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

It was an excellent crowd, having been there, and a great atmosphere. Certainly it helped that they shut down one section of grandstand, so the crowd was contained. But supposedly 60,000 is what I heard.

Part of that was the novelty of being back at St. Louis, combined with it being in driving distance of Indianapolis. Seriously, nearly everyone I met was from Indiana. I joked with my friends that the whole series should run in Indiana. The Evansville 300. The Muncie Duels. The Gary 400, with the New York Times penning a piece expressing its surprise about the latter's existence.

It was the most knowledgeable IndyCar crowd I have ever been a part of, as well.

 

Detroit, too. We used to go to Chicago and Milwaukee. It sucks they aren't there anymore. We were overjoyed at St. Louis.

 

The first or second move by Perez? LOL. Second one was especially stupid. It'll be interesting to see who drives for Force India next year. Perez apparently brings his own money, which he will probably need at this point.
Interesting the difference in reliability for the Red Bull teammates. And Alonso seemingly quitting was pretty telling. Apparently he's given McLaren an ultimatum: choose me or choose Honda.

 

Along those lines, it sure sounds like there is dissension in the Ganassi ranks. Two drivers parked in the past two races. Only one driver (Dixon) has really done anything consistently the last couple of years.
I found the Gateway race highly disappointing. It reminds of the first Iowa race I covered in 2007: There was a lot of excitement and predictions of a great amount of passing, but it ended up being a one-line snoozer. Fortunately the racing got better in the years to come, so hopefully the same will happen in Gateway. It would be great to see a big crowd again next year, with good racing.

 

Yeah, not a good sign when you have to ask which move! (Second one was worse.)

The Alonso situation is getting bad. I read pieces by two well-regarded F1 journalists yesterday that reached very different conclusions -- one said McLaren will very likely switch to Renault with Honda going to Toro Rosso (and quite possibly buying the team, if Red Bull drops the price), and the other said it's inevitable that McLaren will be stuck with Honda next year. It doesn't seen like Alonso is likely to stick around if Honda is still there.

 

I'm guessing the lack of a GP anywhere in Germany this year (or France, for that matter) has a lot to do with those figures, though Spa is about as classic an F1 venue as they come. Monza up next.

 

Nashville's not too far from Indy...whatever happened to that track?

 

Stopped holding races when it couldn't get a Cup date and around the same time the Dover folks closed down their other tracks, including Gateway. I think Nashville is still open for testing.

 

IndyCar needed either Newgarden or Castroneves to win the title last weekend, since they are two of the few drivers who register outside of the sport. Scott Dixon and Simon Pagenaud? Nope. Will Power? Cool name, but nope. It will be interesting to see if Penske does keep Castroneves in IndyCar to help bolster Chevy or not.
Sounds like IndyCar will need a new title sponsor for 2019, not good.
In F-1, quite the start last weekend. Kimi got a great start and was an innocent victim. I originally put most of the blame on Max, as he could have prevented the accident by backing off for a moment. But it's really on Vettel for making such an aggressive sweep. Biggest bummer was for Alonso. Yet another spectacular start, 7th to 3rd by the first corner and would have been battling Hamilton for the lead if he hadn't been tagged. Looks like Mercedes and Hamilton are in control.

 

Yeah, to me that was 100% on Vettel. That sweep across the track doesn't really work when there's a car there and it has nowhere to go. He didn't need to do it and it may cost him a shot at the championship.

Funny -- that crazy start kind of destroyed the rest of the race. Virtually everyone with a chance to beat Hamilton was knocked out.

 

2018 IndyCar schedule released: Welcome back, Portland; So long, Watkins Glen

Sure wish they could find a way to add the Cleveland airport course in early August.

2018 INDYCAR schedule builds on consistency, adds Portland event