Motorsport Off Topic Thread

Absolutely great race so far, and no red flags! Missed hour 3 to 8 due to sleep, but watched it all aside from that.
A lot going on, genuine racing.

Edit: Potential for Audi to lose the win from a penalty for starting the car when being fuelled in pits... Nail biter end.
 
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I enjoy watching the Indy 500 but I forget how amateurish the presentation is. The commentators don’t seem to really know what’s going on when you get comments like “the red car is overtaking the white car”.

Considering the circuit is so relatively small, the in car footage is dreadfully bad quality, low bandwidth and blocky. Signals should be so strong that it should be much better quality.
 
Oh that's convenient. Ericsson (Yes, that Ericsson... ) is leading the 500 and his teammate has just pancaked into the wall with 6 laps to go.

Full course yellows out.
 
I laughed last night when someone made the point that the drivers of the 2014 Caterham F1 team have 2/3 of the "Motorsport Triple Crown" with Ericsson holding the Indy 500 and Kobayashi having won Le Mans 2021.
Just need Will Stevens or Lotterer to win next seasons Monaco GP for the triple!
 
chrismscotland said:
I laughed last night when someone made the point that the drivers of the 2014 Caterham F1 team have 2/3 of the "Motorsport Triple Crown" with Ericsson holding the Indy 500 and Kobayashi having won Le Mans 2021.
Just need Will Stevens or Lotterer to win next seasons Monaco GP for the triple!
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Lotterer himself has won Le Mans 3 times, with another two podiums.

Great driver, but it's never quite worked out in single seaters. In Formula E he's regularly at the front but inevitably drops back and gets involved in far too many incidents.

Obviously any form of triple crown isn't happening, but it shows even average drivers can do a great job on the day.

Kobayashi put in some (very) occasional monster performances in F1 and Ericsson was never a poor driver (much better than some still in F1) and Indy is one of races where anyone with the right car on the day can win. All the Ganassi cars have been on good form all month, with Dixon making an extremely uncharacteristic error, Palou having incredibly bad luck with a yellow just as he came into the pits and even Jimmie Johnson was up in the top 10 in qualifying (and nearly wrecked Ericsson's win).

Ericsson's been pretty good all season and while rarely the fastest, finds himself leading the championship now, but only because of double points for Indy and all the other title challengers (o'Ward excepted) had a mare.
 
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EVH said:
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This is a strange one. He used to regularly trade blows with Max so obviously isn't suddenly a terrible driver but at the same time i also don't think Lando is much better than Max. Its a strange one.. Maybe his hearts not in it anymore? I still think he should've stayed at RB and duked it out but those days are long gone now. Maybe he'll wait to see what Lewis decides for next year and try and got for that seat?
 
Armageus said:
Can't honestly see that seat ever being an option - if Lewis retires, I imagine George will be the "no 1" and they'll likely look for another young driver to fill the 2nd seat.
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I would be surprised to be honest, I reckon Mercedes will want another quick driver in there - not a “top driver“ like Max or Leclerc but someone like Gasly, Ocon or Norris (if they’re willing to pay McLaren), who show all the hallmarks of being great but haven’t really won much of anything yet (well Ocon won a race I guess).

But not for Ricciardo, I don’t think his personality would sit well with the more staid Mercedes corporate image, although I could probably say the same about Lando Norris.
 
Armageus said:
Can't honestly see that seat ever being an option - if Lewis retires, I imagine George will be the "no 1" and they'll likely look for another young driver to fill the 2nd seat.
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I can imagine that if Hamilton retires at the end of this season that they might go for a short term but proven option. Russell has settled in well, but they're still all over the place with the car so we're a long way from knowing if Russell is capable of mounting a sustained championship challenge.

There won't be a ready made replacement for Hamilton obviously, but someone like Ricciardo might be an option. If he's available, I'd stick him in the simulator anyway. Maybe Alonso, as, while not at 2012 level, he's still a formidable and fast driver and he and Russell get on extremely well.

Mercedes don't have any junior drivers at the moment as far as I know. Their only reserves are Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries, both of which they've stuck in FE rather than finding them a role with the likes of Williams, as they did with Russell. de Vries had a good outing in FP1 in Barcelona, but I'm not sure anyone thinks he's good enough for what will still be one of the most coveted drives on the grid.

Vettel's not WDC capable any more, Perez is on a great run of form at Red Bull (he'd be pretty much level with Max if they hadn't swapped in Barcelona). Bottas isn't coming back. Who else would be on their radar. Bring Ocon back into the fold? Gasly maybe, though he's been very hit and miss this season. Norris would be the most obvious long term shout, but he's just signed a new deal (though will almost certainly have some clauses).
 
Meanwhile the pressure continues to build on Mick Schumacher, Steiner again having a good moan about another destroyed car (to be fair always a risk at Monaco).

To be fair to Mick speed wise he’s been pretty much as fast as Kevin the last couple of races after a slow start to the year.

Out-qualifying him in Miami and running ahead of him for a fair bit, Kevin made a tit of the start at Spain and Mick was running well in the top 10 before Haas screwed up the strategy.

Monaco he was a few tenths down which ended up making a huge odds on qualifying position as it was so close.

I feel he’s probably trying a bit hard to get that first point on the board, largely due to media pressure and it doesn’t feel like he’s getting much support from Haas either at this point, that name is starting to become a heavy burden.
 
this_is_gav said:
I can imagine that if Hamilton retires at the end of this season that they might go for a short term but proven option. Russell has settled in well, but they're still all over the place with the car so we're a long way from knowing if Russell is capable of mounting a sustained championship challenge.
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Lewis isn't retiring but speculation is fun.

There won't be a ready made replacement for Hamilton obviously, but someone like Ricciardo might be an option. If he's available, I'd stick him in the simulator anyway. Maybe Alonso, as, while not at 2012 level, he's still a formidable and fast driver and he and Russell get on extremely well.
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I don't see it. With Russell solid in a seat, Ricciardo doesn't seem much of a fit. Gasly or Norris, perhaps, but I think they'll put de Vries in if they did need someone. With Russell as a solid leader in that team, they can take a chance on the second driver for a season.

Mercedes don't have any junior drivers at the moment as far as I know.
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They have half a dozen, but only Vesti is the only one who might take an F1 seat next year and even he needs a dramatic turn-around in his F2 season to get enough superlicense points, so they're all a bit by-the-by at the moment.
 
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