Open Wheel Racing 2021, anyone there to watch?

[unofan]

But the thing is, if there's a matter of truth here, then it doesn't matter if those teams get hurt... it's still true.

I have no doubt money will finally decide this. I was more arguing about what should happen. What will happen is bound to be awful.

You're arguing about something that happened 15 years ago. Short of a class A felony, the statute of limitations has run. Who gives a **** at this point?

[MichVandal]

But the thing is, if there's a matter of truth here, then it doesn't matter if those teams get hurt... it's still true.

I have no doubt money will finally decide this. I was more arguing about what should happen. What will happen is bound to be awful.

Why would it not matter? They all participated in a race that to them was legal, and they all got paid for it. Let alone spending massive amounts of money to participate.

Right now, what I think will happen is nothing. Other than a lot of talk. Ship sailed. Everyone had their chance to undo the result back in the day. Let alone, Bernie's word isn't all that trustworthy anymore (as if it ever was).

[solovsfett]

Gilles Villeneuve for the win!

https://twitter.com/crystalracing/st...9UgV9i29HGo2Ag

[solovsfett]

Would Roger Penske consider a sale? https://racer.com/2023/04/24/indycar...ia-sale-rumor/


I would doubt it because it would mean INDYCAR would be an f1 feeder series. But Liberty has stacks of cash and Roger is 85 with no evident successor plan.

[Kepler]

Toto is unimpressed.

Based on those helicopter shots I am prepared to believe Baku is the most oppressive and depressing city outside Texas. It looked like an authoritarian nightmare.

We've really done the dystopian world tour so far, with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Azerbaijan, and Miami coming up. I love that they call it the Cringe Grand Prix.

[MichVandal]

Toto is unimpressed.

Based on those helicopter shots I am prepared to believe Baku is the most oppressive and depressing city outside Texas. It looked like an authoritarian nightmare.

We've really done the dystopian world tour so far, with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Azerbaijan, and Miami coming up. I love that they call it the Cringe Grand Prix.

Well, this weekends race should be more boring, since the track in Miami has less of a passing zone than Baku does. And for a fan, the location of the race is far from appealing- it's a long way (for a walk) from any decent hotels, especially South Beach. And the drive there will be a nightmare- we've been there for boat week, and this probably will be worse- since all of the A listers will want to be seen there. It's also really exposed- no trees anywhere. So other than being "Miami", the race just looks miserable. Some people I know who worked there last year are not for those reasons.

At least Baku has a pretty historic area in the middle of it. That would be an interesting feature to visit.

Oh, one more thing about Miami- it's freaking Florida. They have laws that pretty much force every sex offender to live under a bridge, homeless. And we all know what they did during covid- we were on a cruise this past week, and one of the Florida comedians made fun of it and all of the death and misery. Wasn't all that funny to me.

[Kepler]

Oh, one more thing about Miami- it's freaking Florida. They have laws that pretty much force every sex offender to live under a bridge, homeless.

It's Florida. Everyone is a sex offender.

[Spartanforlife4]

I thought today was fairly interesting from a mid pack standpoint. Starting on hards seemed to be the way to go and helped flip the field for those who went mediums second.

I guess the same could be said for the battle for first, but since Max kept pulling away even on his final laps on hards there wasn’t much drama there.

[MichVandal]

I thought today was fairly interesting from a mid pack standpoint. Starting on hards seemed to be the way to go and helped flip the field for those who went mediums second.

I guess the same could be said for the battle for first, but since Max kept pulling away even on his final laps on hards there wasn’t much drama there.

I agree. And the race was much better overall than I expected. They still had some DRS trains, but thanks to the tires, those broke up pretty quickly.

One thing, in hindsight of course, it sure seemed that the teams should have seen that the hard-med choice was going to be better than the opposite. I watched FP1 and it took a long time for rubber to get down, to the point that the medium drivers struggled quickly. Mercedes spent most of that session on hard tires and then went the fastest on mediums. With the rain last night, the track was a lot closer to Friday than yesterday.

One thing I may have learned- having a long straight with drs after a slow set of corners is better than high speed corners as the areo wake lets them be really close after the slow corners.

[solovsfett]

… I was very surprised to learn Lewis Hamilton may want to try an INDYCAR in the future. I’d never heard him express interest before. In fact, he had mentioned nascar about 10 years ago but not Indy…I wonder if the writing is on the wall Mercedes wants to go younger?

[Russell Jaslow]

… I was very surprised to learn Lewis Hamilton may want to try an INDYCAR in the future. I’d never heard him express interest before. In fact, he had mentioned nascar about 10 years ago but not Indy…I wonder if the writing is on the wall Mercedes wants to go younger?

I wonder what his definition of try is? I do know he has emphatically stated he will never do the Indy 500.

[Kepler]

… I was very surprised to learn Lewis Hamilton may want to try an INDYCAR in the future. I’d never heard him express interest before. In fact, he had mentioned nascar about 10 years ago but not Indy…I wonder if the writing is on the wall Mercedes wants to go younger?

Mercedes thinks Lewis is washed, and Lewis thinks Mercedes doesn't know how to make a good car anymore. Oh but it's sad when a love affair dies.

[Kepler]

I thought today was fairly interesting from a mid pack standpoint. Starting on hards seemed to be the way to go and helped flip the field for those who went mediums second.

I guess the same could be said for the battle for first, but since Max kept pulling away even on his final laps on hards there wasn’t much drama there.

I know nothing but I was disappointed. I figured Max would blow through everybody but given the other starts I hoped there's be a lot more drama and strategic decisions for the rest of the points. Didn't work out that way, it was a snoozer.

God help me, I know it's ridiculous, but I like Miami aesthetically. It's different. They should feed all the celebs into a wood chipper, but the track itself is actually okay.

[Kepler]

One thing I may have learned- having a long straight with drs after a slow set of corners is better than high speed corners as the areo wake lets them be really close after the slow corners.

Can you go a little deeper into this? I very much enjoy your insights.

[MichVandal]

Can you go a little deeper into this? I very much enjoy your insights.

So I'm comparing the previous race at Azerbazan (however it's spelled) and Miami- in Baku, it was really hard to pass even with one of the longest straights of the entire season- what lead up to it was some pretty high speed areas where aero was important, so cars could not be really close to each other else they have problems; On the other hand in Miami, the section before the long straight was quite slow, so mechanical grip was more important as aero was relatively low- so the cars could follow each other really closely through that section.

And in Miami, they were able to pass- sometimes on that long straight going into 17, sometimes on the front straight. And that made the race a whole lot more interesting than a parade.

I see what you are saying about it not being a great race. But outside of the top 3, seeing the Ferrari's struggle compared to the Mercedes doing better than expected was interesting. Sucked to see the Haas just drop backwards. F1 fans have had decades of watching everything but the front of the race to see something happen.