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Post by Carl on May 21, 2019 16:40:46 GMT
Desperate times call for desperate measures and we may never know to what extent they were considered, but sometimes an honorable decision is imposed by others.
It could be that outside forces served to checkmate any option. There may be an interesting tale to be told by a stray fly on the wall. |
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Post by Carl on May 27, 2019 5:28:12 GMT
I prefer road racing and love the challenges of Monaco, so began the day hoping the F1 race would be more exciting than the Indy 500. A foolish hope, as it turned out. I watched every lap at Monaco and there was some real excitement in the many desperate pass attempts, but was also bored and several times almost fast-forwarded the DVR (I stopped getting up at ungodly hours to watch). I muted the sound whenever David Croft approached hysteria and when Hamilton, extraordinarily sensitive to the assorted pains of leading, kept complaining about the strategy that put him there.
The Indy 500 was exciting from start to finish with many passes, some breathtaking, and cars often three wide. There were several dumb mistakes on pit row caused by misjudgment, and one huge crash in Turn 3 that took out five cars on lap 177, surprisingly caused by Sebastien Bourdais, always fast and normally faultless.
True to his own past behavior, Helio Castroneves caused Australian James Davison to miss his pit box by approaching at speed in the wrong lane, effectively blocking Jamison's approach, and ramming him from behind for good measure. Although always fast, Castroneves often lapses into stupidity, unable to resist avoidable contact or the urge to climb fences. I have never liked his style and suspect that skill allows him at times to mask dirty driving.
Pole sitter Simon Pagenaud won by two car lengths over Alexander Rossi, both equally impressive throughout and equally deserving of victory.
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Post by robmarsh on May 27, 2019 6:45:26 GMT
A real cracker of a race hey Carl. I likened it to Ravel's Bolero. Starting slow but keeping your interest then gathering pace until that 0.2 second crescendo at the end. The last 13 laps were mesmerising and I thought Rossi was spectacular again though I was supporting Pagenaud after his awesome drive two weeks ago. Sato also impressed me as he was pretty anonymous during the race then popped up out of nowhere.
That track is awesome and scary.
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Post by charleselan on May 27, 2019 12:12:55 GMT
A thoroughly enthralling Indy 500 with the last laps after the red flag incident being really edge of the seat stuff. What a great win by Simon Pagenaud and very well deserved after leading so many laps, and of course sitting on pole. Alexander Rossi was extremely brave and resolute and obviously very upset at losing by so little, however in my book Simon deserved the win. Also what about Taku Sato; a stunning drive from nowhere and he is still a brave little blighter in his 40's.
I can see the view of those that feel Seb Bourdais was to blame for the coming together with Graham Rahal, but in his mitigation Rahal wasn't alongside, and as Seb mentioned afterwards he thought Graham would have backed out of the move as he wasn't far enough in to it. Seb isn't a dirty driver by any means and knows to his own cost how dangerous these oval are. Impatience isn't your friend at Indy Mr Rahal. Both drivers had excellent races ruined unfortunately.
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Post by Carl on May 27, 2019 16:21:31 GMT
A thoroughly enthralling Indy 500 with the last laps after the red flag incident being really edge of the seat stuff. What a great win by Simon Pagenaud and very well deserved after leading so many laps, and of course sitting on pole. Alexander Rossi was extremely brave and resolute and obviously very upset at losing by so little, however in my book Simon deserved the win. Also what about Taku Sato; a stunning drive from nowhere and he is still a brave little blighter in his 40's. I can see the view of those that feel Seb Bourdais was to blame for the coming together with Graham Rahal, but in his mitigation Rahal wasn't alongside, and as Seb mentioned afterwards he thought Graham would have backed out of the move as he wasn't far enough in to it. Seb isn't a dirty driver by any means and knows to his own cost how dangerous these oval are. Impatience isn't your friend at Indy Mr Rahal. Both drivers had excellent races ruined unfortunately. I have the same great respect for Bourdais and Graham Rahal that they have for each other. Neither backed down in a situation where someone needed to and may have succumbed to the demand for instant assertion above 200 mph.
I thought Sebastien misjudged the clearance he had, which is partly the responsibility of his spotter perched high atop the grandstands. Hindsight would have both giving the other more room.
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Post by charleselan on May 27, 2019 19:21:24 GMT
Some of the "spotting" was absolutely amazing Carl, especially in the aftermath of the accident, most of those guys are something else and have no doubt saved many a very big accident.
I think you are correct in that Seb's should have been more alert.
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Post by Carl on May 28, 2019 3:28:10 GMT
Adding to the drama were the early retirements of Colton Herta and Ben Hanley. Both Herta and Patricio O'Ward, who failed to qualify, would likely have been contenders, and Hanley very impressively qualified at the first oval for both driver and his small team. To have your first oval race be the Indy 500 must be intimidating! The bizarre blocking of Alexander Rossi by backmarker Oriol Servia, costing valuable position, may signal the veteran driver's last 500. Dangerous stunts like this resonate among team owners. The often arrogant Santino Ferrucci finished 7th in his very first oval race and drove superbly to avoid the big crash late in the race, but his therapist predicts serious misbehavior ahead. More well adjusted but less alert were Zach Veach and Felix Rosenqvist, both drawn into the carnage by being unawares. Young American Zach Veach is testing the patience of Andretti Autosport and needs a podium soon. Series rookie Rosenqvist has already solidly impressed as Scott Dixon's teammate and should acclimate quickly to ovals. The lovely Lee McKenzie spent all afternoon searching for a Christopher Brooke and was hindered by dozens of infatuated admirers wanting to meet her who falsely claimed to be him.  |
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Post by chrisb on May 29, 2019 4:56:14 GMT
bless you Carl, sadly the lovely Lee was not successful in her search but she'll persevere
reading all about the race and looking at the vast crowds i am beginning to appreciate that Indycar is getting it right, i do think that as spectacles go the Indy 500 is for me, the most impressive one I have ever been to, the sheer size, glamour and OTT presentations are just breathtaking, the speed and noise, the skill is just - mind-boggling- until I saw an Indycar in action and I have been fortunate to have seen the racing at Rockingham [UK] as well I never really appreciated the speeds these things reach, amazing - the tragedy for UK non- BT or Sxy subscribers is that we are denied access, perhaps there are ways to circumnavigate these restrictions but that is beyond my ken, I would be happy to pay for the service as I do for MotoGP if I could do the same for Indycars as this is sounding so good but I will always refuse to pay either BT or Sxy for their kingdoms
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Post by René on May 30, 2019 10:13:57 GMT
The Indy 500 was a great race! I watched the entire event live and wasn't bored for a moment. Well deserved victory for Simon Pagenaud but it would have been evenly deserved had Rossi won. Bourdais's mistake was indeed surprising and 'out of charachter'. Sebastien doesn't often make mistakes like that. Nevertheless a very good race with in general very high driving standards. Hmmm, where is Christopher? Haven't seen him for a while. Is he avoiding me? |
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Post by chrisb on May 30, 2019 21:42:50 GMT
bless you Rene, words I have yet to hear from the lovely Lee - although I may well have heard similar words in the past from other ladies...eeeh you did make me laugh Rene, thank you
I did manage to find on utub brief highlights, it looked a really great race
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Post by Carl on Jun 3, 2019 16:21:56 GMT
Two IndyCar races were held over the weekend on Belle Isle in Detroit. Saturday's was highlighted by severe thunderstorms and the strangeness of Scott Dixon crashing out unassisted after brushing an inside barrier at a fast turn. The very close and hard fought final laps ended with Joseph Newgarden edging out Alexander Rossi and a resurgent Takuma Sato.
Sunday's race was dry but chaotic with a surplus of brainfade even affecting the broadcast booth. Both expert commentators were spouting nonsense by race's end, usually the sole province of announcer Leigh Diffey.
Having reset his superb racecraft, Scott Dixon handily won. Marcus Ericsson drove well to avoid trouble and enjoyed his first podium since GP2. Will Power, central to much of the day's mayhem, incredibly finished third.
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Post by René on Jun 3, 2019 18:04:18 GMT
Carl, I missed the first race and only saw half of the second race live. It was chaotic to say the least but I was happy for Marcus to finally get a podium again, something he could only dream of had he stayed in F1.
The title fight looks to be between Newgarden and Rossi with Rossi slightly faster but Newgarden more consistent even if he hit the barrier this time in the second heat. Both great drivers though.
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Post by Carl on Jun 3, 2019 22:11:29 GMT
Carl, I missed the first race and only saw half of the second race live. It was chaotic to say the least but I was happy for Marcus to finally get a podium again, something he could only dream of had he stayed in F1. The title fight looks to be between Newgarden and Rossi with Rossi slightly faster but Newgarden more consistent even if he hit the barrier this time in the second heat. Both great drivers though. Rene, I agree with you. They are the two young lions and drive for the two best teams. I think Ganassi's team has faded just a bit, but enough to make Scott Dixon's job more difficult. I was very impressed with how honest Newgarden was in admitting fault. When a decision must be made in milliseconds, fault almost doesn't apply. The extra half second Alexander Rossi had being a car length behind enabled him to better assess the situation and know how to respond. |
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Post by Carl on Jun 13, 2019 4:06:33 GMT
I'm not a fan of high banked superspeedways and wasn't especially looking forward to the race on Saturday in Texas, but IndyCar came through again with an eventful race.
Takuma Sato was on pole and led until near halfway, when he came in too fast and missed his pitbox, sweeping his left-front tyre changer up and over the entire length of the car.
Josef Newgarden held off the other youngster with large appendages, Alexander Rossi, their duel closely contested after the final pit stops.
Scott Dixon joined the other normally flawless Indy veteran, Sebastien Bourdais in causing a crash. Like Bourdais at Indy, Dixon misjudged safe clearance, taking out Colton Herta. Amazing!
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Post by Carl on Jun 23, 2019 3:41:32 GMT
I watched qualifying at both Paul Ricard and Road America. IndyCar's is better organized, always less predictable and normally more exciting, all of which held true today. The cars aren't as sophisticated or fast, but the organizers aren't anal-retentive and the racing is better.
autoweek.com/article/indycar/indycar-road-america-qualifying-results-colton-herta-makes-history
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