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

An Andretti on the pole for the first time in 33 years. Man, the crowd would have gone absolutely ape over how close that was. Uncle John must have given the 98 just enough of a push down the straight on that last lap to make the difference.

 

Too bad for LeClerc that his engine misfired through the chicane. He was running an entertaining race trying to overtake Sainz, who for his part did an excellent job defending. That was a fun battle to watch. Some decent action in the midfield but, again, relatively boring at the top. Bottas did a nice job recovering from that terrible start, but it was disappointing he didn't make any kind of a run at Max after getting onto the softs with 16 laps to go.

Vettel actually ran pretty well today, though he sounds like he's just about had enough of this Ferrari team.

 

Ferrari is such a glorious mess right now. I think Vettel has kind of lost it, but my God, he deserves better than this.



How the hell do the Ferrari strategists not do this stuff on their own? It's like everyone else is looking at computer projections and crunching numbers and Ferrari is shrugging and yelling at each other "What'sa matter widda da car?"

 

That made me laugh out loud. It sometimes looks like they’re trying to make him look bad, or that they’ve just written him off and forgotten about him. He specifically asked them what pace they wanted him to drive like five laps before that exchange and they didn’t answer him. Even the announcers kind of laughed and said “That feels like he’s saying, ‘Hey, guys, remember me?’”

I agree, he looks finished, but they aren’t doing him any favors.

 

Put him in a back marker car, and let's see how well he does.

 

Couldn't the same be said about any driver? Schumacher wasn't exactly pushing a Pinto around on his way to the previous record.

 

OK? Break Usain Bolt's leg and he probably doesn't win a gold medal.

 

Could say that about virtually any driver in a similar situation.

Or ... you can watch Max Verstappen and figure out how he's hanging with Hamilton and Bottas. Red Bull is decent, but Mercedes is clearly better. Verstappen is a swearing machine - making some of the radio exchanges unintentional entertainment - but what he's accomplishing under the circumstances is impressive.

 

Do motorcycles count as open wheel?

(This is why I started a single motorsports thread months ago that y’all promptly forgot about.)

 

Max is absolutely saving this season. He's been amazing. Without him things would be pretty dull at the front.

 

When Schumacher got to Ferrari, it was rough. He also took Benetton toward the front.

 

My earlier comment wasn't anything negative about Hamilton. It was about the nature of F1. Put someone else in Hamilton's car, and he gets the results.
The comparison to Schumacher is exactly spot on. At Jordan, nothing. Benetton hit its stride, and he was a champion. He moved to Ferrari, and it was lean pickings for a few years. They get a dominant car, and he's unbeatable (especially with team orders). Schumacher comes back to Mercedes, and he's a field filler.