Open Wheel Racing 2020

[alfablue]

Now that there is real open wheel racing, have to start a new thread.

Oh, you didn't know that Indycar is at TMS tonight? Yea, neither did I until I ran into their qualifying.

Indycars look quite different with the new windshields. Not bad- reminds me of some of the early 80's cars.

On a side note, the crowd looks pretty typical for indycar in deep nascar territory. (it's a joke)

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2020

Now that there is real open wheel racing, have to start a new thread.

Oh, you didn't know that Indycar is at TMS tonight? Yea, neither did I until I ran into their qualifying.

Indycars look quite different with the new windshields. Not bad- reminds me of some of the early 80's cars.

On a side note, the crowd looks pretty typical for indycar in deep nascar territory. (it's a joke)

Indy car ... practicing social distancing since the IRL.

 

[Jimjamesak]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2020

To raise a contrarian point: NBC had been promoting the heck out the race on their networks over the last few weeks.

 

[alfablue]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2020

To raise a contrarian point: NBC had been promoting the heck out the race on their networks over the last few weeks.

To their "credit"- I didn't even notice. Thankfully, I ran into it yesterday. And funny enough- I even questioned if it was real or not when I first started watching.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: Open Wheel Racing 2020

To raise a contrarian point: NBC had been promoting the heck out the race on their networks over the last few weeks.

Texas got NBC's highest non-Indy 500 rating. No surprise. Network coverage on prime time with still not many sports options. Good for them.

 

[manurespreader]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpZzAV3Jyro

 

[alfablue]

F1 is back underway. Qualifying for Austria pt 1 is over, and the Mercedes keep showing that they are the best team out there- with stable rules, they still can find ways to improve more than other teams. Amazing. On a related note, the stewards did have to deal with a DAS protest, and it was deemed to be legal.

Ferrari is really struggling. Like in a shocking way.

Williams has made progress, but Lattifi maybe does not deserve to be there? Dunno.

And there's the racing double header at Indy this weekend- with Indycar doing the road course and NASCAR doing the oval. I kind of wonder how much the different tires will screw each other up for the oval turn 1.

 

[RaceBoarder]

F1 is back underway. Qualifying for Austria pt 1 is over, and the Mercedes keep showing that they are the best team out there- with stable rules, they still can find ways to improve more than other teams. Amazing. On a related note, the stewards did have to deal with a DAS protest, and it was deemed to be legal.

Ferrari is really struggling. Like in a shocking way.

Williams has made progress, but Lattifi maybe does not deserve to be there? Dunno.

And there's the racing double header at Indy this weekend- with Indycar doing the road course and NASCAR doing the oval. I kind of wonder how much the different tires will screw each other up for the oval turn 1.

For the most part the tires have played well with each other when the Trucks have shared the track with Indycar. That was at Texas however and I feel that Indy's length and flatness may change that...

 

[alfablue]

does anyone remember when people were talking big about Marco Andretti going to F1? Man, has he not payed out at ALL in Indycar. Why is he even racing anymore? 2 wins in all the time he's been racing in Indycar.

 

[Jimjamesak]

For the most part the tires have played well with each other when the Trucks have shared the track with Indycar. That was at Texas however and I feel that Indy's length and flatness may change that...

The Indy GP course doesn’t use Turn 1 anymore, just the short chute between 1 and 2.

 

[solovsfett]

Marco Andretti is a huge disappointment. He needs to retire. Give that seat to someone who can win.

 

[alfablue]

Other than the fop 3, that was a great Styrian Grand Prix. The top 3 was really what I expected to happen last week- alas, too many SC messed that up.

Thankfully, the midfield battle between RP, Renault, and McLaren is really fun to watch.

And all of the Ferrari powered cars suck.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Thankfully, the midfield battle between RP, Renault, and McLaren is really fun to watch.

Absolutely. And interesting to see if any can get a non-lucky podium on certain tracks which suit them, especially Racing Point.

And I'm becoming a huge fan of Last Lap Lando.

And all of the Ferrari powered cars suck.

You're being kind...

 

[manurespreader]

Rumor is that Stroll is out of a seat and Vettel will be in at Racing Point/Aston Martin. I think Latifi will be ok, but he needs some more seat time.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Rumor is that Stroll is out of a seat and Vettel will be in at Racing Point/Aston Martin. I think Latifi will be ok, but he needs some more seat time.

You do know that Stroll's father owns the team...?

Perez is already talking to other teams while at the same time saying he has a long term contract with Racing Point.

We'll see if father Stroll is pressured by the other investors of Aston Martin to make sure the F1 team is as strong as it can be or pressured by mother Stroll to keep her son on the team. LOL

 

[alfablue]

Some good racing happened this weekend- Iowa on Friday was a pretty fun race to watch, Saturday was ok.

F1 is pretty interesting, even if the racing isn't. It's been noted that Ferrari's cheating (lets not beat around the bush here) prompted Mercedes to really work on their engine, which is now more powerful than ever. And this is the engine to go into the new era with very few changes. On top of that, they have also addressed some of the high speed stability in the car. The result is that Mercedes is even more dominating than they have been before- 1.2s to Max in 3rd on the grid. Holy cow.

The Red Bull looks REALLY unstable and hard to drive. And I'm sure before they admit that, Albon will be the next sacrifice vs a more robust car.

Ferrari is just slow- no power, no aero, no nothing.

Racing Point is filling in nicely for them at the front of the grid. And I'm totally ok with their copy of last year's Merc. IMHO, it's embarrassing for the rest of the field to not be able to close on LAST YEAR's car that a photocopy of it is faster than they are.

Renault is doing a great job confirming Danny Ric's move to McLaren. And McLaren is also showing the same thing- which is really cool.

Williams looks much better in qualifying, but, sadly, the same in the race. Progress is progress, though.

AT, yea. AR- no. Haas- got lucky, but penalized.

I actually feel bad for Haas, as they buy so much from Ferrari that they are forced to follow a flawed concept and also gets a much less powerful engine.

 

[manurespreader]

You have to give it to Red Bull though. To rebuild that suspension in 20 minutes and make it in by mere seconds is impressive. I think McLaren is who might be challenging the others. At least I can hope right. I'm not a fan of Racing Point copying something where they would have to have the drawings to make it. At some point don't they have to build something of their own? I would sure like to see Williams actually compete in a race at some point. Right now I'm hoping for rain from here on.

 

[alfablue]

You have to give it to Red Bull though. To rebuild that suspension in 20 minutes and make it in by mere seconds is impressive. I think McLaren is who might be challenging the others. At least I can hope right. I'm not a fan of Racing Point copying something where they would have to have the drawings to make it. At some point don't they have to build something of their own? I would sure like to see Williams actually compete in a race at some point. Right now I'm hoping for rain from here on.

Racing Point did their entire car with the FIA looking over their shoulder- so that they could make the copy showing that they made the drawings themselves. Probably from very good pictures. I don't see a problem with copying- when you are in a big hole, copy the best, and then develop from there. It's not as if nobody else copies- just not to the same obvious level.

IMHO, it's better than what Haas does, who gets more drawings from Ferrari, since they get more stuff from the red team. Once you see the drawings, you can't just forget and ignore them. And Haas has looked very much like last years Ferrari, as well (in the past).

 

[Russell Jaslow]

The Red Bull looks REALLY unstable and hard to drive. And I'm sure before they admit that, Albon will be the next sacrifice vs a more robust car.

Which would tick me off. And who would they get? There's nobody in the pipeline, especially to throw right into the main team. Promoting past failures is ridiculous.

Unless they go the Vettel route, but I don't see that happening. Perez? If they really want to go outside their stable, that's a very good possibility.

Ferrari is just slow- no power, no aero, no nothing.

Well, they do have good drivers. That's it.

IMHO, it's embarrassing for the rest of the field to not be able to close on LAST YEAR's car that a photocopy of it is faster than they are.

That's really sad when you put it that way...

 

[Russell Jaslow]

I'm not a fan of Racing Point copying something where they would have to have the drawings to make it. At some point don't they have to build something of their own?

They have to design and build all the listed parts themselves. Which is why Renault specifically protested the brake ducts, as they were put on the listed parts list just this year, and you can't just take a picture of it and know how the inside looks. There could be some interesting "loophole" arguments in the next few weeks...

As for liking or not liking what they did (remember when everyone got all boiled up over what Haas did to get into F1?), they followed the rules. And as Adrian Newey so famously and correctly once said, "There is no such thing as the spirit of the regulations. There are only the regulations."