I don't mean that in the metaphoric sense, but in the "put weight on cane" sense. This had the unexpected side-effect of causing my right palm to hurt, making me wish for a padded glove or something. Shortly thereafter, my thumb, index and middle fingers began to give me a hard time, alternating between numbness, tingling, and extreme sensitivity (that last one is a kick... today it felt like I had sliced my finger open when I picked up a ham sandwich on generic white bread. Who knew white bread was sharp?). Now it's pretty much all the time.
Getting back to the hip thing, my doctor had a hip replacement a few years back, so we discussed that in detail. For him, it was the greatest thing ever... he went from having constant, incessant, not-quite-crippling-but-awfully-awful pain to... well, nothing. Which is a GOOD THING! I'm not at that point yet, and he wasn't suggesting that I was, but if this continues to worsen, well...
In point of fact, my hip basically doesn't hurt right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly going to be a danger to Shakira any time soon, but it only hurts when I lift my leg (like when I step into the bathtub) or if I lie on it for more than a few minutes. Oh, and getting into the car is still a nightmarish scenario that's at least as painful as it is embarrassing. I get in back-first, squirm as far in as I can (or as far as the steering wheel lets me), get my right foot in... not so easy with size 14-EEE, it always gets caught up by either the door or the sill... pivot to face as far forward as I can, hook my cane under my left foot, then lift that into the car... remember, it hurts when I lift my leg manually, but getting it airborne with a tool doesn't as much... then either swear or groan in pain, depending on my mood. Until I figured out how to do this, it could take me 15 minutes to get into the Duckmobile. Nowadays, it's only a couple of minutes... still slower than your normal person, but every bit helps when it's raining.
One big surprise that I got was that I had lost something like 35 pounds in the year since I last saw the doc. No, not surprised... stunned? Shocked? Completely and totally amazed? Pick your favorite word or phrase, I was that. Still, there had been indications... loose pants, mostly... so maybe I shouldn't have been surprised, but... well.
So that's it... oh, and there was blood drawn as well. Somehow it'd been five or six years since the last blood test, which surprised me. In any case, the results of that are of some interest as well... doc says that carpal tunnel is often found in diabetics, for example... but that's a test I'm not worried about getting the right answers for. We shall see what we shall see.
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May 29, 2018
F1 Update!: Monaco 2018
Unlike the previous days of the race weekend, the skies above the world's second-smallest sovereign nation were kinda not great. A small chance of rain proved to be naught but a tease... we were to be treated to a dry race. Which should have been a good thing! This was the first time we were to see Pirelli's new Hypersoft tires... imagine a fresh Krispy Kreme cake donut... which promised to be as close to a "qualifying tire" as we're likely to ever see. For those unaware, back in the "old" days, qualifying used to be a one-car-one-lap affair, as opposed to the much superior knock-out qualifying we have today. A qualifying tire was specifically designed to last one, maybe two hot laps, before completely failing. But the grip! They would hold the road with all the tenacity of a T-Rex locking onto the neck of a hamburgerosaurus. Combine that with qualifying engines that would generate 1200hp or more, but would grenade themselves after only a couple of hotlaps, and qualifying was quite the spectacle. But we digress. The field today was led by Smiley Ricciardo, who had the 2016 Monaco grand prix victor stolen from him by a failed pit stop. Would he cash in this time? THIS is your F1U! for the 2018 Grand Prix of Monaco!
*ZZZZZZZZZZZZ: Monaco is always a spectacle. Fast cars whizzing down narrow city streets at ridiculous speeds while spectators hang out on patios drinking glamourous beverages, there's seriously nothing like it in the world. Watching the Thundering Herd charging down to Ste Devote in one massive pack is one of the great moments in a Formula 1 season. Unfortunately, it was probably the highlight of this year's race too. Ricciardo kept the lead through the first turn, opened up a 1.2 second lead over Ferrari's Seb Vettel with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton behind him. It became apparent quite quickly that the Red Bull was the chassis of choice for the tight confines of Monaco, as once we reached the first pitstops there had been no challenge posed to him.
*ACTION! DRAMA! SUSPENSE! TIRES!!!: All of the top runners had qualified on the hypersoft tires. When the pitstops were over, everybody save for Merc's Valterri Bottas had gone onto the ultrasoft. Bottas went onto the supersoft rubber... which actually turned out to be the better choice for the day. The ultrasofts turned out to be stupid-sensitive, graining at the drop of a hat, so the first four runners (Ricciardo, Vettel, Hamilton, and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen) went into tire management mode. Gone were the thrilling high-speed dives and dashes and swerves around the narrow racetrack, replaced by what appeared to be elderly ladies terrified by the gas pedal. The only drama now was to see who could keep their ultrasofts alive until the end of the race, or was Bottas going to win when the tires fell off the other four?
*ALMOST DRAMATIC: Around one-third of the way through the race, Ricciardo reported a drop in power. A few minutes later, the pit wall got back to him, saying in effect that they knew what the problem was. "Is it going to get better" asked the driver. "...no." came the response. It turned out the MGU-K in his engine had failed... that's the part that harvests energy from braking and channels it into the batteries worth about 125hp. In other words, he was going to be down about 1/4th his power for the rest of the race. Sounds bad... and it would be at any other circuit but Monaco. Here, though, it's already the slowest track and the most difficult to pass on. If you're going to lose power, this is the place to do it.
*NOPE: Vettel kept pressure on the Red Bull all day, but couldn't come anywhere near close enough to make a move. And everybody's tires held together for the 60 laps since the pit stops... because nobody was pushing. The result? A dull processional that saw the top six qualifiers finish in exactly the same position they started. Yeesh. Even the devoted F1U! crew couldn't stay awake for the whole thing.
At least the next race should be a little more interesting as we head to Canada! See ya then!
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Deja Vu!
Okay, we all know the song from Initial D, right?
Right. And we know it's spawned a gazillion memes, with the best known being Multi-Track Drifting...
...though I've become fond of Initial Duck...
...but just a few minutes ago, I stumbled upon one that I've never seen before, one that made me laugh out loud until there were tears coming from my eyes (as opposed to my fingernails maybe?). What is this paragon of memedom? Why, this:
Well, it worked for me.
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May 28, 2018
So, About That F1U!...
After watching Monaco yesterday, I flipped over and watched the last half of the Indy 500. I then puttered about until around about 6pm, when I decided to take a nap. I figured I'd just do the F1U! after I woke up, no problem.
I didn't get out of bed until Noon on Monday.
F1U! is now on "sooner or later" mode, probably tonight but maybe Tuesday evening.
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May 26, 2018
F1 Quals: Monaco 2018
Another beautiful day in the Principality, all sun and blue skies and yachts in the harbor. And a bunch of loud F1 cars driving through the streets. Here's the provisional grid for the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix:
You may notice that there's only 19 cars shown, instead of 20. DH Verstappen did it again, wrecking in Practice 3, breaking his front suspension and damaging his gearbox in the process. Red Bull could not get his car repaired in time for Quals, and so he'll start at the Steward's discretion.
| Pos |
Driver | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:12.013 | 1:11.278 | 1:10.810 | |
| 2 | 1:12.415 | 1:11.518 | 1:11.039 | |
| 3 | 1:12.460 | 1:11.584 | 1:11.232 | |
| 4 | 1:12.639 | 1:11.391 | 1:11.266 | |
| 5 | 1:12.434 | 1:12.002 | 1:11.441 | |
| 6 | 1:13.028 | 1:12.188 | 1:12.061 | |
| 7 | 1:12.657 | 1:12.269 | 1:12.110 | |
| 8 | 1:12.950 | 1:12.286 | 1:12.130 | |
| 9 | 1:12.848 | 1:12.194 | 1:12.154 | |
| 10 | 1:12.941 | 1:12.313 | 1:12.221 | |
| 11 | 1:13.065 | 1:12.411 | ||
| 12 | 1:12.463 | 1:12.440 | ||
| 13 | 1:12.706 | 1:12.521 | ||
| 14 | AMX-30 | 1:12.829 | 1:12.714 | |
| 15 | 1:12.930 | 1:12.728 | ||
| 16 | 1:13.179 | |||
| 17 | 1:13.265 | |||
| 18 | 1:13.323 | |||
| 19 | 1:13.393 |
You may notice that there's only 19 cars shown, instead of 20. DH Verstappen did it again, wrecking in Practice 3, breaking his front suspension and damaging his gearbox in the process. Red Bull could not get his car repaired in time for Quals, and so he'll start at the Steward's discretion.
Which has got to be a blow to the team, because his partner in crime, Smiley Ricciardo, turned in the fastest lap ever around Monaco to take pole. I'd like to point out that ten years ago Felipe Massa's pole speed was 1:15.787. Even the slowest qualifier this year was almost 2.5 seconds faster than that. Anyway, Red Bull had owned the race weekend, finishing 1-2 in every session thus far, and were expected to do so in quals. No such luck. I'm beginning to wonder if what we're seeing nowadays is what DH Verstappen is... crash-happy and quick to blame others.
Much can happen between now and the end of the race, but it sure is lookin' good for Ricciardo. F1U! will follow along sometime afterwards... got the Indy 500 to look at too! See ya.
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May 23, 2018
F1 on The ESPNs: Monaco 2018
Monaco.
To your common American, the word conjures up images of impeccably tailored men gambling away fortunes in the Casino while impossibly beautiful women try to catch their eye. International spies lurk in every corner, camouflaged by supercars idling in the French Riviera night.
To your common Formula 1 fan, it means "oh god I hope it rains." There would be no way the sport would be racing on the streets of Monaco if the race was proposed today. Too narrow, too unsafe, too small. But yet, every year, here we are:
And we as fans love it. It's the counter-American type of racing. Here, we go for monster high-banked ovals or 500 mile long races. Last year, the two worlds came together when Fernando Alonso and McLaren took a run at the Indianapolis 500, and former F1 driver Takuma Sato won the race.
No such luck this year... Alonso will be driving at LeMans, for example... but it really is the greatest day for auto racing in the year, Sunday is. Monaco, Indy, then Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600. But it all starts at the tiny little constitutional monarchy with a nice harbor.
ESPN has done us good this time 'round... here's the schedule
Thursday
Practice 1: 4a - 530a, live on ESPN2
Practice 2: 8a - 930a, live on ESPN2
Friday
...is traditionally an off day so the rich people can get out of town before the noise arrives.
Saturday
Practice 3: 5a - 630a, live on ESPNews (be careful here... there are conflicting reports)
Quals: 8a - 930a, live on ESPN2
Sunday
2018 Grand Prix of Monaco: 8a - 11a, live on ESPN, the real deal. There's also a replay on ABC in the afternoon.
So there's your weekend! Get comfy, order a deep-dish pizza, and enjoy the racing! F1Update! will be along afterwards... I promise.
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May 19, 2018
Idol Threats
One thing I've been able to do while I've been... um... hobbled, is watch anime. Take the laptop into the bedroom, set up a book holder on the bedside printer stand (what, you don't have a bedside printer stand?), open the laptop, put it on the holder, and voila! Anime viewing station, perfectly angled for me to see the screen while in bed (I have a low bed).
What I've mainly been watching is Love Live Sunshine!!, the second installment of the Love Live idol-fantasy franchise. I've gotta admit: I'm enjoying the hell out of it. Well, duh, it's Cute Girls Doing Cute Things In Cute Ways While Wearing Cute Costumes (CGDCTICWWWCC?), of course I'd like it!
The one complaint I have, however, is that almost all the songs being sung by our heroes sound alike. It's always the same themes: "shining", togetherness, happy, etc etc... very Up With People, if you're old enough to get that reference. I mean, sure, that's all fine and dandy, and the music is done well, but it got dull. That is, until Ep08 of the first season. That's when these two show up:
I freely admit to groaning when we first meet them... it was obvious as hell that the Production Staff intended them to be The Great Nemesis, the "final boss" our heroes would have to defeat to win the competition and save their school. I didn't want that... the series was perfectly fine without an ArchEnemy to worry about. And then...
...I didn't care anymore, if it meant we'd get more music like "Self Control." I'm very near the end of the series... I just finished the 20th episode last night... and their first performance is still the best "in concert" in the show. It goes without saying that the song is in heavy rotation on my mp3 player. Calling it a huge (but pleasant) surprise goes without saying, but a greatly welcome one.
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May 15, 2018
Until Further Notice
Due to ongoing joint problems vis a vis my hip, I'm really unable to spend enough time in front of my computer at home to do writeups. I'm working on that, of course, but right now it just hurts too much to spend the two hours or so it takes.
A doctor's appointment is a week from friday... it would have been sooner, but he's on vacation... so hopefully that'll shake something loose.
Of course, if something big occurs, I'll show up to pontificate... I'm still a fan, after all. Oh, and Spain was a Lewis Hamilton Special... he ran away and hid for the entire race. Never any doubt in my mind, that's for sure.
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Figure Foto Test Thwee
Sometimes, simple is best.
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May 12, 2018
F1 Quals: Spain 2018
A threat of rain hung over the circuit as the clock began its countdown on "GoFast Day" at Barcalounger. It never came, but the qualifying result was interesting nevertheless... here's the provisional grid for the 2018 Grand Prix of Spain:
| Pos |
Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:17.633 | 1:17.166 | 1:16.173 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:17.674 | 1:17.111 | 1:16.213 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:17.031 | 1:16.802 | 1:16.305 |
| 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:17.483 | 1:17.071 | 1:16.612 |
| 5 | DH Verstappen | Red Bull Racing |
1:17.411 | 1:17.266 | 1:16.816 |
| 6 | Smiley Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:17.623 | 1:17.638 | 1:16.818 |
| 7 | DP Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:18.169 | 1:17.618 | 1:17.676 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren Renault | 1:18.276 | 1:18.100 | 1:17.721 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 1:18.480 | 1:17.803 | 1:17.790 |
| 10 | Lettuce Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:18.305 | 1:17.699 | 1:17.835 |
| 11 | Stoffelwaffle | McLaren Renault | 1:18.885 | 1:18.323 | |
| 12 | Pierre Ghastly | Toro Rosso Honda | 1:18.550 | 1:18.463 | |
| 13 | False Esteban! | Force India Mercedes | 1:18.813 | 1:18.696 | |
| 14 | Charles AMX-30 | Sauber Ferrari | 1:18.661 | 1:18.910 | |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India Mercedes | 1:18.740 | 1:19.098 | |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:18.923 | ||
| 17 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber Ferrari | 1:19.493 | ||
| 18 | Sergey, Sir Otkin | Williams Mercedes | 1:19.695 | ||
| 19 | Pleasant Stroll | Williams Mercedes | 1:20.225 |
You'll note only 19 cars listed. The 20th, Brendan Hartley's Toro Rosso, had a unfortunate vehicle/barrier interface right at the end of Practice 3 and the team could not get the car back together in time for Quals.
To be fair, the rear of the car was still attached until the workers picked it up. THEN it fell off.
I'm not entirely sure how the two Mercs ended up on the front row, since at no time during the practice sessions or the other two Qualy periods did they look faster than the Ferraris. Well, that and my DVR timed out with two minutes left in the session. Apparently ESPN does not designate Formula 1 as "sports", thus not activating the automatic "extra hour" mode on my DVR. Anyway, I've not seen the final runs of Q3 because of that. I'm not gonna go out of my way to find 'em, either. I'm grumpy that way.
So, an interesting grid for Sunday's race... let's see how it goes!
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May 11, 2018
F1 on ESPN2: Spain 2018
Finally, the Thundering Herd makes its way back to Europe and the real start of the F1 season. This is when the teams begin to debut new parts, new wings, etc etc etc, so in theory we could have completely different results from the flyaway races.
Don't count on it, though. Here's the track map for the 2018 Grand Prix of Spain.
That's just the way it is, somethings will never change. Spain. Spain never changes. Though they did resurface the track since last year so grip issues will be a possibility. Or not. It's hard to tell with these new cars.
We'll find out though... starting Saturday!
Saturday
Practice 3: 5a - 630a live on ESPN2
Quals: 8a - 930a live on ESPN2
Sunday
2018 Grand Prix of Spain: 730a - 10a live on ESPN 2
Hopefully I'll have coverage afterwards. See ya then!
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May 09, 2018
Still With Us
I'm still alive, still kicking. Compy chair is still killing me, despite memory foam pillow and another pad to boot. It's taking a toll on me, though. Broke down twice at work yesterday... went on my lunch break intending to take a nap, and just couldn't get comfortable no matter what I did.
Hope to get the broadcast schedule up tonight.
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May 06, 2018
It Was 20 Years Ago Today...
It was May 6th, 1998, and a younger Wonderduck is running a RadioShanty somewhere in Duckford. This particular store had a DirectTV dish on the roof for demo purposes, and while it usually had the "attraction channel" running, it could also pick up WGN out of Chicago. So, at 1pm I clicked over to watch the Cubs take on the Houston Astros, the team leading the National League in hitting/offense. The Cubbies had a rookie taking the mound in only his fifth major-league start... some kid named Kerry Wood.
His first pitch was a rising fastball that clonked off the umpire's mask... maybe not the most auspicious way to begin a game. And then...?
The 20 strikeouts tied the major league record for a 9 inning game. By Bill James' game score metric, this was the best pitched game ever.
And it wasn't even close. Wood had a near-100mph fastball, but it was his curveball that was his out pitch. Watch the last pitch he throws, to then batting average leader Derek Bell. It would have broken the shin of anybody in the left-handed batter's box... but it starts out belt-high, center of the plate. Bell couldn't not swing at it, but he also couldn't not miss it.
20 years.
Edit: Shortly after I posted this, the weekly baseball show "Hit and Run" on the sports-talk station I listen to devoted most of their four hours to The Game. Along the way, they mentioned a story I'd never heard before.
Astros second baseman and Hall of Famer Craig Biggio was one of two men to reach base in the game, getting hit by a pitch in the 6th inning. Once he trotted down to first, he said to Cubs first baseman Mark Grace while gesturing towards Wood "Thank him for me."
This is a guy who hit .325 that season, with 210 hits, 51 doubles, 20 homers, and 50 stolen bases... and he knew that he couldn't touch Kerry Wood that day.
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May 02, 2018
Mmmm... DRUGS!
So I was given two different drugs to help deal with my hip: a painkiller and a muscle relaxant. The painkiller isn't so much of a much, to be honest.
But oh my giddy aunt is the muscle relaxant the greatest thing ever! Took a half-pill at 11pm, and slept until 530a. Only hydraulic pressure got me out of that bed, and I immediately returned to it ASAP. My alarm went off a couple of hours later and I kept resetting it.
Finally, I just gave up and texted my boss: "I'm calling in... this muscle relaxer is GREAT." Her reply was "LOL see you thursday."
It may not be the greatest job ever, but my boss is pretty cool.
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May 01, 2018
Hip To Be Square
Monday morning dawned bright and new, a beautiful way to start a week! I had spent as much time as possible either in bed or in my "comfy" chair, attempting to take it easy on my hip. It seemed to have an effect too, as moving around Pond Central caused no problems, no flareups, nothing like that. I had no way of knowing that five hours later, I'd be sobbing in the break room at work, the pain having become too unbearable for anything else.
This morning I hauled myself out to the car and right to the nearby immediate care facility. Once the doc came in and palpitated my thigh and hip, looking for sore spots... prod prod prod YEOWTCH prod prod prod... she put me in the hands of the x-ray techs, Torquemada and Vlad Tepes.
The angles they wanted me to put my hip into were... hell, I might not have been able to do them even when my hip DIDN'T hurt. And all of it on a hard, flat table that made my back scream. I don't think they were enjoying themselves, but I can't be sure.
Finally, the doc came in with the results: the x-rays were all consistent for arthritis and small bone spurs. Which was about the worst answer they could have given, because that doesn't go away. So I'm stuck with this for now. Whee.
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April 29, 2018
F1 Update!: Azerbaijan 2018, The Ruminations Edition
A windy day greeted the Thundering Herd as they waited for the crimson illumination to extinguish. Gusts of up to 30mph, they said. Seb Vettel, on pole in his Ferrari, surely didn't seem worried, either of the wind or of his opponent, Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes, right along side. And why should he have been? He was leading the Championship, the Ferrari had proven to be the fastest on track this season, it all looked bright and shiny for him.
*MOST OF THE RACE: Taken in the macro, most of the 2018 GP of Azerbaijan wasn't overly exciting. Yes, in the micro you had drama, but it didn't look like it was going to amount to anything, not really. It was brought to us by the two Red Bull teammates, Smiley Ricciardio and DH Verstappen. The two of them decided that they had to go at each other hammer and tongs all day, no matter what it meant to their personal chances for the race or the benefit lost to the team. Four or five times they clashed, bumping at least twice and once hard enough to draw smoke from their tires, in a race-long fight that had to be causing team boss Christian Horner to lose his cool.
It's good this was going on, because up at the front we had all the makings of a complete runaway. Seb Vettel had a two second lead after the end of the first lap. While an early safety car would kill that lead, the restart saw the Ferrari driver leave Hamilton in the dust. A flat spot on the Mercedes made it even harder for the Brit to make up time, and a pit stop put him behind his teammate Valterri Bottas. Vettel stopped 10 laps later, coming out behind Bottas who had yet to stop, and ahead of Hamilton. It all looked bright and shiny for Vettel; the gap to Bottas would go away when the Finn stopped for new tires, yet Bottas would probably return to the race ahead of Hamilton... perfect!
And then those wacky Red Bull guys showed up again.
*RACECHANGER: Ricciardio had slipped behind Verstappen, falling into fifth, but had DRS enabled as they came down the 2km long front stretch and was closing fast. Approaching Turn 1, he faked to the right (which Verstappen fell for, moving to block) then went to the left.
And so did Verstappen.
Suddenly, the gap Ricciardio had been aiming for was gone and the rate of closure was so fast that there was nothing he could do. The resulting nose-to-tail collision knocked both cars out of the race, caused Christian Horner to shoot blood out his ears, and Red Bull owner Dr Helmut Marco to say something fierce in German. Of course, everything sounds fierce in German so that's not saying much. Both drivers would be reprimanded by the FIA, and Horner made it perfectly clear that both would be apologizing to the team... possibly by being flayed alive.
Out came the safety car on Lap 40 of 51
*SPRINT: With the appearance of the safety car, the entire texture of the race changed. Instead of being Vettel's to lose, it suddenly became Bottas' to win as he could make his stop for tires without any loss of time. Now he had the lead, a fresh set of ultra-soft tires (as did the rest of his challengers), and an ever-shortening number of laps to deal with. It wasn't until Lap 47 that the safety car period ended, extended thanks to Lettuce Grosjean binning his Haas whilst trying to warm his tires.
Bottas handled the restart about as well as you can, getting an early jump on Vettel, et al. On any other circuit, this would have worked a treat, but at Baku it just means you're giving your opponents a tow down't the long, long front straight. A tow that Vettel, Hamilton AND Raikkonen tried to exploit. Vettel made a daring attempt at a pass going into Turn 1, locked up his front brakes, and simply skidded right past Bottas. While he attempted to recover, Hamilton and Raikkonen both passed him, sending Vettel down to fourth, and with a massive flatspot to boot. He would later lose another position to the Force India of Sergio Perez.
Then, at the end of the lap/beginning of Lap 48, Bottas ran over a chunk of debris and had his right-rear tire dissolve... just past the entry to the pit lane. He did, eventually, get the car parked safely, but his race was over thanks to a piece of metal nobody saw. FROM THE LEAD.
This promoted Hamilton to the lead, a position he would not relinquish. Kimi Raikkonen finished second, just ahead of an ecstatic Sergio Perez and Force India pit crew. Vettel finished fourth.
So a vaguely dull race saved by the final 10 laps or so. Not bad! Next race is Spain in two weeks... see ya there!
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April 25, 2018
F1 on The ESPNs: Azerbaijan 2018
My apologies for not getting this posted in any sort of timely fashion. Between becoming old and the continuing problems with my hip, I'm limited to half-hour long stints at the computer more or less. So no time to waste talking about myself, let's talk about Baku! Here's the track map:
This is, of course, the circuit famous for its climb past a castle... really, as mentioned before, it's only a curtain wall... in a section of uphill track that's more narrow than anything you'll find at Monaco. Then it's topped off by a stupidly long straight that, despite having a bend in the middle at Turn 20, is still totally flat out. This is also the circuit where Seb Vettel and Lewis Hamilton had their little nose-and-tail show last year. I'm sure we won't see anything quite as interesting this race, but one never knows, does one?
Here's ESPN's coverage schedule:
Saturday
Practice 3: 500a - 630a live on ESPNews
Quals: 800a - 930a live on ESPNews
Sunday
2018 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan: 700a - 1000a live on ESPN2
With any luck, an F1Update! will come along after. See you then!
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April 23, 2018
50
Today is April 23rd, the 113th day of the year. According to some numerologist, the world will be coming to an end today. Between that endpoint and the very first April 23rd, though it probably wasn't called that back then, a measurable percentage of all the human beings that ever existed were born on 4/23.
These people were athletes and admirals, poets and politicians, musicians and murderers, teachers and terrorists, rapscallions and royalty (though I may repeat myself), and any other pairings of first letters that you care to put together. Though all different, all are bound by the dint of being born on the 23rd day of April.
And half a century ago, in a hospital located on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, on a day the Chicago Cubs defeated the Atlanta Braves 10 - 4 in front of 4399 people, I was foisted upon an unsuspecting world. Light the birthday candle!
Though I've said it before, it bears repeating: nobody is more surprised than I.
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