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

Malukis' car wasn't too beat up, but Herta's moving to a backup car. Same starting spot, unlike the old rules. Herta's was a big hit.

 

Reminded me a lot of Pancho Carter. And Rick Mears. Skidded on its top a long ways. Thank goodness for the aeroscreen. And the replay from the camera inside the cockpit was pretty amazing. He was radioing his dad "I'm OK" while the car was still sliding.

 

It's race day at Indianapolis. My favorite sentence of the entire year.

Hot and sunny means no rain, but it's going to make for a slick track, and this year the Brickyard is more temperature-sensitive than ever because of the dark sealant added during the winter. If you're not running first or second (or maybe the top five), you're not going to be able to get to the front.

This race is Scott Dixon's to lose. Having said that, Alex Palou has been nearly his equal all month, and I'd love to see the kid pull this off.

Jimmie Johnson could wreck before the halfway mark or finish fifth. Ganassi has been head and shoulders above every other team in May, with perhaps Arrow McLaren right behind, and I think that carries over to the race. Team Penske may need some strategy to get to the front, and Andretti has had everything go wrong so far this month.

If Ed Carpenter was finally able to break through, I think the Brickyard might collapse. Rinus VeeKay has been quietly impressive. And Conor Daly is another longshot with a good car.

 

Thankfully we’re visiting Chicago, so I can see the race. The TV blackout of the Indy market remains soooooo stupid. (Although we can pick up the Dayton channels if I drag out a antenna I have in the garage and point it southeast.)

 

Pouring rain at Monaco. Talk about making a crazy race even crazier. And it's gone red flag.

 

Veekay’s crypto sponsorship feels a little on the nose now.

 

And Grosjean crashes out of the field, to the shock of nobody on planet Earth.

 

Monaco was a little crazier than usual ... and that was after the rain delay that delayed the start (and, unlike NASCAR, they're usually willing to run in inclement weather).

Indy's Turn 2 is turning into an issue. More than halfway through the race, with three incidents. All of them in Turn 2.

 

I demand to see the research that supports Leigh Diffey being on TV.

 

It would have been nice had a race with four crashes not advertised the next restart as "off the wall."