July 12, 2017
F1 on CNBC: Great Britain 2017!
If Monaco is the heart of Formula 1, and Monza the throbbing adrenal glands, and Hungary whatever earwax is, this weekend's track is the very soul of the sport. It was here that the F1 championship was born, most of the teams are located within a short drive from the circuit (and one literally across the street from the front gates), and it's been the home track for many of the greatest names in the sport's history. Thus it should come as no surprise to veteran watchers of F1 or readers of The Pond that there's a very good chance indeed that next year will be the last British Grand Prix to be held at Silverstone for a while. Here's the track map:
The British Racing Drivers' Club, the owning body of Silverstone, activated an escape clause in their current contract with Formula One Management... or Liberty Media, whatever the powers that be in F1 are now...citing ruinous fees to host the event. They say they've lost £7million over the last two years, and expect to be another four million in the hole this year. So suddenly we no longer have a track for the British Grand Prix. The BRDC will, of course, immediately begin renegotiating with The Powers That Be, going for lower fees, and who can blame them? By the end of the contract they just got out of, 2026, they would be paying £25million just to host a F1 race... never mind upkeep, improvements, so on and so forth.
Which makes what happened today in London so interesting. See, F1 put on a little show in the heart of the city, meaning we got the spectacle of modern and classic F1 cars prancing around Trafalgar Square. It may not be coincidence that there's a serious push for a race in London. Gotta admit, that'd be really freakin' cool.
19 of the current drivers appeared at the event, the lone no-show being Brit Lewis Hamilton. Gotta say, that's awfully stupid of him, but hell, it's not like I'm a fan anyway.
One thing we know for sure: the Legendary Announce Team will be doing their usual stalwart coverage... hopefully David Hobbs will have recovered from the bug that bit him. Here's the times:
Friday
Practice 2: somewhere between hither and yon.
Saturday
Quals: 7a - 830a, live on CNBC
Sunday
2017 Grand Prix of Britain: 630a - 9a, live on CNBC
All times Pond Central. Accept no substitutes!
F1U! will be along sometime thereafter... see ya then!
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July 08, 2017
F1 Quals: Austria 2017
Well folks, they can't all be gems... my Austria/Australia post proved that one definitively. And so too went today's Qualifying session for the 2017 Grand Prix of Australia Austria. Here's the provisional grid:
So yeah, not much exciting today. We didn't even get the usual shootout for pole, the drivers making one last desperate dash in an attempt to best the leader's time. Lettuce Grosjean's Haas turned into an immobile piece of carbon fiber sculpture on the racing surface towards the end of the session. That brought out the yellow flags, meaning that drivers couldn't improve their times (by rule). And thus we did see Valterri Bottas take pole by a scant .042 seconds over Sebby Vettel. Lewis Hamilton qualified third, but he's going to starting from the eighth spot after an unscheduled gearbox change. Whoopsie! However, he's taken advantage of that by doing his runs in Q2 on the harder "super-soft" tires while everyone else of consequence used the "ultra-softs". In theory, this'll lead to him doing a long first stint and running the faster tires at the end... strategery!
Except all of that skullsweat might go right out the window. There's a good chance of rain for tomorrow's race, and it's almost guaranteed to be raining before the race session. Damp track? Rain race? I'm up for that! Cross your wingtips, lads and lasses, and keep 'em crossed.
Race on Sunday morning, we'll be along with the F1U! sometime after that. See ya then!
| Pos |
Driver | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:05.760 | 1:04.316 | 1:04.251 | |
| 2 | 1:05.585 | 1:04.772 | 1:04.293 | |
| 3 | 1:05.064 | 1:04.800 | 1:04.424 | |
| 4 | 1:05.148 | 1:05.004 | 1:04.779 | |
| 5 | 1:05.854 | 1:05.161 | 1:04.896 | |
| 6 | 1:05.779 | 1:04.948 | 1:04.983 | |
| 7 | 1:05.902 | 1:05.319 | 1:05.480 | |
| 8 | 1:05.975 | 1:05.435 | 1:05.605 | |
| 9 | 1:06.033 | 1:05.550 | 1:05.674 | |
| 10 | 1:05.675 | 1:05.544 | 1:05.726 | |
| 11 | 1:06.174 | 1:05.597 | ||
| 12 | 1:06.158 | 1:05.602 | ||
| 13 | 1:06.316 | 1:05.741 | ||
| 14 | 1:05.990 | 1:05.884 | ||
| 15 | 1:06.143 | No Time |
||
| 16 | 1:06.345 | |||
| 17 | 1:06.534 | |||
| 18 | 1:06.608 | |||
| 19 | 1:06.857 | |||
| 20 | 1:07.011 |
So yeah, not much exciting today. We didn't even get the usual shootout for pole, the drivers making one last desperate dash in an attempt to best the leader's time. Lettuce Grosjean's Haas turned into an immobile piece of carbon fiber sculpture on the racing surface towards the end of the session. That brought out the yellow flags, meaning that drivers couldn't improve their times (by rule). And thus we did see Valterri Bottas take pole by a scant .042 seconds over Sebby Vettel. Lewis Hamilton qualified third, but he's going to starting from the eighth spot after an unscheduled gearbox change. Whoopsie! However, he's taken advantage of that by doing his runs in Q2 on the harder "super-soft" tires while everyone else of consequence used the "ultra-softs". In theory, this'll lead to him doing a long first stint and running the faster tires at the end... strategery!
Except all of that skullsweat might go right out the window. There's a good chance of rain for tomorrow's race, and it's almost guaranteed to be raining before the race session. Damp track? Rain race? I'm up for that! Cross your wingtips, lads and lasses, and keep 'em crossed.
Race on Sunday morning, we'll be along with the F1U! sometime after that. See ya then!
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July 05, 2017
F1 on TV: Austria 2017
Y'know, for the life of me I can't understand just why in the middle of the European leg of the F1 calendar we jump back overseas for a single race. I mean, sure, it's a great track, the fans are wonderful, a local boy is driving for a contending team, all that's fantastic, but do we really need to race in Melbourne twice a year? Do the teams like Fosters that much???
What?
Austria? Not... oh. Well then. That would explain the track map.
Doesn't look a darn thing like Albert Park. What it is, though, is the fastest lap on the F1 calendar, taking around 1:07 to complete. It's not the shortest lap, that's Monaco, but as a 2.7mile long track that's awfully fast with essentially nothing in the way of turns, it's over awful quick. And this year, the potential is there for an sub-one-minute lap. Probably won't happen, but with the cars being ~5seconds/lap faster over last year, it's not out of the question.
One thing that should be a thing here in Australia AUSTRIA is that everything is trying to kill you the track surface is abrasive as a peeved drop bear sheet of 2-grit sandpaper. We should actually get tire wear this race as a result. Tire strategery might be a thing!
Something I learned just this morning: would you believe this is a Hermann Tilke track? If you squint, you can see the seeds of what would become the circuits in Malaysia and Bahrain, but much simpler. And, to be fair, the circuit was whelped from the old Osterreichring, so he wasn't the only designer involved...
All this is interesting, of course, but the important stuff is when the Legendary Announce Team will be doing their gig! Here's the schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: got me hoppin'.
Saturday
Quals: 7a - 830a live on NBCSN
Sunday
2017 Grand Prix of Australia Austria: 630a - 9a live on CNBC
All times Pond Central. The Tour de France is on NBCSN all weekend if it isn't on NBC itself, so that's why the race is on CNBC. Yay.
See ya afterwards with the fromage and the shrimp from the barbie!
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June 24, 2017
F1 Quals: Azerbaijan 2017
Just for the record? "Azerbaijan" does not in fact flow smoothly from the fingertips when typing. But you're not here to hear me whine about typing "Azerbaijan", you're here to find out who went the fastest around the track in preparation for the 2017 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan, and by how much Lewis Hamilton is on pole by. Here's the provisional grid:
It was actually a little tense in Q3, at least for a little while. It was looking like Bottas had managed the trick against his teammate, particularly when one considered that the session had been stopped for 10 minutes or so after Smiley Ricciardo stuffed his car into the walls at Turn 6. The session was red flagged, which meant all the tire heat went away... and it's notoriously difficult for the Mercedes chassis to get them warm in the first place. Didn't matter. Hamilton pulled out a lap around Baku that will probably go down as one of the most impressive pole runs ever. He ended up with nearly a half-second advantage to his teammate in second, and over a full second to Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari in third place. Insane. This pole also moves Hamilton to second place all-time in career poles with 66... one ahead of Ayrton Senna, and only two behind Slappy Schumacher.
In other exciting news, the two McLaren boys have engine and gearbox change penalties totaling 70 spots between them. No, that's not a typo: seventy. Seven-Zero. Too many power units used, unscheduled engine change, yadda yadda. In effect, this means nothing but it points out the current stupidity involved in the penalty system.
Also, you may have noticed there were only 19 cars listed. Missing was Jolyon Palmer and his Renault, which suffered an engine fire (and subsequent marshal bukkaking the entire thing with extinguisher foam... seriously, it was just silly) in P3 and could not be repaired in time for Quals. He races at the Stewards' whim tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow, we'll see you after the race tomorrow!
| Pos |
Driver | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:41.983 | 1:41.275 | 1:40.593 | |
| 2 | 1:43.026 | 1:41.502 | 1:41.027 | |
| 3 | 1:42.678 | 1:42.090 | 1:41.693 | |
| 4 | 1:42.952 | 1:41.911 | 1:41.841 | |
| 5 | 1:42.544 | 1:41.961 | 1:41.879 | |
| 6 | 1:43.162 | 1:42.467 | 1:42.111 | |
| 7 | 1:43.051 | 1:42.751 | 1:42.186 | |
| 8 | 1:43.613 | 1:42.284 | 1:42.753 | |
| 9 | Not Retired | 1:43.165 | 1:42.735 | 1:42.798 |
| 10 | 1:42.857 | 1:42.215 | 1:43.414 | |
| 11 | 1:42.927 | 1:43.186 | ||
| 12 | 1:43.489 | 1:43.347 | ||
| 13 | 1:44.029 | 1:43.796 | ||
| 14 | 1:43.930 | 1:44.267 | ||
| 15 | 's Wager | 1:44.317 | 1:44.603 | |
| 16 | 1:44.334 | |||
| 17 | 1:44.468 | |||
| 18 | 1:44.795 | |||
| 19 | 1:45.030 |
It was actually a little tense in Q3, at least for a little while. It was looking like Bottas had managed the trick against his teammate, particularly when one considered that the session had been stopped for 10 minutes or so after Smiley Ricciardo stuffed his car into the walls at Turn 6. The session was red flagged, which meant all the tire heat went away... and it's notoriously difficult for the Mercedes chassis to get them warm in the first place. Didn't matter. Hamilton pulled out a lap around Baku that will probably go down as one of the most impressive pole runs ever. He ended up with nearly a half-second advantage to his teammate in second, and over a full second to Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari in third place. Insane. This pole also moves Hamilton to second place all-time in career poles with 66... one ahead of Ayrton Senna, and only two behind Slappy Schumacher.
In other exciting news, the two McLaren boys have engine and gearbox change penalties totaling 70 spots between them. No, that's not a typo: seventy. Seven-Zero. Too many power units used, unscheduled engine change, yadda yadda. In effect, this means nothing but it points out the current stupidity involved in the penalty system.
Also, you may have noticed there were only 19 cars listed. Missing was Jolyon Palmer and his Renault, which suffered an engine fire (and subsequent marshal bukkaking the entire thing with extinguisher foam... seriously, it was just silly) in P3 and could not be repaired in time for Quals. He races at the Stewards' whim tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow, we'll see you after the race tomorrow!
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June 20, 2017
F1 on TV: Azerbaijan 2017
BIG NEWS!!! They changed the name of this race! Last year, it was the European Grand Prix! How exciting can you get? (sigh) It's kind of a fascinating track, this street circuit at Baku, a mix of Monaco and drag racing track. Here's the map:
Sector two runs through Baku Oldtown, through ridiculously narrow streets and zipping past a friggin' castle (actually a curtain wall, but who's counting?). But see, here's the thing... as interesting as that can be, the whole rest of the track is a whole lot of nothing. The whole of Sector three, from Turn 16 to Turn 1, is essentially one long straight. Oh, sure, there's a little whoopsie at Turn 18, but last year the cars weren't slowing down for it. What do you think this year's chassis, with it's higher grip levels and wider tires, are going to do? And then there's Sector one. It's no breaking news that I'm not fond of 90° turns since they guarantee that any sort of flow that might arise is immediately mugged, stuffed in a canvas bag, and thrown into the ocean with weights attached. Look at the old circuits like Spa or Monza or Suzuka or Silverstone... they look like they were designed freehand, no drafting triangles or protractors allowed. In fact, the only right-angled turns on those circuits are new additions, generally a chicane to slow the cars down before a blast to the finish line (note: Monza is exactly the opposite, a chicane to slow the cars down after the front straight). Those places have a rhythm to them, rhythms that a good driver can meld into. Monaco is a special case, of course, as Monaco always has been.
So Baku has a terrible reputation, even after just one race. Last year, the teams were cautious unto death, tiptoeing their way around the place like... um... I can't think of a good metaphor. This year, as mentioned earlier, wider tires and a wider car altogether is going to make the Oldtown section even more terrifying, probably. That's not a good thing. I would be interested in seeing how the place races in the wet, but as Baku averages 8mm of rainfall in the month of June, I'm not holding my breath.
Neither are the Legendary Announce Team members, probably. Here's the broadcast schedule for the weekend:
Friday
Practice 2: 1p - 230p tape delay on NBCSN (they're showing the Royal Ascot instead)
Saturday
Saturday
Quals: 8a - 930a live on CNBC
Sunday
2017 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan: 7a - 10a live on NBCSN
All times Pond Central, check your local listings if you don't trust me.
With any luck, there will be something interesting to write about afterwards... or maybe I'll get to rant again, who knows? See ya then!
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June 10, 2017
F1 Quals: Canada 2017
Everything was just about perfect for the fast running of F1 cars today at Montreal: minimal wind, a bright sun bringing the track surface to temperature warm enough to melt the everpresent snow, and everywhere, constantly, the mingled smells of poutine, Tim Horton's, and Labatts. So what did this all total up to? Let's take a look at the provisional grid for the 2017 Grand Prix of Canada, eh?
Q1 and Q2 were essentially uneventful. Everything played out exactly as you'd expect them to, and only the discovery that Pleasant Stroll is in real life a true-blue dyed in the wool Canadian. And he has a pet moose named Archimedes. That plays hockey. Defenseman. Moose. Whatever. Defensemoose.
In Q3, though... we got what amounts to a declaration of war for the championship when Lewis Hamilton became the first ever to break the 1:11 barrier. A moment later, Seb Vettel brought his Ferrari across the line, fimishing a mere +.004 seconds behind. In-car footage showed that somewhere near the beginning of the lap, he had to jerk the steering wheel to catch a spin... it actually takes longer to read the description than it did for it to happen... and one little twitch was enough to cost him pole. Obviously we were gonna have a fun second run... and we did. Hamilton drove what could be called The Perfect Lap, lowering his track record even farther. Vettel had no answer and finished just under +.400 seconds behind. All of which suggests a dramatic race tomorrow... let's hoping!
And no marmots.
| Pos |
Driver | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:12.692 | 1:12.496 | 1:11.459 | |
| 2 | 1:13.046 | 1:12.749 | 1:11.789 | |
| 3 | 1:12.685 | 1:12.563 | 1:12.177 | |
| 4 | 1:13.548 | 1:12.580 | 1:12.252 | |
| 5 | 1:13.177 | 1:12.751 | 1:12.403 | |
| 6 | 1:13.543 | 1:12.810 | 1:12.557 | |
| 7 | Not Retired | 1:13.435 | 1:13.012 | 1:12.858 |
| 8 | 1:13.470 | 1:13.262 | 1:13.018 | |
| 9 | 1:13.520 | 1:13.320 | 1:13.135 | |
| 10 | 1:13.804 | 1:13.406 | 1:13.271 | |
| 11 | 1:13.802 | 1:13.690 | ||
| 12 | 1:13.669 | 1:13.693 | ||
| 13 | 1:14.051 | 1:13.756 | ||
| 14 | 1:13.780 | 1:13.839 | ||
| 15 | 1:13.990 | 1:14.293 | ||
| 16 | 1:14.182 | |||
| 17 | 1:14.209 | |||
| 18 | 1:14.318 | |||
| 19 | 1:14.495 | |||
| 20 | 1:14.810 |
Q1 and Q2 were essentially uneventful. Everything played out exactly as you'd expect them to, and only the discovery that Pleasant Stroll is in real life a true-blue dyed in the wool Canadian. And he has a pet moose named Archimedes. That plays hockey. Defenseman. Moose. Whatever. Defensemoose.
In Q3, though... we got what amounts to a declaration of war for the championship when Lewis Hamilton became the first ever to break the 1:11 barrier. A moment later, Seb Vettel brought his Ferrari across the line, fimishing a mere +.004 seconds behind. In-car footage showed that somewhere near the beginning of the lap, he had to jerk the steering wheel to catch a spin... it actually takes longer to read the description than it did for it to happen... and one little twitch was enough to cost him pole. Obviously we were gonna have a fun second run... and we did. Hamilton drove what could be called The Perfect Lap, lowering his track record even farther. Vettel had no answer and finished just under +.400 seconds behind. All of which suggests a dramatic race tomorrow... let's hoping!
And no marmots.
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June 07, 2017
F1 on TV: Canada 2017
If Suzuka didn't exist, there's a very good chance that the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal would be my favorite track on the F1 calendar. Of course, in this world Suzuka does exist, but at least Montreal has poutine, right? Why do I bother saying that? Because this week, the Noisy Circus is in Montreal for the 2017 Grand Prix of Canada! Here's the track map:
You want fast? Canada can do fast; that back stretch from the Hairpin to the final chicane is as fast a run as you can find in F1. You want slow? That Hairpin I just mentioned is pretty darn slow, particularly as you're coming off a full-speed blast from the first chicane. You want marmots? Boy, does Montreal have marmots! And every now and again, you get a four-hour rain delay! You can't beat fun north of the border, you betcha.
And here's the schedule for the Legendary Announce Team's broadcasts! Take a close look at the networks, we're all over the darn place this weekend!
Friday
Practice 2: 1p - 230p live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 12p - 130p live on CNBC
Sunday
2017 Grand Prix of Canada: 1p - 3p live on NBC
All times Pond Central. Accept no substitutes! Sometime afterwards of course there will be the usual F1Update!, so ask for it by name.
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May 28, 2017
GANBATTE ~TAKU~!!!
The last "favorite driver of The Pond", Takuma Sato, won the Indy 500!
He had to get past former F1 driver Max Chilton, then keep Helio Castroneves, who was looking for his fourth Indy 500 win, behind him for a handful of laps.
In 2012's Indy 500, Sato was in second place behind Scotland's Dario Franchitti with one lap to go. He tried to go under Franchitti into Turn 1 and wound up in the wall instead. He'd never been so close before or since. Until today.
We here at F1U! aren't afraid to say we were cheering for "Super" Sato loudly in the final few laps. We're also not afraid to say that the Indy 500 was a damnsight more interesting than Monaco was.
He had to get past former F1 driver Max Chilton, then keep Helio Castroneves, who was looking for his fourth Indy 500 win, behind him for a handful of laps.
In 2012's Indy 500, Sato was in second place behind Scotland's Dario Franchitti with one lap to go. He tried to go under Franchitti into Turn 1 and wound up in the wall instead. He'd never been so close before or since. Until today.
We here at F1U! aren't afraid to say we were cheering for "Super" Sato loudly in the final few laps. We're also not afraid to say that the Indy 500 was a damnsight more interesting than Monaco was.
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May 27, 2017
F1 Quals: Monaco 2017
When you take high-tech high-speed race cars, put most of the best drivers in the world behind the wheels, and drop them into the streets of a small French fishing village, weird things can happen. When those weird things occur during Quals, you get some very interesting prospects for the biggest race on the Formula 1 calendar indeed. Here's the provisional grid for the 2017 Grand Prix of Monaco:
Okay, let's deal with the elephant in the room first. Lewis Hamilton had been complaining ever since Thursday's practice sessions that he was having trouble getting heat into his tires, particularly the rears. This means a loss of grip, and around Monaco a loss of grip basically means your car is a mass of carbon fiber shards waiting to happen. While he notably didn't have a wreck, he was only 10th in Q1, over a half-second behind the leader. In Q2, he very nearly threw his Merc into the barriers at Massanet after a lurid twitch that would have left a lesser driver sitting in a chassis missing half of its suspension, much of a sidepod, and perhaps a wing or two. After that, he went back to the pits for some adjustments and got randomly selected for a weighing by the FIA. He didn't lose that much time there, but what was lost would never come back. With time running out on the session, he returned to the track for a hot lap. Through the first two sectors it looked like the team and driver had finally figured it all out. True, it wouldn't have been the fastest time ever, but it was almost certainly going to get him into Q3. But then, ahead of him at the Swimming Pool, the McLaren of Stoffelwaffle had kissed the armco and was on the side of the track in a bad state. Marshals immediately threw the waved double-yellows, which meant that everybody coming upon the scene had to abandon their lap... like Lewis Hamilton. And there was no time for another attempt.
In other interesting bits, RAIKKONEN'S ON POLE! Amazingly, this was his first pole position since 2008, some 128 races ago. His Ferrari teammate, Seb Vettel, is right next to him, just .004 of a second ahead of the remaining Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas. And if we needed any more evidence that Monaco is a place where weird things can occur, both McLarens with their wind-up motors made it into Q3... though neither will start in their provisional positions. Jenson I'm Back Button will have to take a 15-spot penalty for changing out his MGU-H and his turbocharger overnight. And Stoffelwaffle has a three-spot penalty from the last race for his accident with Felipe Not Retired Massa. It also shows that this is a place where sheer grunt is not as important as maneuverability, because let's face it, the Honda engine in the McLaren is a dog. The chassis, however... that's another story.
The race is in the morning on NBC... see ya then!
| Pos |
Driver | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:13.117 | 1:12.231 | 1:12.178 | |
| 2 | 1:13.090 | 1:12.449 | 1:12.221 | |
| 3 | 1:13.325 | 1:12.901 | 1:12.223 | |
| 4 | 1:13.078 | 1:12.697 | 1:12.496 | |
| 5 | 1:13.219 | 1:13.011 | 1:12.998 | |
| 6 | 1:13.526 | 1:13.397 | 1:13.162 | |
| 7 | 1:13.530 | 1:13.430 | 1:13.329 | |
| 8 | 1:13.786 | 1:13.203 | 1:13.349 | |
| 9 | 1:13.723 | 1:13.453 | 1:13.613 | |
| 10 | 1:13.476 | 1:13.249 | No Time |
|
| 11 | 1:13.899 | 1:13.516 | ||
| 12 | 1:13.787 | 1:13.628 | ||
| 13 | 1:13.531 | 1:13.959 | ||
| 14 | 1:13.640 | 1:14.106 | ||
| 15 | Not Retired | 1:13.796 | 1:20.529 | |
| 16 | 1:14.101 | |||
| 17 | 1:14.696 | |||
| 18 | 1:14.893 | |||
| 19 | 1:15.159 | |||
| 20 | 1:15.276 |
Okay, let's deal with the elephant in the room first. Lewis Hamilton had been complaining ever since Thursday's practice sessions that he was having trouble getting heat into his tires, particularly the rears. This means a loss of grip, and around Monaco a loss of grip basically means your car is a mass of carbon fiber shards waiting to happen. While he notably didn't have a wreck, he was only 10th in Q1, over a half-second behind the leader. In Q2, he very nearly threw his Merc into the barriers at Massanet after a lurid twitch that would have left a lesser driver sitting in a chassis missing half of its suspension, much of a sidepod, and perhaps a wing or two. After that, he went back to the pits for some adjustments and got randomly selected for a weighing by the FIA. He didn't lose that much time there, but what was lost would never come back. With time running out on the session, he returned to the track for a hot lap. Through the first two sectors it looked like the team and driver had finally figured it all out. True, it wouldn't have been the fastest time ever, but it was almost certainly going to get him into Q3. But then, ahead of him at the Swimming Pool, the McLaren of Stoffelwaffle had kissed the armco and was on the side of the track in a bad state. Marshals immediately threw the waved double-yellows, which meant that everybody coming upon the scene had to abandon their lap... like Lewis Hamilton. And there was no time for another attempt.
In other interesting bits, RAIKKONEN'S ON POLE! Amazingly, this was his first pole position since 2008, some 128 races ago. His Ferrari teammate, Seb Vettel, is right next to him, just .004 of a second ahead of the remaining Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas. And if we needed any more evidence that Monaco is a place where weird things can occur, both McLarens with their wind-up motors made it into Q3... though neither will start in their provisional positions. Jenson I'm Back Button will have to take a 15-spot penalty for changing out his MGU-H and his turbocharger overnight. And Stoffelwaffle has a three-spot penalty from the last race for his accident with Felipe Not Retired Massa. It also shows that this is a place where sheer grunt is not as important as maneuverability, because let's face it, the Honda engine in the McLaren is a dog. The chassis, however... that's another story.
The race is in the morning on NBC... see ya then!
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May 23, 2017
Motorsports on TV: Memorial Day Sunday
The race fan's holiday! If you're completely insane, it's possible to go from 630am until 930pm on the couch watching 1260 miles of live auto racing in three major categories. We're only going to concentrate on two of them, however: the Grand Prix of Monaco and the Indianapolis 500. Here's the track maps:
Two more dissimilar tracks you cannot find in motorsports. Monaco, with its two mile long course, is actually a shorter lap than the one at Indy (2.50 miles). It's also somewhat more narrow, and a little bit slower. None of which detracts from the race one bit... in fact, that's exactly what makes Monaco so special: modern, high-tech, multi-million dollar F1 cars racing through the streets of a small French fishing village. Meanwhile, over in America, you've got lower-tech open-wheel cars blasting around a superspeedway at 230mph making four turns per lap and almost never touching the brakes. If one was that sort of person, one could suggest that the two tracks are perfect analogues for Europe and America. Fortunately for all involved, I am not that sort of person.
This year, of course, there's a particularly interesting reason to watch the Indy 500, in that McLaren F1 driver Fernando Alonso has decided to forego Monaco to compete in The Greatest Spectacle In Racing. He's taken to the format quite well, qualifying fifth and even holding pole for a short time. To be sure, qualifying position means little at Indy, but it's still quite the accomplishment for a rookie, particularly one that's never driven an indycar before. Alonso is hardly your run-of-the-mill rookie, it must be said, and veteran watchers of the series say that the Spaniard has a legitimate shot at winning.
Of the 33 cars in the Indy field, there are (or were) six former (or current) F1 drivers involved. Alexander Rossi, last year's winner, drove for Manor in 2015. Takuma Sato drove for Jordan, BAR-Honda and SuperAguri in a seven year career. Alonso is considered one of the best drivers in the world. Max Chilton drove for Marussia in 2013-2014. Juan Pablo (The Pope) Montoya had a six year career in F1. And Sebastian Bourdais, who will not be making the race due to a massive crash in qualifying that broke his leg and pelvis, drove for Toro Rosso in 2007 and 2008.
In any case, the NBCSN's Legendary Announce Team will be live at Monaco for the race... here's the broadcast schedules:
Thursday
Practice 2: 7am - 830am live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 7am - 830am live on NBCSN
Sunday
2017 Grand Prix of Monaco: 630am - 9am live on NBC
2017 Indanapolis 500: 11am - 3pm live on ABC
2017 Coca-Cola 600: 5pm - 930pm live on FOX
All times Pond Central. Please note that Practice 2 is, indeed, on Thursday, not Friday. Monaco tradition and all that. Also note the inclusion of NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 on the schedule. I did something like 1100 miles of the three races one year... I don't recommend it. However, if you want to try the triple-header, you now know when the third race is. F1 Update! will come along sometime afterwards... see ya there!
Two more dissimilar tracks you cannot find in motorsports. Monaco, with its two mile long course, is actually a shorter lap than the one at Indy (2.50 miles). It's also somewhat more narrow, and a little bit slower. None of which detracts from the race one bit... in fact, that's exactly what makes Monaco so special: modern, high-tech, multi-million dollar F1 cars racing through the streets of a small French fishing village. Meanwhile, over in America, you've got lower-tech open-wheel cars blasting around a superspeedway at 230mph making four turns per lap and almost never touching the brakes. If one was that sort of person, one could suggest that the two tracks are perfect analogues for Europe and America. Fortunately for all involved, I am not that sort of person.
This year, of course, there's a particularly interesting reason to watch the Indy 500, in that McLaren F1 driver Fernando Alonso has decided to forego Monaco to compete in The Greatest Spectacle In Racing. He's taken to the format quite well, qualifying fifth and even holding pole for a short time. To be sure, qualifying position means little at Indy, but it's still quite the accomplishment for a rookie, particularly one that's never driven an indycar before. Alonso is hardly your run-of-the-mill rookie, it must be said, and veteran watchers of the series say that the Spaniard has a legitimate shot at winning.
Of the 33 cars in the Indy field, there are (or were) six former (or current) F1 drivers involved. Alexander Rossi, last year's winner, drove for Manor in 2015. Takuma Sato drove for Jordan, BAR-Honda and SuperAguri in a seven year career. Alonso is considered one of the best drivers in the world. Max Chilton drove for Marussia in 2013-2014. Juan Pablo (The Pope) Montoya had a six year career in F1. And Sebastian Bourdais, who will not be making the race due to a massive crash in qualifying that broke his leg and pelvis, drove for Toro Rosso in 2007 and 2008.
In any case, the NBCSN's Legendary Announce Team will be live at Monaco for the race... here's the broadcast schedules:
Thursday
Practice 2: 7am - 830am live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 7am - 830am live on NBCSN
Sunday
2017 Grand Prix of Monaco: 630am - 9am live on NBC
2017 Indanapolis 500: 11am - 3pm live on ABC
2017 Coca-Cola 600: 5pm - 930pm live on FOX
All times Pond Central. Please note that Practice 2 is, indeed, on Thursday, not Friday. Monaco tradition and all that. Also note the inclusion of NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 on the schedule. I did something like 1100 miles of the three races one year... I don't recommend it. However, if you want to try the triple-header, you now know when the third race is. F1 Update! will come along sometime afterwards... see ya there!
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May 13, 2017
F1 Quals: Spain 2017
A lovely if breezy day greeted the F1 Circus as they took to the track in Barcalounger for go-fast day. There were some differences to be seen however: upgrades could be spotted everywhere you looked. Mercedes had the best of them, a pair of bargeboards with titanium-tipped claws on their ends:
Kiss any pushy Ferrari's tires goodbye! Mercedes looked like they had recovered their teamwide mojo through the practice sessions, leading people to believe Quals would be an arse-kicking of historic proportions. On the other hand, the Red Team had to perform a near-literal miracle just to get Seb Vettel on track, as they had to do a full engine change in the two hours between the end of P3 and the start of Q1. Meanwhile, one of Red Bull's drivers was on record saying they could win... if both Mercedes and both Ferraris wrecked. So just how badly did the Silver Arrows trounce the rest of the field? Here's the provisional grid for the 2017 Grand Prix of Spain:
Oh. Sure, Mercedes got pole, but it was only by .051 seconds and needed Vettel to completely bollix the final chicane to get that. The top four cars are covered by less than .300 seconds. So much for Merc Upgrade Domination.
In what has to be the most unimaginable result thus far, Indy Alonso dragged his McLaren, powered by the execrable H_nda "power" unit, into Q3 and seventh on the grid. At the moment, for McLaren this is akin to the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series... long spoken of, but never occuring. Some may scoff at a mere seventh place, but considering that Alonso's teammate Stoffelwaffle was saved by a last-place start only by a Toro Rosso whose driver said "the car was not driven by me today, it was driving on its own" after being knocked out of Q1, seventh has got to feel amazing. Let's just see if Alonso can make it to the grid this week...
Race Sunday morning... see ya then!
Kiss any pushy Ferrari's tires goodbye! Mercedes looked like they had recovered their teamwide mojo through the practice sessions, leading people to believe Quals would be an arse-kicking of historic proportions. On the other hand, the Red Team had to perform a near-literal miracle just to get Seb Vettel on track, as they had to do a full engine change in the two hours between the end of P3 and the start of Q1. Meanwhile, one of Red Bull's drivers was on record saying they could win... if both Mercedes and both Ferraris wrecked. So just how badly did the Silver Arrows trounce the rest of the field? Here's the provisional grid for the 2017 Grand Prix of Spain:
| Pos |
Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:20.511 | 1:20.210 | 1:19.149 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:20.939 | 1:20.295 | 1:19.200 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:20.991 | 1:20.300 | 1:19.373 |
| 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:20.742 | 1:20.621 | 1:19.439 |
| 5 | Embryo Verstappen | Red Bull Racing |
1:21.430 | 1:20.722 | 1:19.706 |
| 6 | Smiley Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing |
1:21.704 | 1:20.855 | 1:20.175 |
| 7 | Indy Alonso | McLaren Ho_da | 1:22.015 | 1:21.251 | 1:21.048 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Force India Mercedes | 1:21.998 | 1:21.239 | 1:21.070 |
| 9 | Felipe Not Retired Massa | Williams Mercedes | 1:22.138 | 1:21.222 | 1:21.232 |
| 10 | False Esteban | Force India Mercedes | 1:21.901 | 1:21.148 | 1:21.272 |
| 11 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:21.945 | 1:21.329 | |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:21.941 | 1:21.371 | |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:22.091 | 1:21.397 | |
| 14 | Lettuce Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:21.822 | 1:21.517 | |
| 15 | Pascal Triangle | Sauber Ferrari | 1:22.327 | 1:21.803 | |
| 16 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber Ferrari | 1:22.332 | ||
| 17 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:22.401 | ||
| 18 | Pleasant Stroll | Williams Mercedes | 1:22.411 | ||
| 19 | Stoffelwaffle | McLaren Hon_a | 1:22.532 | ||
| 20 | Kid Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:22.746 |
Oh. Sure, Mercedes got pole, but it was only by .051 seconds and needed Vettel to completely bollix the final chicane to get that. The top four cars are covered by less than .300 seconds. So much for Merc Upgrade Domination.
In what has to be the most unimaginable result thus far, Indy Alonso dragged his McLaren, powered by the execrable H_nda "power" unit, into Q3 and seventh on the grid. At the moment, for McLaren this is akin to the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series... long spoken of, but never occuring. Some may scoff at a mere seventh place, but considering that Alonso's teammate Stoffelwaffle was saved by a last-place start only by a Toro Rosso whose driver said "the car was not driven by me today, it was driving on its own" after being knocked out of Q1, seventh has got to feel amazing. Let's just see if Alonso can make it to the grid this week...
Race Sunday morning... see ya then!
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May 10, 2017
F1 on TV: Spain 2017
Short on time, but I didn't want to leave y'all hanging this weekend! We've got Barcalounger this week, here's the track map for the 2017 Grand Prix of Spain:
Last year, Spain gave us the sight of the two Mercedes taking themselves out and the youngest F1 winner ever. This year is... slightly less likely to give us such enthusiasm, but we can only hope! The big reason to watch Barcalounger is that, as the first stop on the European leg of the F1 calendar, this is where the teams bring their first batch of big upgrades. We already know that Red Bull is going to sport a bigger dorsal fin, and that McLaren is going to replace their Honda Fit engines with ones from an Accord, but what else will we see?
Whatever it is, the Legendary Announce Team will tell us about it! Here's the broadcast schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: 7a - 830a live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 7a - 830a live on CNBC
Sunday
2016 Grand Prix of Spain: 6a - 9a live on NBCSN
All times nominally Pond Central. Of course, as per usual, another sterling installment of F1Update! will follow along eventually. See ya then!
Last year, Spain gave us the sight of the two Mercedes taking themselves out and the youngest F1 winner ever. This year is... slightly less likely to give us such enthusiasm, but we can only hope! The big reason to watch Barcalounger is that, as the first stop on the European leg of the F1 calendar, this is where the teams bring their first batch of big upgrades. We already know that Red Bull is going to sport a bigger dorsal fin, and that McLaren is going to replace their Honda Fit engines with ones from an Accord, but what else will we see?
Whatever it is, the Legendary Announce Team will tell us about it! Here's the broadcast schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: 7a - 830a live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 7a - 830a live on CNBC
Sunday
2016 Grand Prix of Spain: 6a - 9a live on NBCSN
All times nominally Pond Central. Of course, as per usual, another sterling installment of F1Update! will follow along eventually. See ya then!
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April 29, 2017
F1 Quals: Russia 2017
2008.
We haven't seen this result since 2008. Think about how long it's been since then. Go on, think about it. Okay, that's enough. Now what am I talking about? Let's look at the provisional grid for the 2017 Grand Prix of Mother Russia:
It's Ferraris' first front-row lockout since Raikkonen and Massa did it for Ferrari at Mangy-Curs in 2008, and the first time since Singapore 2015 that there isn't a Mercedes on the front row at all. And know what? It wasn't even particularly close. Sure, Bottas made it look good, but Hamilton couldn't even manage one of his patented 'fast-lap-out-of-his-arse' laps, let alone a pole lap. One never got the impression that the red cars weren't going to have run of the place at the end of the day, not after only being a half-second off the pace in Q1... while on the super-soft tires when everybody else was on the faster ultra-softs. That's a Mercedes thing, being quicker on the harder rubber in quals, and they had it turned on them. Feels good, man.
Race in the morning, see ya then!
We haven't seen this result since 2008. Think about how long it's been since then. Go on, think about it. Okay, that's enough. Now what am I talking about? Let's look at the provisional grid for the 2017 Grand Prix of Mother Russia:
| Pos |
Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seb Vettel | Ferrari | 1:34.493 | 1:34.038 | 1:33.194 |
| 2 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:34.953 | 1:33.663 | 1:33.253 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:34.041 | 1:33.264 | 1:33.289 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:34.409 | 1:33.760 | 1:33.767 |
| 5 | Smiley Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing |
1:35.560 | 1:35.483 | 1:34.905 |
| 6 | Not Retired Massa | Williams Mercedes | 1:35.828 | 1:35.049 | 1:35.110 |
| 7 | Embryo Verstappen | Red Bull Racing |
1:35.301 | 1:35.221 | 1:35.161 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:35.507 | 1:35.328 | 1:35.285 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Force India Mercedes | 1:36.185 | 1:35.513 | 1:35.337 |
| 10 | False Esteban | Force India Mercedes | 1:35.372 | 1:35.729 | 1:35.430 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:35.827 | 1:35.948 | |
| 12 | Pleasant Stroll | Williams Mercedes | 1:36.279 | 1:35.964 | |
| 13 | Kid Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:35.984 | 1:35.968 | |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:36.408 | 1:36.017 | |
| 15 | Indy Alonso | McLaren Honda | 1:36.353 | 1:36.660 | |
| 16 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:36.462 | ||
| 17 | Stoffelwaffel | McLaren Honda | 1:37.070 | ||
| 18 | Pascal's Wager | Sauber Ferrari | 1:37.332 | ||
| 19 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber Ferrari | 1:37.507 | ||
| 20 | Lettuce Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:37.620 |
It's Ferraris' first front-row lockout since Raikkonen and Massa did it for Ferrari at Mangy-Curs in 2008, and the first time since Singapore 2015 that there isn't a Mercedes on the front row at all. And know what? It wasn't even particularly close. Sure, Bottas made it look good, but Hamilton couldn't even manage one of his patented 'fast-lap-out-of-his-arse' laps, let alone a pole lap. One never got the impression that the red cars weren't going to have run of the place at the end of the day, not after only being a half-second off the pace in Q1... while on the super-soft tires when everybody else was on the faster ultra-softs. That's a Mercedes thing, being quicker on the harder rubber in quals, and they had it turned on them. Feels good, man.
Race in the morning, see ya then!
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April 25, 2017
F1 on TV: Russia 2017
Russia. Sochi. Боже мой.
Trackmap:
What's there to say about Sochi? It looks like it should be fun, but it's proven to be a dog in reality. 2016's race lasted exactly two turns before Nico Rosberg ran away with it. 2015 went to Lewis Hamilton, but only after Seb Vettel nearly killed a track marshal that had run out in front of him. 2014 was the first race after Jules Bianchi's accident, and nobody wanted to be there. Too many right-angle turns ruins the flow of the circuit, never letting the drivers get into a groove. It's also proven to be remarkably gentle on tires, though of course we've got new compounds this year. I expect the new aero packages to not be of much importance here... it helps on turns, yes, but not stupid-slow ones like Turns 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18. Which is most of them.
Well, the proud tartars of the Legendary Announce Team will do their level best to cover the race, lest the gulag beckon. Here's the broadcast schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: 7a - 830a live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 7a - 9a live on CNBC
Sunday
2017 Grand Prix of Russia: 7a - 10a live on NBCSN
All times are Pond Central. Make your adjustments accordingly. Afterwards, F1Update! will be along eventually. I'm sure you're thrilled by this announcement. See you then!
Trackmap:
What's there to say about Sochi? It looks like it should be fun, but it's proven to be a dog in reality. 2016's race lasted exactly two turns before Nico Rosberg ran away with it. 2015 went to Lewis Hamilton, but only after Seb Vettel nearly killed a track marshal that had run out in front of him. 2014 was the first race after Jules Bianchi's accident, and nobody wanted to be there. Too many right-angle turns ruins the flow of the circuit, never letting the drivers get into a groove. It's also proven to be remarkably gentle on tires, though of course we've got new compounds this year. I expect the new aero packages to not be of much importance here... it helps on turns, yes, but not stupid-slow ones like Turns 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18. Which is most of them.
Well, the proud tartars of the Legendary Announce Team will do their level best to cover the race, lest the gulag beckon. Here's the broadcast schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: 7a - 830a live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 7a - 9a live on CNBC
Sunday
2017 Grand Prix of Russia: 7a - 10a live on NBCSN
All times are Pond Central. Make your adjustments accordingly. Afterwards, F1Update! will be along eventually. I'm sure you're thrilled by this announcement. See you then!
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April 16, 2017
Bahrain 2017 Gonna Be Delayed
This has been one of those days where you start out behind the clock when you wake up and just fall farther and farther behind the longer the day goes on. But I got my taxes done, and thanks again to H&R Block for their wonderful website... they've made the unpleasant chore of doing your federal taxes easy, and the downright evil chore of doing Illinois' taxes even easier. After that, though, there were little glitches here and there throughout the day that, in the end, saw me not watching Bahrain until late afternoon. A much needed nap didn't end until 1030pm this evening, and dammit, I want to watch some anime this week.
So the F1U for Bahrain is going to be delayed for a day. While you wait, here's the Easter Bunny just destroying Teddy Roosevelt for your enjoyment and here's the sequel to last year's greatest baseball commercial.
Thanks for waiting.
So the F1U for Bahrain is going to be delayed for a day. While you wait, here's the Easter Bunny just destroying Teddy Roosevelt for your enjoyment and here's the sequel to last year's greatest baseball commercial.
Thanks for waiting.
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April 15, 2017
F1 Quals: Bahrain 2017
Of all the results I imagined I'd see when I got home from work/lunch today, I gotta admit, I didn't expect this one. Here's the provisional grid for the 2017 Grand Prix of Bahrain:
This is Valtteri Bottas' first career pole, and it's his own damn bad luck it had to come at Bahrain, where starting second is actually better. That's the clean side of the track, as it turns out. Still, you gotta hand it to him... it isn't everybody that can say they beat Hamilton to the pole anywhere!
There's nothing particularly shocking in the rest of the grid. However, we do now know who will be replacing Indy Alonso when he comes to America instead of going to Moncao: Jenson "I'm Not Retired Yet Either" Button.
Race at a normal time tomorrow morning... F1U! sometime afterwards! See ya then.
| Pos |
Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:31.041 | 1:29.555 | 1:28.769 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:30.814 | 1:29.535 | 1:28.792 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:31.037 | 1:29.596 | 1:29.247 |
| 4 | Smiley Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing |
1:31.667 | 1:30.497 | 1:29.545 |
| 5 | Mumbles Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:30.988 | 1:29.843 | 1:29.567 |
| 6 | Embryo Verstappen | Red Bull Racing |
1:30.904 | 1:30.307 | 1:29.687 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:31.057 | 1:30.169 | 1:29.842 |
| 8 | Felipe Not Retired Massa | Williams Mercedes | 1:31.373 | 1:30.677 | 1:30.074 |
| 9 | Lettuce Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:31.691 | 1:30.857 | 1:30.763 |
| 10 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:31.458 | 1:30.899 | 1:31.074 |
| 11 | Kid Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:31.531 | 1:30.923 | |
| 12 | Pleasant Stroll | Williams Mercedes | 1:31.748 | 1:31.168 | |
| 13 | Pascal's Wehrlein | Sauber Ferrari | 1:31.995 | 1:31.414 | |
| 14 | False Esteban | Force India Mercedes | 1:31.774 | 1:31.684 | |
| 15 | Indy Alonso | McLaren Honda | 1:32.054 | DNF | |
| 16 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:32.118 | ||
| 17 | Snuffy Vandoorne | McLaren Honda | 1:32.313 | ||
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Force India Mercedes | 1:32.318 | ||
| 19 | Sony Ericsson | Sauber Ferrari | 1:32.543 | ||
| 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:32.900 |
This is Valtteri Bottas' first career pole, and it's his own damn bad luck it had to come at Bahrain, where starting second is actually better. That's the clean side of the track, as it turns out. Still, you gotta hand it to him... it isn't everybody that can say they beat Hamilton to the pole anywhere!
There's nothing particularly shocking in the rest of the grid. However, we do now know who will be replacing Indy Alonso when he comes to America instead of going to Moncao: Jenson "I'm Not Retired Yet Either" Button.
Race at a normal time tomorrow morning... F1U! sometime afterwards! See ya then.
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Quals will be late...
Just to give y'all a head's-up... I'm back on mandatory overtime at work, 10 hours minimum. When quals is going on, I'll be at work, trying to get four or five of those hours on the clock. Then I'm having a late lunch with Ph.Duck and his wife, RN(ret).Duck... I don't expect to be home until 4pm at the earliest, probably closer to 5pm. I'll get the grid up asap.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em...
Smoke 'em if you got 'em...
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April 13, 2017
F1 on TV: Bahrain 2017
Okay, let's get this out of the way quickly to get to the big news. Here's the track map for the Grand Prix of Bahrain:
Here's the broadcast schedule, courtesy of the Legendary Announce Team:
Friday
Practice 2: 10a - 1130a live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 1130a - 1p live on NBCSN
Sunday
2017 Grand Prix of Bahrain: 10a - 1230p live on CNBC
All times Pond Central. Make sure you pay attention to the race being on CNBC.
Now, for the big news:
Fernando Alonso is going to miss Monaco. Turns out he's got another gig that day.
You may have heard of it. It's not been much of a secret that Alonso is frustrated as hell with the way his return to McLaren has gone, what with the car and engine sucking and all. He's making a push for Racing's Triple Crown: wins at Monaco, Indy, and LeMans. He'll be driving with the backing of McLaren-Honda, as part of the Andretti Motorsport stable. Alonso says he'll only miss the one race, and will retake his seat in Canada a few weeks later. We'll see.
The IndyCar world is stoked about this, too:
This is just f****** awesome. Welcome! - JR Hildebrand
Woo. I get to race against Fernando Alonso now that is cool. - Sage Karam
Obviously you need some balls to do it. I think that Alonso will handle it well. - Mikhail Aleshin
Welcome to the fastest motor race in the world Fernando Alonso! Great to have a world champion on the grid. - Max Chilton, former F1 driver
We’ll see how he comes up to speed and stuff like that but I’m sure he’ll be fine. Alex (Rossi) won it, it’s a decent comparison, I think, to him. - Marco Andretti, making this the first time Alexander Rossi has been compared in any way to Fernando Alonso.
If I were to give Fernando Alonso some advice into really getting ingrained in the Andretti Autosport team, I think it’s actually going to be pretty easy. He already knows Takuma Sato and Alexander Rossi from their stints in F1. So that’s done and dusted. I don’t know if he’s a fisherman but he maybe should brush up on that a little bit because all Ryan Hunter-Reay really talks about is boats. Other than that I think it’s going to be pretty easy for him. - James Hinchcliffe
Indy just became a must-watch.
Here's the broadcast schedule, courtesy of the Legendary Announce Team:
Friday
Practice 2: 10a - 1130a live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 1130a - 1p live on NBCSN
Sunday
2017 Grand Prix of Bahrain: 10a - 1230p live on CNBC
All times Pond Central. Make sure you pay attention to the race being on CNBC.
Now, for the big news:
Fernando Alonso is going to miss Monaco. Turns out he's got another gig that day.
You may have heard of it. It's not been much of a secret that Alonso is frustrated as hell with the way his return to McLaren has gone, what with the car and engine sucking and all. He's making a push for Racing's Triple Crown: wins at Monaco, Indy, and LeMans. He'll be driving with the backing of McLaren-Honda, as part of the Andretti Motorsport stable. Alonso says he'll only miss the one race, and will retake his seat in Canada a few weeks later. We'll see.
The IndyCar world is stoked about this, too:
This is just f****** awesome. Welcome! - JR Hildebrand
Woo. I get to race against Fernando Alonso now that is cool. - Sage Karam
Obviously you need some balls to do it. I think that Alonso will handle it well. - Mikhail Aleshin
Welcome to the fastest motor race in the world Fernando Alonso! Great to have a world champion on the grid. - Max Chilton, former F1 driver
We’ll see how he comes up to speed and stuff like that but I’m sure he’ll be fine. Alex (Rossi) won it, it’s a decent comparison, I think, to him. - Marco Andretti, making this the first time Alexander Rossi has been compared in any way to Fernando Alonso.
If I were to give Fernando Alonso some advice into really getting ingrained in the Andretti Autosport team, I think it’s actually going to be pretty easy. He already knows Takuma Sato and Alexander Rossi from their stints in F1. So that’s done and dusted. I don’t know if he’s a fisherman but he maybe should brush up on that a little bit because all Ryan Hunter-Reay really talks about is boats. Other than that I think it’s going to be pretty easy for him. - James Hinchcliffe
Indy just became a must-watch.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
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April 08, 2017
F1 Quals: China 2017
For a wonder, it didn't rain! In many ways, that's great! Fantastic! Wonderful! In other ways, though, it means that there weren't going to be any monkey wrenches thrown into the works and thing'll go the way they have for the past few years. Here's the provisional grid:
Okay, yes Lewis Hamilton is on pole... again... but the gap back to Vettel's Ferrari is less than .200 of a second. Which means essentially nothing, as it appears that the Red Cars have better race pace than single-lap. I'm personally amazed that Bottas is .001 seconds behind... how can two cars be so closely matched? Did the Finn turn a little too hard at one place? Did he not get on the gas fast enough? What???
The first four cars on the grid broke the all-time track record, set by Slappy Schumacher in 2004, of 1:32.238. Again, that was the V10 era with practically no limits on what sort of aero protuberances you could have...
In other performances of note, Embryo Verstappen was dealing with an engine software issue when Sauber's Tony Snazzy did bad things to his car and the track barriers. All he could manage was 19th as a result. Haas's Lettuce Grosjean spun, suffered a puncture, then was dinged for not slowing down in the waved-double-yellow area caused by Snazzy's wreck. He'll be starting from the back.
Everything else was pretty standard, which is pretty impressive considering the near-total lack of practice time on Friday. All of this means we should be in for an exciting race on Sunday when the rains come... and yes, rain is predicted. Buckle them there seatbelts!
F1U! will be along sometime on Sunday. See ya then-ish!
| Pos |
Driver | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:33.333 | 1:32.406 | 1:31.678 | |
| 2 | 1:33.078 | 1:32.391 | 1:31.864 | |
| 3 | 1:33.684 | 1:32.552 | 1:31.865 | |
| 4 | 1:33.341 | 1:32.181 | 1:32.140 | |
| 5 | 1:34.041 | 1:33.546 | 1:33.033 | |
| 6 | 1:34.205 | 1:33.759 | 1:33.507 | |
| 7 | 1:34.453 | 1:33.636 | 1:33.580 | |
| 8 | 1:34.657 | 1:33.920 | 1:33.706 | |
| 9 | 1:34.440 | 1:34.034 | 1:33.719 | |
| 10 | 1:33.986 | 1:34.090 | 1:34.220 | |
| 11 | 1:34.567 | 1:34.150 | ||
| 12 | 1:34.942 | 1:34.164 | ||
| 13 | 1:34.499 | 1:34.372 | ||
| 14 | 1:34.892 | 1:35.046 | ||
| 15 | 1:34.963 | DNP |
||
| 16 | 1:35.023 | |||
| 17 | 1:35.223 | |||
| 18 | 1:35.279 | |||
| 19 | 1:35.433 | |||
| 20 | 1:35.496 |
Okay, yes Lewis Hamilton is on pole... again... but the gap back to Vettel's Ferrari is less than .200 of a second. Which means essentially nothing, as it appears that the Red Cars have better race pace than single-lap. I'm personally amazed that Bottas is .001 seconds behind... how can two cars be so closely matched? Did the Finn turn a little too hard at one place? Did he not get on the gas fast enough? What???
The first four cars on the grid broke the all-time track record, set by Slappy Schumacher in 2004, of 1:32.238. Again, that was the V10 era with practically no limits on what sort of aero protuberances you could have...
In other performances of note, Embryo Verstappen was dealing with an engine software issue when Sauber's Tony Snazzy did bad things to his car and the track barriers. All he could manage was 19th as a result. Haas's Lettuce Grosjean spun, suffered a puncture, then was dinged for not slowing down in the waved-double-yellow area caused by Snazzy's wreck. He'll be starting from the back.
Everything else was pretty standard, which is pretty impressive considering the near-total lack of practice time on Friday. All of this means we should be in for an exciting race on Sunday when the rains come... and yes, rain is predicted. Buckle them there seatbelts!
F1U! will be along sometime on Sunday. See ya then-ish!
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April 05, 2017
F1 on NBCSN: China 2017
Shanghai... The Pearl of the Orient. The showpiece of the Chinese economy. The most populous city proper in the world. So why the hell can't it sell out the Formula 1 Grand Prix of China??? Here's the trackmap:
Same as it's been since 2004. Longest straightaway in F1. I love that Turns 1-4 complex, for whatever reason. It just looks like Hermann Tilke threw a french curve on his drafting table and said "yep, that's good." Or his cat got involved. Whatever, it's not my favorite circuit on the calendar, but it's hardly my least favorite. It's just... there. And while you would think that the new aero rules will turn this circuit on its ear, I've seen a report that estimates that the cars are going to be something like three kilograms short on fuel. With the increased drag and higher engine output guzzling petrol, they think the cars can't legally have enough gas on board to finish the race! They can carry 105kg, but will need 108. Lift and coast, lift and coast... and hope for safety cars and rain. Well, there's a slight chance of rain at least for race day. That'll keep down the smog at least.
Speaking of race day, the Legendary Announce Team will be doing their level best to make everything exciting! Here's the broadcast schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: 1am - 230am live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 2am - 330am live on NBCSN
Sunday
Grand Prix of China: 1230a - 330am live on NBCSN
...of course, all times are Pond Central. Sometime after the race, the F1Update! team will get off their lazy kiesters and do their usual writeup. Or something. We'll see you then, then!
Same as it's been since 2004. Longest straightaway in F1. I love that Turns 1-4 complex, for whatever reason. It just looks like Hermann Tilke threw a french curve on his drafting table and said "yep, that's good." Or his cat got involved. Whatever, it's not my favorite circuit on the calendar, but it's hardly my least favorite. It's just... there. And while you would think that the new aero rules will turn this circuit on its ear, I've seen a report that estimates that the cars are going to be something like three kilograms short on fuel. With the increased drag and higher engine output guzzling petrol, they think the cars can't legally have enough gas on board to finish the race! They can carry 105kg, but will need 108. Lift and coast, lift and coast... and hope for safety cars and rain. Well, there's a slight chance of rain at least for race day. That'll keep down the smog at least.
Speaking of race day, the Legendary Announce Team will be doing their level best to make everything exciting! Here's the broadcast schedule:
Friday
Practice 2: 1am - 230am live on NBCSN
Saturday
Quals: 2am - 330am live on NBCSN
Sunday
Grand Prix of China: 1230a - 330am live on NBCSN
...of course, all times are Pond Central. Sometime after the race, the F1Update! team will get off their lazy kiesters and do their usual writeup. Or something. We'll see you then, then!
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