Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II (Montreal, Turkey, IRL to RACE Daytona?!?)

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Yeah just read that on a F1 site. Still, he looked silly.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Can you imagine how embarrassing that had to be for Coulthard? He gets on the podium for the first time in years... at the highest profile race, in a city where he lives and owns a freakin' hotel... and he has to wear a cape.

Good thing it wasn't a "King Kong" sponsorship - he would have been stuck in a monkey suit.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

That was the first podium ever for the team.

And to do it at Monaco, it was quite an achievement.

Coulthard probably got a good laugh out of it, especially after he cashed the check.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

I thought prize money was relatively minimal in F1. Don't the drivers get the majority of their driving-related pay from contracts with the teams?

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Yes, the drivers can do exactly that from the cockpit. It's more precise than having the gas pedal control the amount of fuel going to the engine like it does in your car.

In one of the stories I read this morning, I think it was the Indy Star, Roger Penske said something to the effect that the end of the race was the first time they let Hornish go full rich on the fuel since the first 20 or so laps. It would largely explain the burst of speed.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Correct - although I believe most have bonus clauses for championship points, and I would assume that Coulthard is among them. He wouldn't get prize money, but he would get a bonus from the team. (That was one of the key arguments when Jenson Button tried to get out of his BAR deal a couple of years ago -- he claimed the team hadn't been paying the contractual bonuses.)

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

In my haze from working all day after 5 hours' sleep, I managed to forget 1982 -- probably the greatest multi-lap shootout ever between Johncock and Mears. Much agreed on 1995 -- Villeneuve came back from a two-lap penalty (ironically, for passing the pace car under yellow) to win when Goodyear passed the pace car.

I will say this for the radio broadcast ... as far as play-by-play goes, it has really improved since Mike King took over, although they blew the last lap yesterday (Turns 1 & 2 were basically salutijng the expected winner-to-be -- a last-lap Indy tradition dating back to Sid Collins *when the race isn't close* ... I don't think anybody noticed Hornish was closing in until the final corner, but I could see him coming on the backstretch). The rest of the broadcast, well, it's no different than many other racing radio broadcasts. Pump up the series, chat with sponsors, drop sponsors' names, be corny, be syncophatic, et al. I grew up listening to Indy broadcasts on the IMS network that basically announced the start, the finish and killed three hours in-between with 10-lap rundowns and a bunch of conversation and very little play-by-play. Maybe it's because there's more action and passing now, but the difference between the Indy broadcasts now and, say, in 1986, is night-and-day.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Could be, but given the relative scarcity of F1 rides vis a vis capable drivers, would a team be gunshy given the disaster Marco's dad dealt with in his one season with McLaren? (of course, Marco's grandpa is a former world champion ...). If Dan Wheldon -- who next to Hornish and Castroneves, is probably the top driver in either U.S. open-wheel series -- can't get an F1 deal, it might be difficult for just about anybody else to jump the pond.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

A lot will depend on the commitment Marco is willing to make. Michael refused to move to Europe, absolutely guaranteeing his failure. He did get at least one podium, so it isn't that he lacked the ability -- he just wasn't willing to dedicate the time and energy necessary to succeed.

If Marco will move to Europe and commit to F1 I think they would probably forget about his dad's experience pretty quickly.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

The biggest problem with the Indy radio broadcast was the inability to hear the announcers over the roar of the engines. You expect that problem in the pits, but how come Howdy Bell used to come in loud and clear in the 1980s from Turn 2 and now the guy in each turn is barely heard when the cars go by? Bad microphones?
The good news is that since Paul Page took over after Sid Collins' death, there's a lot more play-by-play and a lot less celebrity schmooze.
And Mike King was saying "We've got to cut him off" kiddingly after the Gene Simmons interview. The guy threw it back to King first.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

Penske also owned up to being the person who told Hornish to leave the pits before his fuel hose was detached from the car. Nice to know you can be a mogul and still own up to an error that could have cost the team the race.

 

Re: Champ Car/Indy/F1 running thread II

I'd like to see Marco run at least one season in Champ Car (and Andretti-Green jumping the IRL ship is a rumor I've heard) so I can see what he can do on road courses, which to my way of thinking are a helluva lot tougher than ovals and thus a better test of actual driving ability.

Indy is the easiest course the kid's driven on this year and in four 2006 starts, it's his only top-10 finish. Watkins Glen will be far more telling, especially since they're using the long course rather than the NASCAR course.

And I've said this before: Ron Dennis hired Michael Andretti because of the name. If he was hiring for talent, he'd have hired Little Al Unser.