quote:

Anyone else besides Ripley following IndyCar?

I do but the thread from last season seemed to go dormant.

The Iowa event had some exciting moments and even Jimmy Johnson looked like he still had some life in him a few times. He still couldn't quite pull it off, but one move he made was sort of special.
The Andretti team as a whole is looking pretty poor right now. Getting a car, any car, into the top ten is a big deal for them right now. Doesn't make it look like they are ready as an organization to dip their toes into F1.

First details of Porsche’s buy-in of Red Bull Racing F1 Team revealed.

Porsche/Red Bull

Looks like Vettel has decided to retire.
Not a surprise since Aston Martin seem to be adrift and he has no better options.
Running at the back doesn’t seem to suit him and this was probably his last big paycheck.
He’s still a relatively young guy and now has a family and other interests to enjoy.

Saw where he joined his first social media platform yesterday. Heck of a way to foreshadow this announcement.

Good riddence. Maybe now he can balance his life better as a husband, father, protester, social justice warrior, political advisor, and enviromentalist because doing all of that and being a race car driver was obviously too much for him.

I was really taking a liking to Seb when he left RBR
His personality was better at Ferrari, but this new attitude has turned me off to him a bit.

quote:

Looks like Vettel has decided to retire.

Took him long enough, considering how conflicted his troubled mind has been about all of that evil greenhouse gas his mid-pack at best racing were generating. Not that having a non-competitive seat had anything to do with it. No not at all, being put out to pasture and all of that.

Take this for what you will. Seb seems earnest if not more than a bit vague about his priorities now --

Not surprised - thought he would have retired sooner. He hasn’t seemed very happy this season given the representations made early on.

George Russell stole the pole at Hungary from both Ferrari drivers. Does anyone know what happened to Verstappen's run? I haven't been able to find out what car problem he had and if it will affect his race tomorrow.

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Originally posted by DanH:
George Russell stole the pole at Hungary from both Ferrari drivers. Does anyone know what happened to Verstappen's run? I haven't been able to find out what car problem he had and if it will affect his race tomorrow.

First run in Q3 he locked up and had a bad or no time. Second run, he had some sort of electrical problem, engine power but nothing else.
McLarens ran well there but have done that at other races this years and then nothing at the race after.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/...ull-bad-day-hungary/

I fully expect RB to develop a solid strategy for tomorrow. This is why we race.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
George Russell stole the pole at Hungary from both Ferrari drivers.

Russell did a better job of getting heat in his tires, in the cold weather, then they did.

Hungary is a very twisty track. If you attack too hard in Sectors 1 and 2, you won't have any grip left in Sector 3....see Latiffe having the fastest time in Sector 1 and not making it out of Q1.

Russell wasn't that fast anywhere, he was actually a couple tenths down from the Ferraris in Sector 1 & 3, but he made up the time by being consistent there and besting them in Sector 2 by just enough to have the fastest overall lap. I don't doubt that his past experience hustling the Williams around tracks served him well getting heat into the tires

Somebody needs a new strategy ‘n tactics team…

Other than the basic design of their car, the Mercedes team is performing way above expectations in all other areas.
Great strategy and then two drivers that can execute to perfection.
Ferrari can't seem to help shooting themselves in the foot. Either the cars have some technical problem, the drivers screw up or the strategy.
Red Bull seem to have half of the team performing, the other half is hit or miss.
I didn't get why McLaren went for the hard tires, except they have the mindset that Alpine is their target. This weekend they had the pace, at least in Norris, to challenge Mercedes but were unwilling to make a try so they went with the Alpine tire choice and looked pretty average in the race.

Seems to me that Ferrari strategy is being handled by Make-A-Wish kids.

quote:

Originally posted by HuskySig:
Seems to me that Ferrari strategy is being handled by Make-A-Wish kids.

But those kids can still think with precious few laps left, whereas Ferrari otoh …

According to Toto post-race, Ferrari only had softs and hards left, they'd misfigured the previous day. Too much race left for CL to go with softs last stop, they were already screwed. Don't know if that's the case but nothing else explains going with the hards at the end.

It's probably a good thing that the old man is long dead and buried because heads would've rolled under his watch a LONG time ago considering the Charlie Foxtrot that Ferrari F1 has shown themselves to be this season. One thing's for certain: the whole lot of them at Ferrari are extremely good at embarrassing themselves.