NASCAR news

[RogerDuke]

Interesting. Maybe they do follow NASCARs schedule. Hopefully Chase Elliott will put it all together next season. This one has been good but also disappointing.

[Garrett Duke]

31 minutes ago, RogerDuke said:

Interesting. Maybe they do follow NASCARs schedule. Hopefully Chase Elliott will put it all together next season. This one has been good but also disappointing.

It also could be coincidence. But yeah hopefully next season will be better for him. It has been a disappointing season. he's still in the Chase, so maybe he can turn it around. 

[HossC]

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was on this afternoon, and it was a great race, but more of that below.

In the build-up to the race it was being reported that McLaren would be favoring Lando Norris over his team mate Oscar Piastri as Lando has the best chance of catching championship leader Max Verstappen. That went out the window when Lando had to slow for a yellow flag during the first qualifying session and got knocked out there. He qualified 16th, but started 15th after Lewis Hamilton took a grid penalty for going over his annual engine allowance and started from the pit lane. Max wasn't happy with his setup and only qualified sixth, out qualified by his team mate Sergio Perez for the first time this year. At the front, Charles Leclerc followed his win in Monza with his fourth consecutive pole in Baku. Oscar Piastri started second.

Charles held his position off the line and stretched his lead to about 4 seconds before the pit stops. A few drivers swapped places behind and Lando started to make up places before getting stuck behind the Williams of Alex Albon. Both were on the hard tires and going longer into the race, but when Alex pitted, Lando was able to make up time before he pitted.

Soon after Oscar and Charles pitted, Oscar was able to take advantage of his fresh tires and made a great dive from a long way back to take the lead. We then had over 20 laps of Oscar battling Charles with Sergio only just behind. After driving in the dirty air of second place for so long, Charles' tires were done with about four laps to go and Oscar finally managed to break away a little. In the meantime, the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz had caught up to the lead drivers. As they started the penultimate lap, Sergio went for second place, but ended up letting Carlos through. Carlos and Sergio then fought the next couple of corners before colliding at high speed on the next straight. The race finished under a virtual safety car with Oscar taking his second F1 victory ahead of Charles. The crash promoted Mercedes' George Russell to third with Lando overtaking Max with a few laps to go to take a great fourth. Both of the Williams cars scored valuable points in seventh and eighth with Franco Colapinto in only his second race after replacing Logan Sargeant mid-season becoming the first Argentinian driver to score point since 1982. Lewis came in ninth, just ahead of stand-in driver Oliver Bearman scoring a point for Haas when he beat his team mate Nico Hulkenberg.

With only one Red Bull and one Ferrari finishing, McLaren take the lead in the Constructors' Championship for the first time since 2014. In the Drivers' Championship, Lando moves three point closer to Max.

You can see the 8-minute highlights here.

Next week is the Singapore Grand Prix which is a night race. Traditionally, Red Bull haven't gone well there, and the McLaren drivers were talking about Ferrari being their main rivals for the rest of the season.

[HossC]

It was the Singapore Grand Prix this week which is both a street race and a night race held under floodlights. It's also very hot for the drivers.

Lando Norris continued his run of good form by claiming pole position in his McLaren. Traditionally, this hasn't been a good track for Red Bull, and they struggled through the practice sessions, but Max Verstappen scored a great second place on the grid. His Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez only managed 13th. The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were third and fourth with the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri in fifth. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz crashed in the final qualifying session and started in tenth, one place behind the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

Lando finally managed to get a good enough start to retain his lead through the first lap. Lewis started on soft tires, and nearly overtook Max at the first corner, but then had to follow in third. Lando then proceeded to dominate the race, pulling a lead of almost 30 seconds at times despite touching the walls at least twice. He still led by a large margin when he took the checkered flag to win. With only a few laps to go, Lando looked like he'd get the full house of pole, leading every lap, fastest lap and the win, but Daniel Ricciardo in Red Bull's junior team RB made a late stop for soft tires and got the fastest lap. Although he doesn't get the point for fastest lap because he finished outside the top ten, it took the point away from Lando. Lewis' gamble to start on the soft tires didn't pay off as for the first time in 15 races in Singapore there was no safety car (I think it's about the eighth race in a row without a physical safety car, although the last race finished under a virtual one), and he eventually finished sixth. Max did a great job in damage limitation by staying in second until the end. He was followed home by Oscar, George and Charles, of which the latter two had a great fight through the final laps. Carlos' in seventh was the last driver not to be lapped.

Daniel's fastest lap may be particularly poignant as it could be his last F1 race, at least for this season. There are strong rumors that New Zealand driver Liam Lawson will replace him at RB for the final six races this year. Despite being the last running driver in 18th place, he was voted Driver of the Day by fans.

You can see the 8-minute race highlights here.

Lando has closed the gap to Max to 52 points in the Drivers' Championship, but McLaren have increased their lead over Red Bull to 41 points in the Constructors' Championship.

We've now got three weeks off before the United States Grand Prix from Austin.

 

[Garrett Duke]

Thank you Hoss for the update. That sounds like an exciting race. 

[HossC]

On 9/22/2024 at 8:52 PM, HossC said:

Daniel's fastest lap may be particularly poignant as it could be his last F1 race, at least for this season. There are strong rumors that New Zealand driver Liam Lawson will replace him at RB for the final six races this year. Despite being the last running driver in 18th place, he was voted Driver of the Day by fans.

Just a quick update - it was confirmed on Thursday that Liam Lawson will replace Daniel Ricciardo at RB for the final six races of the season.

[HossC]

Another quick F1 update - the US-based Haas F1 team has announced Toyota as a "technical partner" and that the two companies would "share expertise and knowledge, as well as resources". However, Toyota will not be supplying engines as Haas already has a contract with Ferrari until 2028. Toyota have not been part of F1 since they withdrew their own team at the end of 2009, and feel that they have been losing opportunities to Japanese rivals Honda. Toyota branding will appear on the Haas cars starting at this weekend's US Grand Prix in Austin.

[Garrett Duke]

Well sadly I have fallen into the same rut as I was in last year and haven't watched a race yet this year, though have followed it on my phone. They raced at the Charolette Roval yesterday where it looks like Kyle Larson dominated it or led a lot and ended up winning the race. Kyle Larson's team mate, Alex Bowman failed post race inspection which has gotten him disqualified from the final 8 round of the standings of the Chase. Hendrick has declined fighting the punishment, so Bowman is now out of the Chase for this year. With that said, the final eight of the Chase has been sealed moving forward. 

(For my two cents worth. I am sad to see Bowman disqualified, but am glad to see that Chase Elliott made it into the final 8 in seventh place. Now he needs to win...  )

Anyway, here are a few links from NASCAR.com.  

NASCAR Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course Race Results, Lineup | Official Site Of NASCAR

NASCAR Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course Race Results, Lineup | Official Site Of NASCAR

Playoff Pulse: Round of 8 set after 2024 Roval race | NASCAR

[HossC]

After a short break, F1 was back at the weekend with the US Grand Prix from Austin. Following a run of comparatively poor results for Max Verstappen, he returned to the front by winning the sprint race.

For the main race Max qualified second behind his championship rival Lando Norris. Both got good starts, but by tussling at the first corner they let through Ferrari's Charles Leclerc who started fourth. The safety car came out for the first time in quite a few races after Lewis Hamilton got stuck in the gravel on lap 2 two after he'd made a great start from near the back of the grid, but it didn't change the order at the front. The other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr got past Max at the only pit stops that most teams made. Lando went long on his first stint and quickly caught Max after getting new tires. That set up several laps of close racing, but when he finally got past it was by leaving the track limits. Lando got a 5 second penalty and only finished 4.1 seconds ahead of Max, so ultimately the places were reversed. It was a mildly contentious decision by the stewards as it involved the two title leaders and the rule enforcement seemed to vary slightly through the race.

Despite the title rivals getting most of the TV coverage, it was Ferrari's race with a dominant 1-2 finish for the first time at the US Grand Prix since Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa did it at Indianapolis in 2006. Liam Lawson scored 2 points in his first race back in F1, and mid-season replacement Franco Colapinto also scored a valuable point for Williams.

Max extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship, but McLaren now lead Red Bull by 40 points in the Constructors' Championship and Ferrari are only 8 points behind.

You can see the race highlights here.

This was the first race in two triple headers to end the 2024 season. Next week the teams will be in Mexico.

[HossC]

Yesterday's F1 qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix has set the grid up for what should be a great race later today. Championship rivals Max Verstappen and Lando Norris both had their team mates eliminated in first qualifying session, so Oscar Piastri will start 17th and local hero Sergio Perez one place behind him in 18th.

The second qualifying session ended slightly early when Yuki Tsunoda's crash brought out a red flag and stopped a few drivers from completing their flying laps.

Max set an early fast lap in the final qualifying session, but it was deleted due to exceeding track limits. In the end, it was in-form Ferrari that claimed the top position with Carlos Sainz claiming his first pole of the year. Max pulled a great lap out of the bag to get second, and Lando will start third. Third is actually a good starting place as the driver should get the slipstreams of the two lead cars down the long starting straight. Also, the pole sitter hasn't won in Mexico since 2016.

If you're not familiar with F1 qualifying, you can watch the highlights here.

[RogerDuke]

You are lucky Hoss. I miss my dirt bike races. 

[HossC]

The Mexican Grand Prix definitely turned out to be a race full of incidents. Max Verstappen won the drag to the first corner to take the lead, but there was a crash in the midfield which ended the races of Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon. After a few laps behind the safety car, the race restarted, and it didn't take long for Carlos Sainz to retake the lead. Lando Norris then caught Max and last week's battle between the title rivals resumed. The outcome, however, was different this week as Max's aggressive driving earned him two 10-second penalties for separate incidents on the same lap. The fighting also allowed last week's winner, Charles Leclerc, to slip through to second. Fernando Alonso sadly had to retire from the race in which he was celebrating his 400th F1 weekend.

After Max served his penalties he was out of contention for a podium place, but recovered to finish sixth. Lando managed to overtake Charles when the Ferrari driver nearly lost his car coming onto the start/finish straight, but no one could catch Carlos who took his fourth F1 victory and became the first native Spanish speaker to win in Mexico. Lewis Hamilton is taking Carlos' place at Ferrari next year, so the win should help Carlos to secure a drive for 2025. Speaking of Lewis, he and team mate George Russell traded places a couple of times with Lewis coming out on top in fourth and George in fifth. Both Haas cars finished in the top 10, continuing their recent good form for a team with one of the smallest budgets. Lando's McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri finished in eighth, up from 17 on the grid. The same wasn't true for Max's team mate Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver started 18th, got a penalty for starting outside his box, got side pod damage from a racing incident and ended up being the last running driver after going for the fastest lap at the end (it was taken by Charles Leclerc).

You can see the highlights here.

Max still leads the Drivers' Championship, but Lando has cut his lead by 10 points. Max and Sergio's poor finishing positions also mean that Red Bull have slipped to third in the Constructors' Championship behind McLaren and Ferrari.

Next week it's the Brazilian Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit.

[HossC]

News from Sao Paulo ahead of tomorrow's Brazilian Grand Prix:

The McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris qualified in first and second for the sprint race, followed by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. They held their positions for most of the race, but Max eventually passed Charles and Oscar was told to let his team mate Lando past just before a virtual safety car (VSC) was called when Nico Hulkenberg had to stop his Haas on the circuit with a few laps to go. Max later received a 5-second penalty for speeding behind under the VSC and was demoted back to fourth. You can see the highlights here (NB. it was posted before Max's penalty was confirmed).

After Max's double penalty last week in Mexico, several drivers have commented that it was about time he was punished for his dangerous driving. He will also get a 5-place grid penalty for tomorrow's race after having to change engine parts.

Oliver Bearman will replace Kevin Magnussen all weekend in the Haas as the latter is ill. Oliver will drive full-time for Haas next year.

Qualifying for the main race was supposed to take place this evening (6pm UK time, 3pm local time), but was postponed until tomorrow morning due to heavy rain. The circuit is known Interlagos which means 'between lakes', so rain is not uncommon there. Apparently, the official name of the circuit has been 'Autódromo José Carlos Pace' since 1985, but I don't remember ever hearing that name until I read it just now.