Today (Friday) should be another new experience.
Boost up, down-force/drag less, qualifying practice.

Alonso on his career and Indy - great read!

A Racer

quote:

Originally posted by FlyingScot:
Alonso on his career and Indy - great read!

A Racer

"I belong there." - F. Alonso

The results of the F1 Global Fan Survey are out.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/638b...fans_report.pdf?dl=0

It's a very interesting read. I know I put my 2 cents in for 2015 and 2017, and I think I also put in for 2010, but I could be wrong. It's very much worth reading and when the next one comes out, I can put a link to it if any of you are interested.

Other great news is Sebastien Bourdais went through surgery and left the hospital on his own (with some crutches, but still...). Very impressive for a man that did his best impersonation of Gordon Smiley:

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:

Other great news is Sebastien Bourdais went through surgery and left the hospital on his own (with some crutches, but still...). Very impressive for a man that did his best impersonation of Gordon Smiley:

"He's fine" -- Cheever. What a dick.

Earlier this week/ the last day or so, amazing --

Thanks to the Safer barrier, HANS device and a number of other less visible safety features.
The crash recorder showed over 100 G's in the initial impact. That's 100 times the gravity weight of each component and body part.
A good article that explains all the features designed into the car and track.
http://www.racer.com/more/view...hifts-that-saved-seb

I believe I read somewhere that it was 118G impact. For the most part, it seems his hip and leg injury were caused by his racing harness. I've got no idea how to do a seat belt pretension system in a race car, but that's probably the next step in Bourdais walking away with only a dusty race suit.

quote:

"He's fine" -- Cheever. What a dick.

What do you expect from the 1998 IRL 500 champion. He's a legend in his own mind that thinks he's better than Mario and Michael Andretti. Only Always Bad Coverage could find such a loser for the broadcast booth. I'll be so happy when NBC buys the Indy contract next year. Good commentary AND a director that doesn't spend an entire race playing "follow the leader."

Maybe the old timers advice on Indy should be heeded.

Never steer right. Ever.

My goodness, the wider cars look to be much more planted but way so much closer to the Armco in Monaco.

Pretty entertaining quali, hate we didn't get to see an interview with Sir Pissy Pants afterwards. $50MM = shut up and drive the car no matter how much you aren't loving it!

Hopefully there will be opportunities to mix up the order somewhat. Otherwise the tires are too hard, and when you choose to pit will be the only thing that changes the order after turn one.
Kim I was pretty calm, as usual, after winning the pole.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Hopefully there will be opportunities to mix up the order somewhat...

Monaco has always been a tough track to pass on, now it will be nearly impossible. Look at it this way: the cars are 8" wider than last year, effectively making the track nearly 1-1/2 feet narrower when you try to pass. Nineteen turns in two miles means no straights to pass on (I'm exaggerating to an extent).

I don't remember exactly what they said, but it's been a whole bunch of years since the race was won by anybody starting further back than about third or fourth place. Ricciardo lost by a screwed-up pit stop last year.

I don't think Hamilton will do anything exceedingly stupid tomorrow, he knows better, so I think he's racing for points.

Monaco is my favorite race of the year, and with Ferrari's improvements I may even get up to watch it live in addition to DVRing it.

Anyone know if Grosjean is going to get penalized for driving the wrong way on track, or have the stewards let that go because it didn't harm anyone?

You mean after his spin? To me it looked like he ended the spin facing backwards, and made two moves -- first, to get off the line and out of the way of traffic, second, the short distance to the only close point where he could either get off the track or headed in the right direction again.

I doubt that would be a penalty situation.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
Anyone know if Grosjean is going to get penalized for driving the wrong way on track, or have the stewards let that go because it didn't harm anyone?

I thought he did a good job, along with some luck, to get out of the way.

Dear Honda,

Not the desired effect.

Fernando

It wouldn't be a Honda without blowing up on Alonso. Also, why isn't Scott Dixon in a hospital after this crash?



Also, hats off to Eddie Cheever. I can't stand the man, but this is the first time I've ever heard him excited to be there and not picking up a paycheck. If he was half this good all the time, he'd be a damn good commentator.

Poor Alonso, a career of being with the wrong team at the wrong time for the most part. He should have so many more notches on his gun.

Monaco pre-race, audio of Alonso talking to replacement Button --

FA - "Take care of my car".
JB - "I'm going to pee in your seat".

Switching past NASCAR later this day, they mention Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato (ex-F1 driver). Whichever fool it was called him Tacoma Sato (rhymes with Cato) Holy crap.

Wonderful irony of the day, interviewer Rosberg on the podium but no Lew Lew.

All the channel switching between the pre-pre-race, the pre-race, the race, and the post-race was more than my DVR could handle. I missed the post-race coverage.

Fuck NBC.

By the way, I thought about JB's promise to Alonso when I saw JB crash.

quote:

Also, hats off to Eddie Cheever. I can't stand the man, but this is the first time I've ever heard him excited to be there and not picking up a paycheck. If he was half this good all the time, he'd be a damn good commentator.

He may have been read the riot act after his "He's fine" comment regarding Sebastien Bourdais wreck.

I wonder if Kimi will make his own decision on when to pit in the future?
Verstappen wasn't very happy either.
Moving east a few time zones, Fernando got bit by Honda engines again but there really wasn't much of a choice. You needed one to win but several people didn't win for the same reason.
Helio did a great job with his Chevy and had great luck and a near miss when he went under an airborne Dixon while driving on the grass next to the inside wall.
Indy was an easy winner in the best races to watch yesterday.