The Motorsport Thread 2014

Pretty good race, I do like the track as well.

Hopefully it stays on the calendar for more than 2 years.

And big congrats to Bottas!

I love the A1 Ring.  Not too many crazy turns or anything.  Classic.  Happy to see Nico extend his point lead, although not thrilled that Jenson just missed out on points with 11th.

MillsLayne wrote: And Brad K. won after a dominating performance in Kentucky tonight, and then proceeded to cut his hand on the champagne bottle in victory lane.

Awesome. I wish I had watched the post race now.

Have any of you guys competed in an "arrive and drive" go karting race?  Basically, it's amateur karting, but it's set up very professionally with practice sessions, heats and mains.  I'm entering my first race in Fontana (near Los Angeles) in September with one of my friends who is part of one the teams that races full time.  There are 120 spots available and you have to wear a full racing firesuit (the suit, helmet, gloves and shoes).  He said I'll be hooked for life after one weekend and from what I've seen so far, I don't doubt it.  I'll be honest, though, I'm very nervous.

http://www.calspeedkarting.com/racing-programs/super-series.html


Edited by MillsLayne - June 30 2014 at 22:15

Crazy qualy session, wet dry wet dry wet dry throughout. Hamilton aborted his final run thinking there'd be no changes as it was too wet then everybody gets surprised as the times tumble. Excellent job from Bianchi and Chilton to be 12th and 13th for Marussia, though Chilton gets a 5 place penalty for a gearbox change, and Williams and Ferrari both get knocked out in Q1!

Caterham have been sold up this week to a group of Swiss and Middle East investors with ex-Minardi and Midland/Spyker driver Christian Albers as the new team boss. Lotus have announced they will be switching to Mercedes engines for next year and Kimi has said next year will probably be his last in F1.

Pos Driver                Team                 Time           Gap   
 1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m35.766s  
 2. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m37.386s  +1.620s
 3. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.200s  +2.434s
 4. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m38.329s  +2.563s
 5. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.417s  +2.651s
 6. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m39.232s  +3.466s
 7. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes  1m40.457s  +4.691s
 8. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault      1m40.606s  +4.840s
 9. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault    1m40.707s  +4.941s
10. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault    1m40.855s  +5.089s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m38.166s                                Gap **
11. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m38.496s  +3.626s
12. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari     1m38.709s  +3.839s
13. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari     1m39.800s  +4.930s
14. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m40.912s  +6.042s
15. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault        1m44.018s  +9.148s
16. Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari       no time
Q1 cut-off time: 1m45.086s                                    Gap *
17. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes    1m45.318s  +4.938s
18. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes    1m45.695s  +5.315s
19. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m45.935s  +5.555s
20. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari              1m46.684s  +6.304s
21. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault     1m49.421s  +9.041s
22. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault     1m49.625s  +9.245s

I have a feeling the start tomorrow morning is going to be intense, because neither Williams or Ferrari are going to stay in the back for long.  Same with Lewis. 

What a race. I'm glad Raikkonen's OK as that was a huge crash, unfortunate that Rosberg had a gearbox failure as it would have been a great fight with Lewis for the win but that leaves 4 points between them now. Great drives from Bottas and Alonso, who had a great fight with Vettel, to come through the field and Button missing out on the podium by 0.8s at a track McLaren didn't think they'd do well at.

So happy and bummed at the same time that Button finished 4th and just missed out on the podium at his home GP, especially on this weekend when everyone was wearing pink for Papa Smurf.  I hope Ron Dennis takes notice and takes his criticism elsewhere.  The car is way off for the past two seasons and he's telling Jenson to 'work harder'.  Real funny, Ron.

Also, I thought this was a pretty ironic shot, considering who's on the receiving end this time.


Very happy for Montoya to be a winner again in open wheel, even though I felt like it was just a matter of time with as strong as he's been all year.  Also happy to see Helio and Power tied atop the points standings after Power's late race drive through penalty for blocking said teammate.

And the Petty 43 was back in victory lane at Daytona with Aric Almirola (the 43 has been winless since '99) after the race was called for MORE rain at around the 110 lap mark.  It's Aric's first Cup win and on the weekend of the 30th anniversary of King Richard's 200th and final victory in Daytona in '84.


Edited by MillsLayne - July 06 2014 at 16:51

It's even more ironic when you remember that Guitierrez was the one barrel rolled by Maldonado in Bahrain! But typical of Sauber, they can't even do that right.

I was surprised just how many pink shirts and flags there were around Silverstone this weekend. For someone who is best known as Jenson's dad and part of the paddock furniture (he literally had friends in every team), it was quite nice to see the large show of respect for him and support for Jenson.

Great news on Montoya's win, I don't think he'll be challenging for the title this year but at the rate he's going we could have a Penske 1-2-3 in the final standings.

I'd forgotten Pocono was a double points race, as is Fontana at the season final. He's been consistently challenging for top 5's and the way some of the recent races have gone you never know. It could be '99 all over again!