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[HossC]

I'll write my F1 race report later when I have more time, but I just wanted to post a quick congratulations to ex-F1 driver Robert Kubica. He had what Rosco would call "a horrendous crash" at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix (see video below), and nearly died when a barrier penetrated the cabin of his rally car in 2011. Yesterday, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours in a privately entered Ferrari 499P alongside co-drivers Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson. They were just over 14 seconds ahead of the second placed Porsche.

 

[HossC]

Now back to the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix.

Most of the top 10 got off the grid in formation, but Kimi Antonelli was able to overtake championship leader Oscar Piastri on the first lap. A few laps later, Lando Norris picked up a few places. Positions were also swapped further down the field. Tires were wearing more quickly than expected, so Max Verstappen was the first of the leaders to make a pit stop.

The commentary mentioned that Lewis Hamilton had picked up damage around lap 13 which cost him an estimated half a second a lap. It was only today that I read that he'd hit a groundhog. As a well-known animal lover, Lewis was said to be "devastated" about the death of the animal.

Despite the pit stops, the leaders stayed in roughly the same order until around lap 62 (of 70) when Lando caught his team mate Oscar. After a few laps of the gap getting closer and closer (and both drivers catching Kimi in third), Lando went for an ill-judged overtake on the start/finish straight, lost his front wing and crashed into the wall. With only four laps to go to clear the debris, the race finished behind the safety car (because there's no refuelling, they can't extend the race like NASCAR does).

George Russell added his name and the Mercedes team to the list of 2025 winners, and Max picked up some useful points in second. In third, Kimi became the third youngest driver to take an F1 podium. Oscar increased his lead to 22 points by finishing fourth, while both Ferraris scored points in fifth and sixth with Charles Leclerc ahead of Lewis.

You can see the race highlights here.

The next race is the Austrian Grand Prix in two weeks.

[RogerDuke]

On 6/16/2025 at 8:50 AM, HossC said:

I'll write my F1 race report later when I have more time, but I just wanted to post a quick congratulations to ex-F1 driver Robert Kubica. He had what Rosco would call "a horrendous crash" at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix (see video below), and nearly died when a barrier penetrated the cabin of his rally car in 2011. Yesterday, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours in a privately entered Ferrari 499P alongside co-drivers Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson. They were just over 14 seconds ahead of the second placed Porsche.

 

Wow! What luck it was that when he went back on the track he went in between the cars. 

As Rosco says "That would have kilt an ordinary man." 

There was at least one time that he said it would have kilt 10 ordinary men. 

[HossC]

16 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

Wow! What luck it was that when he went back on the track he went in between the cars. 

As Rosco says "That would have kilt an ordinary man." 

There was at least one time that he said it would have kilt 10 ordinary men. 

The F1 cars have a very strong safety cell around the drivers. Robert suffered far worse injuries in his rally crash even though it was at a lower speed. You can read more about the rally accident here.

[HossC]

All the F1 teams have to let their reserve drivers take part in a certain number of practice sessions each year, and this weekend McLaren will give Irish driver Alex Dunne a go in Lando Norris' car in FP1. Alex, who is currently leading the Formula 2 championship, is the first Irishman to drive in F1 for 22 years.

[RogerDuke]

21 hours ago, HossC said:

All the F1 teams have to let their reserve drivers take part in a certain number of practice sessions each year, and this weekend McLaren will give Irish driver Alex Dunne a go in Lando Norris' car in FP1. Alex, who is currently leading the Formula 2 championship, is the first Irishman to drive in F1 for 22 years.

Does he wear a green helmet and safety suit?

[HossC]

29 minutes ago, RogerDuke said:

Does he wear a green helmet and safety suit?

To be honest, I don't follow Formula 2, so I only heard about Alex when he was mentioned on the radio earlier this week. Most of the pictures I've seen show him in a papaya orange race suit which is McLaren's color.

Speaking of orange, it's currently looking like one of the McLaren drivers will be F1 world champion this year. The champion has the choice to race with their regular number or "1" on their car, so we could still see an orange #1 car next year (I think "01" would be too much to ask).

[HossC]

Alex Dunne had a promising first outing in an F1 car at a race weekend. He was only taking part in the first practice session (FP1), but managed to avoid the barriers and finish in fourth place less than a tenth of a second behind his team mate, championship leader Oscar Piastri. He described it as the "Best day of my life". He's due to get another go at the Austin Grand Prix.

[HossC]

After crashing out at the last race in Canada, Lando Norris was quickest in all three qualifying sessions today and took pole by over half a second. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc took the other front row position ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton. Canadian winner George Russell will start fifth, while Max Verstappen had to abort his second run and will start seventh.

The rumors this weekend say that Mercedes are talking to Max Verstappen, possibly to replace George Russell next year. Max is under contract with Red Bull until 2028, but it's believed that he has an out if certain performance targets aren't met.

[HossC]

In the Austrian Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz Jnr's Williams broke down on the grid, so only 19 cars started the race. Oscar Piastri started third, but got ahead of Charles Leclerc at the first bend and spent most of the first stint right on Lando Norris' rear wing and even briefly overtook once. Canadian Grand Prix winner George Russell got past Lewis Hamilton at the start, but Hamilton retook the place be the end of the first lap. Max Verstappen was hit by Kimi Antonelli on the first lap, ending both of their races. Max's team mate, Yuki Tsunoda got a 10-second penalty later in the race for causing a collision and was the last car running at the end, so no points for Red Bull at their home track, the Red Bull Ring.

It was also a bad day for Williams as their other car driven by Alex Albon had to retire from a top 10 position after 17 laps. The pit stops gave Lando a bit of breathing space at the front, but there were some good battles behind. After the second pit stops, Oscar was catching Lando, but Lando managed to hang on to the lead through the back markers and took the win for a McLaren 1-2. Oscar's lead in the drivers' championship is now down to 15 points. Ferrari finished third and fourth, and overtook Mercedes in the constructors' championship. Liam Lawson scored his best F1 finish in sixth. Liam had a bad start to the season at Red Bull and got demoted to their junior team RB (Racing Bulls). He now has two more points than Yuki Tsunoda who replaced him! Gabriel Bortoleto also had a great result scoring his first F1 points in eighth in his Sauber.

You can see the race highlights here.

Next week it's the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. It's the only race of the year that gets shown live here on free-to-air TV, but the weather will determine if I stay in to watch it live.

[Garrett Duke]

Thank you for the updates, Hoss. It's great to read about the other types of car races and what's going on with them.

NASCAR Cup Series raced last night in Atlanta. As has been the norm lately, sadly I didn't get to watch it as I don't have the channel it was on. But I am excited to report that Chase Elliott ended his 44 race winless streak at his hometown in Atlanta last night!!! 

I'm sorry for the lack of details, that's the one that struck out to me. HA

Analysis: Elliott, Hendrick punch another playoff ticket | NASCAR

NASCAR Cup Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway Live Leaderboard, Results, & Updates

Elliott wins wild, action-packed Cup race at Atlanta | NASCAR

[RogerDuke]

Chase Elliott! Thanks for the report Garrett. 

He's good but nearly as fast as these racers in the middle of the Moonshine 400 right now.