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

Cheep may get a nice addition to his house out of this.

 

Fascinating race on Sunday from a strategy perspective. I'm surprised that Mercedes opted to have Russell give up track position to switch to the softs during the final safety car rather than keeping him as a buffer between Max and Hamilton. Toto said afterward they were going for the win and not a guaranteed 2/3 finish, but on a track that had basically one overtaking spot and 12 laps to go, I would think their best chance at a win was to have Russell fend off Max long enough to give Hamilton a chance to pull away out of DRS range.

Hamilton didn't do himself any favors by restarting in the wrong engine mode, but still. Seems like he let his emotions distract him from the task in front of him.

 

I was listening to this on the radio and they raked Mercedes over the coals, but I kind of felt like they were damned if they did, damned if they didn't. Verstappen was going to get both of them on old tires and they can't just hand him the lead by both pitting.

 

Maybe he would have. Probably, even. But did anyone realistically think Russell was going to catch Max from P3? At least if they maintain track position, Mercedes takes two podium spots, and maybe they’re able to fend off Max for the top step.

I know Toto said they were taking the risk to go for the win, but I just never saw that as a viable way to do it.

Hell, Ferrari was feeling pretty lucky afterward. The pit wall thought LeClerc was heading for P4, and he probably would have if Russell stayed out.

 

F1 put the safety car out with less than 10 laps left.

Brian France vibes.

 

They don’t race with a car parked on the track. Not a lot of options there.

 

Palou wins in Monterey. Power wins the season championship, his second.

 

Week 1 of the NFL season. I'm certain dozens of race fans like myself were riveted to Peacock.

 

Am I the only one who thinks its nuts that Josef Newgarden can win almost a third of the races, have two more wins than the next closest driver (McLaughlin) and four more wins than Will Power, the champion?

Like, I understand why it happened. Newgarden had two DNFs and Power was on the podium, just not the winner, most weeks. I just think it is a crazy outcome.

 

Tony Bettenhausen won the 1958 title without a victory. It was the first time it happened. He had four seconds, two thirds, a fourth and a fifth in 13 races. He won twice the following year and finished second to Rodger Ward.

 

A.J. Foyt had four DNFs in 1964 when he won the championship. Of course, it didn't hurt that he won the other 10 races.

And yeah, short answer is the championship is supposed to reward consistency.