All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

I'm sure I've said this before on this thread, but I'm afraid it won't be long before the Indy 500 is a race with no series to support it.

 

It's looking more and more that way. Whenever IndyCar does something right, the ever-changing powers-that-be managed to make up for it with some ill-advised decision. The on-track product has been great for years, but that's about it.
IndyCar has confirmed no race in Brazil. One of my favorite comments: Officials in Brazil must have heard about Barnhart being brought back as race control director.

 

It's been an interesting off-season for Formula One. McLaren-Honda looks to be in a world of hurt with big reliability woes. Plus the whole uninjured/injured Alonso deal is just bizarre, including this latest twist:
Formula 1 - Fernando Alonso ‘woke up in 1995’ after crash in testing - Yahoo Eurosport UK

Then you have a Lotus F1 test driver (a definite 6) who finished 29th in points in a lower series all of a sudden being promoted ahead of many drivers who appear to be much more highly qualified. Why are the other drivers upset? She concludes they are simply jealous.
Formula One development driver Carmen Jorda: F1 is full of jealousy | Autoweek

And then we have a ride buyer upset about other ride buyers getting his ride thanks to bringing in more money, so he now is suing to keep his ride in a backmarker Sauber car.
Van der Garde takes legal action to keep Sauber F1 ride | Autoweek

 

The Alonso thing is odd. On the surface it seems like a fairly standard issue concussion case -- and it probably is -- but the number of rumors swirling around is amazing. I suspect it's just offseason silliness and he's just riding out the concussion guidelines, but who knows? And so far, that car looks like a pig.

The Carmen Jorda thing amuses me. Development drivers don't actually do anything, so why not hire one who's absurdly hot?

And Van der Garde... I get why he's pissed, but I'm not sure what he thinks he'll accomplish with the suit. It really looks like the sleaze factor was high at Sauber by the end of the season, though. They sold that seat so many times, it was like a sequel to "The Producers."

 

Not the most entertaining of F1 openers last night. Mercedes dominated and had no trouble, so an easy 1-2. Amazing how five cars (including the two Manors that never ran) didn't even make it to the starting grid. Also amazing how bad McLaren looks. But at least Jenson finished the race, which was a huge victory considering how bad testing had gone.

 

F1's going to be in a really strange place in a year or so. They lost one team in the off season, came so close to losing a second team that it wasn't able to turn a lap all weekend in Australia... and if I were a betting man, I'd say Red Bull is out of the sport in no more than two years. Now it looks like they've lost the German Grand Prix this year, but we're supposed to be excited about races coming to Azerbaijan and Qatar. Someone with a clue had better grab the wheel soon.

On a more positive note, it's cool to see a low-budget team like Sauber suddenly looking really fast, even if their management leaves a lot to be desired. Felipe Nasr was impressive as hell.

 

Quite entertaining watching track stewards trying to get the car off the track at the end of the China F1 race. Lost count of how many times they banged the left front into the wall.
Also, Rosberg sounds like a crybaby with his comments about Hamilton going too slow. Amazing Ferrari has gained so much pace this year while Red Bull is going the opposite direction.

 

Two cars with Chevy aerokits have flipped in two days at Indy 500 practice after normal looking spins into the wall. That is pretty scary stuff.

 

The F1 strategy group released it's plans for the next few years. In short, they've found several ways to make the sport much more expensive and likely far less entertaining to watch. Good work, gents!

They're bringing back refueling. They ditched it years ago because it's expensive, dangerous, and virtually all the passing was done by fuel strategy, with virtually no passes on track. Now they've decided refueling is "exciting."

Sigh.

 

Well, now four cars have flipped in Indy 500 practice. Hinch had a bad one today, the first Honda in a rollover. Qualifying yesterday was a joke, at least from what I've heard (I don't get whatever channel apparently aired the qualifying).
The idea of the Indy 500 being the first oval race of the year is stupid, especially this year with the lack of testing for the new aerokits. I shudder to think of what might happen during the race if a car flips and gets nailed by other cars.

 

They might have to allow three-car teams in the next couple of years if they keep driving off the smaller teams. Apparently it would be too hard for the powers-that-be to admit the current engine and aero rules weren't the right ones?
To me, the pits stops these days are fascinating. Putting on four tires and being done in 2.3 seconds? Holy smokes!

 

At the last race there was a 2.8 second stop and the commentators called it "slow." It's gotten crazy. I swear, sometimes it looks like the car hasn't even stopped.

Among the really stupid things here is the fact that the strategy group that came up with the changes is made up strictly of the big teams. I think the current engine formula is a good one, but the engines are far, far too expensive. The members of the strategy group don't care about that, and went for changes that make the series even more expensive. They're getting dangerously close to screwing up the series for good.