I'll have to send you a copy of my recently-completed article on AdC which dismantles the lazy-thinking received wisdom trotted out by Hunt - he, of all people, should have known better, having been AKA 'Hunt the Shunt.' Also, a note to Socks - nothing new about this in principle in motor sport, and the two heats + final we often followed in the Fifties-Eighties (and is still utilised in karting) works extremely well.
I told myself 2 seasons ago I was going to start following FE but still have not lol. What happened? I went to the IndyCar St. Pete grand prix over the weekend to see if I could find Romain Crashjean but no luck. He did play some bumper cars though. Check the 7:00 min mark...
I think I might have mentioned this before but many moons ago in a F1 fanzine I was involved in, De Cesaris was called Andrea Accessories because his car was only good for spare parts after another of his many crashes Got to love James though, he never shied away from saying it as he saw it, especially when talking about Jarier.
He was a bit helped by Werner... Werner has been penalized for the contact and lost the victory. But what a race it was! Not convinced at all by the qualifying race format. Q1-Q2-Q3 qualifying may be the only part that works well in modern Formula 1. So of course they want to change it!
It was a PR nightmare for Formula E as cars didn’t have enough usable energy to finish the race. https://us.motorsport.com/formula-e/news/valencia-mass-retirement-repeat-second/6459030/ I’ve tried to watch Formula E the past two seasons but it isn’t easy. I want to like it but I can’t. While the racing is much closer than in F1, it also feels like a bad racing video game. It is akin to the NFL vs the XFL. My co-worker’s buddy is a very high level executive at Formula E so I should take it easy on the series.
Fear of rules change led Mercedes to run dominant 2014 engine in “idle mode” https://www.racefans.net/2021/04/28...des-to-run-dominant-2014-engine-in-idle-mode/
Canada OUT, Turkey IN. Since Canada has a 14 day quarantine mandate which won't work for F1 there will be no race there this year, replaced with Turkey on June 11-13..
This is what's wrong with F1 these days. I have no issues with Billy Joel, but not at a Formula 1 race. The racing should be able stand on its own, but alas, it seems not for a lot of people. JUST ANNOUNCED: BILLY JOEL IN CONCERT AT THE F1 USGP Legendary musician Billy Joel will headline the Germania Insurance Super Stage on Saturday, October 23 at the Formula 1 Aramco United States Grand Prix! As a multi-GRAMMY® award-winner and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Billy Joel will take the stage for the first time in Austin since the 90's. The iconic performer is sure to rock the audience with his numerous hits, including, “It’s Still Rock & Roll to Me,” “Uptown Girl,” "Piano Man," and “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” More artists will be announced in the coming weeks as we build The Ultimate Soundtrack for this year's spectacle of speed and sound — the Formula 1 Aramco United States Grand Prix — at Circuit of The Americas! All USGP tickets include access to the Germania Insurance Super Stage Festival Lawn for the concert. Tickets are on-sale now and start at $189.00. Buy Now If you'd like to speak with a representative about ticket packages, please email us or give us a call at (512)-655-6300. Upgrade Your Concert Experience Standing-Room-Only Concert Upgrades Available For Purchase Want the best viewing experience? Saturday-night concert upgrades are available for an additional $79. This upgrade will get you access to a standing-room-only area in front of the stage right on the track so you can jam out will Billy Joel while enjoying the best vantage points. Concert upgrades are available at checkout. If you've already purchased tickets and would like to buy a concert upgrade, log into your Account Manager and click here. Buy Now Circuit of the Americas | [email protected] 9201 Circuit of The Americas Blvd, Austin TX 78617
Guess it's all about ticket and concessions sales. The Long Beach Grand Prix does a Saturday concert as well.
This isn't just an F1 thing. Our last trip to the Australian Open tennis in 2019, there is an entire section of the grounds dedicated to concerts, etc. Same thing with the US Open tennis - they have concerts also, and what's more sometimes they even televise that as well. In some of these events, you can hear the concert playing somewhere on the grounds while watching a match on TV - it's a little insane in a way and I'm sure at times distracting for the players. However I think it's for a number of reasons...primarily money of course but in tennis these are concerts that are essentially parts of the ticket price. At the Aussie Open we just strolled up to see what was going on, so all included on just a ground pass (didn't even have to have a pass to a larger stadium match). So I think part of it is make the sport side of it more tolerable for those who won't necessarily be "into" that sport, but may have a spouse or friend who wants them to go along. Also, short attention spans...
I don't see the problem with having a concert Saturday night after Q. It's not like CoTA is making someone choose between watching the concert vs watching the races/Q sessions. If this gets more people to the track and convinces more people to be even just casual F1 fans, that's a win for me.
The concert venue at COTA is actually pretty good, I've seen a few concerts there (not part of a racing event). The concert happens in the evening, and if you want to go, you go, if not go to downtown Austin and take in the nightlife there which includes other music venues. Or just go back to your hotel and veg out. It's all good.
At the Monterey Historics I watched a talk with Jackie Stewart and David Hobbs a few years back, they think the corkscrew is fine, the run out is not. They also need to upgrade the facilities to handle more people and the infield is too small for F1. Plus not enough hotel rooms near the race. they race Indy there so F1 would have little problem. Street courses are relatively easy to build and set up. Low cost land, plenty of parking lots to setup the infield. It’s cheaper then building a dedicated track for sure, even doing it for 10 years.
If things are like they were in the past Laguna Seca is severely hampered on what they can do on that site. It's not a private site, it's owned and managed by the Monterey County Parks Department, i.e., everything that happens there is political. They can only do four events a year, and any upgrades or changes are very difficult to do. Went to plenty of World Superbike and Moto GP races there from 1995-2012, just getting there from Monterey is one big PITA, an F1 race would be a nightmare. And let's be honest here, with today's weird political structure in CA an event the size of an F1 race would be almost impossible to pull off on a publicly owned property.
They race MotoGP and LMP in Le Mans, but it is not suitable for F1 either (FIA grade 2 only - both Bugatti and 24h track) Also, F1 venue is usually not profitable for the track. It is done only for prestige... That is why there is more and more race in exotic countries: they just pay way more than the historical countries. France lost its GP for 10 years despite being part of each world championship calendar before (1955-excluded, 80 dead people makes you think twice before hosting another race...) An exception is Monaco as it has a very different contract from the others. It does not pay the FOM to host the GP and all the revenues stay in ACM's pocket. But because of all that, I doubt Monterey or Le Mans want to upgrade their facilities to host F1. They do not need F1.
Must have been a thrilling race since there has been no commentary here since practice lol. I was traveling all weekend and did not really keep up. But it does not look like anything all too exciting happened...
Well… Mazepin got called a dumbass by Latifi in Quali for blocking him Mazepin was useless in the race and a nearly minute off the next car in front Mazepin got lapped by a Williams Mazepin then nearly took out Perez while he was fighting at the front of the field, ignoring blue flags and earning himself a penalty point for being an idiot. Andre de Cesaris 2.0