Running 2023 Motorsports thread

For some reason, I saw that clip and was reminded of the Keith Olbermann/Dan Patrick "Helloooooooo!" bit.

Then again, yesterday there was a problem with a soccer story and typed "dammit" in Slack, thought better of it and was going to change it to "Gianluca Pagliuca!"

 

Liam Lawson’s account of getting a drink during his first GP is pretty amusing.

FORMULA 1® on Instagram: "Turns out that Liam Lawson’s biggest struggle during his #F1 debut was drinking Lawson lifted the lid on his #Formula1 experience so far and his goals for the future in the sport on the latest Beyond The Grid Podcast - brought to you by @getyourguide ️ Listen to the new episode on your favourite podcast platform "

 

Seeking opinions here.

I'm a little more than a casual watcher of F1. I think they are some of the best put-together, packaged broadcasts in sports, and given Verstappen's dominance, I still enjoy the jockeying in the mid-pack.

That said, for those who follow this closely, who do you feel are the best pure drivers, outside of equipment, on the grid, and why?

 

With the caveat that “outside of equipment” is really, really tough to judge…

For me the top three are Verstappen, Hamilton and Alonso, in that order.

Verstappen has been absurdly fast since the day he arrived in F1. He has had some decent teammates and generally smoked them. That Red Bull seems to be fairly difficult to drive, based on the struggles of those teammates, and he looks like he’s just cruising each race.

Hamilton is extremely fast and very consistent. He’s a seven time world champion for a reason.

Alonso will get the most out of whatever car he has. At his peak he’s an all-time great. He’s also a pain in the ass and switches teams every other year.

After that there’s a second tier with Saenz, LeClerc, Russell, Norris and Piastri. Terrific drivers, could maybe win a title if given the right car.

A notch below them I’d put Perez, Albon, Ocon, probably Gasly and Bottas. Very good drivers. Can win races in the right situation.

Beyond that, bunch of dudes. Largely interchangeable.

 

Well, his windshield washer fluid reservoir was empty. Had to clean it off somehow.

 

Whole lot of unhappy teammates after that Martinsville green-white-wrecker. The two Childress guys punt each other out of the playoffs, which should make for a fun Monday morning meeting back at the shop.

 

Sheldon Creed was out the door anyway after Phoenix… I wonder if he’ll even be on the plane to Phoenix.

Great job by Justin Allgaier to lay back, let those two use each other up and then sneak in for the win.

 

And Allgaier slapped the wall so hard after the white flag I thought he had bent the toe links. Shows how little I know!

 

Back up, (Val)Terry! Back up!

 

And Richard Childress says to NBC's Dustin Long, "nobody is as stupid as Sheldon Creed." This from a guy who hired John Wes Townley, about a dozen other no-names and his grandkids. Hope Creed goes on to beat the pants of RCR for the rest of his career.

 

A whole bunch of NASCAR owners hired JWT based on the size of his father’s sponsorship.

 

Hamlin misses yet again. He needed a caution to catch up to Blaney, not that he was gonna pass him anyway. Another clutch run by Byron.