NASCAR news

[RogerDuke]

Cadillac Racing? I'm excited to see Boss in it....even though he will be in the back seat. 

[HossC]

A few years ago there were some double- and triple-seater F1-based cars made so that people could pay to be driven a couple of laps as a passenger to get a feel of what racing was like. I haven't heard anything about them for a while, but I googled them and they still exist with companies charging several hundred Euros for a couple of laps around a race track with a professional driver.

[RogerDuke]

Didn't NASCAR have something like that too? 

[HossC]

This weekend is the season finale for F1 with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but I never posted a review of last week's race in Qatar. There were a couple of reasons for this, not least of which was the late time I was able to watch the highlights on TV. Aside from that, the race seems to have been overshadowed by off-track arguments and dubious penalty decisions.

Nearly-crowned champion Max Verstappen returned to form by taking pole, but was found to have blocked Mercedes driver George Russell and driven slower than the minimum lap time during qualifying. For this he received a one place grid penalty which no one seems to remember happening before (they're normally 3 or 5 place drops). This later caused Max to say he'd lost all respect for George due to pursuing the penalty.

At the start, Max and McLaren's Lando Norris passed George at the first corner, so it didn't really matter. There were a couple of crashes in the race, and debris caused punctures for Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz. Under one of the safety periods, Max made continued protests over the radio that second-placed Lando Norris had failed to slow for a yellow flag. Rather than a simple time penalty (5 or 10 seconds), the stewards decided that a 10-second stop & go penalty was needed, which takes a total of about 35 seconds and put Lando out of the points. Everyone seems to have been surprised by the severity of the penalty, and I can't remember the last time one of these was given. Max went on to win, and Lando got back to 10th to claim a point for the position and a point for fastest lap. It means that the Constructors' Championship between McLaren and Ferrari will now go down to the final race. A notable mention goes to Zhou Guanyu, whose 8th place scored Sauber its first points of the season.

You can see the highlights here.

I don't watch F1 for off-track spats, and inconsistent penalty decisions continue to ruin the racing. They really need to sort this out. I thought I'd be calmer writing this a few days on, but I'm still annoyed!

To give you an idea of what's been said between Max and George, here are some examples:

"People have been bullied by Max for years now."

"George is a backstabber. That he brings all this stuff up. He's just a loser."

"Max has been enabled because nobody's stood up to him. He cannot deal with adversity, he slams his whole team and loses the plot."

"George lies and pastes all kinds of things together that aren't true."

If you're really interested, you can read more about the dispute here. Cards on the table, I'm on George's side.

[RogerDuke]

Abu Dhabi is also where the final round of WSX just took place. (World Supercross). It's a bit odd that it was there. Quite a few empty seats and I'm guessing it's because folks in Abu Dhabi aren't that interested in dirt bikes. I'm guessing it was a money decision....lol.

[Hobie Hartkins]

Hey, where's Garret been lately? I haven't seen that guy in a LONG  time!

 

[HossC]

Well, that's the F1 season over for another year with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix yesterday. The Drivers' Championship was decided a couple of weeks ago, but the one that the manufacturers want to win is the Constructors Championship, and that was still to be decided between McLaren and Ferrari. Ferrari suffered a blow to their chances before qualifying when Charles Leclerc got a 10-place grid penalty for using a new energy store which exceeded his allowance for the year. He then qualified 14th and ended up starting in 19th (of 20) when other drivers' penalties were applied. A combination of bad strategy and bad luck (he got a loose bollard stuck under his car) saw Lewis Hamilton out in the first qualifying session in his last race for Mercedes. He started 16th. Pole was taken by Lando Norris with his team mate Oscar Piastri taking second for a McLaren front row lock-out.

At the start, Red Bull's Max Verstappen passed Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, but then collided with Oscar, which earned him a 10-second penalty. Max's team mate Sergio Perez also had a spin on the first lap when he was hit by Valtteri Bottas. Two laps later, Oscar got a penalty for hitting one of the Williams cars (I think it was Franco Colapinto). Meanwhile, Charles made quick work of getting through the field. There was some good racing and plenty of overtaking throughout the race. At the end, it was Lando Norris who led from start to finish to help win McLaren their first constructors' title since 1998. Ferrari finished in second and third with Carlos Sainz ahead of Charles Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton had been quite despondent for the last few races, but he seemed back on form yesterday and managed to overtake his team mate George Russell on the last lap to claim fourth. He'll be a Ferrari driver next year and says he looks good in red!

You can see the race highlights here.

Now the long wait begins for the Australian Grand Prix on March 16th!

[HossC]

After I wrote the review, I went back to the other videos. One was Lewis Hamilton's last lap, and included a very emotional slow down lap and sharing the moment with other drivers and team bosses. If anyone doubts the passion that at least some of these drivers have for their sport and their teams, watch this video.

[RogerDuke]

On 12/8/2024 at 4:31 PM, Hobie Hartkins said:

Hey, where's Garret been lately? I haven't seen that guy in a LONG  time!

 

I know what you mean. I hope we hear from Garrett soon. 

[HossC]

The drivers for the final seats on the 2025 F1 grid have now been decided:

Constructors' champions McLaren are staying with their 2024 lineup of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

After a whole career powered by Mercedes engines, Lewis Hamilton is moving to Ferrari to partner Charles Leclerc.

Red Bull are keeping World Champion Max Verstappen, but have finally decided to replace under-performing Sergio Perez with Liam Lawson who drove for their junior team RB for the second half of 2024.

Mercedes are keeping George Russell, and Lewis Hamilton's place is being taken by promoted Formula 2 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Aston Martin are also keeping their 2024 lineup of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

Alpine are keeping Pierre Gasly, but they're promoting reserve driver Jack Doohan to replace Esteban Ocon. Doohan previously raced in Formula 2.

Esteban Ocon is moving from Alpine to Haas and will partner Oliver Bearman, another Formula 2 driver who got three F1 starts in 2024.

Red Bull's junior team RB will use their full name Racing Bulls in 2025. They're keeping Yuki Tsunoda, and partnering him with Formula 2 runner-up Isack Hadjar after Liam Lawson got promoted to Red Bull.

Williams are keeping Alex Albon, but Franco Colapinto (who replaced Logan Sargeant mid-season) is making way for Carlos Sainz who moves from Ferrari.

Finally, Sauber are replacing Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas with Nico Hulkenberg from Haas and 2024 Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto. This will be the team's last year being known as Sauber before they rebrand as Audi in 2026. Valtteri Bottas is returning to his former team Mercedes as their reserve driver.

[RogerDuke]

Really missing Garrett 😔