Other than a few flashes, not the most exciting race.
Mega job by Bearman, could definitely see him at Haas or Sauber.
Surprised to see Sainz in the pits post-op.

Lance Stroll "I hit the wall"
Team " Can you bring it back to us?"
Stroll "No I'm in the fucking wall!!"
that was hilarious.

Strike two

quote:

Originally posted by hooch:
Lance Stroll "I hit the wall"
Team " Can you bring it back to us?"
Stroll "No I'm in the fucking wall!!"
that was hilarious.

I think that's the wall he touched in practice and got away with it. I guess that's why they call it practice, at least for him.

His big problem is that he's back to being .5-.7 off Alonso in almost every session this year.
He has moments where he's reasonable, but they are few and far between.

At some point this will cost the team (meaning his father) enough that even he can't ignore the obvious.

Maybe Stroll opens up a landing spot for Antoneli, if the Verstappen to Mercedes rumors have any legs.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Maybe Stroll opens up a landing spot for Antoneli, if the Verstappen to Mercedes rumors have any legs.

That's not a bad option although I suspect Verstappen is going nowhere and Stroll Sr. would have to make that tough call about Jr.
Young Kimi still needs to show what he can do in F2 though. The team struggled at the first race but his teammate, Bearman, had the F2 pole in Saudi Arabia before he got the Ferrari call-up.

Unless Max is seeing some pending uncertainty with the Ford PU switch, where Mercedes has years of experience with the development.
Also read something about Max having a Marko escape clause in his contract, that he can leave if Marko gets ousted.

Kinda got a problem when the battle for 12th-16th takes up a good chunk of the broadcast. It was good racing and all but it wasn't for points. And the end commentary praising Checo for being only 7 seconds behind Max was laughable. As if Max wasn't out for a Sunday drive after the 12th lap or so.

I doubt there are any other drivers who wouldn’t be glad to trade rides with Max.
Several that might not be quite at his level but are more than a match for Perez.
All this talk about leaving with Marko sounds like hot air to me.

Ex-F1 driver to race in NASCAR after being 'stabbed in the back' by Red Bull

Story by Tom Beattie • 1h

Former Formula One driver Daniil Kvyat is set to continue his foray into the world of NASCAR as he prepares to race at the Circuit of the Americas in the Xfinity Series. The ex-Red Bull star spoke previously about his dejection after claiming he had been "stabbed in the back" to make way for Max Verstappen.

The decision to give the young Dutchman the nod to replace him at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix saw Kvyat demoted to the lesser Toro Rosso team - just two races on from a podium finish at the Chinese Grand Prix. Following on from this, the Russian never regained his spot on the Red Bull team, racing for Torro Rosso until 2020.

Since that fateful day in his career eight years ago, the rest is history for both parties - with Verstappen establishing himself as a modern great with three consecutive championships. Meanwhile, the man he replaced has embarked on a varied career behind the wheel which has included forays into NASCAR in the Cup Series and Xfinity Series.

Now, the 29-year-old is preparing for another outing in the latter competition, representing SS-GreenLight Racing in the No. 07 Chevrolet Camaro at COTA on March 23. Speaking previously about his journey in motorsports, Kvyat took a philosophical outlook, as he discussed being replaced by Verstappen at Red Bull on the Track Limits podcast, saying: "I felt really betrayed at that moment.

IIRC, Raikkonen & Button did the COTA Nascar race last year or the year before.
I actually watched it & it wasn't a bad race.

Unlike F1, track limits are a blind eye for Nascar [except through the esses, IIRC]. Blast down to turn 1 & make a left in Bastrop & proceed to T2.

Watched some F1 gossip channel on YT. Looks like the rumor mill has Ferrari trying to poach Newey again, timed with all of the turmoil at RB and with Hamilton now on the team. Apparently adding fuel to the fire, Newey has long wanted to work with Ferrari and with Hamilton and has voiced regrets to that effect in the past. And Newey's wife on one of the social media sites had given a like to a post that regurgitated her husband's lament about Ferrari and Hamilton. Also it's been reported that Newey wasn't pleased with the RB ownership's desire to have him work full time on their non-F1 projects, presumably focusing on their silly expensive hypercar project.

That last bit sort explains some of Max's displeasure with how RB is handling the leadership travails on the F1 side.

Kyvat? Ex-F1 and a Russian will have zero friends in NASCAR and any such adventures will not be pretty for him. And not so much stabbed in the back by Red Bull as torpedoed, after a number of races where he seemed to involve others in his many questionable incidents, particularly Vettel.

Kvyat showed some talent on occasion, his legacy being his ex-girlfriend Kelly Piquet ending up with Max.

I'll watch that, just to see him taking out half the field before end of First Stage, or whatever they call that bullshit.

Looks like he's [Kvyat] done 4 Nascar races in 2022, with finishes of 36 [Indy Road Course], 36 [Watkins Glen], 39 [Roval] in the Cup Series & 15th [Roval] in the Xfinity Series.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
I'll watch that, just to see him taking out half the field before end of First Stage, or whatever they call that bullshit.

When I watched the Raikkonen/Button race at COTA, they didn't do the interrupted stages, they still occurred, but they ran the race uninterrupted start/finish.

quote:

Originally posted by monoblok:
Watched some F1 gossip channel on YT. Looks like the rumor mill has Ferrari trying to poach Newey again, timed with all of the turmoil at RB and with Hamilton now on the team. Apparently adding fuel to the fire, Newey has long wanted to work with Ferrari and with Hamilton and has voiced regrets to that effect in the past. And Newey's wife on one of the social media sites had given a like to a post that regurgitated her husband's lament about Ferrari and Hamilton. Also it's been reported that Newey wasn't pleased with the RB ownership's desire to have him work full time on their non-F1 projects, presumably focusing on their silly expensive hypercar project.

That last bit sort explains some of Max's displeasure with how RB is handling the leadership travails on the F1 side.

I saw one this afternoon in which Aramco, The Saudi oil giant who is a minor owner of the Astin Martin F1 team is rumored to want to buy the team outright from Stroll and is prepared to offer a blank check for both Newey and Verstappen. The figure floated was $180 million per year for Newey and god knows how much for Verstappen.

I also found out that the top 3 people along with the drivers are exempt from the salary cap for the team so this is at least theoretically possible.

It’s crazy out there!

Just read on the autosport forum that Newey has received an offer from Ferrari. Newey previously stated a few years ago, that he would have liked to work with Ferrari and with Hamilton. Hmmm, kill two birds with one stone now. Would love to see Leclerc driving a Newey designed car. Especially because I am a Ferrari and Leclerc fan.

I think at this point, it seems like everyone is praying RB implodes cancelling the competitive chances in this season.

Now that Williams is using a modern steering wheel and scrapping the excel spreadsheet for a proper database, maybe they will be back on top soon.

quote:

Originally posted by redstone:
I think at this point, it seems like everyone is praying RB implodes cancelling the competitive chances in this season.

Now that Williams is using a modern steering wheel and scrapping the excel spreadsheet for a proper database, maybe they will be back on top soon.

Assuming you mean RBR, as in the Verstappen/Perez team, not RB of Ricciardo/Tsunoda

Really dislike how similar their names are.