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

Yeah, but they're trying to cram in so many races that I don't think they'll be needing to make up the numbers. I think they'd be ore likely to leave a date open then to offer a discount to a European track. (Of course, my take is based entirely on a "normal," COVID-free season, and that seems pretty unlikely. I don't see a long-term future for those tracks but anything is possible in 2021.)

 

Danny Ric would be one of the more popular guys in the paddock but he didn't pull many punches criticizing the TV coverage of the Grosjean incident:

F1 defends Grosjean TV coverage after Ricciardo criticism

 

Exactly the problem I have with racing coverage in the United States as well. Particularly Ryan Newman at Daytona and Scott Dixon at Indy two years ago, plus the Wickens crash at Pocono. No reason we should see a human being subjected to a near-death experience over and over just because it's "great TV."

 

I have to say, I had no problem with the coverage of the crash at all. We saw the fireball live and they immediately cut away to follow the action. They didn't show anything from the wreck -- live or replay -- until they knew Grosjean was safe and in good shape. It was amazing restraint.

The replays were astonishing. To see him get out like that was unbelievable. I thought the replays were fine -- and by god, they were in an hour-plus delay. What are they supposed to do?

Ricciardo's beef seemed to mostly lie in how hard it was as a driver to watch those replays and then get back in the car, which I get... but the broadcast isn't for the 19 people still in the race. It's for the tens of millions watching around the world.

 

I thought the TV coverage was handled quite well. For the 15 minutes or so until we saw Grosjean in the medical car, I thought he was dead. As Steiner said, since it turned out well, it’s ok to show the replays and stress how the safety protocols and equipment worked to perfection and saved his life. Hamilton, like many drivers have said before, mentioned how they put their lives on the line each week, and the replays really drove that message home.

 

They touched on it briefly with Martin Brundle, who saw this a lot more than they do now albeit without the massive coverage they have now, what's it like to get back in the car?

Over the course of a weekend Sky will interview the same handful of drivers and team principals multiple times so it was good to see an interview yesterday with a guy who's name I didn't even know: the driver of the medical car.

 

He did a nice job and made a good point that if any one of the safety protocols and gear failed, Grosjean was dead. But between the halo, quad layer fire protection, hell, the seat harness release, everything and everyone worked as they were supposed to. He mentioned how they had to pause to assess the situation and while it was barely a second, it felt to him like forever. Good interview.

Also, I understand where Ricciardo is coming from, but it was a myopic view of the situation that didn’t extend past the point of view of the race teams and their families.

 

Hamilton fails a COVID test held before Bahrain II and will sit out. Remains to be seen who'll fill in. Apparently Stoffel Vandoorne is the designated guy and probably available but will be curious to see if they give George Russell the keys to that hot rod or perhaps take one more crack at Mission: Get Hulkenberg On a Podium.

 

If I'm Mercedes I'm throwing money at Williams to get Russell in the seat and see what he could do.

 

Grosjean expects psychological help after horrific F1 crash

This AP story about Grosjean has some really good quotes in it. My favorite was:

“My 5-year-old son Simon is sure I have magical powers and that I have a shield of magic love. He said that’s what protected me, that I managed to fly out of the car. Those are very strong words.”

I'll be honest, as you can probably tell from my wisecracking, I think Grosjean's a ninny who Haas should have fired at least a year ago, but he seems to be a thoughtful fella who dodged a bullet and good on him. Maybe he'd be good on TV.

 

Saw something on Insta - might have been one of the accounts from the Sky crew - that seemed to suggest Vandoorne will drive Hamilton's Merc on Sunday.

 

I've been convinced for a year that Gene Haas is essentially on autopilot and waiting for someone to make the right offer for the team. He doesn't seem to care in the slightest.

I think Grosjean is a better driver than Magnussen. He's unfortunately also more likely to clip a competitor's tire and fly off the track. If I were Haas I would have shitcanned both of them along with Gunther Steiner after last season. The fact that he didn't suggest to me that he just doesn't care that much.

I suspect Mazepin's dad owns the team by this time next season.

My guess is Russell in the Mercedes and Vandoorne in the Williams. I think Mercedes really wants to see what Russell can do and Williams doesn't have much of a reason to stop it.