NASCAR news

[HossC]

F1 was back from its summer break yesterday with the Dutch Grand Prix. Unlike other F1 tracks, Zandvoort has banked curves. Lando Norris was quickest in practice, but his team mate Oscar Piastri claimed pole by 12 thousandths of a second. Local favorite Max Verstappen started third.

Oscar kept his lead at the start, but Max got past Lando on the opening lap. Lando got his second place back on lap 9. Rain threatened to disrupt the race, but none of the teams felt the need to fit wet weather tires. However, Lewis Hamilton went slightly wide on one of the damp banked corners and hit the barrier ending his race. It was a bad day for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc also had to retire when Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli clipped his car and spun it off.

It looked like being another McLaren 1-2 finish until Lando's engine failed with just seven laps to go. That promoted Max to second behind Oscar and gave RB driver Isack Hadjar his first F1 podium finish.

With three of the top cars out, Red Bull, Aston Martin and Haas all had both cars scoring points. With nine races to go, Oscar now has a commanding lead of 34 points over Lando.

Most teams will be fitting new engines for next week's Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

You can watch the highlights of the Dutch Grand Prix here.

[Hobie Hartkins]

On 6/16/2025 at 1:50 PM, 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! I bet it'd take Cooter all weekend to fix that thing!!

[HossC]

A couple of pieces of F1 news.

Firstly, Cadillac F1 recently announced F1 veterans Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will be their drivers next season. Now they've added IndyCar race winner Colton Herta as their test driver.

Secondly, Irish driver Alex Dunne gets his second chance to drive an F1 McLaren in the first practice session this weekend at Monza.

[HossC]

Max Verstappen took pole for the Italian Grand Prix with Lando Norris just ahead of team mate Oscar Piastri. The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were next in front of their home crowd, the famous Tifosi, but Lewis had a 5-place grid penalty from the previous race weekend, so started 10th. Max's pole lap was the fastest in F1 history with an average speed of 164.466mph.

Sadly for Nico Hulkenberg he was told to retire his Sauber on the way to the grid. 

At the start, Lando pulled alongside Max at the first corner, and although Max left the corner first, he was told by his team to give Lando the place to avoid a penalty as he'd left the track to keep the position. Charles also passed Oscar, but Oscar soon regained the place. Max also retook the lead on lap 4.

Late in the race when McLaren made their pit stops they had a problem with Lando's wheel which dropped him behind Oscar. Much to Max's amusement, Oscar was told to let Lando past. Max went on to take his third win of the year with Lando and Oscar behind. The win also set a record for the fastest F1 race in history at just 1 hour 13 minutes and 24.325 seconds. George Russell was fifth, sandwiched between the Ferraris of Charles and Lewis. Finishing second with his team mate in third, Lando narrowed the gap in the drivers' to 31 points.

You can see the race highlights here.

The next race is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku in two weeks.

[HossC]

For once, I'm glad that I wasn't watching the F1 qualifying live. They had a record six red flags and the session that usually lasts about an hour took two hours today.

Lewis Hamilton, who thought he might be challenging for pole, failed to make the top 10 and will start in 12th. His team mate, Charles Leclerc, hit the wall in the final session and will start 10th. Not good when practice looked so promising for Ferrari. Championship leader Oscar Piastri also hit the wall and will start ninth. That gave Lando Norris a great chance to start well ahead of his rival, but could only manage seventh as the track got a bit damp.

In the end, Max Verstappen took pole, but it was a great session for Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson who start second and third ahead of the two Mercedes drivers.

You can watch the highlights here.

[RogerDuke]

Last night was the last pro dirt bike races of the year. I watched the first 2 out of 4 but couldn't do the other 2 because I got up at 6 yesterday morning. The races were in Vegas. I'm like Garrett after NASCAR....sad. Or, I will be after watching these last two races I have recorded. 

[HossC]

1 hour ago, RogerDuke said:

Last night was the last pro dirt bike races of the year. I watched the first 2 out of 4 but couldn't do the other 2 because I got up at 6 yesterday morning. The races were in Vegas. I'm like Garrett after NASCAR....sad. Or, I will be after watching these last two races I have recorded. 

Glad you're enjoying your dirt bike racing, Roger.

Is anyone watching NASCAR? I don't get a chance these days, but I haven't seen a review here for ages.

[HossC]

After a strange qualifying yesterday, it was the Azerbajan Grand Prix today. McLaren could've claimed the Constructors' Championship today, but Drivers' Championship leader Oscar Piastri jumped the start and then fell back to last place. Trying to make up ground, he crashed out on the first lap. Lando Norris also lost a place at the start and another at the restart, but stayed on track.

After a record number of red flags yesterday, there were none in the race, and only one safety car for Oscar's crash.

Despite a 2km (1.25 mile) straight, overtaking proved tricky due to what are known as DRS trains (several cars in a row within a second of each other with all but the one in front getting reduced drag). Some places swapped at the pit stops, but Lando had a bad stop for the second race in a row.

In the end, Max Verstappen had an easy win. Carlos Sainz put up a good fight, but eventually came home third after being overtaken by George Russell. Carlos' third is the first full race podium for the Williams team since 2017. George's team mate Kimi Antonelli was fourth, and Liam Lawson in the RB got past senior team driver Yuki Tsunoda for fifth. Lando eventually finished seventh (where he started), followed by the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

You can see the race highlights here.

McLaren will now have a two-week wait until the Singapore Grand Prix to try to take the Constructors' Championship. In the Drivers' Championship, Lando only closed the gap to Oscar by six points.