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

BUCKET LIST! I swear to God I couldn't have looked more out of place there in a NASCAR.com golf shirt than if I had worn jorts to visit Queen Elizabeth. Racing fans, by and large, are a pretty ratty-looking group (sans Formula 1 and the sporty car crowd) but the Speedrome is a special kind of fan base. It's like People Of Wal-Mart come to life.

Both times we went I laid even-money odds the rental car would be missing at least one wheel, if not completely up on blocks by the time the races ended. And I was more afraid for my life at Speedrome than the two seasons I worked as track announcer at Antioch Speedway in California.

It'd be a rare Saturday night when we didn't have at least one fistfight, either in the stands or the pits. My favorite memory was the time a drunk guy with a knife tried to get into the scoring stand. I reached out, slammed the open door in his face and he tumbled the entire row of stairs and landed right at the feet of the sheriff's deputy.

And based on my experiences around northern California (and central Indiana), the South has no monopoly when it comes to obesity. [/crossthread]

 

Red Bull has won a couple of F1 races this year, so the team decides to go with Honda for next year. That choice seems...bold?

 

I would think that would mean Ricciardo would leave after this season but from what I read online Ferrari may not be that interested in him and Mercerdes may be happy with Bottas.

 

It is, but the potential upside is greater. Red Bull is a customer team with Renault but effectively a works team with Honda. It's a much better position to be in. (Plus, Honda seems to be doing much better now that it's gotten away from McLaren.)

I'm not sure what's going to happen with Ricciardo. He doesn't fit what Ferrari historically wants -- a number two driver who will score points but never actually threaten the number one guy. Ferrari doesn't want two drivers competing with each other, and when Vettel and Ricciardo were teammates before, Ricciardo kicked Vettel's ass.

Not sure what's going to happen at Mercedes. Bottas has done OK, and they have their own young drivers they can move into the seat. Ricciardo is probably better than those options, but what's the point of having a young driver program if you never promote one?

 

And Honda will probably invest a shit load of money into that team too and that can't be discounted.

As for Danny Ric, Bottas clearly knows his role at Mercedes, would Ricciardo be happy being the No. 2 guy behind Hamilton? Is Toto Wolff going to want to have to navigate that shit again or do they plan to bring in a younger guy down the road and avoid that bullshit? Charles Leclerc seems to be the guy headed to Ferrari next year.

 

Mercedes is pretty good about allowing the drivers to race. I think Hamilton and Ricciardo would probably be OK. Still, I think Mercedes is probably going to hang onto Bottas for now. They could also put Esteban Ocon in the car -- he's one of their young drivers -- but Renault is trying to get Ocon because he's French, and they like having a French driver.

It's a weird time - everything for next season seems to hinge on where Ricciardo ends up, and I think his best option is probably to stay put.

 

The Toronto Indy used to be one of the highlights of the sports calendar here but it is strictly a backmarker now. Little to no advertising, grids that are largely anonymous to the casual sports fan (who will only know of Hinch because his commercials are on TV every five minutes) unlike the glory days when you had Villeneuve, Andretti, Fittipaldi, Tracy, Rahal and others and they have drastically cut back on the number of seats for sale, especially along the start/finish straight and the Lakeshore straightaway. Fridays have been free for a number of years, that's the only day I would go now, when I was going every year if you didn't renew your seats in January you were fucked.

The Indy series races here are largely marooned on Sportsnet 360, a Rogers channel that is not available on most packages. TSN shows hours of F1 every race weekend, there were probably more race fans in Montreal from Toronto for the Grand Prix than there would be paying big bucks for a Gold pass for the Indy.

 

Especially now that Brian France is running the show. He wouldn’t know how to react.

Another problem with having Mario Andretti as your main draw: He’s 78.

 

Goodbye, Phoenix. Not sure either side will be sorry to see that race go, since nobody was attending in the first place.

My friends and I had tickets for one of the races in the 1980s, but it was cancelled because of flash floods that washed out the road to the track. Of course, ISC is right in the middle of a multi-million dollar revamp of the place, which was easily the worst media facility on the Cup circuit once Watkins Glen fixed up its act.

BREAKING NEWS: Report — Phoenix will not be on IndyCar schedule in 2019

 

Ricciardo looking to try winning the F1 title next year in a...Red Bull? No. Mercedes? No. Ferrari? No. How about Renault(???)!
Best of luck, Daniel.
Daniel Ricciardo bolting from Red Bull Racing for Renault F1 team

 

I'm trying to remember the last time a major team shift like this came so totally out of the blue. He was rumored to be going to Ferrari or Mercedes, and when those didn't pan out it was just a question of when they made the announcement that he was staying at Red Bull. Then this morning, BAM.

The only similar thing I can think of was Nico Rosberg's retirement.

It's a fascinating move. Renault has won titles before, so it's not entirely crazy. I think he probably realized that if Red Bull has a car with championship potential that the team was probably going to throw its weight behind Verstappen, and Ricciardo deserves better than that.